PRAYER FOR REBIRTH IN SUKHAVATI
by Je Tsong Khapa
written in 1395

Whose outstanding deeds give endless glory to beings
Whose mere remembrance banishes the terror of the Lord of Death
Who considers every living being as his child with constant love
I salute Amitayus, Boundless Life, the Teacher of Gods and Humans!
Out of love, I will articulate as best I can
This prauer for rebirth in the Sukhavati heaven
Supreme realm highly, excellently praised
Numerous times by the Lord of Sages.
The state of good and evil obscured by the fog of nescience,
Life of ascendance deprived by the weapon of hatred,
Bound in the prison of samsara by chains of lust and craving,
Swept into the ocean of existence by the rivers of evolution,
Tossed by the many billows of miseries of sickness and decay,
Crushed by the burdens of unwanted sufferings,
Mangled in the jaws of the intolerable sharks of the Lord of Death,
This is my cry of torment, I who am unprotected.
If I reverently invoke the Lord as witness to my prayer,
Amitabha, Boundless Light, Leader, sole friend of th destitude,
And the Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara
And Mahasthamaprapta, with their retinues,
Who have never failed the promise of their conception of
the supreme spirit,
For our sakes, throughout limitless aeons,
Like the king of birds swooping through the sky,
May they come here by their love and their miraculous power!
Depending on the power of the combined focusing of the oceans of
the two stores gathered by myself and others in past, present, and
future, as I approach the time of death, may I behold directly the
Leader Amitabha surrounded by His retinue such as the two powerful
Sons, and may I feel intense faith directedto the Victor with His
retinue!
May I be free of sufferings of torment and being cut off, and may I
remember without forgetting my faith and its objects, and so at the
moment after death, relying on the miraculous advent of the eight
Bodhisattvas to show me the proper path to go to Sukhavati, may I
be reborn on a jeweled lotus in the Sukhavati universe just as a
person with acute faculties in the Mahayana genealogy!
From the moment of rebirth there, may I attain retentions, samadhis,
the unconditional spirit of enlightenment, the inexhaustible eloquence,
and the limitless store of such excellences, and, pleasing the Unexcelled
Teacher Amitabha and the other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten
directions, may I truly be favored with the Holy Teachings of the
Mahayana!
May I understand their import correctly, and then in each instant
going without hindrance by magic power to the superlative Buddha
universes, may I completely fulfill all the energetic deeds of the
Bodhisattvas!
Then even though being born in a pure universe, still, motivated by
the most intense love, may I mainly proceed to the impure universes
by means of unhindered magical powers, and depending on teaching
each living being the Dharma according to his special lot, may I be
able to establish him on the pure path praised by the Victor!
And by quickly accomplishing those miraculous deeds, may I easily
attain the exaltation of Buddhahood for the sake of the infinite
beings!
When the creative energy of life is released,
May I behold clearly before my eyes,
Amitabha surrounded by His oceanic hosts,
And may my being be filled with faith and compassion!
From the moment when the visions of the Bardo arise,
May the eight Bodhisattvas show the unerring path,
And, being born in Sukhavati, thence by emanations,
May I lead all beings of the impure worlds!
And in all lives before attaining such supreme exaltation, may I
attain only that embodiment fit to practice the perfect learning,
thinking, and meditating on the verbal and realizational Teachings
of the Victor!
May such embodiments not lack the ornaments of the seven
excellences of ascendant status!
And in all those situations, may I attain the memory of lives that
remembers accurately all former lives!
And in all those lives, may I experience the hollowness in all
existences and be motivated by thoughts captivated by the excellence
of liberation, and may I renounce the world in the religious
discipline well taught by the Lord!
Having renounced, may I discover the great spirit of enlightenment
by ultimately accomplishing the deeds of morality, untainted by
even the smallest transgressions, and may I become like an unshakable
monk!
Further, in all those lives, understanding the processes of defilement
and purification accurately, may I attain the perfect retentions which
retain without forgetting all the words and meanimgs of the Teachings,
the factors of perfection!
May I attain the unimpeded pure eloquence that teaches others what
I have understood myself! Further, in all those lives may I never
lack attainment of the doors of samadhis such as the "Hero's March",
the eyes such as the physical eye, and the superknowledges such as
the knowledge of feats of magic!
May I attain the clear wisdom that can distinguish without confusion
precisely the subtlest of the subtle facets of defilement and purification!
May I quickly attain the wisdom that can completely cease at the
moment of arisal all non-understanding, misunderstanding, and
doubting considerations!
May I attain the profound wisdom that mysteriously penetrates the
words and meanings of the Scriptures whose measure cannot be taken
by any other!
In short, may I become like the Holy Manjughosha who consummates
all the deeds of the Bodhisattvas through his wisdom of skill in
liberative technique which discerns the words and meanings of the
teachings, a wisdom free of all the faults of pretended wisdom!
Thus having easily found the deep, swift, clear, and great wisdom,
may I attain transcendent skill in explanation, argument and
composition concerning all the Victor's teachings, which are,
respectively, the factors of sustaining the fortunate, chastizing
the false philosophers, and gladdening the wise!
Further, in all lives stopping all attitudes that behold my own purposes
most important and all feelings of laziness and discouragement about the
energetic deeds of the Bodhisattvas, while reaching the ultimate of the
supreme powerful heart that undertakes the purposes of others, may I
become like the Holy Avalokiteshvara, who consummates all Bodhisattva
deeds through the spirit of enlightenment which is skill in liberative
technique!
Further, may I reach the ultimate in the deeds of the Bodhisattva by
competent skill in liberative technique in conquering all demons,
fundamentalists, and antagonists, while I am engaged in the purposes
of myself and others, becoming like the Holy Lord of the Esoteric,
Vajrapani!
In all my lives, may I find the great enlightenment through the massive
effort that never deviates an instant from the moment of the spiritual
conception to perfect the Bodhisattva deeds whose energy abandons all
laziness, and may I become like the incomparable King of the Shakyas!
May I become in all my lives like the Buddha Medicine-King, Bhaishajya
Guru, able to heal all pains of body, speech, and mind, just by having
His name pronounced, by conquering all ills of mind and body that
obstruct the achievement of enlightenment!
May I become in all my lives like the Victor Amitayusm able to overcome
all untimely deaths just by having His name pronounced, having reached
the ultimate in voluntary control of the lifespan!
When an obstacle to life is approaching, may I behold my refuge
Amitayus' manifestation of the vision of His body which conforms
to the Discipline by means of His four activities, and may all
such obstacles be eradicated the moment I see that body!
As for that manifestation of the vision of His body according to the
Discipline, may I recognize it as the protector Amitayus and generate
a firm and non-artificial faith, and by the power of that, may I never
fail to have the Victors Amitayus work openly as my spiritual friend
in all my lives!
Furthermore, may the full-fledged spiritual friends of the Mahayana,
the root of all mundane and transcendent virtues, be pleased with me
and look after me throughout all of my lives!
While he looks after me, may I attain unbreakable faith in that
spiritual friend and may I only please him through all doors of
activity!
May I not bring about even an instant of his displeasure!
May I be not incompletely instructed by all the advice and instructions
of the spiritual friend!
May I be able to understand correctly all the meanings of those teachings
and to perfect them through practice!
May I not go under the influence of the non-spiritual and sinful
friends even for an instant!

In all my lives, may I realize faith of confidence in the effects of
evolution, the mind of renunciation, the spirit of enlightenment, and
the perfected view, and may I enter uninterruptedly the experience of
effortlessness!
Whatever root of virtue I have made through my physical, verbal, and
mental actions throughout all my lives, may it all serve as the cause
of only the purposes of others and the pure enlightenment!
Written by the learned Easterner, Tsong Khapa Losang Dragpai Pal, at Dzing-ji
Temple, in 1395. Translated by Robert Thurman and the staffs of Library of Tibetan
Works & Archives.

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Prayer of Guru Rinpoche

Hung
On the Northwest border of the land of Orgyen,
On the stem which unites the lotus flower and its stamens,
Wonderful, you have attained the sublime accomplishment.
You're called "the lotus-born",
And a circle of many Dakinis surrounds you.
We practise following you.
Come grant us your grace.
Guru Padme Siddhi Hung
Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hung
(Recite 7, 21 or 100 times or as many times as possible)
Through this virtuous practice,
Having quickly realized Orgyen Padma,
May I establish in this state

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Prayer of praise to Chenrezi

Lord, faultless one, your body is white,
The perfect Buddha adorns your head,
And you gaze at all beings with the eyes of compassion.
I prostrate myself before you, Oh Chenrezi.
OM MANI PADME HUM
(Recite 7, 21 or 100 times or as many times as possible)
Through this virtuous practice,
Having quickly realised Chenrezi, the all-powerful,
May I establish in this state
All beings without exception!

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Prayer to Chenrayzig, the Buddha of Compassion
By King Songtsen Gampo
Commentary and English translation by Lama Thubten Choedak

Namo Lokishvaraya
O Mighty Ruler of the World, watch upon us with your Compassion
Reverend Lord, Treasure of Compassion, be our protector and refuge.
Most Exhalted Chenrayzig, I pray to you.
Chenrayzig, guide and liberate us from the great and boundless ocean of Samsara.
When we clouded by the darkness of ignorance and misunderstanding,
Chenrayzig, be torch to dispel it.
When we are inflamed with hatred like fire against enemies,
Chenrayzig, be a stream of water to pacify it.
When we caught up in attachment to our relatives as if in a whirlpool,
Chenrayzig, enable us to realize the nature of existence.
When we are tied by the knots of miserliness to wealth,
Chenrayzig, help us to develop generosity.
When this body is afflicted by the diseases of the four elements,
Chenrayzig, be the king of physicians.
When we are tormented by terror and fear at the moment of death,
Chenrayzig, encourage us by showing your face.
When we wander in the narrow abyss of the Bardo without a friend,
Chenrayzig, help us to recognize you as our friend.
When we have to go alone among many,
Chenrayzig, guide us to the Pure realms.
When we experience the sufferings in the Karmic Womb,
Chenrayzig, manifest the mansion of light to us.
When I possess the body of an ignorant child,
Chenrayzig, be my supreme guide and friend.
When praying and meditating upon our crown,
Chenrayzig, be our root master.
When relying upon you by meditating upon the lotus in our hearts,
Chenrayzig, be our supreme tutelary deity.
When we face external and internal obstacles and interruptions,
Chenrayzig, be our guide to overcome them.
When we suffer from hunger and thirst,
Chenrayzig, bestow on us whatever accomplishments we wish.
Death will inevitably occur as a result of birth,
Chenrayzig, foretell out future.
As we pray to you with distinct recitation of the Six-syllables,
Chenrayzig, look upon us continuously with your compassion.
OM MA-NI PAY MAY HUNG OM MA-NI PAY MAY HUNG OM MA-NI PAY MAY HUNG
(Repeat as many times as possible)
Chenrayzig, may we quickly attain the supreme Buddhahood through the merit of this prayer.
Commentary
Prayers have always played an important role in religious traditions throughout history. In fact, it is wholehearted prayer that influences ones spiritual growth. However, most religious traditions present prayers to an external god for help. Buddhists do not believe in a god as the creator, but they strive to develop the inner potential that can be awakened through various skilful means. The historical Buddha is recognized as an ideal example of a being who obtained Enlightenment.
The Chenrayzig prayer is a form of meditation used to awaken ones mind from the darkness of ignorance which makes us selfish, ill-tempered and greedy. These are the negatives aspects of ones mind that cause all problems. The aim of the prayer is to cultivate universal love and compassion so that one can be awakened to recognize the true nature of ones mind. Prayer enables practitioners to transcend limitations through generating love and concern for other beings. This prayer was extracted from the collected works of Songtsen Gampo (? - 650 A.D.) who is believed to be an emanation of Chenrayzig, the Buddha of Compassion.
This was translated from Tibetan into English by Lama Thubten Choedak at the request of the Australian Tibetan Society.

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Prayers to Holy Tara
Refuge Prayer:
In Buddha, Dharma and the most excellent Community I take refuge until enlightenment
is reached; through giving and other good deeds, may I attain Buddhahood for the sake
of all living beings.
(Recite 3 times)
Homage to Tara:
The crowns of gods and demigods are bowed to Her two lotus feet; I prostrate to the
Mother Tara, the saviouress from all poverty.
Praise to Tara:
OM, prostrations to the Blessed One, the goddess Tara, Prostrations to Tara, TARE,
the Brave One; All fears are dispelled by TUTTARE TURE - she bestows all benefits;
and along with SVAHA I bow.
(Recite 1, 2, 3, 7 or 21 times)
Mantra:
OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA
(Recite 7, 21 or 100 times or as many as possible)
TARE
(Recite 21 or 100 times or as many as possible)
Request for blessings:
Arya Tara, please take heed of me. Having allayed all of my misfortunes, please bless me
to attain spontaneously and effortlessly favourable conditions and all hoped for results.
Dedication of merits:
By the merit of this prayer, may I and all living beings be happy and be free from
sufferings and unfavourable conditions, may we temporarily accomplish all of our
aims and wishes and ultimately attain the stage of Buddhahood.

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Praise of Arya Tara
by
Palden Atisha

Homage to the Venerable Arya Tara!
1. Gods and asuras with their crowns
bow down to Your lotus feet;
Liberator from all problems,
[Mother] Tara - homage to You!
2. On those Avici's fire torments,
filling them with a blazing net,
Your compassion rains down nectar -
Tara, further homage to You!
3. To those tired of clinging long,
again and again, among the six
Destinies, You grant the rest,
supremely pleasant, of Great Bliss.
4. Goddess who works the weal of others!
Just to think of You dispels problems!
You, endowed with love and compassion,
liberate from samsara's bonds.
5. Goddess who at all times is
impartial towards sentient beings,
On the whole crop of migrators
You rain incessantly - homage to You!
6. Like the sun and moon, dispeller
of distress of darkness for
All migrating sentient beings,
Supreme Goddess - homage to You!
7. On a lotus and moon seat
Immaculate as an utpala,
Your body blue-green coloured, graceful,
You hold an utpala - homage to You!
8. Three countless eons You've gather Merits and Wisdom,
Cast off all the hindering obscurations,
And with the four Means of Attraction attracted migrators,
O compassionate Mother - homage to You!
9. Bodily faults gone, You have the Marks and Signs;
Faults of speech gone, like kalavinka's strains;
Faults of mind gone, You know all knowable things.
Blaze of fortune and glory - homage to You!
10. Like the water-cleaning gem,
Goddess, You forever clear
The mud of sentient beings' mind
and strive for their welfare - homage to You!
11. Those who do retain Your name,
praise You, and do practice You,
Always do You make fruitful,
Unforgetful One - homage to You!

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PRAISE OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI FOR HIS TEACHING OF RELATIVITY
by Je Tsong Khapa

Reverence to the Guru Manjughosha!
Homage to that perfect Buddha,
The Supreme Philosopher,
Who taught us relativity
Free of detruction and creation,
Without annihilation and permanence,
With no coming and no going,
Neither unity nor plurality;
The quieting of fabrications,
The ultimate beatitude!
Homage to Him whose vision and speech
Made Him unexcelled as Sage and Teacher,
The Victor, who saw the relativity (himself)
And then taught it (to us all)!
Misknowledge is the very root
Of all the troubles in the world;
Who saw that and got rid of it
Proclaimed universal relativity.
Thereupon, how could it be possible
That the Bodhisattvas would not understand
The path of relativity
As the very pith of Your Teaching?
This being so, whoever could find
Anything even more wonderful,
To praise You with, O Protector,
Than the proclamation of relativity?
"Whatever depends on conditions,
That is empty of intrinsic reality!"
What method of good instructions is there,
More marvellous than this discovery?
Of course the naive can seize upon it
As just confirming their extremist chains,
But the wise find that very (relativity)
The way to cut the whole net of fabrications.
This Teaching is not seen elsewhere,
So You alone may be entitled "Teacher",
Merely a word of flattery for Fundamentalists,
As when you call a fox "a lion"!
Marvellous Teacher! Marvellous Refuge!
MArvellous Philosopher Supreme!
Marvellous Protector!
I pay full homage to that Teacher
Who proclaimed universal relativity!
O Benefactor, to heal living beings
You proclaimed (this relativity),
The peerless reason to ascertain
Emptiness, the essence of the Teaching!
How can such a one who sees
The process of relativity
As contradictory, or unestablished,
Even understand Your method?
Your position is that when one sees
Emptiness as the import of relativity,
Emptiness of intrinsic reality does not rule out
The viability of purposeful activity;
Whereas when you see the opposite,
Activity becomes impossible in emptiness,
Emptiness cannot be during activity
And one falls into the abyss of anxiety!
Therefore, the experience of relativity
Is highly recommended in Your Teaching,
And not as utter non-existence,
Nor as existence through intrinsic reality.
The non-relative is like a sky-flower,
So there is nothing non-dependent.
And things' existence with objective status
Precludes dependence on cause and condition.
Therefore You proclaimed that just because
Nothing at all exists outside of relativity,
So nothing at all exists outside of
Emptiness of intrinsic reality.
And You proclaimed that if it were so
That things each had some intrinsic reality,
Since that intrinsic reality could never disappear,
Nirvana would become impossible,
Since fabrications could not disappear.
Thus You dauntlessly proclaimed
Again and again in the assemblies of the wise,
The lion's roar, "Freedom from identity!"
Who is there able to rival this feat?
All systems are completely viable
When the two facts are not contradictory,
Absence of intrinsic reality, and relativity,
What need to mention their complementarity?
"By the reason of relativistic origination,
Extremist views lack confirmation!"
This excellent statement is the reason You, Protector,
Are the unexcelled Philosopher!
All this is objectively empty,
And this effect occurs from this cause;
These two certainties are mutually non-obstructive,
They actually complement each other.
What is there more marvellous than this?
What is there more miraculous than this?
If you are praised for this method,
It serves as praise, and otherwise not.
Those held in the thrall of delusions
React angrily to challenge you;
Is it any wonder they should find unbearable
Your word on lack of intrinsic identity?
But those who formally accept relativity,
The precious treasury of Your speech,
When they cannot bear the roar of emptiness,
That really does amaze me!
The unexcelled relativity,
Doorway to identitylessness,
They hold it as a nominal identity;
How they fool themselves!
These should be led by whatever method
Into that good path which pleases You,
The matchless haven well-frequented
By all the supreme Holy Ones.
Intrinsic reality is uncreated and non-relative,
Relativities are created and relational;
How can these two facts come together
In a single instance without contradiction?
Thus, what is relatively occurrent
Has ever been free of intrinsic reality,
Yet it still appears to have such (reality);
So You said all this is like illusion!
From this very fact, one deeply understands
(Nagarjuna's) statement that the way You taught
Those who would challenge Your Teaching
Rationally can find no weakness there.
Why? Because Your exposition of relativity
Makes extremely remote any tendencies
Of reification and repudiation
Concerning visible and invisible things.
This very path of relativity,
The proof that Your speech is matchless,
Also generates complete certitude
Of the validity of Your other statements.
You speak well from experience of reality,
And those who train themselve under You
Go far beyond every kind of trouble,
Having abandoned the root of all evil.
But those who turn their backs on Your Teaching,
Though they have struggles for a long time,
Decry many faults once outside again,
Because of a firm conviction about the self.
O wonder! The wise one understands the difference
Between following and not following Your Teaching.
Then how could he fail to feel most deeply
Great respect for You (and Your Teaching)?
What need is there to mention Your mang Teachings?
To find even a rough, general certainty
About the precise meaning of even a small part
Confers, even that, the supreme happiness!
Alas, my mind is conquered by delusions,
Though I came from far to refuge
In Your mass of such good qualities,
And I found not even a fraction of such excellence.
Yet when I confront the Lord of Death,
And the stream of life has not quite ceased.
I will consider myself most highly fortunate
To have even the slightest faith in You!
* * *
Among teachers, the Teacher of relativity,
Among wisdoms, the wisdom of relativity;
There are like Imperial Victors in the world,
Making Your World Champion of Wisdom, over all.
Whatever You ever taught
Is penetrated through relativity,
And since that leads into Nirvana,
No deeds of Yours does not bring peace.
Yea! Whoever hears Your Doctrine
Everything becomes peaceful for them;
So who is there who does not respect
The upholders of Your Doctrine?
My enthusiasm ever grows for this system,
Which overcomes all sorts of opposition,
Is free from any internal contradictions,
And brings fulfilment of humanity's two goals.
For the sake of this, You gave away
Again and again during innumerable aeons,
Sometimes body, other times life,
Loved ones, and great wealth of possessions.
When I see such excellence of Yours,
I see that Your great heart brings forth the Teaching,
Just like the fishhook drags out the fish;
What a sorry fate not to hear it from You!
But even with the force of that sorrow,
I will not let my mind waver (from the Teaching),
As the mind of the mother
Always goes after her beloved child.
And even what I think upon Your speech,
Thinking "That Teacher, surrounded completely
With nets of light-rays, blazing with the glory
Of the auspicious signs and marks,
Spoke in this way with his Brahma-voice!"
Then the image of great Shakyamuni
Just dawning in mind, heals me well,
As moon-rays heal the pains of fever.
Though that good system is thus marvellous,
Inexpert persons get totally confused
In every respect, as if they were
Tangled up in jungle grasses
Seeing this method, I myself
Followed after the sages
With repeated efforts,
Seeking Your intent again and again.
And I studied numerous treatises
Both Buddhist and non-Buddhist,
But, still outside, my mind
Agonized in the trap of doubts.
So I went to the night-lily garden
Of the treatises of Nagarjuna,
Prophesied to elucidate correctly
The method of Your Unexcelled Vehicle,
Free of the extremes of being and nothingness.
And there I saw, by the kindness of the Guru,
Everything illumined by the garland of white light
Of the eloquent explanation of the glorious Moon (Chandrakirti),
Whose expanding orb of taintless wisdom
Courses unobstructed in the sky of Scripture,
Dispelling the darkness of the extremist heart,
Eclipsing the constellations of false teachings;
And then and there,
My mind attained relief at last!
Of all deeds, speech is supreme.
And for this very reason, experts
Commemorate the Buddhas
For this (highest Teaching).
* * *
I renounced the world on the example of that Teacher,
My study of the Victor's speech is not inferior,
I am a Buddhist monk, energetic in yoga-practice;
And such is my respect for that great Seer!
By the Guru's kindness, I was able thus to meet
The Teaching of the Unexcelled Teacher.
And I dedicate this virtue as a cause of all beings'
Being looked after by the holy spiritual teachers.
May the Teaching of that Benefactor, till world's end,
Be undisturbed by the winds of wrong prejudices,
And, finding faith in the Teacher by understanding
The natural way of the Teaching, may it ever increase!
May I uphold the good system of the Muni
That illumines the real fact of relativity
Through all my lives, though I give up body and even life!
And may I never let go of it even for an instant!

May I spend all day and night reflecting
On the methods to propagate this (Teaching),
Achieved by that best Leader through boundless hardships,
By making strenous efforts the essence (of His lives!)
As I strive in this way with pure high resolve,
May Brahma, Indra, and the World-protectors,
And Mahakala and the other Dharma-protectors,
Always befriend me without fail!

This "Essence of Eloquent Teaching", a praise of the Unexcelled Teacher
Lord Buddha, the unsolicited best friend of all peoples, from the perspective
of His teaching of profound relativity, was composed by the learned monk,
Losang Dragpai Pal, at the royal mountain retreat of Tibet, the heavenly retreat
of O-de-gung-gyal, otherwise known as Victory Monastery. The scribe was
Namkha Pal. The translation is done by Professor Robert Thurman and the
staffs of the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamsala.

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Praises and Requests to the Twenty-One Taras
by Richard Menninger (rem@dove.lc.lucent.com) from traditional source

Taking refuge and generating the altruistic dedicated heart
Sang gye cho dang tsog kyi chog nam la
To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha
Jang chub bar du dag ni kyab su chi
I go for refuge until I am enlightened
Dag gi jin sog gyi pay so nam kyi
Through the positive potential I create by practicing generosity and the other far-reaching attitudes
Dro la pen chir sang gye drub par shog
May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
The Four Immeasurables
Sem chen tarn che de wa dang/ de way gyu dang den par gyur chig
May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness;
Sem chen tam che dug ngel dang/ dug ngel kyi gyu dang drel war gyur chig
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering;
Sem chen tam che dug ngel may pay de wa dang/ mi drel war gyur chig
May all sentient beings never be separated from the happiness that knows no suffering;
Sem chen tam che nye ring chag dang nyi dang/ drel way dang nyom la ne par gyur chig
May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment and anger that hold some close and others distant.
Visualization
You are in your ordinary form. At your heart appears a white AH, made of light. This transforms into a white moon disc. At its center appears a green syllable TAM, the essence of Tara's blissful omniscient mind of wisdom and compassion. Standing clockwise around the edge of the moon appear the letters of the mantra OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA, made of green light.
From the TAM, rainbow-colored light goes out in all directions and invokes Tara to appear in the space in front of you. She is seated on a lotus and moon disc. Her body is made of emerald-green light, youthful and exquisitely beautiful. Her right hand on her right knee is in the gesture of giving; her left hand at her heart is the gesture of refuge and holds the stem of a blue utpala flower that blooms by her ear. Her left leg is drawn up and her right leg is slightly extended. Her face is very beautiful and she smiles with loving-kindness at all sentient beings.
Surrounding her in space are 21 other Taras, as well as all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Surrounding you are all sentient beings. You lead them in reciting the prayers and requests to Tara.
When doing multiple repetitions of the homage, one could start with the seven-limb prayer and include the homage and condensed praise. One could also do a more limited repetition. When pressed for time, one can repeat only the condensed praise.
Seven-limb prayer
Go sum go pay go ne chag tsal lo
Reverently I prostrate with with my body, speech and mind
Ngo sham yi trul cho trin ma lu bul
And present clouds of every type of offering, actual and mentally transformed.
Tog may ne sag dig tung tam che shag
I confess all my negative actions accumulated since beginningless time
Kye pag gay wa nam la je yi rang
And rejoice in the virtues of all holy and ordinary beings.
Kor wa ma tong bar du leg zhug ne
Please remain until cyclic existence ends,
Dro la cho kyi kor lo kor wa dang
And turn the wheel of Dharma for sentient beings.
Dag zhen gay nam jang chub chen por ngo
I dedicate the virtues created by myself and others to the great enlightenment.
Homage to the Twenty-One Taras (could be said multiple times)
OM je tsun ma pag ma drol ma la chag tsal lo
OM I prostrate to the noble transcendent liberator.
1. Chag tsal drol ma nyur ma pa mo
Homage to Tara swift and fearless
Chen mi kay chig lhog dang dra ma
With eyes like a flash of lightning
Jig ten sum gon chu kye shel gyi
Lotus-born in an ocean of tears
Ke sar je wa lay ni jung ma
Of Chenrezig, three world's protector.
2. Chag tsal ton kay da wa kun tu
Homage to you whose face is like
Gang wa gya ni tseg pay shel ma
One hundred autumn moons gathered
Kar ma tong trag tsog pa nam kyi
And blazes with the dazzling light
Rab tu che way o rab bar ma
Of a thousand constellations.
3. Chag tsal ser ngo chu ne kye kyi
Homage to you born from a gold-blue lotus
Pay may chag ni nam par gyen ma
Hands adorned with lotus flowers
Jin pa tsun du ka tub shi wa
Essence of giving, effort, and ethics,
So pa sam ten cho yul nyi ma
Patience, concentration and wisdom.
4. Chag tsal de shin sheg pay tsug tor
Homage to you who crown all Buddhas
Ta yay nam par gyal wa cho ma
Whose action subdues without limit
Ma lu pa rol chin pa tob pay
Attained to every perfection
Gyel way say kyi shin tu ten ma
On you the bodhisattvas rely.
5. Chag tsal TU TA RA HUM yi ge
Homage to you whose TUTTARE and HUM
Do dang chog dang nam ka gang ma
Fill the realms of desire, form and space
Jig ten dun po shab kyi nen te
You crush seven worlds beneath your feet
Lu pa may par gug par nu ma
And have power to call all forces.
6. Chag tsal gya jin may lha tsang pa
Homage to you adored by Indra,
Lung lha na tsog wang chug cho ma
Agni, Brahma,Vayu and Ishvara
Jung po ro lang dri sa nam dang
Praised in song by hosts of spirits,
No jin tsog kyi dun ne to ma
Zombies, scent-eaters and yakshas.
7. Chag tsal TREY che cha dang PEY kyi
Homage to you whose TREY and PEY
Pa rol tul kor rab tu jom ma
Destroy external wheels of magic
Yay kum yon kyang shab kyi nen te
Right leg drawn in and left extended
May bar tug pa shin tu bar ma
You blaze within a raging fire.
8. Chag tsal TU RE jig pa chen po
Homage to you whose TURE destroys
Du kyi pa wo nam par jom ma
The great fears, the mighty demons
Chu kye shel ni tro nyer den dze
With a wrathful frown on your lotus face
Dra wo tam che ma lu so ma
You slay all foes without exception.
9. Chag tsal kon chog sum tson chag gye
Homage to you beautifully adorned
Sor mo tug kar nam par gyen ma
By the Three Jewel's gesture at your heart
Ma lu chog kyi kor lo gyen pay
Your wheel shines in all directions
Rang gi o kyi tsog nam trug ma
With a whirling mass of light.
10. Chag tsal rab tu ga wa ji pay
Homage to you, radiant and joyful
U gyen o kyi treng wa pel ma
Whose crown emits a garland of light
Shay pa rab shay TU TA RA yi
You, by the laughter of TUTTARA
Du dang jig ten wang du dze ma
Conquer demons and lords of the world.
11. Chag tsal sa shi kyong way tsog nam
Homage to you with power to invoke
Tam che gug par nu ma nyi ma
The assembly of local protectors
Tro nyer yo way yi ge HUM ki
With your fierce frown and vibrating HUM
Pong pa tam che nam par drol ma
You bring freedom from all poverty.
12. Chag tsal da way dum bu u gyen
Homage to you with crescent moon crown
Gyen pa tam che shin tu bar ma
All your adornments dazzling bright
Rel pay tro na o pag may lay
From your hair-knot Amitabha
Tag par shin tu o rab dze ma
Shines eternal with great beams of light.
13. Chag tsal kel pay ta may may tar
Homage to you who dwells in a blazing wreath
Bar way treng way u na ne ma
Like the fire at the end of this age
Yay kang yon kum kun ne kor gay
Your right leg outstretched and the left drawn in
Dra yi pung ni nam par jom ma
Joy surrounds you who defeats hosts of foes.
14. Chag tsal sa shi ngo la chag gi
Homage to you whose foot stamps the earth
Til gyi nun ching zhab gyi dung ma
And whose palm strikes the ground by your side
Tro nyer chen dze yi gay HUM ki
With a wrathful glance and the letter HUM
Rim pa dun po nam ni gem ma
You subdue all in the seven stages.
15. Chag tsal de ma gay ma zhi ma
Homage to the blissful, virtuous, peaceful one
Nya ngen de zhi cho yul nyi ma
Object of practice, nirvana's peace
SO HA OM dang yang dag den pay
Perfectly endowed with SOHA and OM
Dig pa chen po jom pa nyi ma
Overcoming all the great evils.
16. Chag tsal kun ne kor rab ga way
Homage to you with joyous retinue
Dra ye lu ni nam par gem ma
You subdue fully all enemies' forms
Yi gay chu pay ngag ni ko pay
The ten-letter mantra adorns your heart
Rig pa HUM lay drol ma nyi ma
And your knowledge-HUM gives liberation.
17. Chag tsal TU RE zab ni dab pay
Homage to TURE with stamping feet
HUM gi nam pay sa bon nyi ma
Whose essence is the seed-letter HUM
Ri rab man da ra dang big je
You cause Merus, Mandara and Vindya
Jig ten sum nam yo wa nyi ma
And all three worlds to tremble and shake.
18. Chag tsal lha yi tso yi nam pay
Homage to you who holds in your hand
Ri dag tag chen chag na nam ma
A moon like a celestial lake
TA RA nyi jo PEY kyi yi gay
Saying Tara twice and the letter PEY
Dug nam ma lu pa ni sel ma
You dispel all poisons without exception.
19. Chag tsal lha yi tsog nam gyal po
Homage to you on whom the kings of gods
Lha dang mi am chi yi ten ma
The gods themselves and all spirits rely
Kun ne go cha ga way ji kyi
Your armour radiates joy to all
Tso dang mi lam nyen pa sel ma
You soothe conflicts and nightmares as well.
20. Chag tsal nyi ma da wa gye pay
Homage to you whose eyes, the sun and moon,
Chen nyi po la o rab sel ma
Radiate with pure brilliant light
HA RA nyi jo TU TA RA yi
Uttering HARA twice and TUTTARA
Shin tu dag po rim ne sel ma
Dispels extremely fearful plagues.
21. Chag tsel de nyi sum nam ko pay
Homage to you, adorned with three natures
Zi way tu dang yang dag den ma
Perfectly endowed with peaceful strength
Don dang ro lang no jin tsog nam
You destroy demons, zombies and yakshas
Jom pa TURE rab chog nyi ma
O TURE, most exalted and sublime!
Tsa way ngag kyi to pa di dang
Thus the root mantra is praised
Chag tsal wa ni nyi shu tsa chig
And twenty-one homages offered.
The Condensed Praise (could be said multiple times)
OM chom den de ma pag ma drol ma la chag tsal lo
OM to the transcendent subduer, Arya Tara, I prostrate.
Chag tsal drol ma TA RE pel mo
Homage to the glorious one who frees with TARE;
TU TA RA yi jig kun sel ma
With TUTTARA you calm all fears;
TU RE don nam tam che ter ma
You bestow all success with TURE;
SO HA yi ger che la rab tu
To the sound SOHA I pay great homage.
Benefits of reciting the homage (optional)
Lha mo la gu yang dag den pay
Those endowed with perfect and pure respect for these goddesses
Lo den gang gi rab de jo de
The intelligent who recite these praises with most supreme faith
So dang to rang lang par che ne
Both in the evening and upon waking at dawn
Den pay mi jig tam che rab ter
Will have fearlessness bestowed on them by this remembrance.
Dig pa tam che rab tu shi way
After being purified of all evils completely,
Nyen dro tam che jom pa nyi tob
They will attain the destruction of all lower realms
Gyal wa che wa dun nam gyi
And the seven million conquering Buddhas
Nyur du wang ni kur war gyur la
Will quickly grant them every empowerment.
Di lay che wa nyi ni tob ching
Thus they will attain greatness and so forth
Sang gye go pang tar tug der dro
To the ultimate state of supreme Buddhahood.
De yi dug ni dag po chen po
As a result all violent poisons -
Ten ne pa am zhen yang dro wa
Whether abiding within or spreading to others -
So pa dang ni tung wa nyi kyang
That they have eaten or drunk
Den pay rab tu sel wa nyi tob
By this remembrance will be completely removed
Don dang rim dang tug gi sir way
And they will eliminate completely afflictions by spirits, epidemics,
Dug ngel tsog ni nam par pang te
Poisons and all various sufferings.
Sem chen zhen pa nam la yang ngo
If for oneself or for the sake of others,
Nyi sum dun du ngo par jo na
These praises are read sincerely two, three or seven times,
Pu do pay ni pu tob gyur ching
Those wishing a child will have one
Nor do pay ni nor nam nyi tob
And those wishing wealth will attain this as well.
Do pa tam che tob par gyur la
Without obstruction all of their wishes will be granted
Geg nam may ching so sor jom gyur chig
And every single hindrance will be destroyed as it arises.
Visualization and Recitation
Visualize much radiant and blissful green light from the TAM and mantra at Tara's heart streams into you and into the sentient beings surrounding you. [Optionally view all sentient beings of this world system as now having that TAM and mantra at their heart as a result of the earlier recitation, that they are in their normal places around the world. View that green light emanates from a multi-layered cloud of Taras of all forms in the space around this world system. The light covers all space and all sentient beings of this world system and even spreads on to all of space, all world systems and all sentient beings. Also view all Buddhas and bodhisattvas similarly arrayed joining in with light appropriate to them. For trouble spots and situations add an ever widening tornado of Taras superimposed with similar widening stacks of all Buddhas and bodhisattvas over the place with intense blessing raining down to help.] This light purifies the imprints of all negative actions, and dispels all sickness and harms from spirits. In addition, it brings inspiration and blessings from Tara [and all Buddhas and bodhisattvas], thus enabling you to realize the entire gradual path to enlightenment quickly. While doing the visualization, recite as much as possible Tara's peaceful mantra:
Om tare tuttare ture soha.
[Optional: Wish that all subsequent such visualizations and recitations throughout the day be considered to be logically part of this practice at this point. Then continue this practice at all odd moments through the day, such as walking, driving, standing in lines, and any other activity that can allow divided attention. For things such as driving, you may limit the visualization effort so that the particular activity is not compromised in an unsafe way.]
Requesting Prayer
Je tsun chom den de ma tug je chen
O compassionate and venerable subduing goddess
Dag dang ta ye sem chen tam che kyi
May the infinite beings, including myself,
Drib nyi jang shing tsog nyi nyur dzog ne
Soon purify the two obscurations and complete both collections
Dzog pay sang gye tob par dze du sol
So that we may attain full enlightenment.
De ma tob gyi tse rab kun tu yang
For all of my lives, until I reach this stage
Lha dang mi yi de wa chog tob ne
May I know the sublime happiness of humans and gods.
Tam che kyen pa drub par je pa la
So that I may become fully omniscient
Bar che don geg rim dang ne la sog
Please pacify quickly all obstacles, spirits,
Du min chi war gyur pa na tsog dang
Obstructions, epidemics, diseases and so forth
Mi lam nyen dang tsen ma nyen pa dan
The various causes of untimely death,
Jig pa gye sog nye war tse wa nam
Bad dreams and omens, the eight fears and other afflictions,
Nyur du shi shing may par dze tu sol
And make it so that they no longer exist.
Jig ten jig lay ni de pa yi
May the mundane and supramundane collections
Ta shi de leg pun sum tsog pa nam
Of all excellent auspicious qualities and happiness
Pel shing gye pay don nam ma lu pa
Increase and develop and may all wishes
Be mi lhun gyi drub par dze du sol
Be fulfilled naturally and effortlessly, without an exception.
Drub la tson shing dam cho pel wa dang
May I strive to realize and increase the sacred Dharma
Dag du gyo drub she chog tong wa dang
Accomplishing your stage and beholding your sublime face,
Tong nyi ton tog jang sem rin po che
May my understanding of emptiness and the precious dedicated heart
Yar ngo da tar pel shing gye par dzo
Increase like the moon waxing full.
Gyal way kyil dor sang shing ga wa ter
May I be reborn from an extremely beautiful and holy lotus
Pay mo tam pa shim tu dze lay gye
In the joyous and noble mandala of the conqueror
Nang wa ta ye gyal way ngo sum tu
May I attain whatever prophecy I receive
Lung ten pa yang dag ki der tob shog
In the presence of Amitabha, Buddha of Infinite Light.
Dag gi tse rab ngon ne drub pay lha
O deity, whom I have accomplished from previous lives
Du sum sang gye kun gi trin lay ma
The enlightening influence of the three-time Buddhas
Ngo jang shel chig chag nyi nyur shi ma
Blue-green, one face and two arms, the swift pacifier
Yum gyur ut pel nam pay tra shi shog
O mother holding an utpala flower, may you be auspicious!
Gyal yum drol ma kyo gu chi da dang
Whatever your body, O Mother of Conquerors,
Kor dang ku tse tse dang shing kam dang
Whatever your retinue, lifespan and pure land,
Kye kyi tsen chog sang po chi dra wa
Whatever your name, most noble and holy,
De dra ko nar dag sog gyur par shog
May I and all others attain only these.
Kye la to ching sol wa tab pay tu
By the force of these praises and requests made to you,
Dag sog kang du ne pay sa chog ter
May all disease, poverty, fighting and quarrels be calmed,
Ne dang ul pong tab tso shi wa dang
May the precious Dharma and everything auspicious increase
Cho dang tra shi pel war dze tu sol
Throughout the world and directions where I and all others dwell.
Dedication and auspicious verses
Gay wa di yi nyur tu dag
Due to this merit may I soon
Pag ma drol ma drub gyur ne
Attain the state of Arya Tara
Dro wa chig kyang ma lu pa
That I may be able to liberate
De yi sa la go par shog
All sentient beings from their suffering.
Chom den de ma cho che pay
By whatever virtue I have collected
Dag gi gay wa chi sag pa
From venerating these subduing blessed ones
Te ni sem chan ma lu pa
May all sentient beings, without exception
De wa chen tu gay wat chog
Be born in Sukhavati, the Joyful Pure Land.
Ku yi gyon pang tsen dang pay che den
You who have abandoned all bodily defects and possess the signs and marks of a Buddha,
Sung ki gyon pang ka la ping kay yang
You who have abandoned all defects of speech and possess a beautiful sparrow-like voice,
Tug gi gyon shay ja ta dag sig
You who have abandoned all defects of mind and see all the infinite objects of knowledge,
Tra shi pel par ma yi tra shi shog
O Brilliant Mother of Auspicious Glory, please bring your auspicious presence to us!
EXPLANATION FOR THE TWENTY-ONE VERSES OF PROSTRATION AND PRAISE
BY VENERABLE GESHE DAMCHO YONTEN (DHARMA THERAPY TRUST)
These fall into three main sections.
1. Praising by means of the legends associated with Tara.
2. Praising the symbolic aspects of her manifestations.
3. Praising her enlightened activity.
1. Praises in Reference to Legend - Tara the Heroine
The homage is made to Tara, who was born from the tears of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, embodiment of the mercy of all Buddhas, a protector of all beings in the realms of desire, form and formlessness who arise as an 'I' based upon samsaric aggregates.
It is said that once the Bodhisattva of Compassion became dismayed on seeing that, even though he had striven with all his might to free the sentient beings from samsara, the number of the beings suffering in samsara was not significantly decreasing. He burst into tears and from the pool that formed from the water issuing from the lotus eyes of the Compassionate Bodhisattva there sprung forth a lotus. From the lotus appeared Arya Tara, whose exquisite face embodies the delicacy of a million lotus blossoms.
Thus the compassion of all Buddhas emanated as a fountain of enlightened energy, Arya Tara, divinity of mystical activity who turned to the Bodhisattva of Compassion and said "O noble one, I offer myself in the service of freeing countless sentient beings from the cyclic existence as quickly as possible. Shed no more tears. We shall work together to turn the battle against samsara". Then a net of lights shone forth from her two eyes and scanned the three realms of the world.
2. Praises in Reference to the Symbolic Aspects - The Twenty-One Taras
There are twenty-one different Sambhogakaya manifestations of Tara, a feminine emanation of the primordial Dharmakaya Buddha Amitabha.
Each form of Tara embodies a particular aspect of compassion. Green Tara represents the active energetic aspect of compassion, and she is the national protectress of Tibet, while White Tara, for example, embodies the fertile, motherly aspect of compassion.
Verses in praise of Tara's symbolic attributes
The verses in praise of the symbolic attributes of Tara's being has two parts.
1. Praising the aspects of her Beatific Form (Sambhogakaya)
2. Praising her Wisdom or Truth Body aspect (Dharmakaya)
Tara has two main types of Beatific Forms: Peaceful and Wrathful.
There are six verses in praise of her Peaceful forms:
2. Tara of White Lustre
This verse describes the brilliance of the Beatific Form of enlightenment.
3. Tara of Golden Hue Her Hand Postures
Whose colour is blue tinged with a golden radiance. The finger of her left hand holds the stem of a water born lotus, the flower of which has opened into bloom beside her ear. This symbolises how Tara embodies the Ten Perfections.
4. Victorious Ushnisha Tara How Tara is revered by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Because Tara is the mother of all the Buddhas they carry her upon the crowns of their heads as an ushnisha. She symbolises the very forces that have the power to gain total victory over negative events of this life as well as over the obscurations of delusions and obscurations to omniscience.
The Bodhisattvas of the ten stages, who are completing the Ten Perfections must also fully rely upon Tara for she embodies the utter fulfilment of the Ten.
5. Tara who Resounds the sound HUM How she overcomes Disharmonious Conditions
The syllables TUTTARA and HUM that she utters, together with the syllable HUM at her heart, symbolise the wisdom of emptiness combined with the great compassion. With her two feet she presses down upon the seven realms of the world, thus invoking all forces and placing them in joy.
The seven worlds refer to the three lower realms (hell creatures, ghosts and animals) the realms of man and the desire gods and the realms of the gods of form and formlessness.
6. Totally Victorious Tara How Worldly Gods Worship Her
Tara represents the beyond-samsara state to which even the great gods of the universe still aspire.
7. Tara who destroys Negativity How Tara crushes External Threats
Sitting in a peaceful posture, her right leg symbolises the wisdom of emptiness and left great compassion. She presses upon the three realms of the world her body blazing amidst darting flames. Although this is a peaceful emanation of Tara, externally she is slightly wrathful. To symbolise this she sits in the centre of a raging fire.
There are seven verses in praise of Tara's wrathful Sambhogakaya forms:
8. Tara who Heralds Supreme Power Tara's excellence in Removing Mara and the two obscurations
The great fearful one are the ferocious army of Maras. Her lotus face is marked with lines of wrath and her manner is that of a wrathful Bodhisattva destroying the enemies within: the obscurations of delusion, which obstruct the attainment of liberation from samsara: and the obscurations to knowledge which obstruct the attainment of omniscience. Tara practice destroys both of these obscurations together with their seeds.
9. Tara of the Rosewood Forest The symbols in Tara's two hands
Holding the stem of a lotus at her heart between the thumb and middle finger of the left hand, her remaining three left fingers are stretched upward into the mudra of the Three Jewels.
Her right hand, held in the mudra Supreme Generosity, is adorned by a wheel of truth that radiates forth waves of light to outshine the lights of samsara.
10. Tara who Dispels Sorrow Praising Tara's Crown and her Laugh
Her head-crown emanates a garland of lights to outshine all others. Laughing with mantric laughter she utters TUTTARA, bringing all Maras and the eight great gods of the world under her control.
11. Tara who Invokes How Tara practice activates the ten direction Protectors
This practice invokes the protectors of the universe. These natural forces of goodness spontaneously respond to the goodness generated by meditation upon Tara. The wrathful lines on her face flicker and lights shine forth from the syllable HUM at her heart, giving total liberation from all forms of sorrow such as poverty and pain.
12. Tara of Auspicious Brilliance Praising her head Ornaments
Tara's visible head ornament is a crescent moon, like that on the first day of the month, radiant with the light that eliminates sorrow. On her hair-knot sits Buddha Amitabha, who emanates a constant stream of light to fulfil the needs of living beings.
13. Tara who Bestows Maturity Tara's Wrathful Posture
Just as the fire at the end of time blazes with the heat of seven suns and easily consumes the earth and stones of the world, the wisdom fires in which Tara sits consume easily the myriads of delusions, the foes of the Trainees joyously following a spiritual path.
14. Tara with Vibrant Lines of Wrath The Syllable HUM which emanates light
Twitching the lines of wrath on her face. Stamping upon the earth in a ferocious manner with her right foot. She holds her right hand in the threatening mudra and emanates lights from the Syllable HUM at her heart, filling the seven dimensions of the world with light and bringing them under her power.
15. Tara of Virtuous and Creative Serenity Praising Tara's Dharmakaya Aspect
This verse is in praise of the mind and speech factors of Tara's Dharmakaya aspect.
16. Tara Destroying of Grasping The Peaceful and Wrathful Mantras
The ten syllable mantra refers to the root mantra OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA. HUM indicates the wrathful mantra - OM NAMA TARE NAME HARE HUM HARA SVAHA. By the power of these two mantras one destroys the enemies of liberation - grasping at a self within and clinging to substantial existence in the external world.
17. Tara who Produces Bliss How Tara shakes the three worlds
From the transformation of the primordial sound HUM appears TURE, whose pounding feet cause everything in the external world to tremble and shake.
18. Totally Victorious Tara How Tara eliminates the effects of Poison
The hare-marked moon like the celestial ocean symbolises the power to eliminate the poisonous effects of delusions and mental distortions from within the mind. Through the power of reciting TARA twice and also the mantric syllable PHAT, even external poisons are overcome.
19. Tara who consumes sorrow How Tara eliminates disputes and nightmares
Indra of the desire gods, Brahma of the realm of form, leaders of the spirit worlds and all kings of the gods and celestial beings bow their heads to Tara.
20. Tara Source of Siddhi How Tara cures disease
Her right eye fierce like the sun, her left gentle like the moon, she radiates dazzling bright beams of light.
By reciting the wrathful mantra HARA twice and also the peaceful mantra TUTTARA, the most powerful illness is overcome.
21. Tara who brings Complete Perfection How Tara overcomes ghosts and evil spirits
Tara's three natures, of her body, speech and mind, appear respectively as the letters OM at her crown, AH at her throat and HUM at her heart. These possess the strength to pacify the delusions within as well as external poisons. The most exalted TURE refers to TARA herself.
3. Praises in Reference to Enlightened Activity - Green Tara Visualisation
Tara represents the entire range of virtuous and enlightened activity and is therefore said to be the mother of the buddhas of the past, present and future - an attribute symbolised by the utpala fruit, flower and bud she holds in her left hand. The gesture of her left hand symbolises refuge while her right hand is in the mudra of giving highest happiness. She sits in royal posture on a white moon-disc resting on a lotus blossom. Her left leg is drawn upwards while her right foot rests upon a small lotus pedestal, showing that she abides both in samsara and nirvana. Tara wears the five silk robes and six ornaments, and in her tiara she bears and image of Amitabha. She is accompanied by the twenty-one forms of herself, 20 of whom float in the sky above her on rainbows and lotuses, while her other main form, White Tara, is found below.

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A Praise On The Twelve Exemplary Deeds Of The Lord Buddha

by Acharya Nagarjuna, revised by Drigung Kyopa Jikten Gonpo
Homage to you, King of the Shakyas, whose body is radiant
like a mountain of gold; who, through compassion and skill in means,
took birth in the Shakyan clan and
vanquished the hosts of evil that others could not conquer.

Homage to you who awakened first the resolve to attain enlightenment,
then fully perfected the accumulation of merit and
transcendental wisdom to become the protector
of living beings through your vast spiritual works in this age.

Homage to you who, as the ruler of the gods, knew that the time
had come to bring the Law to living beings; descending from
the realms of celestial, you foresaw the clan into which you would
take birth and, like a great elephant, entered the womb of Mayadevi.
Homage to you, Scion of the Shakya clan,
at whose birth in the grove of Lumbini ten full months thereafter,
Brahma and Shakra came to pay homage and Sages
proclaimed with certainty that you belong to the race of Great Beings.
Homage to you, Incomparable One, who,
as a youthful, powerful Lion among men,
showed the miracle of Anga-maga-dhara and
deflated the pride of conceited persons.
Homage to you who, through skill in means,
sustained a kingdom and assumed a retinue and
queen to accord with the customs of worldlings and
helped them to become free from errors.
Homage to you who perceived that worldly affairs are insubstantial,
renounced the householder's life and
went forth to accomplish the stages of renunication
at each one of the immaculate Stupas.
Homage to you who dwelt in austerity
for six years beside the Nairanjana River,
diligently intent on attaining enlightenment and
perfect in vigour, attained there the highest stage of meditation.

Homage to you who, in order to bring fruit
to the efforts you made throughout beginningless time,
sat beneath the Bodhi Tree in Magadha and
awakened to Perfect Enlightenment.

Homage to you who then quickly looked upon beings
with compassion and, at Varanasi and other holy places,
turned the Wheel of the Doctrine to help them also
(traverse to liberation by relying on) the Three Vehicles.

Homage to you, Sage victorious in spiritual battle,
who vanquished the demons in the land of Khormo Jik and
put an end to the erroneous wranglings of Devadatta,
the six heretical sages and others.

Homage to you who, with virtues unequalled in the three worlds,
manifested the Great Miracle at Shravasti and
cause the Doctrine to be greatly enhanced by the reverence of gods,
humans and all other beings.

Homage to you who, to move lazy disciples to hasten their efforts,
manifested the perishing of your deathless,
adamantine Body at the pure abode of Kushinagara,
and passed beyond into Peace.

Homage to you who left behind eight aspects of your Body and
many relics to show that, in Reality, you
had not perished and to help future beings
acquire merit through their worships.

Through the merit of this brief eulogy
in praise of the deeds of the Blessed One,
our Master in the Holy Teaching, may all living beings
also become equal to the Buddha in their own works.

May I and all living beings become like you,
O King of Shakyas, endowed with a form like yours,
a span of life like yours, a retinue like yours, a Pure Land like yours, and
marks of perfection like yours alone.

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BRAHMA'S DIADEM - A PRAISE OF MAITREYA
by Je Tsong Khapa
written in 1395

Reverence to Glorious Guru Manjughosha!
Ever showering them with tender love,
He yet burns the friends of darkness,
Though He has cut off the toughest bonds
He binds himself tightly with compassion.
Ever possessed of peaceful equanimity
He cherishes others more than Himself.
Bowing humbly at the feet of Manjughosha,
I praise the Guardian Invincible Maitreya!
Four-faced Brahma parises Him with many mouths,
Thousand-eyed Indra always gazes at Him with devotion,
Rati's Kama drops his pride and bows down to Him.
Reverently, I worship the Regent's feet!
As sunlight opens lotuses in clear lakes,
As the clear-sky star lord makes lily garden bloom,
So the sight of His body, wreathed in auspicious signs,
Captivates living beings' hearts, the moment they see it.
May the lotus foot of my Guardian Maitreya
Grace the crown of my head in all my lives!
Devil-beater, free of all fear of life,
Matchless hero, best teacher of the three realms,
Always watching over beings fallen into dangers,
I worship Your feet, O Leader!
With unrestricted access to the totality of facts,
Your power of knowledge conquers the devil army horror,
Whose thunderbolt-weapons fall before You like fresh flowers,
You are dazzling with the glory of the ten powers!
You scorch the haughty brains of elephant-rivals,
Sounding the great roars of eloquence amind their congress,
Finishing off the foxes of the false philosophers,
Possessed of four fearlessnesses, You are the Human Lion!
You turn the supreme Wheel of Dharma,
Unturnable even by the proud World-Creator, Lord of passions,
Which neither ascetics nor priests can articulate.
You are the Guardian who loves the living beings!
Not even the word "error" affects Your body and speech,
Unfailing in memory, always focused in equalitym
Free of discriminations as well as thoughtless trances,
Your activities are always absolutely pure!
You are completely beyond any occasion for failure
Of the will, of energy, or of Your memory,
Of meditative concentration, wisdom, or liberation.
Therefore Your realization is unexceled!
Your wisdom unblocked and unattached in all three times,
Your physical, verbal, and mental deeds are pure.
Accomplishing beings' aims to the end of samsara,
You are involved joyfully with that responsibility.
Having perfected the mass of magnificent virtues
And conquered susceptibility to the slightest faults,
Please consider for a moment the lamentable plight
Of me who is the object of your compassion!
Though I have this life of leisure and opportunity
Capable of liberation from the great ocean of suffering,
I am defiled by the faults of carelessness. Sloth,
Stupor, frivolity, and desire for gain and fame.
I waste this good body, using it for meaningless pursuits,
When it can easily achieve the supremely meaningful.
I inhabit this human flesh, with the attitude of a beast,
Pray look upon me with your great compassion!
Though I have won the crucial leisure so hard to find,
Though I see the powerful Lord Death whom no power can stop,
Sending forth his messengers who cannot be escaped,
And am already seized by old age and sickness ---
Beings do not remember the unsureness of the time of death
Nor that all is lost when death actually comes,
And spend the days and months and years in vain pursuits ---
It is time to have mercy on us deluded ones!
What need is there to mention the exaltation of transcendence?
There is no real ambition to reach even mere high estate,
Praised by the Muni as the basis of the spiritual path,
Are You really being indifferent to me?
Though we may have won the body fortunate with high estate,
If we do not find the unmistaken path of goodness,
With the wisdom that precisely investigates the teachings,
Once gain we will fall into the ocean of cyclic life.
So long enveloped by the dark massive fog of delusion,
Obscuring our right discernment of the ground of ethical choice,
Please bestow upon us the lamp of wisdom!
The rain of weapons falls upon the body,
Licked by flames on the ground of molten iron,
Yama's minions impale it on a stake,
And ladle gobs of molten brass upon the tongue.
Frozen in caves of ice in surrounding icy peaks
Lashed by blizzards driven by fierce winds,
Some are covered with blisters, some wounded,
Others torn into many pieces.
Faces covered with hair, with mouths parched,
They see a river and run to drink,
Creatures prevent them, blocking them with swords and spears,
And the water seems to turn to blood and pus.
Mouths like a needle's eye, throat choked off by goitres,
Even finding food and drink they cannot enjoy it.
Whatever they do eat or drink burns internally,
They live on excrement and urine, or eat their own flesh.
Enveloped in the great darkness of delusion,
Minds incapable of discerning right and wrong.
One killing another, controlled by gods and men,
They suffer the misery of beating and drudgery.
All peace of mind overcome by the burning fire
Of their consuming jealousy of the glory of the gods,
Bodies slashed and lost from the fighting,
Deceived by trickery, with no fortune to see the truth.
Not to mention the experience, mere hearing about these realms
Produces terror in the heart, one shudders in general
At the fall into the great abysses
Of the hells, ghosts, beasts, and titans,
Having accumulated from the beginningless and still doing so,
I quail in the face of this great abyss ---
It is time to save me from the terror of bad migrations!
Even in the human abodes, with the high estate
Of power and property, there is the worry of loss,
And the ruin from parting from excellence of fortune.
And the seeking only after the pleasures of desire.
Wanting happiness, one uses means to get it,
But afterwards one will find great suffering
So much more, from the many forms
Of physical pain and mental anxiety.
Even the gods, who sport in the glory of heaven,
With beautiful bodies, adorned with jeweled ornaments,
In fine mansions surrounded by pleasure gardens,
Savouring long the pleasures of desire,
Finally are gripped by the signs of unwanted death.
Then they see they will unwillingly be parted
From the lovely goddesses who captivated their hearts,
From the delightful pleasure gardens,
From the nectar food, fine dress, ornaments of beauty,
And the other youthful gods, so soon!
Then they burn with fiery tongues of sorrow,
Generated by the mental anguish so much more intense
Than all the physical pleasures of that place.
Thus terminates the fruit gained by their striving
In actions of goodness for many lives,
And their carelessness, the cause of bad states, affects them finally,
And once again they fall into the hellish realms.
Even those who have gained the form and formless heavens,
Long abiding in pure bliss by power of samadhi,
Without notions longing for desire, without malice,
Beyond sleep and deeds of mental anguish,
Free of suffering from physical and mental harm,
Are not liberated from the bond of comsic suffering,
And when the impulse of the prior samadhi ends,
Again they fall down and continue their migrations.
Thus even the lords of life, gods and men, are caught
In the ocean of existence by suffering's currents,
Of birth and death and sickness and old age.
So surely it is wrong to lvoe the mundane happiness!
So please save me from the current of existence,
I whose eye of wisdom life obscures,
Mistaking suffering for happiness,
Confused by perverse and foolish notions!
STuck in the mud of desire, strayed from the path of liberation,
Lost in the gloom of nescience, without the eye of wisdom,
Caught in the trap of fabrications, chained in the prison of samsara,
Tormented by evolution, I am in need of Your compassion!
To stop at the cliff of the terrible samsara,
One must surely reach the stage of skill
Depending on no other, by discerning rightly
The definitive and interpretable in the boundless teachings,
By the power of pure reason of correct analysis,
Depending on extensive and impeccable learning ---
No need to mention the subtle intention of the Victor!
But my intellectual vision becomes not very clear
Even about the crude points of involvement and cessation,
And still this enemy of delusion obscures my heart
And I have no chance for liberation!
Consider this situation, clear the darkness from my heart!
Awaken my instincts left from constant practice
In the ocean of learning over many lives
Of the sciences taught by the Victors and their Sons!
You the sole eye revealing the good path to beings!
I, wretched and without protector,
Abandoned by the holy ones of old,
Like a guest arrived from distant regions,
It is time You cared for me with Your great kindness!
You Maitreya who free all beings with Your love,
Are the refuge served with devotion again and again!
Swiftly, swiftly come and be my spiritual friend
In the Universal Vehicle in all my lives!
Before You, who constantly look out
For all beings with Your great love,
If they remember Your excellence with mind of faith,
Daily You will come to them!
Yet even though one wishes to frequent lonely places
To enjoy the taste of solitude in isolation,
It is physically impossible to go.
Thus, You, to please the holiest of fields of merit,
With pure high resolve filled the realms of space
With jewels, gold nuggets, and heavenly silks,
With the three robes, monk's staffs, and ascetic's bowls,
Recommended by the Sage to the religious seekers,
And also emanated an excellent array of exquisite offerings
From your samadhi and vows,
And offered them all to the Lord of Humans,
With mind detached and free of expectations.
By the mass of pure virtue coming from that
May I become the refuge of all beings
Who have wandered so long in existence
Devoid of joy, tormented by the million pains!
May all beings who are out of contact
With the holy exaltation of the World-Leader,
Take lives as monks with the pure spiritual life,
And awaken their Universal Vehicle genealogies!
May they obtain unwavering honesty and tolerance,
Dauntless heroism and intense powerful faith,
Devotion, and the effort of constant practice,
And the consummate wisdom of discernment!
May the Sugatas be pleased by the ceasing of doubts
Through sustained practice in the ocean of wide learning,
Depending on the spiritual friends, supremely skillful teachers,
Kindly leading others with techniques from their own insight,
Having discovered the Victor's intention by the power of pure reason,
And by putting into practice the import of their understanding!
Not transgressing the regulations of the Muni,
Devoted to the Victor's heir, the spiritual friend,
Extremely sharp of mind, free of faults of wrong practice,
May You have such a retinue of perfect purity!
DIsturbed by the mind of dark tendencies,
Obstructed in enjoying the feast of meritorious deeds,
May I never encounter even for an instant,
Such an evil friend, relative of devils!
When I train myself, with proper devotion to Shakyamuni,
May there not even be the name of hindrance,
Blocking the fulfillment of the energetic deeds,
The demonic action that follows the unlucky ones!

Thus endowed holy and delightful persons
May they achieve without any obstruction
All the favorable circumstances of the deeds of enlightenment,
Praised by the Leader as the ornament of religious persons!
During the enlightenment deeds, may I establish
All realms of disciples in the renunciation
Bound by the pure precepts, and grant them just with a thought
All the furnishings appropriate to them!
From now on throughout all my lives,
Whatever I do with body, speech, and mind,
May it all become the cause of benefit
To all beings on all occasions!
Like a mother when her beloved son dies,
Through the love always breaking my heart,
For all beings tormented by all sufferings,
May I give away all my wealth!
When I purify all taints of the stage of deeds in faith,
May I become like Meru amid the golden mountains,
Among the common individual Bodhisattvas
Of the past, present, and future;
And becoming exalted through all the qualities
Of the eyes, superknowledges, and great learning,
May I attain the eloquence not dependent on others!
Training in the stages of the holy Bodhisattvas,
May I become like the eagle among the birds,
Among all the universal beings of three times,
The great heros abiding on the stages,
And with impeccable intuition penetrating without block,
All the points of knowables extremely vast
Hard to fathom by other Bodhisattvas,
May I become a treasury of energetic deeds!
When I gain the fruit of such practice,
May I perfect through practice of liberative technique,
The very same sum of whatever are the body,
And field and retinue, deeds, lifespan, and vows
Of all the Victors of the three times!
And this world which I contemplate from afar,
May I liberate in a single instant
By the falling of the great rain
Of the nectar of the Holy Dharma.
This "Brahma's Diadem", Praise of the Protector Maitreya, the Victor, sole
refuge for the whole world including the gods, was written by the learned Easterner
Losang Dragpai Pal at the Retreat House, "Empty Mountain Sunrise", at Lho Brag.
It is translated by Professor Robert Thurman and the translators from the Library
of Tibetan Works & Archives.

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Dewachen Prayer
(The abridged version of the prayer to be reborn in Sukhavati [Dewachen].)

E MA HO
Wonderful Buddha of Limitless Light
to His right the Lord of Great Compassion (Chenrezig)
and to His left the Bodhisattva of Great Power (Vajrapani);
all are surrounded by countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Joy and happiness without limit
is the land called Dewachen.
May I be born there as soon as I pass from this life,
without taking birth anywhere else in the mean time.
Having been born there may I see Amitabha's face.
Having made this aspiration prayer,
to all the Bodhisattvas of the ten directions,
may I be blessed with unhindered accomplishment.
TEYATHA PEN TSA DRIYA AWA BODHA NA YE SOHA
May all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions
and three times be gracious to me.
I rejoice in the two merits accumulated by myself and others.
All the virtues I have gathered in three times,
I offer to the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha).
May the teachings of the Buddha flourish
I dedicate the merit to all sentient beings.
May all sentient beings attain Enlightenment.
May all these virtues gathered together,
ripen in my mindstream.
By purifying the two defilements and accumulate merits.
May the life, health, practise and realization increase.
In this life time, may I attain the ten Bhumis.
When we leave this life,
may we reborn at once in Dewachen.
After having been born and having awakened as the lotus blooms,
At that very moment, may I attain Enlightenment.
After reaching Enlightenment, until Samsara is empty,
May we liberate all sentient beings by virtue of my miraculous powers.
SAMAYA GYA GYA GYA
This text was bestowed by the Dharmakaya Amitabha sometime between the first and twentieth day of the moon during the Autumn season to Tulku Migyur Dorje when he was twelve.

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GREAT PRAYER FOR WORLD PEACE

Compiled by The Venerable Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden
Spiritual Head and Leader
Tibetan Buddhist Society

May all living beings be adorned with love,
Compassion, joy and equanamity
May they possess generosity, ethics,
Patience, effort, concentration and wisdom.

Thus by the virtue collected
Through all that I have done
May the pain of every living being
Be completely cleared away.

May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse
For all sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed.

May a rain of food and drink descend
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger,
And during the aeon of famine,
May I myself change into food and drink.

May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute;
May I turn into all things they could need
And may these be placed close beside them.

Without any sense of loss
I shall give up my body and enjoyments
As well as all my virtues of the three times
For the sake of benefitting all.

May I be a protector for those without one,
A guide for all travellers on the way;
May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship
For all those who wish to cross the water.

May I be an island for those who seek one,
And a lamp for those desiring light.
May I be a bed for all who wish to rest,
And a slave for all who want a slave.

Just like space
And the great elements such as earth,
May I always support the life
Of all the boundless creatures.

May the blind see forms,
May the deaf hear sounds,
And just as a rainbow arises naturally from space,
May pregnant women give birth without pain.

May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food;
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the forlorn find new hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.

May all who are sick and ill
Quickly be freed from their illness,
And may every disease in the world
Never occur again.

May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power,
And may people think of benefitting one another.

May all sentient beings have all the stainless powers,
Freedom from all conditions of non-leisure
Freedom of action
And good livelihood.

May embodied beings have good complexion,
Good physique, great beauty, a pleasant appearance,
Freedom from disease,
Power and long life.

May I always be an object of enjoyment
For all sentient beings according to their wish
And without interference as are the earth,
Water, fire, wind, medicine and forests.

May I be as dear to sentient beings as their
Own life and may they be very dear to me.
May their negativities ripen for me
And all my virtues for them.

May I give profit and victory to others,
And take loss and defeat for myself.
May I abandon selfishly cherishing myself,
And continuously practice cherishing others.

As long as any sentient being
Anywhere has not been liberated,
May I remain in the world for his sake
Even though I have attained enlightenment.

May all worldly beings
Never experience war, fighting or conflict
And forever remain without bad conditions,
Such as earthquakes, disease or drought.

May peace pervade the hearts of all
That they will ever abide in joy and abundance.

(c) Tibetan Buddhist Society

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Precept Dedication Prayer
by Shantideva, revised by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

May all beings everywhere,
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind,
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of my merits.
May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil or ever fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.
May the blind see forms,
And the deaf hear sounds.
May those whose bodies are worn with toil
Be restored on finding repose.
May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food.
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.
May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy.
May the forlorn find hope,
Constant happiness and prosperity.
May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests.
May all medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit.
May all who are sick and ill
Quickly be freed from their ailments.
Whatever diseases there are in the world,
May they never occur again.
May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed.
May the powerless find power
And may people think of benefiting each other.

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THE OCEAN OF CLOUDS OF PRAISES OF THE GURU MANJUGHOSHA
by Je Tsong Khapa
written in 1394

Who calms the flames of ambitions for one's own pleasure,
with the waters of long-cultivated compassion,
Who cuts the net of imaginative fabrications,
by seeing the reality of the profound as it is,
Who carries with tireless heart the responsibility of helping
others, to reveal to beings what he sees himself,
My mind is aimed at such a tutelary deity as you, O Manjushri!
Please consider for a moment these flowers of verses of praise,
Stirred by the wind of faith, O Manjughosha, Treasure of Wisdom,
O radiant shining mass of rays of saffron light,
Like the great solid golden axial mountain,
Embraced by the rays of the rising sun!
Though one were to seek strenuously everywhere,
One finds no good refuge other than in you,
When my mind thus turns itself toward you,
It is like a sun-burnt elephant plunging in the lotus pond!
Thus, expressing your excellence, when I let my mind go
Toward the means of finding fulfillment of my hopes,
It is like the lowly beggar's pleasure
When he sees the beautiful gift-giver coming!
Praise of Body
Your body is tall and straight like the axial mountain,
Its expanse is handsome as the banyan tree,
The complexion of your skin is pure and clear
Like dust of gold, fine, smooth, and soft.
On your crown, like the tip of a victory standard,
Your coiffe of long, soft, shining black hair,
Is bound in a beautiful turban whose crest
Has five tufts, slightly leaning to the left.
Your head is massive like a shapely parasol dome,
Adorned with a diadem of precious stones,
Your hair-line is high and well-defined,
And the spread of your brow is like the waxing moon.
The mid-brow is adorned by an immaculate urna-hair,
As if carved out in pure silver,
Shapely, curling to the right,
Clear white as a lily or as a lotus stalk.
Your eyebrows are long, even, of lustrous soft hairs,
Black in color and slightly arched.
Your eyelashes are attractive as a bull's,
Thick, soft, not bristly, well-proportioned.
Your eyes are long and slightly round,
Like the petals of the blue utpala-lotus,
Beautiful, the pupils and whites unclouded,
Your nose is well proportioned and prominent,
Your lips attractive, red as the bimba fruit,
Your forty teeth white, even, and well-polished.
Cheeks round and full like the king of deer
Your tongue sensitive to good taste is soft and supple,
And can cover the entire orb of your face.
On the long lobes of your fine ears
Dangle earrings adorned with many gems.
Amd your immaculate neck is well adorned
WIth a necklace of sparkling jewels.
The surface of your hands, feet, arches shoulders, and neck,
Your body completely full, with no imbalance,
Its upper part as broad as Mahadeva,
Your chest as wide at the slope of Meru,
Your arm well rounded at the shoulder,
Long and beautiful like the elephant-king's trunk.
The web of beauty on your fingers and toes
Is well shaped like the king of geese.
Your nails shine with a polished red color,
Their garland adorning your fingers,
Like new shoots on the branches of the wish-granting tree,
Soft, flexible, long, with youthful flesh.
The palms and soles of your hands and feet
Are adorned with the best thousand-spoked golden wheel,
Precise and complete, not jumbled together,
Distinct and regular as if pressed from the same seal.
Adorned with armlet and bracelet
Your right hand holds the sword
That cuts the root of the tree of materialism,
Shining forth a brilliant net of light.
Your left hand holds at your heart
The stalk of a blue utpala lotus,
On which rests the supreme volume of exact and full teaching
Of the path of relativity, the sole doorway to peace.
Upon your shimmering lower robe of variegated silk
Soft and smooth, dyed with marvellous colors,
The lower hem of golden tinkling bells
Makes a pleasant sound, beautifully draping.
Your organs are retracted like a superb horse,
Your fine and soft body hairs
Grow individually, curling to the right
And grow upwards on your body.
Their skin delicate, your calves are good and round.
Your ankles are without protruding bones.
Your soles are flat like a turtle's belly.
A quarter of the foot turns out, and your heel is broad.
On a seat of a perfectly round moon-disc,
On the saffron center of a six-petalled white lotus,
Ankles adorned with beautiful, tinkling anklets
Your two feet are crossed in the Vajra posture.
Your body is supremely beautiful, supreme body born of the
superlative cause, ultimate store of merit,
Like an illusion before many beings, in all superb lands
limitless, throughout endless space,
Born on occassion, teaching the path of enlightenment even
in other lands, your body, O Teacherm
Its superb array here and elsewhere, even if all beings were
to become omniscient, they could not express it!
As the thousand-rayed sun plunging its seven horses
into the saffron ocean,
Your body radiates everywhere masses of light of which one can
never see enough,
By whatever merit I gain by this slight praise,
May the beautiful body of Manjughosha never leave my sight!
When I just have beheld your body,
I weary of my long wandering in existence,
May my troublesome mind always taking the wrong path
Come into the power of the spirit of enlightenment!
Praise of Speech
Further, having attained an infinite store of samadhis,
With retentions, superknowledges, and doors of liberation,
May I manifest limitless physical arrays,
To see the Victors in the million universes!
Then, having reached the limit of wide learning,
Satisfying limitless beings with the Dharma,
May I before too long attain the supreme body
Of the chief of all Victors, the Lord of Speech!
Your saffron body manifesting a thousand light-rays,
As if reflecting in the surface of a polished mirror,
Erect and beautiful as a curving rainbow,
I salute you Manjughosha, Lord of Speech!
Your voices fill all universes everywhere in every different language,
Satisfying the minds of all living beings appropriately,
eclipsing even the lustre of creators,
Melody of your speech like a sphere of music,
which sweet speech outlasts the samsara,
Whose ear it enters, it takes away their sickness,
their old age, and their death.
Your speech is pleasant, gentle, charming, heart-stirring,
Harmounious, its sweetness is pure, stainless clear light,
Worth hearing, taming the wild with sweetness,
Not rough, not coarse, very calm, it pleases the ear.
Satisfying body, mind, and heart, it generates delight,
Painless, all-informing, it is to be understood.
Brilliantly delightful, intedsely delightful,
Totally illuminating, enlightening,
Rational, relevant, free of all redundancy,
Its tone is sweet as a lion, elephant, lord of serpents,
Dragon, gandharva, kalavinka, Brahma,
Crane, lord of swans.
Its drumbeat is no high, not low, penetrating all appropriately,
Your phrases are expressive, not incomplete,
Not disheartened, not feeble, pervaded with joy and insight,
Conhesive, relevant, and all conclusive
Satisfying all senses, not contemptuous, not vacillating,
Renowned throughout the whole thoughtless samsara.
It dispels the three times, punishes the demon hosts,
Emerging with supremacy in all its forms.
Such a voice with sixty-four qualities,
All are present even in a single statement,
It gives happiness to the hearing of the lucky
As far as space can reach.
It does not seem too loud when near, nor faint when far,
But accords with the language of each of countless disciples
like a crystal prisming various colors,
Manifests as coming from all parts of your body, such as
crown, urna-hair, and throat,
And yet it pacifies all the notions of all those hearers,
just as the Brahma-voice can manifest from sky.
Like the deep thunder withtin the rain-cloud
Girt with its belt of beautiful red lightning.
By this merit of praising the speech of Manjughosha,
May I never be parted from the hearing of your speech!
Just by hearing your stream of speech,
The lucky accept it, condemning wrong discourse,
May the well-wrought phrases reachthe ultimate
In the explaining, writing, and arguing
That fascinate all the intelligent!
Easily obtaining supreme intellectual understanding
Of unhindered linguistic grasp of all languages of beings,
May I achieve the triumph of cutting off all doubts
Of all living beings without exception!
Never transgressing the boundaries
Of the statements of your instructions,
Through devoted single-pointed practice,
May I quickly achieve the mastery of speech!
Praise of Mind
Color of good gold mixed with dyes of coral,
Wisdom certain of the proper color of all knowables,
Lord of Wisdom, Manjughosha, refuge of beings,
May you as supreme refuge grant superlative wisdom!
Drunk on the ichor of materialism, knowledge of
right and wrong destroyed,
Completely wrecking the tree of virtue,
with its trunk poisoned with afflictions,
The mind dragged by the chains of existence, losing the
female elephant of success,
Such is the elephant of the mind hard to tame, running amuck
in the jungle of unconsciousnes!
It should be bound tightly with the rope of conscience,
mindfulness, and awareness,
Driven with the goad of genuine reasoning,
And guided onto the good path of holy relativity,
Praised and trodden by millions of supreme holy ones.
With the powerful force of tireless effort on that way,
By meditating again and again for limitless aeons,
By the Vajra of the illusion-like samadhi,
The mountain of extremisms is rendered merely a name!
Again the innumerable Lord Victors,
Being pleased by oceans of clouds of supreme offerings,
With the sound of the Brahma-voices from their taintless throats,
Grant supreme instruction taught with one intention.
This food of nectar eradicating the hundred illnesses of existence,
By constant use increases the strenghth of the body of intelligence
Which reaches the transcendences of the energetic deeds
Of the Bodhisattva so very difficult to reach.
The one is no longer oppressed by extremist habits,
False appearances entirely conquered, there arises
The chief of all samadhis without hindrance ---
The samadhi renowned as like a Vajra.
By the power of your manifestation of that
Appearance on the part of illusory objects
And the dream-like intelligence, which knows clearly
All experience and appearance, enter the ultimate realm.
Thus, like a tree whose root is destroyed,
Since you have eradicated the seeds of all habits,
How could you, refuge, ever deviate
From the Body of Truth, as long as space shall last!
Thus while you, Protector, never leave the ultimate realm at all,
The vivid appearance of the many objects are perfectly known
individually without mixing,
Though like reflections in a mirror, or like a rainbow in the sky,
O Intuitive One, Your wisdom embraces all even in an instant!
From generosity comes wealth and not poverty,
From avarice comes poverty and not wealth!
You understand all such points of inexorable relativity,
Therefore, you are the chief of philosophers!
The process of evolution with its fruits of virtue and sin
Of all those who move unchecked through existence,
There is nothing in it that you do not understand;
Therefore, there is never any parting from your speech.
The process of various attitudes such as sticking to desire,
Inclining to hatred, or the reverse of these and so forth;
Since you directly see all this, none of your deeds
Can ever fail to accomplish the aims of beings,
Not a single one of all the categories of the eighteen elements
Are hidden in the slightest from your understanding,
Therefore you never exceed in the slightest
Just proportion in training the faculties of disciples.
Since your understanding is never blocked in application
To the sharpness, dullness, or absence of faculties
Such as faith in those who wander in existence
You are extremely skillful in the technique of teaching Dharma.
Since you knoe without obscuration entirely
The paths of ascendance and of transcendence
And of going to the wretched states,
You are the excellent spiritual friend of living beings.
Through all samadhis such as those of form and formless,
The lion's stretch and terrific trumph,
You are not confused in the practice-methods of entrance and arisal,
You are consummate in all meditational absorptions.
You are skilled in the limits of the past,
Since you realize in a mere instant
The memory and understanding of former lives of self and others
Which have been continuous from beginningless samsara.
You are skilled in the limits of the future,
Since you know very well all the places of rebirth,
Having migrated through death from just this present time
According to one's good and evil actions.
Your direct vision, completely free of blocks,
Sees the Nirvana that is the termination of defilements
And the Eightfold Path the means of terminating them;
Thus you are the best of all refuges.
Your knowledge penetrates unhindered the appropriate
and the inappropriate, the effects of evolution,
Attitudes, the universes, the degree of faculties, the paths
that lead everywhere,
The afflictions, purifications, the past abodes, death,
migrations, birth, and termination of defilement,
What point of knowables is not under your command, not
your object?
Those who wander in existence from the beginningless,
Though they frequent with powerful effort
The path of harming others to gain their own happiness,
Are erring as their hardships will prove fruitless.
So you also see that those who for themselves,
Even not harming others even in the slightest,
Day and night strive a hundred ways for liberation,
Have also turned their backs on the true path.
Thus you long practiced the good path of compassion,
The sole path of all the Victors,
The Mother which looks after all beings,
The door for entering the fray of the hero Bodhisattvas.
You, loving one, see the great error of forsaking
Others' happiness, as there's no virtue in all this world,
Not accepting suffering even in your dreams,
And not resting content even with the utmost pleasures,
And so by your primal cultivation
Of the spirit of enlightenment that sees
The equality of self and others,
You hold all living beings as yourself.
Craving one's own happiness blocks the path.
Cherishing others is the treasury of all excellence.
Thus your practice again and again the method of exchange
Of self and others, making all beings yourself.

Thus yo, Lord, completely nurse physical strength
Frequently with the mother of compassion,
How can even the culmination of excellence
Be deprived even by the bliss of peace?
Just as the king of birds soars in the heavens
Not falling to the earth, not his proper place,
By praising your mind that stays neither in existence nor in peace,
May I never be apart from the wisdom and love of Manjughosha!
The view that removes all occasions for extremism.
And the compassion that sees all beings as one's only child.
Having achieved them easily withtin my mind.
May I lead all beings onto the supreme vehicle!
The retention that remembers word and meaning of all teachings,
And supreme eloquence that answers all questions,
Quickly generating these, may I spread out the feast
Of eloquent explanations of the masses of the Dharma!
By the glory of the mind of Manjughosha
Who, without calculating, fulfills the hopes
Of various disciples according to their inclinations,
May I become beautiful as the autumn moon in the sky!
* * *
Ceaselessly praised by limitless Victors
in the universes of the ten directions,
He is called Manjughosha, whose sweetness fills the three realms,
And this ocean of clouds of praises, reverently
expressing just a bit of his excellence,
Who upholds it and reads it, May Manjughosha
quickly enter his mind!

Composed by the learned Easterner Losang Dragpa Pal at the hermitage of
O-de-gung-rgyal at the prince of snowy mountains in Tibet, written down by the
Buddhist scholar Bhadrapala. It is translated by Professor Robert Thurman and
the translators from the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives.