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An Aspirational Prayer for Mahamudra of Rangjung Dorje, The Third

Karmapa

Translated by John Rockwell

Namo Guru

1.

Gurus, yidam deities of the mandala,

Victorious ones of the three times and ten directions,
together with your sons,
Please consider us with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that these aspirations may be accomplished
just as we intend.

2.

May all rivers, the accumulation of virtue

unpolluted by the three concepts,
Flowing from the snow mountains of pure intention and action
Of myself and all the infinite sentient beings
Merge into the ocean, the four kayas of the victorious ones.

3.

Until we attain this fruition,

Through all our lives,
May evil and suffering be unknown,
And may we enjoy the glorious ocean of happiness and goodness.
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4.

Possessing the supreme freedoms and resources,

endowed with faith, exertion, and prajna,
Attending an excellent spiritual friend,
and receiving the pith instructions,
May we have no obstacles to practicing these properly
And enjoy the holy dharma throughout all our lives.

5.

Learning scripture and reasoning frees from the obscuration of ignorance.

Contemplating the oral instructions destroys the darkness of doubt.
The light of meditation illuminates reality just as it is.
May the brilliance of the three prajnas increase.

6.

The ground is the two truths,

free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism.
The supreme path is the two accumulations,
free from the extremes of exaggeration and denial.
May we attain the fruition of the two benefits,
free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana.
May we thus meet with the unerring dharma.
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7.

The basis of purification is the unity of luminosity-emptiness,

the true nature of mind.
The means of purification is the great vajra yoga of mahamudra.
What is purified is the stains of adventitious confusion.
May we realize the fruition of purification,
the stainless dharmakaya.

8.

Resolving all doubt as to the ground is the confidence of the view.

Maintaining this without distraction is the main point of meditation.
Applying the meditation completely is the supreme action.
May we have confidence in the view, meditation, and action.

9.

All phenomena are the illusory display of mind.

Mind is no mind, empty of any entity that is mind.
Though empty, everything appears unceasingly.
May we fully examine this and resolve any doubt as to the ground.

10.

Projections that never existed are mistakenly taken as objects.

Through ignorance, self-existing awareness is mistakenly taken as an ego.
Clinging to duality, we have wandered in samsaric existence.
May we discover the root of ignorance and confusion.
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11.

It is not existent- even the victorious ones have not seen it.
It is not nonexistent- it is the basis of all samsara and nirvana.
This is not a contradiction, but is the middle path of unity.
May we realize the true nature of mind, which is free from extremes.

12.

It can not be shown by saying, “This is it.”

It can not be refuted by saying, “This is not it.”
The true nature of phenomena is beyond concept, unconditioned.
May we definitely know the perfect ultimate truth.

13.

Not realizing this, one circles in the ocean of samsara.

Realizing this is no other than enlightenment.
Nothing is affirmed or negated at all.
May we realize the essential point of the dharmata,
the ground of everything.

14.

Both appearance is mind and emptiness is mind.

Both realization is mind and confusion is mind.
Both birth is mind and cessation is mind.
May all doubts about mind be resolved.
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15.

Not corrupted by the effort of mind-made meditation

And not blown about by the winds of everyday busyness,
May we know how to rest in unfabricated, innate spontaneity
And skillfully maintain the practice of the truth of mind.

16.

The waves of subtle and gross thoughts subside by themselves.

The waters of unmoving mind rest naturally.
May the ocean of shamatha
Be undisturbed, free of the dregs of drowsiness.

17.

Looking again and again at the mind that can not be looked at,
One sees clearly just as it is the truth of not seeing.
Resolving any doubt as to how it is or is not,
May we recognize our unconfused nature by ourselves.

18.

Looking at objects, one sees no objects, but just mind.

Looking at mind, there is no mind- it is empty of nature.
Looking at both of these, clinging to duality is self-liberated.
May we realize the true nature of luminous mind.
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19.

Free from mental fabrication, it is Mahamudra.

Free from extremes, it is Great Madhyamaka.
This is also called the Great Perfection, the consummation of all.
May we have confidence that understanding one realizes all.

20.

Great bliss free from attachment is unceasing.

Luminosity free from clinging to concept is unobscured.
Nonthought beyond conceptual mind is spontaneity.
May meditative experience free from striving be continuous.

21.

Attachment to good meditative experience is self-liberated.

The confusion of negative thoughts is pure by nature within the dharmadhatu.
Ordinary mind is beyond accepting and rejecting, loss and gain.
May we realize the truth of simplicity, the dharmata.

22.

All beings are always enlightened by nature,

But not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
May unbearable compassion for sentient beings
Who experience boundless suffering arise in our being.
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23.

The energy of unbearable compassion is unceasing,

Yet when one feels compassion,
it is nakedly clear that it is free of any nature.
May we meditate day and night
Inseparable from this unity, the supreme unerring path.

24.

Through meditation, one attains the eyes and higher perceptions,

Ripens sentient beings, purifies a buddha field,
And fulfills the aspiration to attain the qualities of a buddha.
May we attain Buddhahood, the perfection of fulfilling, ripening, and purifying.

25.

Through the kindness of the victorious ones

of the ten directions and their sons
And by the power of all the pure virtue that exists,
May the pure aspirations of myself and all sentient beings
Be accomplished just as we intend.