A Prayer To Avert Nuclear
War by Chatral
Rinpoche
Namo
Guru Ratnatraya! To the Teacher and
the Three Jewels, I bow. True
leader of the golden age - Crown of the Sakyas! Second Buddha, Prince of Oddiyana, Lake-Born
Vajra, Bodhisattvas - eight
closest spiritual heirs High
Nobles, Avilokitesvara and Manjushri, Vajrapani and the rest! Twenty-one Taras, Host of Noble
Elders, Root and lineage
lamas, deities, Peaceful and
wrathful gods! Dakinis in
your three homes! (the
earth, the heavens and the emanated worlds!) You who through wisdom or karma have become
Defenders of the Doctrine!
Guardians of the Directions!
Seventy-five Glorious Protectors! You who are clairvoyant, powerful, magical and
mighty! Behold and ponder
the beings of this age of turmoil! We are
beings born at the sorry end of time; An ocean of ill-effects overflow from our
universally bad actions. The
forces of light flicker, The
forces of darkness, a demon army, inflames great and powerful
men. And they rise in
conflict, armed with nuclear weapons That will disintegrate the earth.
The weapon of perverse and errant
intentions Has unleashed the
hurricane. Soon, in an
instant, it will reduce the world And all those in it to atoms of dust.
Through this ill-omened devils'
tool It is easy to see, to
hear and think about
Ignorant people, caught in a net of confusion and doubt,
Are obstinate and still refuse to
understand. It terrifies us
just to hear about or to remember This unprecedented thing. The
world is filled with uncertainty, But there is no means of stopping it, nor place of
hope, Other than you,
undeceiving Three Jewels and Three Roots, (Buddhas, Teaching and Spiritual Community, Lama,
Deity and
Dakini) If we cry to you
like children calling their mother and father, If we implore you with this prayer,
Do not falter in your ancient
vows! Stretch out the
lightning hand of compassion! Protect and shelter us defenseless beings, and free
us from fear! When the
mighty barbarians sit in council of war - barbarians who rob the earth of pleasure and
happiness - barbarians who
have wrong, rough, poisonous thoughts. Bend their chiefs and lieutenants
To the side of peace and
happiness! Pacify on the
spot, the armed struggle that blocks us! Turn away and defeat the atomic
weapons Of the demons'
messengers, And by that
power, make long the life of the righteous, And spread the theory and practice of the
doctrine To the four corners
of this great world!
Eliminate root, branch and leaf - even the names Of those dark forces, human and
non-human, Who hate others
and the teaching! Spread
vast happiness and goodness
Over this fragile planet!
Elevate it truly with the four kinds of glory! And as in the golden age, with all strife
gone, Let us be busy only
with the dance of pleasure, the dance of joy! We pray with pure thoughts- By the compassion of that ocean the three supreme
refuges And the power of the
Realm of Truth; The complete
sublime truth, Achieve the
goal of this, our prayer
Magically, just as we have hoped and dreamed!
Translated from the Tibetan by Richard Kohn and Lama Tsedrup
Tharchin
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