INTENSIFYING DEVOTION IN ONE'S HEART:
The Supplication "Crying to the Gurus from Afar"
by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye
NAMO GURAVE
This practice of crying to the gurus from afar is well known. to everyone. The key to invoking blessings is devotion, which is aroused by sadness and renunciation. This is not a mere platitude, but is born in the center of one's heart and in the depths of one's bones. With decisive conviction that there is no other buddha who is greater than the guru, recite this melodic tune.
Guru, think of me.
Kind root guru, think of me.
Essence of the buddhas of the three times,
Source of the holy dharma--what has been told and what has been experienced--
Master of the sangha, the noble assembly,
Root guru, think of me.
Great treasure of blessings and compassion,
Source of the two siddhis,
Buddha activity that bestows whatever is desired,
Root guru, think of me.
Guru Amitabha, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of dharmakaya, simplicity.
Lead us of evil karma who wander in samsara
To the pure land of great bliss.
Curu Avalokitesvara, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of sambhogakaya, luminosity.
Pacify completely the suffering of the six realms.
Shake us from the depths of the three realms of samsara.
Guru Padmakara, think of me.
Look upon me from the lotus light of Camara.
The wretched Tibetan people who are without refuge in this dark age,
Quickly protect with your compassion.
Guru Yeshe Tsogyal, think of me.
Look upon me from the celestial realm, the city of great bliss.
Help us who commit evil deeds to cross the ocean of samsara
To the great city of liberation.
Gurus of the kama and terma lineages, think of me.
Look upon me from the wisdom realm of unity.
Break through the dark dungeon of my confused mind.
Make the sun of realization arise.
Omniscient Trime Oser, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of the five spontaneous wisdom lights.
Help me to strengthen my primordially pure mind
And master the four stages of ati yoga.
Incomparable Lord Atisa, father and son, think of me.
Look upon me from amidst one hundred devas in Tusita.
Arouse in me bodhicitta,
The essence of emptiness and compassion.
Three supreme siddhas-Marpa, Mila, and Gampopa-think of me.
Look upon me from the vajra realm of great bliss.
May I attain the supreme siddhi of mahamudra, bliss and emptiness,
And awaken dharmakaya in my heart.
Karmapa, lord of the world, think of me.
Look upon me from the space which tames all beings everywhere.
Help me to realize that all dharmas are insubstantial and illusory.
Make appearance and mind dawn as the three kayas.
Kagyus of the four great and eight lesser lineages, think of me.
Look upon me from the land of sacred outlook.
Help me to clear away my confusion in the fourth moment
And perfect my experience and realization.
Five Sakya forefathers, jetsuns, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of inseparable samsara and nirvana.
Help me to unite the completely pure view, meditation, and action
And walk upon the supreme secret path.
Incomparable Shangpa Kagyu, think of me.
Look upon me from the completely pure buddha land.
Help me to learn properly the practice that liberates through skillful means
And attain the unity of nonlearning.
Great siddha, Thangtong Gyalpo, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of effortless compassion.
Help me to practice the yogic action of realizing insubstantiality.
Help me to master prana and mind.
Only father, Phadampa Sanggye, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of accomplishing the highest action.
May the blessings of your lineage enter my heart
And may auspicious coincidence arise in all directions.
Only mother, Machik Lapkyi Dronma, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of prajnaparamita.
Help me to uproot ego-fixation, the cause of pride,
And realize the truth of egolessness beyond conception.
Omniscient enlightened one of Tolpo, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm endowed with all the supreme aspects.
Help me to still the shifting breaths in the central channel
And attain the immovable vajra body.
Jetsun Taranatha, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of the three mudras.
May I tread the secret vajra path unhindered.
And attain the rainbow body in the celestial realm.
Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, think of me.
Look upon me from the wisdom realm of the two kinds of knowing.
Help me to remove the obscurations of my ignorance
And expand the vision of supreme knowledge.
Osel Trulpe Dorje, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of the five rainbow light rays.
Help me to cleanse the impurities of bindu, prana, and mind
And attain enlightenment of this youthful kaya in the vase.
Padma Do Ngak Lingpa, think of me.
Look upon me from the unchanging realm of bliss and emptiness.
Enable me to completely fulfill
All the intentions of the victorious ones and their sons.
Ngakwang Yonten Gyatso, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of the union of space and wisdom.
May the habit of solidifying reality fall apart
And may I bring whatever occurs to the path.
Son of the victorious ones, Lodro Thaye, think of me.
Look upon me from your nature of maitri and compassion.
Enable me to realize that all beings are my kind parents
And wholeheartedly accomplish the benefit of others.
Padma Kargyi Wangchuk, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm of great bliss and luminosity.
Help me to liberate the five poisons into the five wisdoms.
And destroy my clinging to loss and gain.
Tennyi Yungtrung Lingpa, think of me.
Look upon me from the realm in which samsara and nirvana are equal.
May natural devotion be born in my being.
May realization and liberation simultaneously increase.
Kind root guru, think of me.
Look upon me from the top of my head, the place of great bliss.
May I meet my own mind, the face of dharmakaya
And attain buddhahood in one lifetime.
Alas!
Sentient beings like myself, evildoers with bad karma,
Have wandered in samsara from beginningless time.
Even now we experience endless suffering,
And yet not even an instant of remorse has occurred.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I give rise to renunciation from my depths.
Although I have obtained a free and well-favored human birth,
I have wasted it in vain.
I am constantly distracted by the activities of this futile life.
Unable to accomplish the great objective of liberation and overcome by laziness,
I return empty-handed from a land of jewels.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I fulfill the purpose of human birth.
There is no one on earth who will not die.
Even now, one after another they pass away.
I also will die very soon,
And yet like an idiot, I prepare to live for a long time.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I curtail my worthless schemes.
I will become separated from my lovers and friends.
The wealth and food which I hoarded in miserliness will be enjoyed by others.
Even this body I hold so dear will be left behind.
My consciousness will wander in the unknown pardos of samsara.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I realize the futility of life.
The black darkness of fear escorts me along.
The fierce red wind of karma chases after me.
Yama's hideous messengers beat and hack me.
Thus, I experience the unbearable suffering of the lower realms.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I free myself from the chasms of the lower realms.
My faults are as large as a mountain, but I conceal them within me.
Others' faults are as minute as a sesame seed, but I proclaim and condemn them.
I boast about my virtues, though I don't even have a few.
I call myself a dharma practitioner and practice only nondharma.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I subdue my selfishness and pride.
I hide the demon of ego-fixation within, which will ruin me permanently.
All of my thoughts are the cause of perpetuating klesas.
All of my actions have unvirtuous results.
I have not even gone toward the path of liberation.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I uproot my selfishness.
Just a little praise or blame makes me happy or sad.
A mere harsh word causes me to lose my armor of patience.
Even when I see helpless ones, compassion does not arise.
When needy people come to me, I am tied up by a knot of miserliness.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that my mind is mixed with the dharma.
I hold on dearly to futile samsara.
For the sake of food and clothing, I completely abandon permanent objectives.
Though I have everything I need, I constantly want more and more.
My mind is duped by insubstantial and illusory things.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I am not attached to this life.
I cannot endure even the slightest physical or mental pain,
Yet I am so stubborn that I have no fear of falling into the lower realms.
Though I actually see unerring cause and effect,
Still I do not act virtuously, but perpetuate evil.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that conviction in karma arises in me.
I am hateful toward enemies and attached to friends.
I am stupefied in darkness as to what should be accepted and rejected.
When practicing the dharma, I fall under the influence of discursiveness, sloth, and sleep.
When acting against the dharma, I am clever and my senses are alert.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I conquer my enemy, the klesas.
My outer appearance is that of an authentic dharma practitioner,
But inside, my mind is not mixed with the dharma.
Like a poisonous snake, the klesas are concealed within me.
When I encounter bad circumstances, my hidden faults as a bad practitioner are revealed.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I can tame my own mind.
I don't realize my own bad faults.
I maintain the form of a practitioner while engaging in various nondharmic pursuits.
Because of the klesas, I am naturally accustomed to unvirtuous actions.
Again and again I give birth to a mind of virtue, but again and again it falls apart.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I see my own faults.
As each day passes, my death is nearer and nearer.
As each day passes, my being is harsher and harsher.
Though I attend my guru, my devotion becomes gradually obscured.
Love, affection, and sacred outlook toward my dharma companions grow smaller and smaller.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I tame my stubborn nature.
I've taken refuge, aroused bodhicitta, and made supplications,
But devotion and compassion are not born in the depths of my heart.
I give lip service to dharmic action and spiritual practice,
But they become routine and I'm not touched by them.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I may be one with the dharma.
All suffering comes from desiring happiness for oneself.
Although it is said that buddhahood is attained by considering the welfare of others,
I arouse supreme bodhicitta but secretly cherish selfishness.
Not only do I not benefit others, I casually cause them harm.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I exchange myself for others.
The guru is buddha in person, but I regard him as an ordinary man.
I forget his kindness in giving profound instructions.
When he doesn't do what I want, I lose heart.
His actions and behavior are clouded over by my doubts and disbelief.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that unobscured devotion will increase.
My own mind is the Buddha, but I never realize this.
Discursive thoughts are dharmakaya, but I don't realize this.
This is the unfabricated, innate state, but I cannot keep to this.
Naturalness is things as they really are, but I have no conviction in this.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that my mind will be spontaneously liberated.
Death is certain to come, but I am unable to take this to heart.
The holy dharma truly benefits, but I am unable to practice it properly.
Karma and its result are certainly true, but I do not properly discriminate what to accept or reject.
Mindfulness and awareness are certainly necessary, but not stabilizing them, I am swept away by distractions.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I maintain un distracted mindfulness.
Because of my former evil actions, I was born at the end of the dark age.
All that I have previously done has caused me suffering.
Because of evil friends, I am darkened by the shadow of evil deeds.
My dharma practice has been sidetracked by my meaningless chatter.
Guru, think of me; look upon me quickly with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that I completely accomplish the holy dharma.
Grant your blessings so that I give birth to deep sadness.
Grant your blessings so that my worthless schemes are curtailed.
Grant your blessings so that I take to heart the certainty of death.
Grant your blessings so that conviction in karma arises in me.
Grant your blessings so that the path is free from obstacles.
Grant your blessings so that I am able to exert myself in practice.
Grant your blessings so that unfortunate circumstances are brought to the path.
Grant your blessings so that I continually apply my antidotes.
Grant your blessings so that genuine devotion arises in me.
Grant your blessings so that I glimpse the natural state.
Grant your blessings so that insight is awakened in my heart.
Grant your blessings so that I uproot confusion.
Grant your blessings so that I attain buddhahood in one lifetime.
Precious guru, I supplicate you.
Kind lord of the dharma, I cry to you with longing.
I am an unworthy person who relies on no one but you.
Grant your blessings so that my mind mixes inseparably with yours.
I was first requested by some devoted monks to compose a supplication, but I was delayed in fulfilling their request. Recently, Samdrup Dronma, a lady practitioner of noble family, and Deva Raksita earnestly urged me. Therefore, I, Lodro Thaye, who merely hold the appearance of a guru in this dark age, wrote this at the great meditation center, Dzongsho Deshek Dupa. May virtue increase.
Translated by the Nalanda Translation Committee.