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Aspiration
Prayer for Mahamudra, the Definitive Meaning
by Karmapa
Rangjung Dorje
Namo
Guru
Lamas, yidams, and deities of the mandala,
Victorious
Ones and your sons and daughters of the
ten directions and three times,
Please hold us in your great
loving-kindness
And bless our aspiration prayers that they may be
perfectly fulfilled. (1)
May the rivers of my own and
all limitless others' gathered virtue,
undefiled by the three spheres,
That spring from the snow
mountain
Of our completely pure intentions and actions
Flow
into the ocean of the Victorious Ones' four kayas.
(2)
In this and in all our future lifetimes,
For as long
as it may be until we attain enlightenment,
May not even the
words "negative action" or "suffering" be heard
And may we
enjoy the glory of oceans of virtue and happiness.
(3)
In all our lifetimes may we gain the supreme freedoms and
resources,
and have faith, joyous
diligence, and prajna,
May we rely on excellent spiritual
teachers, and having received
the
nectar of their instructions,
May we practice accordingly and
encounter no obstacles in doing so —
May we always practice the
genuine Dharma. (4)
Listening to scriptures and
reasonings frees us from
the
obscurations of ignorance,
Reflecting on the key instructions
vanquishes the darkness of doubt,
Meditation's light illuminates
the true nature just as it is —
May the brilliance of the three
kinds of wisdom increase. (5)
The two truths free from
the extremes of realism and nihilism
are the reality of the ground,
And through the supreme path, the
two accumulations free from
the
extremes of superimposition and denial,
The fruition that
accomplishes the two benefits free
from
the extremes of existence and peace is attained —
May we meet
with this Dharma that is flawless and sure. (6)
The
base of purification is mind itself, the union of clarity and
emptiness —
May the great purifying vajra-yoga of Mahamudra
Clear away what is to be purified, the fleeting stains of
confusion,
And may we manifest the result of this purification,
stainless Dharmakaya. (7)
Eliminating superimpositions
about the ground is confident view,
Guarding non-distraction from
that is meditation's essential point,
Becoming expert in all
types of meditation is conduct supreme —
May we gain such
confident view, meditation, and conduct. (8)
All
phenomena are mind's magical play
As for mind, there is no
mind! Mind is empty of essence.
Empty and unimpeded, it can
appear as absolutely anything —
Analyzing excellently, may we cut
through all superimpositions
about the
ground. (9)
Our own projections, never existent, we
mistake to be objects,
Out of ignorance we mistake self-awareness
to be self,
Clinging to this duality makes us wander in the
vastness
of existence —
May we cut through ignorance and
confusion at their root. (10)
It is not existent — even
the Victorious Ones do not see it,
It is not nonexistent — it is
the basis of all samsara and nirvana,
It is not the contradiction
of being both — it is the Middle Way path of union —
May we
realize mind's essential reality, free from extremes.
(11)
No name can show, "It is this."
No refutation can
demonstrate, "It is not that."
May we gain certainty in the
essential nature, transcending intellect,
In the uncreated, and
in genuine reality's ultimate limit. (12)
Not realizing
simply this, one circles in the ocean of samsara,
When one
realizes simply this, there is no other enlightenment.
Everything
is this and there is nothing that is not —
May we realize
essential reality, the underlying nature of the ground of all.
(13)
Appearance is mind and emptiness is mind,
Realization
is mind and confusion is also one's mind,
Arising is mind and
cessation too is mind —
May we determine that all
superimpositions are mind. (14)
Unspoiled by meditation
where thoughts are deliberate and striving,
Unmoved by the
winds of ordinary commotion,
Knowing how to settle naturally in
the uncontrived native state,
May we be skilled at and sustain
the practices revealing mind's true reality. (15)
With
the waves of coarse and subtle thoughts dissolving in their own
place,
The placid river of mind gently comes to rest.
Free of
the silt and mire of dullness and torpor,
May the ocean of calm
abiding be steady and undisturbed. (16)
Looking again
and again at mind that cannot be looked at,
Unseeable reality is
seen vividly, just as it is.
Cutting through all doubts about
whether "it is" or "it is not,"
May we unmistakenly recognize our
own face. (17)
Looking at objects — there are no
objects, they are seen to be mind.
Looking at mind — there is no
mind, it is empty of essence.
Looking at both, clinging to
duality is self-liberated —
May we realize mind's abiding nature,
luminous clarity. (18)
Free from mental contrivance, it
is Mahamudra,
Free from extremes, it is the great Middle
Way,
Since it encompasses everything, it is Dzogchen —
May we
gain the confidence of realizing all through knowing one.
(19)
Free of attachment, great bliss is unceasing,
Free of
clinging to characteristics, luminous clarity is
unobscured,
Transcending the intellect, nonconceptuality is
spontaneously present —
Without effort, may these experiences be
unceasing. (20)
Clinging to excellent experience is
free right where it is,
Negative thoughts' confusion is naturally
pure in the expanse,
When ordinary mind manifests, there is
nothing to adopt or reject,
no freedom
or fruition —
May we realize the truth of essential reality, free
of fabrications. (21)
Beings by nature have always been
Buddhas,
Yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in
samsara.
May we have unbearable compassion
For sentient
beings whose suffering knows no bounds. (22)
This
unbearable compassion radiates unceasing love,
And as it does,
its emptiness of essence nakedly shines.
May we never leave this
supreme and unerring path of union,
May we meditate upon it all
day and all night. (23)
From the power of meditation
come superior eyes and clairvoyance,
Sentient beings are matured,
experiences of Buddha realms are
cultivated perfectly,
And prayers to attain the Buddha's
qualities are fulfilled.
May we attain the enlightenment that
brings maturation, cultivation, and fulfillment to perfection.
(24)
By the power of the great compassion of the Victorious
Ones and their
sons and daughters of
the ten directions,
And the power of all the immaculate virtue
there is
May my own and all sentient beings'
Completely pure
aspiration prayers be perfectly fulfilled!
(25)
Under
the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, this translation
was made by Ari Goldfield in May 1999 and revised in September 2001.
My thanks to translators of prior translations, particularly Lama
Sherap Dorje in Mahamudra Teachings
of the Supreme Siddhas, Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995, and Erik Pema
Kunsang in Song of Karmapa, Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe, 1992.
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