The following is a prayer from “The Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand: The Lama’s Oral Instructions Upon the Recitation and Visualization of the Preliminary Practice of Ngondro” as revealed by Vidydhara Terton Migyur Dorje

The syllable GURU is the Guru in the hell realms, Guru Nampar-nön.

Reddish-black in color, he [...]]]>

The following is a prayer from “The Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand: The Lama’s Oral Instructions Upon the Recitation and Visualization of the Preliminary Practice of Ngondro” as revealed by Vidydhara Terton Migyur Dorje

The syllable GURU is the Guru in the hell realms, Guru Nampar-nön.

Reddish-black in color, he holds a vajra and a scorpion,

Protecting all beings in hell from the suffering of heat and cold.

The syllable PED is the Guru in the hungry spirit realm, Guru Nam-nang-ched.

Maroon in color, he holds a vajra and an iron phurba,

Protecting all hungry spirits from the suffering of hunger and thirst.

The syllable MA is the Guru in the animal realm, Guru Seng-ha-ten,

Blue-black in color, he holds a damaru and bell,

Protecting all animals from the suffering of inferior persecution,

The syllable SID is the Guru in the human realm, Guru Pema Jung.

White and red in color, he holds a skull and a vajra,

Protecting all humans from the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death.

The syllable DHI is the Guru in the jealous gods realm, Guru Nam-par-gyal.

The color of smoke, he holds a Khatvanga and skull,

Protecting all jealous gods from the suffering of competitive warfare.

The syllable HUNG is the Guru in the god realm, Guru Sid-thub-dzin.

Yellow-white in color, he holds a vajra and bell,

Protecting all gods from the suffering of falling to the lower realms.

These six Gurus protect beings from the suffering of the six realms.

(Here one may repeat the Vajra Guru Mantra as many times as possible)

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG

The following is a prayer from the Nam Cho Daily Practice Book by Palyul Ling International:

Lord Guru, Dharmakaya Buddha, to you I pray.

Grant blessings to cleanse the darkness of ignorance.

To the Sambhogakaya guru, I pray;

Grant blessings that meditative absorption will develop in my mind.

To the compassionate manifestation body of [...]]]>

The following is a prayer from the Nam Cho Daily Practice Book by Palyul Ling International:

Lord Guru, Dharmakaya Buddha, to you I pray.

Grant blessings to cleanse the darkness of ignorance.

To the Sambhogakaya guru, I pray;

Grant blessings that meditative absorption will develop in my mind.

To the compassionate manifestation body of the Guru, I pray;

Grant blessings that experience and realization may arise in my mind.

To the body of the Guru, Gyalwa Gyatso, I pray;

Grant blessings to accomplish the two purposes of teaching self and others.

I pray to the Lama’s body;

Grant blessings that bliss and heat may blaze in my body;

Bestow the siddhi of immortal life.

I pray to the Lama’s speech;

Grant blessings that the power of my speech may increase;

Bestow the siddhi of purity of speech.

I pray to the Lama’s mind;

Grant blessings that realization may arise in my mind.

Bestow the siddhi of the Great Mahamudra;

Bestow upon me all pure qualities and miraculous activities;

Grant blessings to fully receive the four empowerments;

Bestow the siddhi of accomplishment of the four concerned activities.

The following prayer is from the Nam Cho Daily Practice Book by Palyul Ling International:

HRIH  NGÖN GYI KAL PAI DANG PO LA In the past, at the beginning of this aeon,

O GYEN YUL GYI NUB JYANG TSAM In the northwest country of Uddiyana,

DHANA KO SHAI TSO LING DU On an island [...]]]>

The following prayer is from the Nam Cho Daily Practice Book by Palyul Ling International:

HRIH  NGÖN GYI KAL PAI DANG PO LA
In the past, at the beginning of this aeon,

O GYEN YUL GYI NUB JYANG TSAM
In the northwest country of Uddiyana,

DHANA KO SHAI TSO LING DU
On an island in Lake Danakosha,

PEMA GESAR DONG PO LA
Born in the pollen heart of a lotus,

YA TSEN CHOG GI NGÖ DRUB NYE
Endowed with the most marvelous spiritual attainments,

PEMA JYUNG NE SHE SU DRAG
You are endowed as the “Lotus Born.”

KHOR DU KHANDRO MANG PÖ KHOR
Surrounded by a retinue of many Dakinis,
KHYED KYI JE SU DAG DRUB KYI
Following in your footsteps,

JYIN GYI LAB CHIR SHEG SU SOL
I pray to you: Please come forth and grant your blessings!

NE CHOG DI RU JYIN PHOB LA
Bestow blessings upon this supreme place of practice!

DRUB CHOG DAG LA WANG SHI KUR
Confer the four empowerments upon me, an excellent practitioner!

GEG DANG LOG DREN BAR CHED SOL
Dispel the obstacles arising from obstructing forces and misguiding spirits!

CHOG DANG THÜN MONG NGÖ DRUB TSOL
Please grant the common and supreme spiritual attainments!
OM AH HUNG BENZA GURU PEMA TÖTRENG TSAL BENZA SAMAYA DZA SIDDHI PHA LA HUNG AH

From The Spiritual Path:  A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Every great lama has yearned with sincere intensity for the Precious Teacher. How is it that some people have that yearning and others do not? Some people seem shallow and prideful. Others seem blessed with spontaneous devotion and love. What accounts for [...]]]>

From The Spiritual Path:  A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Every great lama has yearned with sincere intensity for the Precious Teacher. How is it that some people have that yearning and others do not? Some people seem shallow and prideful. Others seem blessed with spontaneous devotion and love. What accounts for the difference? You may not believe it, but the key is discipline. The person who holds to the goal of realizing the Guru’s mind has the discipline to renounce the perceptions of the five senses and to see only with the heart of hope. Not ordinary, dualistic hope, but hope born of trust and faith in the Root Teacher. That takes discipline.

You may think you know the nature of the Root Guru, whose job is somehow to teach you. You may think that the person sitting before you, the one you call “Teacher,” will give you great teachings. Yet you fail to realize that you must cultivate that knowledge with your own effort. You think that somehow, if you try to practice—even though you continually go through your mood swings, your battles in life, and so on—it will all work out in the end. That is a foolish assumption.

This path takes tremendous, relentless, sincere effort. But it’s not just how many prostrations you do or how many hours you put into practice. You must cultivate in yourself a profound yearning. You must think: “If these five senses, pleasantly seductive though they may be, can convince me that I am a separate human being who has a right to hate and who wants to live in such a way that I will be born in terrible places—if these five senses can lie to me so that I am tricked into planting seeds in my own mind for endless future suffering—then I must with all my heart cultivate a yearning to be free of them and to take refuge in the one unfailing source.”

What is that source? Is it a thing? A person? A substance? The one unfailing source is the Root Guru, who embodies freedom from all sensory data and from all beliefs that relate to a separate ego-self. When all considerations of self are gone—when you rely not on the false guru of your five senses, but on the absence of hatred, greed and ignorance—that is the one unfailing hope. It is not within the potential of that nature to hurt you. In the relative world, the world of duality, there is nothing but the potential to hurt you. Everything you touch, see, or feel is impermanent, seductive, and illusory. It contains all the potential for creating the causes of suffering and death. It contains the justification for hate, for saying cruel and unkind things, for being crass, gross, or stupid, for caring only about yourself.

There is only one source of unfailing refuge—the Root Guru, the true face. The Root Guru is the Dharmakaya itself. Why then must we view the flesh and blood teacher as the Root Guru, as the undefiled, unchanging nature? Through the vehicle of that Teacher, you are offered the Dharma, the unfailing method to attain realization of your true nature—the ultimate source of refuge. Thus, the Teacher must be understood as a cornucopia, a feast of all things that will bring about salvation from suffering.

There is another level of understanding. Suppose we say: “I am the same as my Root Teacher. To find that out, I only need to go on a magical journey of discovery.” No matter how we disguise it with beautiful words, the very pridefulness which causes that declaration keeps us from genuinely prostrating. It makes our hearts rigid and stiff. That pridefulness keeps us from bothering to feel deeply, from having true devotion. That pridefulness and ignorance can allow you to come into the presence of your Root Teacher and not even think of Guru Rinpoche, not even think of true nature at all. That very pridefulness is what keeps you believing in self. Actually, you believe in self as well as hope for the truth of its reality. This keeps you clinging to self as a source of refuge, believing that if you could be strong enough, or smart enough, or just discover something wonderful about yourself, it would suffice.

The antidote is to recognize, from the depth of your heart, your own nature as inseparable from the Root Guru and as the true source of refuge. Without that realization, you will always suffer. You will desperately attempt to inflate your ego, thinking that the bigger and more powerful you are, the more easily you can overcome suffering by strength alone. One day, however, you will discover that you have not understood the causes of suffering. Look around you. Look at the most beautiful people in the world. Look at the most lovable people, the strongest and smartest people, even the most virtuous. They will all experience death. There is no hope until you take sincere refuge in True Nature, until you are willing to confront your own five senses, saying: “You have lied to me again and again and again.”

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from “The Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava“:

…in the temple of Ãryapãla these were ordered to translate the Bon manuals of magic.

During the period, for royal sacrifice the Bon were required to provide a stag with antlers; they captured a stag alive and burst into song. Then they [...]]]>

The following is an excerpt from “The Life and Liberation of Padmasambhava“:

…in the temple of Ãryapãla these were ordered to translate the Bon manuals of magic.

During the period, for royal sacrifice the Bon were required to provide a stag with antlers; they captured a stag alive and burst into song. Then they were told: “The gods’s share is needed.” They killed a sheep and a yak.

This impropriety and a number of others attracted the attention of the pandits and lotsawas to the behavior of the Bonpo.

Unanimously, but without prior arrangement, the pandits, and in order of rank, the lotsawas, turned to the king: “These Tibetan customs conflict with religious law. Since evil deviations demanding reprobation continue to be tolerated, we will return to our own countries.
Two masters are too many for one teaching,
two rights are too many for one liturgy,
two kings too many for one throne.
The friends of evil are not friends of truth.”

To this the king replied:

“When each denies the purity of the other, two religions are like two murders in confrontation.
But Buddhism is not widespread, and the Bon sect is powerful–several learned lotsawas already have had to be banished. If the two religions are allowed to spread, they will fuse into one.”

The pandits made no answer, but when they were asked to expound the Dharma, they did not do so.

While this was going on, Gyalway Lodro’s mother and minister of Tãranãga the Eminent died, and during the carrying out of the lustral ceremonies by the Bon and the Buddhist, the king came to believe more strongly in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstitions.

On the plain of Donkhar and oratorical joust was arranged, and the king to believe in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstitions.

Guru Padma and Tangnag the Bonpo faced one another, each in turn supporting and refuting every object of debate, and the king came to believe in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstitions.

The Bodhisattva, Śãntaraksita, and the leader of Shari faced one another, each in turn supporting and refuting every object of debate, and the king came to believe in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstitions.

Vimalamitra and Lishi of the Long Nape faced one another, each in turn supporting and refuting every object of debate, and the king came to believe in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstitions.

The nine Bon Vehicles and the nine of the Buddhadharma were confronted for their respective refutation by the lotsawas, and the king came to believe in the Dharma and to doubt the Bon superstition.

Using the example of Mandarava whose love for her Guru and the path was so strong that even a rock could not hold her from that – Jetsunma talks about the western belief that we should [...]]]> The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Using the example of Mandarava whose love for her Guru and the path was so strong that even a rock could not hold her from that – Jetsunma talks about the western belief that we should be in control at all times. This renders us unable to truly love. We will benefit from allowing that love and passion to be our guide.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

From The Spiritual Path:  A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Dharmakaya is objectless compassion. It is everywhere. It upholds all manifested reality. All that we see, all appearances, are merely the arising of that mind in its emanation phase. Unfortunately, we have contrived a dualistic perception of self and other. We have [...]]]>

From The Spiritual Path:  A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Dharmakaya is objectless compassion. It is everywhere. It upholds all manifested reality. All that we see, all appearances, are merely the arising of that mind in its emanation phase. Unfortunately, we have contrived a dualistic perception of self and other. We have acted against other. We have judged other. We have spent countless lives trying to earn the approval and love of other. While our true nature is untouched and perfectly pure, we have developed a dusty coating upon it. That coating is quite thick in the minds of sentient beings. Though their nature remains pure, their perception of that nature is not a true one. What we need is a way to see that true face. We need to discover firsthand the nature of non-dual mind, of that all-pervading compassion.

If this pure nature is the inner reality, then the appearance of Guru Rinpoche to the world is the outer reality. He is born from the heart of Amitabha Buddha, the face and name of the Dharmakaya itself. He entered into the world, a world that did not know Him, and a world that could not give Him birth. And yet He came. We are told that He was born upon a lotus. One way to understand this is to realize that such a pure and undefiled reality could not be born from the level of human delusion. Another way is to relate the lotus to your own mind. The lotus has its roots in mud and muck, yet appears on the surface as a pure, fresh, beautiful flower. Is that not like your own nature? Despite the mud and muck of eons of cyclic existence and the resulting delusion, that nature remains pure. It can still be born directly from the muck.

Upon that pure lotus appears Guru Rinpoche, just as within your own purified mind you realize the nature of the compassionate Guru. But in a mind polluted by judgment, stiffened by conceptualization, unstable through non-virtue, the Guru cannot be realized. He is born upon a pure lotus. Therefore, we make wishing prayers and do practices that we might finally see the Guru.    If, without the purified mind, we cannot truly perceive the nature of the Guru, why did He come to a world unprepared for Him? Only a true understanding of all-pervading compassion can solve this mystery. Due to the Dharmakaya’s all-pervading, compassionate nature, it was possible for Guru Rinpoche to appear as a human and walk upon the earth while still purely displaying the uncontrived, fully realized nature of mind.

How was He received? How was He perceived by those around Him? Differently by each one. In the mind of delusion, it is possible to see the most precious gem as just another rhinestone. However, a few were able to perceive that this was beyond the ken of man and woman, that He was the precious Nature incarnate.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Teach me to see your face

Rinpoche

Teach me to call your name

The following are the lyrics to The Mother’s Song, recorded by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1992. You can listen to the recording by clicking the link above.

This morning I woke up

With the sounds of suffering

Speaking their names

In my ear

Spoke of [...]]]>

Mother Song & Seven Line Prayer

The following are the lyrics to The Mother’s Song, recorded by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1992. You can listen to the recording by clicking the link above.

The Mother’s Song

This morning I woke up

With the sounds of suffering

Speaking their names

In my ear

Spoke of a time

When the Bodhisattvas

Could no longer appear

How can my heart bear the sorrow?

How can my eyes bear to see?

All of my babes lost and fearful

Having no means to be free.

No way to know of liberation

No way to cross samsara’s sea

How can I comfort the sick and dying?

How can I hold them within me?

If they are called, will they hear?

Will they see?

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, March 1992

The following is an excerpt from “Dakini Teachings: A Collection of Padmasambhava’s Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal”  

“Lady Tsogyal asked the master: How severe is the misdeed of breaking the master’s command?

The master replied: The misdeeds of the three levels of existence do not match even a fraction of the evil of [...]]]>

The following is an excerpt from “Dakini Teachings: A Collection of Padmasambhava’s Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal”  

“Lady Tsogyal asked the master: How severe is the misdeed of breaking
the master’s command?

The master replied: The misdeeds of the three levels of existence do
not match even a fraction of the evil of breaking the command of your
master. Through this you will take birth in the Unceasing Vajra Hell
and find no liberation.

Lady Tsogyal asked the master: How should we regard the master
possessing the oral instructions from whom we request teachings?

The master replied in verse:
You should know that the master is more important
Than the buddhas of a hundred thousand aeons,
Because all the buddhas of the aeons
Appeared through following masters.
There will never be any buddhas
Who have not followed a master.

The master is the Buddha, the master is the Dharma,
Likewise the master is also the Sangha.
He is the embodiment of all buddhas.
He is the nature of Vajradhara.
He is the root of the Three Jewels.

Keep the command of your vajra master
Without breaking even a fraction of his words.
If you break the command of your vajra master,
You will fall into Unceasing Vajra Hell
From which there will be no chance for liberation.
By serving your master you will receive the blessings.”