Part 3 (1/2)
Prayer to the Lineage Teachers
(Then, in order to cultivate union with the spiritual teacher, the prayer to the lineage should be recited as follows:) I pray to the [direct] intentional lineage of the conquerors: To Samantabhadra, primordial lord, Buddha-body of Reality, To the Conqueror Vajradhara, embodiment of the sixth [enlightened family], And to Vajrasattva, foremost of guides, the supreme buddha-mind.
I pray to the [symbolic] lineage of the awareness holders: To the awareness holder Prahevajra, supreme among emanations, To the spiritual teacher Sr Simha, supreme son of the conquerors, To the undying Padmkara, established in the Buddha-body of Indestructible Reality, And to the dkin [Yeshe] Tshogyalma, worthy recipient of the secret mantras.
I pray to the aural lineage of [authoritative] personages: To Karma Lingpa, master of the profound treasures, To the one named [Nyinda] Choje, supreme son of his buddha-mind, And to the one named Sryacandra [Nyinda Ozer], lord of living beings during this degenerate age.
I pray to the a.s.sembled deities of the three roots: To all the genuine spiritual teachers of the core lineage, Who form the connecting links [of this transmission],25 To the Peaceful and Wrathful meditational deities, in whom appearance and emptiness are indivisible, And to the oceanic a.s.sembly of dkins and oath-bound protectors of the [sacred] teachings!
O you spiritual teachers who uphold the lineage of the oral transmission,26 And train each according to his or her needs!
If your teaching were to enter into decline, The yogins of this era would be [utterly] disheartened.
Please, therefore, continue to guide all beings from this swamp of cyclic existence!
As we call out to you with mournful and tormented cries, Bring to mind, now, the strict vows which you made in the past!27 Reveal your faces from the expanse of s.p.a.ce, endowed with major and minor marks!
Please guide all beings from this swamp of cyclic existence!
Let your Brahm voice reverberate like a thousand peals of thunder!28 Open [wide] the portals to the treasury of your buddha-mind!
Pour out the light rays of your discriminative awareness and compa.s.sion!
Please guide all beings from this swamp of cyclic existence!
Liberate now, without exception, all beings of this final era!29 Anoint [us] now with the river of the four pure empowerments!
Liberate now the four continua, bewildered by dissonant mental states!
Please guide all beings from this swamp of cyclic existence!
Grant now the fruitional attainment of the four buddha-bodies of Those Gone to Bliss!
May I become a spiritual teacher, [able] to guide all the infinite sentient beings, Who have been my parents, throughout s.p.a.ce, without exception!
Please guide all beings from this swamp of cyclic existence!
Receiving the Four Empowerments
(Then the meditation to be adopted while receiving the four empowerments should be as follows:30) From the crown of the spiritual teacher in union with consort, A white syllable OM, [radiating] rays of light, Descends into the mid-point between my eyebrows, The vase empowerment is thus received and the obscurations of the body are purified.
Please confer [upon me] the accomplishments of buddha-body!
From the throat of the spiritual teacher in union with consort, A red syllable AH, [radiating] rays of light, Descends into the sense faculty of my tongue, The secret empowerment is thus received and the obscurations of speech are purified.
Please confer [upon me] the accomplishments of buddha-speech!
From the heart of the spiritual teacher in union with consort, A blue syllable HUM, [radiating] rays of light, Descends into the centre of my heart, The empowerment of pristine cognition is thus received, and the obscurations of mind are purified.
Please confer [upon me] the accomplishments of buddha-mind!
From the navel of the spiritual teacher in union with consort, A red syllable HRIH, [radiating] rays of light, Descends into the centre of my navel, The obscurations which [mundanely] differentiate between body, speech and mind are purified, And the fourth empowerment of indivisible coemergence is received.
O glorious and precious root spiritual teacher!
Be indivisibly present, [seated] on the pistil of a lotus within my heart for ever!
Through your great kindness, favour me with your acceptance, And please confer [upon me] the accomplishments of buddha-body, speech and mind!
May we become exactly like you, glorious spiritual teacher!
Exactly resembling you in body, retinue, lifespan, fields, And in your supreme and excellent major marks.
These verses forming the preliminary practice of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound Sacred Teaching, [ent.i.tled] Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention may be applied as a supplementary method in the context of mental purification.
This spiritual practice of the unsurpa.s.sed Greater Vehicle (Mahyna) is an oral teaching of [Nyinda] Choje Lingpa, the eldest son of the treasure-finder Karma Lingpa; and it was committed to writing by Guru Sryacandrarami [i.e. Nyinda Ozer].
2.
A Prayer for Union with the Spiritual Teacher, [ent.i.tled] Natural Liberation, without Renunciation of the Three Poisons CONTEXT.
This prayer to the spiritual teacher is generally recited immediately after the Preliminary Practice. It is also recommended that it be recited at the beginning of any ritual, or when thinking of the spiritual teacher or whenever the pract.i.tioner is about to enter into periods of meditation.
A correct perception of the spiritual teacher is considered vital for all pract.i.tioners of the Vehicle of Indestructible Reality (Vajrayna). Further, it is considered essential that a pract.i.tioner receive spiritual inspiration, as transmitted through an unbroken lineage of masters, from a living teacher. First, however, before accepting anyone as a spiritual teacher, it is also regarded as essential that the pract.i.tioner examine and scrutinise the prospective teacher over a long period of time and accept him or her as a qualified teacher only when it is certain that the person meets the requirements of a spiritual teacher as set out in the authoritative sacred texts. Then, if they are sure that their own motivation is sincere, students should follow the advice of their chosen spiritual teacher with incontrovertible devotion.
Ultimately, the inspiration that is requested from the spiritual teacher is coming from the purity of the pract.i.tioner's own perception, altruistic intention and confidence.
Herein is contained A Prayer for Union with the Spiritual Teacher, [Embodiment of] the Three Buddha-bodies, [ent.i.tled] Natural Liberation, without Renunciation of the Three Poisons,1 [which is an extract] from the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound Sacred Teaching, [ent.i.tled] Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention.2 In the palace of reality's expanse, pure and pervasive, Is my spiritual teacher, the Buddha-body of Reality - Uncreated and free from conceptual elaboration.
To you, I pray with fervent devotion.
I request the primordially pure self-empowerment, The blessings of the Buddha-body of Reality,3 So that naturally arising pristine cognition Is uncontrived and spontaneously present, Through natural liberation, Without renunciation of ignorance and delusion.
In the palace of great bliss, which is pristine cognition, radiant and pure, Is my spiritual teacher, the Buddha-body of Perfect Resource - Unimpeded and supremely blissful.
To you, I pray with fervent devotion.