Happy Solstice!
- Pema Dragpa
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
It's a wonderful day to recite the Prayer of Kuntuzangpo for the happiness and enlightenment of all beings!
The Prayer of the All-Good Buddha
from the Dzogpa Chenpo Tantra of the
All-Pervading Mind of Küntuzangpo
"HO All appearing phenomena and the possibilities
All appearing phenomena and the possibilities
of samsara and nirvana
Have one source, but there are two paths and two results,
A miracle of knowing and unknowing.
Through this prayer of Küntuzangpo
May all beings realize the perfectly enlightened state
In the palace of the dharmadhatu.
The source of everything is uncompounded,
Self-arising, infinite, inconceivable,
Beyond the labels ”samsara" and “nirvana.
Knowing this suchness is buddhahood.
Unknowing beings wander compulsively.
May all beings of the three realms
Realize the nature of the inconceivable source.
Furthermore, I, Küntuzangpo, proclaim:
The nature of the source is free from causes and conditions.
The source is realized by spontaneously-arising awareness.
It is not named by errors of exaggeration such as inside and outside.
It is not obscured by the darkness of mindlessness.
Therefore, there are no stains of mistaken perception.
Cultivate this fresh, pristine awareness,
And the three worlds are free from fear and terror.
Unattached to the five objects of sensory pleasure,
Self-arising awareness is free of discursive thought,
Solid forms, and the five poisons.
The radiating clarity of awareness is unceasing.
This single nature is fivefold wisdom.
In action, the fivefold wisdom
Is the five primordial buddhas.
When this wisdom expands,
Forty-two buddhas arise.
The expressive power of the fivefold wisdom
Brings forth sixty herukas.
Therefore, original awareness is never deluded.
I am the primordial buddha.
By my powerful prayer,
May all beings in the three realms of samsara
Recognize self-arising awareness
And the expanding capacity of the great wisdom.
My emanations are unceasing.
Inconceivable billions of emanations are dispatched
In whatever varieties are needed to help sentient beings.
By my powerful, compassionate prayer
May all the beings of the three realms
Be liberated from the ways of the six actions.
In the beginning, delusion arises in sentient beings
When awareness of the source is forgotten.
The mind becomes numb and dull;
This is the first ignorance and cause of every ill.
Instantly unconscious,
One’s thoughts wander aimlessly; one is seized
by hope and fear.
This begets “I and other,” “friend and enemy,”
And through clinging, this becomes habitual.
Descending from that comes samsara
And the increasing afflictions of the five poisons.
There is no end to the activity of the five poisons.
So, the source of the delusion of sentient beings
Is the numb, dull mind born of forgetting.
I am the buddha. By the power of my prayer
May all beings clarify the dull mind, release all clinging,
and recognize self-awareness.
Through coemergent ignorance
One’s consciousness is unmindful and distracted.
Through conceptual ignorance
One separates self and other.
These two, coemergent and conceptual ignorance,
Form the basis of sentient beings’ confusion.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May all the beings in samsara
Remove the dark cover of mindlessness,
Clear away dualistic grasping,
And recognize self-awareness.
Dualistic conceptions are the genesis of doubts,
Which develop from subtle, small attachments
Into powerful habitual patterns.
Food, clothing, wealth, place, companionship,
The five desirable sensory objects and loving relations–
Being anxious and possessed by desiring these objects,
This is the darkness of the world.
There is no end to dualistic activity.
The ripened fruit of attachment is birth as a hungry ghost
Who suffers unrelenting poverty and expectation.
To be born in this state of hunger and thirst is terrible.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May all beings engulfed by desire and attachment
Neither reject desire’s pleasure,
Nor accept its sorrow,
But relax mind into its own state,
Restore self-refreshing awareness,
And realize discriminating wisdom.
When external phenomena arise
There is subtle fear and trembling,
Which gradually develops into the habitual pattern of hatred.
Increasingly powerful attachment to enemies
Leads to violence and murder,
The agony of burning and boiling in hell.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May all sentient beings of the six realms
No longer cling to enemies when anger arises,
But relax their own mind,
Restore self-refreshing awareness,
And realize mirror-like wisdom.
A conceited mind
Will criticize and challenge others.
This is how strong pride develops.
One will suffer the experience of incessant
quarreling and fighting,
When the fruit of this action ripens
One is born as a god who will experience falling down
and transferring.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May all conceited beings
Ease their mind into its own state,
Restore self-refreshing awareness,
And realize equanimity wisdom.
The habitual pattern that develops when dualistic
conceptions increase
Is to praise oneself and belittle others. From this unpleasantness
Comes increasing jealousy, rivalry, quarreling and fighting.
Which leads to birth as an antigod and a killer.
The result is to fall into hell.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May beings with increasing competitive thoughts,
who quarrel and fight,
No longer cling to enemies, but relax their own mind,
Restore self-refreshing awareness,
And realize all-accomplishing wisdom.
Being mindless and distracted,
Foggy, dull, forgetful,
And unconscious, causes laziness and ignorance to increase.
The result is to wander helplessly in the animal realm.
I am the buddha. By my powerful prayer,
May those who wander in the darkness of ignorance
Awaken the radiant clarity of mindfulness,
And by the power of this, realize the wisdom
of dharmadhatu.
All the sentient beings of the three realms
And I share the same basic nature.
But lacking mindfulness and wandering aimlessly,
They perform the actions that have no meaning.
These six types of actions are like deluded dreams.
I am the primordial buddha.
In order to tame the beings of the six realms
by emanation and display,
I, Küntuzangpo, pray:
May all sentient beings, without exception,
Reach perfect enlightenment in the palace
of dharmadhatu.
A HO! Hereafter, when a powerful yogi or yogini
With clear, radiating awareness, without delusion,
Performs this powerful prayer,
All those who hear it,
Will reach enlightenment after three births.
At the time of the eclipse of the sun or moon,
When the sky thunders,
During earthquakes, solstices, or at the changing of the year,
At these times, visualize yourself as Küntuzangpo
And recite this prayer that will be heard by everyone.
Do this for the beings of the six realms.
The performance of this prayer by yogis and yoginis
Will relieve suffering,
And eventually all beings will reach buddhahood."
Thus it is said. From the Tantra Which Clearly Shows
the Unimpeded Realization of the Buddha Kuntuzangpo
in the Great Perfection, this is the ninth chapter, the
prayer that will lead sentient beings to the enlightened
state without any choice.
Translated by Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
and Richard Steinberg.
"Discovering Infinite Freedom: The Prayer of Küntuzangpo"
by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche & Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche