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Perfectly arisen through the
compassionate wish to benefit beings, And more exalted even than the
gods, you have reached the supreme level of protection, abandonment and realization, And guide beings to liberation
through teachings on dependent origination— Mighty Shakyamuni, sun among
teachers, in devotion I pay homage to you! You brilliantly clarified the
meaning of reality itself, the ultimate intent of the Mother Prajnaparamita, With profound modes of logical
reasoning based on dependent origination, Founder of the Middle Way tradition
of the supreme vehicle, prophesied by the Buddha himself— Noble master Nagarjuna, to you
I pray! You were the foremost of his
spiritual heirs, supremely learned and accomplished, A master of all the infinite
schools of philosophy inside and outside your own tradition, And the glorious crowning jewel
of all who follow Nagarjuna’s approach— Bodhisattva Aryadeva, to you
I pray! You clarified the wisdom intent
of the Aryas, the ultimate meaning of dependent origination, As well as the profound and crucial
point concerning merely nominal and imputed existence, And reached the level of supreme
accomplishment— Noble Buddhapalita, at your feet
I pray! Great pandita, who founded the
comprehensive system In which extremes, such as the
arising of true entities, are refuted, And valid logic and commonly
perceived outer objects are accepted— Acharya Bhavaviveka, to you I
pray! You developed and elaborated
upon the complete path of sutra and mantra, Skilfully teaching the profound
and vast, the Middle Way tradition Of appearance and emptiness,
in which the two extremes are dispelled Through dependent origination
and the mere fact of conditionality— Glorious Chandrakirti, to you
I pray! You skilfully revealed to the
assembly of fortunate disciples The most wondrous and amazing
path of great compassion, In so many ways and with reasoning
both profound and vast— Bodhisattva Shantideva, to you
I pray! Founder of the tradition which
skilfully combines Madhyamika and Pramana, Teaching the Middle Way path
of twofold emptiness according to the capacity of disciples, And introducing the Buddha’s
teachings to the Land of Snows— Great Khenpo Shantarakshita,
to you I pray! You brilliantly set out the stages
of meditation according to both sutra and mantra, Combining the view of the Middle
Way beyond extremes with the unity of shamatha and vipashyana, And clearly revealed the unmistaken
teachings of the Buddha in the Land of Snows— Noble Kamalashila, to you I pray! Guided and cared for by Maitreya,
you worked brilliantly to further all the Mahayana teachings, And skilfully set out the approach
of vast conduct, Founder of the tradition of Mind
Only, prophesied by the Buddha— Noble master Asanga, to you I
pray! You upheld the tradition of the
seven treatises of Abhidharma and twofold emptiness, And clarified the philosophies
of Vaibhashika, Sautrantika and Vijnanavada, Most excellent of scholars, renowned
as a second all-knowing Buddha— Acharya Vasubandhu, to you I
pray! Master logician who granted the
eyes of intelligent reasoning, By revealing hundreds of ways
to arrive at valid cognition, Illuminating the Buddha’s
teachings with incontrovertible logic— Noble Dignaga, at your feet I
pray! You understood entirely all areas
of logic, both inside and outside your own tradition, And, through the path of reasoning,
brought a definitive knowledge of the profound and vast approaches of Sautrantika and Mind Only, Skilfully conveying the marvellous
approaches offered by the Dharma— Glorious Dharmakirti, at your
feet I pray! You set alight the Lamp which
illuminates the text of the Ornament of Realization, And the meaning of transcendent
wisdom passed down by Asanga and his brother, In accordance with the Madhyamika
tradition beyond all extremes of existing and not existing— Arya Vimuktisena, at your feet
I pray! As prophesied by the Buddha,
you explained the Mother Prajnaparamita, And, according to the instructions
received from the protector Maitreya, Clarified the three ‘Mothers’,
the supreme scriptures of transcendent wisdom— Acharya Haribhadra, to you I
pray! You brilliantly summarized the
meaning of the vast Vinaya collection, According to the tradition of
the Sarvastivadins, And explained the Pratimoksha
superbly and without mistake— Supremely disciplined and learned
Gunaprabha, at your feet I pray! You gained the precious treasure-like
qualities of the threefold training, And brilliantly explained the
meaning of the extensive scriptures, In order to preserve the flawless
teachings of monastic discipline— Supreme holder of the Vinaya,
Shakyaprabha, at your feet I pray! You imparted all the profound
and vast teachings given by the Buddha, By explaining the paths for beings
of the three levels of spiritual capacity, And caused the Buddha’s
teachings to flourish within the Land of Snows— Kind and precious Lord Atisha,
to you I pray! Through these prayers of mine,
made with a mind of vivid and unshakeable faith, To these most brilliant of scholars,
who, like ornaments, enhanced and beautified the world, And were the supreme sources
for so many wondrous and excellent teachings, May my mind be blessed so that
it is matured and brought to liberation! May I be blessed so that I plant
the foundation for the path to freedom: May I understand the fundamental
nature of reality and the meaning of the two truths, Gain certainty about the four
truths and how samsara is perpetuated or discontinued, And, through valid cognition,
develop stable and lasting faith in the Three Jewels. May I be blessed so that I come
to master uncontrived bodhichitta, Together with its roots: a mind
of renunciation seeking the goal of perfect liberation, In which all forms of suffering
and their causes are thoroughly pacified, And a compassionate wish to protect
all beings, as limitless as space itself. May I be blessed so that I arrive
easily at a definitive understanding Of all the profound points of
the paths of the transcendent perfection vehicle And the vajrayana, through studying,
reflecting and meditating Upon the meaning of the great
pioneering masters’ classic works. In life after life, may I always
find the perfect situation and take up the threefold training, May I work for the good of the
teachings, just like the great pioneering masters of old, And, through teaching as well
as through practice, May I maintain and enhance the
transmission and understanding of the Dharma. In every community may there
be more and more great scholars and practitioners, Who avoid entirely all unethical
and mistaken forms of livelihood, And devote their time to study
and reflection, teaching and meditation, So that the whole world is enhanced
and made beautiful to behold! Through the power of this, may
I swiftly traverse all the paths and stages Of the complete approach combining
sutra and mantra, To reach the level of an omniscient
buddha spontaneously benefitting myself and others, And may I continue to fulfil
the wishes of beings for as long as space exists! All the marvellous explanations
of the profound and vast teachings excellently revealed by Lord Buddha which were composed by these scholars from the noble
land of India can open the eyes of intelligence in anyone who has discerning awareness. That these teachings are still being
studied, reflected and meditated upon today, and have not diminished after almost 2550 years, is due to the kindness of these
great scholars. I therefore composed this prayer to remember their kindness and, with unwavering faith, aspire to follow in
their footsteps. At this time, when the whole
world has witnessed tremendous advancement in the fields of science and technology, but we are also greatly distracted by
the hustle and bustle of our hectic lives, it is crucially important for all of us who follow the Buddha to develop faith
based upon an understanding of the Buddha’s Dharma teachings. Therefore we should investigate them, by analyzing and
inquiring with an unbiased and inquisitive mind. If we are to develop this faith that is supported by understanding, the outstanding
works of the profound and vast traditions composed by the masters universally renowned as the ‘Six Ornaments and Two
Supreme Ones’, as well as others such as Buddhapalita and Arya Vimuktisena are indispensable. With this in mind, I commissioned
the painting of a thangka depicting seventeen of the most learned and accomplished masters of Nalanda, adding nine other masters
from the profound and the vast lineages to the traditional thangka arrangement for the Six Ornaments and Two Supreme Ones.
Together with this, I felt inspired to compose a prayer such as this, out of heartfelt devotion to these great learned masters,
and several of my sincere Dharma friends also encouraged me. So it was that I, the buddhist monk Tenzin Gyatso, who has gained
confident and uncontrived faith in the excellent works of these learned masters and who belongs amongst the lowest of those
to have studied their masterful compositions, wrote this ‘Prayer to Kindle the Three Kinds of Faith, Addressed to the
Seventeen Great Panditas of Glorious Nalanda.’ It was completed at Thekchen
Chöling, Dharamsala, in the Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh in India, on the first day of the eleventh month of the Iron
Snake year in the seventeenth calendrical cycle (15th December 2001), 2545 years after the Buddha according to the Theravadin
system. May it be virtuous! | Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2005. The translator gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Lhakdor and Jeremy Russell for their fine translation of the same text. |
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