To Invoke the Wisdom Mind of the Compassionate Teacher Padmasambhava

by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The absolute, which is beyond all limits and extremes is the fundamental nature of clear light,

The perfect sambhogakaya is resplendent with the spontaneously present major and minor marks,

And the nirmanakaya manifests in various forms to suit the different characters of beings—

You who are the mighty Lord of Sages, guard us at all times with your infinite compassion!

As the miraculous display of the wisdom, love and power of all the victorious buddhas,

Glorious and resplendent, for all living beings in the land of Tibet, you appeared,

Supremely accomplished and gracious master, Lake-born Vajra (Tsokyé Dorje)—

Now we cry out to you with this, our heartfelt plea: hold us in your compassion!

Embodiments of the five kayas, those who have reached perfect realization and abandonment,

View all with equanimity, and are entirely beyond all forms of partiality;

Even so, as a result of interdependent factors, such as the temperaments of beings,

You came to be the lord and protector over all who live within the Land of Snows.

In particular, when King Trisong Detsen and his son, the prince,

Urged you to care for the land of Tibet with your compassion,

You gave them your word, your unfailing pledge, that you would always work for our benefit,

And so now we call upon you: care for us with your compassion!

Destitute, forced into meaningless and worthless labours and reduced to misery,

The people live in constant fear of accusation, violence and other threats to life,

And the land itself has become like the terrible realm of Yama, Lord of Death—

O Dharma practitioners of the Land of Snows, where did we go wrong?

As a result of the impure actions we have committed in the past,

For decades now, we have endured so many sufferings, hard to even think about,

And we are worn down by all our experiences—such is our plight, our desperate situation.

Now we call out to you: look upon us with your special care, you who are a treasury of love and compassion!

Alas! The force of negative actions is powerful indeed!

Yet do not faith, positive intentions, concern for others and the force of blessings

Also have their power? So help us now to create the right circumstances,

In which our virtues will swiftly bear their fruit and bring us the fulfilment of our wishes!

Through the power and blessings of the Guru, the Three Jewels and all the oath-bound guardians of Tibet,

Together with the force of the devotion and commitment of the people of this Land of Snows,

And the strength of the infallible truths of cause and effect, appearance and emptiness,

May all our deepest wishes and aspirations swiftly be fulfilled!

This “Yearning Song of Prayer to Invoke the Wisdom Mind of the Compassionate Teacher Padmasambhava” was composed in response to requests made by members of the Cabinet (kashag) and the Department of Religious Affairs on the tenth day of the monkey month in the year of the Iron Monkey (1980). I, the buddhist monk Tenzin Gyatso, also saw the need for a prayer such as this, to the great Master Padmasambhava, in order to overcome those forces opposed to the Dharma within the Land of Snows by means of compassion and love, and so I made this prayer of aspiration on the 14th day of the 10th month of the same year with intense faith and longing.

| Translated by Adam