Short Great Vajra Dhara Prayer

THE SHORT
GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER
COMPOSED BY
BAN GAR WA JAMPAL ZANGPO
TRANSLATION AND EXPLANATION BY

TONY DUFF
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE
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THE SHORT
GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER
COMPOSED BY
BAN GAR WA JAMPAL ZANGPO
TRANSLATION AND EXPLANATION BY

TONY DUFF
For enquiries regarding permission to reproduce this book
or any portion of it, or to obtain further books, please write
to the given address or contact the author via internet and
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Copyright 2008 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No

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publisher.
First edition, December 2008
Palatino typeface with diacritical marks and Tibetan Classic

typeface
courtesy of Tibetan Computer Company
Produced, Printed, and Published by

Padma Karpo Translation Committee
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Kathmandu
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
THE SHORT GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . 1
A B RIEF E XPLANATION OF THE P RAYER W ITH

COMMENTS ON THE TRANSLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
TIBETAN TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
i
INTRODUCTION
This is a new translation of one of the most used prayers of

the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the Short Great
Vajradhara Prayer as it is called. The new translation is
meant for practitioners but could also be used as an exercise
by those who are trying to learn to translate Tibetan texts.
There were many translations of the prayer around at the time

of writing, most of them based on one of the earliest transla-
tions made, the one done by the Nalanda Translation Commit-
tee in the 1970's. The first part of the prayer is straightforward
and easy to translate but the last two verses are not because
they sum up very profound Mahmudr instruction. All
translations made so far have failed to translate them correctly.
At the urging of several people, we made a fresh translation
and a short commentary to the prayer that does correctly show
the meaning of the prayer.
STUDY TOOLS
In general, the Padma Karpo Translation Committee has
published a wide range of books on Buddhist dharma. Read-
ing nearly any of them will help anyone to understand more
about the subject and the language involved. Certainly all
iii
iv THE SHORT GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER
of them will be helpful to anyone who is seriously trying to

become a translator. See our website at the address given on
the copyright page; you will find free texts and texts for sale
there, all of them prepared to the highest level of quality.
You will also find many aids for those wanting to translate.
We had the idea in producing this publication that it would
help practitioners by giving to have a better version of a prayer
which is so commonly used. We also had the idea that it could
be used as an exercise in translation by those who were want-
ing to learn how to do that. You could easily use the book
here, with all it provides, to take this prayer as a translation
exercise. If you do so, we would strongly recommend the
Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary as something you should
use when you are translating. It contains a large amount of
information about Tibetan grammar in general and all of the
vocabulary mentioned in this prayer, too. You might also be
interested in our major work on Tibetan grammar, The Thirty
Verses of Minister Thumi, which presents, for the first time in
the West, Tibetan grammar as it is actually used and under-
stood by Tibetans. In fact, the translation exercise in here is
founded on the principles of Tibetan grammar which are laid
out very extensively in that book.
This e-book has a binding offset built in so that it can easily

be printed and bound as a book for your library.
The text in Tibetan script has been included for those wanting
to study it.
Finally, there are other publications on our website which can

be used as exercises in translation.
THE VERSES v
Our best wishes to you,

Lotsawa Tony Duff
Padma Karpo Translation Committee
Swayambhunath,
Kathmandu,
Nepal
10 January 2009.
THE SHORT GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER
Great Vajradhara, Tailo, Naro,

Marpa, Mila, Lord of Dharma Gampopa,
Knower of all three times and knowables Karmapa,
Holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages of
Drigung, Taglung, Tsalpa, these three, glorious Drukpa, and
so on
You who have mastered the profound path of Mahmudr,
Unequalled protectors of migrators, the Dvagpo Kagyu,
I supplicate you the Kagyu gurus, I hold your lineage,
Grant your blessings so that I might follow your example.
Revulsion is the foot of meditation as is taught.

To this meditator who is not attached to food and wealth,
Who decides to cut the ties to this life,
Grant your blessings so that I have no attachment to honour
and gain.
Devotion is the head of meditation as is taught.

To this meditator who continually supplicates
The guru who opens the door to the foremost instructions,
Grant your blessings so that genuine devotion is born in me.
1
2 THE SHORT GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER
Non-distraction is the body of meditation as is taught.

To this meditator for whom thought shining forth in freshness
Is left unaltered and who stays in just that,
Grant your blessings so that I am free of rational-minded
meditation.
Discursive thoughts entity is dharmakya as is taught.

To this meditator for whom nothing whatsoever
Shining forth as everything, shines forth in unstopped play,
Grant your blessings so that I realize the inseparability of
sasra and nirva.
Composed by the man from Ban Gar, Jampal Zangpo.
Translated by Lama Tony Duff of Padma Karpo Translation Com-

mittee according to the instructions received from many Kagyu
lineage holders, while staying with the Three Jewels at Swayambu-
nath, Nepal, December, 2008.
A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER
WITH COMMENTS ON THE TRANSLATION
The translation and explanation here of this very popular

Kagyu prayer are based on the explanations of the various
lineage gurus for whom I have personally translated or heard
and the Tibetan commentaries I have read about it.
There are several translations of this text floating around. The

first few verses are not difficult to translate and are more or
less correctly translated by everyone. There are differences
in style, with some definitely being better than others; the
Nalanda Translation Committees translation, with the imprint
of the Vidydhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche on it, stands
out from the others in this regard. However the last two
verses of the prayer are not translated correctly in any of the
translations that I have seeneven the latest ones. This might
not be surprising because the last two verses deal with high
levels of practice whose details are secret. The information
needed to translate these two verses correctly has obviously
not been at the disposal of the people who have done the
translations.
If a Tibetan teacher were to give you a commentary on the

last two verses, you could try to use the other translations with
3
it but it would not work as I found out several times over the
years when translating for Kagyu gurus. As a matter of
interest, I found myself several times over the years in the
position where I was asked to translate such a commentary,
on the fly, to these last two verses. Whenever I tried to use
the existing translations, it did not go well and I was ques-
tioned about it. After careful examination, the various teachers
said that there were major problems with the existing transla-
tions; they stated plainly that these translations did not reflect
the Tibetan at all and, as far as they were concerned, had
obstructed the teachers teaching. So, the problem with exist-
ing translations is not just my opinion but that of several high
level Kagyu teachers.
Interestingly, the current Karmapa was also dissatisfied with

the current translations. He had his team of Tibetan lamas
work on a new translation which was presented at the 2007
Kagyu Prayer Festival at Bodhgaya. Unfortunately, their lack
of knowledge of English shows through very strongly and
that translation is even worse that some of the ones done by
Westerners. Tibetans can be the teachers for non-Tibetans
but they absolutely should not be the translators; this is just
as they themselves insisted when the Indians were transmit-
ting the Buddha dharma to the Tibetans. At any rate, I am
making the point that the Tibetan lineage holders all the way
up to the current Karmapa who do understand English
enough to know are in universal agreement that this prayer
has not been correctly translated so far.
Thus, due to need and request, I have produced a new transla-

tion that corrects the serious faults of all existing translations
of the last two verses and generally sets the rest of the prayer
A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER 5
into English according to what is written in the Tibetan. To

do this, I decided not to reject all other work done but to
honour that by basing the new translation on the already-
existing work of Nalanda Translation Committee, given that
their translation is more or less correct for the first few verses
and does have a better style than any of the other translations
that I have seen. For those who know the Nalanda Translation
Committee version, You will see that there are corrections in
a few places in the first few verses, which were necessary, and
that the last two verses have been translated afresh. This way
there is continuity to the work already done but with the
necessary improvements made. This new translation can be
used with word by word commentaries given by Tibetan
teachers because, apart from being generally correct, it does
fit the flow of the words and does not lose any of the impor-
tant concepts involved.
THE MEANING OF THE PRAYER

There are four, main traditions of Buddhist dharma in Tibet.
One of them is the Kagyu tradition. The Kagyu tradition has
for its main practice what is called the practice of Mahmudr.
Mahmudr is a name that arose in India for reality. The

name means the great imprint and refers to the fact that all
phenomena are, without choice or variation, marked by
reality. All phenomena are choicelessly imprinted with reality.
When that is not words on a page but an actual, direct experi-
ence, it is said, in the Indian and Tibetan way of thinking to
be great in order to distinguish it from a purely conceptual
understanding of it. Thus reality itself that is indivisibly part
of every phenomenon is called The Great Imprint,

Mahmudr.1
The prayer here was written by a follower of the Kagyu tradi-

tion called Ban Garwa (meaning the man from Ban Gar)
Jampal Zangpo. His prayer hits all the key points of the path
of Mahmudr in a very short space and in just the right way.
It was so well-done that it quickly became a prayer used by
all followers of his Kagyu tradition and he himself became
famous as a result of it.
There is a fairly entrenched habit amongst Western dharma

students of thinking that this is a lineage prayer. It is not.
It is as just mentioned, a summation of the Mahmudr path
to enlightenment as practised by the Kagyus, built as a prayer
that asks for blessings so that the path could be achieved.
Traditionally, one would explain the meaning of the title first.

A well-constructed title totally sums up the meaning of the
content. That is the case here. The prayer starts with enlight-
enment in the form of other, the external teacher Vajradhara,
and goes all through the process of returning to that enlighten-
ment, ending up on the last line with oneself returning to that
enlightenment, now as Vajradhara oneself. It is a short prayer
indeed and it is about Vajradhara from primordial origin all
1
A great deal more about Mahmudr and its practice in the
Kagyu tradition starting with Gampopas instructions on it and
including translations of many key texts and a major commentary
by Tenga Rinpoche can be found in Gampopas Mahmudr, The Five-
Part Mahmudr of the Kagyus published by Padma Karpo Translation
Committee, ISBN 978-9937-2-0607-5.
the way through to your own Vajradhara manifested through

following the path. In the Mahmudr system, the primordial
buddha, the buddha that represents primordial reality before
all other buddhas, is Vajradhara. He is the buddha before all
others so he is also called Great Vajradhara. Therefore the
prayer is called The Short Great Vajradhara Prayer.
The body of the prayer hits all the key points of the path of
practise that goes with the Mahmudr system as follows:
1. It starts with enlightenment in the form of Vajradhara;
2. Prays to the Mahmudr lineage connected with
realizing that;
3. Asks for blessings for the key point of renunciation,
which is the basis for all practice;
4. Asks for blessings for the key point of devotion, which
is the special feature needed for the practice of
Mahmudr;
5. Asks for blessings for the key point of non-distraction
leading to non-meditation, which is the style of es-
sence Mahmudr meditation;
6. Asks for blessings for the practice of the ultimate view,
which is expressed through Gampopas axiom mar-
ried to the three characteristics of ultimate practice,
leading to final realization which is expressed as the
fruition, the inseparability of sasra and nirva.
SUPPLICATING PRIMORDIAL ENLIGHTENMENT AND

THE MAHMUDR LINEAGE THAT HAS COME FROM IT
To return to reality, you have to relate to the reality and to

people who are connected with it. The first part of the prayer
sets out the reality and the line of humans who have connected
with it via the Mahmudr teaching that came from India into
Tibet and then supplicates them for their assistance.
In this system, primordial reality is represented, as mentioned

above, by Great Vajradhara. In other words, the prayer begins
by referring to the reality that we would like to return in its
manifestation as Vajradhara, the buddha who transmitted
the teachings of reality to the humans who practised it and
passed it on.
Vajradhara gave the teachings to the Indian siddha Tailopa.

Although he is commonly called Tilopa these days amongst
Westerners, he was almost universally known as Tailopa or
just Tailo, in Tibetan Buddhism itself. The prayer, accordingly,
calls him Tailo. Tailo received four main lines of teaching on
reality from various other Indian siddhas, all of them tracing
their lineages of teaching back to Vajradhara. Tailopa had
these human gurus but he also had direct meetings with
primordial reality. Therefore, it is common that the human
lineages that connected him with primordial reality are not
mentioned and that his direct connection to reality is men-
tioned instead, as is done here.
One of Tailopas main disciples was the Indian siddha Naropa.

Naropa in turn was the guru of the Tibetan man Marpa.
Marpa went to India, received all of the teachings from Naro-
pa and took them back to Tibet where he taught them to his
disciples. Marpa had four main disciples, one of them the
legendary yogin Milarepa. The life stories of these early
forefathers of the Kagyu lineage, as they are called, have been
translated into English and are important reading for those
following the path. Devotion is a key point of the practice
of Mahmudr in general and in the Kagyu lineage in particu-

lar and reading their stories helps to make devotion blaze.
Milarepa had two main disciples, one of them Gampopa. As

Milarepa himself said to Gampopa2,
Through you, there will be much benefit for

sentient beings, he said. I, Gampopa, asked
how that would be and he said, When you
came here, a sign that you would benefit beings
arose. After you stayed here, I had a dream in
which we had a race and you came first; it says
that your benefit for sentient beings will be
greater than mine. Again, one time I dreamed
that you hurled a boulder bigger than a
nomads tent to another land and by striking
the boulder with both hands it was reduced to
dustyour body also was better than mine; I
did not have your capacity. It means that you
will not be afraid of external objects.
As Milarepa predicted there and in other places, Gampopa
was special in that he had a very great connection with sen-
tient beings and because of him in particular, the Kagyu
lineage went from being narrowly practised to being practised
on a grand scale. The lineage down to Gampopa was like the
trunk of a tree. Gampopa represents the point from which
the tree develops branches and spreads out into very luxurious
2
Quoted from Gampopas Questions and Answers with Karma-
pa Dusum Khyenpa as found in Gampopas Collected Works. This
will be published in a forthcoming book from Padma Karpo Transla-
tion Committee, a book that covers in depth the way that Gampopa
taught essence Mahmudr to his disciples.
growth. All of the lineage gurus mentioned so far were called

Lord of Dharma at one time or another because of each ones
great realization. However, Gampopa was especially known
as Lord of Dharma because of his greatness in making the
Kagyu dharma spread widely. Hence, later Kagyu followers
often refer to him as such, just as is done in this prayer.
After Gampopa, the Kagyu lineage spread out and developed

in many sub-lineages. They became known as the four great
and eight lesser lineages. The Illuminator Tibetan-English
Encyclopaedic Dictionary3 explains:
The Four Greater and Eight Lesser schools is

a formulation that does not include all of the
Kagyu traditions; it is really an abbreviated
statement of what happened to the Kagyu
lineage after Gampopa. Kagyu schools that
came into existence prior to Gampopa include
the Marpa Kagyu and Rechung Nyengyu; from
Gampopa himself there is the Dvagpo Kagyu
and another transmission; these lineages exist
separately from the four greater and eight
lesser schools.
The four greater Kagyu schools are: 1) the

Karma Kagyu founded by one of the three men
from Kham, Dusum Khyenpa; 2) the Barom
Kagyu founded by Barom Darma Wangchuk; ,
3) the Tshalpa Kagyu founded by Lama Zhang,
3
Published by and available through Padma Karpo Translation
Committee. See the PKTC web-site at the address on the copyright
page for full information.
Zhang Tshalpa Tsondru Drakpa; and 4) the

Phakdru Kagyu tradition founded by Phagmo
Drupa another of the three men from Kham.
The eight lesser schools appeared due to eight

of the great students of Phagmo Drupa. They
are: 1) the Drigung Kagyu founded by Kyobpa
Jigten Gonpo; 2) the Taglung Kagyu founded
by Taglung Thangpa Tashi Palden; 3) Trophu
Kagyu founded by Drogon Gyaltsha; 4) the
Lingre Kagyu founded by Lingje Repa Pema
Dorje (and which became the source of the
Drukpa Kagyu); 5) the Martsang Kagyu
founded by Choje Marpa Dondrup; 6) the
Yelpa Kagyu founded by Yelpa Yeshe Tsek; 7)
the Yazang Kagyu founded by Zarawa Yeshe
Senge; and 8) the Shugseb Kagyu founded by
Nyephu Gyergom Chenpo.
The prayer continues by mentioning Knower of all three

times and knowables Karmapa. This is the first Karmapa,
Dusum Khyenpa. He was the founder of the Karma Kagyu,
which is one of the four greater lineages. The reason that
Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa is mentioned specifically here and
not any of the other founders of the four great and eight lesser
lineages is that the author of the prayer was a follower of the
Karma Kagyu, so he is mentioning the source of his own
Kagyu lineage.
The first Karmapa became known during his lifetime as a

practitioner of consummate realization so was called Dusum
Khyenpa meaning knower of the three times, in reference
to the fact that a buddha has the capacity to know all of the
past, present, and future simultaneously. The prayer here

is very cleverly written; it builds on his name Knower of the
three times, and literally says The allthe three times and
knowablesknowing one Karmapa. This is a bit hard to
render into English without becoming a mouthful so Ive
translated it as I have. However, that is what it actually says.
The point here is that buddhas do not only know the three
times, they also know every single thing that could be known
all knowables. By the way, the text does not say that he is
omniscient, it says that he is all-knowing which is a
specific epithet of the Tibetan tradition.
After the first Karmapa, it mentions all the rest of the lineage
holders of the various Kagyu lineages by mentioning the
lineage holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages.
Even though there were other Kagyu lineages, as mentioned
in the citation from the Illuminator Dictionary, mentioning
the four great and eight lesser lineages became a way, as it
is here, of meaning all of the Kagyu lineages.
The prayer does not just mention the eight lesser lineages and
leave it at that but goes on to pick out the Drigung, Taglung,
Tshalpa, and Glorious Drukpa Kagyu lineages. It does this
because they were flourishing strongly compared to some of
the others, so they got a special mention. The Drukpa Kagyu,
for example, was especially famous for consisting mainly of
yogins who were practising and gaining accomplishment.
To this point, the prayer has mentioned all of the lineage hold-
ers of all the Kagyu lineages with emphasis, because of the
mention of Karmapa, on the Karma Kagyu. Later, other
lineages changed these last few lines slightly so that it would
work better for their particular Kagyu lineage. For example,

there is a slightly modified version that removes Karmapa
Dusum Khyenpa and puts in the names of the main lineage
holders of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage.
The prayer continues by praising these lineage holders. They

are the great beings of the lineage who have mastered the
profound path of Mahmudr. Moreover, they are the
unequalled guardians of migrators, the Dvagpo Kagyu .
Unequalled means that the Kagyu gurus are unequalled

in their capacity for guiding sentient beings. Note that some
translations of the prayer say incomparable; there is a
specific word for incomparable in Tibetan, just as there is in
English, and a specific word for unequalled, just as there
is in English. The word here is unequalled.
Guardians of migrators is a standard phrase used in all

spheres of Tibetan Buddhism. Migrators is one of many
terms that the Buddha used to describe sentient beings in
general. The Buddhas original word was, quite literally, go-
ers; he used it to refer to the fact that sentient beings buzz
about blindly, zipping here and there between one existence
and another, like flies trapped in a jar. They need help. That
help comes in various ways. In this case, the gurus of the
Kagyu lineage are like their guardians. The word here is not
merely protector though it includes that notion, too. The
word is the specific word for someone older, wiser, and more
capable who stands over and protects another person in the
role of being their guardian. The gurus of the Kagyu lineage
actually taken on these blind migrators who are buzzing
around like senseless flies and stand over them, looking after
and guiding them, like the guardians of children who have

lost their parents and need someone older to look after them
in every way.
These unequalled guardians of beings are the Kagyu gurus

of the lineage that came down from Gampopa. Gampopa is
mostly known to Tibetans not as Gampopa but as the man
from Dvagpo because that is where he came from and also
where he established his monastery on the advice of Milarepa.
Thus, they are the unequalled guardians of beings, the gurus
of the lineage of the Dvagpo Kagyu that came down through
Gampopa.
Now that all of the lineage holders have been stated then
praised, the first of several supplications is made. The remain-
der of this first section, when paraphrased, says, I supplicate
you the Kagyu gurus mentioned above. I too have the instruc-
tions of the Kagyu lineage and practise them, thus I too am
I holder of the Kagyu lineage. Therefore, please grant me your
blessings so that I too could practise dharma in the ways that
you have, as seen in your various life stories.
With that, the practitioner has made a full connection with

reality and the lineage of teachers who have practised and
passed on the teachings to him, and has asked for their bless-
ings so that he too could practise and attain as they have.
Having done that, the practitioner needs to have specific
blessings so that he could have all the necessities of practice
itself and accomplish the practice according to how it should
be accomplished. Thus, the rest of the prayer is concerned
with supplicating for blessings so that practice could be en-

tered and successfully accomplished.
SUPPLICATING FOR RENUNCIATION

The first thing needed for practice is renunciation. There are
many ways of summing up the path to enlightenment but they
always begin with renunciation because a person who has
not seen that his existence is fundamentally flawed will not
have the drive needed to go through the process of getting
to a more enlightened kind of existence.
Renunciation is a two fold process of seeing firstly that your

current type of existence is fundamentally flawed and cannot
be fixed and secondly of turning towards a different type of
existence that is not flawed and does not need to be fixed.
The first step is to be revolted with your current, cyclic type
of existence then, from there, you can take the second step
of finding out which type of existence is better and re-orienting
yourself firmly to that, which is actual renunciation. Thus
revulsion or disgust at ones current state of existence is a
precursor for the renunciation that does the work of carrying
you all the way along your journey to a more enlightened style
of existence. Therefore, this verse says, Revulsion is the foot
of meditation as is taught.
Revulsion in Tibetan means to be disgusted up with some-

thing, to be utterly fed up with it to the point of nausea. When
you are this fed up with your deluded style of existence,
otherwise known as cyclic existence or sasra, you have the
drive needed to undertake what it takes to get to enlighten-
ment. You will be prepared because of it to give up attach-
ments to the securities of your deluded kind of existence

food, wealth, lodging, possessions, and so onand put your-
self wholly into the practice. Giving up attempts to make this
life workable that will inevitably fail goes along with making
a very deliberate and no-turning-back-possible decision to
abandon that approach and to get on only with practice.
The Tibetan words in the prayer that correspond to cut the

ties to this life actually mean to cut the mooring rope of a
boat and they have the sense of making a final, definite
decision that commits the person making the decision to a
course of action without any looking back. The Tibetan
wording is quite strong and the English has to be understood
that way. The prayer does not merely say that one cuts the
ties to this life but that one firmly decides to cut the ties to
this life and does actually do so.
So you, as the meditator are a person who has been revolted

by what you understand your cyclic existence to be and have
given up on this life, having made a firm decision to cut all
ties to it. Therefore, you supplicate the ones before you who
have done the same, asking for their blessings so that you have
no attachment to honour and gain. Here gain means to
have things as opposed to not having them; it is one element
of a comfortable, secure existence in this life, something that
the meditator is abandoning or has abandoned. Honour
means others holding you in high esteem and treating you
very well because of it. In short, you, the meditator are asking
for blessings so that you do not have the sorts of mind that
would disturb your decision to abandon cyclic existence and
get on with enlightenment.
SUPPLICATING FOR DEVOTION

Devotion is one of the key issues in Vajra Vehicle. Without
it, nothing can happen. Devotion oversees the whole practice
and guides it along. Therefore it is likened to a head, with
eyes and a brain.
When you have properly entered into relationship with some-

one who can teach you Mahmudr, that person, your guru,
opens to the door to your being able to practise Mahmudr
specifically by granting you the very special sort of oral in-
structions that will enable you to progress on the path.
There are many types of oral instruction in Buddhism and

each has a specific name that tells exactly what it is. The most
special of all, called upadeha in Sanskrit and man ngag
in Tibetan, has the power to wake up certain kinds of experi-
ence in you. The name literally means foremost oral instruc-
tion. It is not enough just to think of this as oral instruction;
there are many types of oral instruction but there is only one
type of this foremost instruction and it is universally described
as the special type of instruction needed for the transmission
of the Vajra Vehicle teaching.
The whole transmission of Mahmudr and Dzogchen de-

pends on having a teacher who can impart this kind of instruc-
tion to you. And your ability to receive it and do something
with it depends on your devotion to that person. Therefore,
the guru is precious above all, and your devotion to him is
key. Because of that, you supplicate the lineage gurus so that
a genuine devotion could be born in you. The Tibetan word
translated as genuine is actually uncontrived. It means
un-feigned devotion, devotion with nothing artificial about

it.
A lot could be said here about devotion but much of it is closed

teaching, available only to those who have entered the Vajra
Vehicle, and this small explanation is meant for wider public
distribution.
SUPPLICATING FOR NON-DISTRACTION

The remaining two verses deal with the actual practice of
Mahmudr meditation. There are two main approaches to
Mahmudr practice taught in the Kagyu; one is called essence
Mahmudr and the other is called The Four Yogas of
Mahmudr. The two verses here are about essence
Mahmudr. This is the way that Gampopa, according to
what he himself says in his Collected Works, taught Mahmudr
to his disciples.
The two remaining verses sum up the whole practice of es-

sence Mahmudr and could easily have several large books
written about them. As mentioned before, the author was
very erudite and actually compressed all the essential issues
into just these two verses. However, as mentioned above, this
is only a small explanation of the prayer meant for widespread
distribution, so a detailed explanation will not be given and
the secret details will not be discussed.
To understand the current verse, the one that starts with

Non-distraction, you must understand that all lower types
of meditation, such as those found in stra, are meditations
in which you meditate using rationalor you can say dualistic
mind. And, you very consciously do a meditation that has

the particular feature of developing a quality that you did not
have before or improving on one that you do have but which
could be further developed. The meditations, for example,
on impermanence, loving kindness, compassion, calm-abiding,
and so on are like that. Meditation on emptiness even can
be like that, too. They are meditations done with rational
mind, and they try to create or develop something in rational
mind.
Higher types of meditation are quite different. Rather than

using rational mind to produce or improve something in the
normal, dualistic state of mind, these meditations do not create
or improve anything in that mind. To the contrary, they are
beyond rational-mind made meditations and require that the
meditator separates himself from that kind of meditation.
The first of these two last verses is seeking blessings specifi-
cally so that the practitioner can divorce himself from rational-
mind styles of meditation and go to the beyond-mind style
meditation of Mahmudr.
To enter the approach of a non-rational type of meditation

which is not even a meditationthere has, initially, to be non-
distraction from the real situation as it is. You might not be
doing a conventional type, rational-minded meditation but,
whatever else you do, you must remain without distraction
in your practice. To do that, thoughts are not approached the
way they are in rational-mind made meditations. In rational-
mind made meditations, thoughts are seen as bad and have
to be stopped. In essence Mahmudr, thoughts are part of
reality and do not need to be prevented but they must also
not be allowed to be a source of distraction. This point of
being non-distracted is a key point in Mahmudr. It is the

body, or the main part of meditation, as the prayer says.
A number of translations change non-distraction to its

opposite, awareness, and use that word instead of non-
distraction. This is a serious mistake as anyone who is well-
acquainted with the practice and its transmission will know.
The key point and the word for it is non-distraction and
there are extensive explanations on why that is so and what
it means.
The second and third lines present a progression with four,

specific features of how a thought has to be dealt with initially
for it to be part of the non-distraction. They are like a live
broadcast of someone dealing with thoughts so that they
remain apart of the persons non-distraction.
They are fresh things, those thoughts, when they do shine

forth. What is shining forth? It is a specific technical term
that is not the same as the more general words arising,
occurring, etc. It is a word specifically for things that hap-
pen only in mind. When used in the Tibetan, you know exactly
what you are dealing with. We have no word for this in
English, so I have used the phrase shines forth which both
makes the term stand outas it does in the Tibetanand
correctly translates the meaning.
They are fresh things, those thoughts, when they do shine

forth. And you leave those things, in all of their freshness,
untouched by any attempt to alter them. You put yourself
so that you are staying in just that, meaning just exactly what
that un-distracted freshness is, and nothing more or less.
By putting yourself in that specific way in relation to any

thought that shines forth, you develop the non-distractedness
which is an essential component of every meditation but do
it without the usual rational-minded approach to meditation
seen in lower types of meditation. That is what you are aiming
for so you end this verse by asking for blessings so that you
can, using this style of non-distraction, rid yourself of all styles
of rational-mind made meditation and move to the non-dualis-
tic, non-meditation of essence Mahmudr.
Let me say here that, in the Tibetan of this verse, everything

is in the right place, there is great meaning, and the verse is
easy to chant. However, this is one of those cases where it
is very difficult to get all of the qualities of the Tibetan verse
into English so that all details are included, are in the right
order, and the whole thing is pleasant to chant. An equally
important point is not to fall into the mistake of looking at
this and saying, Oh, I prefer some other translation because
it sounds better or is easier to chant. That would be like
saying, I dont care if the meaning is wrong and it takes me
in the wrong direction, I just like it better. The hard truth
exposed by this situation is that we need to start writing our
own prayers in English.
THE CORE PRACTICE AND ITS RESULT,

A RETURN TO ENLIGHTENMENT
The last verse succinctly describes ultimate Mahmudr
practice and supplicates for blessings for its accomplishment,
which will be the fruition of the path, a return to buddhahood.
As with the last verse, the Tibetan in this verse incorporates

a number of key points in a flow. Its rather beautiful, too,
if you know all the details involved. Unlike the last verse, it
is straightforward to render into English though it does re-
quire a knowledge of the most profound points of Mahmu-
dr, which admittedly is not something that many people
have, even amongst practitioners.
The verse starts out with Gampopas statement that discursive

thoughts are dharmakya. This statement sums up Gampo-
pas way of teaching essence Mahmudr and becomes a
central part of Kagyu teaching. It is the view of this practice
as passed down from Gampopa.
The style of practice connected with this is the non-meditation,

free of rational mind, type of practice that goes with the non-
distraction mentioned in the previous verse. When this type
of practice is done, the meditator experiences reality directly
and in a way that is described in the essence Mahmudr
instructions with the three characteristics. The three sum up
how the meditator knows reality, that is, Mahmudr, in direct
experience.
There is an enormous body of teaching on the practice of these

three characteristics but this is all at the secret level and cannot
be discussed here. Nonetheless, it is important to understand
that the verse is talking about a meditator who does arrive
at this experience, with all three characteristics involved. All
other translations that I have seen mis-translate this verse,
primarily because the translators did not know about this very
profoundand hence not widely knownpoint.
The meditators direct experience of reality having the three

characteristics is stated with these words,
nothing whatsoever shining forth as everything, shines

forth in unstopped play
Note how there is no break between nothing whatsoever
and shining forth as everything. That is correct: the word-
ing is exactly that way in Tibetan and sounds that way when
read. That is so because it describes two processes occurring
simultaneously. When those two events are happening,
whatever shines forth in mind shines forth in a process of what
is called unstopped play, just as this translation says.
The word un-stopped is a very special and important term

that points out a special quality of the first two characteristics.
Most other translations have called this unceasing or
unhindered but that is incorrect; those words and others
like them are not grammatically correct and are also not
correct in terms of the profound point being addressed.
The verse ends by asking for blessings so that the experience

of Mahmudr could shine forth in the meditators mind not
merely as the path experience just discussed but as the final
realization of buddhahood, mentioned as the inseparability
of sasra and nirva.
The qualities of enlightenment are inconceivable, in the sense

that they are beyond the range of conceptual, that is rational,
mind. However, for the sake of us practitioners, buddha, in
its various manifestations such as hkyamuni Buddha,
Vajradhara, and so on have given explanations of what it is
like. One of the many ways of explaining it is to point out that,
when realized, there is no boundary any longer between

sasra and nirva. There are various ways of explaining
this but before mentioning them, it is important to understand
that the inseparability of sasra and nirva is not some-
thing that can or ever will directly known by any sasric
sort of being. The inseparability of sasra and nirva
does not in any way mean that sasra and nirva are
inseparable in the way that a sasric, conceptual, dualistic,
rational mind would always think about it. The inseparabil-
ity of sasra and nirva are words that point at a state
of being in which there is a fundamentally different way of
knowing from that of the ordinary person. That different way
of knowing is called wisdom.
If you, as a person who has practised this kind of Mahmudr

path, have reached the point where the direct experience of
reality described in the middle lines of this verse is with you
twenty-four hours a day, around the clock, and without any
interruption at all to its continuity, then you have reached the
fruition. You have returned to your own, innate state of
Vajradhara because of having followed the path as it should
be followed, as summed up in this prayer.
If someone else who had not arrived at the end came along
and asked you, Well how is it?, you would be stuck for
words just as all the other buddhas have been. However, if
you were pressed on the matter, you might, as they all have
done, first offer the disclaimer, Look, this is not expressible
by words and cannot be known through conceptual thinking
and then say, All things of sasra and nirva have one
common point, which is that they all are empty. At this point,
that emptiness has been fully realized; it is a fact continuously
before mind. Therefore, for me, the phenomena that arise in

that expanse of emptiness whether of sasra or nirva, are
the same and cannot be separated. For me, sasra and
nirva are not two separate things the way that they are for
you. Their way of being inseparable can be understood by
a sasric person using these kinds of words but the actual
fact of inseparability can only be experienced when dualistic
mind and all of its traces have been eliminated, at the point
when you have returned to your original condition. The
original condition is The Great Imprint, Mahmudr which
manifests in the forms such as Vajradhara in order to teach
other beings how to return to their original condition.
The prayer is commonly recited with another verse added

to the end, one which sums up the path into just one verse:
Through all my births may I not be separated

However, that is another prayer that is not part of the Great
Vajradhara prayer.
May all be good and

Finally beyond good.
Lama Tony Duff,

Swayambhu,
Nepal,
24 December 2008
TIBETAN TEXT
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Tony Duff has spent a lifetime pursuing the Buddhas
teaching and transmitting it to others. In the early
1970's, during his post-graduate studies in molecular
biology, he went to Asia and met the Buddhist
teachings of various South-east Asian countries. He
met Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal and has followed it since. After his
trip he abandoned worldly life and was the first monk ordained in his
home country of Australia. Together with several others, he founded
the monastery called Chenrezig Institute for Wisdom Culture where
he studied and practised the Gelugpa teachings for several years
under the guidance of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Geshe Lodan, and
Zasep Tulku. After that, he offered back his ordination and left for the
USA to study the Kagyu teachings with the incomparable Chogyam
Trungpa Rinpoche. Tony was very active in the community and went
through all possible levels of training that were available during his
twelve year stay. He was also a core member of the Nalanda Trans-
lation Committee. After Chogyam Trungpa died, Tony went to live in
Nepal where he worked as the personal translator for Tsoknyi
Rinpoche and also translated for several other well-known teachers.
He also founded and directed the largest Tibetan text preservation
project in Asia, the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project, which he oversaw
for eight years. He also established the Padma Karpo Translation
Committee which has produced many fine translations and made
many resources for translators such as the highly acclaimed
Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary. After the year 2000, Tony
focussed primarily on obtaining Dzogchen teachings from the best
teachers available, especially within Tibet, and translating and
teaching them. He has received much approval from many teachers
and has been given the titles lotsawa and lama and been strongly
encouraged by them to teach Westerners. One way he does that is by
producing these fine translations.

P.O. Box 4957
Kathmandu
Nepal
http://www.tibet.dk/pktc

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THE SHORT

GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER

TRANSLATION AND EXPLANATION BY

Copyright Tony Duff 2008. All rights reserved.

The translations and commentaries contained herein are

The files may be copied and given to others privately

Other web-sites are encouraged to link to this page.

Neither the files nor their content are in the public

In accord with standard copyright law, you may use

TRANSLATION AND EXPLANATION BY

Copyright 2008 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No

First edition, December 2008

Palatino typeface with diacritical marks and Tibetan Classic

Produced, Printed, and Published by

Web-site and e-mail contact through:

THE SHORT GREAT VAJRADHARA PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . 1

A B RIEF E XPLANATION OF THE P RAYER W ITH

This is a new translation of one of the most used prayers of

There were many translations of the prayer around at the time

of them will be helpful to anyone who is seriously trying to

This e-book has a binding offset built in so that it can easily

Finally, there are other publications on our website which can

Our best wishes to you,

Great Vajradhara, Tailo, Naro,

Revulsion is the foot of meditation as is taught.

Devotion is the head of meditation as is taught.

Non-distraction is the body of meditation as is taught.

Discursive thoughts entity is dharmakya as is taught.

Composed by the man from Ban Gar, Jampal Zangpo.

Translated by Lama Tony Duff of Padma Karpo Translation Com-

The translation and explanation here of this very popular

There are several translations of this text floating around. The

If a Tibetan teacher were to give you a commentary on the

Interestingly, the current Karmapa was also dissatisfied with

Thus, due to need and request, I have produced a new transla-

into English according to what is written in the Tibetan. To

THE MEANING OF THE PRAYER

Mahmudr is a name that arose in India for reality. The

of every phenomenon is called The Great Imprint,

The prayer here was written by a follower of the Kagyu tradi-

There is a fairly entrenched habit amongst Western dharma

Traditionally, one would explain the meaning of the title first.

the way through to your own Vajradhara manifested through

SUPPLICATING PRIMORDIAL ENLIGHTENMENT AND

To return to reality, you have to relate to the reality and to

In this system, primordial reality is represented, as mentioned

Vajradhara gave the teachings to the Indian siddha Tailopa.

One of Tailopas main disciples was the Indian siddha Naropa.

of Mahmudr in general and in the Kagyu lineage in particu-

Milarepa had two main disciples, one of them Gampopa. As

Through you, there will be much benefit for

growth. All of the lineage gurus mentioned so far were called

After Gampopa, the Kagyu lineage spread out and developed

The Four Greater and Eight Lesser schools is

The four greater Kagyu schools are: 1) the

Zhang Tshalpa Tsondru Drakpa; and 4) the

The eight lesser schools appeared due to eight

The prayer continues by mentioning Knower of all three

The first Karmapa became known during his lifetime as a

past, present, and future simultaneously. The prayer here

work better for their particular Kagyu lineage. For example,

The prayer continues by praising these lineage holders. They

Unequalled means that the Kagyu gurus are unequalled

Guardians of migrators is a standard phrase used in all