The ‘vajra nature of the mind’ is the space of primordial wisdom,

And inseparable from it in every way is Pema Tötreng Tsal.

You who are one with him, all-pervasive lord, glorious lama,

From my heart I pray, grant me your blessing!

Simply to see your form puts a stop to ordinary deluded perception,

Simply to hear your secret voice arouses the wisdom of great bliss,

Simply to think of you snatches away all fear of samsara and nirvana

Lama, my only father, I cry out to you: think of me with love.

I and those like me, beings who are worn and weary, with no-one to protect us,

Are drowning in samsara’s ocean of suffering,

Since we have no other refuge or protection but you, lord,

Swiftly make this, our pure aspiration, fulfil its aim.

Here and now, eliminate the harm caused by illness, döns, jungpos and the like;

Pacify all circumstances unfavourable for practising the Dharma.

Increase our long life, merit, prosperity, the qualities due to study and realization,

Favourable circumstances and everything positive and good.

Ultimately, grant us your blessing so that when we have cultivated a deep experience of renunciation and bodhichitta,

And appearance, sound and awareness arise as deity, mantra and dharmakaya,

Then through the special vajra path of primordial purity and spontaneous presence,

We may attain the supreme among siddhis, enlightenment.

If, in this life, I can not follow through to completion,

When the clear light dawns at death, let me behold in it

The actual presence of Padmasambhava, and abiding there, inseparable,

May I be liberated into the dharmakaya space of the nature of all things.

But if, at that point, I fall under the control of dualistic delusion,

And the appearances of the bardo of becoming arise,

Then let the kind and compassionate lama, “Lake-born Vajra”,

Come to welcome me, with throngs of dakas and dakinis,

Amid the sounds of music, and a falling cascade of flowers;

Saying “Only child of ours, come now to the Mountain of Glory”,

Calling me by name, and leading me to this paradise on earth,

To the city of Lotus Light!

Once there, constantly practising the dharma of the supreme vehicle of Dzogpachenpo,

Along with the hosts of vidyadharas and dakinis,

May I become skilled in the great secret path of ripening and liberation,

And swiftly attain the sublime level of the four kayas.

Then, may the non-partisan, Rimé, teaching flourish and spread,

May the lives of the supreme holders of the teaching be secure for ages to come,

May all the degeneration of this time in the land of Tibet be pacified,

And the joy and happiness of a new age of perfection increase and prevail.

Finally, from now until attaining the essence of enlightenment,

May the feet of the glorious lama, the wish-fulfilling gem,

Rest forever, uninterruptedly, on the lotus at the centre of my heart,

Granting auspiciousness so that all good things in samsara and nirvana increase!

Through the blessing of the great master of Orgyen who knows past, present and future, in the natural gathering place of dakas and dakinis, Drakmar Zangyak Namkha Dzong, on the upper slopes of Tibet’s five peaked mountain, while celebrating the tsok feast on the tenth day of the waxing moon of the miracle month of the Male Iron Dog year (1850), called ‘the common one’, the vidyadhara Khyentse Wangpo, favourite servant of the omniscient Guru, made this prayer, and may it be blessed so that it comes to pass exactly as it says.

| Courtesy of Rigpa Translations