Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Series

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 Atiśa, to you I pray!

Texts by and about the great Indian master Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982–1054), also known as Jowo Jé Palden Atisha (jo bo rje dpal ldan a ti sha):

Advice

Heart Treasure for the Warriors Who Long for Liberation

Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna imparted this advice to his disciples at the request of Lha Changchub Ö as he was preparing to return to India. In it, he offers basic guidance on how to lead a spiritual life, escape "the swamp of saṃsāra" and reach "the dry shores of liberation."

Advice

The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment

This short text, Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna's most famous and important work, served to establish lamrim, the 'graduated path', as a genre of Tibetan literature and to introduce the three types of being (skyes bu gsum) as a significant typology. It is included in the Middle Way section of the Tengyur (Toh 3947).

Lamrim Tengyur Damngak Dzö

The Twenty-One Supreme Aspects of the Path

In response to a question from his heart-disciples Tsöndrü Yungdrung, Ngok Lekpé Sherab, and Dromtön Gyalwé Jungné, Jowo Atiśa outlines the core principles of mind training or lojong in twenty-one pithy statements. The advice was recorded in a work entitled Miscellaneous Sayings of the Kadam Masters (bka' gdams gsung thor).

Advice Kadam

Aspiration Prayers

Brief Sukhāvatī Aspiration

by Gyalse Shenpen Thaye

Two verses: the first a prayer to Atiśa as an emanation of Padmasambhava and the second an aspiration for rebirth in the pure land of great bliss.

Amitābha Sukhāvatī Aspirations Prayers

Light Offering Prayer

This aspiration prayer to accompany the offering of butter-lamps is said to have been recited by Atiśa and his disciples in the shrines they visited throughout the central and southern provinces of Tibet.

Light Offering Prayers

Guru Yoga

Bestower of Supreme Blessings: Guru Yoga of the Great Incomparable Lord Atiśa

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Jamyang Khyentse wrote this guru yoga in 1959, towards the end of his life, inspired by his own faith and devotion for the great Indian master and the Kadampa tradition that he inspired.

Guru Yoga Kadam

Mind Training

The Bodhisattva’s Garland of Jewels

This short text (Bodhisattvamaṇyāvalī in Sanskrit), which is included in the Middle Way section of the Tengyur (Toh 3951), is regarded as a classic work of the Mind Training (blo sbyong) tradition. With its direct and pithy language, it is not so much a poem as a series of maxims on the bodhisattva path.

Mind Training (Lojong) Advice Tengyur Damngak Dzö

Praise

An Extremely Concise Praise of the Twenty-One Tārās

Tārā herself is credited with composing this short praise, through which Atiśa, who had fallen sick in Nyethang, recovered his health.

Tārā Praise

Prayers

Prayer for the Future of the Dharma

from the Words of the Buddha

Aspiration Prayers Rinchen Terdzö Compendium of Sādhanas

Prayer to Ārya Tārā

It is said that Atiśa spoke this prayer to the goddess Tārā during a life-threatening storm on his journey across the ocean to meet the master Serlingpa. Tārā, who is renowned for the swiftness with which she protects living beings from fear and danger, appeared directly and rescued Atiśa and his fellow travellers from peril.

Tārā Prayers

Short Prayer to Atiśa

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

A short four-line prayer to Atiśa composed in October 1956 on the master’s anniversary.

Prayers

Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Series

Advice

Aspiration Prayers

Guru Yoga

Mind Training

Praise

Prayers

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