Refuge Prayer for the Way of Bön

༁ྃ༔ རྫོགས་ཆེན་གསེར་ཐུར་བོན་སྤྱོད་སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་གསོལ་འདེབས་དབུའོ༔

Refuge Prayer for the Way of Bön

from The Golden Needle of Great Perfection

by Dorje Lingpa

 

༁ྃ༔ བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

སངས་རྒྱས་གཡུང་དྲུང་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

sangye yungdrung sempa nam la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the awakened ones¹ and svastikasattvas.²

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

འཕྲུལ་ངག་བདེན་པའི་བོན་བླ་ན་མེད་པ་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

trul ngak denpé bön lanamepa nam la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the true, emanated speech of the unsurpassed Bön teachings.

 

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

གཤེན་སྟོན་རིག་འཛིན་འཕྲུལ་འཆང་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

shen tön rigdzin trul chang nam la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in Shenrab the Guide³ and the vidyādharas and magicians who followed him.

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

བླ་མ་ཡི་དམ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་གསུམ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

lama yidam khandro sum la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the gurus, yidams, and ḍākinīs.

 

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

བོན་སྐུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

bön ku kuntuzangpo la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the bönkāya,⁴ Kuntuzangpo.⁵

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

རྫོགས་སྐུ་དྲན་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

dzok ku drenpa namkha la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the saṃbhogakāya, Drenpa Namkha.⁶

 

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་བཻ་རོ་ཙ་ན་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

tulku bai rotsa na la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the nirmāṇakāya, Vairotsana.⁷

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

དྲིན་ཅན་བོན་ཞིག་གླིང་པ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

drinchen bön zhik lingpa la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in Bönshik Lingpa,⁸ who is full of kindness.

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number,

བོན་སྐྱོང་གཏེར་བདག་སྲུང་མ་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

bön kyong terdak sungma la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the Bön protectors, treasure keepers, and guardians.

 

དངོས་མེད་མཐའ་བྲལ་བརྡལ་ཡངས་བོན་གྱི་སྐུ༔

ngömé tadral dal yang bön gyi ku

Bönkāya—insubstantial, boundless, expansive, and open;

རང་གསལ་འཛིན་མེད་ཀུན་སྣང་ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས༔

rangsal dzinmé kün nang longchö dzok

Saṃbhogakāya—naturally luminous, beyond grasping, and all-illuminating;

གང་ཤར་སྣང་གྲོལ་ཞེན་བྲལ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ༔

gangshar nang drol zhendral trulpé ku

Nirmāṇakāya—freely arising, free while appearing, and free from fixation—

ཇི་བཞིན་བཅོས་མེད་རྫོགས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

jizhin chömé dzok la kyab su chi o

I take refuge in the perfection of leaving reality just as it is.

 

སྣང་སྲིད་གཞི་བཞེངས་བོན་ཉིད་ངོ་བོ་ལས༔

nangsi zhi zheng bön nyi ngowo lé

Within the essence of the true nature of reality,⁹ the ground manifesting as all possible appearances,

བདག་གཞན་གཉིས་མེད་སྤང་བླང་རེ་དོགས་བྲལ༔

dakzhen nyimé panglang redok dral

There is no division between self and other, no sense of yes or no,¹⁰ and no hope or fear.

རྩོལ་མེད་རང་བབས་ཤུགས་ལས་གྲོལ་བའི་སྐུ༔

tsolmé rangbab shuk lé drolwé ku

The kāya of liberation arises automatically through the effortless flow of naturalness.

སྣང་གསལ་གཟུང་བྲལ་ངང་དུ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་དོ༔

nangsal zungdral ngang du semkyé do

Within a state of non-grasping at luminous appearances, I generate the spirit of awakening.¹¹

 

སྐད་ཅིག་ཨ་ལས་རང་རིག་འགགས་མེད་རྩལ༔

kechik a lé rangrig gakmé tsal

Instantly, from the syllable A, there is a self-knowing, unceasing energy.

ཕྱོགས་མེད་ཡུལ་བྲལ་ཉི་ཟླ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྟེང༔

chokmé yuldral nyida sempé teng

There are no directions, no domains. Yet, upon a sattva's seat of sun and moon,¹²

བོན་སྐུ་ཀུན་བཟང་མཐིང་སྐྱ་སྐྱིལ་ཀྲུང་་བཞུགས༔

bön ku kunzang ting kya kyiltrung zhuk

Sits the bönkāya, Kuntuzangpo, light blue, in cross-legged posture.

ཕྱག་གཉིས་མཉམ་བཞག་གཡུང་དྲུང་འོད་འབར་བསྣམས༔

chak nyi nyamzhak yungdrung öbar nam

His two hands are in the mudrā of equipoise and hold a svastika of blazing light.

 

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད༔

dak dang tayé semchen tamché

I and all sentient beings, limitless in number

བོན་བཅུད་རྫོགས་ཆེན་གསེར་ཐུར་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆིའོ༔

bön chü dzogchen ser tur la kyab su chi o

Take refuge in the Golden Needle of Great Perfection, the vital essence of Bön.

གསོལ་བ་བསྣམས༔

Our prayers are heard. ¹³

 

Invitation

རྒྱན་མེད་གཅེར་བུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཞལ་གྱི་ཚུལ༔

gyenmé cherbu küntu zhal gyi tsul

Unadorned and naked, with a universal gaze,¹⁴

སྟོང་གསལ་བོན་ལྔ་འོད་ཀྱི་ཚུལ་དུ་བསྐྱེད༔

tong sal bön nga ö kyi tsul du kyé

You are fashioned of the five ultimate lights,¹⁵ empty and luminous.

བཅོས་མེད་མཉམ་ཡངས་ཡེ་བདེ་གཡུང་དྲུང་ངང༔

chömé nyam yang yé dé yungdrung ngang

I invite you, in your unchanging state of non-fabrication, expansive evenness, and primordial bliss,

རྒྱ་ཡན་ངང་དུ་སོ་མ་གཤེགས་སུ་གསོལ༔

gya yen ngang du soma shek su sol

As freshness within relaxed openness.¹⁶

Offering a Place to Sit

ཐ་སྙད་ཚིག་གི་རེ་དོགས་བྲལ་བ་སྟེ༔

tanyé tsik gi redok dralwa té

Free from the hopes and fears bound up in conventional words,

བདེ་ཆེན་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་འཁོར་འདས་བོན་སྐུ་བཞུགས༔

dechen lhündrub khordé bön ku zhuk

Bönkāya, spontaneously present bliss transcending saṃsāra, please be present!

Prostration

རང་གིས་རང་གསལ་ཡེ་གྲོལ་རང་བདེ་ལ༔

rang gi rangsal yedrol rang dé la

To this self-luminous, primordially free, natural bliss,¹⁷

ཡིན་མིན་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་ལྷུག་པར་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ༔

yin min trödral lhukpar chaktsal lo

I prostrate in relaxation, unbothered by ideas of what is and is not.

Offering

རྟོགས་གྲོལ་མཐོང་རྒྱས་ཆེན་པོའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སུ༔

tok drol tong gyé chenpö zhingkham su

In the pure land of the vast vista of simultaneous realization and liberation,

གནད་གསུམ་གདེང་ལྡན་ཆེན་པོས་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ༔

né sum dengden chenpö chöpa bul

I give offerings, secure in my confidence about the three key points.¹⁸

Confession

ཡེ་ནས་གསལ་སྟོང་གློ་བུར་དྲིམ་མས་བསྒྲིབས༔

yené saltong lobur drim mé drib

Primordial, luminous emptiness is obscured by superficial distortions,

རང་ཐིམ་རྩ་བྲལ་ཆེན་པོར་མཐོལ་ལོ་བཤགས༔

rang tim tsadral chenpor tol lo shak

Which I acknowledge and lay down within the grandeur of naturally dissolved rootlessness.

Rejoicing

བདེ་གསལ་མི་རྟག་ཉམས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ལ༔

dé sal mi tak nyam kyi nangwa la

Among the impermanent experiences of bliss and clarity,

ཞེན་མེད་བརྗོད་བྲལ་ཆེན་པོ་རྗེས་ཡི་རང༔

zhenmé jödral chenpo jé yi rang

I rejoice in magnificent ineffability, free from fixation.¹⁹

Requesting to Teach

རྟོག་གཉིས་བར་གྱི་བོན་སྐུ་རྩོལ་མེད་མཆོག༔

tok nyi bar gyi bön ku tsolmé chok

The bönkāya, there between two thoughts, is supreme effortlessness.

འོལ་པོ་རྗེས་མེད་གཟུགས་སྐུར་བོན་འཁོར་བསྐོར༔

olpo jemé zukkur bön khor kor

O, infinite one,²⁰ traceless rūpakāya, please turn the wheel of Bön!

Request to Remain

བློ་ཟོག་རྟོག་པའི་དྲི་མས་མ་བསླད་པར༔

lo zok tokpé drimé malepar

I pray for naturally lucid pristine awareness to remain throughout the four times,²¹

དུས་བཞིར་ཡེ་ཤེས་རང་གསལ་བཞུགས་སུ་གསོལ༔

dü zhir yeshe rangsal zhuk su sol

Unspoiled by the discursive distortions of inauthentic mentation.

Offering

འཁོར་འདས་བོན་སྐུའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སུ༔

khordé bön kü zhingkham su

Within the pure realm of the bönkāya, saṃsāra and nirvāṇa itself,

འགྱུ་གྲོལ་བོན་ཉིད་ཆག་ཆག་འདེབས༔

gyu drol bön nyi chakchak deb

The true nature of reality²² sprinkles down to settle the dust²³ of mental stirrings.

འཛིན་མེད་ཀུན་སྣང་ཚོམ་བུ་བཀོད༔

dzinmé kün nang tsombu kö

The ungraspable and all-illuminating are arranged in clusters.²⁴

གྲགས་སྟོང་བརྗོད་མེད་མཆོད་སྤྲིན་གཏིབས༔

drak tong jömé chötrin tib

Offering clouds of ineffable, empty sonance billow.

རྟོག་དཔྱོད་རྩོལ་གྲོལ་བྲལ་བའི་ཀློང༔

tokchö tsol drol dralwé long

Within this transcendent experiential expanse²⁵ free from analytical efforts,²⁶

རང་བབས་ངང་དེར་བཞེས་སུ་གསོལ༔

rangbab ngang der zhé su sol

Within the ongoing flow of naturalness, please accept these offerings!

Essence

ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པའི་མཎྜལ་ལ༔

ngowo tongpé mandal la

The maṇḍala of empty essence²⁷

ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པའི་དབྱིངས་སུ་འདུས༔

ngowo tongpé ying su dü

Is gathered in the expanse of empty essence.

ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་པ་ངང་གསལ་ཅིག༔

ngowo tongpa ngang sal chik

Let my ongoing experience of empty essence be lucid

སྐྱེ་མེད་ཆེན་པོར་བཞེས་སུ་གསོལ༔

kyemé chenpor zhé su sol

And please accept it as an offering within the grandeur of non-arising.

Nature

རང་བཞིན་གསལ་བའི་མཎྜལ་འདི༔

rangzhin salwé mandal di

This maṇḍala of luminous nature

རང་བཞིན་འཇའ་འོད་དབྱིངས་སུ་འབུལ༔

rangzhin ja ö ying su bul

I offer within nature's rainbow expanse.

སྐུ་འདས་ཐིག་ལེས་རབ་བརྒྱན་ནས༔

ku dé tiklé rab gyen né

With all adorned in bindus transcending kāyas,²⁸

ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཆེན་པོར་བཞེས་སུ་གསོལ༔

lhündrub chenpor zhé su sol

Please accept this as an offering within the grandeur of spontaneous presence.

Compassion

ཐུགས་རྗེས་ཀུན་སྣང་མཎྜལ་འདི༔

tukjé kün nang mandal di

This all-illuminating maṇḍala of compassionate activity,

སྐྱེ་མེད་མཐའ་བྲལ་ངང་དུ་འབུལ༔

kyemé tadral ngang du bul

I offer within an untrammeled state of non-arising.

རིགས་དྲུག་དོང་སྤྲུགས་སྤྲུལ་བཀྱེ་བ༔

rik druk dongtruk trul kyewa

Emanations go forth to dredge the suffering of the six classes of beings—

འཛིན་མེད་ངང་དེར་བཞེས་སུ་གསོལ༔

dzinmé ngang der zhé su sol

Please accept them as offerings within the ongoing state of non-clinging.

 

ཨེ་མ་བླ་མ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང༔

ema lama kuntuzang

Ema! Guru Kuntuzangpo,

ལྟ་བ་མཐའ་བྲལ་དོན་རྟོགས་ཤིང༔

tawa tadral dön tok shing

May I realize the meaning of the view beyond limits;

སྒོམ་པ་གསལ་སྟོང་ངོ་བོ་འཕྲོད༔

gompa saltong ngowo trö

May I come face to face with the luminous and empty essence in meditation;

སྤྱོད་པ་སྤང་བླང་བྲལ་བ་མྱོང༔

chöpa panglang dralwa nyong

And may I know what it is for my conduct to be free from yes and no.

 

འབྲས་བུ་ཡེ་ཐོབ་རང་ཆས་དེ༔

drebu yé tob rangché dé

Please reveal to us our inherent qualities—²⁹

བདག་ཅག་རྣམས་ལ་བསྟན་དུ་གསོལ༔

dakchak nam la ten du sol

The fruitions that have always, already been attained!

རིན་ཆེན་གསེར་གཡུ་མུ་ཏིག་དང༔

rinchen ser yu mutik dang

We offer you precious gold, turquoise, pearls,

དུང་དང་བྱི་རུ་མེན་ཤེལ་འབུལ༔

dung dang jiru men shel bul

Shells, coral, ornaments, and crystals.

སྐུ་གསུམ་སྐུ་ལྔ་བསྟན་དུ་གསོལ༔

ku sum ku nga ten du sol

Please reveal the three and five kāyas.³⁰

 

བརྗོད་མེད་རིག་པའི་ངང་ཀློང་དུ༔

jömé rigpé ngang long du

Within the experiential expanse of ineffable pure awareness,

བོན་སྐུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ལ༔

bön ku kuntuzangpo la

Within an ongoing state of groundlessness,

གཞི་མེད་ངང་དུ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔

zhimé ngang du solwa deb

I pray to the bönkāya, Kuntuzangpo.

དྲི་བྲལ་རྗེན་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔

dridral jenpar jingyi lob

Bless me that I may be stainless and naked.

 

རང་གསལ་ཡན་པའི་མཁའ་རྒྱ་རུ༔

rangsal yenpé kha gya ru

In the naturally luminous, open vastness of space,

ལོངས་སྐུ་དྲན་པ་ནམ་མཁའ་ལ༔

longku drenpa namkha la

I pray to the saṃbhogakāya, Drenpa Namkha,

བྱིང་རྒོད་བྲལ་བར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔

jinggö dralwar solwa deb

That I may have nothing more to do with sinking and excitement.³¹

སྣང་སེམས་དབྱེར་མེད་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔

nang sem yermé jingyi lob

Bless me that my mind and appearances may be inseparable.

 

ཐུགས་རྗེ་རྩོལ་མེད་གཞལ་ཡས་སུ༔

tukjé tsolmé zhalyé su

Within the palace of effortless compassion,

སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་འགྲོ་དོན་མཛད་རྣམས་ལ༔

tulku dro dön dzé nam la

To the nirmāṇakāyas who help beings,

སྙེམས་བྲལ་ངང་ནས་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔

nyemdral ngang né solwa deb

I pray without sanctimony.

རང་བཞག་ལྟོས་བྲལ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔

rang zhak tödral jingyi lob

Bless me with natural relaxation, to be without crutches.³²

འགྱུ་འཛིན་དག་པའི་སྒྲུབ་གཤེན་ལ༔

gyu dzin dakpé drub shen la

In my devotion to the Bön siddhas³³ who purified their clinging to what stirs,

མོས་གུས་སྤང་བླང་བྲལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱི་རློབས༔

mögü panglang dralwar jin gyi lob

Bless me to transcend yes and no.

 

སྟག་ཚང་སེང་གེ་གཏེར་གནས་སུ༔

tak tsang sengé ter né su

I pray that I may brave hardships

རྫོགས་ཆེན་གསེར་གྱི་ཐུར་མ་ལ༔

dzogchen ser gyi turma la

Here in the site of treasures, Takstang Senge Samdrub,³⁴

དཀའ་སྤྱད་མོས་པར་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔

kaché möpar solwa deb

For the sake of the Golden Needle of Great Perfection.

བོན་སྐུ་ཐོབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔

bön ku tobpar jingyi lob

Please bless me to attain the bönkāya!

 

འཁོར་འདས་རྒྱ་གྲོལ་གཞལ་ཡས་སུ༔

khordé gya drol zhalyé su

In the unbound palace of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,

སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་བོན་ཞིག་གླིང་པ་ལ༔

tulku bön zhik lingpa la

I pray, with intense devotion,

མོས་གུས་གདུང་བས་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས༔

mögü dungwé solwa deb

To the nirmāṇakāya, Bönshik Lingpa.³⁵

སྒྲུབ་རྒྱུད་ཟིན་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔

drub gyü zinpar jingyi lob

Bless me that the practice lineage may be mine.

བསྔོ་བ་ནི༔

Dedication

ཧོ༔  བདག་དང་འགྲོ་ཀུན་ཅི་བཞིན་ངང་ནས་དགེ༔

ho dak dang dro kün chi zhin ngang né gé

Ho! All beings and I, being just what we are, is a virtue in itself.

བློ་ཟད་མྱ་ངན་འདས་པའི་བོན་དུ་བསྔོ༔

lo zé nya ngen depé bön du ngo

I dedicate it for the exhaustion of the ordinary mind, ultimate nirvāṇa.

འཁོར་འདས་བདེ་ཆེན་གཡུང་དྲུང་མཐར་ཕྱིན་ནས༔

khordé dechen yungdrung tarchin né

With saṃsāra and nirvāṇa perfected as everlasting bliss,³⁶

བཅིངས་མེད་གྲོལ་ཟིན་བོན་སྐུ་ཐོབ་པར་ཤོག༔

chingmé drol zin bön ku tobpar shok

May we be unchained, claim our freedom, and attain the Bön kāya!

 

ས་མ་ཡ༔

Samaya

རྒྱ་རྒྱ་རྒྱ༔

Sealed. Sealed. Sealed.

 

| Translated by Joseph McClellan and edited by NT Ninjyed with the support of Tom Poole, 2025.

 

Bibliography

Rdo rje gling pa. Rdzogs chen gser thur bon spyod skyabs 'gro gsol 'debs dbu'o. In Gter chen chos kyi rgyal po u rgyan rdo rje gling pa'i zab mo'i chos sde las lnga pa gter gzhung skor phyogs bsdebs rin chen indra ni la glegs bam pa, vol. 27, pp. 453–460. Edited by Lopen Kunga Gyaltshen. Swayambhu: Khenpo Shedup Tenzin and Lama Thinley Namgyal, 2010.

 

Secondary Sources

Ani Jinba Palmo, trans. The Great Image: The Life Story of Vairochana the Translator. Boston and London: Shambhala, 2004.

Karmay, Samten Gyaltsen. The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and Beliefs in Tibet. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, 2009.

Mandelbaum, Arthur and John Vincent Bellezza. “Drenpa Namkha.” Treasury of Lives, 2010. https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Drenpa-Namkha/6681

Reynolds, John Myrdhin. The Practice of Dzogchen in the Zhang-Zhung Tradition of Tibet. Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, 2011.

 

Version: 1.1-20250701

1. ↑ "Awakened ones" is the same term as buddhas. Since the present text belongs to the Bön tradition, we opt for the literal translation over the culturally loaded Sanskrit term.
2. ↑ Svastikasattvas, or “heroes of the svastika,” refers to the enlightened beings of the Bön tradition, for whom the svastika is a particularly important symbol of immutability and power, equivalent to the vajra in Vajrayāna Buddhism.
3. ↑ Tönpa Shenrab (ston pa gshen rab) or Shenrab Miwo (gshen rab mi bo), the first human Bön teacher.
4. ↑ A Bön term connoting the absolute kāya, doctrinally equivalent to the dharmakāya of the buddhist tradition.
5. ↑ Here we use the Tibetan name Kuntuzangpo rather than the Sanskrit equivalent Samantabhadra since the Bön tradition does not always refer to Sanskrit precedents.
6. ↑ On this figure, see Mandelbaum and Belleza, “Drenpa Namkha,” According to Bön, Drenpa Namkha was the saṃbhogakāya deity who transmitted the teachings from Kuntuzangpo to Shenrab.
7. ↑ This is the same Vairocana/Vairotsana/Berotsana of the Nyingma Dzogchen tradition. He was born into a Bön heritage and remained engaged with Bön throughout his life. For his biography, see Ani Jinba Palmo, trans., The Great Image, 228. His name is unambiguously Sanskrit; however, when transliterating Sanskrit, Tibetans use tsa for the Sanskrit letter ca, and they pronounce it according to their native togue as tsa. This leads to the half-Tibetanized name Vairotsana. More often, they also pronounce the Sanskrit Vairo as Bero, leading to the fully Tibetanized name Berotsana.
8. ↑ This is Dorje Lingpa’s title as a Bönpo terön.
9. ↑ “True nature of reality” here translate bon nyid, the Bön equivalent to the dharmatā (chos nyid) of buddhist metaphysics. translates bon nyid, which is roughly equivalent to the buddhist term chos nyid, dharmatā, or “the irreducible nature of things.”
10. ↑ "Sense of yes or no" translates spang slang, often adequately translated as "acceptance and rejection."
11. ↑ "Spirit of awakening" = bodhicitta.
12. ↑ This line presents the puzzling and uncommon phrase nyi zla sems dpa'i steng ("sun + moon + mind-hero + on top of). The sun and moon [discs] are standard divine seats; however, sems dpa'i steng suggests the position above a heroic being, or, in the context of creation and completion state meditation, sattva, which connotes "aspect," of which there are three: (1) the samayasattva—the divine self-identity cultivated by the practitioner; (2) the jñānasattva—the divinity qua pristine awareness that imbues the meditational situation; and (3) the samādhisattva—a special focal point that precipitates and supports the practitioner's meditative absorption. Despite these associations, nothing suggests that the figure of Kuntuzangpo would appear on top of any of these aspects. More likely, sattva may here be metaphorical, perhaps standing for vidyā (rig pa; pure awareness). In that case, it would be a Dzogchen-inflection of the term sattva as used in the theory of the Three Gunas introduced in the Indian religious epic, the Mahābharata (verse 17.2). In that doctrinal theory, reality comprises three qualities: sattva (purity and knowledge); tamas (darkness and ignorance); and rajas (vitality). Considering these complexities, we render sems dpa''i steng loosely as "sattva's seat," which would literally be sems dpa'i gdan du.
13. ↑ Translation tentative. Here, we find another uncommon phrasing: gsol ba bsnams ("supplication + seized/taken/wielded"), of which we have found no other instances.
14. ↑ "Universal gaze" renders kun tu zhal—lit. "facing everywhere" or "panoramic."
15. ↑ "Five ultimate lights" renders bon lnga 'od (Bön five lights), which we do not find in related literature. Bon (Bön) tends to connote what is ultimate, and in Dzogchen discourse, the five lights are associated with the five pristine awarenesses (ye she 'od lnga; ye shes lnga'i 'od). We therefore equate "five Bön lights," "five lights of pristine awareness," and "five ultimate lights."
16. ↑ The poetic language is subtle here. In the third line, Kuntuzangpo is presented as the symbol of the states of non-fabrication, etc., The fourth line begins literally, rgya yan nang du ("within a state of relaxed openness"), which seems to subtly shift the focus onto the supplicant's state of mind. Finally, "freshness" (so ma) is presented as the direct object of invitation, suggesting the identification of Kuntuzangpo and freshness, which are being drawn in to imbue the supplicant's experience.
17. ↑ This marks the beginning of stanzas dedicated to the seven branches: prostration, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting teachings, requesting to remain, and dedication.
18. ↑ The phrase "three key points" (gnad gsum) has a few possibilities. It might mean, most generally, the key points of body, speech, and mind—that is, how to comport one's body, speech, and mind in meditation. Alternatively, in the Dzogchen practice of Tögal, there is a more specific set of three key points of (1) body (lus), which is to keep the body in prescribed postures; (2) expanse (dbyings), which is to merge awareness with the basic space of reality; and (3) apparitional field (snang ba yul), which is to maintain pure awareness in the face of visionary experience. Finally, in the Bön Dzogchen literature, we find another specific set of three key points, which are (1) to relax and rest loosely [in pure awareness] (lhod gyis lhod la bzhag); (2) to look nakedly into pure awareness (de la cer re lta); and (3) stare nakedly into the thoughts of the one who fine tunes their awareness, the one who relaxes, and the one who remains settled (gcun mkhan dang lhod mkhan 'jogs mkhan gyi bsam pa de la cer re lta) Reynolds, The Practice of Dzogchen in the Zhang-Zhung Tradition of Tibet, 220.
19. ↑ The source text here reads brjod med chen po rjes yis rang, without the particle accusative/abverbializing particle ར attached to chen po as found in surrounding verses. We interpret it as chen por.
20. ↑ "Infinite one" tentatively translates ('ol po), which might also be taken as a name or title: Olpo. However, we do not find this name in any literature. We infer that it is an epithet of Shenrab, who is said to have hailed from a land called Olmo Lungring ('ol mo lung ring), which Karmay glosses: "’Ol signifies unborn, mo undiminishing, lung the words of gShen-rab, and ring the everlasting compassion of gShen-rab" (The Arrow and the Spindle, 104). Analyzing the Tibetan lexicon, we find that 'ol, usually as a prefix, forms a number of terms related to indeterminacy and universality. For example, 'ol spyod can mean "unregulated behavior." Considering these details, we speculatively arrive at "infinite one," i.e., Shenrab.
21. ↑ Past, present, future, and beyond time.
22. ↑ Bon nyid ≈ dharmatā.
23. ↑ This line employs classical Indian poetic imagery. The verb is chag chag 'debs, which refers to the sprinkling of water to settle the atmospheric dust. In classical India, this was an essential act of respect when receiving an eminent guest.
24. ↑ This, too, refers to the custom of offering gifts, food, and drink to the guest on their arrival. It also has an esoteric double meaning, since in Dzogchen contexts, the term "clusters" (tshom bu) often refers to clusters of bindus, i.e., light formations, experienced in meditation. The offering here being of bindus fits the abstract predicates "ungraspable" and "all-illuminating."
25. ↑ "Experiential expanse" renders klong to distinguish it from dbyings, usually translated as "expanse" or "basic space."
26. ↑ This line presents an uncommon construction: rtog dpyod rtsol grol bral ba'i klong ("analysis + effort + liberated + free from + expanse"). It is possible that grol bral could be a redundancy for the sake of filling the meter, in which case the two words together would form a compound simply meaning "free from." We prefer to take bral ba ('free from/separated") to qualify the "experiential expanse" (klong) as "transcendent."
27. ↑ This stanza and the two that follow present essence, nature, and compassionate responsiveness—the three features of buddha nature. Essence is empty, nature is luminous, and compassion is all-pervading.
28. ↑ "Bindus transcending kāyas" renders sku 'das thig le. Generally, kāya ("enlightened form") refers to a specific, usually anthropomorphized divine form. Bindus (thig le), on the other hand, are more amorphous concentrations of energies.
29. ↑ Here, Dorje Lingpa uses the first-person plural bdag cag. When not explicit, we find the first-person singular more natural in English.
30. ↑ The three kāyas are dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. The five kāyas are those three plus the unchanging vajra kāya (mi 'gyur rdo rje'i sku) and either the svabhāvikakāya (essence kāya) or the abhisambodhikāya (the kāya of complete awakening).
31. ↑ "Sinking and excitement" translates bying rgod, which are two general phenomenological pitfalls in meditation. "Sinking" refers to an obscure, imploded state.
32. ↑ This lovely and uncommon phrase rang bzhag ltos bral might also be rendered along the lines of "Bless me with autonomous self-settling."
33. ↑ "Bön siddhas" translates sgrub gshen, a Bön term for spiritual master.
34. ↑ Takstang Senge Samdrub (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub), "Tiger's Nest + Lion + Fulfilled Intention," refers to the large cave around which the famous temple of Taktsang is built. For meter, in this line, it is shortened to stag tshang seng ge.
35. ↑ This refers to Dorje Lingpa himself. For the benefit of practitioners reciting this prayer, he blurs his own authorship.
36. ↑ "Everlasting bliss" renders bde chen g.yung drung, alt. "a svastika of bliss," the svastika being the Bön symbol par excellence.