Aspiration Towards Mahāyāna Mind Training

The Excellent Path to Enlightenment

An Aspiration Towards the Mahāyāna Mind Training

by Ga Rabjampa Kunga Yeshe

Homage to the guru!

Always loving towards beings and never untimely,
Victorious buddhas and your heirs—think of me, I pray!
Grant your blessings, so that these, my heartfelt aspirations
To train and follow in your footsteps, may come true!

With compassion for all beings, limitless in number,
And devotion born of faith and understanding,
May I take refuge, from now until enlightenment,
With trust in the teacher and the Three Jewels!

This human form, so difficult to find, will not last long,
No matter where I’m reborn, there’ll be no chance of happiness,
And positive and negative actions bear their fruits unfailingly—
Seeing this, may I devote myself wholeheartedly to the sacred Dharma!

As it is a medicine to soothe all the pains of saṃsāric existence,
A supreme treasure bringing benefit and happiness to all,
And a gentle mother nurturing the buddhas and their heirs,
May my confidence in bodhicitta remain forever steadfast!

Never proud, no matter how prosperous I become,
And never despondent, even in dire misfortune,
This vast strength of mind possessed by bodhisattvas—
May it take birth definitively in my heart!

As it is the very essence of all the teachings,
The single path followed by all of Buddha’s heirs,
And the guide and teacher to all who are enlightened:
May bodhicitta arise swiftly in my own mind!

These dream-like phenomena, delusory perceptions of my mind,
Are unborn and beyond all conceptual elaboration.
Seeing this, during the post-meditation, through illusion-like concentration,
May I benefit these beings, figments of my own delusion, on a vast scale!

When seeing my companions, so kind and helpful to me in the past,
Sinking now in this vast ocean of suffering,
May my mind be filled with love and tenderness for all,
Like a mother watching helplessly as her beloved child is swept away and drowned!

May I take upon myself the harms and sufferings of beings,
My own mothers and fathers from lives without beginning,
And may I give away my own happiness and virtue to others,
So that this noble attitude, taught to be supreme, is ignited in my mind!

May whatever appears, the basis of afflictions like ignorance, desire and anger,
Whether it be friendly, hostile or neutral,
Become a support for bodhicitta,
Like fuel heaped upon a blazing fire!

As it is the cause of all the afflictions that bind us in saṃsāra,
The source of negative karma and the various forms of suffering,
And a demon that obstructs us on the path to enlightenment:
May I firmly uproot all forms of self-cherishing!

Like perceiving nectar as pus, as a result of karma,
The faults I see in others reflect my own impure perception.
Knowing this, may I be respectful to all other beings,
Sources of ocean-like qualities of happiness and positivity!

Suffering, disdain, slander, and the like,
Whatever unwanted circumstances befall me,
By seeing them as a support for the bodhisattva training,
May I accept them all with a mind of perfect joy!

The bounties of this world are like the stuff of dreams—
However many I acquire, may I never be attached to them,
And, while seeing them as a means of benefitting others,
May I not be afraid to sacrifice even life and limb!

Should even my oldest and dearest of friends
Turn against me and regard me as an enemy,
May I respond only with love and strive to bring about
Their benefit and happiness, now and in the future!

Should hordes of demons craving flesh and blood
Descend upon me, intent on devouring this illusory body,
Still may I not succumb to thoughts of self-cherishing,
But, with love, strive to bring them only benefit!

Seeing that these various phenomena do not ever part
From mind’s nature, which is, and always has been, peaceful,
May deluded perceptions of adversity, like the moon’s reflection,
Lead me to a clear realization of the actual nature of reality!

Seeing all harm-doers as spiritual friends,
All suffering as adornments for the mind,
And all adversity as incitement to virtue,
May unfavorable circumstances be transformed into the path!

Knowing that hankering after my own happiness is the true enemy,
May ordinary adversaries become supports for awakening!
And, seeing sickness as a means of purifying negativity,
May unfavorable circumstances be transformed into the path!

Seeing evil omens as circumstances for attracting prosperity,
Evil spirits as supports for gaining accomplishment,
And evil companions as a way of deepening my understanding of mistaken practice,
May adverse circumstances be transformed into the path!

Knowing what to take up and avoid, I shall accumulate and purify correctly,
Pleasing the guardians will bring victory over obstacles and māras,
And through skill in means, all types of hindrance will become supports—
May I take to heart the four kinds of practice!

With sheer delight, may I don the armor of commitment[1]
And train the mind in the Dharma that subdues self-clinging!
With the support of wholesome methods and aspirations,
May my practice of Dharma equal the length of my life!

With the devotion of constantly recalling the guru,
And perfect familiarity with bodhicitta, absolute and relative,
While never straying from the Dharma that is profound and vast,
May I have the merit to face death in this way!

Even though I be assailed by humans and non-human demons,
Tormented by a disturbance in the body’s elements,
Or afflicted by intense destructive emotions,
May supreme bodhicitta never diminish!

Even as the bardos’s horrors unfold within my deluded perception,
Or as I enter a future mother’s womb, or later, during other lifetimes,
May I never forget, even for so much as a single instant,
The essence of Dharma—bodhicitta, precious and sublime!

The victorious buddhas and their heirs, the spiritual friends,
Proclaim this excellent, genuine path to their circles of disciples.
Serving such teachers throughout all my lives to come,
And embracing this instruction, may I benefit others!

By subduing self-clinging, may whatever I do become the Dharma!
Banishing hope and fear, may whatever happens be supportive!
By mastering the altruistic attitude, even if I should suffer,
May it only contribute to others’ happiness and joy!

Never contaminated by the poison of clinging to beliefs
Nor bound by compassion that is limited and partial,
May precious bodhicitta, uniting relative and absolute,
Dispel all the ills of both existence and quiescence!

Even if my actions of body and speech are ordinary,
May I never be separated from the mind of bodhicitta!
Even without a routine of contrived virtuous actions,
Through motivation’s power, may I gather merit in abundance!

Though I dedicate my body, life, possessions and merits of past, present and future,
Each and every day for the good of all who live,
May hopes of gaining some benefit or happiness for myself in return
Never occur to me, even for an instant!

To take defeat upon myself and give the victory to others,
To keep the lowest place and respect each and every being,
To offer only benefit in response to any harm that’s done:
This is the discipline of the bodhisattvas—may I embrace it!

Respecting the teachers and taking to heart all that they say,
Bringing together all the teachings in a single practice,
And abandoning hope and fear, may I always, for the sake of others,
Clothe myself in the armor of enthusiastic diligence!

If it should prove to be a cause of harm to others,
May I abandon like chaff[2] even the bliss of liberation!
If it should benefit others, may I be born in the lower realms,
Entering happily, as if strolling into a pleasant garden!

Guarding the three trainings as though they were my very eyes,
May my body, speech and mind never waver from the Dharma,
And may I dedicate all my merits of the past, present, and future,
Purely, free from the three concepts of subject, object, and action!

With a mind filled with joy, may I enter
The ocean of conduct, vast and limitless in depth,
The mine of many million jewels of virtue and goodness,
And the source of powerful accumulation![3]

When oppressed by the burden of all manner of sufferings,
Through this particular remedy, out of all the countless skilful methods,
May I bring benefit and happiness to all beings without exception,
And gain great powers of samādhi meditation!

Enlightened vision and actions are like a vast ocean, impossible to fathom;
So, having gathered within the great lake-like vessel of my own mind
Rivers of treasure-like qualities drawn from an infinite sea of victorious buddhas,
May my own actions be indistinguishable from the ocean of enlightened activity!

This prayer, incorporating the uncommon terminology of the Mahāyāna mind-training teachings in verses of aspiration, was composed by the one who has a heartfelt trust in this teaching, Lodrö Shenpen Dawa.[4] May it be virtuous and auspicious!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2013. Revised and updated for Lotsawa House, 2021.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

Kun dga' ye shes. "Theg pa chen po'i blo sbyong gi smon lam byang chub lam bzang" In Sga rab 'byams pa kun dga' ye shes kyi gsung 'bum, Xining, [s.n.] pp. 282–287.

Secondary Sources

Ga Rabjampa. 2012. To Dispel the Misery of the World: Whispered Teachings of the Bodhisattvas. Rigpa Translations, trans. Boston: Wisdom Publications.

Pearcey, Adam. "Ga Rabjampa Kunga Yeshe," Treasury of Lives, accessed December 09, 2021, http://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Ga-Rabjampa-Kunga-Yeshe/1831.

Version: 1.1-20211210