The Prayer from the Four Session [Guru]-Yoga of the First Chungtsang Rinpoche

This prayer covers the whole path of mahāmudrā from the common outer preliminaries up to the special dedication, ending in verses of one-pointed devotion. It was composed by the first Drikung Chungtsang Rinpoche, Rigdzin Chökyi Dragpa (1595-1659). ^{♦ 1}

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have trained the thought that the leasures and endowments are hard to obtain, I have wasted my life! Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the thought of impermanence and death, I have only ever grasped as permanent that which is conditioned. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the thought that cause and result never fail, I have only ever confused what to accept and what to reject. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced seeing saṃsāra as suffering, ^{♦ 2} I have only ever taken the path of the lower realms. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have maintained the prātimokṣa as my vows, I am separated from the mind of renunciation. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, practiced seeing all beings as my parents, I have only ever brought forth attachment and rejection for my friends and enemies. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced love and compassion, ^{♦ 3} I have only ever brought forth hatred and ill will. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the aspiration and completion of the resolve for awakening, I have only ever pursued my own happiness. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced my body as the body of the deity, I have only ever brought forth attachment to ordinary appearances. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have counted the mantras to be recited, I have merely wasted the wind of my life force. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the samādhi that is like a reflection, I have only ever thought of it as something seizable. ^{♦ 4} Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have dissolved the visualization according to the gradual and the sudden method, ^{♦ 5} this has remained only a mechanical procedure. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced my own mind as being free from mental proliferation, I have only ever cultivated an attitude. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced not grasping whatever appears, I have only ever superimposed my awareness on it. ^{♦ 6} Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the inseparable union as beyond mind, I have only ever fallen into the extreme of dualistic fixation. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced the fundamental nature as something unfabricated, I have only ever added the unfabricated. ^{♦ 7} Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have dedicated completely free from the three components, ^{♦ 8} I have only ever striven for glory. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

Although I, a commoner of little mind, have practiced one-pointed devotion, I have only ever been carried away by hopes for the pleasant and fears of the disagreable. Please look compassionately on me from afar!

From the depths of my heart, I, a commoner of little mind, pray to the refuge lord of this and all future lives, the physician who can cure the chronic disease of samsāra, the courageous one who conquers the afflictions that are the enemy, the sun that dispels the darkness of ignorance, the moon that protects me from the heat of suffering, the jewel that fulfills all my needs, desires, and hopes, and the guru who is a cure for everything!

Please look upon me quickly with compassion and grant me the blessing within effortlessness!

Grant me the feast of the spontaneous attainment of the twofold purpose on this seat! Please do not let the hope of this fortunate devotee go unfulfilled! May my devotion not be wasted uselessly! May my prayer not go unheard! May I be introduced to equanimity through your compassion!

You are the lord of refuge of this, the next life, and the intermediate state! Apart from you there is no other! No matter what happiness and sorrow, salvation and disaster may arise, there is no hope for me except you! Please look compassionately upon me from afar! Guru! Give me your attention! Guru! Give me your attention!

Notes
^{1. []↩} “Four Session [Guru]-Yoga: Sea of Blessings,” Collected Works of Rigdzin Chökyi Dragpa, vol. 14 (pha), pp.321‒330, this prayer on 325‒327.

^{2. []↩} These four, the thoughts regarding (1) the leasures and endowments, (2) impermanence and death, (3) cause and result, and (4) the sufferings of saṃsāra constitute the four outer common preliminaries that all Buddhists share in their practice.

^{3. []↩} These three, renunciation, seeing all beings as one’s parents, and practicing love and compassion are the basis for cultivating the resolve for awakaning (bodhicitta).

^{4. []↩} Practicing samādhi as something seizable means that one is attached to the arising of bliss, luminosity, and non-thought from samādhi. That attachment is only a cause of saṃsāra.

^{5. []↩} The gradual dissolving is the procedure where the outer world is dissolved into the palace of the deity, the palace into the body of the deity, the body into the heart syllable, and the syllable gradually into emptiness. The sudden dissolving turns the visualization abruptly into non-thought.

^{6. []↩} Such an artificial superimposing of awareness on apearances is only another form of grasping.

^{7. []↩} In his commentary on the Single Intention, Rigdzin Chökyi Dragpa says that some mantra practitioners use the “emptiness mantra” (“oṃ śūnyatā …”) “to empty” outer and inner phenomena. Thereby, however, they remain within duality by applying the emptying mantra with their mind to an object, to their consciousness, and to their bodies. Thereby, they mentally create the trap of fundamental nature, into which they fall.

^{8. []↩} In mahāmudrā practice, the “three components” (Tib. ’khor gsum, Skt. trimaṇḍala) of dedication have to be canceled out. The three components characterize the functioning of the dualistic mind. In the case of the perfection of giving or of dedication, the first of these three is the notion of a subject, which is the agent or acting entity. The second is an object, which is the patient (or recipient) of the action/dedication. The third is the action of giving or dedication proper.