Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer

Please enjoy this verse by verse comparison of various English translations of the Mahamudra Aspiration Prayer by the Third Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje.

List of translations (arbitrary order). Please use the checkboxes to show/hide translations:

Homage

ན་མོ་གུ་རུ།

Namo Guru (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Namo Guru (Cortland Dahl)

Namo guru. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Homage to my Gurus. (Alexander Berzin)

Namo Guru (Ari Goldfield)

Namo guru (Ken McLeod)

Namo guru. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Homage to the guru! (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Namo Guru (John Rockwell)

Namo guru! (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 1

བླ་མ་རྣམས་དང་ཡི་དམ་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་ལྷ། །
ཕྱོགས་བཅུ་དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་སྲས་དང་བཅས། །
བདག་ལ་བརྩེར་དགོངས་བདག་གི་སྨོན་ལམ་རྣམས། །
ཇི་བཞིན་འགྲུབ་པའི་མཐུན་འགྱུར་བྱིན་རླབས་མཛོད། །

Gurus, yidams of all mandalas,
And buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and three times:
Kindly consider me. Support and bless
The fulfillment of my aspirations. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Gurus and yidams, deities of the mandala,
Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three times and ten directions,
Please think of me with love and grant your blessings.
May this prayer be perfectly fulfilled. (Cortland Dahl)

Gurus and yidams, deities of the mandala,
Buddhas of the three times and ten directions and your children,
Consider me with kindness,
Grant your blessing that all my wishes be realized. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Gurus, yidams and mandala figures, Triumphant Ones in the ten directions and three times, with
your spiritual offspring, please regard me with affection. Inspire me that my prayers come true just
as I've made them. (Alexander Berzin)

Lamas, yidams, and deities of the mandala,
Victorious Ones and your sons and daughters of the ten directions and three times,
Please hold us in your great loving-kindness and
Bless our aspiration prayers that they may be perfectly fulfilled. (Ari Goldfield)

Gurus and yidams, deities of the mandala,
Buddhas of the three times and ten directions and your offspring,
Consider me with kindness,
Pour into me your energy so that these wishes are fulfilled. (Ken McLeod)

Lamas and yidam mandala deities,
Victors of the three times and ten directions, and your offspring,
lovingly consider me and bless my aspiration prayers
that they may turn out exactly as intended. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Gurus, yidam deities of the mandala,
Victorious ones of the three times and ten directions, together with your sons,
Please consider us with compassion.
Grant your blessings so that these aspirations may be accomplished just as we intend. (John Rockwell)

All you masters and yidam deities of the various maṇḍalas,
Buddhas and your heirs throughout the ten directions and three times:
Turn your loving attention towards me and grant your blessings,
So that all may be conducive to the fulfilment of my aspirations. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 2

བདག་དང་མཐའ་ཡས་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །
བསམ་སྦྱོར་རྣམ་དག་གངས་རི་ལས་སྐྱེས་པའི། །
འཁོར་གསུམ་རྙོག་མེད་དགེ་ཚོགས་ཆུ་རྒྱུན་རྣམས། །
རྒྱལ་བ་སྐུ་བཞིའི་རྒྱ་མཚོར་འཇུག་གྱུར་ཅིག །

Streams of virtue unsullied by threefold fixation
Are born on the snow-covered mountain
Of the pure intentions and actions of myself and all innumerable beings.
May they flow into the ocean of the buddhas’ four kayas. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Springing from the snow mountain of pure thoughts and deeds,
Both my own and those of all sentient beings,
May the stream of accumulated virtue, untainted by the three spheres,
Flow into the ocean of the four kayas of the victorious ones. (Cortland Dahl)

May the river of the accumulated virtue of threefold purity,
Springing from the snow mountain of the pure thoughts and deeds
Of ourselves and limitless sentient beings
Flow into the ocean of the four kayas of the victorious ones. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

May the stream of water from the mass of constructive actions, not muddied with respect to the
three circles, born from the snow mountain of pure thoughts and actions of myself and all countless
beings, flow into the ocean of a Triumphant's four Bodies. (Alexander Berzin)

May the rivers of my own and all limitless others’ gathered virtue,
Undefiled by the three spheres, that spring from the snow mountain
Of our completely pure intentions and actions
Flow into the ocean of the Victorious Ones’ four kayas. (Ari Goldfield)

A river of virtue undefiled by the three spheres
Springs from the snow-mountain of pure actions and intentions —
Mine and those of all sentient beings without limit.
May this river flow into the ocean of the four expressions of full awakening. (Ken McLeod)

Sprung from the snow, mountain of the pure actions and intentions,
Mine and those of all sentient beings without limit,
May the river of virtue undefiled by the three spheres
Flow into the ocean of the four bodies of buddha. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

May the streams of accumulated virtue, uncontaminated by the three concerns,
that spring from the snow mountain of my own
and countless other sentient beings’ totally pure intentions and actions
flow into the ocean of the four kāyas of the Victors. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

May all rivers, the accumulation of virtue unpolluted by the three concepts,
Flowing from the snow mountains of pure intention and action
Of myself and all the infinite sentient beings
Merge into the ocean, the four kayas of the victorious ones. (John Rockwell)

May streams of virtue, unsullied by the three conceptual spheres,
Sprung forth from snowy peaks—my own pure intentions and actions,
And those of all other sentient beings, who are infinite in number—
All merge into the vast ocean of the buddhas’ four kāyas. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 3

ཇི་སྲིད་དེ་མ་ཐོབ་པ་དེ་སྲིད་དུ། །
སྐྱེ་དང་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཚེ་རབས་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཡང་། །
སྡིག་དང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་སྒྲ་ཡང་མི་གྲག་ཅིང་། །
བདེ་དགེ་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་དཔལ་ལ་སྤྱོད་པར་ཤོག །

Until that is attained, throughout all births, all lives,
May even the words “wrongdoing” and “suffering”
Be unheard. May we enjoy the splendor
Of an ocean of happiness and virtue. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Until this has come to pass,
In all our future lives,
May we not even hear the words “misdeeds” and “suffering.”
May we enjoy the glorious ocean of happiness and virtue. (Cortland Dahl)

Until this is accomplished,
Through all our lives, birth after birth,
May we not even hear the words “evil deeds” and “suffering,”
And enjoy the glorious ocean of happiness and virtue. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

In each and every lifetime until I attain that, may even the sound of (the words) negativity and
suffering never resound and may I come to enjoy the glories of an ocean of bliss and virtue.
In this and in all our future lifetimes, (Alexander Berzin)

For as long as it may be until we attain enlightenment,
May not even the words “negative action” or “suffering” be heard
And may we enjoy the glory of oceans of virtue and happiness. (Ari Goldfield)

Until I wake up to full presence,
Through all my lifetimes, birth after birth,
May not even the words for defilement and suffering be heard
And may I enjoy the wealth of oceans of happiness and virtue. (Ken McLeod)

As long as I have not realized this,
Through all my life times, birth after birth,
May not even the words for defilement and suffering be heard
And may I enjoy the prosperity of oceans of happiness and virtue. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

For however long that may take to accomplish,
in all lifetimes through my succession of lives,
may even the sounds “nonvirtue” and “suffering” be unknown,
and may I enjoy the wealth of oceanic virtue and happiness. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Until we attain this fruition,
Through all our lives,
May evil and suffering be unknown,
And may we enjoy the glorious ocean of happiness and goodness. (John Rockwell)

Meanwhile, for as long as I have not yet reached that level of attainment,
Throughout the course of my many lives in one rebirth after another,
May I never so much as hear the words ‘wrongdoing’ or ‘suffering’,
And may I enjoy the splendour of oceanic happiness and virtue. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 4

དལ་འབྱོར་མཆོག་ཐོབ་དད་བརྩོན་ཤེས་རབ་ལྡན། །
བཤེས་གཉེན་བཟང་བསྟེན་གདམས་པའི་བཅུད་ཐོབ་ནས། །
ཚུལ་བཞིན་བསྒྲུབ་ལ་བར་ཆད་མ་མཆིས་པར། །
ཚེ་རབས་ཀུན་ཏུ་དམ་ཆོས་སྤྱོད་པར་ཤོག །

Acquiring the best leisure and resources, may we have faith, diligence, and wisdom.
Relying upon good spiritual friends and receiving the essence of the instructions,
May we practice them properly without obstacle.
In all our lives, may we practice genuine Dharma. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

With the supreme freedoms and riches, with faith, diligence, and wisdom,
May we rely on excellent teachers and receive their pith instructions.
Free from any obstacles in practicing them correctly,
May we practice the sacred Dharma in all our lives. (Cortland Dahl)

Being free and well-favored, endowed with faith, exertion, and prajna,
Relying on an excellent spiritual friend, and receiving the pith instructions,
May we encounter no obstacles to practicing them correctly,
And may we practice the holy dharma through all our lives. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Having obtained a supreme (human life) with respites and enrichments, endowed with belief in
facts, perseverance and discrimination, may I rely on an excellent spiritual master and receive the
essence of his guideline instructions. Practicing accordingly, without interference, may I enjoy the
pure Dharma in all my lives. (Alexander Berzin)

In all our lifetimes may we gain the supreme freedoms and resources, and have faith, joyous
diligence, and prajna,
May we rely on excellent spiritual teachers, and having received the nectar of their instructions,
May we practice accordingly and encounter no obstacles in doing so.
May we always practice the genuine Dharma. (Ari Goldfield)

Having obtained this excellent free and well-favored life along with faith, energy and intelligence,
Having attended a worthy master and received the pith of the sacred instructions,
May I practice the sacred dharma properly
In all my lives without interruption. (Ken McLeod)

Having obtained this excellent free and well-favored life
Along with faith, energy and intelligence,
Having attended a worthy master and received the pith of the sacred instructions,
May I practice the sacred dharma properly in all my lives without interruption. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Possessing the greatest leisure and endowments, with faith, industry and prajñā,
serving an excellent spiritual advisor, may I obtain quintessential instructions,
and with no hindrance to their proper implementation,
may I practice superb dharma in all my lifetimes. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Possessing the supreme freedoms and resources, endowed with faith, exertion, and prajna,
Attending an excellent spiritual friend, and receiving the pith instructions,
May we have no obstacles to practicing these properly
And enjoy the holy dharma throughout all our lives. (John Rockwell)

Having found supreme freedom and advantage, with faith, diligence, and wisdom,
May I rely upon excellent spiritual friends, receive the elixir of instruction,
And accomplish it in the proper way without any impediment,
Putting the genuine Dharma into practice throughout all my lives. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 5

ལུང་རིགས་ཐོས་པས་མི་ཤེས་སྒྲིབ་ལས་གྲོལ། །
མན་ངག་བསམ་པས་ཐེ་ཚོམ་མུན་ནག་བཅོམ། །
སྒོམ་བྱུང་འོད་ཀྱིས་གནས་ལུགས་ཇི་བཞིན་གསལ། །
ཤེས་རབ་གསུམ་གྱི་སྣང་བ་རྒྱས་པར་ཤོག །

Hearing scripture and reasoning frees from unknowing.
Contemplating the instructions conquers the darkness of doubt.
The light of meditation clearly reveals the nature as it is.
May the brilliance of the three wisdoms increase. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Studying scripture and reasoning lifts the veil of ignorance.
Pondering the key instructions dispels the darkness of doubt.
The light of meditation illuminates the true nature of things.
May the radiance of the three forms of wisdom expand. (Cortland Dahl)

Studying scriptures and reasoning frees from the obscuration of ignorance.
Contemplating the oral instructions conquers the darkness of doubt.
The light born of meditation illuminates the natural state, just as it is.
May the brilliance of the three prajñas increase. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Listening to scriptures and reasoning frees us from the obscurations of not knowing. Thinking
about the quintessence teachings destroys the darkness of doubts. The light arising from
meditation makes clear the abiding nature of reality, just as it is. May the illumination of my three
wisdoms ever expand. (Alexander Berzin)

Listening to scriptures and reasonings frees us from the obscurations of ignorance,
Reflecting on the key instructions vanquishes the darkness of doubt,
Meditation’s light illuminates the true nature just as it is.
May the brilliance of the three kinds of wisdom increase. (Ari Goldfield)

The study of scriptures frees one from the veil of ignorance.
The contemplation of oral instructions overcomes the darkness of doubt.
Light born of meditation illuminates the way things are.
May the radiance of the three wisdoms increase. (Ken McLeod)

Study of scripture and reasoning delivers one from the pall of nescience.
Reflection on the oral instructions vanquishes the darkness of uncertainty.
The light cast by meditation vividly illuminates the enduring condition.
May the radiance of the three prajñās intensify. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Learning scripture and reasoning frees from the obscuration of ignorance.
Contemplating the oral instructions destroys the darkness of doubt.
The light of meditation illuminates reality just as it is.
May the brilliance of the three prajnas increase. (John Rockwell)

Study of scripture and reasoning liberates from the veils of unknowing;
Contemplating instructions overcomes the dense darkness of doubt;
And the light arisen from meditation illuminates reality just as it is—
May the radiance of these three forms of wisdom expand and increase. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 6

རྟག་ཆད་མཐའ་བྲལ་བདེན་གཉིས་གཞི་ཡི་དོན། །
སྒྲོ་སྐུར་མཐའ་བྲལ་ཚོགས་གཉིས་ལམ་མཆོག་གིས། །
སྲིད་ཞིའི་མཐའ་བྲལ་དོན་གཉིས་འབྲས་ཐོབ་པའི། །
གོལ་འཆུག་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་དང་འཕྲད་པར་ཤོག །

The ground is the two truths, beyond the extremes of eternalism and nihilism.
Through the supreme path of the two accumulations, beyond the extremes of exaggeration and denial,
The fruition, the two benefits, beyond the extremes of samsara and nirvana, is attained.
May we encounter Dharma free from error and deviation. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Through the nature of the ground, the two truths, beyond the extremes of permanence and nothingness,
And through the supreme path of the two accumulations, free from he limitations of exaggeration and denial,
We attain the result of the two-fold benefit, beyond the confines of existence and peace.
May we meet with the unerring, unmistaken Dharma. (Cortland Dahl)

Through the ground of the two truths, free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism,
And through the supreme path of the two accumulations, free from the extremes of
exaggeration and denial,
May we attain the fruition of the two benefits, free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana,
And so meet with the unerring dharma. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

May I meet the unmistaken, undeviating Dharma, which takes the two truths as the main points of
the basis, parted from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism, takes the two networks as the
supreme path, parted from interpolating or repudiating anything; and fulfills the two aims as the
attainment of the result, parted from the extremes of compulsive samsara and tranquil nirvana. (Alexander Berzin)

The two truths free from the extremes of realism and nihilism are the reality of the ground,
And Through the supreme path, the two accumulations free from the extremes of superimposition
and denial,
The fruition that accomplishes the two benefits free from the extremes of existence and peace is
attained.
May we meet with this Dharma that is flawless and sure. (Ari Goldfield)

The basic ground consists of the two truths, free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism,
The excellent path, the two accumulations free from the extremes of assumption and denial,
The result obtained the two benefits, free from the extremes of existence and peace.
May I meet teaching which is free from error. (Ken McLeod)

The significance of the ground is the two truths,
free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism.
The excellent path, the two accumulations
free from the extremes of assumption and denial.
The result obtained is the two benefits,
free from the extremes of existence and peace.
May I meet the dharma which is free from error. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

The meaning of “ground” is the two truths, beyond the polarity of existence and nonexistence.
Through the supreme path of two accumulations, beyond the extremes of embellishment and
discredit,
the fruition of the two purposes, beyond the limits of conditioned existence and serenity, is
attained. May I encounter the dharma that neither errs nor misleads. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

The ground is the two truths, free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism.
The supreme path is the two accumulations, free from the extremes of exaggeration and denial.
May we attain the fruition of the two benefits, free from the extremes of samsara and nirvana.
May we thus meet with the unerring dharma. (John Rockwell)

The ground is the two truths, free from eternalist and nihilistic extremes;
The supreme path, twofold accumulation, unlimited by projection and denial,
Brings the fruition, twofold benefit, free from the extremes of existence and quiescence—
May I encounter this Dharma that is without error or confusion. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 7

སྦྱང་གཞི་སེམས་ཉིད་གསལ་སྟོང་ཟུང་འཇུག་ལ། །
སྦྱོང་བྱེད་ཕྱག་ཆེན་རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེས། །
སྦྱང་བྱ་གློ་བུར་འཁྲུལ་པའི་དྲི་མ་རྣམས། །
སྦྱང་འབྲས་དྲི་བྲལ་ཆོས་སྐུ་མངོན་གྱུར་ཤོག །

The ground of purification is the mind’s nature, a union of lucidity-emptiness.
What purifies is the great vajra yoga of mahamudra.
What is purified is the stains of adventitious delusion.
May the result of purification, the stainless dharmakaya, be revealed. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

The basis of purification is the mind itself, the union of clarity and emptiness.
What purifies is the supreme vajra yoga of Mahāmudrā
And what it purifies are the temporary stains of confusion.
May the pristine dharmakāya, the result of purification, become manifest. (Cortland Dahl)

The basis of purification is mind itself, the unity of luminosity and emptiness.
The means of purification is the great vajra yoga of mahamudra.
What is to be purified is the temporary stains of confusion.
May we manifest the result of purification, the stainless dharmakaya. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

The basis for purification is mind-itself, a unified pair of clarity and voidness. The purifying action is
the vajra yoga of mahamudra. What is purified away are the stains of fleeting, deceptive confusion.
May I manifest the result of the purification, a stainless Dharmakaya. (Alexander Berzin)

The base of purification is mind itself, the union of clarity and emptiness.
May the great purifying vajra-yoga of Mahamudra clear away what is
To be purified, the fleeting stains of confusion,
And may we manifest the result of this purification, stainless dharmakaya. (Ari Goldfield)

The ground of refinement is mind itself — indivisible luminosity and emptiness;
The refining — the great vajra composure of mahamudra;
What is to be refined — the incidental stains of confusion;
The result of refining — the unstained experience of being: may I know it. (Ken McLeod)

The ground of refinement is mind itself, indivisible luminosity and emptiness.
The refining, the great vajra composure of mahamudra.
What is to be refined, the incidental stains of confusion.
The result of refining, the unstained dharmakaya, may I realize it. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

The ground of purification is mind nature, unified cognizance and emptiness.
Through the purifying agency of the great vajra yoga of mahāmudrā,
may delusory incidental stains be purified
and the result of purification, stainless dharmakāya, become manifest. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

The basis of purification is the unity of luminosity-emptiness, the true nature of mind.
The means of purification is the great vajra yoga of mahamudra.
What is purified is the stains of adventitious confusion.
May we realize the fruition of purification, the stainless dharmakaya. (John Rockwell)

Upon the basis of purification, mind’s nature of clarity and emptiness in union,
May that which purifies, the great adamantine yoga of Mahāmudrā,
Purify its objects, the stains of adventitious delusion,
And, as a result, may I realize the immaculate dharmakāya. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 8

གཞི་ལ་སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ཆོད་པ་ལྟ་བའི་གདེངས། །
དེ་ལ་མ་ཡེངས་སྐྱོང་བ་སྒོམ་པའི་གནད། །
སྒོམ་དོན་ཀུན་ལ་རྩལ་སྦྱོང་སྤྱོད་པའི་མཆོག །
ལྟ་སྒོམ་སྤྱོད་པའི་གདེངས་དང་ལྡན་པར་ཤོག །

Severing misconceptions of the ground is certainty of the view.
Sustaining that without distraction is the point of meditation.
Training in all aspects of meditation is the best action.
May we have the confidence of the view, meditation, and action. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Confidence in the view cuts through assumptions about the ground.
The key point of meditation is to maintain the view without distraction.
The supreme conduct is to master all the points of meditation.
May we gain confidence in the view, meditation, and conduct. (Cortland Dahl)

Cutting doubts about the ground is confidence in the view.
Sustaining that without wandering is the key point of meditation.
Training in all aspects of meditation is supreme action.
May we have confidence in the view, meditation, and action. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Self-confidence in the view is to cut off interpolations from the basis. The essential point of
meditation is to safeguard against wavering from that. The supreme behavior is to cultivate
meditation's (essential) point displaying as everything. May I gain self-confidence in the view,
meditation and behavior. (Alexander Berzin)

Eliminating superimpositions about the ground is confident view,
Guarding non-distractions from that is meditation’s essential point,
Becoming expert in all types of meditation is supreme conduct.
May we gain such confident view, meditation and conduct. (Ari Goldfield)

Confidence in outlook cuts assumptions about the ground.
The key to cultivation is to maintain that without distraction.
The supreme expression is to exercise the sense of cultivation in everything.
May I have confidence in outlook, cultivation and expression. (Ken McLeod)

Confidence in outlook is cutting assumptions about the ground.
The key to meditation is maintaining that without distraction.
The supreme activity is to exercise the sense of meditation in everything.
May I have confidence in outlook, meditation and activity. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Cutting off embellishments of the ground, the view is assured.
Sustaining that without distraction is the point of meditation.
Gaining full proficiency in meditation is the finest activity.
May I have confident view, meditation and activity. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Resolving all doubt as to the ground is the confidence of the view.
Maintaining this without distraction is the main point of meditation.
Applying the meditation completely is the supreme action.
May we have confidence in the view, meditation, and action. (John Rockwell)

Eliminating misconceptions of the ground brings assurance in the view;
To sustain that view without distraction is the key point of meditation;
And to train in all of meditation’s facets is the supreme form of action—
May I possess the confident assurance of view, meditation and conduct. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 9

ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་སེམས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་ཏེ། །
སེམས་ནི་སེམས་མེད་སེམས་ཀྱི་ངོ་བོས་སྟོང་། །
སྟོང་ཞིང་མ་འགགས་ཅིར་ཡང་སྣང་བ་སྟེ། །
ལེགས་པར་བརྟག་ནས་གཞི་རྩ་ཆོད་པར་ཤོག །

All dharmas are the mind’s manifestations.
The mind: there is no mind; it is empty of mind’s essence.
Empty, it is unceasing, and can appear as anything.
Having scrutinized it, may we find it. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

All phenomena are projections of the mind.
Yet there is no mind; it is empty of any essence.
Empty yet unobstructed, it can manifest as anything.
Investigating it with care, may we cut the very root of the mind. (Cortland Dahl)

All phenomena are the illusory display of mind.
There is no mind; mind is empty of an essence.
Empty and unceasing, it appears as anything whatsoever.
Investigating this thoroughly, may we ascertain the ground. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

All phenomena are miraculous emanations of the mind. Mind is no mind: it is devoid of an essential
nature as mind. Void and so, without obstruction, it makes anything appear. Understanding this
well, may I cut out the root from the basis. (Alexander Berzin)

All phenomena are the mind’s magical play.
As for mind, there is no mind! Mind is empty of essence.
Empty and unimpeded, it can appear as absolutely anything.
Analyzing excellently, may we cut through all superimpositions about the ground. (Ari Goldfield)

All experience is the manifestation of mind.
As for mind, there is no mind; mind’s nature is empty.
Empty and unceasing, mind arises as experience.
By looking into mind deeply, may I be clear about how it is. (Ken McLeod)

All dharmas are projections of the mind.
As for mind, there is no mind; mind’s nature is empty.
Empty and immediate, mind appears as everything.
Investigating it well, may I settle the basic points. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

All phenomena are apparitions of mind.
Yet mind is not there, for mind is essentially empty,
and while empty, unimpeded, displayed any way at all—
examining well, may I sever the underlying root. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

All phenomena are the illusory display of mind.
Mind is no mind, empty of any entity that is mind.
Though empty, everything appears unceasingly.
May we fully examine this and resolve any doubt as to the ground. (John Rockwell)

All phenomena are but apparitions of the mind;
Mind itself is without mind, empty of mind’s essence—
Empty yet unrestricted, appearing in any way at all.
Having examined it well, may I eradicate the base. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 10

ཡོད་མ་མྱོང་བའི་རང་སྣང་ཡུལ་དུ་འཁྲུལ། །
མ་རིག་དབང་གིས་རང་རིག་བདག་ཏུ་འཁྲུལ། །
གཉིས་འཛིན་དབང་གིས་སྲིད་པའི་ཀློང་དུ་འཁྱམས། །
མ་རིག་འཁྲུལ་པའི་རྩད་དར་ཆོད་པར་ཤོག །

We mistake self-appearance, which has never existed, to be an object.
Under ignorance’s power, we mistake self-awareness to be a self.
Under the power of dualistic fixation, we wander in the expanse of samsara.
May we get to the bottom of ignorance and delusion. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Non-existent self-appearances are mistaken for objects.
Due to ignorance, self-awareness is mistaken for a self.
We wander through samsara under the sway of dualistic fixation.
May we completely cut the root of ignorance and confusion. (Cortland Dahl)

Our nonexistent projections are mistaken to be objects.
Through ignorance, intrinsic awareness is mistaken to be a self.
Through clinging to this duality, we wander within samsara.
May we cut the root of ignorance and confusion. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Reflexive awareness, by the power of unawareness, is deceptively confused into a self. By the
power of this dualistic grasping, we roam throughout the expanse of compulsive existence. May I
once and for all cut the root of deceptive confusion, my unawareness. (Alexander Berzin)

Our own projections, never existent, we mistake to be objects,
Out of ignorance we mistake self-awareness to be self,
Clinging to duality makes us wander in the vastness of existence.
May we cut through ignorance and confusions at their root. (Ari Goldfield)

Perceptions, which never existed in themselves, are mistaken for objects;
Awareness itself, because of ignorance, is mistaken for a self;
Through the power of dualistic fixation I wander in the realm of existence.
May ignorance and confusion be completely resolved. (Ken McLeod)

Appearances, which never existed in themselves, have been confused as objects.
Awareness itself, because of ignorance, has been confused as a self.
Through the power of dualistic fixation I wander in the realm of existence.
May ignorance and confusion be completely resolved. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Out of ignorance, self-awareness is mistaken for one’s self.
Driven by dualistic clinging, one wanders the vastness of creation.
May I strip away ignorance, the source of confusion.
Reflexive appearances, never experienced as real, are deceptively confused into objects. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Projections that never existed are mistakenly taken as objects.
Through ignorance, self-existing awareness is mistakenly taken as an ego.
Clinging to duality, we have wandered in samsaric existence.
May we discover the root of ignorance and confusion.
Self-display with no existence is mistaken for an object. (John Rockwell)

I mistake my own perceptions, which have never been real, for objects,
And through ignorance’s power, confuse my own awareness for a self.
Through duality’s force, I roam the arena of saṃsāric existence.
May I thoroughly eradicate ignorance and delusion. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 11

ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་རྒྱལ་བས་ཀྱང་མ་གཟིགས། །
མེད་པ་མ་ཡིན་འཁོར་འདས་ཀུན་གྱི་གཞི། །
འགལ་འདུ་མ་ཡིན་ཟུང་འཇུག་དབུ་མའི་ལམ། །
མཐའ་བྲལ་སེམས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྟོགས་པར་ཤོག །

Not something, it is not seen even by buddhas.
Not nothing, it is the ground of all samsara and nirvana.
This is not a contradiction; it is unity, the middle way.
May we realize the mind’s nature, beyond extremes. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Mind does not exist, for even the buddhas do not see it.
Yet neither does it not exist; it is the basis of all samsara and nirvāṇa.
This is not a contradiction, but a unity, the middle way.
May we realize the true nature of our minds, free from extremes. (Cortland Dahl)

It is not existent, as even the victorious ones have not seen it.
It is not nonexistent, as it is the basis of all, samsara and nirvana.
This is not a contradiction, as it is the middle way of unity.
May we realize the dharmata of mind, free from extremes. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Not existent: not even the Triumphant have seen it. Not nonexistent: the foundation of everything
of samsara and beyond. Not a dichotomy nor a juxtaposition, but a unified pair: the Madhyamaka
middle way. May I realize the actual nature of the mind, free from extremes. (Alexander Berzin)

It is not existent – even the Victorious Ones do not see it,
It is not nonexistent – it is the basis of all samsara and nirvana,
It is not a contradiction of being both – it is the middle way of union.
May we realize mind’s essential reality, free from extremes. (Ari Goldfield)

It doesn’t exist: even buddhas do not see it.
It doesn’t not exist: it is the basis of samsara and nirvana.
No contradiction: the middle way is union.
May I know the pure being of mind, free of extremes. (Ken McLeod)

It doesn’t exist; even buddhas do not see it.
It doesn’t not exist; it is the origin of samsara and nirvana.
No contradiction; conjunction, the middle way.
May I realize the pure being of mind, free of extremes. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

It is not existent, for even Buddhas have never seen it.
It is not nonexistent, for it is the basis of all samṇ sāra and nirvānṇa.
This is the unified central course, not a paradox.
May I realize the unlimited dharmatā of mind. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

It is not existent—even the victorious ones have not seen it.
It is not nonexistent—it is the basis of all samsara and nirvana.
This is not a contradiction, but is the middle path of unity.
May we realize the true nature of mind, which is free from extremes. (John Rockwell)

It is not existent, for even the buddhas have not seen it.
It is not nonexistent, for it’s the basis of all saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.
This is not a contradiction; it’s the middle way of unity.
May I realize mind’s nature, free from limiting extremes. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 12

འདི་ཡིན་ཞེས་པ་གང་གིས་མཚོན་པ་མེད། །
འདི་མིན་ཞེས་བྱ་གང་གིས་བཀག་པ་མེད། །
བློ་ལས་འདས་པའི་ཆོས་ཉིད་འདུས་མ་བྱས། །
ཡང་དག་དོན་གྱི་མཐའ་ནི་ངེས་པར་ཤོག །

Nothing indicates this, saying, “It is this.”
Nothing negates this, saying, “It is not this.”
Beyond the intellect, dharmata is not composite.
May we realize the perfect, ultimate truth. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

It cannot be characterized by saying what it is.
It cannot be refuted by saying what it is not.
Unconditioned reality transcends conceptual mind.
May we come to understand the extent of the genuine truth. (Cortland Dahl)

It cannot be shown by saying, “This is it.”
It cannot be refuted by saying, “This is not it.”
It is unconditioned dharmata, beyond conceptual mind.
May we know with certainty the perfect ultimate truth. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Not characterized as anything, saying it is "this." Not refuted as anything, saying it is "not this." The
actual nature, beyond intellect, is an unaffected phenomenon. May I gain certainty about the
utmost point that is totally perfect. (Alexander Berzin)

No name can show, “It is this.”
No refutation can demonstrate, “It is not that.”
May we gain certainty in the essential nature, transcending intellect,
In the uncreated, and in genuine reality’s ultimate limit. (Ari Goldfield)

If one says “it is this,” nothing has been posited.
If one says “it is not this,” nothing has been denied.
Unconditioned pure being transcends intellect.
May I gain conviction in the ultimate outlook. (Ken McLeod)

There is nothing to indicate that “it is this.”
There is no refutation to show “it is not this.”
Unfabricated dharmatā that defies the intellect
is the perfect, ultimate limit — may I be certain of it. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

It can not be shown by saying, “This is it.”
It can not be refuted by saying, “This is not it.”
The true nature of phenomena is beyond concept, unconditioned.
May we definitely know the perfect ultimate truth. (John Rockwell)

There is nothing to point to, saying, “It is this.”
Nor can there be denial as in, “This it is not.”
Dharmatā, beyond the mind, is uncompounded.
May I determine the bounds of genuine reality. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 13

འདི་ཉིད་མ་རྟོགས་འཁོར་བའི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འཁོར། །
འདི་ཉིད་རྟོགས་ན་སངས་རྒྱས་གཞན་ན་མེད། །
ཐམས་ཅད་འདི་ཡིན་འདི་མིན་གང་ཡང་མེད། །
ཆོས་ཉིད་ཀུན་གཞིའི་མཚང་ནི་རིག་པར་ཤོག །

Not realizing this, we circle in the ocean of samsara.
If this is realized, buddha is not elsewhere.
Everything is this; there is nothing that is not this.
May we know dharmata, exposing the all-basis. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

When not realized, we circle through the ocean of samsara.
When it is, buddhahood is found nowhere else.
Everything is this. There is nothing at all that is not.
May we come to know this reality, the secret of the all-ground. (Cortland Dahl)

Whoever does not realize this circles in the ocean of samsara;
Whoever realizes this is no other than a buddha.
Everything is altogether free from “it is this” or “it is not this.”
May we know the secret nature of dharmata, the ground of all. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Not realizing the actual nature, we circle in the ocean of samsara. Realizing the actual nature,
Buddha is not something other. Everything that is this and not this, nothing excluded. May I
become aware of the faults regarding the actual nature, the alaya foundation of all. (Alexander Berzin)

Not realizing simply this, one circles in the ocean of samsara,
When one realizes simply this, there is no other enlightenment.
Everything is this and there is nothing that is not.
May we realize essential reality, the underlying nature of the ground of all. (Ari Goldfield)

Not knowing it, I circle in the ocean of existence,
Knowing it, buddha isn’t anywhere else.
“It is everything”, “It isn’t anything”: none of this.
Pure being, the basis of everything, may I see any misunderstanding here. (Ken McLeod)

Not realizing it, one circles in the ocean of samsara.
Realizing it, buddha isn’t anywhere else.
“It is everything.” “It isn’t anything.” None of this.
Pure being, the basis of everything, may I see any misunderstanding here. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Simply not realizing this stirs the ocean of conditioned existence;
just realizing this, there is no enlightenment elsewhere.
Being all, it is never “this but not that.”
May I discover the hidden dimensions of the universal ground, dharmatā. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Not realizing this, one circles in the ocean of samsara.
Realizing this is no other than enlightenment.
Nothing is affirmed or negated at all.
May we realize the essential point of the dharmata, the ground of everything. (John Rockwell)

Not realizing this, I drift about in saṃsāra’s ocean.
When I do realize it, buddhahood lies nowhere else.
Everything is this; there is nothing else besides.
May I know the hidden point of the all-ground, dharmatā. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 14

སྣང་ཡང་སེམས་ལ་སྟོང་ཡང་སེམས་ཡིན་ཏེ། །
རྟོགས་ཀྱང་སེམས་ལ་འཁྲུལ་ཡང་རང་གི་སེམས། །
སྐྱེས་ཀྱང་སེམས་ལ་འགགས་ཀྱང་སེམས་ཡིན་པས། །
སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ཐམས་ཅད་སེམས་ལ་ཆོད་པར་ཤོག །

Appearances are mind; emptiness is also mind.
Realization is mind; delusion is our own mind too.
Arisen, it’s mind; stopped, it’s also mind.
May we sever all misconceptions in the mind. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Appearances are mind. Emptiness is mind.
Realization is mind. Confusion is mind.
Arising is mind. Cessation is mind.
May we cut through all our assumptions about the mind. (Cortland Dahl)

Appearance is mind; emptiness is also mind.
Realization is mind; confusion is also mind.
Birth is mind; cessation is also mind.
May we cut through all doubts about mind. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Whether appearance, it's the mind; whether voidness, it's the mind. Whether realization, it's the
mind; whether confusion, it's my own mind. Whether an arising, it's the mind; whether a ceasing,
it's the mind. May I cut off all interpolations on the mind. (Alexander Berzin)

Appearance is mind and emptiness is mind,
Realization is mind and confusion is also one’s mind,
Arising is mind and cessation too is mind.
May we determine that all superimpositions are mind. (Ari Goldfield)

Since perception is mind and emptiness is mind,
Since knowing is mind and delusion is mind,
Since arising is mind and cessation is mind,
May all assumptions about mind be eliminated. (Ken McLeod)

Since appearance is mind and emptiness is mind,
Since realization is mind and delusion is mind,
Since arising is mind and cessation is mind,
May all assumptions about mind be eliminated. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Since appearance is mind, and emptiness also is mind,
realization is mind, and confusion also is my own mind,
arising is mind and cessation, too, is just mind,
may I sever all embellished claims within my mind. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Both appearance is mind and emptiness is mind.
Both realization is mind and confusion is mind.
Both birth is mind and cessation is mind.
May all doubts about mind be resolved. (John Rockwell)

Appearances are mind; emptiness is also the mind.
Realization is mind; delusion too is one’s own mind.
What’s arisen is mind; what’s ceased is also mind.
May I eliminate all misconceptions within the mind. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 15

བློས་བྱས་རྩོལ་བའི་སྒོམ་གྱིས་མ་བསླད་ཅིང་། །
ཐ་མལ་འདུ་འཛིའི་རླུང་གིས་མ་བསྐྱོད་པར། །
མ་བཅོས་གཉུག་མར་རང་བབས་འཇོག་ཤེས་པའི། །
སེམས་དོན་ཉམས་ལེན་མཁས་ཤིང་སྐྱོང་བར་ཤོག །

Not sullied by the meditation that is conceptual effort,
Nor stirred by the wind of ordinary distractions,
May we know how to rest naturally and freely, not altering.
May we be skilled in and sustain the practice of the mind. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Untainted by forced, conceptual meditation,
Unmoved by the winds of mundane distractions,
Knowing how to rest naturally and uncontrived in our basic nature,
May we master maintaining the experience of the nature of mind. (Cortland Dahl)

Unspoiled by deliberate, conceptual meditation,
Unmoved by the wind of ordinary busyness,
May we skillfully sustain the essential practice of mind
That knows how to rest naturally in the uncontrived, innate state. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Without adulterating with meditation that strives with (thoughts) intellectually derived, not being
blown by the winds of ordinary commotion, but knowing how to set my mind in the uncontrived,
primordial state that it naturally falls to, may I become skilled and cultivate the practice of mind's
deepest point. (Alexander Berzin)

Unspoiled by meditation where thoughts are deliberate and striving,
Unmoved by the winds of ordinary commotion,
Knowing how to settle naturally in the uncontrived native state,
May we be skilled at and sustain the practices revealing mind’s true reality. (Ari Goldfield)

Unpolluted by meditation with intellectual effort
Undisturbed by the winds of everyday affairs,
Not manipulating, knowing how to let what is true be itself,
May I become skilled in the practice of mind and maintain it. (Ken McLeod)

Unpolluted by meditation with intellectual efforts,
Undisturbed by the winds of everyday affairs,
Not manipulating, knowing how to let what is true be itself,
May I become skilled in this practice of mind and maintain it. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Without being corrupted by deliberate, fabricated meditation,
and without being disturbed by the commotion of common affairs,
knowing how to settle into what is natural and uncontrived,
may I expertly sustain practice of the vital point of mind. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Not corrupted by the effort of mind-made meditation
And not blown by the winds of everyday busyness,
May we know how to rest in unfabricated, innate spontaneity
And skillfully maintain the practice of the truth of mind. (John Rockwell)

Unspoilt by deliberate, mind-fabricated meditation,
And unswayed by the winds of ordinary preoccupation,
May I learn how to settle naturally without contrivance,
And skilfully sustain the practice of mind’s ultimate point. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 16

ཕྲ་རགས་རྟོག་པའི་དབའ་རླབས་རང་སར་ཞི། །
གཡོ་མེད་སེམས་ཀྱི་ཆུ་བོ་ངང་གིས་གནས། །
བྱིང་རྨུགས་རྙོག་པའི་དྲི་མ་དང་བྲལ་བའི། །
ཞི་གནས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མི་གཡོ་བརྟན་པར་ཤོག །

May the subtle and coarse waves of thought be naturally calmed.
May the river of mind, unmoving, come to natural rest.
Free from the polluting stains of torpor and dullness,
May the ocean of shamatha be unmovingly stable. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

With the waves of coarse and subtle thoughts subsiding on their own,
And the calm waters of the mind resting naturally,
May we be free from the problems of dullness and lethargy
And stabilize the still ocean of calm abiding. (Cortland Dahl)

The waves of coarse and subtle thoughts subsiding by themselves,
May the water of unmoving mind rest naturally.
Free from the disturbances of drowsiness and dullness,
May the ocean of shamatha be stable and unmoving. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

The waves of subtle and coarse conceptual thought still in their place. Without movement, the
undercurrents of the mind naturally settle. The pollution of the silt of dullness and bewilderment
separate out. May I stabilize a stilled and settled, unmoving ocean of shamatha. (Alexander Berzin)

With the waves of coarse and subtle thoughts dissolving in their own place,
The placid river of mind gently comes to rest.
Free of the silt and mire of dullness and torpor,
May the ocean of calm abiding be steady and undisturbed. (Ari Goldfield)

The waves of subtle and coarse thoughts return to their source.
Undisturbed, the river of mind flows naturally.
Free from the contaminations of dullness and torpor,
May I establish the still ocean of shamatha. (Ken McLeod)

The waves of subtle and coarse thoughts calm down in their own ground.
Motionless, the river of mind abides naturally.
Free from the contaminations of dullness and torpor,
May I establish the still ocean of shamata. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

May the waves of coarse and subtle thoughts subside on their own
and the placid river of mind gently come to rest.
May the ocean of serene abiding, without the silt and mire
of torpor and dullness, remain steady and unperturbed. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

The waves of subtle and gross thoughts subside by themselves.
The waters of unmoving mind rest naturally.
May the ocean of shamatha
Be undisturbed, free of the dregs of drowsiness. (John Rockwell)

With waves of coarse and subtle thought naturally calmed,
And the river of mind unmoving, spontaneously stilled;
Uncontaminated by the taints of lethargy and dullness,
May the ocean of śamatha remain steadfastly inert. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 17

བལྟར་མེད་སེམས་ལ་ཡང་ཡང་བལྟས་པའི་ཚེ། །
མཐོང་མེད་དོན་ནི་ཇི་བཞིན་ལྷག་གེར་མཐོང་། །
ཡིན་མིན་དོན་ལ་ཐེ་ཚོམ་ཆོད་པ་ཉིད། །
འཁྲུལ་མེད་རང་ངོ་རང་གིས་ཤེས་པར་ཤོག །

When looking again and again at the mind, which has nothing to look at,
Nothing to see is vividly seen as it is.
That is the resolution of doubts about what it is and is not.
Without delusion, may we recognize our own nature. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Looking again and again at the mind that cannot be seen,
What cannot be seen is seen clearly just as it is.
Cutting through doubts about what it is and what it is not,
May we come to know our own nature without confusion. (Cortland Dahl)

Looking again and again at the mind that cannot be looked at,
What cannot be seen is seen clearly, just as it is.
Cutting doubts about what it is or is not,
Free from confusion, may our true nature recognize itself. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Having looked over and again at the mind that cannot be looked at, and distinctly seen, just as it is,
the deepest point that cannot be seen, in a state cut off from wavering whether the deepest point is
"this" and "not that," may (my mind) reflexively know its own face, without confusion. (Alexander Berzin)

Looking again and again at mind that cannot be looked at,
Unseeable reality is seen vividly, just as it is.
Cutting through all doubts about whether “it is” or “it is not,”
May we unmistakenly recognize our own face. (Ari Goldfield)

When one looks again and again at the mind which cannot be looked at,
And sees vividly for what it is the meaning of not seeing,
Doubts about the meaning of “is” and “isn’t” are resolved.
Without confusion, may my own face know itself. (Ken McLeod)

When one looks again and again at the mind which cannot be looked at,
And sees vividly for what it is, the meaning of not seeing,
Doubts about the meaning of “is” and “is not” are resolved.
Without confusion, may my own face know itself. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

When invisible mind is looked at again and again,
the unglimpsed meaning is beheld distinctly, just as it is.
With the severing of all doubts about what is and is not,
may the non-mistaken inner essence reveal itself. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Looking again and again at the mind that can not be looked at,
One sees clearly just as it is the truth of not seeing.
Resolving any doubt as to how it is or is not,
May we recognize our unconfused nature by ourselves. (John Rockwell)

When looking repeatedly at unobservable mind,
The point of non-seeing is vividly seen, just as it is.
And indecision—is it? or is it not?—is cut right through.
May I recognize my very own nature, without delusion. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 18

ཡུལ་ལ་བལྟས་པས་ཡུལ་མེད་སེམས་སུ་མཐོང་། །
སེམས་ལ་བལྟས་པས་སེམས་མེད་ངོ་བོས་སྟོང་། །
གཉིས་ལ་བལྟས་པས་གཉིས་འཛིན་རང་སར་གྲོལ། །
འོད་གསལ་སེམས་ཀྱི་གནས་ལུགས་རྟོགས་པར་ཤོག །

Looking at objects, there are no objects; they are seen as mind.
Looking at the mind, there is no mind; it is empty of nature.
Looking at both, dualism is liberated in its own place.
May we realize the clear light, the mind’s nature. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Looking at objects, there are none; they are seen to be mind.
Looking at mind, there is none; it is empty of any essence.
Looking at both, dualistic fixation is freed on its own.
May we realize luminosity, the true nature of mind. (Cortland Dahl)

Looking at objects, there are no objects; we see only mind.
Looking at mind, there is no mind; it is empty of an essence.
Looking at both, dualistic clinging is spontaneously liberated.
May we realize luminosity, the true nature of mind. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Having looked at objects, there are no objects – one sees them as mind. Having looked at the
mind, there is no mind; it is void by essential nature. Having looked at the two, dualistic grasping
releases itself into its own place. May I realize the abiding nature of the mind as clear light. (Alexander Berzin)

Looking at objects – there are no objects, they are seen to be mind.
Looking at mind – there is no mind, it is empty of essence.
Looking at both, clinging to duality is self-liberated.
May we realize mind’s abiding nature, luminous clarity. (Ari Goldfield)

Look at objects and there is no object: one sees mind;
Look at mind and there is no mind: it is empty of nature;
Look at both of these and dualistic clinging subsides on its own.
May I know sheer clarity, the way mind is. (Ken McLeod)

Looking at objects, there is no object, one sees mind.
Looking at mind, there is no mind, it is empty of nature.
Looking at both of these, dualistic clinging subsides on its own.
May I realize sheer clarity, the way mind is. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Looking at an object, there is none; I see it is mind.
Looking for mind, mind is not there; it lacks any essence.
Looking at both, dualistic clinging is freed on its own.
May I realize luminosity, the enduring condition of mind. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Looking at objects, one sees no objects, but just mind.
Looking at mind, there is no mind—it is empty of nature.
Looking at both of these, clinging to duality is self-liberated.
May we realize the true nature of luminous mind. (John Rockwell)

Looking at objects, I see them as objectless mind;
Looking at mind, mind is absent, empty of essence;
Looking at both, duality is liberated there and then—
May I realize mind’s true nature, which is clear light. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 19

ཡིད་བྱེད་བྲལ་བ་འདི་ནི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ། །
མཐའ་དང་བྲལ་བ་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན། །
འདི་ནི་ཀུན་འདུས་རྫོགས་ཆེན་ཞེས་ཀྱང་བྱ། །
གཅིག་ཤེས་ཀུན་དོན་རྟོགས་པའི་གདེངས་ཐོབ་ཤོག །

This freedom from mental engagement is mahamudra.
Beyond extremes, it is the great middle way.
As this includes everything, it is also called the great perfection.
May we gain the confidence that to know one is to realize the meaning of all. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Beyond mental activity, it is the Great Seal.
Free from extremes, it is the Great Middle Way.
All encompassing, it is the Great Perfection.
May we gain confidence in realizing all through knowing this one point. (Cortland Dahl)

Free from mental fabrications, it is mahamudra.
Free from extremes, it is the great madhyamaka.
Containing everything, it is also known as the great completion.
May we gain confidence that, by knowing just this, we realize the meaning of all. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

It is the state parted from taking to mind according to the great seal, mahamudra. According to
Madhyamaka, the middle way, it is the state parted from extremes. Dzogchen, the great
completeness, calls it also the state incorporating everything. May I gain the self-confidence that
knowing one is the realization of the point of all. (Alexander Berzin)

Free from mental contrivance, it is Mahamudra,
Free from extremes, it is the great Middle Way,
Since it encompasses everything, it is Dzogchen.
May we gain the confidence of realizing all through knowing one. (Ari Goldfield)

Free from mental constructions, it is called mahamudra.
Free from extremes, it is called madhyamika.
Because everything is complete here, it is also called maha ati.
May I gain the confidence that, in understanding one, I know them all. (Ken McLeod)

Free from mental constructions, it is called mahamudra.
Free from extremes, it is called madhyamika.
Everything complete here, it is also called maha ati.
May I attain the confidence that, in understanding one, all are realized. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Free from being mind-made, this is mahāmudrā;
free of extremes, it is mahāmadhyamaka;
this contains all, and so is “mahāsamṇ dhi” too.
Through knowing one, may I gain firm realization of the meaning of all. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Free from mental fabrication, it is Mahamudra.
Free from extremes, it is Great Madhyamaka.
This is also called the Great Perfection, the consummation of all.
May we have confidence that understanding one realizes all. (John Rockwell)

This absence of mental engagement is Mahāmudrā.
The freedom from extremes is the great Middle Way.
Since all is here included, it is also Great Perfection.
May I acquire the confidence of knowing one and realizing all. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 20

ཞེན་པ་མེད་པའི་བདེ་ཆེན་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད། །
མཚན་འཛིན་མེད་པའི་འོད་གསལ་སྒྲིབ་གཡོགས་བྲལ། །
བློ་ལས་འདས་པའི་མི་རྟོག་ལྷུན་གྱིས་གྲུབ། །
རྩོལ་མེད་ཉམས་མྱོང་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་ཤོག །

Unceasing great bliss without attachment;
The unveiled clear light, free from conception;
And spontaneously present freedom from thought, beyond the intellect:
May effortless experiences be unceasing. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Unceasing great bliss, free of fixation,
Unobscured luminosity, beyond clinging to concepts,
Spontaneously present nonthought, transcending mind –
May the stream of effortless experience flow without ceasing. (Cortland Dahl)

Great bliss, free from attachment, is unceasing.
Luminosity, free from clinging to concepts, is unobscured.
Nonthought, beyond intellect, is spontaneously present.
May these experiences, free from effort, be unceasing. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Great bliss, without clinging, has unbroken continuity. Clear light, without grasping for defining
characteristic marks, is parted from the veils of obscuration. Nonconceptuality, beyond all intellect,
spontaneously accomplishes. May my experiencing the boon experiences, without striving, have
unbroken continuity. (Alexander Berzin)

Free of attachment, great bliss is unceasing,
Free of clinging to characteristics, luminous clarity is unobscured,
Transcending the intellect, nonconceptuality is spontaneously present.
Without effort, may these experiences be unceasing. (Ari Goldfield)

The great bliss of non-attachment is continuous.
Sheer clarity without fixations is free of obscurations.
Passing beyond intellect, non-thought is naturally present.
May these experiences continually arise without effort. (Ken McLeod)

Great bliss with no attachment is continuous.
Luminosity without grasping at characteristics is unobscured.
Nonconceptuality that goes beyond intellect is spontaneous.
May unsought experiences occur without interruption. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Great bliss free from attachment is unceasing.
Luminosity free from clinging to concept is unobscured.
Nonthought beyond conceptual mind is spontaneity.
May meditative experience free from striving be continuous. (John Rockwell)

Great bliss without attachment continues uninterruptedly;
Clear light without conceptual identification is unobscured;
Non-conceptuality beyond the mind is spontaneously present—
May effortless experience emerge in a never-ending flow. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 21

བཟང་ཞེན་ཉམས་ཀྱི་འཛིན་པ་རང་སར་གྲོལ། །
ངན་རྟོག་འཁྲུལ་པ་རང་བཞིན་དབྱིངས་སུ་དག །
ཐ་མལ་ཤེས་པ་སྤང་བླང་བྲལ་ཐོབ་མེད། །
སྤྲོས་བྲལ་ཆོས་ཉིད་བདེན་པ་རྟོགས་པར་ཤོག །

May clinging to experiences as good be naturally liberated.
May the delusion of thoughts being bad be purified in the expanse.
May ordinary mind, with nothing to remove or add, to lose or gain,
Unelaborate, the truth of dharmata, be realized. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Clinging to good experiences is freed on its own.
The confusion of negative thoughts is naturally purified into basic space.
Ordinary mind is beyond being accepted or rejected; it cannot be lost or gained.
May we realize this freedom from concepts, the truth of reality itself. (Cortland Dahl)

Clinging to good experiences is spontaneously liberated.
The confusion of negative thoughts is naturally purified in space.
Ordinary mind, free from accepting and rejecting, loss and gain—
May we realize the truth of dharmata, simplicity. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

Grasping at the boon experiences, clung to as good, releases itself into its own place. Deceptive
confusion, conceived of as bad, in its self-nature, is pure in the sphere (of voidness). Normal
awareness is without ridding or adopting, parting or attaining. May I gain stable realization of the
(deepest) truth, the actual nature, parted from mental fabrication. (Alexander Berzin)

Clinging to excellent experiences is free right where it is,
Negative thoughts’ confusion is naturally pure in the expanse,
When ordinary mind manifests, there is nothing to adopt or reject, no freedom or fruition.
May we realize the truth of essential reality, free of fabrications. (Ari Goldfield)

Attachment to good and fixation on experience subside on their own.
Confusion and evil concepts are cleared away in the realm of ultimate nature.
In the ordinary mind, there is no control or alteration.
May I know the truth of pure being, complete simplicity. (Ken McLeod)

Attachment to good and fixation on experience subside on their own.
Confusion and evil concepts are cleared away in the realm of ultimate nature.
In the ordinary mind, there is no rejection or acceptance, no separation or attainment.
May I realize the truth of pure being, complete simplicity. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Preferential grasping at experiences is liberated on the spot.
The confusion of negative thoughts is purified in the natural expanse.
Natural cognizance adopts and discards nothing, has nothing added or removed.
May I realize what is beyond limiting constructs, the truth of dharmatā. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Attachment to good meditative experience is self-liberated.
The confusion of negative thoughts is pure by nature within the dharmadhatu.
Ordinary mind is beyond accepting and rejecting, loss and gain.
May we realize the truth of simplicity, the dharmata. (John Rockwell)

Attachment to positive experience is liberated of its own accord;
Negative thinking and delusion are purified within the natural expanse;
And ordinary awareness is neither shunned nor sought, neither lost nor gained—
May I realize the truth of dharmatā that is beyond conceptual elaboration. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 22

འགྲོ་བའི་རང་བཞིན་རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱང་། །
མ་རྟོགས་དབང་གིས་མཐའ་མེད་འཁོར་བར་འཁྱམས། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་མུ་མཐའ་མེད་པའི་སེམས་ཅན་ལ། །
བཟོད་མེད་སྙིང་རྗེ་རྒྱུད་ལ་སྐྱེ་བར་ཤོག །

Although beings’ nature is always buddha,
Not realizing it, we wander in endless samsara.
May unbearable compassion arise in us
For all beings who suffer endlessly. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Beings have always been buddhas by their very nature.
Yet not knowing this they wander endlessly in samsara.
For those beings who experience suffering without end,
May overwhelming compassion take birth in our minds. (Cortland Dahl)

Though the nature of beings is always enlightened,
Not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
May overwhelming compassion be born in us
For sentient beings whose suffering is boundless. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

The self-nature of wandering beings is always that of a Buddha. Yet, by the power of not realizing
this, they endlessly roam in samsara. May I develop unbearable compassion on my continuum for
limited beings with boundless suffering. (Alexander Berzin)

Beings by nature have always been Buddhas,
Yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
May we have unbearable compassion
For sentient beings whose suffering knows no bounds. (Ari Goldfield)

While the nature of beings has always been full enlightenment,
Not knowing this, they wander in endless samsara.
For the boundless suffering of sentient beings
May overwhelming compassion be born in my being. (Ken McLeod)

While the nature of beings has always been full enlightenment,
Not realizing this, they wander in endless samsara.
For the boundless suffering of sentient beings
May overwhelming compassion be born in my being. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

The nature of beings is ever enlightened,
yet not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samṇ sāra.
May intense compassion arise within me
for sentient beings, whose suffering knows no bounds. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

All beings are always enlightened by nature,
But not realizing this, they wander endlessly in samsara.
May unbearable compassion for sentient beings
Who experience boundless suffering arise in our being. (John Rockwell)

Although beings’ true nature has always been awakened,
In their non-recognition, they wander in saṃsāra without end.
For these sentient beings whose misery knows no bounds,
May I develop a compassion that is unbearably intense. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 23

བཟོད་མེད་སྙིང་རྗེའི་རྩལ་ཡང་མ་འགགས་པའི། །
བརྩེ་དུས་ངོ་བོ་སྟོང་དོན་རྗེན་པར་ཤར། །
ཟུང་འདུག་གོལ་ས་བྲལ་བའི་ལམ་མཆོག་འདི། །
འབྲལ་མེད་ཉིན་མཚན་ཀུན་ཏུ་བསྒོམ་པར་ཤོག །

The display of unbearable compassion is unceasing.
Within that affection, its empty nature arises nakedly.
May we cultivate this integrated path without error
Constantly throughout day and night. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

In the moment of love, with the unceasing force of unbearable compassion,
The truth of the empty essence nakedly dawns.
This unity is the unerring supreme path.
May we never be separate from it, meditating day and night. (Cortland Dahl)

In the moment of love, when overwhelming compassion flows freely,
Its empty nature nakedly appears.
May we meditate day and night
Inseparable from this unity, the supreme unerring path. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

While showing affection with a display of unbearable compassion not at all impeded, the essential
nature – the (deepest) meaning of voidness – nakedly dawns. May I always meditate day and
night, without separation from this supreme path of the unified pair, parted from points of deviation. (Alexander Berzin)

This unbearable compassion radiates unceasing love,
And as it does, its emptiness of essence nakedly shines.
May we never leave this supreme and unerring path of union,
May we meditate upon it all day and all night. (Ari Goldfield)

While such compassion is active and immediate,
In the moment of compassion, its essential emptiness is nakedly clear.
This conjunction is the undeviating supreme path;
Inseparable from it, may I practice day and night. (Ken McLeod)

While such compassion is active and immediate,
In the moment of compassion, its essential emptiness is nakedly clear.
This conjunction is the undeviating supreme path.
Inseparable from it, may I meditate day and night. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

In the moment of love, when the vibrant power of intense compassion
is uncontained, the empty essence shines forth nakedly.
May I never step off this supreme path of unity that never goes awry,
and practice it at all times, day and night. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

The energy of unbearable compassion is unceasing,
Yet when one feels compassion, it is nakedly clear that it is free of any nature.
May we meditate day and night
Inseparable from this unity, the supreme unerring path. (John Rockwell)

The strength of unbearable compassion is unrestricted,
And in this love, the reality of the empty essence laid bare.
May I constantly cultivate this supreme, unerring path of unity
And may I never be apart from it, by day or by night. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 24

སྒོམ་སྟོབས་ལས་བྱུང་སྤྱན་དང་མངོན་ཤེས་དང་། །
སེམས་ཅན་སྨིན་བྱས་སངས་རྒྱས་ཞིང་རབ་སྦྱངས། །
སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་རྣམས་འགྲུབ་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་རྫོགས། །
རྫོགས་སྨིན་སྦྱངས་གསུམ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཤོག །

The eyes and clairvoyances produced by meditation;
The ripening of beings; the purification of buddha realms;
And the completion of aspirations to the buddhas’ qualities:
May we perfect completion, ripening, and purification, achieving buddhahood. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

With the vision and direct perception born of meditation,
Maturing sentient beings and establishing buddha fields,
And fulfilling the aspirations that bring the qualities of the buddhas,
May we attain buddhahood, where fulfilling, maturing, and establishing are complete. (Cortland Dahl)

Through the dharma eyes and higher perceptions born of meditation,
May we ripen sentient beings, establish buddha fields,
And fulfill our aspiration to attain the qualities of a buddha.
Having perfected ripening, establishing, and fulfilling, may we attain buddhahood. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

(Having attained) the extrasensory eyes and heightened awareness arisen from the power of
meditation, having ripened limited beings, having cleansed everything into Buddha-fields, and
having fulfilled Buddha-Dharma practitioners' prayers for actualizations, may I reach the endpoint
of fulfilling, ripening and cleansing, and become a Buddha. (Alexander Berzin)

From the power of meditation come superior eyes and clairvoyance,
Sentient beings are matured, experiences of Buddha realms are cultivated perfectly,
And prayers to attain the Buddha’s qualities are fulfilled.
May we attain the enlightenment that brings maturation, cultivation, and fulfillment to perfection. (Ari Goldfield)

From the power of attention come eyes and direct knowing.
Sentient beings are ripened and domains of enlightenment refined.
Aspirations for the realization of all aspects of buddhahood are fulfilled.
May I complete these three — fulfillment, ripening and refinement — and become buddha. (Ken McLeod)

From the power of meditation come eyes and actual knowledge,
Sentient beings are ripened and domains of enlightenment refined.
Aspirations for the realization of all aspects of buddhahood are fulfilled.
May I complete these three--fulfillment, ripening and refinement--and become buddha. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

With eyes and paranormal powers that arise from potent meditation,
sentient beings are matured and buddha fields well cleansed.
Aspirations to accomplish buddha dharmas are fulfilled.
May I complete fulfillment, maturation and cleansing, and attain enlightenment. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Through meditation, one attains the eyes and higher perceptions,
Ripens sentient beings, purifies a buddha field,
And fulfills the aspiration to attain the qualities of a buddha.
May we attain Buddhahood, the perfection of fulfilling, ripening, and purifying. (John Rockwell)

With sight and heightened perception born of meditation,
May I bring beings to maturity, fully purify buddha realms,
And fulfil the aspirations to accomplish a buddha’s qualities—
Thus may I awaken, with perfecting, maturing and purifying all complete. (Adam Pearcey)

Verse 25

ཕྱོགས་བཅུའི་རྒྱལ་བ་སྲས་བཅས་ཐམས་ཅད་དང་། །
རྣམ་དཀར་དགེ་བ་ཇི་སྙེད་ཡོད་པའི་མཐུས། །
དེ་ལྟར་བདག་དང་སེམས་ཅན་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི། །
སྨོན་ལམ་རྣམ་དག་ཇི་བཞིན་འགྲུབ་གྱུར་ཅིག །

Through the compassion of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions,
And the power of whatever pure virtue there is,
May the pure aspirations of myself and all beings
Be fulfilled in accord with our intentions. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Through the power of the buddhas in the ten directions and their heirs,
And whatever wholesome virtue we may possess,
May my own pure aspirations
And those of all beings be fulfilled. (Cortland Dahl)

By the power of the compassion of the victorious ones of the ten directions and their
descendants
And by the power of all the pure virtue there is,
May our pure aspirations and those of all sentient beings
Be accomplished just as we intend. (Nalanda Translation Comittee)

By the force of the compassion of the Triumphant Ones in the ten directions and their spiritual
offspring, and of as much ennobling constructive force as there be, may the pure aspiration
prayers of myself and all limited beings come true in this way, just as we've made them. (Alexander Berzin)

By the power of the great compassion of the Victorious Ones and their sons and daughters of the
ten directions,
And the power of all the immaculate virtue there is
May my own and all sentient beings’
Completely pure aspiration prayers be perfectly fulfilled! (Ari Goldfield)

By the compassion of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions
And the power of whatever pure virtue there may be,
May my wishes and those of all beings
Be fulfilled in the way I am seeking. (Ken McLeod)

By the compassion of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions
And the power of whatever pure virtue there may be,
May my wishes and those of all beings
Be fulfilled as we ask in this way. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

Through the compassion of Victors and their offspring everywhere
and the power of all the immaculate virtue there is,
may my own and all countless sentient beings’
totally pure aspirations be accomplished exactly as we intend. (Lama Sherab Dorje)

Through the kindness of the victorious ones of the ten directions and their sons
And by the power of all the pure virtue that exists,
May the pure aspirations of myself and all sentient beings
Be accomplished just as we intend. (John Rockwell)

Through the compassion of the buddhas and their heirs in every direction,
And the power of whatever wholesome virtue there might be,
May my own and all other beings’ purest aspirations
Be fulfilled, exactly in accordance with our wishes. (Adam Pearcey)

Colophon

ཅེས་རྗེ་རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེས་མཛད་པའོ།།

This was composed by Lord Rangjung Dorje. (Kagyu Monlam Translation Team)

Aspirations for Mahamudra, the definite point of the teachings, was composed by Lord Rangjung Dorje, Karmapa III. (Ken McLeod)

Aspirations for Mahamudra, the definite point of the teachings, was composed by Lord Rangjung Dorje, Karmapa III. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)

This Aspiration of the Mahāmudrā of Definitive Meaning was composed by Lord Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. (Adam Pearcey)

Remarks

Translation of the root text under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche by Ari Goldfield (in May 1999 and revised in September 2001). (Ari Goldfield)

This translation was made by Ken McLeod at the request of several students who wanted to use this prayer in their practice. (Ken McLeod)

This translation was made by Ken McLeod with reference to earlier translations by Denis Eysseric and the Nalanda Translation Committee. (Ken McLeod - 2nd translation)