6 Session Guru Yoga — Six Session Guru Yoga root bckp

Human transcription — may contain minor errors.

The method of necessarily protecting the Guru Yoga in Six Sessions, for those who have obtained an empowerment in Yoga Tantra and above, which is unequalled by any of the profound instructions renowned as the ÒGolden DharmasÓ of Tibet.

****compiled by Kyabje Phabongka Rinpoche¹.

Translated by Lotsawa Ilia Durovic

22²

****Namo Guru Manjughoshāya

After prostrating with veneration at the Lotus-feet

Of the Glorious Guru powerful as Vajradhara,

I will explain the marvellous method of purifying pledges and vows

In keeping with the utterances of the Tantras and the Noble Gurus.

In addition, a person who has well received the bestowal of an empowerment in the Mandalas of either of the two higher Collections of Tantra for just as long long as his continuum has the tantric vows must examine the root and

branch pledges and vows during every 24-hour cycle and, in particular, must protect the pledges of the 5 classes of Buddhas in six sessions, since should one not have done so, misdeeds³ will become grievous faults⁴. As is said in the ÒVajra-Peak Tantra⁵Ó:

Thrice by day and by night,

Must one have recited daily.

When a yogi has degenerated

A misdeed has become a grievous fault.

Therefore, the Bodhisattvas wishing to engage in practice by means of Secret Mantra must keep the pledges which are to be kept⁶, the food-pledges and the pledges which are to be protected in keeping with the teachings of the Great Vajradhara. One should study :

i. The Omniscient One’s ÒExplanation of pledged root downfalls⁷Ó

ii. ÒAn Explanation of the ÓFifty Verses of Guru DevotionÓ

iii. ÒThe Feast which delights the YogisÓ

iv. ÒSix-Session Guru YogasÓ

for a more elaborate presentation of all details. This is for the sake of enabling beginners to take on the meanings thereof in a mode of practice in six sessions and for facility’s sake it has been formulated in verse.

**For Refuge until Enlightenment I go

To Supreme Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Through the merit accrued by charity⁸ and so forth,

May I become a Buddha for the weal of migrators !

fulfills:

i. the statement in the advice⁹ regarding Refuge that one must go for Refuge thrice by day and thrice by night as well as

ii. the Pledge of Vairocana to take Refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

Thinking:

**May all sentient beings upon being bereft of the closeness and distance of attachment and anger . . .

fulfills:

i. immeasurable equanimity

ii. the gift of fearlessness

and thinking :

**** ** . . . attain the particularly exalted bliss

fulfills two of the Pledges of Ratnasambhava:

i. measureless love and

ii. the gift of love.

While thinking :

**And having been freed from the ocean of unbearable suffering

is immeasurable compassion, while:

**May they not be separated from the bliss of Holy Liberation.

is immeasurable joy. Thinking:

**I will not give up, even at the cost of my life, the mind wishing to attain Full Enlightenment

For the sake of liberating all migrators from the fear of existence and peace¹⁰,

From now on until Buddhahood,

But will sustain it !

asserts the necessity of generating Bodhicitta in six sessions by day and by night after having undergone the Ritual [for generating] Aspiring Bodhicitta. If one wishes to take the Vows of Engaging [Bodhicitta], recite after the Objects of Refuge [visualized] in front, such as the Conquerors and their Scions:

**Gurus, Conquerors, [their] Scions and so forth

Pay heed to me !

Just as the former Ones Gone Thus

Gave birth to the Bodhicitta and

Dwelt by stages¹¹ in the precepts¹² of Bodhisattvas,

Likewise, I also, will give birth to Bodhicitta

Having trained by stages in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas

For the welfare of migrators.

The third time Vows of Engaging Bodhicitta will have been taken; then dissolve the Objects of Refuge. Thinking:

**** ** At present my life has born fruit,

Having obtained an excellent human existence

Today I am born in the Lineage of the Buddhas¹³:

Now I have become a scion of the Buddha !

one has meditated on joy at [receiving the Vows of] Engaging Bodhicitta and thinking :

**At this juncture I must definitely

Begin to behave in keeping with my lineage¹⁴.

I will not sully this noble, flawless lineage

Thus will I act !

one has meditated on heedfulness¹⁵. These two are the instructions, in the advice on Aspiring Bodhicitta, on the necessity to reflect in six sessions on the benefits of Bodhicitta.

In the space in front, on a ravishing bejewelled throne

Atop a lotus, vast sun and moon mandalas

The Root Guru, the omnipresent¹⁶ Lord, Vajradhara

Blue in color, with one face,

Having taken Vajra and Bell with [his] two arms, embraces a consort in his likeness.

Ablaze with the glory of the major and minor marks

And adorned with numerous precious ornaments,

Garbed with raiments of ravishing silk brocade

His mere recollection dispels all anguish¹⁷.

Of the nature of the synthesis¹⁸ of all Supreme Refuges without exception,

Seated in the Vajra-paryaņka¹⁹, [his] three places are marked by the three letters.

Light rays from the HUM [invite] from [his] natural abode, Guru Vajradhara.

JAH HUM BAM HOH They have become non-dual.

This is the method of protecting the Pledge of the Master of Akşobhya.

**I bow to the feet of the One with the Vajra, the jewel-like Guru

By whose benevolence Great Bliss dawns in one very instant !

This is the method for protecting the mind from the beginning against the transgressions²⁰ of the Bodhisattva [vows] as well as

the method of prostrating in keeping with the passage from ÒThe Fifty [Verses of Devotion to] the Guru²¹Ó:

With supreme faith, three times . . .

OM²² I prostrate²³ to the Conqueror, Lord of Heroes HUM HUM PHAT

OM Light akin to the fire of the great Eon HUM HUM PHAT

OM You with the terrifying crown of locks HUM HUM PHAT

OM Fearsome face with gnashing fangs HUM HUM PHAT

OM Thousand arms ablaze with light HUM HUM PHAT

OM Bearing battle-axe and noose, grasping lance and Khatvānga HUM HUM PHAT

OM Wearing vestments of tiger skin HUM HUM PHAT

OM I bow to the Great Smoky Body which puts an end to interferences HUM HUM PHAT

OM I prostrate to the Conqueress Vajra-Sow²⁴ HUM HUM PHAT²⁵

OM to the Lady of the Knowledge Women and Noble Ones which cannot be overcome by the Three Realms HUM HUM PHAT

OM Overcomer of all fear of elementals by the Great Vajra HUM HUM PHAT

OM Eyes empowering those dwelling on the Vajra-seat to be invincible HUM HUM PHAT

OM You who wither Brahmā with the Tummo of your wrathful Body HUM HUM PHAT²⁶

OM You are victorious over the other side²⁷ through withering and terrifying demons HUM HUM PHAT

OM Completely victorious over all the Hebetators²⁸, the Petrifiers²⁹ and the Stupefiers³⁰ HUM HUM PHAT

OM I bow to the Vajra-Sow in whose great embrace³¹ desire is overcome HUM HUM PHAT

This is the method of praising Deities and Gurus by the ÒEight VersesÓ for those who have received an empowerment in the Mother Tantras.

I offer oceans of various clouds of

Outer, inner and secret offerings:

Which are owned and the ownerless,

Actually set out and the mentally emanated.

this is the manner of protecting the Pledge of offering of Amoghasiddhi.

**** Having taken to mind the collection of physical, verbal and mental virtue of self and others as well as the riches of all three times and so forth, a fine precious mandala, a miscellanea of offerings of Samantabhadra and so forth, I offer them to the Guru, the Tutelary Deity and the Triple Gem. Having accepted them under the sway of compassion, I beseech them to bestow their blessing on me.

IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI.

This is the advice imparted in the ÒThe Fifty [Verses of Devotion to] the GuruÓ regarding offering Mandala to the Guru during the three times.

I beseech the precious Guru endowed with the deeds of

The Conquerors in countless fields

Just as Those Gone to Bliss³² of the three times and the ten directions

Tamed whomsoever by the play³³ of saffron.

I beseech the precious Guru praised by Vajradhara,

Thinking of those of dull acumen,

As excellent among the holy superior fields,

From within all the circles of the myriad of Conquerors.

The is the manner of relying on the Virtuous Friend³⁴ by thought: the former stanza refers to generating faith through recollecting the qualities [of the Virtuous Friend] and the latter to generating veneration through recollecting the benevolence [of the Virtuous Friend].

**Upon seeing that all common and uncommon attainments

without exception,

Flow from correct reliance on Thee, Lord,

Bless me to delight Thee alone,

Even at the cost of body and life.

This is the manner of relying through behavior. In brief:

the oath³⁵ of relying correctly by thought and behavior after recollecting the benefits if relying [on the Virtuous Friend] and the faults of of not-relying [on the Virtuous Friend]

is the manner of relying on the Virtuous Friend as well as the essence of the manner of protecting the pledges of ÒThe Fifty [Verses of Devotion to] the GuruÓ.

**Upon beseeching in this fashion,

The Supreme Guru [settles]

30 **

**On the apex of one’s crown SA MĀ JAM

Delighted, yet again,

He becomes of one taste³⁶ with oneself.

visualizing whatever ascertainment of emptiness one has, setting oneself in meditative equipoise slightly on the emptiness of true existence is Òdefinitive Guru YogaÓ as well as the means to accumulate the collection of wisdom, the supreme protection and the means to protect oneself from the eleventh root downfall. The thought:

**** ** With the pride of being oneself Vajrasattva,

Having taken the symbol of innate great bliss, the secret Vajra and

The symbol of the absence of the elaborations³⁷ of nature³⁸, the secret Ghaņda³⁹,

I embrace the Conqueress.

is the manner of protecting the Vajra, Bell and Mudrā pledges of Akşobhya in keeping with Anutarra Yogatantra. The enhancement of generosity, thinking:

**** ** My body and, likewise, my wealth as well as

Whatever collection of virtue I may have assembled in the three times,

I will donate from now on, without compunction,

For the benefit of mother sentient beings.

is the practice of Generosity of the Children of the Conquerors, giving body and wealth is the Generosity of giving material objects and giving roots of virtue is the Generosity of giving Dharma: this is the method of protecting the latter two pledges of Ratnasambhava. At this point, if there is time, in keeping with the instruction

examine ⁴⁰pledges and vows individually at the least. Should one wish to elaborate: first, regarding [Vows of] Individual Liberation⁴¹, should one have Bhikşu vows⁴², one examines as follows:

From among the five categories of downfalls of [the vows of] Individual Liberation,

Four defeats⁴³ and thirteen with remainder⁴⁴,

Thirty downfalls to be abandoned and ninety simple,

Four to be individually confessed and one hundred and twelve misdeeds,

Moreover I will abandon downfalls and so forth by the bases and assembly.

Examining the eighteen root downfalls of the Bodhisattva vows⁴⁵:

**(1)⁴⁶ **Praising oneself or debasing others, (2) not giving Dharma or wealth

****(3) Not heeding despite confession, (4) abandoning the Great Vehicle

****(5) Appropriating⁴⁷ donations to the [Triple] Gem, (6) abandoning Dharma, (7)depriving⁴⁸ of the saffron [robes]

**(8) [Engaging in] the five uninterrupted⁴⁹ [crimes], (9) wrong views and (10) destroying cities

****(11) Teaching emptiness to the untrained and (12) turning away from Perfect Enlightenment

**(13) Abandoning Individual Liberation, (14) deprecating Hearers, (15) lying about the Profound⁵⁰

****(16) Taking donations [made] to the Three Supreme (17) formulating bad ethics and (18) relinquishing Bodhicitta.

**The four binding [factors] are: **(1) **not viewing as a fault, (2) not turning away from the desire for that behavior, (3) joy and satisfaction⁵¹ ****(4) the absence of shame and embarrassment.

For sixteen they must be complete, this is unnecessary for both wrong views and,

Relinquishing Bodhicitta. From these eighteen root downfalls, I will protect myself.

Examining the root downfalls of Mantra⁵²:

**(1) **Reviling⁵³ the Guru, (2) debasing⁵⁴ the advice

****(3) Criticizing brethren, (4) abandoning love for migrators

****(5) Relinquishing aspiring and engaging Bodhicitta, (6) deprecating the Dharma of Sutra or Mantra,

****(7) Revealing the secrets to the unripe, (8) abusing ones aggregates,

****(9) Abandoning emptiness, (10) relying on evil friends,

****(11) Not recollecting the view, (12) squelching⁵⁵ the minds of the faithful,

****(13) Not relying on the pledge⁵⁶ and (14) debasing women.

I will protect [myself from] the fourteen root downfalls at the risk of my life.

Examining the branch pledges:

**I will abandon the four root branches, beer and misbehavior,

Rely on the holy Protector, venerate the Friends⁵⁷,

Protect the ten virtuous deeds and [not] reverting from the Great Vehicle,

Abandon walking and reviling: the pledges without exception I shall protect.

The pledges of [abstaining] from the major⁵⁸ downfalls:

**** ** ****(1) Relying on a Mudrā lacking the characteristics, (2) entering in union without the three perceptions,

****(3) Showing the secret substances to inappropriate recipients, (4) fighting during the Ghanacakra⁵⁹,

****(5) Giving wrong answers to the queries of the faithful, (6) dwelling seven days and nights⁶⁰ among the Hearers

****(7) Although imperfect⁶¹, pretending to be a yogi, (8) teaching the holy Dharma to sceptics,

****(9) Engaging in activities [related to] the Mandala, without have perfected the retreats and so forth, (10) unnecessarily going beyond the training of Individual Liberation and a Bodhisattva,

I will also protect myself correctly against the major downfalls which are contradictory to the context of the ÒFifty Verses [of Guru DevotionÓ.

Adding the uncommon pledges expounded in the Mother Tantras:

**(1) Deprecate not the behavior of the left and offer,

****(2) Abandon engaging in union with those bereft of the characteristics

****(3) Be not separated from the view at the time of union

****(4) Aspire continually to the path of desire,

(5) Abandon not the two aspects of Mudrā

****(6) Strive mainly at outer and inner means

****(7) Rely on pure behavior: do not emit Kunda

****(8) Abandon vomiting when taking Bodhicitta.

When lacking time for such, at least, the manner of teaching the mere recollection of the three vows⁶² is to think:

**Not transgressing even in a dream

The slightest of the pure trainings

Of the Individual Liberation, Bodhisattva and Vajrayana [vows].

This is the concise method of teaching recollection of the three vows, in addition, the three-fold ethics⁶³ of the Pledge of Vairocana restrains faults and this [stanza] with all of the holy [pledges] of Amoghasiddhi will fulfill [them]. Thinking :

**I will uphold excellently,

In accordance with the the intent of the Conquerors

The Holy Dharma of Scripture and Realization

Included within the Three Vehicles and the Four Classes of Tantra without exception.

fulfills the three Lotus [lineage] pledges as well as the virtuous [practices of] Vairocana in a concise form, viz. : from the standpoint of the Dharma of Exoteric Mantra, Kriya and Carya Tantra, and from the standpoint of the Dharma of Esoteric Mantra, Yoga Tantra and Anuttarayoga Tantra as well as upholding the Three Vehicles from the standpoint of Sutra. Thinking:

**I will utterly liberate migrators by whatever means are appropriate.

is the method for protecting Vairocana’s ethics of performing the welfare of sentient beings.

___________________

[How to recite the Six-Session Guru-Yoga]

Should one develop such a Six-Session Guru Yoga which is to be uttered thrice by day and thrice by night, so that it is uttered in one flow⁶⁴, the mode of recitation of the oral tradition is:

[To recite] once from⁶⁵ :

[p. 2] : For Refuge until Enlightenment I go

To Supreme Buddha, Dharma and Sangha . . .

****until [p. 7] : . . . Bless me to delight Thee alone,

Even at the cost of body and life.

then again from [p. 2] : For Refuge until Enlightenment I go

To Supreme Buddha, Dharma and Sangha . . .

until [p. 7] : . . . Bless me to delight Thee alone,

Even at the cost of body and life.

then [recite] from [p. 5]: I bow to the Vajra-bearing feet of the jewel-like Guru

By whose benevolence Great Bliss dawns in one very instant . . .

****until [p.7] : ****. . . Bless me to delight Thee alone,

Even at the cost of body and life.

Yet again from [p. 2] : For Refuge until Enlightenment I go

To Supreme Buddha, Dharma and Sangha . . .

****until [p. 7] : . . . Bless me to delight Thee alone,

Even at the cost of body and life.

In the latter two [recitations] it is unnecessary to recite each time:

ÒFor Refuge until Enlightenment I go

To Supreme Buddha, Dharma and Sangha . . .Ó

and [p.7]: *****[***I beseech the precious Guru endowed with the deeds of

The Conquerors in countless fields]

Just as Those Gone to Bliss⁶⁶ [of the three times]

and since the frontal generation of the Guru has been performed, it is also unnecessary to recite [the stanza on p.4]:

In the space in front, on a ravishing bejewelled throne . . .

. . . They have become non-dual.

The ÒEight VersesÓ [pp. 5-6] however can be⁶⁷ [recited] the first [time], likewise [the stanza on p. 8]:

**** ** Upon beseeching in this fashion,

The Supreme Guru . . .

*. . .*On one’s crown SA MĀ JAM

can be recited once. Again, [the verses from p. 8]:

. . . Delighted, yet again,

He becomes of one taste⁶⁸ with oneself . . .

until [the verse on p. 13]:

**I will utterly liberate migrators by whatever means are appropriate.

are recited three times as usual. The examination of the individual vows is only necessary the first time⁶⁹.

[Dedication:]

After memorizing such a threefold repetition, the prayer of dedication is:

**By the power of the pure virtue accrued thereby,

May I, in all lives, never transgress the boundaries

Established by the might of Vajradhara,

36 And may I complete the stages of the two-fold path⁷⁰.

In brief, through however much of the collection of pure virtue

Thereby exemplified,

May I swiftly, upon being reborn in the treasury of gems, Shambala,

Complete the stages of the Path of Anutarra [Yoga Tantra].

In all lives, never bereft of a pure Guru,

And wealthy in the glory of Dharma,

Upon perfecting the qualities of grounds and paths,

May I swiftly attain the state of Vajradhara !

______________________

. There are numerous versions of the Six-Session Guru Yoga: one of the earliest can be traced back to the First Pänchen Lama (1570-1662), another is attributed to the great Gelug hermit and scholar Ngülchu Dharmabhadra (1772-1851). Phabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941) is considered to be the compiler of the present “Six Session Guru Yoga” which he requested from from Lobsang Dorje of Ganden monastery. Perhaps for this reason the “Six Session Guru Yoga” is not included in Phabongka Rinpoche’s “Collected Works”, although his extensive commentary on it is.↩︎
. The page numbers in the left margin are the corresponding page numbers of the Sera Mey Library edition of the Tibetan “Collected Commitments”: ཞལ་འདོན་གཅེས་བཏུས,སེར་སྨད་དཔེ་མཛོད་ཁང, Bylakuppe (India), 2011. Our conventions in this translation are :

i. Text in bold typeface is the actual ÒSix-Session Guru YogaÓ to be recited. It is not by the hand of Phabongka Rinpoche.

ii. Text in italics is Phabongka Rinpoche’s commentary which is not to be recited.↩︎
. ཁ་ན་མ་ཐོ་བ།↩︎
. སྦོམ་པོ། This is frequently and inaccurately translated in English as a “transgression”. སྦོམ་པོ in general in Tibetan refers to something which is heavy and the fault itself is viewed as extremely heavy. “Transgression” does not even begin to convey this.↩︎
. Vajrasikhara-mahaguhyayogatantra, Narthang Kangyur, Vol. 87, pp. 1-207↩︎
. བསྟན་པའི་དམ་ཚི་ག↩︎
. རྩ་ལྟུང།↩︎
. སྥྱིན་པ, Sk. Dāna. Frequently translated as ÒgenerosityÓ.↩︎
. བསླབ་བྱ↩︎
. In other words the fear of cyclic existence on the one hand and for the Bodhisattva the even greater fear of being satisfied with peace, mere Liberation, and abandoning his goal of progressing towards Full Enlightenment for the sake of all beings.↩︎
. རིམ་པ་བཞིན↩︎
. བསླབ་པ, Sk. Śikşa↩︎
. སངས་རྒྱས་རིགས, Sk. Buddha-gotra. This is frequently, and misleadingly, translated as ÒBuddha NatureÓ in English which has led to endless misunderstandings, the most common of which is that we are already enlightened and merely have to become aware of it. This seems to have been the reading of Tao Sheng (360-434), the disciple of Kumārajiva, who has been called by some the actual founder of Ch’an.

The etymology of the term Gotra in Sanskrit is of considerable relevance for a clear understanding of Buddha-gotra: Go stands for ÒcowÓ in Sanskrit and hence Gotra is a Òcow-penÓ as well as all the cows of the same cow-pen. By extension, gotra came to mean in later Sanskrit, ÒlineageÓ: all those sharing the same dwelling. The meaning of ÒBuddha LineageÓ here is therefore clearly that of having become kin of the Buddhas.↩︎
. རིགས↩︎
. བག་ཡོད↩︎
. ཁབ་བདག↩︎
. གདུང↩︎
. འདུས་པ↩︎
. སྐྱིལ་ཀྲུང། Negi, Vol. 1, pp. 198 indicates the Sanskrit equivalent to be paryanka, which derives from the root pari-Ãa–c meaning to ÒrevolveÓ↩︎
. ཉེས་བྱས. These generally refer to breaches of the 46 secondary Bodhisattva vows↩︎
. Attributed to Aśvaghosa and translated with Je Tsong kha pa’s commentary in :

Je Tsong kha pa : “The Fulfillment of all Hope: Guru Devotion in Tibetan Buddhism”, Wisdom Publications↩︎
. I have translated the 8 verse of hommage to the Lord and the 8 verses of hommage to the Lady relying on the Tibetan text of the ÒSix-Session Guru YogaÓ and have indicated in footnote some of the differences with the Sanskrit version of this praise found in the long sādhana of Heruka, pp. 105-106.↩︎
. While the 16 Tibetan verses of praise contain ÒI prostrateÓ only two times, at the beginning of each cycle, the Sanskrit verses include it in every verse.↩︎
. Vajra-varahi↩︎
. The Sanskrit version of this verse reads in the long sādhana of Heruka (pp. 106.1) :

OM I prostrate to the Conqueress Vajra-Sow BAM HUM HUM PHAT↩︎
. The 16 verses of praise (8 verses to the Lord and 8 to the Lady) read in Sanskrit (Long sādhana of Heruka (pp. 106.3-106.4):

Om namo bhagavate vīreśāya hum hum phaț

Om mahā kalpāgni samnibhāya hum hum phaț

Om janāmuku țondakațāya hum hum phaț

Om damşțra karā lograbhīșana mukhāya hum hum phaț

Om sahasra bhūja bhāsurāya hum hum phaț

Om paraśupā śodyāta śūla khațvāmga dhāriņe hum hum phaț

Om bhyāghrajināmbara dharāya hum hum phaț

Om mahādhūmbrāndha kārawapuşāya hum hum phaț

Om namo bhagavati vajravārāhī bam hum hum phaț

Om namo ārya aparājite trailokya māte vidyeśvarī hum hum phaț

Om namo sarva bhūta bhayā bahe mahāvajre hum hum phaț

Om namo vajrāsani ajite aparājite bāśamkarinetra hum hum phaț

Om namo bramaņi śoşaņi roşaņi krodhekarālini hum hum phaț

Om namo trāsani māraņi prabhedanī parājaye hum hum phaț

Om namo vijāye jambhani stambhani mohani hum hum phaț

Om namo vajra vārāhī mahā yoginī kāmeśvarī khage hum hum phaț

The reading țondakațāya in the transliteration of the 3rd verse is problematical.↩︎
. གཞན་གྱི་ཕྱོགས this is a euphemism for ནག་ཕྱོགས, the Òdark sideÓ.↩︎
.་རྨུགས་བྱེད emended from རྨུག་བྱེད, in keeping with the long sādhana of Heruka (pp. 123.2)↩︎
. རེངས་བྱེད↩︎
. རྨོངས་བྱེད↩︎
. Reading སྦྱོར་ཆེན instead of སྦྱོར་བྱེད in keeping with the long sādhana of Heruka (pp. 123.3)↩︎
. Sk. Sugata↩︎
རོལ་བ This term, whose Sanskrit equivalent is Lalīta, has a semantic depth difficult to equal in English. **རོལ་བ **means :

a. to prosper

b. to play and to laugh

c. to eat

d. to emanate

while its intransitive cognate and homophone རོལ་པ means :

a. to set out

b. to emanate↩︎
. དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན(Sk. Kalyāņamitra) often loosely translated in English as “Spiritual Friend”, which has the unfortunate side-effect of causing one to lose sight of the powerful polarity and tension between the Òevil friendÓ སྡིགས་གྲོགས and the ÒVirtuous FriendÓ.↩︎
. དམ་བཅའ↩︎
. ÒOf one natureÓ. Tibetan is much earthier than most Western languages and, if possible, it is good to try to convey this.↩︎
. སྤྲོས་པ, Sk. Prapa–ca. One of the most difficult terms to translate in all of Madhyamika literature. Jacques May (Candrakirti: ÒPrasannapada Madhyamaka-vrtti (Commentaire Limpide au TraitŽ du Milieu)Ó, Maisonneuve, Paris 1959, n. 562, p. 175-176) says quite cogently:

“Prapañca, literally “expansion”, tib. spros pa, seems to me to refer not so much to the function of discursive thought, which corresponds in different aspects to vikalpa, vitarka, vicara, as to the operation of this function (“expansion”, “differentiation of global reality into separate objects and concepts, cf. n. 64) and to the result of this operation, i.e. the world constructed of distinct objects and concepts.”(Engl. transl. I.D.)

J. Hopkins’ translation of Prapa–ca as ÒelaborationsÓ is quite problematical as it doesn’t convey in the slightest the root meaning of the Tibetan verb spro ba, which means Òto emanateÓ and which clearly suggests the intimacy of the bond between the perceiving mind and the perceived phenomenon.↩︎
. Jamyang Shepa (1648-1721/22)] in his commentary on the Lama Chšpa (J.S. 36.4), glosses the nearly identical expression in the Lama Chšpa as follows:

The expanse or the mode of abiding bereft from the elaborations of the nature of inherent establishment of all phenomena which are the object observed

****བླ་མ་མཆོད་པའི་ཆོ་གའི་མཆན་འགྲེལ་ཟུང་འཇུག་འདྲེན་པའི་ཤིང་རྟ།in ÒThe Collected Works of ‘Jam dbyangs bzhad paÓ (འཇམ་དབྱངས་བཞད་པའི་གསུང་འབུམ།), pp. 19-64, Vol. 3 (Ga), Gomang College (?), Hubli (South India), 1997 (?)↩︎
. The bell.↩︎
. བསྔོ་བགྲང་བྱེད་པ། This term has almost exactly the same meaning as the “daily examination of conscience” enjoined by St. Benedict (480-547) in his Rule, which eventually became the rock on which the overwhelming majority of Western Christian monastic traditions were erected. It was refined later on by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuit order.↩︎
. Sk. Prātimokşa↩︎
. There are three surviving traditions of Vinaya in the Buddhist world: the Mūlasarvāstivāda, Dharmaguptaka and Therav ā da. To this day the only Tibetan tradition of Vinaya is the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya which was restored in Tibet by King Tri Rälpachen after the great persecution of Buddhism of King Langdarma.

The Dharmaguptaka lineage is practiced in China, Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan while the Therav ā da tradition is practiced in Thailand, Burma and so on. The core of the vows is the same, however there are different subdivisions of the vows in the different lineages leading to different numbers of vows.↩︎
. Pali Pārājika↩︎
. Pali Sa`ṅ“`ghādisesa↩︎
. This section draws heavily, and often literally, on Candragomin’s “Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattva Vow”, the Bodhisattva samvara-vimśaka which is itself a versified summary of the chapter on ethics of Asanga’s Bodhisattva-bhumi.

Cf. Candragomin: “Difficult Beginnings. Three Works on the Bodhisattva Path” (translated by Mark Tatz), Shambala, 1985↩︎
. We have kept the grouping of the vows in the Tibetan verse. The numeration is that given in the Tibetan text.↩︎
. འཕྲོག་པ has exactly the same meaning as “robbing” or “despoiling” in English: it involves stealing with the use of force or violence (in keeping with the ཚིག་མཛོད་ཆེན་མོ). Nonetheless, Phabongka Rinpoche’s commentary reads the meaning of འཕྲོག་པ in a much larger sense as “despoiling by means of force, skill or deceit . . .”↩︎
. The meaning here is to force monastics to disrobe and return to the lay state, which occurred periodically in both Chinese and Tibetan history when the monastic institution was considered as a threat to the state.↩︎
. མཚམས་མེད་ལྔ། These five uninterrupted crimes, often called the “five heinous crimes”, are:

1. Patricide

2. Matricide

3. Killing an Arhat

4. Shedding the blood of a Buddha

5. Causing a schism in the Sangha.

They are called “uninterrupted” crimes, because the wrong-doer is precipitated without any interruption directly into the lower realms.↩︎
. i.e. emptiness↩︎
. མགུ།↩︎
. One of the most elaborate commentaries on Mantra downfalls is Khedrub je’s (མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེ): ÒA concise presentation of the Three VowsÓ (སྡོམ་གསུམ་གྱུ་རྣམ་པར་བཞག་་པ་མདོར་བསྡུས། sku ‘bum par ma edition, vol. 2 (kha), pp. 549-826)↩︎
. བརྙས་སྨོད།↩︎
. ཁྱད་དུ་གསོད་པ།↩︎
སུན་འབྱིན་པ། has both the meanings of Òto obstructÓ and Òto debaseÓ.↩︎
དམ་ཚིག (“pledge”) is glossed asདམ་རྫས (“pledge-substances”)by Khalkha Ngawang Belden: “An explanation of the Three Precepts based on Sûtra alone”, (transl. I. Durovic), Tibetan Buddhist Institute, 2011, pp 6 ss.↩︎
. བསྙེན་བཀུར། (Sk: satkāra). ÒVenerationÓ here covers the whole gamut of respect and offering traditionally offered to a revered monk or an older teacher in India.↩︎
. སྦོམ་པོ། means ÒthickÓ in both classical and colloquial Tibetan. A good English translation would therefore be ÒmajorÓ, in this context.↩︎
. The tshogs offering.↩︎
. ཞག refers to one full 24 hour cycle.↩︎
. ཡང་དག derives etymologically from དག་པ ÒpureÓ with the connotation of ÒsupremacyÓ or ÒperfectionÓ according to the ཚིག་མཛོད་ཆེན་མོ།↩︎
. i.e. the vows of Individual Liberation, Bodhisattva and Tantric vows.↩︎
. The 3 types of ethics are:

1. restraining from committing negative actions

2. engaging in accumulating skilful actions and

3. benefiting sentient beings↩︎
. i.e. instead of reciting the complete Six Session Guru Yoga three times a day and three times a night, if one wishes to fulfill the commitment all at once, one can fuse elements of the recitation as will be explained.↩︎
. We have edited this section for the sake of clarity. The meaning is the same as in the commentary.↩︎
. Sk. Sugata↩︎
. If one has a Mother Tantra initiation.↩︎
. ÒOf one natureÓ. Tibetan is much earthier than most Western languages and, if possible, it is good to try to convey this.↩︎
. i.e. during the first recitation.↩︎
. i.e. the Generation and the Completion Stages.↩︎