1   The Guru Yoga of Kālachakra in Connection with the Six Sessions in Completely Facilitating Form

This text was formulated by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and versified by the Foremost Protector ing Rin-o-chay. It has been translated in accordance with instruction from His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Gan-den Tri Rin-o-chay Jam-el-shen-pen.

The text includes explanatory material, which is at the margin, and the actual meditation rite, which is the indented poetry. Further explanations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama given orally to the translator are provided in notes at the bottom of the page; several explanations by Gan-den Tri Rin-o-chay Jam-el-shenpen are also in the footnotes, specified as being from him; notes by the translator are in brackets.

Namo guru-shrī-Kālachakrāya.

Having bowed to the original Buddha,¹

Union of the vajra of great bliss2 with the aspectless Great Seal,

I will elaborate herein the mode of practising the very profound guru yoga³

In connection with the six sessions.

Those who want the good should not remain attached to the mere marvels of what appears during this lifetime as if such were the essence, but should, as their activity, achieve the great final aims of this and future lifetimes [liberation from cyclic existence and the great liberation of Buddhahood]. Also, to achieve the essence of the final aspiration, you should train in the paths that have an essence of emptiness and compassion.⁴ For this, you should acquaint with and rely on a fully qualified spiritual guide properly, by way of both thought and deed. It is indispensable to take such guru yoga as the life of the path.

In addition, those who have entered into a mandala of any of the two higher tantra sets [Yoga and Highest Yoga Tantra]⁵ and have attained initiation should review⁶ daily the root and secondary pledges and vows. In particular, if the pledges of the five Buddha lineages are not maintained in six sessions daily, one incurs a gross unseemliness. Since it is said that a gross contravention of Mantra is a heavier fault even than performing all four defeats of the vow of individual liberation, [killing a human, stealing, sexual misconduct and lying about spiritual attainments] maintenance of the six sessions without break is very important.

Here, with respect to how to practice guru yoga in dependence on the Supramundane Victor Kālachakra in connection with the six session yoga, stated in completely facilitating form,7 the practitioner should have trained his or her continuum by way of the common path. Then, a yogi who, having attained pure initiation of this personal deity [Kālachakra], maintains properly the pledges and vows should clean well the place of meditation which has the qualifications mentioned in the [fourth] chapter on Achievement [in the Kālachakra Tantra]. Then, you should lay out well in front of an arrangement of bases of exalted body, speech, and mind [such as an image, a book, and a stūpa] whatever offerings can be obtained – the offerings not involving any faults of deceit in motivation, procurement, and so forth.⁸

Sitting well on a concentration-cushion in the manner of the seven features of Vairochana,9 you should imagine that surrounding you are sentient beings filling all of space, the main of whom are your parents of this lifetime. In fact, they are undergoing the sufferings of their respective type among the six transmigrations [hell-beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demi-gods, and gods] but are [imagined] in the form of humans.

It is said that at the beginning and the end [of virtuous endeavour] there are the two activities [of adjusting your motivation and making dedication respectively]. Thus, at the beginning you should analyze your mental continuum and remove any motivation seeking peace and happiness for yourself alone, seeking the marvels of cyclic existence in this lifetime or the future, and so forth. You should contemplate the importance and difficulty of gaining leisure and fortune, contemplate death and impermanence, the sufferings of the bad transmigrations, refuge, actions and their effects, the three and six sufferings of cyclic existence,¹⁰ and so forth, thereby generating as much as you can an attitude of intending to leave cyclic existence.

Then, making inference from your own experience, you should contemplate well how sentient beings throughout space – your old mothers – wander in limitless and endless forms of cyclic existence through the force of conceiving the impermanent to be permanent, the painful to be pleasant, and the selfless to be self. You should contemplate well how they are undergoing inconceivable suffering, strong and rough, and that they, from beginningless time, have acted as your mother and directly and indirectly extended great kindness – sustaining you with kindness as your mother and so forth. Seeing that the responsibility for freeing them from suffering, as well as its causes, and of causing them to possess happiness has fallen on yourself, you should develop the wish to actualize the state of union [of exalted body and mind, Buddhahood,] in just the short lifespan of the degenerate era in order to set those sentient beings in the supreme state of union which does not abide in the extremes of cyclic existence and [solitary] peace.

Conjoined with the force of this precious altruistic intention to become enlightened which involves the two aspirations [of seeking others’ welfare and of seeking your own enlightenment as a means to achieve that], you should visualize well – in accordance with what appears in the quintessential instructions – the objects of refuge in space directly in front of yourself.11 Fulfilling the causal collection for the uncommon refuge of the Great Vehicle [that is, having concern for the condition of all sentient beings – their obstructions to liberation and to omniscience – and having conviction that the Three Jewels have the power to protect those beings], you should imagine that all sentient beings, yourself and those around you, go for refuge:12

           With [the faith of] the great clarity I go for refuge

           To the Buddha, the master from whom supreme initiation has been attained,

           To the doctrine of undifferentiable method and wisdom taught by them,¹³

           And to the two types of aspirants to virtue residing in that [doctrine].¹⁴

Then, generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened:¹⁵

           From this time until enlightenment

           I will generate the altruistic intention to become enlightened,

           Generate the very pure thought¹⁶

           And abandon the conception of [inherently existent] I and mine.

Repeating the refuge and altruistic mind generation [stanzas] three times, definitely suffuse your mental continuum with the attitude of refuge. This fulfills the statement that as a precept of refuge you should go for refuge three times during the day and three times at night and fulfills the Vairochana pledge of going for refuge to the Three Jewels. Then, repeat three times:

           I will cultivate [love wishing] that sentient beings have happiness,

           [Compassion wishing] that they be free from suffering,

           Joy in their abiding forever in bliss,

           And the equanimity of equality.17

The first line fulfills the Ratnasambhava pledge of the giving of love. [The rest] fulfills the Ratnasambhava pledge of the giving of non-fright. Then:

           From henceforth until attaining Buddhahood

           I will hold without forsaking, even if it costs my life,

           The attitude of wishing to attain complete enlightenment

           In order to release all transmigrators from the frights of cyclic existence and [solitary] peace.

This fulfills the statement that once one has ritually taken up the aspirational intention to become enlightened, one should generate the altruistic intention to become enlightened in six sessions over day and night. Then, to take the vow of the practical intention to become enlightened, imagine that you are repeating the following three times after the Conquerors and their Children [Bodhisattvas] – the objects of refuge – who are in front of yourself:18

           Lamas, Conquerors, and their Children,

           Please take heed of me.

           Just as the earlier Ones Gone to Bliss

           Generated an altruistic intention to become enlightened

           And dwelt by stages in the learnings of Bodhisattvas,

           So I also for the sake of helping transmigrators

           Will generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened

           And train in stages in the learnings of Bodhisattvas.

Repeating that three times, take the vow of the practical intention to become enlightened, and then gather the objects of refuge [into yourself]. Cultivate joy upon generating an altruistic intention to become enlightened:¹⁹

           Now my life is fruitful.

           I have attained a good human existence.

           Today I have been born in the Buddha lineage.

           I have become a Buddha Child.

Cultivate conscientiousness:

           Now, whatever happens,

           I will act so as not to sully

           This flawless holy Buddha lineage,

           Initiating actions concordant with this lineage.

Those two stanzas fulfill the statement that you should, as a precept of the aspirational intention to become enlightened, contemplate in six sessions the benefit of generating an altruistic intention to become enlightened. Then, generate [i.e., imagine] the field for the accumulation [of merit]:

           Within the great seal of clear light devoid of the elaborations [of inherent existence],20

           On the broad path of the immortal gods in front of myself

           In the center of an ocean of offering clouds of Samantabhadra

           Like five-colored rainbows²¹ thoroughly bedecked,

           There is a jewel throne raised up by eight lions.

           On it, on a pleasant lotus with a thousand open petals

           Are discs of [white] moon, [red] sun, [black] rāhu, and [yellow] kālāgni planets.

           On them is my kind lama, composite in one

           Of all the innumerable forms of refuge,

           Undifferentiable from the Supramundane Victor, the great Kālachakra,

           Bearing the brilliance of sapphire and blazing with magnificence,

           With one face and two hands, holding vajra and bell.

           To symbolize the uncommon path of the union of method and wisdom²²

           He is in the manner of union with Vishvamātā

           Who has the color of camphor and holds curved knife and skull.

           His outstretched red right leg and bent white left leg

           Sport in dance on top of Māra and Rudra [symbolizing the afflictive emotions].

           With hundreds of such features he charms.

           His body is adorned with many types of amazing adornments,

           Dwelling in the midst of the five stainless lights ablaze

           Like the expanse of space beautified by the constellations.

           The three places in his body are adorned with the form

           Of letters of the natural divine light of the three vajras.23

           From the seed letter at his heart Vajravegas are emitted,²⁴

           Very fearful, holding various weapons;

           They draw in well the groups of protectors dwelling in countless lands

           Who become of the same taste as the pledge-being,²⁵

           Whereby he becomes a great being who is the composite of all refuges.

This fulfills the Akṣhobhya pledge of maintaining [consideration of] your master. Next is the first branch of the seven-branched service, obeisance:

           Respectful obeisance to the lama of the undifferentiable Three Bodies,

           The Body of Truth of great bliss primordially free from [dualistic] elaborations,

           The Body of Complete Enjoyment having the five features which are self-appearances of exalted wisdom,

           And the dance of Emanation Bodies in oceans of realms of transmigrators.

This is how to keep the mind from the first fault in relation to the Bodhisattva [discipline] and how to make obeisance to the lama in accordance with the statement in Ashvaghoṣha’s Fifty Stanzas on the Guru (bla ma Inga bcu pa, gurupañchāshikā) to do so three times daily with supreme faith.26 Then comes the branch of offering:

           To please the kind lama, the supreme field [for accumulating merit],

           I offer with a mind unattached, undiscouraged,

           And free from conceptions of the three spheres [of the inherent existence of agent, action, and object]

           Vast, undulating clouds of external, internal, and secret offerings²⁷

           Actually arranged or arisen from the sport of meditative stabilization,

           Twelve attractive [goddesses] of fine body bestowing bliss –

           Whose lotus hands are beautified with substances suitable for offering –

           As well as common and uncommon offerings,28

           My body, resources, and collections of virtues.

This is how to maintain the Amoghasiddhi pledge of offering. At this point, if there is time, offer mandala extensively. In short form, the offering of mandala is:

           To the lama, personal deity, and Three Jewels I offer in visualization

           The body, speech, mind, and resources of myself and others,

           Our collections of virtue in the past, present, and future,

           And the wonderful precious mandala with the masses of Samantabhadra’s offerings.²⁹

           Accepting them through your compassion, please bless me³⁰ into magnificence.

           Guru idaṃ ratna-maṇḍalakaṃ niryātayāmi. [I offer this jewelled mandala to the guru.]

This fulfills the precept set forth in Ashvaghoṣha’s Fifty Stanzas on the Guru to offer mandala to the lama three times daily. Then comes the branch of disclosing faulty deeds:

           With strong regret and an intention of restraint in the future

           I disclose individually my faulty deeds in all respects –

           All ill-deeds and infractions done by myself and by others upon my urging

           Due to the horse of the mind, untamed from beginningless time,

           Having been crazed by the beer of unconscientiousness of the three poisons,31

           And in particular disturbing the mind of the vajra master, breaking his word, and so forth,

           Contradicting the pledges of the five lineages in general and my own particular lineage,

           And not keeping properly the twenty-five modes of conduct³² and so forth.

In more extensive form, recite the Disclosure of Infractions, the General Disclosure, and so forth. Then come the remaining branches [of admiration, entreaty, supplication, and dedication]:

           I admire the oceans of good deeds done by myself and others

           Which create the thousands of bubbles of pleasant effects.

           Please let fall the rain of doctrine of the three vehicles

           In accordance with the interests and thoughts of low, middling, and supreme trainees.

           May coarse Form Bodies remain steadily without disintegrating or changing

           For hundreds of eons in the sight of those who are short sighted.³³

           My collections of virtue, illustrated by this, are dedicated

           As causes for quickly attaining the state of Kālachakra.

In addition, when there is time, you should familiarize your mental continuum with the common paths in accordance with what appears in the [Seventh Dalai Lama’s] Self-Generation of Kālachakra:34

           From this time until enlightenment

           I will generate the altruistic intention to become enlightened,

           Generate the very pure thought,

           And abandon the conception of [inherently existent] I and mine.

           For the sake of the three collections [of merit, ethics, and exalted wisdom]

           I will achieve the perfections of giving, ethics,

           Patience, effort, concentration, wisdom,

           Method, wishes, power, and exalted wisdom.³⁵

           I will cultivate [love wishing] that sentient beings have happiness,

           [Compassion wishing] that they be free from suffering,

           Joy in their abiding forever in bliss,

           And the equanimity of equality.

           Having called [students] well with the beckoning of giving,

           I will make talk pleasant to hear

           And, having become self-composed through behaving with purpose,

           Will offer the great advice of the fulfillment of aims.

           I will abandon the ten non-virtues –

           The three forms of physical actions,

           The four forms of verbal actions,

           And the three forms of mental actions.36

           I will abandon the five defilements

           Preventing the three trainings³⁷ –

           Regret, lethargy, sleep,

           Excitement, and doubt.

           I will abandon the four afflictions

           That serve as the root of cyclic existence –

           Desire, hatred,

           Obscuration, and pride.

           I will abandon the four contaminants,

           Causes of cyclic existence – the contaminant of desire,

           The contaminants of [cyclic] existence³⁸ and of ignorance,

           And the contaminant of [bad] views.

           I will achieve complete enlightenment

           Through the four doors of thorough liberation –

           Emptiness, signlessness,

           Wishlessness, and non-activity.

Taking the meaning of these words to mind, also make a deep promise to train, according to the way, in those paths. Then, make a supplication:

           Supplication to the kind lama, composite of all three refuges,

           Greatest wish-granting source yielding, when relied upon,

           All virtue and goodness within cyclic existence and peace.

           Bless my continuum into magnificence.

Taking to mind the benefits of relying on a spiritual guide and the disadvantages of not doing so, and so forth, make a promise to rely properly on a spiritual guide by way of both thought and deed. This is the essence of how to rely on the spiritual guide and how to keep the pledges of Ashvaghoṣha’s Fifty Stanzas on the Guru. Through reflecting on the good qualities of the lama’s exalted body, speech, and mind you should plant the supplication firmly with strong faith and respect, not just from the mouth but from the depths of the heart. Within that, repeat as much as possible the name-mantra of the lama, together with imagination of the descent of ambrosia and purification through it:39

           Oṃ āḥ guru-vajradhara-vagindra-sumati-shāsanadhara-samudra-shrībhadra sarva-siddhi hūṃ hūṃ.

Again, make a supplication for initiation:

           May the Lama, Kālachakra, please bestow

           Completely the initiations. Bless me into magnificence

           So that the defilements of the four types40 may be purified

           And so that I may attain the Four Bodies.⁴¹

Make the above supplication three times.

           From the heart of Kālachakra are emitted

           Ones Gone to Bliss, in father and mother aspect,

           As well as the circle of the mandala.

           The initiation deities bestow the initiations

           Of water, crown, silk ribbon, vajra and bell,

           Conduct, name, and permission.

           Likewise, they bestow the two sets

           Of high and greatly high initiations

           As well as that of a vajra master.

           Through these, the physical channels and winds

           Become serviceable, and I am authorized to cultivate the two stages.⁴²

           I come to have the lot of actualizing in this lifetime

           The great state of Kālachakra possessing the seven features⁴³

           In which the twenty-one thousand six hundred karmic winds

           And all material factors of the body have been completely consumed.44

If at this point you can do reflective meditation on the entire path by way of, for instance, the Basis of Good Qualities (yon tan gzhi gyur ma),⁴⁵ it is very good. Then:

           As I make supplication respectfully from my heart,

           To the Lama, Great Vajradhara, essence comprised

           Of all the manifold refuges,

           Please bless my continuum into magnificence.

           Through the power of petitioning with strong feeling this way

           My root Lama, the great Kālachakra,

           Comes well to the crown of my head

           And, happily dissolving, becomes of one taste with me.

           All phenomena – causes, effects, entities,

           And activities – are empty of inherent existence

           From the very start, like a magician’s illusions and dreams.

Manifesting clearly whatever ascertainment of emptiness you have and setting in meditative equipoise on bliss and emptiness is the definitive guru yoga, [a means of] amassing the collection of exalted wisdom, the supreme of protections, and is how to keep the mind from the eleventh infraction, which is to conceive phenomena such as names, [meanings,] and so forth which are devoid [of inherent existence to exist inherently].⁴⁶

           Like bubbles coming from within emptiness

           Are discs of [white] moon, [red] sun, [black] rāhu, and [yellow] kālāgni planets.

           On them in the center of a lotus with opened petals

           Are [again] moon and sun,47 entities of the white and red constituents,

           The surfaces of which are beautified with the series

           Of vowels and consonants, entities of the major and minor marks [of a Buddha].⁴⁸

           In the center are the syllables hūṃ and hi, [representing] wind and mind.

           These mix together into the form of the syllable haṃ.⁴⁹

           Through its transformation I [appear as] Kālachakra,

           Bearing the brilliance of sapphire and blazing with magnificence,

           Having four faces and twenty-four hands, the first two

           Holding vajra and bell symbolizing great bliss,

           Supreme and immutable, and the actuality of emptiness,

           The nature devoid of [dualistic] elaborations.

           Holding these, I embrace the Mother.

Contemplation of this is how to keep the three Akṣhobhya pledges of vajra, bell, and seal.

           The remaining hand-lotuses, right and left, are adorned

           With hand-symbols – sword, shield, and so forth.

           My outstretched red right leg and bent white left leg

           Sport in dance on top of Māra and Rudra.

           With hundreds of such features I charm.

           My body is adorned with many types of amazing ornaments,

           Dwelling in the midst of the five stainless lights ablaze,

           Like the expanse of space beautified by the constellations.

           Facing the Supramundane Victor, Vishvamātā

           Of saffron color has four faces and eight hands

           Holding various hand-symbols, knife, skull, and so forth.

           In the posture with left leg extended

           She embraces the Supramundane Victor.

           Surrounded by eight shaktis on the seats

           Of the eight50 auspicious petals in the main and intermediate directions,

           The principal figure, situated well, emits from his heart

           Vajravegas, very fearful, holding various weapons;

           They draw in the groups of protectors dwelling in countless lands

           Who become of the same taste as the pledge-being.

           Initiation deities bestow initiation and make the seal-impression

           Of the lineage lord on top of the heads of all the figures, principal and surrounding.

Then, with respect to repetition of mantra, think:

           The seed-syllables at the heart of the principal and surrounding figures

           Are surrounded by the series of their respective mantras

           From which groups of mandala deities are emitted

           Effecting the welfare of transmigrators and again gathering

           And dissolving into the seed syllable at the heart.

Repeat as much as you can, without any of the eight faults of repetition,51 the essence mantra of the principal figure and the mantra of the Mother as well as the mantras of the eight shaktis:⁵²

           Oṃ āḥ hūṃ hoḥ haṃkṣhaḥmalaveraya hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ phreṃ vishvamātā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ dāna-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ shīla-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ kṣhānti-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ vīrya-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ dhyāna-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ prajñā-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ upāya-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ praṇidhāna-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ bala-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ jñāna-pāramitā huṃ hūṃ phaṭ.

           Oṃ vajrasatva, samayam anupālaya, vajrasatva, tvenopatiṣhṭha, dṛḍho me bhava, sutoṣhyo me bhava, supoṣhyo me bhava, anurakto me bhava, sarva-siddhiṃ me prayachchha, sarva-karmasu cha me chittaṃ shrīyam kuru, hūṃ ha ha ha ha hoḥ, bhagavan-sarva-tathāgata-vajra, mā me muñcha, vajrī bhava, mahāsamaya-satva, āḥ hūṃ phaṭ. [Oṃ Vajrasattva, keep (your) pledge. Vajrasattva, reside (in me). Make me firm. Make me satisfied. Fulfil me. Make me compassionate. Grant me all feats. Also, make my mind virtuous in all actions. Hūṃ ha ha ha ha hoḥ all the supramundane victorious Ones Gone Thus, do not abandon me, make me indivisible. Great Pledge being, āḥ hūṃ phaṭ.]

With the [above] hundred syllable mantra, make up for omissions and excesses and make the blessings firm. Then, make offering to yourself generated [as Kālachakra], thinking:

           Goddesses of offering emitted from my heart make offering [to myself generated as Kālachakra].

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra arghaṃ pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept an oblation, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra pādyaṃ pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept a foot-bath, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra prokṣhaṇaṃ pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept sprinkling, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra aṃchamānaṃ pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept water for the face, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra puṣhpe pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept flowers, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra dhūpe pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept incense, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra āloke pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept lamps, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra gandhe pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept perfume, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra naividya pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept food, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-saparivāra shabda pratīchchha namaḥ. [Oṃ glorious Kālachakra and retinue, accept music, homage.]

           Oṃ shrī-kālachakra-maṇḍala-saparivāribhyaḥ namaḥ. [Oṃ homage to the glorious Kālachakra mandala and retinue.]

With [the latter] make the internal offering. Then, make praise:

           Homage to the glorious Kālachakra,

           Whose essence is emptiness and compassion,53

           Who is without the production and disintegration⁵⁴ of the triple⁵⁵ cyclic existence,

           Body in which mind and object of the mind are the same.⁵⁶

           Obeisance to Kālachakra,

           Body born from the immutable

           Though absorption of āli and kāli⁵⁷ and the syllables

           Hūṃ, phaṭ, and so forth have been abandoned.⁵⁸

           Obeisance to the Great Seal Woman,

           Beyond the nature of material particles,

           Having the nature of a prophetic configuration,

           Woman possessing the supreme of all aspects.59

           Homage to Vishvamātā,

           Progenitress of all Buddhas,⁶⁰

           Who has abandoned production and distintegration,

           Endowed with all-good deeds.

Then, perform withdrawal [of all appearances]:

           The shaktis, as well as their seats, melt

           Into light and dissolve into myself.

           I also melt into light and then from within the emptiness of unapprehendability

           Again transform into the aspect of the great Kālachakra

           With one face and two hands.

At this point, it is appropriate also to cultivate the stage of completion. Then:

           For the sake of all sentient beings, my mothers,

           From now on I give away without regret

           My body, resources, and whatsoever masses

           Of virtue of the past, present, and future.

This increasing of the attitude of generosity is the Bodhisattva practice of giving and is how to keep the two remaining pledges of Ratnasambhava – the giving of things, which is to give away body and resources, and the giving of doctrine, which is to give away roots of virtue. When there is time, you at least should review the pledges and vows by way of their individual compendia as given later [in this text]. In short form, observe mere mindfulness of the three vows:

           I will achieve in accordance with the Conqueror’s word

           The precepts formulated for the vows

           Of individual liberation, Bodhisattvas, and Vajra Vehicle,

           Not transgressing the subtler ones even in dreams.

Thinking on this accomplishes the brief mode of observing mindfulness of the three vows, the Vairochana pledge of restraining ill-deeds in relation to the three forms of ethics, and the Amoghasiddhi pledge of possessing all three vows.

           In accordance with the thought of the Conqueror, I will assume well

           All without exception of the excellent doctrine – verbal and realizational –

           Contained within the three vehicles and the four tantra sets.

Thinking on this fulfills the three pledges of the lotus lineage to apprehend the doctrine of the three vehicles in the Sūtra class [Hearer, Solitary Realizer, and Bodhisattva], and the two external doctrines in the Mantra class – Action and Performance Tantra – and the two secret doctrines in the Mantra class, Yoga and Highest Yoga Tantra. It also fulfills the Vairochana pledge of maintaining the ethics that is the composite of virtuous practices.

           I will thoroughly liberate transmigrators through methods appropriate to them.

Thinking on this is how to keep the Vairochana pledge of the ethics of effecting the welfare of sentient beings. Then, make wishes for what is being sought and dedication of virtue to highest enlightenment:

           Just as those of the lineage of sages along with Ravi came to attain knowledge-wisdom from this [tantra],

           So may sentient beings dwelling in the three forms of cyclic existence become the same through the kindness of the Kālachakra [Tantra].61

           In just the way that my mind-vajra dwells throughout the earth for the sake of liberating sentient beings,

           So may it dwell in the three forms of cyclic existence of sentient beings through the force of Kālachakra.⁶²

           May those beings who through evil friends always go in the darkness of untruth and whose path is degenerate

           Attain this path and come to the vajra-jewel house in a not long time.63

Also:

           Through the power of the wholesome virtues that have come from this

           May I, through the power of Vajradhara, not transgress

           The boundaries of formulations in all lifetimes

           And complete the stages of the path of the two stages.⁶⁴

           In short, through whatsoever collections of wholesome virtue,

           As illustrated by this, have been accumulated,

           May I quickly take birth in Shambhala, the treasury of jewels

           And complete the stages of the path of Highest Yoga Tantra.

           In all lifetimes may I enjoy the glory of the doctrine

           Without being separated from true lamas

           And, thoroughly completing the qualities of the grounds and paths,

           Quickly attain the state of a Vajradhara.

Make the seal-impression of such wishes and dedications. Then, adorn [the practice] with a final expression of auspiciousness:

           May the Bodhisattvas above [the earth] who supremely frighten the demi-gods dwelling in the class of demons,

           The wrathful kings as well as their consorts who dwell in the directions and intermediate directions in the worlds of humans,

           And the kings of hooded serpents under the earth who at all times bind up the groups of evil spirits and unvirtuous ones –

           May all of them protect unknowing worldly beings in all respects each day.65

The extensive review of the three vows begins, if you have the vow of individual liberation of full ordination, with reviewing the two hundred fifty-three rules. [This section is to be omitted by those who do not have the vows of a fully ordained monk]:

           From among the five groups of infractions

           Of the vows of individual liberation

           I will abandon the four defeats,

           The thirteen remainders, the thirty downfalls [requiring] abandonment,

           The ninety mere [infractions], the four to be individually disclosed,

           And one hundred twelve faults, and also infractions included within the [seventeen] topics, and so forth.

The review of the eighteen root infractions of the Bodhisattva vow is:

           I will keep from the eighteen root infractions –

           Praising myself and deriding others, not giving doctrine or wealth,

           Not forgiving though someone apologizes, abandoning the Great Vehicle,

           Stealing the property of the Three Jewels, abandoning the doctrine,

           Stealing a saffron robe, the five deeds of immediate retribution,

           Wrong view, destroying cities and so forth,

           Teaching emptiness to the untrained,

           Reversing [someone’s] intention to become completely enlightened,

           [Causing someone] to abandon [vows of] individual liberation, deriding the Hearer Vehicle,

           Falsely claiming [to have realized] the profound, receiving the property of the Three Jewels,

           Bad ethics, and giving up the attitude of altruistic promise.

           For sixteen, all four thorough entanglements –

           Not considering the disadvantages, not overcoming the wish to do it,

           Taking pleasure and delight in it, and lack of conscience and shame –

           Are needed for there to be a root infraction.

           For two, wrong view and giving up the altruistic attitude,

           All four are not needed [for a root infraction].

Review of the root infractions and so forth of the Mantra vow:

           Risking my life, I will keep from the fourteen root infractions –

           Scorning and deriding the lama, despising the precepts,

           Speaking fault of vajra brothers and sisters, abandoning love,

           Giving up the aspirational and practical altruistic intentions,

           Deriding the doctrines of Sūtra and Mantra,

           Proclaiming the secret to the unripened,

           Despising my own aggregates, abandoning emptiness,

           Relying on a poisonous friend, not recollecting the view,

           Uprooting the attitude of one with faith,

           Not observing the pledges, and deriding women.

Also, review the root infractions and twenty-five modes of conduct and so forth mentioned in the Kālachakra Tantra:

           I will keep well and properly from

           The root infractions and likewise the collections of faults

           Set forth in the Kālachakra Tantra: the groups of root infractions –

           Disturbing the mind of the lama, breaking his word,

           Emitting the essential fluid, holding the emptiness of Sūtra and Mantra

           Respectively to be superior and inferior and thus making derision,

           Deceitful love, abandoning the immutable bliss,

           And speaking fault of yogis.

           The twenty-five modes of conduct are to keep from

           The five ill-deeds – killing, lying, stealing,

           Adultery, and drinking beer;

           The five secondary ill-deeds – making bets, dice, and board games,

           Eating impure flesh, speaking senselessly,

           Performing sacrifice for paternal and maternal ancestors,

           And killing animals for making bloody sacrifice;

           The five murders – killing cattle, children, women,

           And men and destroying bases of exalted body, speech, and mind;

           The five wrong thoughts – non-faith in the Buddha doctrine,

           Enmity toward friends, leaders, and the Spiritual Community,

           And deceiving those who trust in myself;

           And the five desires – attachment for visible forms,

           Sounds, odors, tastes, and tangible objects.

Review of the secondary pledges:

           I will keep, without exception, the secondary pledges –

           To abandon the four roots,66 beer, and non-activities,

           To rely on a holy protector, to respect and serve friends,

           To maintain the ten virtues, and to abandon causes

           Of turning away from the Great Vehicle

           As well as contempt for and stepping over [sacred articles].

Review of gross infractions:

           I also keep properly from the gross infractions –

           Using an unqualified Seal [consort], engaging in absorption without the three discriminations,

           Showing secret articles to those who are not vessels,

           Quarrelling and disputing at an offering-assembly,

           Perversely answering a question of the faithful,

           Staying seven days in the home of a Hearer,

           Claiming to be a yogi though not really so,

           Teaching the excellent doctrine to the faithless,

           Engaging in mandala activities without completing the approximation and so forth,

           Purposelessly transgressing the precepts of individual liberation and Bodhisattva vows,

           And contradicting [the precepts set forth in] the Fifty Stanzas on the Guru.67

Review of the uncommon pledges set forth in the Mother Tantras:

           I will not look down on left-handed behavior,

           Will make praises [of women/men],

           Abandon absorption with the unqualified,

           Not be devoid of the view when in union,

           Take unchanging interest in using desire in the path,

           Not disregard the two types of Seals,

           Mainly work at external and internal methods,

           Not emit the kunda, keep pure behavior,

           And forsake nausea when taking the mind of enlightenment.

If wishes are made in more extensive form, they are:⁶⁸

           Through the power of the great increase of the vast lake

           Of the collections of virtue upon the accumulation – again and again

           In the lake of my mind – of the stainless stream of meditation,

           Repetition, and offering from the snow mountain of such pure special thought

           And through the power of mentally gathering together

           All the collections of virtues related with the past, present, and future,

           May I be taken care of in life after life

           By holy protectors, spiritual guides of the supreme vehicle.

           From the instructions happily bestowed by them

           May I come to know the way of gathering together the doctrines

           Of the three vehicles and from practising their meaning

           Ripen my mental continuum with the common paths.

           Through attaining the seven pure initiations

           May potencies for the seven grounds be well established,

           The seven stains of the constituents and so forth be cleansed,

           And I be empowered to practice the yoga of the first stage and achieve the common feats.

           Through the four supreme initiations, mundane and supramundane,

           May the seeds of the four vajras of the Four Bodies be established

           And I be authorized to hear, explain, and cultivate

           The four branches of approximation and achievement of the second stage.

           Sitting well on the throne of the four pure initiations

           In the supreme inestimable mansion of the Vajra Vehicle

           With the foot-stool of non-deteriorated vows and pledges

           May I become a universal monarch of the doctrine of the two stages.

           Through exalted body, speech, mind, and wisdom, cleansed and purified,

           Through the yoga of meditating on the six lineages and the six branches,

           And through the light of vajras set in individual places in the body,

           Strongly blazing, may demons and obstructors be burned.

           May mandalas of the four elements be generated

           In the middle of the expanse of space

           And from their combining into one may a five- and three-staged fence

           As well as a palace with a seat be established.

           In the center of that may I as the glorious Vajravega

           Through the firm meditative stabilization of the King of Wrathful Ones

           Put an end to external and internal demons and obstructors

           By emitting a host of sixty guardians of the doors.

           Considering that through the exercise of dispersal and gathering

           The field of accumulation pervades the full expanse of space,

           May the collections, powerful like waves, be thoroughly completed

           Through performing the amassing of the accumulations – the preparation – according to the rite.

           Through cultivating the pride of the Truth Body at the end

           Of the dissolution of the six constituents just as in the stages of death

           May I complete the meditative stabilization of the four doors of liberation

           Bringing about full enlightenment instantaneously.

           Through meditating on space, wind, fire, water, earth, and Mount Meru,

           May I realize the status of vajra-body,

           With channel wheels and so forth at the crown of the head,

           Forehead, neck, heart, navel, and secret region.

           Through meditating well on a vajra tent

           On top of lotus, moon, sun, rāhu, and kālāgni,

           May the collections of winds of the right and left channels be stopped

           In the channel-with-conch through the supreme vajra yoga.

           Through the power of meditating on an inestimable mansion

           With the light of stainless jewels inside the vajra tent

           May the land where I will be enlightened as a Buddha

           Be purified and my physical support become free from defilement.

           Through meditating on the twos – moon and sun, vowels and consonants,

           Wind and mind, and the two letters – combining into one, the letter haṃ,

           May great bliss be generated from the gathering together in the central channel

           Of the white and red constituents and the subtle wind and mind.

           Then through the power of meditating on the deities of the mandala of great bliss –

           The exalted body of Kālachakra, complete in all aspects,

           Having the nature of the great bliss possessing the supreme of all aspects

           Together with his Knowledge Woman –

           May [these meditations] serve as causes of generating

           The supreme stages of completion in which the Great Seal

           Of empty form is filled with the taste of immutable innate bliss,

           Actually embraced69 respectively by the aspected and unaspected Seals.

           Through cultivating manifest enlightenment by way of the five aspects,

           The supreme king of mandalas, the branch of approximation,

           Generating from the seed of absorption of Father and Mother

           The supreme complete circle of the deities in the womb

           And setting them well in their respective places,

           May I generate the supreme realizations of the path

           Through purifying the aggregates, constituents, sense faculties,

           Objects, action faculties, and activities.

           With the vajric Supramundane Victor as well as a Knowledge Woman

           Who abide in the lotus of the wheel of great bliss

           And dwell in the form of a drop of great bliss

           Through the force of having been melted by the fire of the fierce woman at the navel,

           May I meditatively cultivate the branch of nearachievement, the supreme

           King of activities, by means of enlightenment in twenty aspects –

           The five arousals by the pleasant song of goddesses,

           The five constructions, and the five comprised by the five Fierce Ones

           Drawing [the wisdom-beings] to the circle of pledge-beings,

           Entry, binding, being delighted, and becoming of one taste –

           And by means of bestowing initiation, seal-impression, and mindfulness of purity,

           And thereby may the meanings of those be actualized.

           Through the blazing upward in the central channel

           Of the fire of the fierce woman incited by the downward-voiding wind

           Upon blessing the secret space into magnificence and becoming absorbed

           And, from that, the gradual descent of the mind of enlightenment

           Due to the melting of the letter haṃ at the crown of the head

           And the stopping of the movement of the winds in the right and left channels,

           May the yoga of the drops be actualized, the supreme branch of achievement

           Causing me to understand well the four joys of the forward process.

           Through the four joys of stability from below of the passage

           Upward again in the same procedure

           May I bring to completion the branch of great achievement,

           The subtle yoga, and the manifest enlightenment of the magical net.

           In short, may I bring to completion the effort of cultivating in four sessions

           The supreme stage of generation purifying the external and internal bases of purification,

           Water cleansing ordinary appearance and the conception of ordinariness,

           The path ripening for the full generation of the stage of completion.

           Also, may I ripen limitless transmigrators through unimpededness

           In achieving the feats of final achievement

           Of the highest type through striving

           At repetition, burnt offering, and giving of offerings.

           May I familiarize with the six-branched yoga:

           The two virtues at the beginning – individual withdrawal and concentration,

           The two virtues in the middle – the paths of vitality-stopping and retention,

           And the two virtues at the end – mindfulness and meditative stabilization.

           May my mind be set one-pointedly, free from laxity and excitement,

           On the place where it is contemplated that a corner of the eyes

           Enters inside the upper point of the central channel

           Through the gaze of half-closed eyes, turned upward.

           Through that may the four night signs – like smoke, mirage,

           Fireflies, and butter lamp – be manifested,

           Unmistaken signs of the gathering of the collections

           Of the winds of the right and left channels in the central channel.

           Also, through meditating well as before

           In the manner of looking at space free from clouds,

           May the six signs – blazing, moon, sun, rāhu,

           Lightning, and drop – be completed.

           Through the concentration of one-pointed observation of forms

           According to my wish, upon the gradual withdrawal

           Of the empty forms in the area of the body-drop,

           May the bliss of physical and mental pliancy be induced.

           Through the power of one-pointed familiarization with the two yogas

           Of achieving empty forms in that way

           And of making steady those achieved,

           May I achieve the word of truth and the five clairvoyances.

           Through familiarizing with the vitality-stopping of spontaneous vajra repetition

           In which wind and mantra are inseparable in the path of rāhu

           And the vitality-stopping of pot [-like wind control]

           In which the upper and lower winds cease at the navel,

           May the special signs of the collections of the winds

           Entirely entering and remaining for a while

           In the center of the wheel of emanation dawn

           And the melodiousness praised by Bodhisattvas be actualized.

           Through the yoga of holding my mind steadily at the end of generating

           The four joys of descent from above and stability from below

           Without fluctuation in the center of the mixture of the vitalizing

           And downward-voiding winds into one at the center of the six wheels,

           May I rise for my own mind in a body of empty form

           And the groups of demons of untimely death be suppressed.

           Having attained well the power of control over all forms and vitality,

           May I actually rise in a body of empty form

           In father-mother union

           From the innate bliss induced

           By igniting again the fire of the fierce woman,

           And may light rays of various colors spread out from my hair-pores.

           May I perform meditation in which the immutable great bliss

           Induced well by the power of the Seal –

           Through union with a Great Seal

           Of such empty form – is joined with emptiness.

           Through the power of piling up the white and red constituents,

           Twenty-one thousand six hundred in number,

           Up and down throughout the central channel,

           May the material constituents of my body be consumed as iron is by mercury.

           May the twenty-one thousand six hundred immutable

           Great blisses realizing emptiness

           Cease that number of karmic winds, quickly purify

           Obstructive predispositions, and I attain a Conqueror’s exalted body.

           May I easily achieve these wishes

           Without hindrance, becoming a supreme captain

           Releasing transmigrators through this supreme path

           Into the supreme land of jewels of a Conqueror.

           In short, through whatever collections of wholesome virtue,

           As illustrated by this, have been accumulated,

           May I quickly take birth in Shambhala, the treasury of jewels,

           And complete the stages of the path in Highest Yoga Tantra.

[End of recitation and meditation]

Colophon

Where else than in this profound path

Of divine guru yoga and the six session yoga

Is there the king of wish-granting jewels bestowing easily in one life

The vajra-body with an essence of emptiness and compassion!

Therefore this great fruit cluster of the all-inclusive [wish-granting tree] of ritual formulation

Grown well from the golden ground of special thought

Is offered as a cloud of offerings pleasing the one with lotus in hand,

As it is well contrived and resplendent with a hundred thousand moons.

May the great river of the priceless teaching of the One Gone to Bliss,

Beautified in all directions with series of waves of explanation and achievement,

Be exalted with the play of the three modes of scholarship70

By the kings of nāgas magnificent with the hoods of the three trainings.⁷¹

May he who has the nature of appearing as the one friend of all beings on the three levels,

Dance of compassion of the oceans of Conquerors pervading space,

Be firm in the sky of the mind of transmigrators

Subduing the darkness of troubles through the blazing warm rays of his activity.

Through this supremely superior good path may beings equal in number to particles

Thoroughly conquer over the combat of the four types of defilements

And actualize in not too long the state of Kālachakra

With the complete dexterity of the ten fearless powers.

This “Mode of Practicing Guru Yoga In Dependence Upon the Supramundane Victor Kālachakra In Connection With the Six Session Yoga, Fruit Cluster of the All-Inclusive Wish-Granting Tree” was very respectfully written down by the ninety-seventh occupant of the throne of Gan-den, the respectful servant, the Tutor ing [Rin-o-chay] called Tup-en-lung-ok-am-gyel-trin-lay (thub bstan lung rtogs rnam rgyal ’phrin las) at the behest of the supreme great refuge and protector [His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama], the divine crown jewel of cyclic existence and peace, who asked that, for the sake of sustaining the practice of his meditation, a rite be formulated upon his indicating the nature of the contents and how to arrange the order. May this which is offered serve as a cause of all transmigrators’ being taken care of with pleasure by the pervasive lord and guru, Kālachakra.

  1   Jam-el-shen-pen: “Original Buddha” is identified as “Buddha whose origin is the immutable bliss” or as the Complete Enjoyment Body in the sense that it is the basis of emanation of Emanation Bodies.

  2   The “vajra of great bliss” is the immutable great bliss – method. The “aspectless Great Seal” is emptiness, whereas the aspected Great Seal is the consort Vishvamātā. The union of the vajra of great bliss and the aspectless Great Seal is the exalted wisdom of undifferentiable bliss and emptiness. The apprehension aspect (bzung rnam) of the exalted wisdom of undifferentiable bliss and emptiness appears as Kālachakra. Initial homage is made to such a Kālachakra.

  3   Jam-el-shen-pen: This is called a guru yoga because one is viewing one’s lama (guru) as undifferentiable from Kālachakra.

  4   There are different interpretations of the path having an essence of emptiness and compassion according to sūtra, the three lower tantras, Highest Yoga Tantra, and the Kālachakra Tantra. [See n. 108 of the Introduction.]

  5   Both of these involve taking Mantric vows, and thus the six session yoga must be done for both of these.

  6   The meaning of “review” is to take each of these to mind, consider what is supposed to be done, and correct oneself.

  7   Literally, nag ’gros su ’god pa “stated such that one could go in the dark” means that the meaning of the text bestows such clarity that one can proceed easily even, so to speak, in the dark. The text was composed so that it fulfills being a yoga of Highest Yoga Tantra and of being a brief self-generation of Kālachakra.

  8   If religious articles are arranged for the sake of making a house or room beautiful, the motivation is faulty; if the articles have been acquired deceitfully from others or by way of wrong livelihood, the mode of procurement is faulty. About such deceit, Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland (stanzas 413-415ab) says:

             Hypocrisy is to control the senses

             For the sake of goods and respect,

             Flattery is to speak pleasant phrases

             For the sake of goods and respect.

             Indirect acquisition is to praise

             The wealth of others so as to win it,

             Artful acquisition is to deride

             Others in order to acquire their goods.

             Desiring to add profit to profit

             Is to praise previous acquisitions…

       See Nāgārjuna and Kaysang Gyatso, The Precious Garland And The Song of the Four Mindfulnesses (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1975), p.80.

  9   [The seven features of the recommended posture are:

       1 to sit on a soft and comfortable cushion in the full adamantine posture or half adamantine posture

       2 to keep the eyes neither opened very wide nor closed tight, aimed at the point of the nose

       3 to keep the body straight with the backbone like a pile of coins

       4 to keep the shoulders level

       5 to keep the head neither high nor low, unmovingly in a straight line from the nose to the navel

       6 to set the teeth and lips as usual with the tongue set against the back of the upper teeth

       7 to breathe quietly and gently.

       Adapted from Geshe Lhundup Sopa and Jeffrey Hopkins, Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism (London: Rider and Co., 1976), p.xvi.]

10   [The three sufferings are mental and physical pain, the suffering of change, and the pervasive suffering of being under the influence of contaminated actions and afflictions. The six sufferings are described in brief in Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism, p.24.]

11   According to one system, there is a large lotus seat with five smaller seats on it. On the middle seat is Shākyamuni Buddha; in front is the Dalai Lama; on the right is Maitreya; on the left is Mañjushrī; and in back is Vajradhara. Surrounding them: in front are your direct and lineaged lamas; on the right are the lamas of the lineage of the vast altruistic practices; on the left are the lamas of the lineage of the profound view of emptiness, and in back are the lamas of the lineage of practice with magnificent blessings. Between and around them are personal deities, sky-goers, guardians of doctrine, heros, heroines, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas. Or, in what is called the all-inclusive jewel system you can imagine just Kālachakra as an entity including all of the lamas, personal deities, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and so forth.

12   [This stanza is found in the Seventh Dalai Lama’s Means of Achievement of the Complete Mandala of Exalted Body, Speech, and Mind of the Supramundane Victor, the Glorious Kālachakra: the Sacred Word of Scholars and Adepts,29.1.]

13   According to the Kālachakra system, the undifferentiable two truths specifically are the supreme immutable bliss and empty form. Similarly, undifferentiable bliss and emptiness are the supreme immutable bliss and the great seal of emptiness. Obeisance is made to the doctrine of such undifferentiable method and wisdom.

14   Jam-el-shen-pen: The two types of spiritual community are most likely those who have attained the path of seeing and those who have not.

15   [This stanza is found in the Seventh Dalai Lama’s Means of Achievement of the Complete Mandala of Exalted Body, Speech, and Mind of the Supramundane Victor, the Glorious Kālachakra: the Sacred Word of Scholars and Adepts, 29.3.]

16   One might interpret the “altruistic intention to become enlightened” as the generation of an aspiration to highest enlightenment for the sake of others by way of the seven quintessential instructions of cause and effect and then take “the very pure thought” as the development of the same aspiration by way of the equalizing and switching of self and other.

17   Love is the wish that all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness; compassion is the wish that all sentient beings be separated from suffering and the causes of suffering; joy is the wish that all sentient beings remain forever in happiness, and equanimity is the wish that all sentient beings remain in equal happiness.

18   [This passage, from the third line to the end, is taken from Shāntideva’s Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, III.22-23. See n.26 of the Commentary for the Sanskrit.]

19   [These two stanzas are taken from Shāntideva’s Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, III.25-26. The Sanskrit is:

             adya me saphalaṃ janma sulabdho mānuṣho bhavaḥ

             adya buddhakule jāto buddhaputro ’smi sāmprataṃ

             tathādhunā mayā kāryaṃ svakulochitakārināṃ

             nirmalasya kulasyāsya kalanko na bhavedyathā.

       See Vidhushekara Bhattacharya, ed., Bodhicaryāvatāra, Bibliotheca Indica, Vol. 280 (Calcutta: the Asiatic Society, 1960), pp.36-37).]

20   This is the emptiness of inherent existence, the objective clear light. Within actualizing and meditating on the great seal of clear light – the emptiness of inherent existence – Kālachakra appears, as described, in space in front of you. The “broad path of the immortal gods” is space.

21   [Literally, “picture of the bow of the senses.”] Jam-el-shen-pen: Just as there are five senses, so a rainbow has five colors.

22   Method here is immutable great bliss, and wisdom is knowledge of emptiness. The path of the supreme immutable bliss – a union of method and wisdom or a union of the two truths – is generated or made known in dependence upon a consort of empty form. [Thus “symbolize” here has the sense of coming to know, of generating such a path.]

23   The three letters or three syllables are oṃ āḥ hūṃ which, respectively, are at the crown of the head, the throat, and the heart.

24   Vajravega is a fierce deity with four faces, twenty-six arms, and two legs.

25   [The imagined deity is called a “pledge-being” (dam tshig sems pa, samayasattva), and the actual deity is called a “wisdom-being” (ye shes sems pa, jñānasattva).]

26   [Eight lines of praise to Heruka and eight lines of praise to Vajrayoginī have been omitted at the suggestion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.]

27   Jam-el-shen-pen: External offerings are such things as oblation, foot-bath, flowers, lamps, fragrant water, offerings of pleasant visible forms, sounds, odors, tastes, and tangible objects, and so forth. Internal offering is to offer the five fleshes and five ambrosias in purified form to the lama. Secret offering involves emanating goddesses who are offered to the lama and thereupon enter into union with the lama, generating great bliss. With that bliss consciousness, the lama meditates on emptiness in the manner of associating the bliss consciousness with a wisdom consciousness realizing emptiness, and thus this is called the offering of suchness. Then, within realization of emptiness, the lama emanates various Form Bodies bringing about the welfare of sentient beings, and thus this is called the offering of union [of exalted mind and body].

28   As described in books on the Kālachakra system, common offerings are such things as flowers, incense, perfumed water, and so forth, and uncommon offerings are the body’s flesh, skin, blood, bone, heart, liver, lungs, and so forth.

29   Jam-el-shen-pen: “Samantabhadra” (kun tu bzang po) [literally, “all good”] in the Sūtra system refers, for instance, to emanating hundreds of thousands of bodies that make offering [just as the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra did] and in the Mantra system refers to offerings that are appearances of the exalted wisdom of undifferentiable bliss and emptiness [which is all good.]

30   Jam-el-shen-pen: “Me” should be understood as all sentient beings.

31   [Read dug gsum for dus gsum (15.3). The three poisons are desire, hatred, and obscuration.]

32   [See pp. 231-2 and 412-413.]

33   The subtle body remains forever in that the very subtle wind [which is form] – and thus the fundamental innate subtle body – as well as very subtle mind remain forever. A Buddha’s coarse Form Bodies appear and disappear, but here you are requesting that even coarse Form Bodies remain for many eons without disappearing.

34   [The Seventh Dalai Lama’s Means of Achievement of the Complete Mandala of Exalted Body, Speech, and Mind of the Supramundane Victor, the Glorious Kālachakra: the Sacred Word of Scholars and Adepts, 29.3.]

35   The last four perfections are divisions of the perfection of wisdom.

36   [The ten non-virtues are comprised of three physical non-virtues (killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct), four verbal non-virtues (lying, divisive talk, harsh speech and senseless chatter), and three mental non-virtues (covetousness, harmful intent, and wrong ideas).]

37   The three trainings are the trainings in higher ethics, meditative stabilization, and wisdom.

38   Jam-el-shen-pen: All four contaminants are concerned with cyclic existence but desire for the Form and Formless Realms is called a contaminant of cyclic existence (srid pa’i zag pa) in order to emphasize that even the Form and Formless Realms, which many have considered to be states of liberation, are bound within cyclic existence.

39   [The name of the lama who confers the initiation, rendered in Sanskrit, is repeated. Here, vagindra-sumati-shāsanadhara-samudra-shrībhadra is the Dalai Lama’s name, which in Tibetan is Nga-ang-o-sang-en-dzin-gya-tso-el-sang-o (ngag dbang blo bzang bstan ’dzin rgya mtsho dpal bzang po): vagindra (ngag dbang) sumati (blo bzang) shāsanadhara (bstan ’dzin) samudra (rgya mtsho) shrībhadra (dpal bzang po).]

40   These are the defilements associated with the four drops [see pp. 102-122, 260-1]. Beings of all three realms – Desire, Form, and Formless Realms – have these drops though they differ in structure in the Formless Realm. With these four drops are factors producing material phenomena that are purified through practising the path; empty form is beyond matter.

41   Jam-el-shen-pen: The Four Bodies in the Kālachakra system are particularly the Truth Body, Complete Enjoyment Body, Emanation Body, and Pristine Consciousness Body [Bliss Body]. The Kālachakra initiations are taken in the manner of blessings into magnificence. Without requiring all of the ritual objects such as vases, one receives blessings similar to the initiations.

42   The stage of generation and the stage of completion.

43   [These are qualities of the effect state as a Buddha; they are identified as complete enjoyment, union, great bliss, non-inherent existence, compassion, uninterrupted continuity, and non-cessation. See notes to Tsong-ka-pa’s Tantra in Tibet (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977), n.84.]

44   Twenty-one thousand six hundred karmic winds and twenty-one thousand six hundred material factors are completely consumed through actualizing twenty-one thousand six hundred periods of bliss. Thereby, the state of a Kālachakra Buddha is attained.

45   [For a translation of this as the Foundation of all Excellence as well as a commentary on it, see Geshe Wangyal, The Door of Liberation (New York: Lotsawa, 1978), pp.172-200.]

46   Jam-el-shen-pen: The infraction here is not just to conceive that phenomena exist inherently but rather is to do so through the force of systems of tenets; thus the reference is not to an innate consciousness conceiving inherent existence but to an artificial conception of inherent existence.

47   Here the sun is below and the moon above.

48   As is presented in the Seventh Dalai Lama’s Means of Achievement of the Complete Mandala of Exalted Body, Speech, and Mind of the Supramundane Victor, the Glorious Kālachakra: the Sacred Word of Scholars and Adepts, there are thirty-two vowels and eighty consonants [two sets of forty] representing the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks.

49   The syllable haṃ represents the exalted wisdom of great bliss.

50   The word bkra shis (luck) here means “eight”, the connection being that there are eight renowned signs of luck.

51   Jam-el-shen-pen: These are faults of pronunciation and elocution such as speaking too slowly or too quickly.

52   [Of the thirteen mantras the first is that of Kālachakra; the second is of Vishvamātā, and the next ten are of the ten shaktis, two of whom are united with Vishvamātā. The final mantra is the hundred syllable mantra, used here for making up for omissions and so forth in one’s mantra repetition.]

53   Here “emptiness and compassion” refer to undifferentiable emptiness and bliss – emptiness being the ultimate truth that is the absence of inherent existence, the aspectless great seal, and compassion being the immutable great bliss.

54   The “production of cyclic existence” refers to the extreme of cyclic existence itself; the “disintegration of cyclic existence” refers to the extreme of [solitary] nirvana. Similarly, in the Chakrasaṃvara Tantra, there is reference to the extreme of permanence or cyclic existence and the extreme of annihilation or nirvana. The non-abiding nirvana of a Buddha is free from the two extremes of disintegration and production, or cyclic existence and [solitary] nirvana.

55   Jam-el-shen-pen: The “triple cyclic existence” refers, not to the three realms, but to body, speech, and mind.

56   Here “mind” refers to the supreme immutable bliss, and “object of the mind” refers to the aspected great seal of empty form; such exalted mind and body are one undifferentiable entity, non-dual. Obeisance is made to such a Kālachakra.

57   Jam-el-shen-pen: The white and red constituents are symbolized by the vowels and consonants, called āli and kāli.

58   Obeisance is made to Kālachakra who “is born from”, that is, has a nature of, immutable bliss that is generated, not from an action seal [an actual consort], a wisdom seal [an imagined consort], or from movement within the channels, winds, and drops of essential fluid, but from the great seal of empty form.

59   The body of Vishvamātā, the “Great Seal Woman,” is beyond the materiality of particles. Like a configuration that appears in a mirror in a certain way of making prophecies, her body – from within the fundamental innate mind of clear light – is endowed with the supreme of all aspects. Obeisance is made to such a Vishvamātā.

60   Jam-el-shen-pen: The definitive Vishvamātā is the exalted wisdom directly realizing emptiness; since it gives rise to all Buddhas, the goddess that represents it is the progenitress of all Buddhas. The provisional Vishvamātā is the appearance of that wisdom as a goddess in physical form.

61   Just as many of the lineage of sages including the sage (drang srong, ṛṣhi) Sūryaratha (nyi ma’i shing rta) [mentioned as Ravi (nyi ma)] attained common and uncommon fruits of the path and became enlightened from this tantra, so may all sentient beings of the three levels of existence attain all common and uncommon feats through the kindness of this Kālachakra Tantra.

             [These two lines are from the Kālachakra Tantra (V.253cd): prajñājñānasya lābhī saravimunikulaṃ vai tathāsmadbabhūva evaṃ sattvā bhavantu trividhabhavagatāḥ kālachakraprasādāt.

       See the Kālachakra-Tantra and Other Texts, Part 1, p.377 for the Sanskrit and p.328.5 for the Tibetan which differs slightly but not importantly from that cited in this text. See also Bu-ön’s Easily Understandable Annotations, volume 1, Collected Works, 294.7-295.1, where he identifies the “three forms of cyclic existence” as the Desire, Form, and Formless Realms and from which the bracketed additions are taken.]

62   [These two lines are from the Kālachakra Tantra (V.258cd):

             sattvānaṃmokṣhahetoḥ sakalabhuvigataṃ chittavajraṃ yathā me

             sattvānām eva yātu trividhabhavagataṃ kālacharkraprabhāvāt.

       See the Kālacakra-Tantra And Other Texts, Part 1, p.379 for the Sanskrit and p.329.8 for the Tibetan which differs slightly but not importantly from that cited in this text. See also Bu-ön’s Easily Understandable Annotations, volume 1, Collected Works, 296.7-297.2, which renders the two lines as follows:

           Just as in order that sentient beings may be liberated my, that is to say, Mañjushrīkīrti’s, mind vajra – mind devoid of obstructions – dwells throughout the entire earth, so may the exalted mind vajra abide and become manifest for the three forms of cyclic existence – Desire, Form, and Formless Realms – of sentient beings through the force of Kālachakra.

           Mañjushrīkīrti is the person who put together the Condensed Kālachakra Tantra; this, like the preceding two lines, is a wish made by him at the end of the tantra.

           In the Guru Yoga of Kālachakra (30.5 read dag gi rnam for dag gis rnam in accordance with Bu-ön and the tantra (sattvānāṃ) as given just above.]

63   May those who, under the influence of bad friends, always go upon the path of untruth of darkness and have fallen from a path of virtue, attain this good, unmistaken path and proceed quickly to the vajra-jewel house – the state of a Vajradhara.

64   [Stage of generation and stage of completion.]

65   May protective beings above, on, and below the ground protect all worldly beings from inauspiciousness, bringing them in accordance with virtue to an unmistaken path.

             [These four lines are from the Kālachakra Tantra (V.260):

             ūrdhvaṃ ye bodhisattvāḥ paramabhayakarā mārapakṣhe sthitānāṃ

             daityānāṃ martyaloke dishi-vidishi-gatāḥ krodharājāḥ sabhār-yah

             pātāle ye phaṇīndrā grahaparamashubham sarvadā bandhayanti

             te sarve pālayantu pratidinasamaye ’jñānalokaṃ samantāt.

       See the Kālacakra-Tantra And Other Texts, Part 1, p.379 for the Sanskrit and p.329.8 for the Tibetan which differs slightly but not importantly from that cited in this text. See also Bu-ön’s Easily Understandable Annotations, volume 1, Collected Works, 297.4-.7, where the unknowing worldly beings are identified as not knowing the meaning of reality (yang dag pa’i don).

           In the Guru Yoga of Kālachakra (30.5) read mi shes for mi shis in accordance with Bu-ön and the tantra (’jñāna) as given just above.]

66   [Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying about spiritual attainments.]

67   [See The Mahāmudrā Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance Supplemented by Aśvaghoṣa’s Fifty Stanzas of Guru Devotion, translated and edited by Alexander Berzin (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1978).]

68   [This final section of wishes, except for the last stanza, is taken verbatim from the Prayer-Wishes of the Glorious Kālachakra Together With An Expression of Auspiciousness (dpal dus kyi ’khor lo’i smon lam shis brjod dang bcas pa), 553-559.8, by the Buddhist monk o-drö (shākya btsun pa blo gros). In the colophon, o-drö says that he composed the text, which has a section that is not used here, to fulfill a reference at the end of Kay-drup’s Rosary of Offering of Kālachakra (dus kyi ’khor lo’i mchod phreng) to make extensive wishes and expressions of auspiciousness. The text is in the same volume with Kay-drap’s Mandala Rite, o-sang-tsul-trim-en-ay-gyel-tsen’s Initiation Rite of Kālachakra, Stated in an Easy Way, etc. with no publication data. The wishes are directed toward practising the full structure of paths of the stages of generation and completion of the Kālachakra system. An explanation of the stanzas requires a full explanation of the entire path structure of the tantra and thus will not be attempted here. I hope to publish a separate work on the Kālachakra stage of generation.]

69   [Read ’khyud pa’i for brgyud pa’i (43.1).]

70   Jam-el-shen-pen: The three modes of scholarship are explanation, debate, and composition.

71   Jam-el-shen-pen: The three trainings are the trainings of higher ethics, meditative stabilization, and wisdom.