2   Six Session Yoga

This text was formulated by the First Panchen Lama o-sang-chö-yi-gyel-tsen (blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan, 1567?-1662). Only the actual meditation rite has been translated, not the brief identifications of which vows, pledges, and so forth are being fulfilled, since these were given in the first text. The section at the end that reviews the vows individually appears to have been added by Pa-bong-ka (see p. 135).

 

Until enlightenment I go for refuge to the Buddha,

The Doctrine, and the Supreme of Communities.

Through the merit of the giving and so forth that I have done

May I achieve Buddhahood in order to help transmigrators.

(3 times)

May all sentient beings, having become devoid of the attachment and aversion

Of [holding some as] close and [others as] distant, attain superior bliss.

Having become free from the ocean of suffering difficult to bear

May they never become separate from the bliss of excellent liberation.

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.

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.

(3 times)

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.

Now, whatever happens,

I will act so as not to sully

This flawless holy Buddha lineage,

Initiating actions concordant with this lineage.

On a mentally captivating jewel throne in space in front of myself

Upon discs of sun, moon, and opened lotus

Is my root lama, the Pervasive Master Vajradhara,

Blue in color, with one face, his two hands holding vajra and bell,

Embracing a consort like himself.

Blazing with the magnificence of the major and minor marks and wearing many precious adornments,

He wears clothing of divine substance captivating the mind.

Merely through taking him to mind, all distress is eliminated.

Essence containing all the supreme refuges,

He sits in the cross-legged posture, the three places [of his body]

Adorned with the three letters. Through the light of the letter hūṃ,

The lama Vajradhara [is invited] from his natural abode;

Jaḥ hūṃ baṃ hoḥ. They become non-dual.

I bow to the lotus feet of Vajradhara,

Lama like a jewel

Through whose kindness great bliss itself

Dawns in an instant.

I make offering with oceans of clouds of various

External, internal, and secret offerings,

Things held by owners and not held,

Things actually arranged and emanated with the mind.

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.

Accepting them through your compassion, please empower me with blessings.

[Idaṃ guru-ratna-maṇḍalakaṃ niryātayāmi. (I offer this jewelled mandala to the guru.)]

I petition the lama, precious one

Endowed with a Conqueror’s deeds in innumerable lands

Through the sport of saffron of all the Ones Gone To Bliss of the three times

And ten directions, in accordance with what will subdue [trainees].

I petition the lama, precious one

Praised well as the excellent field surpassing

All the wheels of the manifold Conquerors

For the thought of those of low mind, [emanated] by Vajradhara.

Having seen that all without exception of the supreme and common feats

Follow after proper reliance on you, O Protector,

May I, disregarding body and life,

Be blessed to achieve only what is pleasing to you.

Through making such petitions, the supreme lama

Comes to the crown of my head, samājaḥ,

And happily becomes again of one taste with me.

All environments and beings, like magicians’ illusions, dreams,

And the moon [reflected] in water, are empty of inherent existence.

Though not truly existent, appearances designated by names and thoughts

Appear like water bubbles coming forth in water.1

With the pride of being Vajrasattva,

Holding the symbols – the secret vajra of innate great bliss

And the secret bell of freedom from the elaborations of inherent existence –

I embrace the Female Supramundane Victor.

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.

I will keep from the eighteen root infractions –

Praising oneself 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 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].

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.

I will keep, without exception, the secondary pledges –

To abandon the four roots, 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].

I will also properly keep from the gross infractions –

Using an unqualified Seal, 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.

I will not look down on left-handed behaviour,

Will make praises [of women],

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.

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.

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.

I will thoroughly liberate transmigrators through methods appropriate to them.

Through the power of the wholesome virtues come from this

May I, through the power of Vajradhara, not transgress

The boundaries of formulations in all lifetimes

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

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.

  1   This stanza is added, in accordance with instruction from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from a work by Gung-tang ön-chok-en-ay-drön may (gung thang mchog bstan pa’i sgron me, 1762-1823).