9. REVIEWING THE STAGES OF THE PATH

Following a kind master, foundation of all perfections,

Is the very root and basis of the path.

Empower me to see this clearly

And to make every effort to follow him well.

Precious human life gained but once

Has great potential but is easily lost.

Empower me to remember this constantly

And to think day and night of taking its essence.

I must remember that death is quick to strike,

For spirit quivers in flesh like a bubble in water;

And after death one’s good and evil deeds

Trail after one like the shadow trails the body.

Understanding that this most certainly is true,

May I discard every level of wrong

And generate an infinite mass of goodness;

Empower me to be thus continually aware.

Sensual gluttony is a gate to suffering

And is not worthy of a lucid mind.

Empower me to realize the shortcomings of samsara

And to give birth to the great wish for blissful freedom.

And empower me that with mindfulness and alertness

Born from thoughts ultimately pure,

I may live in accord with the holy dharma,

The ways leading to personal liberation.

Just as I myself have fallen into samsara’s waters

So have all other sentient beings.

Empower me to see this and really to practice

Bodhimind, that carries the weight of freeing them.

Yet without habituation to the three spiritual disciplines,

Thought-training accomplishes no enlightenment.

Empower me to know this deeply, and intensely to train

In the various ways of the great bodhisattvas.

And empower me to pacify distorted mental wanderings

And to decipher the ultimate meaning in life,

That I may give birth within my mindstream

To the path combining concentration and vision.

He who trains in these common Mahayana practices

Becomes a vessel worthy of the Supreme Vehicle, Vajrayana.

Empower me that I may quickly and easily

Arrive at that portal of fortunate beings.

The foundation of what then produces the two powers

Is the guarding of the pledges and commitments of tantric initiation.

Bless me so that I may have uncontrived knowledge of this

And guard my disciplines as I do my very life.

Bless me so that I may gain realization of the main practices

Of the two stages of Vajrayana, essence of the tantric path;

And, by sitting relentlessly in four daily sessions of yoga,

Actualize just what the sages have taught.

Empower me that the masters who have unfolded the sublime path within me

And the spiritual friends who have inspired me may live long;

And that the myriads of inner and outer interferences

Be completely and utterly calmed forever.

In all future lives may I never be parted

From the perfect lamas or the pure ways of dharma.

May I gain every experience of the paths and stages

And quickly attain the stage of Holder of Diamond Knowledge.

While reciting the above verses entitled Yonten Shigyurma (Foundation of All Perfections) mentally review all the stages of the spiritual path. At the end, make fervent aspirations that, should death seize you before you have achieved high realizations, you may be reborn as a human endowed with leisure and fortune so that you can continue the journey along the Lamrim path leading to complete enlightenment in future lives. Thus dedicate your merit to the fulfillment of this aim and that of being able to work for the benefit of all beings.