Translations

Mandala Offering

མཎྜལ་སོ་བདུན་མའི་ལག་ལེན་དང་རྣམ་གཞག་ཅུང་ཟད་བསྟན་པ། A Brief Explanation of the Practice and System of the Thirty-Seven Heap Maṇḍala Offering – New

This pithy instruction on maṇḍala offering is based on the thirty-seven heaps liturgy, originally composed by Drogön Chögyal Pagpa (1235–1280), one of the founding figures of the Sakya tradition.

Losar Internship Graduate Publications

དབུ་མ་དང་། བྱང་སེམས་ཀྱི་ལམ། སྒོམ་བཅས་ཀྱི་བཤད་པ། An Adornment for the Ear to Delight Those of Sharp Intelligence: Notes to Remember the Sublime Noble Master’s Oral Instructions An Explanation of Madhyamaka, the Bodhisattva Path, and Meditation – New

In this extract from the lengthy compilation An Adornment for the Ear, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo offers profound teachings on both Buddhist philosophy and meditative practice. He addresses such topics as Madhyamaka reasoning, the three defining characteristics, and the samādhis of the nine absorptions, drawing on a range of different, predominantly Nyingma, sources.

ཕུང་པོ་ལྔ། Miscellaneous Notes on the Classes of Tantra and Pith Instructions of the Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage in the Land of Snows The Five Aggregates – New

This extract from Miscellaneous Notes provides an overview of the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness) as taught in the Abhidharma. It does this through a Mahāyāna lens, including a brief description of the eightfold consciousness system found in Yogācāra thought.

བླ་མ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་པ་ཞལ་གདམས་དང་འབྲེལ་བ། Supplication to the Guru Combined with Words of Advice – New

This brief supplication prayer is written in a fervent devotional style characterized by a yearning tone beseeching the blessings of the guru, the sole refuge. Such supplication prayers are often recited with guru yoga.

ཟུང་འཇུག་གྲུབ་པའི་སྲོལ་འབྱེད། Establishing the Accomplishment of Unity: A Liturgy for the Preliminaries to the Profound Guru’s Heart Practice of Cakrasaṃvara – New

These preliminary practices belong to the Drukpa Kagyu guru sādhana of Cakrasaṃvara. That sādhana was originally concealed by Gyalwa Chokgi Yang, a prominent disciple of Padmasambhava, and was subsequently revealed by the tertön Gyatön Padma Wangchuk. After being lost once more, it was rediscovered as a mind treasure by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.

ལས་དང་པོ་པ་ལ་ཕན་པའི་ཚིག་གི་བདུད་རྩི། Nectar of Beneficial Words for Beginners: A General Guide for Practicing the Path of the Preliminary and Main Practices – New

This succinct and inspiring work is a guide to the entire path for beginner practitioners. There are two parts: a general section on the Buddhist view and practice, and a Vajrayāna section.

Drubtab Kuntu Texts

༄༅། །དད་པའི་མེ་ཏོག Flowers of Faith: Verses in Praise of the Venerable Guardian Maitreya

Part devotional praise and part aspirational prayer, Khyentse Wangpo weaves key moments from the legendary tales of Maitreya’s lives into a poetic celebration of the future buddha.

༄༅། །སློབ་དཔོན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ལ་གསོལ་འདེབས། A Brief Prayer to the Precious Master Padmākara to Swiftly Fulfill Wishes and Dispel Obstacles

Though only four lines long, this supplication to Guru Rinpoche along with his mantra invokes all sources of refuge, seeks the eradication of every type of obstacle, and requests blessings for the realization of all aims and wishes.

༄༅། །དོན་ཀུན་གྲུབ་པའི་དབྱངས་སྙན། The Sweet-Sounding Song That Fulfills All Aims: A Prayer to Noble Tārā Combined with Her Root Mantra

This supplication to Tārā poetically incorporates the elements of her mantra within the verses. It is followed by a succinct prayer by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodro Taye.

༄༅། །དབང་མཛད་དཔལ་མོ་དགྱེས་པའི་མཆོད་སྤྲིན། Clouds of Offerings to Delight the Glorious Magnetizing Lady: In Praise of Bhagavatī Kurukullā

This poem of praise is dedicated to the female buddha Kurukullā, known for her powers of attraction and subjugation. While the first stanza of the work is drawn from an ancient source, the remaining lines are Khyentse Wangpo’s original composition.

༄༅། །མོས་གུས་དབྱངས་སྙན། A Melody of Devotion: A Supplication Invoking the Crucial Vows of the Gurus, the Protectors of the Three Families

This prayer supplicates the famous bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and Vajrapāṇi. It follows the style of Lamrim (Stages of the Path), focusing on its main topics of study, contemplation, and cultivation from the perspectives of scholarship, compassion, and the practice of tantra.

༄༅། །དགེ་ལེགས་ཤིས་པའི་དབྱངས་སྙན། Auspicious Melody of Virtue and Excellence: A Supplication to Sublime Objects of Veneration

A wide-ranging prayer to Buddhadharma’s most eminent protagonists, this work praises Indian masters, key figures of the early promulgation in Tibet, as well as those of the major traditions that later evolved in the Land of Snows.

༄༅། །དད་པའི་ས་བོན། Seeds of Faith: A Prayer to Sublime Beings

This text offers verses of praise and supplication to a wide range of enlightened figures and lineages in both India and Tibet. Despite its brevity, it quite effectively reflects the nonsectarian Rimé view.

༄༅། །དད་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་རབ་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ། The Fully Blossomed Flower of Faith: A Prayer to the Twenty-Five Founders of the Buddha’s Teachings in Tibet

Inspired by a vision he had in a dream, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo composed this nonsectarian paean to some of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism, including five pioneers from each of the five major Tibetan traditions: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, Kadam, and Geluk.

༄༅། །མཎྜལ་བསྡུས་པ་ཚོམ་བུ་བདུན་པ། Concise Seven-Heap Maṇḍala Offering

This short maṇḍala liturgy features seven heaps representing: (1) Mount Meru; (2–5) the four continents; (6) the sun, and (7) the moon.

༄༅། །གྲུབ་པ་མཆོག་གི་ཞལ་ལུང་། Oral Instructions of the Supreme Siddha: A Brief, Clear, and Concise Sādhana of Mañjuśrī Vādisiṃha

This work is a set of pith teachings on how to accomplish the samādhi and dhāraṇī of the bodhisattva of wisdom, here in his red form, riding on a blue lion and accompanied by his consort Sarasvatī. The instructions on this sādhana also include brief notes on making torma offerings, practicing sleep yoga, and engaging in retreat.

Note: The sādhana instructions included here are intended to be read and practiced only by those who have received the requisite Vajrayāna empowerments, transmissions, and instructions.

༄༅། །འཇམ་དབྱངས་དམར་སེར་གྱི་བསྙེན་ཐབས་ཉུང་གསལ། A Brief and Clear Manual for the Approach Retreat of Orange Mañjughoṣa

This text provides the basic outline of a specific type of retreat in the tradition of the early Sakya masters, the method of “approach” of the deity, which in this case focuses on the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī in his singular orange form. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo includes instructions on mantra recitation and other aspects of the practice connected to the Sādhana of the Singular Hero Orange Mañjuśrī Arapacana.

༄༅། །འཇམ་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་ཞལ་ལུང་། The Speech That Delights the Gentle Protector: A Sādhana of the Singular Hero Orange Mañjuśrī Arapacana

This liturgy focuses on the bodhisattva of wisdom in the form of a young hero who is blazing orange. Belonging to the method of “approach” of the deity, it involves extensive recitation of mantra, but Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo also uses the opportunity to share a beautiful poem on the eight precious offering substances, praises and prayers to attain the state of Mañjuśrī, and an abbreviated practice on Acala, a wrathful form of Vajrapāṇi.

Note: This sādhana included is intended to be read and practiced only by those who have received the requisite Vajrayāna empowerments, transmissions, and instructions.

༄༅། །སྒྲིབ་གཉིས་མུན་སེལ། Dispelling the Darkness of the Two Obscurations: A Brief and Clear Sādhana of the Bhagavān Vajra Akṣobhya

This sādhana is connected to teachings received by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo through the Kama lineage, comprised of teachings from Indian masters and transmitted in an unbroken manner over the centuries to the present. It is based on a liturgy of Akṣobhya, the chief buddha of the Vajra family, that was composed by the tenth-century Bengali master Jetāri and belongs to the Caryā class of tantra.

Note: This sādhana included is intended to be read and practiced only by those who have received the requisite Vajrayāna empowerments, transmissions, and instructions.

༄༅། །བྱིན་རླབས་སྣང་བ། Light of Blessings: A Prayer to the Lamas of the Lineage of Bhagavān Vajra Akṣobhya

This work is meant to accompany the Sādhana of the Bhagavān Vajra Akṣobhya. In this lineage prayer, Khyentse Wangpo includes a range of important figures associated with the practice, from India to Tibet, and belonging to a number of various traditions.

༄༅། །ཕན་བདེའི་མྱུར་ལམ། Fast Track to Happiness and Peace: A Very Brief Meditation and Recitation of the Medicine Buddha

This simple practice of visualization and mantra recitation is connected to Buddha Bhaiṣajyarāja, commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. This Kriyā Tantra liturgy follows the traditional structure of larger sādhanas: refuge and bodhicitta prayers, visualization and mantra recitation, offerings, praise and requests, the invitation to depart, and a dedication.

༄༅། །དཔལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་གཅིག་པའི་སྒྲུབ་ཐབས། An Essential, Definite, and Clear Single Mudrā Sādhana of Glorious Vajrasattva

This short yet straightforward practice on Vajrasattva focuses on the pacification of negativities and the purification of obscurations. According to the colophon, the tradition of this practice dates back to King Jaḥ, a ruler of Zahor more than two thousand years ago.

༄༅། །འོད་དཔག་མེད་ལ་བརྟེན་པའི་བླ་མའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཤིན་ཏུ་བསྡུས་པ། A Very Concise Guru Yoga Based on Amitābha

This work is intended for practitioners seeking to realize their teacher as the chief buddha of the Padma family, Amitābha. In addition to offering an abbreviated form of the dhāraṇī of Amitābha, this practice also recommends the recitation of specific parts of Samantabhadra’s Aspiration to Good Actions.

༄༅། །མཆོག་ཏུ་གྱུར་པ་ཡི་གེའི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་བཞི། The Four Supreme Skills Using Syllables (extract)

This extract contains instructions on practices using the Sanskrit vowels and consonants, based on the particular doctrines of the Shije (Pacification) lineage, introduced in Tibet by the South Indian master Padampa Sangye.

༄༅། །རྗེ་བཙུན་འཇམ་པའི་དབྱངས་ཀྱི་བསྟོད་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་གསོལ་འདེབས། Supplication for the Profound Sādhana of The Praise to Noble Mañjuśrī

Composed to accompany the sādhana of The Praise to Noble Mañjuśrī titled Clouds of Offerings to Delight the Gentle Protector, this lineage prayer pays homage to those erudite Buddhist masters who studied and taught The Praise in India and Tibet across the centuries and appeals to them to grant their blessings so that the practitioner’s own intellect and wisdom may increase.

༄༅། །འཇམ་མགོན་དགྱེས་པའི་མཆོད་སྤྲིན། Clouds of Offerings to Delight the Gentle Protector: How to Practice the Profound Sādhana of The Praise to Noble Mañjuśrī

This wonderfully concise yet evocative Mañjuśrī sādhana offers a loving practice to dispel the darkness of ignorance. In particular, it embellishes on The Praise to Mañjuśrī, a celebrated text said to have been authored by five hundred Indian paṇḍitas, whose compositions were all identical through the blessings of the bodhisattva.

Note: This sādhana included is intended to be read and practiced only by those who have received the requisite Vajrayāna empowerments, transmissions, and instructions.

Khyentse Wangpo Biographies and Praise

༄༅། །འཇམ་དབྱངས་མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་དབང་པོའི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཉུང་ངུར་བསྡུས་པ། Abbreviated Biography of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye praises Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s profound accomplishment in many of Tibet’s spiritual traditions. An inspiring telling of the teacher’s life.

༄༅། །ངོ་མཚར་སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཕྲེང་བ། An Amazing Line of Incarnations

A supplication to the incomparable previous lives of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, in his own words.

༄༅། །ངོ་མཚར་དཔལ་སྐྱེད། Generating Wonder and Glory: A Supplication to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s Successive Lives Arranged in a Rough Summary

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye supplicates the previous incarnations of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. You might be surprised by the list of important masters he was associated with.

Aspiration Prayers and Praises

༄༅། །འཇམ་དབྱངས་མཆོག་གྲུབ་སྨོན་ལམ། Aspiration Prayer for Jamyang Chogdrub

This prayer was written for Khyentse Wangpo’s disciple Jamyang Chogdrub to propitiate one’s teacher. A distinctive feature of this brief work is its style of combining elements of aspiration, supplication, and a description of the stages of the path, including the approaches of the Śrāvakayāna, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna.

༄༅། །གཞན་གསོས་མགྲིན་པའི་རོལ་མོ། The Cuckoo’s Song: A Spontaneous Vajra Song Linking Symbols with Meanings

Looking at the Tibetan landscape below him from high in the mountains, Khyentse Wangpo sings a poignant song of renunciation.

༄༅། །ཁྱིམ་ལྷ་བསྟོད་པ། In Praise of the Domestic Deity

This ritual text for propitiating the domestic deity, believed to inhabit the central pillar of the house, is likely a pastiche of invocations and prayers recorded by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Including offerings to the local spirits and mountain gods, such rituals likely existed prior to the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet, and they are still carried out by tantric practitioners belonging to the Bön and Buddhist traditions.

༄༅། །འཕགས་མ་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབྱངས་ཅན་མ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ། In Praise of Vajra Sarasvatī with Appended Verses

Join Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo in his sweet-toned praise of Vajra Sarasvatī — Goddess of Melody, Glory of Speech.

༄༅། །ཕྱོགས་བཅུ་དུས་བཞིའི་ཞལ་གདམས། The Ten Directions and Four Times

This short supplication prayer to the guru uses evocative language to express devotion and other key elements of the Vajrayāna path, such as offering, confession, and mingling of the student’s ordinary mind with the awakened mind of the teacher.

Mind Training (Lojong)

༄༅། །བློ་སྦྱོང་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཀྱི་བླ་མ་བརྒྱུད་པའི་གསོལ་འདེབས། Lineage Prayer to the Teachers of Sumpa Lotsāwa’s Ear-Whispered Mind Training

This prayer traces the oral lineage of this remarkable mind training teaching from its miraculous origin in Bodhgaya in the twelfth century to when it reached Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo himself, seven centuries later. The masters of this lineage are variously associated with the Sakya, Jonang, Kadam, Kagyu, and Nyingma traditions.

༄༅། །སུམ་པ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་བློ་སྦྱོང་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཀྱི་ཁྲིད་ཡིག་སྙིང་གི་བདུད་རྩི། Nectar of the Heart: A Guide to Sumpa Lotsāwa’s Ear-Whispered Mind Training

Inspired by Sumpa Lotsāwa’s vision of Tārā and Vajrayoginī, this text proposes methods for dealing with life’s most difficult challenges based on four vajra statements. The first of these sets the scene: “If you’re content with whatever happens, whatever you do brings happiness.”

༄༅། །བློ་སྦྱོང་ཐུན་བརྒྱད་མའི་ཟིན་བྲིས་ཉུང་གསལ། Succinct Notes on the Eight Sessions Mind Training

Eight precise techniques to transform the mind by abandoning self-clinging and developing boundless altruistic love. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo received them from his Gelugpa teacher Könchok Tenpa Rabgye.

Severance (Chöd)

༄༅། །འཁོར་འདས་རང་གྲོལ། The Self-Liberation of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa: A Spontaneous Vajra Song about Taking as the Path the Yogic Discipline of the Profound Severance of Demons

Khyentse Wangpo offers pithy instructions for the practice of severance (chöd).

Mahāmudrā

༄༅། །དཔྱིད་ཀྱི་ཐིག་ལེ། The Drop of Spring: A Spontaneous Vajra Song of Definitive Meaning That Supplicates the Great Charioteers of the Luminous Mahāmudrā

The drop of spring inspires us by supplicating the early Dagpo Kagyu lineage and making aspirational prayers on the path of the luminous Mahāmudrā.

Liturgies and Lineage Supplications

༄༅། །བསམ་དོན་ཀུན་འགྲུབ། Fulfilling All Wishes

A short liturgy based on Guru Rinpoche that combines all aspects of the path & fulfills all our wishes.

༄༅། །བྱིན་རླབས་སྤྲིན་ཕུང་། Cloudbanks Of Blessings: A Supplication to the Oceanlike Assemblies of the Three Roots and Dharma Protectors

This lineage prayer is associated with the important Combined Practice of the Three Roots (Tsasum Drildrub) cycle. In addition to its inspiring beauty, it offers us a detailed picture of the early lineages of the Great Perfection and other levels of Tantra in the Nyingma tradition.

༄༅། །ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་དྭངས་མ་བཅུད་འདྲེན་གྱི་རྒྱུན་ཁྱེར་འཆི་མེད་སྙིང་པོ། Immortality in a Nutshell: A Daily Practice for Amitāyus Extracting the Pristine Nectar

This Amitāyus sādhana is based on one of the treasure texts contained in Bearing the Seal of Secrecy, a terma cycle comprising twenty-five sections that was revealed by the Fifth Dalai Lama in a pure vision, and has a special focus on Guru Padmākara.

Philosophy

༄༅། །གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་དབྱེ་བའི་གཏམ་ངེས་དོན་རྣ་ཆ། The Earring of the Definitive Meaning: The Speech That Classifies the Tenets

This distinctive work discusses the fundamental beliefs of the Buddhist schools of India and Tibet and offers responses to typical queries about complex philosophical points.

༄༅། །གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་དཔྱད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ། Essential Points for the Investigation of Philosophical Tenets

This concise text, based on a teaching by the Indian scholar Ume Senge, begins with a refutation of the principal point of debate between Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools—the existence of the self—then proceeds to a systematic deconstruction of the tenets of various Buddhist traditions.

༄༅། །བདེན་བཞི་དང་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་གྱི་རྣམ་གཞག་ཚིག་གི་ས་བོན། Seminal Words: A Systematic Presentation of the Four Truths and Dependent Arising

This exposition succinctly introduces the core pillars of Buddhist doctrine—the four ārya truths and dependent arising—and explains how the twelve links are the causal mechanism perpetuating the never-ending cycle of birth and death. It concludes by addressing rebirth from the perspective of the highest class of Buddhist Tantra.

༄༅། །གཞན་གསོས་དགའ་བའི་རོལ་མོ། Song of the Joyful Cuckoo: Verses on the Tenets

In this short poem, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo skilfully introduces the distinct tenets of the four philosophical traditions, culminating with pith instructions on the tantric path. These inspiring verses guide readers, stanza by stanza, through the systems of increasing subtlety of Buddhist view and practice.

History

༄༅། །ངོ་མཚར་པདྨོའི་དགའ་ཚལ། The Grove of Wondrous Lotus Flowers: A Brief Account of the Lineage Holders of the Old and New Schools of the Secret Mantrayāna Teachings in the Snowy Land of Tibet

This excerpt from Khyentse Wangpo’s comprehensive summary of the lines of succession of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism highlights the Sakya tradition—with detailed focus on the early history of that school and recording its many famous lineage holders.