In the closing verse of the amazing prayer it states:
If now, a mighty yogi from within ༔
Unconfused, self-lucid wakefulness ༔
Should speak aloud—this almighty prayer ༔
Then all those who may fall within its sound ༔
Shall within three lives come full awake ༔
At times when sun or moon are in eclipse ༔
When howling sounds or earthquakes come about ༔
At solstice and the turning of the year ༔
If we as Ever-Good arise to speak ༔
And sound aloud this prayer for all to hear ༔
Then by the power of our yogi’s prayer ༔
So you are warmly encouraged to recite this prayer on those occassions, and take it’s meaning to heart at all times. I hope this recording will be helpful in chanting it in a joyful flow, and that it will be of benefit in the way the prayer describes to each being that connects to it one way or the other. Sarva Mangalam!
A teaching on this Prayer by Dzongzar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche on this prayer can be found here
Ho ༔
All worlds, all beings, all strife, all peace throughout ༔
Upon a single ground, two paths, two fruits ༔
Are knowing and not knowing’s conjured play ༔
Through Kuntuzangpo’s aspiration prayer ༔
In dharmadhātu’s palace most sublime ༔
May all arise as perfectly awake ༔
Uncompounded is the ground of all ༔
A vast self-sprung, ineffable expanse ༔
Of names “samsāra” and “nirvāna” void ༔
Knowing such is buddhahood indeed ༔
Unknowing, beings wander without end ༔
May every being of the triple realm ༔
See the suchness of the signless ground ༔
Kuntuzangpo, I the Ever-Good ༔
Know: the suchness of this uncaused ground ༔
Upon that very ground it freely dawns ༔
No here, no there, no more, no less, unstained ༔
Unmarred by veils of stupor’s shade, unmarked ༔
Flawless, then, what naturally appears ༔
To that awareness which is self-awake ༔
The fall of all the worlds would hold no fear ༔
Nor want for all the pleasures there may be ༔
In this clear knowing, self-sprung and unwrought ༔
No solid form, nor vicious venoms five ༔
Wakeful ever-present lucid flow ༔
In nature one, in pristine wisdom five ༔
These pristine wisdoms ripen as they are ༔
And bloom as primal buddha-kind’s quintet ༔
From there it surges: wisdom’s boundless swell ༔
Two and forty buddhas manifest ༔
Rolling out of wisdoms’ potent play ༔
Sixty herukas, unleashed, emerge ༔
Ground awareness, then, was never dazed ༔
As such, and so, the primal buddha, I ༔
Cast abroad this aspiration prayer ༔
That every being of this triple realm ༔
Self-born awareness comes to know again ༔
That mighty wisdom perfectly unfurls ༔
My emanations issue on and on ༔
In myriad numbers, legions beyond thought ༔
Taming beings each by apt display ༔
My noble-hearted aspiration prayer ༔
Shall impel all wand’rers to desert ༔
Their six old haunts throughout this triple realm ༔
Beings, bewitched, for all of them, at first ༔
Awareness of the ground did not arise ༔
And so it is, this errant, witless daze ༔
Is itself delusion’s ’witching spell ༔
The instant it is cast, a fainting turn ༔
Stirs up a hazy sense of panicked fear ༔
The self is born and all else then a threat ༔
Latent spores begin to creep and spread ༔
Saṃsāra gradually unfolds and forms ༔
And so those vicious venoms five are spawned ༔
Then ceaseless flows the stream of poisoned deeds ༔
Therefore, unaware oblivion ༔
Is the ground of error in all minds ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
May all of knowing see and know itself ༔
Coemergent ignorance: innate ༔
Unknowing-knowing, unaware and lost ༔
And then, imaginative ignorance ༔
Conceiving self and all else as distinct ༔
These two modes of ignorance therefore ༔
Are the ground of error in all minds ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
The dark fog of forgetting, may it be ༔
Dispelled from every ever-wheeling mind ༔
And may the bind of self and else untie ༔
That the natural face of knowing show ༔
With fluctuating mind of I and else ༔
Faint fixations form now and arise ༔
Karmic patterns deepen and evolve ༔
Fine food, and wealth, attire, homes, and friends ༔
Five sense pleasures, all beloved kin ༔
Tortured by vain thirsting for all these ༔
Such mad confusion haunts the worldly mind ༔
Ensnared in endless deeds of I and else ༔
When craving ripens, clinging bears its fruit ༔
Born are starving wraiths, tormented by ༔
The mis’ry of their cruel and ceaseless thirst ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
May those caught, entranced by such desire ༔
Not discard the torment of this snare ༔
Nor indulge the power of its sway ༔
But knowing, in its own place, just let be ༔
Then there, let natural wakefulness remain ༔
That discerning wisdom be attained ༔
The things that seemingly appear without ༔
Stir forth the subtle mind of fear within ༔
Latent hatred spreads, aggression shows ༔
A world of foes to hammer and destroy ༔
When hatred ripens, anger bears its fruit ༔
O the scalding agonies of hell ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
When the thought of violent hatred dawns ༔
For all minds distorted in six ways ༔
Not shun, not take, releasing in that place ༔
Just there, let natural wakefulness remain ༔
That mirror-lucid wisdom be attained ༔
The haughty mind, so bloated with conceit ༔
For others, only envy and disdain ༔
When rampant thoughts of arrogance run wild ༔
The grief of endless quarrel and dispute ༔
The deeds of rivalry then bear their fruit ༔
As birth to high estate to ruin bound ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
May all minds disfigured with conceit ༔
Let knowing be resolved right then and there ༔
Just there, let natural wakefulness remain ༔
That the face of evenness be seen ༔
Deep-etched patterns grasping self and else ༔
The first adored, the other scorned—what strife ༔
Clash and conflict then impels the birth ༔
Of realms of vying tyrants cursed with war ༔
Whose raging end: a certain plunge to hell ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
May all minds in enmity enmeshed ༔
See not a world of foes, but self-release ༔
And there, let knowing naturally remain ༔
That unimpeded action-wisdom flow ༔
Distracted, blithe, and wholly unaware ༔
Dim and dull, forgetful of its state ༔
Lazy, senseless, ignorant—the fruit ༔
Birth as a beast, protectorless and stray ༔
By the power of my wakeful prayer ༔
May the lucid light of knowing glow ༔
Shine radiant throughout the dullest mind ༔
That unstained, artless wisdom be attained ༔
Every being of the triple realm ༔
Is as I, the Buddha, ground of all ༔
Yet mired in the ground of mindless daze ༔
Confused, they spend their lives in vain pursuit ༔
Six karmas drive their fevered, frantic dreams ༔
I am the Buddha, from the first awake ༔
For to tame all beings by myriad plays ༔
Through this aspiration, ever-good ༔
May all beings, leaving none aside ༔
Awaken to the inmost dhātu’s sphere ༔
A ho ༔
If now, a mighty yogi from within ༔
Unconfused, self-lucid wakefulness ༔
Should speak aloud—this almighty prayer ༔
Then all those who may fall within its sound ༔
Shall within three lives come full awake ༔
At times when sun or moon are in eclipse ༔
When howling sounds or earthquakes come about ༔
At solstice and the turning of the year ༔
If we as Ever-Good arise to speak ༔
And sound aloud this prayer for all to hear ༔
Then by the power of our yogi’s prayer ༔
May all the beings of the triple realm ༔
Steadily from all their woe be freed ༔
And at last awakened buddhas be ༔
colophon of the translators publication:
This comes from the nineteenth chapter of the Tantra of the Great Perfection That Reveals the Unimpeded Awakened Mind of Kuntuzangpo (Gongpa Zangthal), which teaches that by making this powerful aspiration, all sentient beings cannot but awaken.
Having been pestered repeatedly, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche finally suggested that the Kunzang Monlam be translated and metered for recitation and singing. The work was undertaken by Christian Bernert and James Gattuso in Hanoi and Hoi An, Vietnam, 2023. The meter chosen for this composition is iambic pentameter. The translation was prepared from the Tibetan, based on the commentaries by Jigme Lingpa, the Fifteen Karmapa, and Tsultrim Zangpo, translated by Karl Brunnhölzl in: A Lullaby to Awaken the Heart. The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra and its Tibetan Commentaries (Wisdom Publications, 2018). The translation was offered to Rinpoche upon the waves of Lake Wānaka, New Zealand, and first recited at the conclusion of his transmission of the Seven Treasuries of Longchenpa, on November 13, 2023.
May the melodic undulations of this poetic reworking of a profound mind-treasure inspire all sentient beings of the triple realm to engage joyfully in the arts and thus ride the victorious winds of liberated creativity towards the very heart of awakening.
© 2023 Padmaverse
vajrasound 