01 Invocation To The Lotus-Born Master (연꽃에서 태어나신 스승님께 드리는 기도)

Invocation To The Lotus-Born Master (연꽃에서 태어나신 스승님께 드리는 기도)

Following the initial request, the prayer continues with a description of Guru Rinpoche, and his circle of followers.  The yidam deities whose voices are humming are the many forms of personal divinity recognized within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Their different attributes, ornaments, gestures, facial expressions and garments represent various types of spiritual wisdom energy, such as compassion, wisdom, the power to overcome obstacles or to bring forth whatever is needed, and so on.

The five classes of dakinis refer to the five wisdoms of the Buddhas: mirror-like wisdom that sees things as they are, the wisdom of equality that recognizes that everything has the same nature–the nature of emptiness; discriminating wisdom that sees the individual characteristics of the phenomenal world; all-accomplishing wisdom that knows how to act skillfully in any situation; and finally the wisdom of the all-encompassing space of reality.

The great gingdakas and the mamodakinis are powerful male and female forces that gather and use their wrathful power to counteract and defeat negative forces, particularly when such forces keep others from carrying out positive actions.  Dharmapalas and subchen are further categories of beneficial spirits assisting those seeking to bring good into the world. The mantra syllables HUNG and PHET further invigorate the favorable forces.

What are we asking Guru Rinpoche and his retinue to do? The final verse of the prayer makes this very clear: we are asking them to look upon us and all other beings of the six realms with compassion.  These others include the beings in the realms of the gods, the demi gods, the animals, the agonized spirits and the hell realms, as well as all of us humans.  The different realms represent the negative emotions to which beings can fall prey: pride and complacency characterize the god realms; active jealousy and competitiveness motivate the demi-gods.  Animals suffer from ignorance that leads to their enslavement; the agonized spirits from a stultifying miserliness that keeps them from enjoying whatever they may have, much less sharing it with others.  Beings in hell are tormented by living in a world of constant anger and hatred.  We humans suffer as a result of our attachment and clinging to people and situations that we believe we need in order to fulfill ourselves and to feel content and happy.

We ask Guru Rinpoche and his retinue to think of us and to care for us, to come to where we are and guide us.  Remember that we should not imagine that they come from anywhere but within our own psyches and the untapped resources of our own minds.  We pray that they remain with us until we attain enlightenment, until we are fully confident of our own perfection.  The supreme and common siddhis, the miraculous powers we request, are both mundane abilities such as clairvoyance, hearing across long distances, walking so fast we skim over the earth, and others; and more importantly the supreme powers of absolute selflessness and compassion, and the vast wisdom of omniscience.

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The following invocation to Guru Rinpoche is one of the best known prayers in the Tibetan Buddhist world.  Its significance relates to guru yoga, a practice designed to deepen a student’s relationship with his or her teacher.  Acknowledging that the guru’s level of enlightened wisdom and compassionate energy is greater than our own, we meditatively mingle our mind with his or hers.  This deepens our understanding and experience of the crucial truth that enlightened mind, the true essence of every teacher and every deity, is within us.  As living representatives of this enlightened wisdom, our teachers enable us to uncover our own Buddha natures.

This beautiful prayer,which AniChoying sings so evocatively and devotedly, is interpreted on many levels, from the outer literal meaning to the innermost profound explanation that when practiced correctly can lead to the achievement of complete and perfect enlightenment.  The outer meaning presented here is derived from a text by JamgonMipham Rinpoche (1846–1912), one of the great scholars of Tibetan Buddhism in the modern era. White Lotus, his commentary on the Seven Line Prayer, was translated by the Padmakara Translation Group and published in 2007.