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THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS

NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

THE PRAYER BYJU MIPHAM NAMGYAL

WITH EXTENSIVE COMMENTARYBY TONY DUFF

PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

Copyright and Fair Usage Notice

Copyright © Tony Duff 2008. All rights reserved.

The translations and commentaries contained herein aremade available online as a gift of dharma. They are beingoffered with the intent that anyone may download them,print them out, read and study them, share them withfriends, and even copy and redistribute the files privately. Still, the following must be observed:

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• In accord with standard copyright law, you may usereasonable portions of these files for your own work,publication or translations.

If you cite from them or use them in that way, please citethese files as if they were printed books. Please make itclear in your work which portions of your text is comingfrom our translation and which portions are based on othersources.


NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

THE PRAYER BYJU MIPHAM NAMGYAL

WITH EXTENSIVE COMMENTARYBY TONY DUFF

PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

For enquiries regarding permission to reproduce thisbook or any portion of it, or to obtain further books,please write to the given address or contact the authorvia internet and e-mail.

Copyright © 2008 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. Noportion of this book may be reproduced in any form orby any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotography, recording, or by any information storageor retrieval system or technologies now known or laterdeveloped, without permission in writing from thepublisher.

Second edition, February 2009

Palatino typeface with diacritical marks andTibetan Classic typefaceDesigned and created by Tony Duff

Produced, Printed, and Published byPadma Karpo Translation CommitteeP.O. Box 4957KathmanduNEPAL

Committee members who worked on this publication:Lama Tony Duff, Chris Vicevich.

Web-site and e-mail contact through:http://www.pktc.org/pktcOr search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on theweb.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE . . . . . 1

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

TIBETAN TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

i

INTRODUCTION

This book is about a very popular prayer in the Nyingmatradition of Tibetan Buddhism, called the “Eight AuspiciousNoble Ones in Verse”. The prayer is actually an invocationof auspiciousness that was written by the great Nyingma guru,Ju Mipham Namgyal Gyatso.

There were many translations of the prayer around at thetime of writing. The verses of the invocation that come afterthe first verse are straightforward and not difficult to translate,though, even then, they have not always been translatedcorrectly. The first verse contains ideas which have notbecome common yet amongst Westerners and because of that,it seems, this verse till now has not been translated correctly. Chris Vicevich approached me early this year, asking me tohelp him with the problems that he was finding in othertranslations. The result was this new translation and a smallcommentary to help clarify the meaning.

As the work progressed, we realized that we could make thisinto a very nice exercise in translation, which we could offerfor free to help those trying to learn Tibetan and how totranslate from Tibetan. We created the exercise and includedit in here after the invocation and commentary on it. Then,

iii

iv INTRODUCTION

to make the whole book complete, we supplied the Tibetantext of the invocation.

The book is meant both for practitioners and for those whoare trying to learn to translate Tibetan texts. For the former,the new and correct translation with commentary should behelpful. For the latter, the attention to detail in the translationexercise and the provision of the Tibetan text so that it canbe compared with the translation should of special interest.

STUDY TOOLS

In general, the Padma Karpo Translation Committee haspublished a wide range of books on Buddhist dharma. Reading nearly any of them will help anyone to understandmore about both the subject and the language involved. Certainly all of them will be helpful to anyone who is seriouslytrying to become a translator. See our website at the addressgiven on the copyright page; you will find free texts and textsfor sale there, all of them prepared to the highest level ofquality.

You will also find many aids for those wanting to translate. We would strongly recommend the Illuminator Tibetan-EnglishDictionary as something you should use if you are translating. In addition, you will want to use it in conjunction with thetranslation exercise; it contains a large amount of informationabout Tibetan grammar in general and all of the pointsmentioned in the exercise in particular. You would also beinterested in our major work on Tibetan grammar, The ThirtyVerses of Minister Thumi, which presents, for the first timein the West, Tibetan grammar as it is actually used and

INTRODUCTION v

understood by Tibetans. In fact, the translation exercise inhere is founded on the principles of Tibetan grammar whichare laid out very extensively in that book.

This e-book has a binding offset built in so that it can easilybe printed and bound as a book for your library.

The text in Tibetan script is included for those wanting tostudy it.

Finally, there are other publications on our website whichcan be used as exercises in translation.

May all be auspicious for you,Lotsāwa Tony DuffPadma Karpo Translation CommitteeSwayambhunath,Nepal, 5th February, 2009


NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

If you recite this one time at the beginning of any undertaking, itwill cause it to be accomplished easily and in accordance with yourwishes. Therefore, turn your attention to it.

OṂ

Apparent existence is complete purity’s nature,spontaneous presence;

Its auspiciousness is the noble assemblies—thebuddhas, dharmas,

And saṅghas, who reside in the fields of the tendirections;

Paying homage to them all may there be auspicious-ness for us!

Homage to the Eight Sugatas —Dronme Gyalpo, Tsalten Dondrup Gong,Jampa’i Gyen Pal, Gedrak Pal Dampa,Kunla Gongpa Gyacher Drakpa Chen,Lhunpo Tar Phak Tsal Drak Pal,Semchen Tamche la Gong Drakpa’i Pal,Yid Tshim Dzaypa Tsal Rab Drak Pal—

1

2 THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

Even hearing their names rouses auspiciousness andglory!

Homage to the eight bodhisatvas—Youthful Mañjuśhrī, glorious Vajrapāṇi,Avalokiteśhvara, guardian Maitreya,Kṣhitigarbha, Nivaranaviskambin,Ākāśhagarbha, and the most noble Samantabhadra,Who, holding their insignia of utpala, vajra,White lotus, Nāga Tree, jewel, moon, sword, and sun,Are the supreme ones of auspiciousness and glory.

Homage to the eight auspicious goddesses—The ladies of the eight excellent precious symbols—The excellent precious umbrella, auspicious golden

fish,Good wish-fulfilling vase, exquisite Kamala flower,Conch of fame, glorious endless knot of perfect

abundance,Ever victorious victory banner, and wheel of gover-

nance—Who offer to and delight the conquerors throughout

time and space;Remembrance of your specific qualities of charm, and

so on, increases glory.

Homage to the Eight Protectors of the World—Great Braḥmā, Shambhu, Narayana,Thousand-Eyed, the Kings Dhṛiṭarāṣhṭra,Virudhaka, Nāga Ruler Virūpākṣha,And Vaiśhravaṇa—who hold the divine articles ofWheel, trident, short spear, vajra,Vīṇā, sword, stūpa, and banner of victory, and

THE TEXT 3

Increase the auspiciousness of virtue in the threelevels’ abodes.

May the undertaking we are about to begin hereHave all obstacles and harmful influences pacified,Proceed with success, then be accomplished as desired.May there be auspiciousness, goodness, and perfec-

tion.

The supreme Conqueror has said that:If recited on rising, the day’s plans will all be achieved;If recited on sleeping, good dreams will be seen;If recited on entering battle, there will be total victory;If recited on starting a project, the plans for it will succeed;If recited continuously, there will be an excellence of glory,

fame, and wealth,Perfection of goodness, and accomplishment of projects as

desired;And all meaningfulness of cleansing evil and obscuration

and rising to the definite goodness of higher stationswill be accomplished.

This, a great jewel encrusted Doshal necklace, came forth from theoceanic mind of Jampal Gyes pa’i Dorje in the third month of theFire Monkey year, during a favourable conjunction of the planets,sun, and constellation Pushya. Sarva Mangalam.

Translated by Lama Tony Duff in the magic forest of Broceliande,the place of Merlin, Arthur, and the fairies, in April 2008, withassistance from Chris Vicevich.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER

This prayer is an invocation. It is based on various thingsmentioned by the Buddha relevant to the development ofauspiciousness. The author has summed up what the Buddhasaid and put it into four lines verses, together invocationsto the various principles of auspiciousness. Thus it becomesa prayer for making a connection with auspiciousness.

The invocations start with the highest principles connectedwith auspiciousness and proceed in order through lesser ones.

According to Buddhism, ultimate auspiciousness is the ThreeJewels, so the first verse connects with them. There are manyreasons why the Three Jewels are the ultimate auspiciousness. You will find a long explanation of the subject in the book“Unending Auspiciousness”1 which contains a completeexplanation both by myself and by Ju Mipham of the Sūtraof the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels.

The next most auspicious principle will be the buddhas ingeneral and they are mentioned here as a group of eightsugatas that Śhākyamuni Buddha connected especially with

1 By Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee.

5


auspiciousness. Sugata is one of many names for a personwho has become a buddha. Their names are mentioned astheir Tibetan names.

The next most auspicious principle will be the bodhisatvamahasatvas. There are bodhisatvas still caught in saṃsāraand those who have transcended saṃsāra. The ones whohave transcended saṃsāra abide on the bodhisatva levels. The Buddha said that there were ten such levels. He explainedthat those on the first through seventh levels had the dangerthat they could fall back within the levels. However, thoseon the eighth, ninth, and tenth, because they had purifiedtheir minds so extensively, could not fall back and were closeto being truly complete buddhas. All bodhisatvas on the levelsare called “bodhisatvas”. However, the bodhisatvas dwellingon the eighth through tenth bhūmis, which are called the pureone’s bhūmis, are given an extra name to indicate how specialthey have become. They are called bodhisatva mahasatvas,the great being type of bodhisatvas. Thus, the namemahasatva when seen with the name bodhisatva is not justanother nice name but specifically tells you that this is abodhisatva on the levels of the pure ones.

Śhākyamuni Buddha had eight, bodhisatva mahasatva heartsons. They were very far advanced and some of them likeMaitreya, Mañjuśhrī, and Samantabhadra were on the tenthlevel, about to become buddhas. Each of the eight has hisown insignia in the form of something carried, and those arementioned in the verse, in the same order as the names ofthe heart-son bodhisatvas. The level of auspiciousnessconnected with the eight is similar to the level of auspicious-ness connected with the principles mentioned in the previousverses.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER 7

Next comes a set of eight things that the Buddha himself statedto be auspicious. These have been honoured as “the eightauspicious items” throughout Buddhist history. Here, theyare put together with goddesses who carry them as an offeringof auspiciousness. The eight auspicious items are mentionedin the text. Each of the eight goddesses has her individual,specific good quality. The first one’s quality of “charm” ismentioned in the invocation.

Next comes the great gods of our era who can exert a positiveeffect on our world. These gods were all well-known toancient Indian culture and the Buddha included them in histeaching. A lot could be said about them, which would involverecounting ancient Indian cultural stories and Buddhist stories,too. The key point though is that all of them, according tothe Buddha, have the ability to exert a positive effect on ourworld. If you stay on their good side, and invoke them, theycould provide you with auspiciousness.

There are two sets of gods here, the first four and the secondfour each are a group. The first four are the great gods ofIndian culture in general. Great Braḥmā is the great godBraḥmā who has a wheel as his insignia. Shambhu is a namefor the great god Śhiva, who has a trident as his insignia. Narayana is a name for the great god Viṣhṇu who has a shortspear as his insignia. Thousand-eyed is a name for the greatgod Indra who carries a vajra as his insignia. All of themhave great power and can have significant effect over thehuman realm. The second group of four is the four guardiankings. The level of existence immediately above the humanrealm is a set of four realms, one associated with each of thefour cardinal directions. Each one is controlled by a king andthat king and his minions—which in each case includes


powerful spirits—can exert a strong influence on the humanrealm. Collectively, these gods are all traditionally associatedwith the idea of bringing down auspiciousness in one formor another.

Following the invocations, all done in sets of eight, just asmentioned in the title, there is one, four-line verse of aspirationfor auspiciousness. That is followed by two more four lineverses that go together to complete the invocation. Theseverses sum up the possibilities, as stated by the Buddha, whenthese various principles are invoked for auspiciousness.

The last section at the end, which says, “if recited continu-ously” consists of two lines that indicate the worldly benefitsof doing so followed by the very last line that indicates thenon-worldly, that is dharmic, benefits of doing so.

The colophon of the prayer mentions the time and circum-stance of the invocation’s composition. A doshal necklaceis one of the three types of necklace traditionally worn bythe gods and the women of Indian Hindu society and whichwas taken as one of the ornaments of Buddhist sambhogakāyadeities. It is a very long necklace that hangs all the way downbelow the breast and above the navel and is encrusted in aspecific fashion with gems. It is the most magnificent of thethree types of necklace worn in that culture and hence bysambhogakāya deities. That gives you some sense of howhe thinks of the invocation he has just composed.

The translation was originally done by Lama Tony in France,in the magic forest of Broceliande, the place of Merlin, Arthur,and the fairies. Just after that, Chris Vicevich took an activeinterest and gave a great deal of assistance to the work.

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

A SMALL EXERCISE IN TRANSLATION

INTRODUCTION

This is a small exercise in translation using the well-knownand popular prayer written by Ju Mipham Namgyal called,7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊ

“The EightAuspicious Noble Ones In Verse”.

The prayer itself is not difficult to translate except for the firstverse. The first verse uses concepts that are not well knownin the West and, because of that, it has not, to our knowledge,been correctly translated until now. This exercise focusseson the first verse, going through every step needed tounderstand how to translate it and offering many criticalinsights into the translation process on the way.

The exercise is not based on any of the various ideas aboutTibetan grammar that have been invented by Westerners forteaching Tibetan grammar. Systems like the “science of thedots” found in one popular book about translating from theTibetan are fabrications which we believe take the studentaway from being able to understand Tibetan text correctly.

9


This exercise is founded directly and exactly in Tibetangrammar. It will be unfamiliar and not easy, in many cases,we are sure. However, the exercise is not intended to be easy. It is on the other hand, intended to give real insight into howto translate using Tibetan grammar itself. If you can followit through, we are sure that it will help you.

This exercise assumes that you can read Tibetan letters wellenough to identify Tibetan “words”. If you can’t do that,read along anyway, and we are sure you will still be able toobtain valuable lessons.

The exercise is available in this Adobe PDF file. Several keyterms have been marked with this symbol L to remind youthat you could look the terms up on the fly in our IlluminatorTibetan-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary. We stronglyrecommend the dictionary for use with this exercise; thedictionary is packed with authoritative information on Tibetangrammar and will expand considerably on several itemsmentioned in the brief introduction given here. The dictionary,together with all relevant files and many other useful materialscan be found on our web site, which is provided on thecopyright page at the front of the book.

If you find this exercise helpful, please mention it to othersand suggest they use it and our software. This is the one thingthat we ask in return for our work for you. Thank you inadvance.

BASIC PROCEDURES

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER 11

The first step in translating Tibetan text is to break the textdown into its parts of speech. This procedure is not somethingspecially invented for Tibetan translation, to the contrary,it is something that anyone who hears or reads a languagehas to do in order to understand what is being said or written. When you know the language well, your mind does it foryou so fast that you don’t notice the process, but it does getdone, nonetheless. As a far as we are concerned, there is nochoice for anyone learning to translate Tibetan except to gothrough this process laboriously again and again until thatperson can do it quickly and correctly.

To be able to follow this procedure means that you have tolearn the structure of Tibetan language and learn its partsof speech. The structures of Tibetan grammar have not beencorrectly identified in the few texts that are available in theWest on Tibetan grammar. The parts of speech have beenidentified mainly through Western ideas about what theymight be rather than through learning Tibetan grammar itself. This is a fact and it is one of the principal reasons why thereis so little good translation of Tibetan texts available thesedays.

We will be using the names of the structures and some ofthe parts of speech of Tibetan language in this exercise. Onefeature of the Illuminator Tibetan-English EncyclopaedicDictionary is that every single structure and part of Tibetanspeech is named, identified, and extensively explained onits own terms, often using quotations from Tibetan grammartexts and with translations of those provided. It is aremarkable resource for that alone and should be used byanyone who is interested in Tibetan grammar. The Illuminatorhas an extraordinary amount of information on grammar


contained in it and also contains many insights into themeanings of dharma terminology that cannot be foundelsewhere.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF TIBETAN GRAMMAR

What are the structures that make up English text? You mightnot have thought about it but, if you are reading this, youare using your knowledge of the structures of the Englishlanguage as the first step towards understanding what youare reading! If you want to understand Tibetan text, you haveto develop the same ability with Tibetan.

Both English and Tibetan languages start with letters. Thisexercise assumes that the reader is familiar with those andsays no more about them.

As the next step after letters, English has “words” and onlywords as its basic structures of language. Each one standsin its own right and can be investigated to find out what itmeans and how it relates to the other words around it. Tibetanis not like that. Tibetan has a more complicated structureand you do have to know and understand it to read andunderstand Tibetan. Be sure on this point: every Tibetan doeslearn to do this. Just as you know how English works evenif you cannot explain it to someone else, Tibetans do knowthe structure of their language and can use it, even if theaverage Tibetan cannot explain it to someone else.

Tibetan language has not one but two types of structure. Ithas what are called L

0Ü$- “grammatical names” and what

are called L 2Ý#-n+-

“phrase linkers” or just L n+-

“linkers”


for short. A series of grammatical names and phrase linkerswritten one after the other, with punctuation marks as needed,is exactly what makes up Tibetan text.

A grammatical name is not a noun. It is a primitive part ofspeech that carries meaning. It is used to provide all of theparts of speech that have meaning in them: noun, verb,adjective, adverb. It cannot show relationship or do any ofthe many things needed to make meaning-type words intoan expression. Therefore, some kind of linker is needed tojoin the grammatical names together. The linkers do the worksof joining the grammatical names together so that there canbe meaningful expressions.

These grammatical names and linkers are the basic structuresof Tibetan language. Now, these structures need somethingto separate them so that they can be individually identified. In English, words are separated with a space. In Tibetan,the individual structures of grammatical names and linkersare separated with a mark. The mark is called a L

2é#<-“tsheg”. This mark is not a “dot” as some Western grammarbooks insist. It’s name also does not mean “dot”. The markitself signifies a break and its name “tsheg” means exactlythat, “a break”. It makes a lot of sense.

Look at the piece of Tibetan text here and you will see thetshegs as small marks like this

- separating the grammatical

names and linkers of the text: 7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ýÊ


You might think, “Isn’t there an easier way to refer to thebasic structures of Tibetan text? In English, all I have to dois say “word” and that takes care of it all! For Tibetan, doI have to say “grammatical names and linkers” all the timejust to refer to the basic structures of the language?” Theanswer is no, you don’t. The Tibetan grammarians madea specific name for them. That name is L

2é#<-/9-“intertsheg”. It literally means that which sits between tshegs. That also makes a lot of sense!

A point to note here is that Westerners, not understandingTibetan grammar on its own terms, have not even knownthat there was a name for the basic “words” of Tibetanlanguage and have called them “syllables”. An intertshegis not a syllable and should not be called such. As a matterof fact, Tibetan language does not even have a word for“syllables”, at least not according to how English defines asyllable! According to Tibetan grammar’s own description,its basic structures are grammatical names and linkers andthese have the common feature that they are always markedoff by and sit in between the break points of text, called tshegs. Therefore, they are, as mentioned above, called “intertshegs”.

There has been tremendous resistance to stop calling theseas “syllables” and start calling them by their correct name. I think it strange that demonstrating vigorously for Tibetanrights and freedom but fail to honour the language, insistinginstead on using unrelated Western ideas to talk about it. If we want to honour Tibetan culture, shouldn’t we honourits language, too, and use the names the language has foritself?! Would you call a French cedilla “a funny c mark”or would you call it a “cedilla”? You would call it a cedilla


of course, so let’s start calling a Tibetan intertsheg an intertshegand stop calling “syllable” which is not even a correct namefor what they are!

Now, if we go a step further, we find out that Tibetan grammarconsiders Tibetan language to be made up of what it callsgrammatical names and L

2Ý#- “grammatical phrases”.

A grammatical phrase is a grammatical name with a phraselinker attached to it. It is necessary to understand all of thesedetails but, for the sake of not making this too complicated,we are going to leave out a discussion of grammatical phrasesand just go ahead with this exercise using the most basicstructures of the language, grammatical names and phraselinkers.

THE ACTUAL EXERCISE

We will now parse the title and first verse of the prayer usingthe Tibetan system just described. When we have parsedthe text correctly, it will be possible to look at the Tibetantext, get the meanings of the grammatical names, and findout how they have been related to each other using the linkers. After that, we are underway, and can start turning what wehave found into English. This way we do everything correctlyaccording to the needs of the source and target languages,both.

The Title

1. The first step is to break the text down totally into itscomponent parts. This is done like this:


ÉÊ Ê7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊÊpunctuationgrammatical namephrase linker

2. The next step is to go through the text, going in Tibetanreading order, left to right, until we find a phrase linker. Welet the phrase linker provide a stop point and we look to seewhat has happened up till there. When you read Tibetantext the way a Tibetan does, this is what you do.

First there is some punctuation. As a matter of interest, thepunctuation does have a distinct meaning but this is beyondthe scope of the discussion here.

After that comes a grammatical name 7.#<-

followed bythe phrase linker

ý-. We stop at the linker and look at the

grammatical names before it and the linker itself. Thisparticular linker is called “a sign of the owner”. It affectsthe grammatical name to which it has been appended. Toexplain its effect properly and fully would be a major exercisethough, as mentioned before, you will find more about it inthe Illuminator Dictionary; try looking up L

/+#-ýë7Ü-…- or

search for “term of the owner”. For the moment, we will saythat it makes the primitive grammatical name into a concretenoun, a verb, or other other part of speech carrying meaningsuch as an adjective or adverb. In this particular case,7.#<-ý-

is functioning as a concrete noun that is the officialTibetan translation equivalent for the Sanskrit term “ārya”. Ārya is usually translated into English with “noble one” thesedays. It is a good translation though, unfortunately, mostpeople think it just means “very fine” and do not understand


the specific meaning that Buddha gave to it. The loss ofmeaning involved in that is great, which is why some peopleprefer to use the Sanskrit “ārya”.

After that comes a run of three grammatical names one afterthe other;

/g-;Ü<-/{+- followed by what looks like a linkerý7Ü-

. The ý7Ü-

is actually two linkers joined together: ý-

whichis the sign of the owner mentioned earlier with the linker

7Ü-joined into it.

If we investigate the /g-;Ü<-/{+-

part, we find out that itcomes out to two, separate units of meaning. The first is twogrammatical names which, together, make one unit ofmeaning. It is

/g-;Ü<- which can be either the noun

“auspiciousness” or the adjective “auspicious”. It is followedby a single grammatical name that is one unit of meaning;it is /{+-

which is the noun “eight”. Then, finishing this runis the phrase linker

ý- which is another term of the owner,

the same as before. It turns the whole thing so far into aconcrete noun phrase. Thus, for this run, we have a phrase“that which is the eight auspiciousnesses”.

There is a second linker after that, so we have to look at thatimmediately. It is

7Ü- which, by definition in Tibetan grammar,

is a connective case marker. When you see it, it says to you,“What is to the left of me is joined to what is to the right ofme in a connective case relationship”. Tibetan grammar haseight cases, sometimes listed as seven. The connective caseis the sixth case.

L If you are not sure what a “case” is, then you mustgo and learn more of your own language. To translate,


you have to know the grammar of both source andtarget languages.

The connective case of Tibetan is similar to the “genitive”or “possessive” case of English. However, it is not exactlythe same. To find out exactly what is happening here, wehave to look to the right. So we move on to the next run oftext.

Next comes a grammatical name 2Ý#<-

followed by a phraselinker <ß-

. The grammatical name means “line of verse”. The<ß- linker is functioning to show how the action of a verb is

being done. You could say that 2Ý#<-<ß-

is an adverb. Again,we have to look to the right so see where the verb is.

Next comes the grammatical name /%+-

followed by the linkerý- again. The grammatical name is functioning as a verb.

The verb is the past tense form of the verb “to cut”, meaning“has been cut”. The linker again has the sense of producinga concrete noun type of thing. When you make a noun outof a verb you have a gerund and that is what we have here.

Now we have to put all of that together. We have found theverb that the

<ß- linker and the grammatical name

2Ý#<-modify. We have a verb phrase

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-. It means

“that which has been cut up into lines of verse”. In otherwords, “a setting into verse” or “a versification”.

The easier and better way to translate this is not to dig throughthe individual intertshegs as we have just done but torecognize the whole thing

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý- as the official Tibetan

translation for prose that has been set into the particular typeof Sanskrit verse called “gatha”. Gatha is a type of verse that


has a particular rhythm and has four lines per verse. InTibetan verse, the Sanskrit system of rhythm is not kept but

the need for four lines per verse when talking about 2Ý#<-

<ß-/%+-ý- was kept. The literal translation tells us about the

verb and adverb combination but it doesn’t give us this extrainformation. This illustrates the point, developed furtheron, that you need a lot of knowledge to be able to translateTibetan.

Here is another point that would not be immediately obvious. There is a term of the owner on the end of

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-which makes it into a noun type of verb. However, that doesnot mean that you can jump to the conclusion that it means“verse”. There is a term

2Ý#<-/%+- in Tibetan, which, if you

look, seems to be an abbreviation of 2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

. Manytranslators do jump to this conclusion. However, that is anerror. The term

2Ý#<-/%+- is a noun, pure and simple. It

means “verse”. However, 2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

is a verbal expressionand it is a gerund and Tibetan verb theory gives it a veryspecial explanation. If we were to translate this here simplyas “verse”, we would be making a mistake. By using theparticular construction that he did, the author was tellingus in the title that this is a case not of “verse” but of something“having been set into verse (by him, the author)”. In thisprayer, he has taken various teachings of the Buddha, putthem together, and set them to verse, too. He did not write“verse” in the title as many have translated but wrote thatthis has been made into verse, which is what he did. Thisis an excellent example of how easy it is, not knowing thedetails of Tibetan grammar, to make wrong assumptions,and to lose or change the meaning in the process. Friends,there is a lot to learn!


Next comes the end of the title with another grammaticalname followed by a phrase linker. The

/º¥#<- is a grammati-

cal name functioning as a verb. In Sanskrit, and in Tibetanfollowing it, book titles are ended with a verb that says,“resides here”. This verb here is that verb. English book titlesdo not use that system. Instead titles are simply written asthe title, therefore, we pass over the current term and do nottranslate it. The phrase linker

<ëÊ at the end of the title is one

of a particular set of phrase linkers called “completing terms”. You might like to look that up in the Illuminator underLJë#<-2Ý#-

. Completing terms have the purpose of showingthat a complete expression has been brought to a close. Theyare the equivalent of an English full stop (American readers,this means a period). If you ask how to translate it, in thiscase it comes out as a punctuation mark, rather than text,though there is the complication that is can also function asthe verb to be followed by a full stop.

Now, we put all of this together. We have “noble ones + eightauspicious ones + connective case marker + has been set intoverse + (do not translate) + full stop”. The connective casemarker conveys, in its most general definition, the sense ofone thing being related to another. Thus we could try thisout as “the setting into verse that is related to the eightauspicious noble ones”. In proper English, with capitalizationfor the title, and with the full stop dropped because it is atitle, that comes down to “The Eight Noble Auspicious OnesSet to / in Verse”. We could shorten that to “The Eight NobleAuspicious Ones in Verse”. If we did that, we lose a littleof the meaning in the Tibetan but then in English convention,by saying “in verse” in a title, you are implying that somethinghas been set into verse, so this might be an acceptable wayof doing it. Whatever else it is, it is not “The Verses of ...”.


That translation misses the point that the author used a specificwording that indicated that this was deliberately set into verseby him.

The Introductory Note

The next thing in the text is a short note from Mipham withadvice on how to use the actual invocation. We will gothrough it briefly and partially using the method above.

Before we do though, let’s make it really clear: the phraselinkers are the key point of key points in Tibetan grammar. Thumi Sambhota, in his root text on grammar, states thatthe really important thing in understanding Tibetan languageis to understand the phrase linkers. There are several reasonsfor that and he explains them all. Above all, the linkers arepoints at which the nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs ofthe language—all of which come as the grammaticalnames—are joined together and have their specific relation-ships shown. Any Tibetan who reads a text is watching theflow and picking the linkers out as the points where therehas to be a moment of pause and estimation of what has gonebefore and what is being said about what comes next.

So, we do the same, just as was done above. The linkers aremarked in red, everything else, by definition, is grammaticalname.

:<-#$-5Ü#-Ië0-ý-,-*ë#-09-7+Ü-29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-iá/-ý-/+è-/-8Ü+-/5Ü,-¸¥-eè+-ý9-7b²9-/<-%Ü-,<-8Ü+-:-e7ëÊ Ê


If you recite this one time at the beginning of anyundertaking, it will cause it to be accomplished easily andin accordance with your wishes. Therefore, turn yourattention to it.

Notice that there are many linkers in this run of text. Thismakes the text easy to understand. There is lots of directiongiven by the linkers for how the various grammatical namesshould be understood and how they relate to each other. Compare this with the first verse of the prayer in which somelines have almost no linkers and can, therefore, be verydifficult to understand.

The first run starts with the grammatical name :<-

meaningaction or job or work and ends with

#$-5Ü#- which is two

phrase linkers that have a predefined function; it means“something”. Literally, it is “some work”. The next itemis Ië0-ý-

the grammatical name Ië0-

followed by the linkerý-; this is the present tense of the verb

Ië0-ý- meaning “to

begin” or “to start” or “to undertake” something and againthe term of the owner on the end makes it into a noun, so“the beginning of something”. Following that is the linker,-

which has many different meanings; in this case, it is likethe preposition “at” or, because this is about time, it couldbe “when”. Following that is the grammatical name

*ë#-followed by the linker

0- which has the linker

9- joined into

it. The *ë#-

means the initial position as opposed to the endposition; the

0- added to it is another form of the

ý- term of

the owner; the 9-

is an instance of a specific type of linkercalled a “la-equivalent” that shows where or when in thiscase, a verbal action is done. Altogether,

*ë#-09- means “at

the beginning” that is, before anything else.


The two phrases Ië0-ý-,-

and *ë#-09-

both seem to be saying“at the beginning”. What is the difference between them? The Ië0-ý-

means “when you start some undertaking”. The*ë#-0- is a very general word for the earliest time. So we have,

“When you start out on some undertaking, the first thing...”.

Following that is a linker 7+Ü-

which is the pronoun “this”.

Following that is the run 29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-

; three grammaticalnames followed by the linker

,-. The 29-

is a grammaticalname functioning as the adverb “time” meaning number oftimes that something is done;

#%Ü#- is a grammatical name

functioning as the noun “one”; /Bë+-

is a grammatical namefunctioning as the past tense of the verb

Bë+-ý-, to express

verbally. The ,-

here is showing a conditional case. Thuswe have “if you express /say one time...”.

The next run is iá/-ý-

which is a grammatical name functioningas the past tense of the intransitive verb

7iá/-ý- with the linkerý-

which again provides a noun-like, that is, gerundialmeaning, to the verb. This means “the accomplishment” ofa task.

The next run is /+è-/-

which again is a grammatical namefollowed by a linker. This linker, like the

ý- and 0-

we havealready seen, is a term of the owner and makes the grammati-cal name it is attached to more concrete. In this case, the/+è-/-

is a noun in Tibetan but has to be translated as anadjective in English; “easily, comfortably, without trouble”. It modifies the preceding term “accomplishment” so wehave literally, “an accomplishment that is an easy type ofaccomplishment”.


Next we have the run 8Ü+-/5Ü,-¸¥-

which consists of onegrammatical name followed by two linkers. The

8Ü+- is a

grammatical name functioning as a noun. It is a general wordfor ordinary, mentating kind of mind. The

/5Ü,- after it

provides a meaning of “consistent with, according to howsomething is”, so we have “as it has been thought of”. Thefinal linker

¸¥- is like the linker

<ß- which we saw in the title.

It means that we need to find the verb to go with what hasjust been said.

The verb is immediately to the right. It is in the next run whichis eè+-ý9-

. First is a grammatical name eè+-

functioning asa verb. This is the verb “to do”. It is followed by

ý9- which

is two linkers joined together, ý-

and 9-

. The first one is ourconcretizing linker again. It makes the verb into a gerund,a noun-like verb, again. The second one shows the locationat which a verbal action is done. The two together are exactlylike the

*ë#-09- already seen earlier in the sentence. To find

out what the verb is, we have to look to the right again. Wefind the next run of

7b²9-/<- which consists of a grammatical

name 7b²9-

followed by another double linker /<-

. Thegrammatical name

7b²9- is a grammatical name functioning

as a verb and this is the verb we were looking for. The verbis an auxiliary verb used to give the meaning “will becomea certain way”. Combined with the previous verb and thephrase before that, we get “will happen that it is done in away that is according to how mind thinks about it”. In otherwords, it will get done according to how the person involvedwould like to see it happen.

The last run has a double linker on the end. The first linkeris our concretizing

/- again. So that just makes all of what

we just said into a concrete thing. The <-

following that is


a linker that requires a lot of explanation but comes downto meaning, “because of that being so”.

The next run is two linkers %Ü-,<-

. This is a standard phrasethat means “whatever else you do”.

The next run is 8Ü+-:-

which is the grammatical name 8Ü+-

that we saw just before, meaning thinking or mentating mind. The :-

is a linker that again shows the location of a verbalaction (look up “la equivalent” in the Illuminator). If we lookto the right we find the run

e7ëÊ. This is actually

e-7ëÊ, the

grammatical name e-

with the linker 7ëÊ

joined into it. Weseparate them, as before, to understand the meaning. Thegrammatical name

e- is the verb we are looking for. It is the

future tense of the verb “to do” and translates exactly as “shalldo” though that particular form of English, has, unfortunatelybecause it is the correct meaning, fallen out of favour. Thatmeans we have something like “shall do in the thinking mind”. As with the “set into verse” phrase that we found in the title,8Ü+-:-e-

is a verb phrase that specifically translates a Sanskritverb phrase. It means “to keep your attention on something”.

Finally, there is the linker 7ëÊ

which is the same type of linkeras the <ëÊ

in the title. It is spelled differently whenever it isused to fit with the grammatical name to which it is beingapplied. This is another aspect of linkers that has to be learnedbut we do not have time to go into it here. Again theIlluminator shows all the details. In short, this is providingthe full stop at the end of the sentence.

If you put all of that together, you will find out that it comesout as in the translation provided.


The First Verse

The first verse is a four-lined verse, just as we would expectfrom having understood the wording of the title. The sameprocedure for parsing text should be applied to this verse,too.

>ù) [$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê

Before we even get to the first line, there is the mantric syllable>ù. Syllable is correct here and it is called L

7oá- in Tibetan;

look this up in the Illuminator for an extensive explanation. That syllable sums up the enlightened body, speech, and mindof the buddhas, so it does include all auspiciousness withinit, and that is why it is there.

Now for the first line. This line is a long flow of grammaticalnames with a linker

ý7Ü- at the very end. As mentioned above,ý7Ü-

is actually two separate linkers joined into one. Thisoccurs on the next two lines as well so, in order to see thelinkers properly and hence to understand this more easily,we separate these linkers into their parts like this:

[$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý-7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°-7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê

Now let’s look at the first line again. We run into a problemstraight away and this is a problem that all Tibetans face, too.


There is a long string of grammatical names [$-rÜ+-F0-+#-

9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/- starting the line and no phrase linkers to show

how they are related and no other indication of when an actualunit of meaning starts and ends. What should we do?

One of the features of Tibetan language is that there is nothingto show where any given unit of meaning begins and ends. It is not like English where we have the convenience of singlewords which are always separated by a space so that theyare very readily identifiable. In fact, there is no way, inTibetan, to know where one actual name begins and endsexcept to know all the words of the language! So here, weare confronted with the fact that you have to do a lot oflearning of Tibetan just to be able to read the language,definitely more than with English. You might find thisunpalatable. The world these days wants everything to be“spoon-fed easy”. I am sorry to tell you that Tibetan is notlike that. It takes an extraordinary investment of time to getto the point where you can truly understand what a text issaying. Right now, before going further, you might wantto consider whether it is worth the investment of your time. If you think it is, well, there is some real learning ahead ofyou.

The first line, when cut up into units of meaning is like this:[$-rÜ+- F0-+#- 9$-/5Ü,- T©,-iá/-ý- 7ÜÊ

The [$-rÜ+-

, F0-+#-

, 9$-/5Ü,-

, and T©,-iá/-

are calledgrammatical name equivalents. They are two (and it can bemore) grammatical names written one after the other thatfunction as a single grammatical name. That is why they are


called grammatical name equivalents. They are to be takenas a single unit of meaning.

This particular situation raises the issue touched on above. With Tibetan, you have to know two things. You have tobe able to recognize the individual units of meaning and youalso have to know enough about the subject concerned thatyou know how these individual units of meaning will relateto each other in cases like this where all the necessary linkershave been left out. The first need is like having a dictionaryknowledge of words and the second is like knowing howyou would add phrase linkers to the stream of names so thattheir meaning would be correctly understood. The first iscan be learned on your own but the second generally needsboth experience with the subjects involved and knowledgegained from others.

Well, we have the list of grammatical name equivalents forthe first line. What about the linkers on the line? The

ý- on

the end of T©,-iá/-

gives the concrete sense mentioned earlierand in this case gives the sense of the whole line being onebig grammatical name. It tells you that this whole line shouldbe taken as one thought or concept that is being presentedwithin the verse. This is hard to know without knowledgeof the subject and also a lot of experience. All right you say,what do the Tibetans do? The answer, you’ll be mollifiedto hear, is that they spend years when they are young readingthese things and having them explained. Later, if they stayaround dharma, they keep learning and learning, so that theydo know how these things work. In the end, they build upa huge body of knowledge and a feeling for how it works. There is no shortcut anywhere in the system, despite whatanyone might tell you.


Finally, we have an 7ÜÊ

at the end of the line. This is a phraselinker that shows the connective case. It shows a relationship,a connection, between what is to the left and what is to theright. In other words, the noun meaning to the left is shownto have a relationship, it is said in Tibetan grammar, to thetext on the right. Just how much of what is to the left andwhat is to the right is connected together by this linker issomething that you have to work out. Again, that requiresknowledge and experience. The connected text to the rightis the text of the next line and, specifically, it is the first unitof meaning of the next line. The

/g-;Ü<- which is the first

grammatical name equivalent on the second line is beingjoined with the whole of this first line. We have beenastounded to see how many translations of this prayer throwout this phrase linker and lose the all-important meaningof it.

Now for the second line:

Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°-7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ

The lines starts out with a run of grammatical names /g-

;Ü<-dë#<-/%°- followed by the phrase linker

7Ü-. The grammati-

cal names turn out to be three units of meaning: /g-;Ü<-

asa noun meaning “auspiciousness”,

dë#<- as a noun meaning

“direction”, and /%°-

as the noun “ten”. We are not sure atthis point what goes where but we’ll tentatively think thatthe “auspiciousness” is what is connected to the previousline and that “ten” and “directions” go together because “tendirections” is a common concept of Indian and Tibetancultures. The phrase linker

7Ü- at the end of this set of

grammatical names is the same as before and indicates that


“ten directions” is connected with something to the right ofthe phrase linker.

The next run is the single grammatical name 5Ü$-

with thephrase linker

,- attached to it. The

5Ü$- means “field” as in

buddha field. It is, apparently, what is connected to thepreceding “ten directions” by the

7Ü- following the “ten

directions”. Thus we have “the fields of the ten directions”. The phrase linker

,- can have many meanings— L check

the Illuminator Dictionary—here it is a phrase connector actingas a case marker that shows the place where an intransitiveverb does its work. We know that because we have lookedahead and seen that the next run of text is

/º¥#<-ý-, and the

grammatical name /º¥#<-

in it is a grammatical namefunctioning as a verb. It is an intransitive verb meaning “toreside, to be situated”. Now we can understand the functionof the immediately preceding

,- phrase linker as one that

shows the place where the intransitive action is occurring. It shows the place where something or someone is residing. Now we know that “something or someone is residing inthe fields of the ten directions”. Having more linkers makesit easier to understand how the grammatical names shouldbe taken.

The verb has the phrase linker ý-

following it. Again, thishas the effect of turning the verb into a noun-like verb, thatis, a gerund. Following that, at the very end of the line, thereis the phrase linker

8ÜÊ. This is a variant spelling of the

7ÜÊwe have now seen many times. It has the same meaning,namely, it is a connective case marker. There is a differencein usage, even though the meaning is the same but that isbeyond the scope of this discussion; again, look up the termsinvolved in the Illuminator Dictionary. Now we know that


something to the right is “the someone or something dwellingin the fields of the ten directions”. We will have to look atthe third line to find out who or what that is.

Thus, for the second line, we tentatively have that the /g-

;Ü<- at the beginning of the line is related to the words of the

first line, and that everything after that on the line is a clause“residing in the fields of the ten directions”, and that the whoor what of that clause can be found on the third line.

Now for the third line:

Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Ü-2ì#<Ê

The first run on this line has several grammatical namesfollowed by a phrase linker. The grammatical names are<$<-{<-&ë<-

which breaks down into two units of meaning:<$<-{<- meaning “buddha” and

&ë<- meaning “dharma”.

The +$-

phrase linker joined to the end of that is a phrase linkerwith one of five possible meanings according to Tibetangrammar. Here it has the function of separating items in alist. To know that, we would have to look at the text to theright, again. The text to the right contains

+#è-7¸¥,- which

is a grammatical name equivalent meaning saṅgha. Thiswhole phrase

<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,- is a very common

phrase meaning “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha”. Werecognize that and so understand that the

+$- linker here is

separating items of a list, just like the English “and” usedfor the same purpose.

The next run has two linkers at the end: +#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Ü-

. The first unit of meaning

+#è-7 ¥̧,- has already been recognized


as the noun “saṅgha”. The 7.#<-

following it has a ý-

linkeron it. This is the same term as in the title;

7.#<-ý- is

functioning as a concrete noun and is the official translationequivalent of “ārya” or “noble one”. Following that, thereis another

7Ü- which we now know to be a phrase linker that

always shows the connective case. The +#è-7¸¥,-

belongs withthe first part of the line. The

7.#<-ý- can’t go with that

because, just like with the use of “and” in English, the presenceof +$-

shows the end of a list. Actually, in normal Tibetanusage, it is usually the other way around; lists are writtenwith +$-

coming after the first item of the list as in as “buddhaand dharma, saṅgha“. However, in this case, it is well knownthat “saṅgha” is the end of the list. This is an important pointbecause many translations have joined the

7.#<-ý- with

“saṅgha”.

The 7Ü-

after the 7.#<-ý-

says that the 7.#<-ý-

is related tosomething on the right of it. To the right we have thegrammatical name

2ì#<Ê ending the line, and this is what

the 7.#<-ý-

is connected with. Connective case in Tibetanhas two main uses, one to show that something belongs tosomething else or is connected to it somehow or other, andone to show that something is a certain type of thing. Thesecond meaning is the meaning here. The

2ì#<Ê means a

group of things taken together; a group, assembly, mass,etcetera. The connective case marker to the left of it showsthe meaning “which group?” and that is answered by “thenoble ones” to the left of the marker. Thus it is “the nobleone’s group”. When we arrive at that conclusion, we are notsurprised because we know that Buddhism defines its primarynoble principles as the Three Jewels, which are the buddha,dharma, and saṅgha just mentioned. In other words “theassemblies of noble ones” is referring to the buddhas, dharmas,


and saṅghas. And which buddhas, dharmas, and sanghasare we talking about? We know that because of seeing thatthe connective case marker at the end of the second line joinsbuddha, dharma, and saṅgha with “residing in the fields ofthe ten directions”. We have some progress!

Now for the fourth line:

Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê

The first run is short: ´¥,-

is a grammatical name followedimmediately by a

:- phrase linker. The grammatical name´¥,-

means “all” and the :-

can be a variant way of writingthe ,-

seen in the second line. We look to the right to seewhether or not we can confirm that the

:- might be like that

and find a run of three grammatical names followed by alinker. The first two grammatical names look like a singleunit of meaning that is functioning as the verb “pay homageto”. So we see that the

,- is showing the location of the action

and with that we have “paying homage to all”. Reading backfrom that, we see that this fits; “paying homage to all theassemblies of noble ones, the buddhas...”.

The next run is the grammatical name /+#-

followed by thephrase linker

%#-. The grammatical name is functioning as

the first person singular pronoun, “I” and the phrase linkeris a pluralizer specifically for personal pronouns. Thus the/+#-%#-

means “we” or “us”.

From there to the end we have three more grammatical namesand no more linkers. They resolve into two units of meaning. The first is

/g-;Ü<-, which we have already seen twice now,

a grammatical name equivalent functioning as the noun


“auspiciousness”. The second is the grammatical name;ë#Ê functioning as a verb meaning “may it happen!”. Thus

it seems that this line has two parts to it. The first is payinghomage to all that has preceded and the second, followingthat, is an prayer that “auspiciousness could happen for us”.

Now, how do we connect the two parts? The text doesn’ttell us because the length of the verse was too small for theauthor to have room to put in the linker that would tell aswhat the relationship is. If you go to those people who havelearned the meaning from their teachers, who have in turnlearned the meaning from their teachers, and so on, then youfind out that it is an agentive case linker that is missing. Itis “by the action of having paid homage to all the assemblies,who themselves are the embodiment of ultimate auspicious-ness, may we have this auspiciousness come to us!”

Thumi Sambhota himself, in his root text on grammar saysthat, by really knowing the linkers and how they work, youcan understand text, like the above, that does not have thelinkers explicitly shown. Actually, you need that knowledgeand you also need a vast body of learning gained from thepeople who do know. This line is a good illustration of thisimportant point of grammar.

Now we have seen all the parts of the first verse and gaineda partial translation. Let us go through it all over again, tryingto take it further.

[$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê


Previously wdid not do much work on the first line but justleft it as a long listing of nouns ending with a connection,we think, to the “auspiciousness” mentioned at the beginningof the second line.

The first line says, “[$-rÜ+-

“ which is a term meaning thevarious types of existence that come into appearance. It hasthe sense of one or all types of existence which would appearto beings and be known. It can refer either to all types ofexistence that are known to all types of beings-—which wouldbe all of samsara and all of nirvana—or it can refer to eitherone. In this case, it refers to all the types of existence thatappear to the beings both those of nirvana and those ofsamsara.

Then it says, “F0-+#-

“ which is a technical term of Buddhismmeaning the complete purity that is the hallmark ofenlightenment. Buddhahood is described as complete puritybecause it has had all of the impurities of samsara removed fromit. Alternatively, if you are talking in a primordial way, whichthis happens to be doing, “complete purity” refers to theprimordially completely pure situation, the primordial realitythat is free of all the impurities that could occur if it fell intothe ignorance of samsara.

Then it says, “9$-/5Ü,-

“ which means the nature of something. For example, if you have a fire, that is the thing itself andthe nature of that fire is that it is hot and burning. The thingitself here is the complete purity of primordial reality. Thenature of that complete purity is that it comes out intoappearance for the sake of sentient beings in samsara. Whenit does come out, there is another technical term to describethe specific way that it comes out. That is

T©,-iá/- spontaneous


existence. Spontaneous existence is a very special word usedonly to describe the way that reality works, it is never usedto describe the way that samsara works. It is spontaneousbecause it happens without the karmic process of samsara,without the need of samsaric cause and effect.

The ý-

at the end of the line gives the sense that the whole,long-winded description ends there. This can be explainedgrammatically but it is very picky and difficult. The otherway to know that this is how it works is to have learned theconcepts involved. Whether you do it grammatically orthrough the meaning of the dharma teaching, that is howit comes out. So, what is this first line? It says, “apparentexistence--all of it, both samsara and nirvana--is the completepurity of primordial enlightenment come into appearance,and the way that it comes into appearance is its nature, whichis that whatever it appears as comes as spontaneous existence”. That’s a mouthful but it is what is said in that first line. Itboils down to “Apparent existence, complete purity’s nature,spontaneous presence”. We have unravelled that piece sowe’ll put that aside.

Now the 7Ü-

at the end fo the first line connects all of that towhat? Well, it turns out that it is connecting the first line witheverything that follows all the way through the second andthird lines. It is very elegantly done. It immediately connectswith the second line’s

/g-;Ü<- which means “auspiciousness”

but that one word “auspiciousness” is then specified moreextensively by everything following it in the second and thirdlines. This is how it goes:

Apparent existence, as a function of primordialenlightenment, does have auspiciousness. What, in


particular is that auspiciousness? It is the nobleassemblies, all of them. What are they? They are thebuddhas, dharmas, and sanghas who reside in thebuddha fields, buddha fields that exist throughoutthe length and breadth of space, or, the Indians andTibetans would say, throughout the ten directions.

The dë#<-/%°-

meaning “the ten directions” is an Indian conceptthat the Tibetans followed when the Buddhadharma wasbrought from India to Tibet. It is the same as the English “inthe four quarters” or perhaps “up, down, and in everydirection” because eight of the ten directions are the fourcardinal and four intermediate directions and the remainingtwo are up and down.

The 5Ü$-

meaning “fields” is a generic word, used very muchlike “a field” in physics. It is used to mean a whole, coherentregion that operates according to certain rules. There arebuddha fields as many as there are buddhas and there areall sorts of other fields, two, including all the regions ofsamsara. Although the meaning here is “buddha field” inparticular, the word used is not “buddha field” but just “field”and we should stay with that.

The rest of the second line shows that something or someoneis residing in those fields. The third line starts out byconnecting that to the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas asthe ones who reside in those fields. The third line ends with“assemblies of the noble ones” which is the key point. InTibetan word order, by putting the “assembly of noble ones”here at the end, it rounds the whole thing out and sums upeverything that has been said so far into the key point. Thebuddhas and so on residing in the fields of the ten directions


is important but it is the fact that they are the noble ones asa whole that is the key point of this verse. That is for thesimple reason that the noble ones that are the buddhas,dharmas, and sanghas are the ultimate auspiciousness of allof samsara and nirvana. This verse is making that kind ofpoint.

There are several important issues in all of this. Firstly, eachbuddha field has its own buddha, and that buddha has hisown dharma that he teaches, and his own saṅgha that hetrains. There are infinite buddha fields so it is the “buddhas,dharmas, and saṅghas” not “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha”in the singular. Every translation we have seen so far makesthis mistake of setting out “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha”in the singular.

Next, the phrase 7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

“noble assemblies” doesnot refer to the

+#è-7 ¥̧,- sangha mentioned immediately before.

This is another major error seen in most translations. Thereare many Buddhist texts where the phrase

7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê“assembly of noble ones” does refer to the sangha, becausethe saṅgha by definition is an “assembly of noble ones”. However-—and it is a really important point of understandingin Buddhism in general—the buddha and the dharma arealso defined as

7.#<-ý- “noble ones”. In this case, when

it says 7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

it is specifically referring to all of thegroups of the noble principles altogether, which is the ThreeJewels, the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas. This also is akey point; the whole meaning of the sort of auspiciousnessbeing discussed in this first verse is summed up with thisphrase 7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

“assembly of noble ones” so, if it ismis-translated, the whole meaning of the verse is immediatelylost.


One of the reasons why this verse is so mis-translated is that,while it is well known in all Buddhist traditions of Asia thatthe Three Jewels, which are by definition the noble ones, arethe ultimate type of auspiciousness, it is not so well knownto Western practitioners and translators. You can find outmore about the auspiciousness of the Three Jewels as a wholeby reading our book “Unending Auspiciousness” whichcontains all of Mipham’s commentary on The Sūtra of theRecollection of the Noble Three Jewels and Lama Tony’s extensivecommentary on the same, too. It will make this particularpoint of the auspiciousness of the Three Jewels very clear. The book will be available in 2009 through our Padma KarpoTranslation Committee web-site mentioned in the introductionand through major distributors.

There is more contained here. Where are the noble onesfound? They are found in all of the buddha fields throughoutall directions of space. In other words, the noble ones arethe ultimate auspiciousness and they are not just localizedhere on planet earth with Śhākyamuni Buddha, his dharma,and his sangha but are found throughout the whole of space,in their respective buddha fields. This is the imagery of theverse. The auspiciousness that comes from primordialenlightenment is the ultimate auspiciousness appearing inthe form of the noble ones and that is all pervasive.

Well, if it is like that, what do we do to connect with it? Well,the fourth line takes us right there. That auspiciousness iseverywhere, even if we do not directly perceive it. All wehave to do is connect to it. One way of connecting withsomething is to put one’s pride aside so that it can beconnected to. To do that, in Buddhism, one makes aprostration. Having made the connection that way, this verse


ends by making the prayer that that very auspiciousness ofthe noble ones will come into one’s own life.

Now we understand the prayer in detail. For our next roundof translation, we will put all of it together. However, to dothis, we’ll take the specific approach of going backwards,from end to beginning. This is a very useful technique whentranslating Tibetan. It has the enormous fault that the syntacticmeaning of the Tibetan is lost but has the great value ofshowing, usually, the meaning in a flow of English that canbe understood. Here it is, from the end and going backwards:

May there be auspiciousness for us because of havingpaid homage to all of the assemblies of noble ones—the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas who reside inthe fields of the ten directions—who themselves arethe auspiciousness of the apparent existence whichis the nature of complete purity, being spontaneouslyexistent.

Now, in another round of translation, we can look at theTibetan from the beginning again and compare it to theEnglish, this time to recover as much as possible of any lostsyntactic meaning.

What is this syntactic meaning business? Literal meaningis the meaning contained in the words themselves. Syntacticmeaning is the meaning contained in the arrangement of thewords. It is very common for Tibetan Buddhist texts not onlyto have syntactic meaning in general but to have verypronounced levels of syntactic meaning that have beendeliberately built into them by the author. This usuallyappears as a progression, a development that can be clearly


seen in the Tibetan, but which can be very difficult to get intoEnglish because of the differences in the ways of compositionof the two languages.

The progression of the first verse here is very typical of TibetanBuddhist texts. It starts with the seed-syllable OṂ. This isa completely meaningless word in itself; it is primordialutterance which is intended to capture the whole ofenlightenment in one, primordial, grunt. So we start out witha “grunt” of primordial enlightenment. Then the words startwith suggesting a picture of all the kinds of apparent existencethat there are. Where does that existence come from? It isthe complete purity of enlightenment manifesting. Thatmanifestation is not the complete purity itself but the natureof the complete purity. And what is the nature of thatcomplete purity? It is spontaneous existence. And then what? Well, this sort of apparent existence has an auspicious sideto it. That auspicious side is found pervading all directions,everywhere, in the buddha fields. It is the buddhas, dharmas,and sanghas, in those fields. And could we sum them up? Yes, they are the noble ones, the Three Jewels taken as a whole. Now, if we were to pay homage to all of them, we would bepaying homage to the ultimate auspiciousness as a whole,the auspiciousness of the three main principles of enlighten-ment which are beyond samsara. Therefore, we do payhomage to them. And, we pray that, by having done so, wewill be connected with that auspiciousness with the resultthat there will be auspiciousness for us.

That is the whole content of the first verse laid out exactlyaccording to the syntactic meaning of the Tibetan. You cansee that there is an enormous amount of information containedin the sequence of the Tibetan words as well as the literal


meaning of the words themselves. A whole story is told andit is that story, the syntactic meaning, that we would like totry to preserve in our English translation.

The next step is to try to put that into verse that attempts tocapture both the words and syntax of the Tibetan. Beforedoing that though, let me comment that there are two waysof writing verse in Tibetan, roughly speaking. One is toconstruct the verse so that each line of a verse is self-containedand is written as verse itself. The other is to write a long pieceof prose of the exact length required for the whole verse thento artificially cut up into lines. Mipham’s first verse is of thesecond type. It is one very long sentence spread through thefirst three and a half lines followed by a very short sentenceon the last half of the fourth line. We could try to force ourtranslation to follow the exact line breaks of the Tibetan. Thatsometimes is nice if it can be done. However, we could alsowrite out the prose for the whole thing and then cut it upconveniently so that it works in English, just as the authorhas done for the Tibetan. Here we go:

Apparent existence as complete-purity naturespontaneous presence’s

Auspiciousness, the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghasresiding

In the fields of the ten directions, the assembly ofnoble ones;

Paying homage to them all may there be auspicious-ness for us!

This captures the literal meaning exactly. It loses a littlesyntactic meaning-—namely the loss of the vastness of the


auspiciousness stated before the details of the auspiciousness. However, it is not smooth for a final translation.

There are various ways that we could improve on it. Onethought that comes to mind is that the homage could be movedto the very beginning of the verse, as has been done to verygood effect with the remaining verses of the prayer. However,when that is tried—and we have tried it in every conceivableway—we find that there is no way to do it without losinglarge amounts of the syntactic meaning. Therefore, we haverejected it firmly as a possibility, even though it would makeconsistency with the arrangement of the remaining verses. There is great importance here in the progression of meaning:“OṂ … primordial reality… comes out into auspiciousness…” and so on.

We found other ways to move things around while still re-taining much of the syntactic meaning but all of them raninto trouble sooner or later. Therefore, we took anotherapproach. The first line is without verbs in the Tibetan butin fact, when you understand the meaning as mentionedearlier, it is a complicated statement that includes the idea“apparent existence is…” and that does have a verb in it. Therefore, we will rewrite the first line as a sentence on itsown. For purists this might seem like a big step but, if youunderstand what the first line is actually doing, this is inaccord with it. We can do the same thing with the contentof the second and third lines, too. In this way we get atranslation that reads very smoothly in English, preservesthe literal meaning, and captures most of the syntacticmeaning.

OṂ


Apparent existence is complete purity’s nature,spontaneous presence;

Its auspiciousness is the noble assemblies—thebuddhas, dharmas,

And saṅghas, who reside in the fields of the tendirections;

Paying homage to them all, may there be auspicious-ness for us!

As a further tip, note also how the connective case markerat the end of the first line in the Tibetan has been turned intoa possessive pronoun at the beginning of the second line inthis version. This does capture the Tibetan grammar correctly! The first line of the Tibetan is essentially one noun phrase,therefore it can be referred to with the pronoun “it” as wehave done. The Tibetan then connects that noun phrase toauspiciousness using a connective case marker, and we havedone exactly the same in the English by make the “it” intothe possessive case—which is the equivalent of the Tibetanconnective case—“its”. Yet another way to do the same thingwould be to use “whose” instead of “its”. That also fits thegrammar exactly and in the same way.

We started out by emphasizing that you must know and useTibetan grammar on its own terms and not on Westernizedmodifications of it. We’ll end up by emphasizing that youneed to know your English—or your target lan-guage’s—grammar and know it very well. When you do,you’ll be able to see ways like that this you actually can matchthe Tibetan grammar, sometimes in ways like the above, thatyou might not expect.


Remaining Verses of the Prayer

To dissect the rest of the prayer this way would make thisdocument very long. It might also be very boring becausemuch of the rest of the prayer consists of lists of items. Becauseit is mostly lists, its translation is straightforward comparedto this first verse.

Now that we have shown you the way, you could go on anddissect every line the way that we have shown you. You canthen use our translation for the prayer together with theIlluminator Dictionary to see how it is done. You can also usethe brief explanation of the meaning in the previous chapterto help you understand what is what.

In English the main point of any paragraph is usually placedat the beginning of the paragraph whereas in Tibetan the mainpoint is usually built up to and listed at the end. Thus, wewould offer the advice that these verses do go better bymoving the homage at the end of each verse in Tibetan tothe beginning in English. Nothing is lost by doing so andthe English readers have a syntax that is much more naturalfor them, making the recitation of the verses more easy.

…ë,-0è7Ü-{:-ýë-I:-/D,-+ë,-iá/-+#ë$<Ê Êe0<-ý7Ü-{,-+ý:-+#è-i#<-+ý:-+0-ýÊ Ê´¥,-:-+#ë$<-ý-{-&è9-i#<-ý-%,Ê ÊT©,-ýë-P9-7.#<-I:-i#<-+ý:-+$-,ÜÊ Ê<è0<-%,-*0<-%+-:-+#ë$<-i#<-ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê8Ü+-2Ý0-03+-ý-I:-9/-i#<-+ý:-)èÊ Ê02,-10-*ë<-ý<-/g-;Ü<-+ý:-7.è:-/ÊÊ/+è-/9-#;è#<-ý-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê


Homage to the Eight Sugatas—Dronme Gyalpo, Tsalten Dondrup Gong,Jampa’i Gyen Pal, Gedrak Pal Dampa,Kunla Gongpa Gyacher Drakpa Chen,Lhunpo Tar Phak Tsal Drak Pal,Semchen Tamche la Gong Drakpa’i Pal,Yid Tshim Dzaypa Tsal Rab Drak Pal—Even hearing their names rouses auspiciousness and

glory!

7'0-+ý:-#5ë,-¹¥-+ý:-Q,-Eë-Bè-73Ý,Ê Êÿ,-9<-#6Ü#<-+/$-0#ë,-ýë-e0<-ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê<-8Ü-XÜ$-ýë-…Ü/-ý-F0-ý9-<è:Ê Ê,0-0"7Ü-XÜ$-ýë-7.#<-0&ë#-´¥,-·â-/6$-Ê Ê>ß,:-Eë-Bè-ý+-+!9-tä-;Ü$-+$ÍÊ Ê,ë9-/ß-w-/-9:-iÜ-(Ü-0-8ÜÊ Êd#-02,-:è#<-/[0<-/g-;Ü<-+ý:-bÜ-0&ë# Êe$-&±/-<è0<-+ý7-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê

Homage to the eight bodhisatvas—Youthful Mañjuśhrī, glorious Vajrapāṇi,Avalokiteśhvara, guardian Maitreya,Kṣhitigarbha, Nivaranaviskambin,Ākāśhagarbha, and the most noble Samantabhadra,Who, holding their insignia of utpala, vajra,White lotus, Nāga Tree, jewel, moon, sword, and sun,Are the supreme ones of auspiciousness and glory.


9Ü,-&è,-#¸¥#<-0&ë#-/g-;Ü<-#<è9-bÜ-(Ê Ê7+ë+-7e³$-/ß0-/6$-8Ü+-7ë$-!-0-:Ê ÊX,-i#<-¸¥$-+$-.ß,-2ì#<-+ý:-/è7ßÊ Ê0Ü-¹¥/-{:-02,-+/$-/€ç9-7"ë9-:ë-YèÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,-D#<-0&ë#-/{+-`Ü-d#-02,-%,Ê Êdë#<-¸¥<-{:-/-0&ë+-%Ü$-+bè<-/þè+-0Ê ÊVè#-<ë#<-$ë-/ë-l,-ý<-+ý:-\è:-/7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-T-0ë-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê

Homage to the eight auspicious goddesses—The ladies of the eight excellent precious symbols—The excellent precious umbrella, auspicious golden fish,Good wish-fulfilling vase, exquisite Kamala flower,Conch of fame, glorious endless knot of perfect abun-

dance,Ever victorious victory banner, and wheel of governance—Who offer to and delight the conquerors throughout time

and space;Remembrance of your specific qualities of charm, and

so on, increases glory.

2$<-ý-&è,-ýë-/+è-7e³$-rè+-0è+-/ßÊ Ê0Ü#-Yë$-Q,-+$-{:-ýë-8 ß: -7" ë9 -r á$ - Ê Ê7.#<-þ è< -ý ë -+$ -t ä -+/$ -0 Ü# -0 Ü -/6$ÍÊ ÊF0-*ë<-r<-)è-T-J<-7"ë9-:ë-+$-Ê ÊjÜ-»¥-:-+$-0¸¥$-*ß$-Eë-Bè-%,Ê ÊýÜ-4$-9:-iÜ-0&ë+-Dè,-{:-02,-73Ý,Ê Ê<-#<ß0-#,<-<ß-+#è-:è#<-/g-;Ü<-\è:Ê Ê7'Ü#-Dè,-þë$-/-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê


Homage to the Eight Protectors of the World—Great Braḥmā, Shambhu, Narayana,Thousand-Eyed, the Kings Dhṛiṭarāṣhṭra,Virudhaka, Nāga Ruler Virūpākṣha,And Vaiśhravaṇa—who hold the divine articles ofWheel, trident, short spear, vajra,Vīṇā, sword, stūpa, and banner of victory, andIncrease the auspiciousness of virtue in the three levels’

abodes.

/+#-%#-+è$-7+Ü9-e-/-Ië0-ý-:Ê Ê#è#<-+$-(è-/9-72é-/-´ ¥, -5 Ü -,<Ê Ê7+ ë+ -+ ë, -+ý:-7. è:-/<0-+ ë, -8 Ü+ -/5 Ü, -7iá/Ê Ê/g-;Ü<-/+è-:è#<-.ß,-<ß0-2ì#<-ý9-;ë# Ê

May the undertaking we are about to begin hereHave all obstacles and harmful influences pacified,Proceed with success, then be accomplished as desired.May there be auspiciousness, goodness, and perfection.

Note that there is a progression in the second and third linesof this verse: any obstacles there to begin with being pacified,things going as planned on the way, and completion as desiredat the end. It might not be obvious but it is there in theTibetan.

Q$-2é-/Bë+-,-+è-(Ü,-+ë,-´¥,-7iá/Ê Ê(:-2é-/Bë+-,-HÜ-:0-/6$-ýë-0*ë$-Ê Ê#8ß:-¸¥-7'ß#-2é-/Bë+-,-dë#<-:<-{:Ê Êe-/-Ië0-¸¥<-/Bë+-,-7+ë+-+ë,-7.è:Ê Ê{æ,-¸¥-/Bë+-,-2é-+ý:-i#<-7e ë9 -; Ü<Ê Ê/+ è -: è#<-. ß, -2 ì#<-/<0-+ ë, -8 Ü+ -/5 Ü, -


7iá/Ê ÊZÜ#-…Ü/-´¥,-e$-0$ë,-0*ë-$è<-:è#<-`ÜÊ Ê+ë,-´¥,-7iá/-ý9-{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<-#<ß$<Ê Ê

The supreme conqueror has said that:If recited at on rising, the day’s plans will all be achieved;If recited on sleeping, good dreams will be seen;If recited on entering battle, there will be total victory;If recited on starting a project, the plans for it will succeed;If recited continuously, there will be an excellence of glory,

fame, and wealth,Perfection of goodness, and accomplishment of projects

as desired;And all meaningfulness of cleansing evil and obscuration

and rising to the definite goodness of higher stationswill be accomplished.

In Tibetan, when words are going to be attributed to someone,as in “The supreme conqueror has said that…”, the attributionis usually placed after the quotation, as seen above. The{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<-#<ß$<Ê

at the very end of that section is “Thesupreme conqueror has said that …”. Immediately beforethat is the linker

ý9- which consists of our usual

ý- linker

making a concrete item out of what was said plus the 9-

whichis a linker that, like before in the introduction to the prayerby the author, shows the location. This is the tell-tale for whatis being quoted. In other words, it is what comes after “saidthat …”. Now in standard English style, the attribution isplaced at the beginning, not the end. If you do it that way,as we have done here, the meaning will be clearer to anEnglish speaker and the text will be easier to read.


Be careful when looking at the vocabulary of this section;things are not always what they seem. For example,

+ë,- is

often thought of as “meaning” but it has other meanings too. For example in

7+ë+-+ë,- it means “the purpose desired” and

comes down to meaning “plan”. Similarly /<0-+ë,-

means“purpose intended”, the things you have thought throughthat you would like to accomplish, and comes down tomeaning “plan” again.

9/-2é<-0è-‡è:-w-/7Ü-2é<-#<ß0-:-#67-(Ü-0-+$-{æ-U9-{:-bÜ-¸¥<-/6$-ýë7Ü-&-:-7'0-+ý:-+bè<-ý7Ü-Eë-Bè7Ü-8Ü+-02ì-:<-e³$-/-,ë9-/ß7Ü-+ë-;:-&è,-ýë7ëÊÊ <G-0]-:îÊÊ

This, a great jewel encrusted Doshal necklace, came forth from theoceanic mind of Jampal Gyes pa’i Dorje in the third month of theFire Monkey year, during a favourable conjunction of the planets,sun, and constellation Pushya. Sarva Mangalam.

Translated by Lama Tony Duff in the magic forest of Broceliande,the place of Merlin, Arthur, and the fairies, in April 2008, withassistance from Chris Vicevich.

TIBETAN TEXT

ÉÊ Ê7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊÊÉÊ Ê:<-#$-5Ü#-Ië0-ý-,-*ë#-09-7+Ü-29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-iá/-ý-/+è-/-8Ü+-/5Ü,- ¥̧-eè+-ý9-7b²9-/<-%Ü-,<-8Ü+-:-e7ëÊÊ >ù) [$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê…ë,-0è7Ü-{:-ýë-I:-/D,-+ë,-iá/-+#ë$<Ê Êe0<-ý7Ü-{,-+ý:-+#è-i#<-+ý:-+0-ýÊ Ê ¥́,-:-+#ë$<-ý-{-&è9-i#<-ý-%,Ê ÊT©,-ýë-P9-7.#<-I:-i#<-+ý:-+$-,ÜÊ Ê<è0<-%,-*0<-%+-:-+#ë$<-i#<-ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê8Ü+-2Ý0-03+-ý-I:-9/-i#<-+ý:-)èÊ Ê02,-10-*ë<-ý<-/g-;Ü<-+ý:-7.è:-/Ê Ê/+è-/9-#;è#<-ý-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê7'0-+ý:-#5ë,-¹¥-+ý:-Q,-Eë-Bè-73Ý,Ê Êÿ,-9<-#6Ü#<-+/$-0#ë,-ýë-e0<-ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê<-8Ü-XÜ$-ýë-…Ü/-ý-F0-ý9-<è:Ê Ê,0-0"7Ü-XÜ$-ýë-7.#<-0&ë#-´¥,-·â-/6$ÍÊ Ê>ß,:-Eë-Bè-ý+-+!9-tä-;Ü$-+$ÍÊ Ê,ë9-/ß-w-/-9:-iÜ-(Ü-0-8ÜÊ Ê

51

52 THE VERSES OF THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES

d#-02,-:è#<-/[0<-/g-;Ü<-+ý:-bÜ-0&ë# Êe$-&±/-<è0<-+ý7-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,-#¸¥#<-0&ë#-/g-;Ü<-#<è9-bÜ-(Ê Ê7+ë+-7e³$-/ß0-/6$-8Ü+-7ë$-!-0-:Ê ÊX,-i#<- ¥̧$-+$-.ß,-2ì#<-+ý:-/è7ßÊ Ê0Ü-¹¥/-{:-02,-+/$-/€ç9-7"ë9-:ë-YèÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,-D#<-0&ë#-/{+-`Ü-d#-02,-%,Ê Êdë#<-¸¥<-{:-/-0&ë+-%Ü$-+bè<-/þè+-0Ê ÊVè#-<ë#<-$ë-/ë-l,-ý<-+ý:-\è:-/7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-T-0ë-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê2$<-ý-&è,-ýë-/+è-7e³$-rè+-0è+-/ßÊ Ê0Ü#-Yë$-Q,-+$-{:-ýë-8ß:-7"ë9-rá$ÍÊ Ê7.#<-þè<-ýë-+$-tä-+/$-0Ü#-0Ü-/6$-Ê ÊF0-*ë<-r<-)è-T-J<-7"ë9-:ë-+$ÍÊ ÊjÜ-»¥-:-+$-0¸¥$-*ß$-Eë-Bè-%,Ê ÊýÜ-4$-9:-iÜ-0&ë+-Dè,-{:-02,-73Ý,Ê Ê<-#<ß0-#,<-<ß-+#è-:è#<-/g-;Ü<-\è:Ê Ê7'Ü#-Dè,-þë$-/-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê/+#-%#-+è$-7+Ü9-e-/-Ië0-ý-:Ê Ê#è#<-+$-(è-/9-72é-/-´¥,-5Ü-,<Ê Ê7+ë+-+ë,-+ý:-7.è:-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+-/5Ü,-7iá/Ê Ê/g-;Ü<-/+è-:è#<-.ß,-<ß0-2ì#<-ý9-;ë# ÊQ$-2é-/Bë+-,-+è-(Ü,-+ë,-´¥,-7iá/Ê Ê(:-2é-/Bë+-,-HÜ-:0-/6$-ýë-0*ë$ÍÊ Ê#8ß:-¸¥-7'ß#-2é-/Bë+-,-dë#<-:<-{:Ê Êe-/-Ië0-¸¥<-/Bë+-,-7+ë+-+ë,-7.è:Ê Ê{æ,-¸¥-/Bë+-,-2é-+ý:-i#<-7eë9-;Ü<Ê Ê/+è-:è#<-.ß,-2ì#<-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+-/5Ü,-7iá/Ê ÊZÜ#-…Ü/-´¥,-e$-0$ë,-0*ë-$è<-:è#<-`ÜÊ Ê+ë,-´¥,-7iá/-ý9-{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<-#<ß$<Ê Ê9/-2é<-0è-‡è:-w-/7Ü-2é<-#<ß0-:-#67-(Ü-0-+$-{æ-U9-{:-bÜ-¸¥<-/6$-ýë7Ü-&-:-7'0-+ý:-+bè<-ý7Ü-Eë-Bè7Ü-8Ü+-02ì-:<-e³$-/-,ë9-/ß7Ü-+ë-;:-&è,-ýë7ëÊÊ <G-0]-:îÊÊ

Tony Duff has spent a lifetime pursuing the Buddha’steaching and transmitting it to others. In the early1970's, during his post-graduate studies in molecularbiology, he went to Asia and met the Buddhistteachings of various South-east Asian countries. He

met Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal and has followed it since. After histrip he abandoned worldly life and was the first monk ordained in hishome country of Australia. Together with several others, he foundedthe monastery called Chenrezig Institute for Wisdom Culture wherehe studied and practised the Gelugpa teachings for several yearsunder the guidance of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Geshe Lodan, andZasep Tulku. After that, he offered back his ordination and left for theUSA to study the Kagyu teachings with the incomparable ChogyamTrungpa Rinpoche. Tony was very active in the community and wentthrough all possible levels of training that were available during histwelve year stay. He was also a core member of the Nalanda Trans-lation Committee. After Chogyam Trungpa died, Tony went to live inNepal where he worked as the personal translator for TsoknyiRinpoche and also translated for several other well-known teachers.He also founded and directed the largest Tibetan text preservationproject in Asia, the Drukpa Kagyu Heritage Project, which he oversawfor eight years. He also established the Padma Karpo TranslationCommittee which has produced many fine translations and mademany resources for translators such as the highly acclaimedIlluminator Tibetan-English Dictionary. After the year 2000, Tonyfocussed primarily on obtaining Dzogchen teachings from the bestteachers available, especially within Tibet, and translating andteaching them. He has received much approval from many teachersand has been given the titles “lotsawa” and “lama” and been stronglyencouraged by them to teach Westerners. One way he does that is byproducing these fine translations.

PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEEP.O. Box 4957KathmanduNepalhttp://www.pktc.org/pktc

the eight auspicious noble ones in verse - pktc · tradition of tibetan buddhism, called the...

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