A Chantable English Version of a Traditional Tibetan Prayer
The Basis of All Good Qualities:
a review of the Graded Path to Enlightenment
Tibetan: Yönten Zhirgyurma
Commonly called: The Foundation of All Good Qualities
Composed by: Je Tsong Khapa
English arrangement for chanting by: Gelongma Losang Drimay
First published 2008, slightly modified (first 2 verses) in May 2009
Right reliance on the kind guru—
The basis of all good qualities—
Is the root of the path. Bless me to
See this and rely with great respect.
Precious freedom of this one-time life
Is so meaningful and hard to find.
Bless me with the mind which day and night
Always takes its essence without cease.
Like a water bubble, this life is
Fleeting—it decays and then death comes.
After death, your good and bad karma
Follow you around like a shadow.
Knowing this with a firm conviction,
I'll give up even small non-virtues,
And take up all virtuous actions.
Bless me to live conscientiously.
Knowing how samsaric pleasures are
Disappointing, unreliable—
Seeking them just leads to suffering—
Bless me with the wish for Freedom's bliss.
Mindfulness, alertness, great caution,
Arise from this totally pure thought.
Freedom vows are the root of the path.
Bless me to accomplish this practice.
All mother migrators are like me,
Fallen into the samsaric sea.
I'll take on the job of freeing them.
Bless me with this bodhisattva mind.
Even with the bodhisattva mind,
Buddhahood won't come without ethics
So I'll keep the bodhisattva vows.
Bless me to train with great energy.
Calm abiding and insight combined
To dispel distractions to wrong things
And correctly see reality;
Bless me now with this unified path.
When I'm well trained in the common paths,
A good vessel for Vajrayana,
Bless me easily to enter this
Gateway for all fortunate beings.
Finding with a firm conviction that
Attaining the two siddhis depends
On observing vows and samayas,
Bless me to guard these more than my life.
Realizing the essential points
Of two stages—the heart of tantra—
Never giving up the four sessions,
Bless me to follow the gurus' words.
May the teachers of the noble path
And pure practitioners have long lives.
May outer and inner obstacles
Quickly be completely pacified.
May I enjoy glorious Dharma,
With my perfect gurus in all lives,
By completing the stages and paths,
May I soon reach Vajradhara-hood.
a review of the Graded Path to Enlightenment
Tibetan: Yönten Zhirgyurma
Commonly called: The Foundation of All Good Qualities
Composed by: Je Tsong Khapa
English arrangement for chanting by: Gelongma Losang Drimay
First published 2008, slightly modified (first 2 verses) in May 2009
Right reliance on the kind guru—
The basis of all good qualities—
Is the root of the path. Bless me to
See this and rely with great respect.
Precious freedom of this one-time life
Is so meaningful and hard to find.
Bless me with the mind which day and night
Always takes its essence without cease.
Like a water bubble, this life is
Fleeting—it decays and then death comes.
After death, your good and bad karma
Follow you around like a shadow.
Knowing this with a firm conviction,
I'll give up even small non-virtues,
And take up all virtuous actions.
Bless me to live conscientiously.
Knowing how samsaric pleasures are
Disappointing, unreliable—
Seeking them just leads to suffering—
Bless me with the wish for Freedom's bliss.
Mindfulness, alertness, great caution,
Arise from this totally pure thought.
Freedom vows are the root of the path.
Bless me to accomplish this practice.
All mother migrators are like me,
Fallen into the samsaric sea.
I'll take on the job of freeing them.
Bless me with this bodhisattva mind.
Even with the bodhisattva mind,
Buddhahood won't come without ethics
So I'll keep the bodhisattva vows.
Bless me to train with great energy.
Calm abiding and insight combined
To dispel distractions to wrong things
And correctly see reality;
Bless me now with this unified path.
When I'm well trained in the common paths,
A good vessel for Vajrayana,
Bless me easily to enter this
Gateway for all fortunate beings.
Finding with a firm conviction that
Attaining the two siddhis depends
On observing vows and samayas,
Bless me to guard these more than my life.
Realizing the essential points
Of two stages—the heart of tantra—
Never giving up the four sessions,
Bless me to follow the gurus' words.
May the teachers of the noble path
And pure practitioners have long lives.
May outer and inner obstacles
Quickly be completely pacified.
May I enjoy glorious Dharma,
With my perfect gurus in all lives,
By completing the stages and paths,
May I soon reach Vajradhara-hood.
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