An Extensive Six-Session Yoga

 
 An Extensive Six-Session Yoga
(2001 Precise Poetic Translation)

(Thun-drug-gi rnal-'byor rgyas-pa)
The First Panchen Lama (Pan-chen Blo-bzang chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan)
expanded by Pabongka Rinpoche
(Pha-bong -kha Byams-pa bstan-'dzin 'phrin-las rgya-mtsho)

translated by Alexander Berzin, 2001
Section A: Front-Generation
  
I take safe direction, till my purified state,
From the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Highest Assembly.
By the positive force of my giving and so on,
May I actualize Buddhahood to help those who wander. [3x, only for the first repetition.]
May all beings be parted from clinging and aversion,
feeling close to some and distant from others,
May they gain the joy that is specially sublime.
May they find release from the ocean of their unbearable problems.
May they never be parted from liberation's pure bliss.
To free from the fears of samsara and complacent nirvana
all wandering beings,
I take hold of the mind that wishes to gain an enlightened state,
And from this moment on, till becoming a Buddha,
I shall never forsake it, though my life be at stake.
Gurus, the Triumphant, and your spiritual offspring,
   please pay me heed:
Just as the Blissfully Gone Buddhas of the past
   reaffirmed their bodhichitta aim
And lived by the stages of bodhisattva training,
I too reaffirm my bodhichitta aim, to help those who wander,
And shall train in the stages of bodhisattva training. [3x, only for the first repetition.]
Now my life's become fruitful,
For having wonderfully attained a human existence,
Today I've awakened my Buddha-nature
And now have become a Buddhas' spiritual child.
Now, in whatever way possible
I shall undertake actions that accord with its traits,
And never defile this impeccable nature
that lacks any flaw.

  
In the sky before me, on a breath-taking throne of jewels,
On top of a water-born lotus, and mandala-discs of a sun and full moon,
Sits my root guru, Vajradhara, ruler of the all-pervasive,
With a blue-colored body, one face and two arms,
Holding vajra and bell, and embracing a motherly likeness of himself.
Emblazoned with the signs and exemplary features of a Buddha,
Adorned with lavish jeweled ornaments,
Draped with fine garments of enchanting, heavenly scarves -
The mere remembrance of you dispels all my torment.
With a nature encompassing every superlative source of direction,
You sit in the vajra position,
Your body's three spots marked with three syllables.
By rays of light from the HUM,
Guru Vajradhara from his natural abode -
JAH HUM BAM HOH - becomes nondual with you.
  
Your kindness heralds in an instant
A dawn of great bliss.
O jewel-like guru, Holder of the Vajras,
I bow at your lotus-feet.
[A-X]
OM - Vanquishing master surpassing all, with the majestic command
   of the heroic viras, I prostrate before you - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Your light equals the fire that ends a great eon
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You wear an Inexhaustible One as a crown for your dread locks
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Your fangs are bared and your face is fearsome
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You have myriad arms and blazing rays of light
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You wield an axe, a lasso made of a hooded snake, a spear,
   and a khatvanga staff - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You wear the skin of a tiger as your wrap - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Your magnificent smoke-colored body ends all obstruction;
   I bow down before you - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Vanquishing lady surpassing all, Vajra-varahi,
   I prostrate before you - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Noble mistress, with the majestic command
   of the ladies of awareness,
   you cannot be conquered by the three realms - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You destroy all fears of elemental forces with your mighty vajra
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Remaining in a vajra-seat, your eye grants invincible power
   over anything alien - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - With the form of a furious tummo wench, you desiccate Brahma
   - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Terrifying and drying up demons of mara,
   you triumph over alien factions - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - You triumph over all that can make you bewildered, dumbfounded,
   or stupefied - HUM HUM PHAT.
OM - Vajra-varahi, yogini commanding over desire,
   I bow down before you - HUM HUM PHAT.

I present you with an ocean of clouds
Of assorted outer, inner, and hidden offerings:
These I possess and those that nobody owns,
Both actually arrayed and mentally created.
Anything physical, verbal, or mental that I or others enjoy,
And the network of my constructive acts throughout the three times,
A splendid jeweled mandala, with a host of Samantabhadra offerings -
Taking these to mind, I present them to you,
My guru, my yidam, my Three Supreme Gems.
Accept them, please, by the power of compassion.
I humbly request you for inspiration.
Idam guru ratna mandalakam niryata-yami.
Just as the Blissfully Gone Buddhas have tamed (others),
Throughout the three times and the ten directions,
You likewise enact, in a play of saffron,
A Triumphant One's deeds in countless realms.
O precious guru, I make you requests.
Highly praised by Vajradhara, for us of lesser capacity,
As an exceptional field for thought more holy than
The endless circles of infinite Triumphant,
O precious guru, I make you requests.
All supreme and common actual attainments, without exception,
Follow upon correctly relating to you, my guardian, in a healthy manner.
Seeing this, I fully devote my body and even my life:
Inspire me to practice what only will please you.
Section B: Self-Generation
 
Requested like this, my supreme guru
Alights on the crown of my head.
We merge - samaja.

Once more you gladly become
Of a singular taste with me.
With the pride of a Vajrasattva, holding vajra and bell,
Symbolic of the hidden factors of co-arising great bliss
And the state by nature fantasy-free,
I embrace Bhagavati.
My body and likewise my wealth,
And as massive a network of constructive acts
As I have built up throughout the three times,
I give, from now on, without sense of a loss,
To help limited beings, who have all been my mothers.
  
[Reaffirm one's lay or monastic pratimoksha vows. For example, if one is a full monk:]
From the five classes of downfall from the pratimoksha vows:
The four total defeats, the thirteen remaining defeats,
The thirty downfalls of relinquishment, the ninety downfalls alone,
The four to be openly admitted individually,
The hundred and twelve faulty actions,
And further the downfalls abbreviated by the foundation and so on
- I shall rid myself of all these.
  
Praising myself and belittling others,
Not sharing Dharma teachings or wealth,
Not listening even if others apologize (or striking them),
Rejecting Mahayana teachings (and propounding made-up ones),
Stealing goods belonging to the Triple Gem,
Forsaking any Dharma,
Stealing from those clad in saffron,
Committing any of the five heinous crimes,
Thinking with an antagonistic, distorted outlook,
Destroying places such as towns,
Teaching voidness to those whose minds are untrained,
Turning others away from enlightenment,
Causing others to discard their pratimoksha vows,
Belittling the shravaka teachings,
Proclaiming a false realization of what is profound,
Accepting goods stolen from the Triple Gem,
Penalizing unfairly,
Giving up bodhichitta -
These are the eighteen root downfalls from the bodhisattva vows;
I shall safeguard against them.
Not regarding them as detrimental,
Not forsaking the wish to repeat such acts,
Delighting and taking pleasure in them,
And having no moral self-dignity
or care for how my actions reflect on those I respect
Are the four binding factors that must all be present
For sixteen of these to be complete.
For thinking with an antagonistic, distorted outlook
or giving up bodhichitta,
These four are not needed.
Scorning or deriding my guru,
Disregarding (or trivializing) any ethical training,
Faulting my vajra brothers or sisters,
Abandoning love for any being,
Giving up aspiring or engaged bodhichitta,
Deriding the teachings of sutra or tantra,
Revealing confidential teachings to those unripe,
Reviling (or abusing) my aggregates,
Rejecting voidness,
Being loving toward malevolent people,
Not maintaining (daily) mindfulness of a correct view,
Deterring (from tantric practice) anyone having confidence in it,
Not properly relying on closely bonding materials,
Deriding women --
These are the fourteen root tantric downfalls;
I shall safeguard against them at the cost of my life.
Forsaking the four root destructive actions, likewise liquor,
   and outrageous behavior,
Relating in a healthy manner to a hallowed guide,
Helping and treating respectfully Dharma friends,
Cultivating the ten constructive acts,
Avoiding the causes for forsaking Mahayana,
Belittling it, or treading on objects worthy of respect -
I shall honor these further practices to bond me closely.
Relying on an unqualified mudra partner,
Sitting in union devoid of the three recognitions,
Showing confidential objects to an unsuitable vessel,
Fighting or arguing at an offering feast of tsog,
Giving false answers to sincerely asked questions,
Staying more than a week in a shravaka's home,
Boasting to be a yogi, without properly being one,
Teaching the hallowed Dharma to those who will disbelieve what is fact -
These are the secondary tantric heavy actions -
Also, improperly engaging in mandala-rites, such as without a retreat,
Transgressing pratimoksha or bodhisattva trainings
   when there is no need,
Acting counter to the teachings of Fifty Stanzas on the Guru -
I shall safeguard against them in a proper way.
I shall not look down on left-handed behavior,
I shall offer (a bimonthly feast of tsog),
Reject sitting in union with an unqualified partner,
While in union, never be parted from a correct view,
Be immovable in my firm conviction in the path of desire,
Not forsake the two kinds of mudra partners,
Exert effort mainly on the outer and inner methods,
Never release my subtle jasmine drops,
Commit myself to chaste behavior,
And abandon nausea when imbibing bodhichitta.

I shall not transgress, even in my dreams,
The most minor training concerning the prohibitions
That keep my pratimoksha, bodhisattva, and tantric vows pure.
I shall practice in accord with the Triumphant Ones' words.
I shall fully uphold all the verbal and realized hallowed Dharma,
   without exception,
As gathered in the three sutra vehicles and four tantra sets,
In exact accord with the meanings that the Triumphant intended.
I shall totally liberate wandering beings by means that suit each.
Section C: Dedication
 
Through the lustrous positive force deriving from this,
May I never transgress, throughout all my lives,
The bounds prescribed by Vajradhara's authority.
May I complete the stages of the twofold path.
In short, by however much I have built up a network
Of lustrous positive force by steps such as these,
May I quickly be born in Shambhala, the storehouse of gems,
And complete there the stages of the peerless path.
May I never be parted from perfect gurus in all my lives;
May I joyfully experience the glories of Dharma;
May I gain in full the qualities of the paths and stages,
And thus attain quickly a Vajradhara state.
[If reciting 6x each day in the manner of 3x each morning and 3x each evening, recite the following sequence:
(A) three times, omitting all (A-X) sections for the second and third repetitions,
(B) three times, omitting all (B-X) sections for the second and third repetitions,
(C) one time.]