Calling the Guru from Afar: An Iron Hook Exhorting the Guru's Compassion and Summoning His Blessings | The Union of Teaching and Accomplishment Publishing Group

Calling the Guru from Afar:
An Iron Hook Exhorting the Guru’s Compassion and Summoning His Blessings
Composed by Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen

I prostrate to the Guru! ¹

Endowed with the three bodies and five knowledges,
Indivisible from the powerful Vajradhara,
The pervasive lord of all
The billions of maṇḍalas,
O Lobzang Drakpa, my kind root guru,
From my heart I make this request:

Look with your eyes of compassion
On me and all old, mother wandering beings!
Liberate us from all current fears,
Those in the future, and those in the bardo!
Send down like rain the supreme and
Common attainments, all we desire!
Guru, think of me! Guru, think of me! Guru, think of me!

Indivisible from the unequalled King of the Śakyas,
The supreme guide of wanderers who
Have been abandoned by other sugatas,
In this time of conflict,
O Lobzang Drakpa, my kind root guru,
From my heart I make this request:

The only unerring protector and refuge
For those of us without a protector
In the thick darkness of the obscurations in this northern land²,
O Most venerable Lobzang Drakpa,
My kind root guru,
From my heart I make this request:

The source of all benefit and happiness, you teach
The holy Dharma: mere nominalism, the advantageous life,
The three trainings, all scripture and realization.
O my kind root guru Lobzang Drakpa,
Who performs the activities of the victors,
From my heart I make this request:

Even by hearing your mere name
The flames of the Avici Hell
Are cooled, like a garden of lotuses.
O Omniscient Lobzang Drakpa,
My guru endowed with the three kindnesses,
From my heart I make this request:

Instantly upon remembering you, honorable one,
The fierce rains of domineering suffering
Transform into a rain of marvelous jewels,
O Knower of All,
My most venerable root guru,
From my heart I make this request:

Indivisible from all of the kind gurus
Who rescue those of us wandering and sinking
In the mires of the great ocean of suffering,
Where we have been cycling for a long time,
O Lobzang Drakpa,
From my heart I make this request:

From beginningless time until the present
We have been tormented by the sickness of the three poisons.
O healer, King of Medicine,
O my kind root guru,
Most Venerable Lobzang Drakpa,
From my heart I make this request:

We are deluded with regard to what is to be adopted and abandoned,
But the lamp of your wisdom clears away
The dark mirage of our obscuring ignorance.
O my kind root guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

At this time, when most buddhas and bodhisattvas
Have gone to pure realms,
O compassionate one, performing the activities of the victors,
Achiever of siddhis, my glorious guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

The nature of all buddhas,
The source of all 84,00 heaps of Dharma,
Chief among all ārya saṅgha,
The combined essence of all the triple refuge,
O my kind root guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

Guide to the higher states, blocking the doors
Of the fearful three lower transmigrations of
Hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals,
O my kind root guru,
Lobzang, the Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

Captain that delivers us to the far side
Of the ocean of turbulent whirlpools
Of the sufferings of birth, old age, and death,
O my kind root guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the victors,
From my heart I make this request:

Knower of All, who combines all
Meditational deities, buddhas, and bodhisattvas,
Bestowing all supreme and common attainments
Just as we wish,
O my kind root guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

You cut through all types of demonic forces
In just a single instant, like
The fires at the end of time destroy a forest.
O embodiment of all ḍākas and Dharma protectors,
My kind root guru,
Lobzang, Lord of the Victors,
From my heart I make this request:

Although I have drank the deep and profound
Elixir from the mouths of numerous tutors,
I have not seen them as actual buddhas.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
An unlucky holder of wrong views!

Although I have obtained the freedoms and endowments, so difficult to find,
Having been distracted by the affairs of this life
I don’t have the great purpose for this or future lives,
It has disappeared and been lost.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me!

I do not whole-heartedly bring to mind that,
Due to the mere cessation of the arising of my breath
My state of being will fall to abide in a lower transmigration.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
A heartless madman!

While I don’t want suffering,
I crave after negative actions, and
Wanting happiness, I neglect virtue.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
A shameless proponent of contradictions!

Although I see that there is no certainty to death,
Regarding the sequence of old age, youth, and what’s in-between,
I don’t bring to mind the uncertainty of the time of death.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
Who grasps at permanence and postpones [practicing virtue]!

Although I have taken up three sets of pure vows,
Since I am lax in my mindfulness, alertness, and carefulness,
My transgressions fall like pouring rain.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
A collection of causes for negative transmigration!

Although I shave my head and wear saffron robes,
I pass my time with desire, anger, and hypocrisy,
Like a fox wearing the skin of a lion.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
An evil-doer who pretends to be good!

Although I boast of the religious practices I perform,
I pass the time with unconscientiousness and laziness.
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
This agent of sloth and carelessness!

Since, from today until enlightenment,
Without you there is no other refuge,
Please, guru, look with compassion on me,
In all times, the present, future, and bardo!

With the iron hook of your skillful means and compassion
Please care for me always, without break, and
Lead me to the inestimable mansion
Of higher states and the great liberation!

Colophon: In dependence on having been sincerely requested by Jakhung Chöje Tänpa Rinchen and others, under the power of the advice of all of the excellent most noble gurus, Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsän who can explain just a small amount of Dharma, composed this prayer, Calling the Guru from Afar: An Iron Hook Exhorting the Guru’s Compassion and Summoning His Blessings, in the main temple of the great Dharma university, Tashi Lhunpo.

Translator’s Colophon: This short prayer was translated by Gelong Gyalten Lekden in the holy land of Bodhgaya during the auspicious occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama offering teaching and tantric empowerments in January, 2018. All mistakes are my own, and for them I humbly apologize. May any merit from this translation be dedicated to the continued appearance of good health and long life by all of our holy gurus.

Notes
1. Throughout this meditation one’s root guru is visualized in the form of Lama Lobzang Thubwang Dorjechang. That is to say one’s root guru is in the aspect of Tsongkhapa, Lobzang Drakpa, and at his heart is Śakyamuni Buddha, and at his heart is Vajradhara.
2. Tibet

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