London, 1 October 2023

I’d like to begin by offering my tashi delek to you all. I’ve been requested to teach on the Barché Lamsel. I was told that since many of you recite this prayer often, you would find it helpful to know a little more about it. There are many different prayers to supplicate Guru Rinpoche and the Barché Lamsel is one of the most important. 

Concerning Guru Rinpoche, in brief, he is the embodiment of the wisdom, love, power, qualities and activities of all the buddhas of the three times. His compassion and aspirations are said to be exceptionally powerful, especially during the times when the five degenerations are rampant. “Exceptionally powerful” means that his compassion and sacred pledges are swifter, more limitless and more powerful than any other enlightened being. That’s the kind of lama we are talking about here.

Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo says in the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo that the embodiment of the compassion of all the buddhas is Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of the wisdom of all the buddhas is Manjushri, while the embodiment of the power and capacity of all the buddhas is Vajrapani. Likewise, Guru Rinpoche is the embodiment of the enlightened activities of all the buddhas—not of one, or a hundred, or a thousand different buddhas, but every buddha in all the infinite buddha fields in the ten directions and four times, more numerous than the grains of sand in the river Ganges. He is therefore, as Jamyang Khyentse wrote, one and the same as the protectors of the three families, Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri and Vajrapani.

It is almost impossible for us to conceive or imagine everything that Guru Rinpoche achieved and accomplished. It is said that in a billion different universes there are a billion different Guru Rinpoches that appear to sentient beings in an infinite number of ways. Even in this limited world of ours, Guru Rinpoche is said to have manifested in countless different ways and performed innumerable activities in harmony with the perception of beings. In order to help people think of him, Guru Rinpoche also said: “For the sake of future people with pure samaya, I wrote and concealed ten thousand nine hundred biographies.”[1]Padmasambhava, Jamgon Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Chokgyur Lingpa. Light of Wisdom, Volume 1. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. 2nd edition. Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999, page 47.

Amongst all those different activities for the sake of sentient beings, he appeared to take birth. The protector Infinite Light (Amitabha) is the natural, self-appearance of the wisdom of all the buddhas. As he was residing in his buddha field of Sukhavati, to train and tame the difficult sentient beings of this world, he emanated from his heart a red seed syllable HRIH that fell on a blooming lotus flower on the south-western milky lake of Dhanakosha in the land of Oddiyana and from this Guru Rinpoche was miraculously born. This is the generally accepted account of how Guru Rinpoche appeared in our world. Our teacher, the perfectly enlightened Buddha Shakyamuni, prophesized that in the future, after his parinirvana, an enlightened being would appear who was even greater than himself, who would propagate the Secret Mantrayana teachings very widely and thereby benefit sentient beings on a vast scale. There are many different types of being: beings who have a physical form, like humans and nagas, but also beings who don’t possess a physical form, like gods, spirits and earth lords of different types. The Buddha Shakyamuni was able to tame sentient beings who had a physical body, however to tame the eight different classes of gods and spirits, a different type of manifestation was needed, one that was not tainted by birth from a womb. And so the second buddha, Padmakara, miraculously appeared.

After Guru Rinpoche’s miraculous birth on the south-western lake of Dhanakosha, King Indrabodhi anointed Guru Rinpoche as his heir and offered him his kingdom. At first, Guru Rinpoche presided over the land of Oddiyana as a prince but then left to practice in the eight great charnel grounds until he reached the vidyadhara levels of attainment. In any case, in India, Oddiyana, Dramida, Zahor and so on, he was able to benefit sentient beings on a vast, inconceivable scale—greater even than the Buddha.

We don’t have enough time to go into the whole life story of Guru Rinpoche here today but there are many biographies that you can read that have been translated into multiple languages. You can discover more about him that way.[2]Wikipedia lists 16 Guru Rinpoche biographies in English.

Guru Rinpoche travelled from India to Nepal and whilst there, received an invitation from King Trisong Deutsen to visit Tibet. It was in Tibet that his enlightened activities for the benefit of sentient beings reached unparalleled heights; it is impossible for our limited minds to fully fathom the depth and scope of all that he accomplished there. It is said that Guru Rinpoche stayed in Tibet for 120 years, however some people argue that this means 60 years since an ancient Indian custom counts one year as being equal to six months. His arrival in Tibet, the places that he visited, and the various activities that he performed, are all well documented in his biographies.

Guru Rinpoche is the embodiment of all sources of refuge and the manifestation of the wisdom, love and power of all the buddhas—we should therefore recite his prayers and supplicate him as much as we can. How should we do that? Firstly, by reading his life story and learning of his extraordinary qualities, we can develop faith and trust in him. Based on that faith and trust, a genuine and heartfelt devotion can be borne in our minds. It is with that kind of devotion that we should then invoke Guru Rinpoche through our prayers.

Guru Rinpoche said that if you pray to him, his compassion will come to you more swiftly than any other buddha, and his blessings will be more powerful. The reason for this is because of the vast power and strength of his aspirations. 

It goes without saying that Buddha Shakyamuni, the fourth buddha of this Fortunate Age, is the source of the teachings that we follow. After him, Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani and Arya Tara are amongst the best known buddhas of the Mahayana tradition. When Guru Rinpoche went to Tibet, however, he taught not only the Mahayana teachings, but also Vajrayana and Dzogchen. 

Guru Rinpoche didn’t, in fact, only travel to Tibet—there are many other places that he visited, where he turned the wheel of dharma and performed countless miracles. Though accounts of those travels must surely have been recorded, they don’t seem to have survived today. With the passage of time and multiple changes that have happened in those different lands, those records seem to have been lost. 

In Tibet, on the other hand, every place that Guru Rinpoche visited and everything that he accomplished there was faithfully recorded and has been preserved until today. Records survive of the different places that he blessed and what took place there, right up to detailed descriptions of the valleys or mountains where he stayed.

There are many different prayers to invoke Guru Rinpoche. The one that captures their profound essence in a few words and is a very special pith instruction, is the Seven-line Prayer. More than one hundred great tertöns have appeared in Tibet and you will find this prayer in each one of their revelations. Hence it is known as the king of prayers.

Besides the Seven-line Prayer, the two most famous other prayers to Guru Rinpoche are the Barché Lamsel and Sampa Lhundrupma. These prayers were taught by Guru Rinpoche himself—they are his vajra words and carry all his blessings.

So today, our focus is the Barché Lamsel prayer.

Short Background History

The main disciples of Guru Rinpoche—King Trisong Deutsen, his son, Prince Murub Tsepo, Nupchen Sangye Yeshe, Gyalwa Chokyang, Vairotsana, Yeshe Tsogyal and so on—gathered in the Blazing Turquoise Shrine on the middle floor of Samye temple (Samye has three storeys and several shrines on the second floor). In that shrine room, they offered a large tsok as well as a mandala adorned with all the precious stones and metals that they owned. They then asked Guru Rinpoche:

“You said that in the future, genuine practitioners of the sacred dharma would face many obstacles on their path. Please can you teach us what all true dharma practitioners need to do to dispel those obstacles?”

With immense love and compassion, Guru Rinpoche replied: 

“It is excellent that you have made this request. Genuine practitioners of the dharma will indeed face many obstacles on their path. Despite this, there are ways that these obstacles can be removed completely. Once all obstacles have been removed, the supreme accomplishment, enlightenment, is achieved. There is no higher teaching I can give to you for removing those obstacles than praying to the lama, which is the supreme method. It is vital.”

His students then replied:

“The master who has visited us in Tibet, the Land of Snows, is you, Guru Rinpoche. You have come here and shared many teachings and empowerments with us. We have reflected very carefully and think that there has never been in the past, nor is there now in the present, nor will there ever be in the future, a master greater than you. So, we humbly request that you share with us a prayer that is short in words, profound in meaning and full of blessings, through which we can invoke you.”

Guru Rinpoche replied:

“The fact that you recognize this and have made such a request is truly excellent. I, Guru Rinpoche, am the embodiment of the wisdom, love and power of all the buddhas of the three times and the embodiment of the enlightened activities of all the victorious ones. If you pray to me, all your obstacles will be removed. Unless you supplicate the compassionate object of your prayers with genuine faith and devotion, the sun of blessings will never shine. Therefore, praying to the guru is extremely important.”

As for the words of the prayer, Guru Rinpoche touched his forehead to the forehead of King Trisong Deutsen, placed his right hand on the head of Prince Murub Tsepo, his left hand on the head of Yeshe Tsogyal, and recited the Barché Lamsel prayer to them with his vajra speech, the natural resounding of the dharmata. He concluded by saying, “Pray to me with these words.”

This prayer was later revealed as a terma by tertön Bakal Mukpo. You will find his revelation in the Rinchen Terdzö (Treasury of Termas). This terma of Bakal Mukpo is almost identical to the one later revealed by Chogyur Lingpa. There are a few extra lines in Chogyur Lingpa’s terma, but apart from that, they are the same.

After having received the Barché Lamsel prayer from Guru Rinpoche, his disciples again offered a vast tsok offering and supplicated him a further time, requesting that he teach them the sadhana and activities related to it. 

Guru Rinpoche then transmitted to them his words, the natural resounding of the vajra dharmata, in the form of the entire Shyaldam Nyingjang (The Quintessential Manual of Oral Instructions), the root text of the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel cycle, inclusive of all its branch activities and related instructions. 

What does it contain? The main practice is the sadhana of Tukdrup Barché Kunsel which centres on Guru Rinpoche in the form of Nangsi Zilnön (The Master Prevailing Over All that Appears and Exists). Above his head is the sambhogakaya Avalokiteshvara, the four-armed tamer of beings, and above his head, the dharmakaya Amitayus. They are the three kayas of the lama, who are “visualized in the manner of tiers” since they appear one above the other.[3]The Great Gate, a collection of teachings on the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel cycle, explains page 125 the different ways of visualizing the deities of the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel: “visualizing in the manner of a great gathering”, “in the manner of tiers” and “in the manner of the all-embodying jewel.” (Chokling Dewey Dorje. The Great Gate. Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2008.) Surrounding Guru Rinpoche are his four main emanations, beginning with Gyalwé Dungdzin, standing on top of a four-petalled lotus. His eight secondary emanations also surround him, standing on top of an eight-faceted jewel. At the four gates, in each of the four directions, are the four gings who guard the gates of the mandala. Guru Rinpoche manifested this mandala in the sky before them so they could see it clearly for themselves. Finally, he dissolved the deities of the mandala back into his body.

The root text of this terma teaching is called the Shaldam Nyingjang (The Quintessential Manual of Oral Instructions) which still exists today. The heart essence of all the instructions contained in that manual is the Barché Lamsel prayer.

Guru Rinpoche’s disciples then asked:

“Should we practice these teachings now or is it better for us to conceal them as a terma, for the benefit of future generations?”

Guru Rinpoche replied:

“There’s no need for you to spread these teachings now since I am still present amongst you and the times are still favourable. You should practice them for yourselves, but otherwise hide them as a terma.”

The teachings were then concealed as terma by Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal at a place called Khala Rongo and two other locations following Guru Rinpoche’s exact instructions recorded in the terma text. Tashi Tseringma was requested to serve as guardian of the terma. Guru Rinpoche prophesized that in the future, the reincarnation of Prince Murub Tsepo would reveal this terma at the appropriate time. This reincarnation was none other than Chogyur Lingpa.

When Chogyur Lingpa was 20 years old, he revealed the yellow scroll for this special volume of the terma at Danyi Khala Rongo. He kept the terma secret for eight years until, together with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, he wrote down the yellow scroll contents at Dzongsar Tashi Lhatsé.

The first recipients of the teaching were Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo who was the incarnation of King Trisong Deutsen, and Jamgön Kongtrul who was the emanation of Vairochana. They ensured that these teachings then spread widely throughout Tibet. Until today, these teachings remain very well-known and popular. I think it has been roughly 170 years since that time.

Summary

The prayer itself has many levels of meaning. On an outer level, it is a prayer to supplicate the three kayas of the guru; on an inner level it relates to the channels, inner air and energies; and on a secret level, it relates to the Dzogchen practices of trekchö (primordial purity of cutting through) and lhundrup tögal (direct approach of spontaneous presence). All these levels of practice are spoken of in the Quintessential Manual of Oral Instructions. 

The prayer itself refers to the main activities Guru Rinpoche performed while he was in Tibet; we remember Guru Rinpoche by recollecting those acts and invoke him to receive his blessings and siddhis in the form of the pacification of all our outer, inner and secret obstacles.

Of all practices, praying to the guru is the most important. 

Unless you’ve received the empowerment, however, it’s a little difficult for me to share a commentary of this prayer with you. Generally speaking, it’s fine to give instructions on a prayer without empowerment, however with the Barché Lamsel it’s different because of the individual levels of meaning—outer, inner and secret. Most of you are probably unaware of what this even means. When you pray to a particular deity, it helps pacify all your outer, inner and secret obstacles, but to explain how that works in detail is quite complicated because you need to have received the empowerment. Nonetheless, I will do my best to explain it to you today. We will begin by first reciting the prayer three times.

The Lineage

In general, the Nyingma tradition distinguishes two sets of teachings: the kama and terma. Compared to the kama teachings, which are transmitted from one master to another in a continuous lineage, beginning with the Buddha, the terma teachings are said to carry even greater blessings since the lineage of transmission is far shorter. It is extremely important to know and pay attention to the lineage of a particular teaching, otherwise you will be unable to authenticate it and trace it back to a valid source. 

The lineage of transmission of the Nyingmapas comprises the mind-direct transmission of the victorious ones, the sign transmission of the vidyadharas and the aural transmission of realized beings. In addition, we speak of the transmission of compassionate blessings, the lineage of prophetically declared succession, the dakini’s seal of entrustment, the lineage empowered by aspiration, the word lineage of yellow scroll, and the lineage of samaya substances that liberate upon taste. In total, there are nine different lineages of transmission that need to be included when you talk about the Nyingma tradition.

With respect to termas, there are several different kinds: earth termas, mind termas, rediscovered termas, recollection termas, pure visions and so on. The type of transmission through which the Barché Lamsel has been passed down is that of the word lineage of yellow scroll.

As I said earlier, the terma of Barché Lamsel discovered by Bakal Mukpo can be found in the Treasury of Termas (Rinchen Terdzö); its lineage of transmission has been preserved in that way. There’s no empowerment associated with the terma, just a reading transmission of the prayer, which has been passed down until today.

Here, however, we are following the transmission lineage of Chogyur Dechen Lingpa’s terma of the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel cycle, which contains the Barché Lamsel. Chogyur Lingpa was able to decipher the symbolic script of the yellow scroll and dictated its contents to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, who faithfully wrote down this short prayer. This lineage of transmission, therefore, traces back to the words of the yellow scroll.

Chogyur Lingpa first transmitted this teaching to Jamgön Kongtrul who then passed it on to the other masters who are now considered the ten major holders of the transmission lineage of the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel. Those ten masters belonged, in fact, to different schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and it was from them that the prayer spread more widely.

In recent times, the greatest masters to have passed on the transmission of this cycle are Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. When Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö gave this transmission to Tarthang Tulku he told him, “If you say this prayer every day, you will not face any obstacles on that day.” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche used to say exactly the same. I have received this transmission many times from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and I received it from Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö too. This, then, covers the lineage of the prayer. There is no dharma without lineage. 

The Barché Lamsel prayer is part of the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel cycle; it was extracted from The Quintessential Manual of Oral Instructions so that we can easily practice the prayer every day. Those of us who are unable to practice the sadhana every day, whether the long, medium or short one, can at least find time to recite this prayer, right?

The Power of the Barché Lamsel Prayer

I don’t know about former times, but in the past one hundred years, the prayers of Barché Lamsel, Sampa Lhundrupma and Twenty-one Praises to Tara became central to the daily practice of most Tibetans. Whether it’s the lamas and monks, or lay men and women, almost everyone recites these three prayers every day. The prayers carry great blessings—the proof is that so many people still recite them. If the prayers didn’t carry such blessings, they wouldn’t do that, would they?

For us Nyingmapas, the prayers we treasure the most are the Seven-line Prayer, Barché Lamsel and Sampa Lhundrupma. When we recite these prayers, immediately, on the south-west island of Oddiayana, Guru Rinpoche is moved, and like a cloud stirred by the wind he instantly appears before us. How do we know that? Because this was the pledge of Guru Rinpoche himself. Guru Rinpoche is not limited by a physical body, he is the natural manifestation of primordial wisdom. For him, there’s no such limitation as being in one place and then moving to another. In his wisdom mind, he can manifest anywhere at any time. As he said, “I will come as swift as a lightning bolt, grant siddhis and blessings, and eliminate all obstacles.” Guru Rinpoche also said that during the time of the five degenerations, the rapidity and power of his compassion and blessings would be even greater than before. To receive the blessings of the great compassion of beings like Guru Rinpoche we need faith and to arouse and strengthen our faith, we need to pray. 

Whenever Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo had something important or difficult to do, he would immediately invoke Guru Rinpoche and recite the vajra words of the Seven-line Prayer. After one hundred recitations, Guru Rinpoche would appear before him, without fail. How do we know that? Because Jamgön Kongtrul clearly mentions this in his writings. The compassion and blessings of Guru Rinpoche extend to all beings—they are for all of us, not just Jamyang Khyentse. We, however, are veiled by obscurations and the habitual tendencies associated with them, hence we are unable to see Guru Rinpoche directly in front of us. If we keep praying to Guru Rinpoche, however, we will gradually be able to reduce our obscurations and eventually, within this lifetime, be able to see Guru Rinpoche. It’s not as though we have absolutely no chance of seeing Guru Rinpoche within this lifetime. It’s not like that at all—we can. It’s not as if Guru Rinpoche is very far from us. This is why Guru Rinpoche himself and all the great masters say that we need to pray to him. 

If you pray to Guru Rinpoche, the first thing to happen is that you will experience special signs. If you practice diligently and with heartfelt devotion, not just merely mouthing the words, after one week you will have signs in your meditative experience. There’s no doubt about this. The kind of experiences we are talking about here are feelings of bliss, an increase in faith and devotion, greater clarity and wisdom, and so on. Based on those experiences, whenever you think of Guru Rinpoche your hair will stand on end and tears will well up in your eyes. After some time, Guru Rinpoche will appear in front of you. If you pray to Guru Rinpoche and experience such signs, it shows that your path is heading in the right direction and that you are receiving the lama’s blessings.

These are the kind of signs of Guru Rinpoche’s blessing that we can experience during the day. During the night, we will dream of Guru Rinpoche, of finding representations of the enlightened body, speech and mind, and so on. Beyond that, what might also happen is that we meet Guru Rinpoche face-to-face, in person, and receive instructions and prophecies from him. 

These are the signs of practice that can arise. They happen simply because our obscurations are being removed: we will start to see Guru Rinpoche in front of us, even though he has been present with us all the time. 

Once we meet Guru Rinpoche, we will experience the samadhis of bliss, clarity and absence of thoughts within our minds, our body will experience the blissful warmth of tummo, we will utter words of truth and be able to overpower and bring under control everything that we perceive. It has happened for thousands and even hundreds of thousands of practitioners. You only ever hear people talk about the blessings they received from Guru Rinpoche and how powerful he is; you hardly ever hear someone say that praying to him didn’t work for them. 

It makes absolutely no difference where you come from, what your ethnic origin is, because the buddha nature pervades all sentient beings. All that you need to do is cultivate faith. If you have faith, you will have pure perception. If you have both faith and pure perception, devotion will arise. To put it very simply, in layperson’s language, you need to love Guru Rinpoche. We don’t like or love someone simply for no reason. The more you learn about Guru Rinpoche, just how extraordinary a master he is, the more you connect with him, and the more your feeling of closeness and love for him will grow. In dharma language, we call that having greater faith. It is a fact that throughout history, anyone who had faith in Guru Rinpoche received his blessing. There are countless practitioners who bear testimony to this. 

There are some people who say we shouldn’t talk like this because we sound just like the Christians. But this is different. You can check this for yourself. Try it. In his teachings, Guru Rinpoche says that if we pray to him for seven days, he will, without fail, hold us in his compassion and take care of us. We should do that for seven days. It’s not difficult, anyone can manage that. For seven days, just pray to Guru Rinpoche and see what happens. You cannot fool yourself—you know if something is true or not. Try it and see for yourself what the result is. 

That’s the point of a path—it starts at the beginning, progresses through different stages, and then arrives at the end. We have to start somewhere, to do something. If we don’t do anything, if we just sleep, listen to a few teachings, and don’t do any practice at all, then for sure nothing will happen. 

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Both Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chogyur Lingpa received terma revelations by way of the Seven Authoritative Transmissions. No other tertön received transmissions in the same way. These seven include what are known as the Four Tukdrup (Four Guru Heart Practices) which comprise the outer practice of Tukdrup Barché Kunsel (Dispeller of All Obstacles), an earth terma; the inner practice of Sampa Lhundrupma (Spontaneous Accomplishment of Intentions), also an earth terma; the secret practice of Tsokyé Nyingtik (Lake Born Heart Essence), a mind terma; and the innermost secret practice of Guru Draktsal (Guru Power of Wrath), an earth terma. Regarding the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel, there are five root and branch sets of teachings. The four heart practices are termas of both Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chogyur Lingpa who discovered them in unison. 

Here we are discussing the Barché Lamsel prayer which is the essence of the outer cycle of Tukdrup Barché Kunsel. The main feature of this cycle is the sadhana of Guru Rinpoche in the form of Nangsi Zilnön (‘the master prevailing over all that appears and exists’). Guru Rinpoche Nangsi Zilnön is surrounded by twelve manifestations which correspond to the twelve great deeds that he performed whilst in Tibet.

The Sampa Lhundrupma cycle speaks of thirteen other manifestations of Guru Rinpoche and elsewhere forty are spoken of. Basically, Guru Rinpoche appears in many different forms. All these different forms can be essentialized, however, in the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. These manifestations represent different ways that Guru Rinpoche appeared to sentient beings in different situations so as to guide and teach them. 

Today, from amongst all those different ways in which Guru Rinpoche manifested, we are following the approach of Barché Lamsel. 

Explanation of the Words of the Prayer

Om ah hum vajra guru pema siddhi hum ༔

The Barché Lamsel prayer begins with the Vajra Guru mantra, om ah hum vajra guru pema siddhi hum, which captures the essence of all prayers to Guru Rinpoche. This mantra includes in its twelve syllables all twelve branches of the Buddha’s teaching. To train sentient beings, the dharmakaya arises in the form of the sambhogakaya, and the sambhogakaya manifests in the form of the nirmanakaya—deities which arise from the dynamic energy of emptiness, together with the mantras that are their essence. The deities and the essence mantras have the potential to bring about the realization of the non-conceptual primordial wisdom of the enlightened mind and the attainment of buddhahood. 

Tertön Karma Lingpa revealed an explanation of the meaning of the Vajra Guru mantra that Guru Rinpoche shared with Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, in response to her request. The meaning, in short, is as follows:

om ah hum represent the three kayas (dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya) of the Buddha. 
vajra (dorje) means unbreakable—the seven vajra qualities of being uncuttable, indestructible, and so on. This basically refers to emptiness which cannot be altered in any way. 
guru means unsurpassable, supreme—there is nothing higher or greater.
padma (pema) refers to the fact that in essence Guru Rinpoche belongs to the lotus family of buddhas and is the natural radiance of the wisdom of discernment.
siddhi means all the blessings and attainments.
hum is like the request, ‘Please grant me your blessings.’

In short, this means: ‘Embodiment of the three kayas, vajra lama, Lotus-born Guru, please grant me all the blessings of your enlightened body, speech and mind.’

This mantra is said to carry tremendous blessings. Whichever practice of Guru Rinpoche you might engage in, there’s no greater mantra you can recite than the Vajra Guru mantra. For this reason, this mantra, which is the essence of all the prayers to Guru Rinpoche, is placed at the beginning of the Barché Lamsel prayer as an invocation.

To the dharmakaya Amitabha we pray! ༔

The prayer then invokes the dharmakaya Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, who resides in the pure land of Great Bliss (Sukhavati), towards the westerly direction. 

The Buddha taught the Amitabha sutras in which he said that since his enlightenment, Amitabha has been living in the pure land of Great Bliss for fifteen Sukhavati days.[4]On another occasion, Rinpoche explained that “according to how we measure time, the Buddha appeared in our world 2,500 years ago, but the equivalent span of time in Sukhavati measures just fifteen days. This is the explanation that I heard from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.” Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche. ‘Longchen Nyingtik Phowa: Teachings by Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche’. Sukhavati Foundation, 2022. Longchen Nyingtik Phowa Commentary, page 14. Buddha Amitabha’s qualities are inconceivable, beyond anything we can imagine with our limited minds. The Buddha himself said that if you wanted to speak about the Protector Amitabha—his different names, his qualities, the description of his buddha field, and so on—it’s possible, but it would take far too long. All these attainments came about as a result of the five hundred great aspirations that Amitabha made for all sentient beings while training as a bodhisattva on the path to enlightenment. One of those aspirations was that whoever might hear his name, ‘Amitabha’, would be reborn next to him in his pure land, Sukhavati. In the Amitabha Sutra, the Buddha teaches extensively about the different names of Amitabha or Amitayus—they are the same—, the aspirations that he generated, his vast compassion, the display of his buddha field, and so on.[5]There are three sutras that discuss the pure realm of Amitabha (Sukhavati). The Tibetan Kangyur includes Tibetan translations of The Array of Amitabha, or ‘longer’ Sukhavatī sutra, and the shorter The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhavati (see translation) while The Amitayus Meditation Sutra is only extant in Chinese. All three have been translated into English from Chinese: see Inagaki, Hsiao, trans. The Three Pure Land Sūtras. Revised Second Edition. Vol. 12. BDK English Tripiṭaka. Berkeley, Ca.: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003.)

Generally speaking, it is said in the tantras that the extraordinary kindness of the Buddha was to turn the wheel of the dharma in our world, but even more exceptional was his gift of sharing with us Amitabha’s names, the display of his buddhafield (Sukhavati), and his dharani and sutras. The same was true for Buddha Akshobhya’s names, sutras, and so on.

So the dharmakaya Amitabha appears first in the prayer. The prayer then continues:

To the sambhogakaya—the Great Compassionate One—we pray! ༔

The Great Compassionate One, the sambhogakaya Avalokiteshvara, is endowed with immense compassion: at the feet of Buddha Amitabha, he vowed to cultivate bodhichitta to free all sentient beings from the endless cycle of samsara and to never give up until it was completely empty. 

Avalokiteshvara is the embodiment of the compassion of all the buddhas of the three times. He has immense compassion. In his sadhanas we see that he can manifest as dharmakaya, as sambhogakaya and as nirmanakaya, in peaceful forms or in wrathful emanations, with one face and two hands, three faces and six hands, right up to one thousand faces and one thousand hands. Basically, he manifests in whatever form is necessary to tame sentient beings. As it is said: 

Your thousand arms are the thousand universal monarchs,
Your thousand eyes the thousand buddhas of this fortunate age,
You who teach each and every one of us according to our needs,
Lord Avalokiteshvara, to you I pay homage! 

In terms of his compassion and enlightened activities, there’s no one who can compare to Avalokiteshvara. Even if he had to stay in the hell realms for hundreds of thousands of kalpas to help just one tiny sentient being, he would do so without the slightest hesitation or regret. So extraordinary is his compassion and power that whoever recites or hears his names, or practices his mantras and sadhanas, will without doubt be liberated. In the world in general and in Tibet in particular, many great masters have appeared who are emanations of Avalokiteshvara. The Dalai Lama, the Karmapa, the omniscient Drukchen Rinpoche are all said to be emanations of Avalokiteshvara. There are also said to be places—rocks, trees, and so on—which are natural manifestations of Avalokiteshvara that appear to help sentient beings. Basically, Avalokiteshvara manifests in whatever form works to liberate sentient beings. Here, in the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel, Avalokiteshvara manifests in the form of the four-armed Great Tamer of Beings.

To the nirmanakaya Padmakara we pray! ༔

Through the expressive power of the dharmakaya’s and sambhogakaya’s compassion, the nirmanakaya Guru Rinpoche arose. Since this nirmanakaya, Guru Rinpoche, appeared miraculously from a lotus, he is given the name, ‘Padmakara’ or ‘Lotus-born’. He is the ground from which all the other emanations manifest.

Then the text speaks of Guru Rinpoche’s liberating activities: 

Wondrous emanation, master of mine, ༔

We each have our own root teacher, but they are all emanations of Guru Rinpoche. Guru Rinpoche is referred to as a ‘wondrous emanation’ because he wasn’t born in samsara like an ordinary sentient being due to their karma, but purely as a result of the aspirations he made to help sentient beings. How he manifests is in no way disassociated from the sentient beings he seeks to help. On the contrary, beings are able to fully relate to those methods through all their senses—form, sound, taste, touch and smell. He manifests in a multitude of relatable ways that in essence don’t truly exist. To genuinely help sentient beings, emanations need to manifest in ways that accord with their capacities and senses. If they manifest in ways that are totally beyond their sensory fields and capacities, that wouldn’t be useful, there would be no communication. 

In India, you were born…

Guru Rinpoche manifests in all kinds of ways to guide sentient beings. We cannot therefore give a definitive list of all his manifestations. Even though there are so many different emanations of Guru Rinpoche, the one we are discussing here today is the master who was born in India. Concerning his birth, there’s a lot we could say, there are many written accounts of how this happened. Again, however, this is something that is totally beyond the understanding of our limited minds. 
   
His birth in the heart of a blossoming lotus flower in the milky lake of Dhanakosha to the north-west is the generally accepted version stated in the terma tradition. At the same time, the kama tradition says that Guru Rinpoche was born from a womb. And there are several other versions: one account says that he was born from a bolt of lightning that struck the Blazing Meteoric Mountain of Mount Malaya in Sri Lanka; another that he is the son of the King of Oddiyana; and a few very old Tibetan texts that say he was the son of the King Dharmasingha.

Generally speaking, the enlightened activities of the buddhas, their life and liberation, is beyond the capacity of ordinary sentient beings to understand. If you were to ask Guru Rinpoche, “So, which version is true? Were you born miraculously or from a womb? Were you the son of a King of India? Were you born from a bolt of lightning on Mount Malaya? Which one is the correct version?” He would doubtless tell you, “I have gone beyond birth, death, appearance, and so on. The way I appear to you, that is the correct version. If there are a hundred different sentient beings, there will probably be a hundred different perceptions. I am nothing more than that.” 

Generally speaking, when things appear to sentient beings there’s a certain commonality of experience, what the majority perceive, the ‘official version’. In this case, it is miraculous birth from the heart of a lotus. The accounts of his life from the terma tradition say:

Twenty-four years after Shakyamuni’s passing ༔
Amitabha took the form of a bodhisattva, ༔
The Great Compassionate One, and from his heart ༔
He magically conjured me, Padma, as the letter hrih.༔[6]The Wish-Fulfilling Tree. See here.

Still, it remains the case that Guru Padmasambhava, Guru Padma Tötrengtsal, Guru Padmakara, or the eight manifestations, all appeared on different occasions, in different circumstances, to those present at that time.

 …you studied and you contemplated; ༔

Once he had manifested, Guru Rinpoche then listened to teachings and contemplated them while he was in India. He’s a buddha, he’s already enlightened, so does he need to receive teachings and contemplate them? No. But since he has manifested to guide sentient beings, he appears to go through the motions of those different activities, purely to show us the way.

He received all the different teachings, at all levels, from a great many masters. His main teacher was the king of vidyadharas, Shri Singha. The eight vidyadharas are important teachers of Guru Rinpoche. The great shravaka disciple of Buddha Shakyamuni, Ananda, is also one of his teachers. 

He then meditated and reached accomplishment, practicing while leaning his back on the stupas of the eight great charnel grounds. He also turned the wheel of the dharma in those sacred places for all the dakinis who resided there. Through all these endeavours, Guru Rinpoche became a fully accomplished mahasiddha. Everyone agrees on this—there’s no debate. He was a mahasiddha since a being he could not tame through his enlightened powers, or a being who could overcome him, is unheard of.

To the heart of Tibet you came, to subjugate its arrogant demons, ༔

As an accomplished mahasiddha, no one knows for sure how many years he spent in Tibet. What is clear is that the King of Tibet, Trisong Deutsen, invited him three times to Tibet.
    
As it says in the prayer, Guru Rinpoche’s first act on arriving in Tibet was to subjugate the arrogant demons who held dominion there. How he went about this is described at great length in his biographies. We don’t have time to go into all those details here—you can refer to those historical accounts if you wish to know more. In short, on Mount Hepori above Samye, he tamed all the arrogant king-like spirits of Tibet and bound them under oath.

Tibet’s history is a vast topic and many scholars have written about it. What is generally accepted is that Guru Rinpoche spent around 120 years in Tibet. His accomplishments during that time were so extraordinary that until today, the people of Tibet have remained under the protection of his blessings. It is said that even after King Trisong Deutsen passed away, Guru Rinpoche continued to stay in Tibet for a further 30 years. In his different biographies, you can read about how he went to every corner of Tibet—there’s not a square inch of land that he did not set foot on and bless. In particular, he blessed the 108 practice places, the 25 sacred places, and so on. He also hid many termas which were later revealed by the great tertöns, beginning with the Nepali tertön Sangye Lama. From the time of Guru Rinpoche until now there has been an uninterrupted stream of tertöns who have appeared continuously and revealed terma teachings, all of which originate from Guru Rinpoche.

In Orgyen you dwell, accomplishing the benefit of beings: ༔

Once circumstances for his physical presence in Tibet came to an end, Guru Rinpoche left for the land of Chamara where, until now, he has been benefitting sentient beings through his inconceivable activities.

In short, Guru Rinpoche is a truly extraordinary master, with limitless power and compassion. It is to this lama that we pray. Hence we implore him, 

With your compassion, inspire us with your blessing! ༔

As I said before, the power and blessings of Guru Rinpoche are extremely swift. When we pray to Guru Rinpoche, we request him to bless ourselves and everyone around us—all beings. When we receive his blessing, our ordinary body, speech and mind are transformed into the natural expression of primordial wisdom—the vajra body, speech and mind. Through the blessing of his wisdom mind, great primordial wisdom, all sentient beings in the impure cycle of existence will awaken and be liberated. So we pray, 

With your love guide us and others along the path! ༔

For those of us who are unable to be liberated during this lifetime, in the bardos, or when the bardo of becoming that’ll lead us to a new life arises, through the power of his compassion, Guru Rinpoche and the five families of dakinis will lead us, to the accompaniment of music of vinas and flutes descending from the heavens, to buddha fields such as the Copper-coloured Mountain. They can take us by the hand and lead us there, perfectly. This is what we say in the Prayer to be Reborn on the Copper-coloured Mountain:

When death arrives with all its overpowering force, ༔
Let the messengers of Padma, the dakinis, gracefully dancing, ༔
Actually take us by the hand, ༔
Just as they did Kharchen Za and Guna Natha, ༔ 
And lead us to the paradise of Lotus Light! ༔ [7]Jigmé Lingpa, The Secret Path to the Mountain of Glory—A Prayer of Aspiration for the Copper-Coloured Mountain of Glory (see here)

With your realization, grant us attainments! ༔

Since the wisdom mind of Guru Rinpoche is like a wish-fulfilling jewel that can grant us anything we want, we ask him to effortlessly grant us all the attainments, both ordinary and supreme. 

With your power, dispel the obstacles facing us all! ༔

In terms of accomplishing the four activities and removing obstacles, there’s no one greater or more powerful than Guru Rinpoche. We therefore ask that he dispels all obstacles for both ourselves and all sentient beings.

Outer obstacles—dispel them externally ༔

In terms of the obstacles that we need to remove, the prayer mentions three levels: outer, inner and secret. Outer level obstacles are those caused by the four primary elements, such as earthquakes, fires and storms—all the various environmental catastrophes that can happen. As a result of the imbalance of the four elements in the environment, the four elements that compose our body also become disturbed and we experience all kinds of sicknesses. The obstacles related to the four elements are of major consequence. For example, if all the winds in the earth’s atmosphere were suddenly to cease, all sentient beings would be dead within a few hours—it’s that powerful. When such obstacles occur, apart from praying to the buddhas and bodhisattvas, or enlightened beings like Guru Rinpoche, and asking them to remove the obstacles, there’s not much we can do to avert them. Take, for example the severe inundations that flooded New York a few days ago—you can’t solve that problem by sending out your army or dropping a bomb. 

Inner obstacles—dispel them internally, ༔

Inner obstacles are the obstacles that prevent us from practicing the dharma. Basically, they are thoughts (namtok), however you might describe them: the five types of negative emotions, the three poisons, or simply just ignorance. When we are veiled by ignorance, mental obscurity that is devoid of any wisdom or intelligence, we cannot discern what positive steps we should take and end up making all the wrong decisions. These obstacles need to be dispelled internally, within you. The way to dispel them is through knowing how things are, but that’s not easy. If you have great wisdom and intelligence, you will understand this. So, to dispel these obstacles you need to be conscious of the five negative emotions and to recognize that their every aspect needs to be abandoned. You need to recognize and abandon them. It is said that all thoughts are dharmakaya, right? For Dzogchen practitioners, they see all their thoughts as being nothing other than the dynamic display of the dharmakaya rigpa. However you care to explain thoughts, whether you say that their essence is the dharmakaya, basically they are delusion. When you know that all the thoughts that occupy your mind-stream are delusion and allow them to dissolve within the expanse of the dharmakaya, your rigpa-awareness, they are dispelled internally. This is something you have to experience for yourself, you will know when it happens.

Secret obstacles—dispel them into space! ༔

Basically, secret obstacles boil down to dualistic grasping, thinking that there is an outer object and an inner subject, the mind. Even though neither subject nor object truly exist, we project that they do and grasp onto their assumed reality. If we remain within the basic space of the dharmadhatu, or emptiness, free of any kind of grasping, those projections (of objects that we consider to be external and a subject that is internal) will naturally dissolve by themselves. 

But that’s not easy! It’s easy to talk about but unless you receive the blessing of the lama, it is extremely difficult to put into practice. This is why we need to pray to the lama. What follows next are some of the ways in which we can pray to Guru Rinpoche:

In devotion, I pay homage and take refuge in you! ༔

Filled with devotion, we prostrate and take refuge with our body, speech and mind. Then we recite the mantra once more, which is the real supplication to Guru Rinpoche:

om ah hum vajra guru padma siddhi hum ༔

The prayer then focuses on the various manifestations of Guru Rinpoche that correspond to the twelve main deeds of his life. We invoke each one in turn and ask for their blessings.

Gyalwé Dungdzin 

When we gaze on the wonder of your perfect form, ༔
Your right hand forms the mudra of the sword, ༔
Your left in the mudra of summoning. ༔
Your mouth held open, with teeth bared, you gaze up into the sky. ༔
O Gyalwé Dungdzin, Protector of Beings ༔
…

The first manifestation represents Guru Rinpoche in his magnetizing form and refers to the time he was the prince who would become Pema Gyalpo.[8]Pema Gyalpo is one of the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. The twelve manifestations in the Tukdrub Barché Künsel mentioned in the Barché Lamsel prayer correspond to various yidams and emanations of Guru Rinpoche. The words of the prayer are quite self-explanatory: he holds a sword in the right hand and a hook in the left, his mouth is open baring his teeth as he gazes upwards. At the end of each section, the verses of supplication are repeated.

Mawé Sengé

When hearing the priceless teachings of dharma, ༔
Your body shines with a dazzling radiance of light, ༔
In your right hand, volumes of the tripitaka, ༔
In your left, the texts of Kilaya. ༔
All these profound teachings have infused your mind, ༔
O Pandita of Yangleshö: ༔
…

Concerning the description of each manifestation, I think it would be easier for you to simply look at the thangka rather than me explaining what the details are. You won’t be able to remember all those details anyway!

In this manifestation, Mawé Sengé, Guru Rinpoche takes the form of a great pandita (scholar) who is Manjushri, the lord of knowledge. Mawé Sengé is Guru Rinpoche indivisible from Manjushri and manifests as a yidam to help students increase their wisdom and knowledge. The practice of this manifestation is very beneficial. It really has the power to help beings of lesser capacity develop their intelligence and improve their study. 

Kyéchok Tsul Zang

When placing under oath the protectors who abide by their vows ༔
In that supreme place of power, immaculate and enchanting, ༔
On the very border of India and Tibet, ༔
You grant your blessing, and as soon as you arrive ༔
The mountain becomes fragrant, a sweet scent wafting through the air, ༔
Even in winter lotus flowers bloom, ༔
And there flows a spring called ‘Nectar of Enlightenment’. ༔
In this supreme and sacred place, inundated with bliss, ༔
O Kyéchok Tsul Zang, clad in dharma robes, ༔
Your right hand wielding a nine-spoked vajra, ༔
Your left holding a jewelled casket ༔
Brimful of the elixir of rakta. ༔
You bind under oath the dakinis and guardians who keep their pledges, ༔
And you attain the siddhi of beholding the yidam deity face to face: ༔
…

This manifestation, Kyéchok Tsul Zang, is Guru Rinpoche appearing in the form of a wealth deity. The basis of the enjoyment of the gods and wealth of humans comes entirely from the wealth deities. Wealth is essential since it makes everything possible; even the greatest dharma-kings and patrons cannot accomplish anything unless they have sufficient means. The great king of India, Ashoka, and the great dharma-king of Tibet, Trisong Deutsen, were able to benefit the dharma and propagate it on such a vast scale solely due to their wealth. For example, King Ashoka managed to gather five hundred arhats during the period of one rains-retreat to hold the first dharma council. Likewise, King Trisong Deutsen gathered 108 great panditas and 108 great lotsawas to translate the entire corpus of the Buddhist teaching in Tibet. These were enormous undertakings. If you really think about the scale of those projects and what was accomplished during those times, you will realize just how extraordinary an achievement it was. These successes were solely made possible by wealth.

Dükyi Shechen

When you establish the teaching of the buddhas, ༔
And practise in the Slate Mountain forest, ༔
Your ‘kila of approach’ soars into the wide open sky. ༔
You catch it with the vajra mudra, roll it ༔
Between your hands and hurl it into the Sandalwood Forest, ༔
Which bursts into flames, evaporating its lake. ༔
In an instant, you burn the land of the tirthikas to ashes, ༔
And crush their dark yaksha lords into dust. ༔
O peerless Dükyi Shechen: ༔
…

This manifestation of Guru Rinpoche is indivisible with the yidam Vajrakilaya. Generally, we can say that Guru Rinpoche has accomplished and become inseparable from all the yidam deities, but the one that he has a special affinity to is Vajrakilaya. Having accomplished the yidam Vajrakilaya, Guru Rinpoche became indivisible from him, hence this manifestation of Dükyi Shechen. Practice instructions explain that we should see the yidam as indivisible with our lama—when lama and yidam are indivisible, blessings and accomplishment come very easily.

Dzam Ling Gyen Chok

When overpowering the rakshasas, ༔
You appear as a youth in nirmanakaya garb, ༔
Your amazing, beautiful form, with its lovely hue, ༔
Perfect teeth and golden hair, gorgeous ༔
Like a youth of sixteen years, ༔
Wearing all the jewel ornaments. ༔
Your right hand grips a kila of bronze, ༔
Subjugating maras and rakshasas. ༔
Your left hand holds a kila of teak, ༔
Granting protection to your devoted sons and daughters, ༔
Around your neck you wear a kila of iron— ༔
You and the yidam deity are inseparable, ༔
O Dzam Ling Gyen Chok, manifestation of non-duality: ༔
…

This manifestation of Guru Rinpoche is indivisible from the yidam, Yangdak Heruka. In order for Guru Rinpoche to reach the supreme accomplishment of the vidyadhara of mahamudra, he firstly had to remove obstacles through Vajrakilaya practice before he could reach attainment through the practice of Yangdak. Hence, we find sadhanas that bring together Yangdak Heruka and Vajrakilaya into one practice. Here, this manifestation of Guru Rinpoche is indivisible with Yangdak Heruka through whose practice Guru Rinpoche reached the supreme accomplishment.

Pemajungné

When you choose to go to the ‘Land of Phantoms’ ༔
The ground on which the blazing pyre is lit ༔
Turns into a lake, the width of an arrow shot, ༔
Where, on a lotus blossom, you appear, cool and sparkling. ༔
Within the lotus, you display your realization ༔
And win the name of Pemajungné, ‘Lotus-born’. ༔
You come in person as a completely realized buddha— ༔
O wondrous nirmanakaya, such as you: ༔
…

This is Guru Rinpoche in the form of Pemajungné or Padmasambhava, ‘the one who arose from a lotus’. It refers to the time Guru Rinpoche travelled to the land of Zahor where the King, failing to recognize his qualities, attempted to burn him on a blazing pyre of firewood. Guru Rinpoche transformed the flames into a lake and remained totally unharmed. 

Khyepar Pakpé Rigdzin

When you shine as the sun over Tibet, ༔
An awe-inspiring guide for any with devotion in their hearts, ༔
You display whatever forms each being needs to be tamed. ༔
High up on the Khala mountain pass in Tsang, ༔
You place the genyen of the dralas under oath. ༔
Down in the valley of Tsawarong, ༔
It was the arrogant genyen of the gods, ༔
Twenty-one of them, you make swear fealty. ༔
In Mangyul, at the temple ‘Cloud of Love’, ༔
You grant attainments to the four bhikshus. ༔
O supreme Khyepar Pakpé Rigdzin: ༔
…

This manifestation of Guru Rinpoche is indivisible from Nyima Özer, who is one of the eight manifestations. It refers to the time Guru Rinpoche first arrived in Tibet. He is depicted in a walking posture, holding a vajra in his right hand and a khatamka in his left.

Dzütrul Thuchen

On Palmotang’s plain of glory ༔
You give the twelve tenma goddesses their binding oath. ༔
Up on the Khala pass of Central Tibet, ༔
You bind the white snow goddess Gangkar Shamé under oath. ༔
In the marshlands of Damshö before Mount Lhabüi Nying, ༔
You swear Thangla Yarshu to a solemn vow. ༔
High up, on the peak of Mount Hepori, ༔
You place all the devas and rakshasas under oath: ༔
And out of all these great gods and demons, ༔
Some offer up the very essence of their life force, ༔
Some are turned into guardians of the teachings, ༔
Others take the pledge to act as your servants. ༔
O mighty Dzutrul Thuchen:༔
…

This is Guru Rinpoche manifesting as Dorje Drolö, whose name means ‘exceedingly more wrathful than wrathful’. Sometimes he is also referred to as ‘Trowö Trogyal’ which means ‘Wrathful King of Wrath’, or ‘Cholwé Trogyal’, ‘Crazy King of Wrath’, in the sense of ‘crazy with wrath’—the completely wrathful expression of wisdom. The sacred place associated with this wrathful manifestation is Paro Taktsang in Bhutan where Guru Rinpoche manifested as Dorje Drolö. Guru Rinpoche is depicted as riding on a tigress. Some sources say this tigress is a dakini while others say it is a wild man-eating tigress that Guru Rinpoche was able to tame.

Dorjé Drakpo Tsal

When you plant the teachings of the sublime dharma, ༔
As if hoisting a victory banner, ༔
Samyé is completed spontaneously, with no need to be built, ༔
And the entire vision of the king is fulfilled. ༔
Then, you bore the names of three supreme beings— ༔
One was Padmakara, ‘Lotus-born’, ༔
One was Padmasambhava, ༔
And one was Tsokyé Dorjé, ‘the Lake-born Vajra’. ༔
O Dorjé Drakpo Tsal, now we invoke you by your secret name: ༔
…

This manifestation of Guru Rinpoche, Guru Drakpo, appeared in order to tame the damsi and gyalgong demons of Tibet.[9]Damsi or samaya demon is one of many kinds of sis (sri). Si is translated by Trungpa Rinpoche as “recurrent calamity” because it refers to something negative that happened and has the tendency to repeat itself. This can manifest as animal-headed spirits, often said to have the heads of pigs. Damsis especially try to trouble the yogins who keep the samaya of Secret Mantra. They are seen as a major negative influence on practitioners, causing them to break their samaya. When practitioners commit a major samaya breakage, they become a damsi in this life as a human and will be reborn as a damsi demon in the next. Since, as tantric practitioners, they accumulated a lot of merit before they turned against the dharma, they become powerful enemies of the dharma. Gyalgong (rgyal ’gong): Spirits who instigate sectarianism and rebellion. Tibetans say that the destructive behaviour of the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution was due to an attack of gyalgongs. Some people worship them, but many others see them as demons. It is said that people who believe that their teacher lacks kindness are reborn as gyalgongs. If you look carefully, you will find that almost all the tertöns discovered termas related to Dorje Drolö and Guru Drakpo at some point in their life. The form of Guru Rinpoche known as Guru Drakpo is considered to be particularly special.

Kalden Drendzé

When you practise at Samyé Chimphu, ༔
You ward off harmful circumstances, and grant attainments. ༔
You set the king and ministers on the path to liberation, ༔
Destroying those teachings of the Bönpos that conjure evil spirits, ༔
And showing the dharmakaya, precious and immaculate. ༔
O Kalden Drendzé, you lead us fortunate ones to buddhahood: ༔
…

This manifestation represents Guru Rinpoche in the form of Chemchok Heruka, one of the eight deities of the Kagyé mandala. When Guru Rinpoche was in India, Zahor and other lands, he gave the empowerment and transmissions for the Kagyé Deshek Düpa. He also granted this empowerment in Tibet. The central deity of the Kagyé is Chemchok Heruka, so this manifestation is Guru Rinpoche indivisible from Chemchok Heruka. 

In Tibet, there has been a continuous succession of accomplished siddhas who have reached attainment through practicing the Kagyé deities. There’s a general approach in which you practice all Kagyé deities together and a specific approach in which you practice each one separately. The Kagyé is the main yidam practice of the Nyingmapas.

Raksha Tötreng

Then you leave, and for the land of Orgyen, ༔
Where now you subjugate the rakshasa demons; ༔
Great wonder—surpassing any human being, ༔
Great marvel—in your phenomenal enlightened actions, ༔
Great might—with all your miraculous powers: ༔
…

This refers to the time when Guru Rinpoche, having granted the transmissions and empowerments of the Kagyé Deshek Düpa, and generally having completed his work for sentient beings in Tibet, left for the Copper-coloured Mountain, the land of the rakshasas, in the south-west. To subjugate those rakshasas he manifested as the King of Rakshasas, Raksha Tötreng. He has remained there until today, appearing in this form, taming countless sentient beings.

How do we know this? All the tertöns of Tibet as well as many thousands of other great masters have actually been to the Copper-coloured Mountain and seen this for themselves. They have written about it and still today, great masters and tertöns continue to go to the Copper-coloured Mountain and bear witness to this, right? So this verse makes reference to the Copper-coloured Mountain where Guru Rinpoche currently presides, manifesting as the King of Rakshasas.

You need to know how each one of these eleven manifestations relates to the main deeds Guru Rinpoche performed while he was in Tibet, as detailed in his biographies. When you read those biographies, there’s a way you can relate to them on an outer level and an inner level. On an inner level, the different activities indicate how Guru Rinpoche progressed on the path and bhumis by accomplishing the four vidyadhara levels: the levels of full maturation, power over life, mahamudra, and spontaneous presence. There is a tradition of explaining how he accomplished each of those levels in relation to the events described in his biographies. This tradition comes from Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.[10]See Padmasambhava, Jamgon Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Chokgyur Lingpa. Light of Wisdom, Volume 1. Translated by Erik Pema Kunsang. 2nd edition. Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999, Appendix 5, pages 179-180.

To become an accomplished mahasiddha, you need to progress through each one of these four levels of vidyadhara, and that is exactly what Guru Rinpoche did. You need to distinguish each one of those stages very clearly, not in some vague indecisive kind of way. Of course, we can simply say that Guru Rinpoche accomplished the four levels of a vidyadhara, but it is far better if we can say at which point he accomplished which level. This needs to be clear for such a statement to have any real significance. 

From a dharma point of view, Guru Rinpoche is the most supreme kind of being—basically he was primordially liberated, in other words he was born enlightened. For our sakes, however, he showed how one needs to progress through all the different stages of the path. The way we develop and progress through the different stages of the Vajrayana path is by accomplishing these four levels of a vidyadhara successively. As Guru Rinpoche showed how he attained each stage, he also displayed the qualities associated with that level. This is an important point.

As Jigme Lingpa said: 

Perfecting the mahayoga practices of the generation stage, may I […] traverse the four levels of a vidyadhara, just like the buddha’s heirs Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra![11]Entering the City of Omniscience (See here)

There’s a profound point to understand here. And if there is something to understand, there is something to think about. The understanding I am talking about here is very different from thoughts such as, “Oh, Guru Rinpoche is such a great being, he was so brilliant from the start, we cannot possibly imitate or get anywhere close to him”. 

Guru Dechen Gyalpo

The next verse brings everything together, in summary.

Endowed with wisdom body, speech and mind, you are our glorious guide; ༔
You have freed yourself of obscurations, and so know the three realms with vivid clarity; ༔
You have attained the supreme siddhi, and so possess the supreme body of great bliss; ༔
All the obstacles to our enlightenment—eliminate them for good! ༔
…

This manifestation is said to be Guru Rinpoche indivisible from Chakrasamvara and Yangdak Heruka.

This concludes this extremely brief commentary to the Barché Lamsel prayer that links Guru Rinpoche’s various manifestations to the twelve main deeds of his life.

How to recite the Barché Lamsel prayer

How should you recite the Barché Lamsel prayer? When you recite the prayer, you should imagine that all sentient beings as vast as space are gathered around you, like a crowd in a large marketplace. 

The object of your prayer is Guru Rinpoche in the form of Nangsi Zilnön, who is indivisible from your own mind. We consider Guru Rinpoche as being the embodiment of all sources of refuge. The body of Guru Rinpoche is in essence the lama, his speech the yidam, and his mind the dakini. This is explained at great length in the ngöndro commentaries. We need to apply this understanding when we come to invoke Guru Rinpoche as the embodiment of all sources of refuge. We also think that he holds each sentient being with his tremendous compassion, power, and love. 

As we pray to Guru Rinpoche, we express our devotion through our body by joining our hands together at our heart; through our speech by reciting the profound verses of the Barché Lamsel prayer; and through our mind, full of devotion, recalling as much as we can all the symbolism and meaning of the words of the prayer. 

So here you can follow the tradition of viewing Guru Rinpoche as the all-embodied jewel—you focus just on his person alone as the source of all refuge. If you wish to practice more elaborately you can visualize Guru Rinpoche in front of you and above his head, the sambhogakaya Avalokiteshvara with four arms, and above his head, the dharmakaya Amitayus. Around him are arranged the twelve emanations and at the four gates, the dakas of the four families. All these deities are the manifestation of Guru Rinpoche, his self-expression, and are indivisible from him, like the sun and its rays. They are simply manifestations that appear in accordance with the needs of different sentient beings. In essence, they are fundamentally one and the same. Try to hold that in your mind as you recite the prayer of the Barché Lamsel.

You shouldn’t just mouth the words—you need to actualize their meaning and pray from the depths of your heart. You need to abandon all distractions, whether they be in your mind or come from your senses. 

You can recite the Barché Lamsel prayer in formal sessions of practice, with the Dusum Sangye and the Vajra Guru mantra. At best, you should recite the prayer every day, but at least on the 10^th Guru Rinpoche day and other similar special occasions.

Also, whenever you think of the lama, you should make prayers in that moment. 

If you pray in this way, Guru Rinpoche will hold you in his compassion. Guru Rinpoche himself promised to his followers, “I, the Lotus-born, will always hold you with my compassion.” If you pray to Guru Rinpoche, you will clearly see signs of his compassion. 

The prayer is taken from the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel which is a very large cycle of teachings. It contains many different dharma teachings alongside its root and subsidiary sadhanas. Each one of the twelve manifestations have specific practices and activities. It would be highly beneficial for you to receive the empowerment of this cycle at some point, although I don’t think you will be able to complete all its practices. In any case, this is how to practice the twelve manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. 

Lineage

Today, I’ve explained the Barché Lamsel prayer to you and given you the reading transmission. I received this transmission from none other than Dorje Chang, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. I have also completed the Tukdrup Barché Kunsel retreat a few times and performed many drupchens based on the practice. I recite the sadhana and the prayer every day. There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about all this except the fact that I received the transmission from Dorje Chang, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, and my samayas with him are utterly pure. There’s not a single instant where I broke my samaya with him—I have never had so much as a second of wrong view towards him. The lineage of transmission you have received therefore is completely pure and for this reason, I believe there will be some benefit. What kind of benefit? The elimination of your outer, inner and secret obstacles, and the bestowal of accomplishments.

Questions and Answers

Is it possible to reverse the ‘age of degeneration’, or have things gone too far already? 

Generally speaking, it would be very difficult to reverse this trend because it has come about as a result of the shared negative karma of sentient beings[12]Abhidharma teachings explain that life in samsara originate from two types of karma: the abodes are created by the ‘shared karma of appearances’, while the individual bodies, pleasure and pain are created by the ‘unshared karma of experiences’. Concerning the former, all those who collectively entertain an intention, either positive or negative, such as waging war or saving a population from hunger for example, will obtain the same result even though there is but a single doer. Here Rinpoche says that the shared karma of appearances is very difficult to influence.. However, if with a pure heart and good motivation you wish to do something about the situation, there are actually things you can do. There are many teachings and prophecies that address this. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to find practitioners who can come together and perform the required practices at the time indicated by the prophecies. Even if those causes and conditions do come together, it’s even more difficult to find practitioners who have the necessary power to make the practices effective. During the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Terdak Lingpa said there was no one alive at that time who had sufficient power to make the practices fully effective. That was the situation back then. I don’t think there is anyone amongst us today who can do the practices in such a way that we will see the full result and impact.

How can we use this practice to enhance our practice of trekchö?

If you recite this prayer a lot, in the way that I have just explained, it will remove your secret obstacles and when that happens, you will see a great improvement in your trekchö practice. It is generally stated in the Dzogchen teachings that the greatest practice you can do is praying to the lama. To increase the power of your meditation, there’s no better practice than praying to the lama. In fact, this is true for all aspects of your dharma path. When we pray to the lama, the result is that we receive their blessing, and this manifests as a direct experience of the nature of trekchö. It’s not just about praying though—you need to give rise to genuine devotion in your mind when you pray. If you have devotion, you will receive the blessings and the accomplishments. This point lies at the heart of the Nyingma teachings.

I currently practice Riwo Sangchö in the mornings and Rigdzin Düpa in the evenings, which are both practices of Guru Rinpoche. So do I really need to do this practice as well?

Definitely! You know if you ask that kind of question, “Should I do this practice, or is it okay if I don’t?” you will always get the answer, “Yes, you should do it.” No one’s going to tell you not to practice something!

You’ve clearly said that praying to the lama is very important. Would you say it is okay to just make up our own prayers, spontaneously, when we think of the lama? Would that work just as well as the prayers that come from termas, like the Barché Lamsel?

I’ve no idea what kind of prayers enter your head but what I do know is that the Seven-line Prayer, Barché Lamsel and Sampa Lhundrupma are the vajra words of Guru Rinpoche himself. Therefore, these prayers are held to be very sacred and powerful. In Tibet, there are many people who compose all sorts of prayers. If you go to the main temple in Lhasa, the Jokhang, people line up outside to offer their prayers and if you pay close attention to what they’re saying, you’ll hear all kinds of things. I do that, I just walk slowly along the line and listen to what they’re saying. Some people say whatever comes to their minds in that moment, their own compositions. That happens. 

I always struggle with absolute and relative truth, and the union of them. When you talk about removing obstacles, I’ve been praying to Guru Rinpoche most of my life to remove obstacles and develop some understanding, but I still have many obstacles. How am I to understand this continued manifestation of relative obstacles?

On the relative level there are obstacles and on that relative level, we pray to remove those obstacles. On the absolute level, there is no one who prays, no object of our prayer, and no obstacle… it is beyond all that. We recite prayers so that we can realize the absolute truth. Do we still need to make prayers on that relative level then? Yes, of course we do. We are not enlightened yet and therefore still experience a lot of obstacles. As long as a continuous flow of thoughts still arises in our minds, we will have obstacles. Until we reach enlightenment, we will continue to have obstacles. 

In London, there are many people interested in yoga centres. Many people try to do mindfulness practice in business companies. They see that material comfort alone does not fulfil them. How can we skilfully connect such people to a genuine practice lineage, without coming across as being like a missionary?

You already answered your own question—you need to be skilful. Myself, I have no idea how to do this. The only encounters I have had with the West is through the Rigpa centres and my sole intention in coming to them was to support Sogyal Rinpoche. I’m not a lama who has Western students, in Europe, America, and so on. So I really have no idea how to answer your question. I’m not the person to ask. I’ve heard that nowadays people follow the teachings just in name. What you’re saying is probably true. I think that Vajrayana, the vehicle that takes the fruition as the path, will be extremely difficult to transport here. I say this because it seems that the power of these teachings is diminishing. You might then ask, “What can we do when the teachings have degenerated like this?” Nothing. The Buddha himself prophesized that the teachings would degenerate. So there’s no point for people like us to ask such a question. Buddha’s disciples asked him, “What should we do when the teachings fall into decline?” The Buddha answered that this happens because the merit of sentient beings is being exhausted. I can see for myself how the teachings of the Vajrayana have degenerated.

Are obstacles that manifest in dreams considered outer, inner or secret obstacles?

Both inner and secret obstacles can arise in dreams. Outer obstacles don’t manifest so much in dreams. For example, you might dream of a great fire that destroys everything in its path but in reality, nothing gets burnt. A real fire would burn down everything. It’s easier to eliminate the outer type of obstacles. Inner obstacles are more difficult to purify, and secret obstacles even more so. If you are a dharma practitioner, the secret obstacles are the worst kind. 

Rinpoche, is it okay to recite the prayer in English or will it lose some of its authenticity and power if we do that?

Yes, there will probably be some loss of blessings if you recite the prayer in English. That’s true. At the same time, as it says in Samantabhadra’s Aspiration to Good Actions:

In the language of the gods, nagas and yaksas,
In the language of kumbhandas and humans too,
In however many kinds of speech there may be—
I shall proclaim the dharma in the language of all!

The enlightened speech can manifest in any language. Some people say that Sanskrit is the best language, Tibetan is not as good, and English even less so, but personally I don’t agree with that point of view. Each culture has its own language which they use to communicate and express meaning. As long as the language expresses the meaning, it’s fine. Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo said that Chinese people should use the Chinese language, Tibetans the Tibetan language, Indians Sanskrit, and so on—it’s the same as long as the meaning is conveyed. There’s a lot said about this in the Guhyagarbha Tantra (Secret Essence Tantra). As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter what language you use provided the meaning is understood. 

My question is about the visualization that accompanies the prayer. You said that Guru Rinpoche is in the centre and Amitabha above, but in other Vajrayana practices, there’s usually additional elements of visualization, for example in the practice of Riwo Sangchö in which we should visualize Guru Rinpoche’s kapala overflowing with nectar and so on. Can you say a bit more about what we can visualize Guru Rinpoche is doing, when we recite the prayer?

So you don’t know what Guru Rinpoche Nangsi Zilnön looks like? You can see his image here [points to ‘Looks Like Me’ print]. Guru Rinpoche himself said this image really looked like him. This statue was originally enshrined in Samye in Tibet. It was made by Tami Gonso, ‘Tami’ means foreigner, and ‘Gonso’ was his name. Some say he was Nepalese, others that he was Indian. Wherever he came from, according to historical accounts, he is the one who made this statue while looking at Guru Rinpoche. It is said that Guru Rinpoche then radiated rays of light which touched the statue and made it look exactly like him. 

When the great tertöns would go to see this statue, it would speak to them. If you read the biographies of those great masters, you can confirm that. This photo was taken by the Queen Mother of Sikkim during her visit to Samye monastery in 1935. That’s the only photograph that was ever taken of it. Afterwards, the statue was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. So this is the only image we have. This is the form of Guru Rinpoche known as Nangsi Zilnön; Guru Rinpoche holds the vajra extended in front of him. The form of Guru Rinpoche that holds the vajra at his heart is called Tsokyé Dorje and the one that holds the kapala with both hands resting on his lap is Padmasambhava. In Riwo Sangchö practice, Guru Rinpoche appears in the form of Tsokyé Dorje, according to the sadhana revealed by Lhatsun Namkha Jigme in the cycle called Rigdzin Sokdrup from which the Riwo Sangchö is extracted. There are many different forms of Guru Rinpoche. The thangka of Tukdrup Barché Kunsel you were shown on the screens was painted by one of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö’s artists. That’s the image you should refer to. There’s no need to talk too much about it.