A Beautiful Story for Three Kings Day

When I was a child, each year in December, I was given the task of arranging the manger scene in our home. I would place the figures carefully – the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the shepherds, the animals. But the three Wise Kings… those I would place very far away, on the other side of the room. And each day, day after day, I would move them a little closer. It was my sacred responsibility, my secret Advent practice. The Magi were traveling, approaching, persevering in their search for something precious they could barely imagine.

I didn’t know then that I was practicing Dharma. I didn’t know that I was meditating on the Noble Path itself.

Now, decades later, having traveled my own path from the West toward the teachings of the East, I want to share with you a beautiful story – a legend that unites these worlds, that honors both the tradition of our childhood and the truths we have come to know.

There exists an ancient story, whispered in the monasteries of the Himalayas, carved in the margins of forgotten texts, that tells of three great Buddhist masters who once traveled westward in search of an enlightened being.

They were high-ranking Lamas – some say they were recognized tulkus, others that they were Mahāsiddhas who had achieved great realizations. They knew the arts of astronomy and the observation of auspicious signs deeply. For years, they had studied the heavens, consulted ancient prophecies, and meditated on the signs of the times.

And in their most profound meditations, in their most precise calculations, in their most lucid dreams, they received the same revelation: a being of immense spiritual realization was about to manifest in distant lands of the West. A Bodhisattva, a teacher, someone whose Buddha Nature would shine with such intensity that it would transform the world.

They didn’t know exactly where. They didn’t know exactly when. But they knew they must go. They knew they must bear witness. They knew they must offer recognition to this enlightened being, because that is the sacred duty of those who can see the true nature.

So they prepared their journey.

Each one prepared precious offerings to bring to the enlightened being:

Gold – the purest metal, which neither corrupts nor rusts – symbol of perfect generosity, of incorruptible Buddha Nature, of merit accumulated through countless lives.

Frankincense – which, when burned, transforms completely, rising as an offering – is a symbol of devotion that gives itself totally, of a practice that transforms ordinary substance into spiritual fragrance.

Myrrh – the bitter resin used for embalming, which knows death – symbol of renunciation, of the profound recognition of impermanence, of the acceptance that all that is born must die.

These three gifts were the three doors of Dharma: generosity, devotion, and renunciation.

The journey itself became their deepest practice. They crossed deserts that reflected the empty space of meditation – vast, silent, stripped of all that is superfluous. They traversed mountains that challenged their physical and mental endurance. They followed a star that shone in the darkness – as we follow the Lama’s guidance through the darkness of ignorance.

They didn’t know precisely what they would find. This is the essence of authentic faith – not blind certainty, but the deep confidence that allows us to advance toward the unknown, guided only by the most subtle signs and inner conviction.

They traveled for months. Perhaps years. Time became fluid in their walking practice. Each step was a prayer. Each night under the stars was a meditation on vastness.

Finally, the star stopped. It led them to a humble place – not a palace, not a monastery, but a simple stable where animals sought refuge from the night cold.

And there, in the straw, they found what they had been seeking: a newborn infant.

The three Lamas knelt down. Not because the baby had done anything extraordinary. Not because he had demonstrated miraculous powers. But because they could see.

Through deep training and years of contemplative practice, they had developed the eyes to recognize the Buddha Nature when they encountered it. And in this child – in his clear eyes, in the radiant presence that emanated even from that small body – they recognized what they had traveled so far to find.

This is what our teacher, Dolpopa, teaches us: Buddha Nature is not something that is created or developed. It is primordially present, complete from the beginning, radiant in its own light. The baby didn’t have to wait to become enlightened – enlightenment was already there, complete, perfect, shining.

The Lamas were simply recognizing what had always been true.

They presented their offerings – gold, frankincense, myrrh – not as gifts to a worldly king, but as formal recognition of a master. This is our lineage too: we recognize tulkus when they are children, we see the continuity of realization through lifetimes, we honor the presence of wisdom no matter what form it takes.

The mother watched them with wonder. The father, confused but respectful. And the child… the child simply was, radiant in his own nature, needing to do nothing more than exist.

The three Lamas remained in contemplation. They recited mantras of auspiciousness. They made aspirations for the benefit of all beings. And in that humble stable, surrounded by the warm breath of animals, they experienced the direct truth: the sacred manifests where it wishes, as it wishes, defying all our expectations of worldly grandeur.

The story tells that the three Lamas returned to their lands “by another route.”

This is not just geography – it is spiritual transformation. You cannot truly encounter an enlightened being and return by the same path. The path of return is necessarily different because you are different.

They had set out as seekers. They returned as witnesses.

They had set out with theories and calculations. They returned with direct experience.

They had set out asking, “Where is the enlightened being?”

They returned knowing “Buddha Nature  is everywhere, waiting to be recognized.”

Some say they carried teachings back to their monasteries – stories of this Western master, predictions of how his Dharma would spread. Others say they simply remained silent, keeping what they had witnessed as a secret treasure in their hearts.

But all agree: they were transformed. The journey changed them. The recognition changed them. And that transformation flowed outward in ever-widening circles, touching all whom they met afterward.

Because this is how Dharma works – not in grand public gestures, but in silent transmissions from heart to heart, in recognition that passes from those who can see to those who are ready to see.

I share this story with you not as historical fact – perhaps it happened, maybe it didn’t – but as a beautiful truth. It’s a story that honors our cultural roots while opening doors to Dharma. It’s a story that says: “The recognition of Buddha Nature  transcends borders, traditions, geographies.”

When I, as a child, moved those figurines of the Wise Kings closer to the manger each day, I was practicing something profound without knowing it. I was meditating on the spiritual journey. I was honoring perseverance. I was recognizing that encounter with the sacred requires patience, requires constant movement, requires faith in what we can barely see.

And now I ask you: Where are you in your own journey? Are you still far away, beginning to move? Or are you close, almost ready for recognition?

More importantly, can you recognize Buddha Nature when you encounter it? Not only in exalted teachers or sacred texts, but in the ordinary, in the humble, in the stable of daily life?

The three Lamas teach us that authentic wisdom is not impressed by palaces. It seeks truth wherever it shines. And when it finds it – even in a baby in the straw, even in the simplest circumstances – it kneels in recognition.

This Day of the Kings, when we celebrate this beloved tradition, let us also remember this deeper dimension. Let us remember that we are all travelers, following our own star. We all carry precious offerings – our generosity, our devotion, our renunciation. And we all seek the same recognition: the Buddha Nature that shines in every being, waiting only for us to open our eyes to see it.

May our journey continue with joy. May our recognition be clear. May our return be by a transformed path.

By the merit of sharing this beautiful story, may all beings recognize their own Buddha Nature. May everyone’s journeys reach fruition. May recognition blossom in every heart.

Lewis Bollard

I recently attended the annual Animal Advocates Online Meditation Retreat, led by the Venerable Tashi Nyima — a monk, longtime animal activist, and one of the calmest and most joyful people I’ve met. Someone asked how he maintains that calm and joy amid so much suffering in the world. He answered, simply: “I focus on the people doing good.”

Our natural tendency is to focus on the bad. The hens locked in cages. The broiler chickens limping in pain. The fish suffocating in silence. Or the people who enable it: greedy executives, cowardly politicians, indifferent media. And all of that is real.

But so too is the good. The progress listed above is not the result of luck or fate. It is the result of people’s actions: advocates who relentlessly campaigned for reforms, volunteers who contacted companies and politicians, and donors who generously funded them.

You are one of those people. You may have been dismissed as a do-gooder, a sentimentalist, or even a fanatic. And you are — in the very best way. The abolitionist and RSPCA co-founder William Wilberforce put it best: “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

You have chosen to feel intensely alive to the suffering of your fellow creatures — and to spend your time, money, and focus helping them. You do this knowing they will never thank you, never recognize you, never even know your name. You do it simply because it is the right thing to do.

Thank you for making that choice. And happy holidays.

Superior beings need the Dharma.

Without it, they are like lofty eagles

𑁋even though perched on the highest mountain tops,

they exist only to service their pride.

Average beings have need of the Dharma.

Without it, they are like snarling tigers

𑁋though possessing great power and courage,

they are obsessed only with their hunger.

OṂ ĀḤ GURU HASAVAJRA SARVASIDDHI HŪṂ

Inferior beings need the Dharma.

Without it, they are like sturdy mules

𑁋though they grasp countless possessions,

no wisdom or merit do they carry.

Beautiful beings have need of the Dharma.

Without it, they smile vacant and lovely,

always caring about appearances.

In time their illusory beauty fades.

OṂ ĀḤ GURU HASAVAJRA SARVASIDDHI HŪṂ

Older beings have need of the Dharma.

Without it, they are like old leaning trees.

Younger beings have need of the Dharma.

Without it, they are like a charging bull.

All children have need of the Dharma.

Without it, they will meet wrong views.

Every being has need of the Dharma.

Without it, we are blossomless trees.

OṂ ĀḤ GURU HASAVAJRA SARVASIDDHI HŪṂ

Those who want to live with meaning

should practice the Buddha’s teaching.

OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ

Namo Guruvé!

I prostrate before my spiritual father, Buddha Vajradhara,
And express here the few words that flow from my heart…

This life’s appearances are like rainbows;
Don’t chase after them, I beseech you!

These appearances and what is made by mind are one;
Don’t be attached, grasping to them as separate, I beseech you!

If your awareness does not arise without attachment,
There is a danger that your meditation will become a white lie.

If you don’t firmly control your mind,
There is a danger that you’ll waste your life in meaningless acts.

If you don’t focus entirely on your own benefit [in dispelling non-virtue],
You’ll fool yourself with the seeming appearance of helping others.

This human body you have right now
Is very difficult to attain repeatedly.
Once you are reborn in the three miserable states,
You’ll have no chance whatsoever to meet the sacred Dharma.

Now, if your foot slips, you’ll fall,
To become like a stone in the depths of hell.
Such is the result of virtue and experiential cultivation put off for later—
Negative acts and faults pour down like rain.
Think of this and devote yourself to the Dharma.

Aging’s suffering will soon come;
Once illness and unwanted circumstances appear,
It is hard for the Dharma
to draw a mind tormented by suffering to the path.
I ask you to devote yourself to the Dharma while you’re content!

Now, during our human lives,
Our country’s and region’s changing fortunes,
Our spiritual masters’ and teachers’ lives,
Our monastic companions’ and Vajra brothers’ and sisters’ destinies,
And our parents’, friends’, and foes’ situations
All expose the innate faults of impermanence.
Each passing year, month, and day
Is an instructor who teaches impermanence,
Evokes disillusionment, and is right beside us.

We will eventually have to leave behind
Any act we do at any time during this life—
Give up activity, my child, and meditate.

Your body is impermanent; it’s flesh and bone part ways.
As precious as this body is to you,
It will finish as a heap of bones.
All the wealth you accumulate with diligent greed
Will be gained and shared by who knows whom [after death]?
Even the clothes and food you now own
Are the shroud and dry food of a corpse.
Even if you amass great power and armies,
When the unpredictable time of your death arrives,
You will give up wealth, power, dominion, and possessions
And see yourself wander in the three miserable states.
Impermanence is the common nature of composite phenomena.
Contemplate this and devote yourself to the Dharma.

Train in universal love and compassion
And maintain lack of attachment toward whatever appears.
In this life, the next, and the intermediate state,
What is always precious in every circumstance
Is confidence in your father-like spiritual master:
Put your trust in him.
Make heartfelt prayers to him, I beseech you!
Surely you will never be deceived [by him].

Disengagement, compassion, devotion,
And lack of distraction within nonattachment—
If you can be diligent in these four points,
You will reach the summit of your aspirations.

— Jetsun Tāranātha

Buddhism presents a fascinating study of how a religious tradition adapts to diverse cultural contexts while maintaining its essential teachings. This process has been central to Buddhism’s remarkable spread across Asia and, more recently, to Western societies.

Historical Patterns of Buddhist Inculturation

Buddhism demonstrated remarkable cultural adaptability from its earliest expansion beyond India. When it entered China along the Silk Road, it encountered a sophisticated civilization with established Confucian and Taoist traditions. Rather than replacing these entirely, Buddhism engaged in creative dialogue, adopting Chinese philosophical vocabulary and concepts. Chinese Buddhists employed Taoist terms to explain Buddhist concepts, with wu wei (non-action) serving as a means to clarify mindfulness, and the Taoist concept of te (virtue) providing a bridge to understanding Buddhist ethics.

In Tibet, Buddhism encountered Bon, the indigenous shamanistic tradition. The resulting synthesis created unique Tibetan Buddhist practices that incorporated ritual elements, deities, and cosmological concepts from Bon while maintaining Buddhist doctrinal foundations. The Jonang tradition exemplifies this process, developing distinctive philosophical positions, such as the Shentong (other-emptiness) view, which emerged from this Tibetan cultural matrix.

Mechanisms of Inculturation

Buddhism’s inculturation typically occurs through several key processes. Translation becomes transformation – as Buddhist texts move into new languages, subtle shifts in meaning create space for cultural adaptation. The Sanskrit concept of dharma is translated as fa in Chinese and chos in Tibetan, each carrying slightly different connotations that reflect local philosophical emphases.

Ritual practices adapt to local customs and sensibilities. Japanese tea ceremony incorporated Zen mindfulness principles, while Southeast Asian Buddhist festivals synchronized with agricultural cycles and local spirit beliefs. Monastic codes adjusted to climate, social structures, and cultural norms while preserving core ethical principles.

Contemporary Western Inculturation

Buddhism’s encounter with Western culture presents unique challenges and opportunities. Western psychology has found common ground with Buddhist meditation practices, leading to therapeutic applications like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. However, this medicalization sometimes strips away deeper dimensions, raising questions about the authenticity of transmission.

Western individualism has influenced the reception of Buddhist teachings, sometimes emphasizing personal liberation over community interdependence. The democratic ethos challenges traditional hierarchical teacher-student relationships, while the gender equality movement questions the historical dominance of male monasticism.

Tensions and Authenticity

Inculturation creates productive tensions between preservation and adaptation. Critics worry about Buddhism becoming diluted or commercialized, transformed into mere self-help techniques divorced from ethical foundations and liberation goals. The challenge lies in distinguishing between skillful adaptation that makes teachings accessible and distortion that compromises essential meaning.

The Jonang tradition itself illustrates these dynamics – once suppressed in Tibet, it has experienced revival while adapting to modern contexts, maintaining its distinctive philosophical positions while engaging contemporary scholarship and global Buddhist dialogue.

Philosophical Implications

From a Buddhist perspective, inculturation can be understood through the lens of skillful means (upaya), which involves adapting teaching methods to different audiences while preserving liberating wisdom. The Buddha himself demonstrated this principle by teaching differently to various audiences, tailored to their capacities and cultural backgrounds.

The doctrine of emptiness suggests that Buddhism has no fixed, essential form that exists independently of conditions. This philosophical insight supports adaptive flexibility while maintaining that certain elements —such as the Four Noble Truths, ethical conduct, meditation practice, and wisdom cultivation— remain universally relevant across cultures.

Inculturation ultimately enriches both Buddhism and receiving cultures, creating new forms of expression that can illuminate universal human concerns while respecting particular cultural contexts. The ongoing dialogue between Buddhist wisdom and diverse cultural traditions continues to generate creative syntheses that serve human flourishing across different societies.

Wisdom traditions navigate the balance between preserving essential teachings and adapting to new cultural contexts—a challenge particularly relevant for practitioners engaging with Buddhism in diverse cultural settings today.

The Jonang tradition offers a particularly compelling case study in Buddhist inculturation, illustrating both the creative potential and political complexities of doctrinal adaptation within Tibetan Buddhism.

Origins and Early Inculturation

The Jonang tradition emerged in 13th-century Tibet through the work of Kunpang Tukje Tsondru and later Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. Their development of the Shentong (other-emptiness) philosophy represents a distinctive form of inculturation – not adaptation to a foreign culture, but creative Buddhological development within Tibetan Buddhist culture itself. This illustrates how inculturation operates not only across ethnic boundaries but also within established religious cultures.

Dolpopa’s Shentong teaching arose from his deep engagement with the Kalachakra Tantra and Yogacara philosophy, synthesized through a Tibetan cultural lens. Rather than seeing ultimate reality as empty of inherent existence (rangtong or self-emptiness), he proposed that Buddha Nature is empty of adventitious defilements but not empty of its own luminous qualities. This represented a bold reinterpretation that some viewed as innovative wisdom, while others saw it as a dangerous deviation.

Cultural and Political Dimensions

The Jonang experience reveals how inculturation intersects with political power. The tradition flourished under Mongol patronage, particularly during the Yuan dynasty, when Mongol rulers favored certain Tibetan Buddhist schools. The Jonang monastery of Takten Damcho Ling became a major center, and Jonang teachings had a significant influence on Mongol Buddhist culture.

However, this political association later proved problematic. When the Fifth Dalai Lama consolidated power in the 17th century with Mongol military support, the Jonang tradition faced suppression partly due to its previous Mongol connections and Buddhological differences with the dominant Gelug school. This demonstrates how inculturation can become entangled with ethnic and political identities, making religious adaptation a site of cultural conflict.

Doctrinal Adaptation and Resistance

The Jonang Shentong philosophy can be understood as an inculturated response to certain tensions within Madhyamaka philosophy. While upholding Buddhist orthodoxy, it addresses concerns that the doctrine of pure emptiness might lead to nihilistic interpretations. The Shentong view preserved a positive description of ultimate reality that resonated with tantric practice and devotional sensibilities.

This Buddhological creativity faced resistance from more conservative elements who viewed it as too close to Vedanta or as compromising Buddhist distinctiveness. The debate reveals how inculturation generates internal tensions about authenticity and boundaries, questions that persist in contemporary global Buddhism.

Survival and Adaptation

Following the 17th-century suppression in central Tibet, Jonang communities survived primarily in eastern Tibet (Amdo and Kham regions). This geographical marginalization forced further adaptation. Jonang practitioners developed more decentralized organizational structures and maintained the tradition through family lineages and small monastic communities rather than large institutional centers.

The tradition also adapted by emphasizing certain practices over others. The Kalachakra Six-Branch Yoga became central, both as a practice and an identity marker. This focus on advanced tantric meditation helped preserve the tradition’s distinctiveness while requiring fewer institutional resources.

Contemporary Inculturation Challenges

The current Jonang revival presents new challenges to inculturation. The tradition now operates in multiple contexts: traditional Tibetan areas, exile communities in India, and increasingly in Western countries and other parts of Asia. Each context requires different adaptive strategies.

In academic settings, Jonang scholars engage in scholarly discourse about their philosophical positions, translating traditional concepts into modern academic language. This has led to renewed interest in Shentong philosophy among Western Buddhist philosophers and practitioners of other Tibetan schools.

The tradition also faces questions about gender inclusion, democratic governance, and engagement with secular education that challenge traditional structures while potentially enriching the tradition’s contemporary expression.

Lessons for Buddhist Inculturation

The Jonang experience offers several insights into Buddhist inculturation processes. It demonstrates that Buddhological creativity can be a form of cultural adaptation, showing how doctrinal development responds to cultural needs and philosophical challenges. The tradition’s survival through persecution illustrates how marginalized communities develop resilient adaptive strategies.

Perhaps most significantly, the Jonang case reveals that inculturation is never purely religious – it’s always embedded in broader cultural, political, and social dynamics. The tradition’s historical suppression and contemporary revival show how changing political circumstances can either hinder or facilitate religious adaptation.

The Jonang emphasis on Buddha Nature as ultimate reality has found particular resonance in contemporary contexts where practitioners seek positive foundations rather than purely deconstructive approaches. This suggests that the tradition’s distinctive Buddhological position, once controversial, may serve critical pastoral functions in modern Buddhist practice.

The ongoing Jonang experience demonstrates that authentic inculturation requires both faithfulness to essential teachings and creative responsiveness to changing circumstances – a balance the tradition continues to negotiate as it adapts to an increasingly globalized Buddhist world.

Something often overlooked in discussions of inculturation is that it’s not just a sociological phenomenon but fundamentally a process occurring within individual streams of consciousness.

From the Yogacara perspective, when we encounter Buddhist teachings from Tibet or India, we’re not simply receiving “external” cultural forms. Instead, our vijñāna (consciousness) is constructing these cultural objects through our own karmic imprints, conceptual frameworks, and accumulated bīja (seeds) in the ālaya-vijñāna. The Tibetan iconography, Sanskrit terminology, or philosophical concepts we “encounter” are actually arising within our own consciousness-stream, shaped by our particular cultural conditioning and spiritual maturation.

Authentic inculturation isn’t primarily about translating external cultural forms, but about the more profound transformation of consciousness itself. When a Western practitioner truly integrates Jonang Shentong teachings, for instance, it’s not merely adopting Tibetan concepts but allowing those insights to mature within their own consciousness according to their particular desa-kala-patra.

This also highlights why the same teaching can manifest in such different ways among practitioners, even within the same cultural context. Each individual’s ālaya-vijñāna contains unique karmic seeds that will cause the Dharma to unfold in distinctive ways, creating what appears as “cultural adaptation” but is actually the natural expression of consciousness recognizing its own Buddha Nature through particular conceptual formations.

We receive, reinterpret, internalize, and embody the Dharma and thus become inculturated. Inculturation is cultivation. We don’t know how the Dharma will look, sound, and feel in the West. We keep a beginner’s mind.

There’s much wisdom in recognizing that authentic transmission occurs through this receptive, transformative process, rather than merely replicating external forms. The emphasis on beginner’s mind is particularly crucial here. By not predetermining how the Dharma “should” manifest in Western consciousness, we allow space for genuine creativity. This kind produced the distinctive insights of the Jonang tradition itself when Indian teachings encountered Tibetan consciousness.

This approach honors both the integrity of the lineage and the natural unfolding of wisdom within new circumstances. The Dharma that emerges through Western practitioners may carry qualities we can’t yet imagine, perhaps integrating contemplative depth with scientific understanding, or expressing karuṇā through forms of social engagement that reflect Western capacities for systematic organization and technological reach.

This mirrors the Yogacara understanding that enlightenment itself is always both universal and utterly particular: the same Buddha Nature expressing through infinite unique manifestations. Each Sangha member’s cultivation becomes a laboratory for discovering how timeless wisdom might clothe itself in contemporary consciousness.

This patient not-knowing requires considerable trust, both in the Dharma’s inherent power to adapt skillfully and in the natural wisdom of sincere practitioners to receive and embody it authentically, a profound act of faith in the self-liberating capacity of consciousness itself.

When you abuse, harass, and attack us who do not abuse, harass, and attack, I don’t accept it. It still belongs to you, it still belongs to you!

Someone who, when abused, harassed, and attacked, abuses, harasses, and attacks in return is said to accept the insult and have a reaction to it. 

But I neither accept your insult nor do I have a reaction to it. It still belongs to you, it still belongs to you!

Whence anger for one free of anger, tamed, living justly, freed by right knowledge, peaceful and unaffected?

When you get angry at an angry person you just make things worse for yourself. When you don’t get angry at an angry person you win a battle hard to win.

When you know that the other is angry, you act for the good of both yourself and the other if you’re mindful and stay calm.

People unfamiliar with the teaching consider one who heals both oneself and the other to be a fool.

𑁋Buddha Shakyamuni, Akkosa Sutta

• Impermanence: This world is impermanent. Nations are fragile and dangerous. The four elements that comprise the body are sources of suffering and emptiness. The five aggregates are not-self. Birth and death, coming and going, are like phantoms, dreams, or bubbles, like dew or lightning. Nothing is permanent.

• Contentment: Having many desires brings suffering. Life and death are tiring when we are never satisfied. Those who are content, even when lying on the ground, are peaceful and happy.

• Peaceful Dwelling: Awakened people are always content. They break contact with the world and are not caught up in many affairs. They practice meditation to realize wisdom beyond the ordinary mind.

• Diligence: Being diligent and practicing good actions, we overcome mental afflictions and free ourselves from the realms of ignorance.

• Mindfulness: Being foolish and unaware increases ignorance and wrongdoing. Bodhisattvas have sharp minds and extensive learning. They are not afraid of profound meanings and practice great compassion.

• Meditation: Being poor and angry creates conditions for more wrongdoing. Lay bodhisattvas, even if they govern, practice giving and maintain a mind of equanimity toward friend and foe alike.

• Wisdom: The five desires lead us into difficulty. Although we may be laypeople, we should not be caught up in pleasures. We should reflect on having few desires, learning the Dharma, and practicing meditation.

• Sobriety: Life and death are grave matters. All things are impermanent and changing. Awakened people are always mindful. They never stop learning. They practice diligently toward enlightenment and avoid meaningless talk.

TADYATHĀ OṂ AMṚTE AMṚTAVARE
VARE VARE PRAVARE VIŚUDDHE HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṂ AMṚTAVILOKINI GARBHE
SAṂRAKṢAṆI ĀKARṢAṆI HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṂ VIMALE VIPULE JAYAVARE JAYAVĀHINI
AMṚTE VIRAJE HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṂ BHARA BHARA SAMBHARA SAMBHARA
INDRIYABALA VIŚODHANI RURU CALE HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṂ MAṆIDHARI VAJRIṆI MAHĀPRATISARE HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

This Great Dharani purifies all evil. It is strong, mighty, splendorous, and shining.

Its good qualities are extolled widely. It is the powerful vanquisher of the dark realm.

It severs Māra’s noose, which binds habitual patterns together.

It protects those who take great pleasure in making the finest offerings

to all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Noble Assemblies.

It protects those dedicated to comprehending, writing, reading,

reciting, listening to, and memorizing the teachings of the Great Vehicle. 

It brings about any desired effect and accomplishes virtue:

TADYATHĀ OṀ AMṚTE AMṚTAVARE

VARE VARE PRAVARE VIŚUDDHE HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṀ Reverence to the Immortal, to the Great Immortal, Excellent, Completely Pure!

It is the invincible essence mantra:

OṀ AMṚTAVILOKINI GARBHE

SAṂRAKṢAṆI ĀKARṢAṆI HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṀ Reverence to the Immortal, Womb, Essence, Protector, Seductress!

It is the quintessence mantra:

OṀ VIMALE VIPULE JAYAVARE JAYAVĀHINI

AMṚTE VIRAJE HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṀ Reverence to the Stainless One, the Vast, Excellent, Bearer of Victory, Deathless, Incorruptible!

OṀ BHARA BHARA SAMBHARA SAMBHARA

INDRIYABALA VIŚODHANI RURU CALE HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṀ Reverence to the Support, the Purifier of the Senses!

It confounds the cudgel of the Lord of Death. It is blessed by all Buddhas.

It delivers all beings. It frees from all sickness and pain.

This majestic great mantra saves from untimely death. It cures severe illness.

This mantra accomplishes all aims, brings auspiciousness, and quells all misdeeds.

As the Self-Existing One has taught, the most sublime state will be attained.

One will have supreme happiness in this world, and supreme happiness in the next world too.

This is the supremely secret essence mantra:

OṀ MAṆIDHARI VAJRIṆI MAHĀPRATISARE HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHĀ

OṀ Reverence to Jewel-Bearer, Vajra Holder, Great Protector HŪṀ HŪṀ PHAṬ PHAṬ SVĀHA

It is strange indeed that those who rely on the path of the Buddha advocating universal impermanence should yet cling to things with arguments, when analysis reveals that neither “this” nor “that” is found. What sage will argue for the truth of “this” or “that”?

Woe to those who posit an independent self or world. They are gripped by views such as “permanence” and “impermanence.” For those who posit self-being of dependently co-originated things, how can views not arise, such as “permanence,” as to those things?

Those who accept dependently arisen phenomena as being like the moon in water, neither true nor false, are not gripped by views.

As soon as one affirms, painful and malignant views arise. They produce attachment and aversion and the arguments that spring from them. That is the cause of all views. Without it, defilements do not arise. Therefore, when this is understood, views and defilements cease.

Rest like space, in vast empty clarity.

Rest like the sun, self-clarity without fixation.

Rest like the ocean, clear and still.

Rest like a mountain, motionless, and unchanging.

Rest in a state of empty clarity, brilliant and crystal clear.

Rest in a state of natural stillness, relaxed, free, and at ease.

Rest in a state of unreality, blank, illusory, open clarity.

Rest in a state of reality itself, expansive and all-pervasive.

Rest in a state of natural presence, empty and still.

Rest in a state without root: don’t think, concentrate, be distracted, or meditate.

𑁋Longchenpa, Three Statements That Strike the Vital Point