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MENTOR DEVOTION
Translation by Robert Thurman 

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VISION
Through the great bliss state,
I myself become the mentor deity.
From my luminous body,
Light rays shine all around,
Massively blessing beings and things,
Making the universe pure and fabulous,
Perfection in its every quality. 

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REFUGES
I and all space full of mother beings, from now until enlightenment,
Take refuge in the Mentor and the Three Jewels! [3 times] 

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Namo gurubhyoh. Namo buddhaya. Namo dharmaya. Namo sanghaya. [3 times] 

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DETERMINATION TO PRACTICE
For the sake of all mother beings, I myself will become a mentor deity to install all beings in the supreme exaltation as being mentor deities themselves. [3 times] 

 

For the sake of all mother beings, in this very life I will very swiftly realize the exaltation of the primal Buddha Mentor Deity; I will free all mother beings from suffering and install them in the great bliss Buddha state. For that purpose I will undertake the profound path of Mentor Deity Yoga! [3 times] 

 

OFFERINGS
Primal wisdom in reality appear as inner offering and individual offerings and works to create the distinctive bliss-void wisdom in the fields of the six senses, extending outer, inner, and secret clouds of offering, totally filling earth, sky, and all of space with inconceivable visions and sacred substances.

 

VISUALIZATION OF JEWEL TREE OF REFUGE
In the middle of the all-good offering clouds arranged in the vast heavens of bliss-void indivisible; in the crown of the miraculous, wish-granting gem tree, radiantly beautiful with leaves, flowers, and fruits; on a sparkling jewel lion throne on cushions of spreading lotus sun and moon sits my thrice-kind, root mentor—the actuality of all enlightened beings. 

 

His form is of a fulfilled mendicant with one face, two arms smiling radiantly, right hand in the Dharma-teaching gesture, left hand flat in meditation, holding a bowl of elixir. He wears the three robes of glowing saffron color, head beautiful with the yellow scholar’s hat. At his heart sits the omnipresent lord Vajradhara, with one face, two arms, sapphire blue in color, holding vajra and bell, embracing Lady Vajradhatu Ishvaree, goddess of the diamond realm; both partners ecstatic in the play of bliss and void, resplendent with multifaceted jewel ornaments, draped with divinely wrought silken clothes, adorned with the signs and marks of perfection, surrounded by halos of five-colored rainbows, shining like the sun. 

 

He, my lama mentor, sits in the cross-legged vajra posture. His five body-mind systems are really the five bliss-lords; his four elements, the four buddha-ladies; his sense media, nerves, muscles, and joints, the eight bodhisattvas. His body hairs are the 21,000 immortal saints. His limbs are the fierce lords. His light rays are protectors and fierce spirits, and the worldly gods lie beneath him. Around him sit in rows an ocean of live and ancestral mentors, archetypal deities and divine mandala hosts, buddhas, bodhisattvas, angels, and defenders of the Dharma. The three doors of all these deities’ body, speech, and mind are marked by the three vajras: OM on the crown, AH at the throat, and HUM at the heart. The iron-hook tractor beams of light rays from their heart HUMs draw wisdom-hero spiritual duplicates of all deities from their natural abodes. Wisdom heroes and visualized heroes become indivisible and substantially present. 

 

INVITATION
O source of success, happiness, and goodness,
All-time live and ancestral mentors, archetypes, Three Jewels,
Along with heroes, angels, protectors, and defenders,
Out of compassion, come hither and stay here!
Though all things are really free of coming and going,
You accord with the natures of various disciples
And perform appropriate miracles of love and wisdom;
Holy Savior with your retinue, please come here now! 

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Om Guru Buddha Bodhisattva
Dharmapala saparivara ehyehi
Jah hum bam hoh
Wisdom heroes and icon heroes become inseparable! 

 

SALUTATIONS
Mentor like a gem embodied, diamond bolt,
Live compassion from the great bliss element,
You bestow in the fraction of a second
The supreme exaltation of the three buddha-bodies—
I bow to the lotus of your feet!
Primal wisdom of all victors of the buddhaverses,
Supreme artist, creating whatever tames each being,
Performer in the dance of upholding the monastic form—
I bow to your feet, O holy savior! 

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Eradicating all evil along with instincts,
Treasure of a measureless jewel mass of good,
Sole door to the source of all joy and benefit—
I bow to your feet, O holy mentor!

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Teacher of humans and gods, reality and of all buddhas,
Origin of the eighty-four-thousand holy teachings,
Shining axis of the entire host of noble beings—
I bow to all you kindly mentors!

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To the mentors in all times and places,
And all worthy forms of the Three Jewels,
With faith and devotion and oceans of praise,
I bow with bodies as many as atoms in the universe! 

 

OFFERINGS
To the noble mentor savior with your retinue,
I offer an ocean of various offering clouds;
From these well-arranged bright, broad jewel vessels
Four streams of purifying nectars flow. 

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Earth and sky are filled with graceful goddesses,
With beautiful flowers, garlands, and showering petals,
Delicious incense smoke adorns the heavens
With summer rain clouds of sapphire blue, 

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Masses of lamps lit by suns, moons, and radiant gems,
Shine ecstatic light rays to illumine the billion worlds;
Boundless oceans of fragrant waters swirl around,
Scented with camphor, sandalwood, and saffron. 

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Himalayas of human and divine food heap up,
Wholesome food and drink with a hundred savors;
The three realms resound with sweet melodies
From infinite specific varieties of music.

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The outer and inner sensory goddesses
Pervade all quarters and present the glorious beauty
Of form and color, sounds, scents, tastes, and textures.

 

MANDALA WORLD OFFERING
These hundred trillion four-continent, planet-mountain worlds,
With the seven major and seven minor jewel ornaments,
Perfect realms of beings and things that create great joy,
Great treasures of delight enjoyed by gods and humans—
O Savior, mercy-treasure, supreme field of offering,
My heart full of faith, I offer it all to you!
Here on the shore of the wish-granting ocean
Of actually arranged and carefully visualized offerings,
This is a garden in which the mind is captivated by the blooming lotuses
Of offering substances that are all perfections of life and liberation,
In which one is delighted by the scents of all-good offerings
Which are beautiful flowers of the mundane and transcendent,
Physical, verbal, and mental virtues of myself and others,
And in which one is satiated with the rich fruits
Of the three educations, the two processes, and the five paths—
I offer it all to please you, O Holy Mentor! 

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This delicate tea, rich with a hundred tastes,
Saffron-colored, finely scented,
And the five hooks and the five lamps,
Purified, transmuted, and magnified
Into an ocean of elixirs—
I offer it to you! 

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A host of attractive, slender, youthful beauties,
Highly skilled in the sixty-four arts of love,
The heavenly, contemplative, and orgasmic herald angels,
Exquisite, magic consorts—
I offer them to you!

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Great primal wisdom of unobstructed orgasmic bliss,
Inseparable from the unfabricated natural realm,
Spontaneous, beyond theory, thought, and expression,
This supreme ultimate spirit of enlightenment—
I offer it to you!

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I offer the various medicines of goodness
Which conquer four hundred four addiction-sicknesses,
And to please you I offer myself as servant—
Please keep me in your service while space lasts! 

 

CONFESSION
From beginningless time, whatever sinful acts
I did, had done, or rejoiced at others’ doing,
I repent before you, O Compassionate Ones,
Confess and solemnly swear never to do again! 

 

REJOICING
Though things are naturally free from signs,
I heartily rejoice in all the dreamlike
Perfect virtues of ordinary and noble beings
That bring them all their happiness and joy! 

 

PRAYING FOR TEACHINGS
Clouds of perfect wisdom and love amass,
In order to grow, sustain, and prosper
The garden of help and happiness for infinite beings,
Let the rain of profound and magnificent Dharma fall! 

 

PRAYING FOR THE MENTOR TO REMAIN
Though your diamond body knows no birth or death,
You treasure chest of buddhas self-controlled in union,
Fulfill my prayers until the end of time—
Please stay forever without entering Nirvana

 

DEDICATION
The mass of perfect virtue thus created,
I dedicate to stay with you, my Mentor, life after life,
To be cultivated by your threefold kindness,
To attain the supreme union of Vajradhara!

 

PRAYERS
Source of excellence, vast ocean of justice,
Endowed with many jewels of spiritual learning,
Saffron-robed, living Shakyamuni lord,
Patriarch, discipline-holder, I pray to you! 

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Possessor of the ten excellent qualities,
Worthy to teach the path of the blissful lords,
Dharma-master, regent of all Victors,
Universal vehicle spiritual guide, I pray to you! 

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Your body, speech, and mind are well-controlled,
You are a genius, tolerant and honest.
Without pretense or deception,
You know all mantras and Tantras.
You have the ten outer and ten inner abilities,
Skilled in the arts and the instructions,
Chief of Vajra-masters, I pray to you! 

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You precisely teach the good path of the bliss-lords
To the savage, hard-to-tame beings of these dark times,
Not tamed before by visits of countless buddhas,
Compassionate savior, I pray to you! 

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The sun of Shakyamuni has sunken over time,
You perform the deeds of a victorious Buddha
For beings who have no spiritual savior—
Compassionate savior, I pray to you! 

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But a single of your body’s pores
Is better recommended as our field of merit
Than the victors of all times and places—
Compassionate savior, I pray to you! 

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The beauty wheels of your bliss-lord threefold body
Ecstatically unfold the net of miracles of your liberative art,
Leading beings by participating in ordinariness—
Compassionate savior, I pray to you!

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Your aggregates, elements, media, and limbs
Are the five bliss-lord clans, fathers and mothers,
Bodhisattvas male and female, and the ferocious lords—
Supreme Three Jewel mentor, I pray to you!

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Your nature is the million wheels of mandalas
Arising from the play of omniscient primal wisdom—
Chief Vajra-master, lord of the hundred clans,
Communion primal savior, I pray to you! 

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Inseparable from the play of unblocked orgasmic joy,
Universal lord, you pervade all moving and unmoving,
You are actual, ultimate, all-good spirit of enlightenment,
Beginningless and endless, I pray to you! 

 

HEART PRAYER
You are mentor! You are archetypal deity! You are angel and protector!
From now until enlightenment, I seek no other savior!
With compassion’s iron goad, please take care of me,
In this life, the between, and future lives!
Save me from the dangers of both life and liberation!
Grant me all accomplishments!
Be my eternal friend! Protect me from all harm! 

 

BLESSING
By the power of thus praying three times, the vital points of the mentor’s body, speech, and mind emit white, red, and blue elixir light rays, first one by one and then all together, which dissolve into my own three vital points, purify the four blocks, and grant the four initiations. I attain the four buddha-bodies, a duplicate of the mentor melts in delight and blesses me completely.

 

TRAINING THE MIND IN THE UNIVERSAL VEHICLE PATH
By the power of offering, revering, and praying
To you, holy mentor, supreme field of benefit,
Bless me, savior, root of help and happiness,
And be pleased so kindly to look after me! 

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My liberty and opportunity found just this once,
Understanding how hard they are to get and how quickly lost,
Bless me not to waste it in the pointless business of this life,
But take its essence and make it count! 

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Fearing the fires of suffering in hellish states,
I heartily take refuge in the Three Jewels;
Bless me to intensify my joyous efforts
To give up sins and achieve a mass of virtue! 

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Tossed by fierce waves of evolution and addiction,
Crushed by the sea monsters of the three sufferings,
Bless me to intensify my will to liberation
From this terrifying, boundless ocean of existence! 

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As for this egoistic life cycle, intolerable prison,
I give up my delusion that it’s a garden of delight,
Bless me to educate myself in ethics, meditation, and wisdom,
The treasuries of the jewels of noble beings,
And raise aloft the victory banner of true liberation! 

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As I think how these sorry beings were all my mothers,
How over and over they kindly cared for me—
Bless me to conceive the genuine compassion
That a loving mother feels for her precious babe! 

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Not accepting even their slightest suffering,
Never being satisfied with whatever happiness,
I make no distinction between self and other—
Bless me to find joy in others’ happiness!

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As I see my chronic disease of cherishing myself,
As the cause that brings me unwanted suffering,
I resent it and hold it fully responsible—
Bless me to conquer this great devil of self-addiction!

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As I see that cherishing my mothers makes the blissful mind,
And opens the door for developing infinite abilities,
Though all beings should rise up as bitter enemies—
Bless me to hold them dearer than my life! 

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In short, the fool works only in self-interest,
The Buddha works only to realize others’ aims;
As I keep in mind these costs and benefits—
Bless me to equally exchange self and other! 

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Self-cherishing is the door of all frustration,
Other-cherishing, the ground of all excellence—
Bless me to put into essential practice
The yoga of exchange of self and other! 

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Therefore, O Compassionate Holy Mentor,
Bless all beings to obtain happiness,
Letting my mothers’ sins, blocks, and sufferings
Entirely take effect upon me now,
And giving them all my joy and virtue! 

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Though the whole world be full of the fruits of sin,
And unwanted sufferings fall down like rain,
May I see this as exhausting past negative evolutionary actions;
Bless me to use bad conditions in the path! 

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In short, whatever happens, good and bad,
Through practice of the five forces, essence of all Dharma,
Becomes a path to increase the two enlightenment spirits—
Bless me to contemplate indomitable cheer!

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Bless me to give my liberty and opportunity great meaning,
By practice and the precepts of vows of mind reform,
Applying contemplation at once to whatever happens
With the artistry of employing the four practices!

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Bless me to cultivate the spirit of enlightenment,
To save beings from the great ocean of existence
Through the universal responsibility of love and compassion,
And the magic of mounting give-and-take upon the breath! 

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Bless me to intensify my efforts
On the sole path of the all-time champion buddhas,
Binding my process with pure messianic vows,
And practicing the three ethics of the supreme vehicle! 

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Bless me to perfect the generosity transcendence,
The precept increasing giving without attachment,
Transforming my body, possessions, and all-time virtues
Into just the things each being wants! 

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Bless me to perfect the justice transcendence,
Not surrendering, even to save my life, my vows
Of individual liberation, bodhisattva, and secret mantra,
Collecting virtue, and realizing beings’ aims! 

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Bless me to perfect the patience transcendence,
So that, even if every being in the world were furious,
Cut me, accused, threatened, even killed me—
Feeling no stress, I could repay their harm with benefit! 

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Bless me to perfect the creativity transcendence,
So that even if I had to spend oceans of aeons
In the fires of hell for the sake of each and every being,
My compassion would never tire of striving for enlightenment!

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Bless me to perfect the meditation of transcendence,
Through the one-pointed samadhi that transcends all flaws
Of distraction, depression, and excitement,
Focused on the insubstantial reality of all things!

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Bless me to perfect the wisdom of transcendence,
Through the yoga of ultimate-reality-spacelike equipoise,
Connected with the fierce bliss of the special fluency
Derived from the wisdom that discerns reality!

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Bless me to complete the magical aftermath samadhi,
Understanding the processes of truthless appearance
Of outer and inner things, such as illusions, dreams,
Or the reflections of the moon in water! 

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Bless me to understand Nagarjuna’s intended meaning,
In which life and liberation have no jot of intrinsic reality,
Yet cause and effect and relativity are still inexorable,
And these two laws don’t contradict, but mutually complement one another! 

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Then bless me to embark in the boat to cross the ocean of the Tantras,
Through the kindness of the captain Vajra-master,
Holding vows and pledges, root of all powers,
More dearly than life itself! 

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Bless me to perceive all things as the deity body,
Cleansing the taints of ordinary perception and conception
Through the yoga of the first stage of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra,
Transforming birth, death, and between into the three buddha-bodies! 

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Bless me to realize here in this life
The path of clear light-magic body union
Coming from you, Savior, when you put your toe
In my eight-petaled, heart center’s central channel.

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If the path is not complete and death arrives
Bless me to go to a pure buddha verse
By the  instruction for implementing the five forces
Of mentor soul ejection, the forceful art of buddhahood!

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In short, life after life forever,
You, Savior, care for me and never part,
Bless me to become your foremost heir,
Upholding all the secrets of body, speech, and mind!

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You, Savior, when you’re a perfect buddha,
May I be foremost in your retinue.
Grant me good luck for easy, natural achievement
Of all my goals, temporary and ultimate!

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Thus having prayed, may you, best mentor
Joyously come to my crown to bless me,
Sit securely, your toenails glistening
In the corolla of my heart-center lotus!

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The pure virtue of performing this practice,
I dedicate to the success of all the deeds and vows
Of all the three times’ bliss-lords and their heirs,
And to uphold the word and practice of the holy Dharma.

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By the power of that dedication through all my lives,
May I never lose the four wheels of the supreme vehicle—
May I consummate transcendence, spirit of enlightenment,
Realistic view, and progress on the stages of creation and perfection.

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