Thog ma dang bar dang tha mar dge ba'i smon lam

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Texts/Thog ma dang bar dang tha mar dge ba'i smon lam

ཐོག་མ་དང་བར་དང་ཐ་མར་དགེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ།
thog ma dang bar dang tha mar dge ba'i smon lam
The Prayer of the Virtuous Beginning, Middle, and End
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Description

This aspirational prayer by Tsongkhapa encompasses the entire spiritual journey of a Mahāyāna practitioner, from initial aspirations through the cultivation of enlightenment. The prayer begins by invoking the blessing of the Three Jewels and requesting favorable rebirths with the precious human form necessary for practice. It expresses the aspiration to renounce worldly attachments, take monastic ordination, and remain pure in vows while dedicating oneself to the bodhisattva path for the benefit of all sentient beings. The prayer emphasizes the importance of authentic spiritual teachers, proper study and contemplation of the teachings (especially the Perfection of Wisdom), and avoiding false views and misleading guides. It petitions for the development of all six perfections—generosity, ethical discipline, patience, enthusiastic perseverance, meditative concentration, and wisdom—particularly requesting insight into emptiness united with compassion. The prayer concludes with the aspiration to generate genuine bodhicitta (the mind that cherishes others more than oneself), to benefit even those who cause harm, and ultimately to lead all beings to unsurpassable enlightenment through the power of these profound aspirations.
Citation
thog ma dang bar dang tha mar dge ba'i smon lam [ཐོག་མ་དང་བར་དང་ཐ་མར་དགེ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ།]. [The Prayer of the Virtuous Beginning, Middle, and End].


Full translations

 
The Thirty-Seven Practices of All Buddhas' Sons and The Prayer of the Virtuous Beginning, Middle, and End
Revised translations of the Tibetan rGyal-sras lag-len so-bdun-ma by the Bodhisattva Thogs-med bzang-po and Thog-mtha'-ma by rJe Tzong-kha-pa prepared by the Translation Bureau of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Book
 
The Thirty-Seven Practices of All Buddhas' Sons and The Prayer of the Virtuous Beginning, Middle, and End (1973)
Translations of the Tibetan rGyal-sras lag-len so-bdun-ma by the Bodhisattva Thogs-med bzang-po and Thog-mtha'-ma by rJe Tzong-kha-pa prepared by the Translation Bureau of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Book

Related

 
Rgyal sras lag len so bdun ma
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo's (1295 - 1369) highly influential work on Mind Training (blo sbyong) that outlines the training of a bodhisattva in a series of thirty-seven verses is still very popular today with Buddhist practitioners around the world. The colophon states: "This was composed at the Jewel Cave of Ngulchu by the monk Tokme [Zangpo], expounder of scripture and reasoning, for the benefit of myself and others." Since he gathered together all the paths of the bodhisattvas and composed them in the form of thirty-seven verses, the title is clearly fitting.
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