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PRACTICE

The Foundation of All Good Qualities By Tsongkhapa

In the 11th century, was blessed by the arrival of capacities of varying practitioners — small, medium, and the Indian Buddhist master Lama Atisha. Motivated to pres- great — which organize practices and meditations on the ent an organized summary of the teachings, Atisha path into gradual stages. composed a short text entitled, The Lamp of the Path. Three Lama Tsongkhapa's famous , The Foundation of hundred years later, Lama Tsongkhapa expanded upon this All Good Qualities, is the most concise and stirring outline text with his opus The Great Exposition on the Stages of the available of the Lam-Rim teachings. In only fourteen stanzas, Path to Enlightenment ( Chenmo). The often referred Tsongkhapa offers us a prayer that covers the entire graduated to "Lam-Rim teachings" are taken from this seminal text. path to enlightenment, short enough to recite every day, The teachings are presented in three scopes according to the profound enough to study for a lifetime.

The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and venerable guru; I will not achieve enlightenment. Correct devotion to him is the root of the path. With my clear recognition of this. By clearly seeing this and applying great effort, Please bless me to practice the vows with great energy. Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect. Once I have pacified distractions to wrong objects Understanding that the precious freedom of this is found And correctly analyzed the meaning of reality, only once. Please bless me to generate Quickly within my mindstream Is greatly meaningful, and is difficult to find again. The unified path of calm abiding and special insight. Please bless me to generate the that unceasingly. Day and night, takes its essence. Having become a pure vessel by training in the general path. Please bless me to enter This life is as impermanent as a water bubble; The holy gateway of the fortunate ones: Remember how quickly it decays and death comes. The supreme vajra vehicle. After death, just like a shadow follows the body, The results of black and white follow. At that time, the basis of accomplishing the two attainments Is keeping pure vows and . Finding firm and definite conviction in this, As I have become firmly convinced of this, Please bless me to always be careful To abandon even the slightest negativities Please bless me to protect these vows and pledges like my life. And accomplish all virtuous deeds. Then, having realized the importance of the two stages, Seeking samsaric pleasures is the door to all suffering: The essence of the , They are uncertain and cannot be relied upon. By practicing with great energy, never giving up the four sessions, Recognizing these shortcomings, Please bless me to realize the teachings of the holy guru. Please bless me to generate the strong wish for the bliss of liberation. Like that, may the gurus who show the noble path And the spiritual friends who practice it have Led by this pure thought, long lives. , alertness, and great caution arise. Please bless me to pacify completely The root of the teachings Is keeping the pratimolcsha vows: All outer and Inner hindrances. Please bless me to accomplish this essential practice. In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus, Just as I have fallen into the sea of samsara, May I enjoy the magnificent . So have all mother migratory beings. By completing the qualities of the stages and path, Please bless me to see this, train in supreme bodhichitta, May I quickly attain the state of . 0 And bear the responsibility of freeing migratory beings. From the for Cho booklet, trans. Jampal Lhundrup, ed Ven. Aiha Even if I develop only bodhichitta, but I don't practice the three Cameron, Wisdom Publications: 1988. Lightly edited by Ven. types of morality, Constance Miller and , April 1999.

26 August/September 2007