(By Tsem Rinpoche)

Dear friends,

Often people have been writing me for the last twenty years about their misfortunes, depressions, illnesses, ill fate, fears, phobias, addictions, sadness and all sorts of sufferings. I understand and feel bad for them. They always ask me what simple prayer can they do daily to clear their minds, clear their negative energies, get healthier and have a clear mind. Some don’t have a particular problem but would like to kick start a practice and to be blessed. Some are in remote places and do not have access to materials and information yet would like to connect daily to a special practice. Some are not Buddhists and would just like something daily to attract positive energy. There are even wonderful people who wish to bless their house of negative energies, or their pets like dogs, fishes, horses, cats, etc. For their pets it’s good to hear Tsongkhapa’s mantra daily and have the mantras blown on them. For fishes, just blow into the water is fine.

Well we have many Buddhas that can do the trick, but the one most easy and most accessible is Buddha Tsongkhapa. To recite any prayer to Tsongkhapa in earnest daily combined with 21x or more mantra chanting will invoke powerful blessings. You don’t need a guru, centre, initiation, commitments or lengthy explanations for this. It’s just good for you. If you recite over a long period time consistently you feel much better and depressions lift. Really!

This is the foot print of Lord Tsongkapa. He imprinted his foot in stone as a sign of his tantric achievements.

One of my favorite prayers to Buddha Tsongkhapa was written by the illustrious 7th Dalai Lama. It is indeed touching, poetic and very pregnant with meanings.

I enclose here:

A Song Rapidly Invoking Blessings

By Lama Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso, the 7th Dalai Lama

In the year of the Water dog, Lama Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso visited Gaden Monastery. Inspired by the extraordinary vibration pervading the place and filled with marvel at the strength and kindness of Omniscient Lord Tsongkhapa, who had founded Gaden, His Holiness Kalzang Gyatso was moved to write this song. Above, in actuality pristine awareness

Above, in actuality pristine awareness
Manifest as a radiant Buddha mandala,
The pure land of Tushita, the Joyous Abode
Blessed by Buddhas past, present and future.

Mountains of herbs blanketed in sweet aromas,
Flowers blossoming morning, noon and night,
A forest of trees with turquoise leaves:
Reminders of the splendid body of Je Rinpoche.

The murmur of a river swiftly flowing,
The stirring songs of birds,
The majestic sound of a Dharma teaching:
Reminders of the gentle voice of Je Rinpoche.

The blue sky freely hovering,
Clear, white clouds scattered abstractly,
The young sun casting beams everywhere:
The wisdom, compassion and power of Je Rinpoche.

Body adorned with the marks of a Buddha,
Speech raining down vast and profound Dharma,
Mind seeing all things in the sphere of clear light:
I recollect Je Rinpoche, Lobsang Drakpa.

Fulfill your vow to benefit beings;
Descend, grant protection and power.
To you I offer an ocean of all-good things.
Enjoy them within your great bliss.

On the Mighty Nomad Mountain, quiet, easy,
A land made pure with goodness and strength,
Stands your Gaden Monastery, prophesied by Buddha:
A monastery producing limitless Awakened Ones.

Your mind on Bliss and Void inseparable,
The flow of events appeared as a rainbow.
One body sends endless clouds of emanations
To set this world ablaze with joy.

Your profound teachings bridging Sutra and Tantra
Are jewels for those truly seeking liberation.
Even the words you used are perfect,
Nakedly pointing the way for the ripe.

O Je Lama, because of your infinite kindness
We can understand all Sutras and Tantras as precepts,
Can see the entire path leading to perfection
And can correct all delusions and mistaken concepts.

O Master, merely hearing legends of your deeds
Can place a man on the enlightening path;
With thoughts of your greatness, with heart
Trembling, I fix mind upon you.

Invisible father gone to Bliss,
Listen to this plaintive song
Of a boy still in Samsara’s quicksands,
Of an ill-fated son cut from his Refuge.

In terms of external appearances,
A monk is easily proud of his robes,
But if his thoughts fall only on the transient
Are his lusts not worse than a layman’s?

The masses revel in black actions
And through evil gain their ends.
Flashes of a degenerate age
Crash in the depths of my heart.

How glamorous and exciting to go
Through the motions of practising Dharma,
And to hear the profound teachings;
But the mind, hard as wood, is slow to change.

The spirit, weak and uncontrolled,
Staggers under the three psychic poisons
Whenever an object appears to it:
A golden vessel filled with urine

Precious humanity, the chance to be a Buddha;
But we create only misery with it
And throw away all hope of actually
Benefitting either ourselves or others.

I, born so late, unfortunate,
Pass my time amid negativity and confusion.
Father Lama, look upon me;
Hold me with hooks of compassion.

In this life, the bardo and future lives,
Pray, be my guide.
My Refuge, forsake me not.
Omniscient One, be with me always.

Care for all beings as a mother for her son.
Spiritual Father, to us who are children,
Reveal visibly the mandala of your body
Magnificent with every mark of perfection.

Bestow upon us the oral teachings
Which render every experience meaningful.
Bless us to make our minds at one taste
With great bliss and unapprehendable wisdom.

Life is impermanent like the setting sun.
Wealth is like dew on morning grass,
Praise is like wind in a mountain pass,
A youthful body is an autumn flower.

Bless me to understand the shortcomings
Of constantly turning on the wheel of becoming
And to fix the depths of my mind
On the path leading to ultimate knowledge.

Bestow upon me transforming powers to fill
My mental continuum with love and compassion,
To see the beings of Samsara’s six realms
As mothers who have forever helped me.

Bestow upon me transforming powers
Quickly to realize the way things are,
To understand images viewed by the mind
As paintings created by the mind itself.

Help me attain Enlightenment in this very life
Through the yogic methods of Tantra’s two stages,
To see external events as the sport of Buddhas
And the mind as satiated with Bliss and Emptiness.

And when, to fight delusion, meditation’s enemy,
I retreat to a cave on a distant mountain,
A place to give birth to serenity and joy,
Bless me to penetrate the innermost profundity.

Grant me powers swiftly to annihilate
All inner and outer negative forces,
And power to cleanse the stains of having dwelt
Far from the limits of Dharma’s three bonds.

O Manjushri, who reveals himself magically
In peaceful, wrathful and protective forms,
May your auspicious deeds reach fruition
And you remain a constant Refuge to the world.

Bestow upon me the powerful blessings
Of your mysterious body, speech and mind,
That my every physical, verbal and mental
Movement may benefit beings and the teachings.

May the thunder of the Sutras and Tantras shake the earth,
May the sun of Tsongkhapa’s “Practice Lineage” rage,
May all practitioners attain the power
And all sentient beings realize their wishes.

Mantra of Tsongkhapa to be done after this prayer:

This can be recited anytime, anywhere, as many times as possible. It has the benefits of receiving the blessings of Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri and Vajrapani.

MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG
DRI-MEY KHYEN-PI WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG
DU-PUNG MA-LU JOM-DZEY SANG-WEY DAG
GANG-CHEN KE-PEY TSUG-GYEN TSONGKHAPA
LO-SANG TRAG-PEY SHAB-LA SOL-WA DEB
(Recite 21x or more, depending on time)

For more prayers to Tsongkhapa by various saintly authors please go here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=18995

For me I would like to see beautiful thangka, pictures, paintings, statues of Buddha Tsongkhapa on my shrine. I would like to offer water, flowers, incense and light daily. Well sometimes it’s not easy to obtain a picture. So I have included beautiful and free high definition pictures for you to download with descriptions. Just open to the site and click on any picture to see the holy and detailed artwork in larger format. They are absolutely stunning. I provide all this information and materials because as a Buddhist monk it is my duty to provide blessed information and spiritual help as much as possible. What do I gain? The satisfaction that I have used my life to benefit others as I promised my spiritual teachers. I wish you all great luck and start your profound Tsongkhapa practice today!

See here for exquisite Tsongkhapa thangka pictures for free download: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=21091

Humbly and sincerely,
Tsem Rinpoche

Lord Tsongkhapa during strict retreat illustrated here. Tsongkhapa engaged in numerous strict meditational retreats in remote places in order to get direct experience of Buddha’s teachings and complete realizations. It is only from meditative realizations did He compose, teach or give empowerments to his fortunate disciples which numbered into the hundreds of thousands. All of Tsongkhapa’s teachings and lineage has been completely preserved in Gaden Monastery, Sera Monastery, Tashi Lunpo Monastery, Drepung Monastery, Labrang Tashi Kyil and thousands of erudite institutions for the last 600 years after Tsongkhapa’s parinirvana.

Tsem Rinpoche

A unique Byzantine style depiction of Lama Tsongkhapa with his two heart disciples, Khedrup Je and Gyaltsab Je. This depiction of the three great practitioners is known in Tibetan as Je Yab Se Sum. Click to enlarge and download the high resolution version.

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