Praise to Manjusri Explanation by Geshe Rabten
Lord Manjushri (Click on image to enlarge)
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends around the world,
Manjushri is such a necessary practice for us in so many aspects. Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen once told me back in Los Angeles that without the practice of Manjushri one cannot gain full enlightenment. Manjushri is a necessary practice on our journey to enlightenment for many reasons. Among those reasons are that he blesses us to have good memory, penetrative insight into the nature of samsara, perfects our understanding of what is correct and what is to be abandoned, and also helps us to comprehend the Dharma on a deeper level. Meditating on Manjushri’s practice will help us to gain the seven wisdoms and on the ultimate level, penetrate into the true nature of all existence – sunyata.
Manjushri comes in many forms to be of benefit in many ways according to the needs of sentient beings. So any form of Manjushri is a perfect object of refuge, prayer and contemplation. You can never go wrong with Manjushri as your supreme Buddha in any of his forms. I am very happy to present this short commentary and practice for everyone.
Herein lies a beautiful and profound explanation of Manjushri’s prayer called Gangloma by the most Venerable Geshe Rabten. Geshe Rabten is a highly realised meditation master who spent many decades in solitary meditation after perfecting his studies in Sera Monastery. He is the master of many masters. Any explanation by this great master Geshe Rabten will be without fault. How fortunate we are to learn about Manjushri’s sacred prayer which leads to perfections from a learned master such as Geshe Rabten. I have reproduced this here for strictly educational purposes, hoping many will be blessed by the practice of Lord Manjushri and Geshe Rabten’s explanation. My hope is many will engage in the practice of Manjushri on a daily basis, as well as engage in his meditational retreats. I bow deeply and touch my head to the feet of Lord Manjushri. I fold my hands and pay respects to Geshe Rabten.
Humbly,
Tsem Rinpoche
Praise to Manjusri
Dharamsala, India
Geshe Rabten gave this commentary on the Praise to Manjushri in Dharamsala, India, in June, 1975. Translated by Gonsar Rinpoche. Edited by Sandra Smith and Ven. Gyalten Lekden, March 2013.
The Praise to Manjushri at the beginning of this commentary was provided by FPMT Education Services in January 2013. There are some differences between the FPMT translation of the Praise and Gonsar Rinpoche’s translation of the Tibetan terms. Refer to the endnotes, where these discrepancies are discussed.
Geshe Rabten
Praise to Manjushri (Gang-lo-ma)
La ma dang gön po jé tsün jam päi yang la chak tsäl lo
Gang gi lo drö drip nyi trin drel nyi tar nam dak rap sel wä
Ji nyé dön kün ji zhin zik chir nyi kyi tuk kar lek bam dzin
Gang dak si pä tsön rar ma rik mün tom duk ngel gyi zir wä
Dro tsok kün la bu chik tar tsé yän lak druk chü yang dän sung
Druk tar cher drok nyön mong nyi long lä kyi chak drok dröl dzä ching
Ma rik mün sel duk ngäl nyu gu ji nyé chö dzé rel dri nam
Dö nä dak ching sa chü tar sön yön tän lhün dzok gyel sä tu bö ku
Chu trak chu dang chu nyi gyän trä dak lö mün sel jam päi yang la dü
OM A RA PA TSA NA DHI
Tsé dän khyö kyi khyen rap ö zer gyi
Dak lö ti muk mün pa rap säl nä
Ka dang tän chö zhung luk tok pa yi
Lo drö pop päi nang wa tsäl du söl
Homage to my guru and protector, Manjushri!
You, whose intelligence shines forth as the sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance,
Who hold to your heart a scriptural text symbolic of seeing all things as they are,
Who teaches in sixty ways, with the loving compassion of a mother for her only son,
To all creatures caught in the prison of samsara,
Confused in the darkness of their ignorance, overwhelmed by their suffering.
You, whose dragon-thunder–like proclamation of Dharma arouses us from the stupor of our delusions
And frees us from the iron chains of our karma,
Who wields the sword of wisdom hewing down suffering wherever its sprouts appear,
Clearing away the darkness of all ignorance;
You, whose princely body is adorned with the one hundred and twelve marks of a Buddha,
Who has completed the stages achieving the highest perfections of a bodhisattva,
Who has been pure from the beginning.
To you, oh Manjushri, I bow.
OM A RA PA TSA NA DHI
With the brilliance of your wisdom, O compassionate one,
Illuminate the darkness enclosing my mind,
Enlighten my intelligence and wisdom
So that I may gain insight into the Buddha’s words and the texts that explain them.
According to the oral tradition teachings of the lineage gurus, like the junior tutor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Praise to Manjushri (Gang-lo-ma) was composed by 100 Indian mahasiddhis who had gathered together. Each one separately decided to say a verse of praise to Manjushri, who at that time blessed their minds. Ninety-nine of them wrote the same praise, which became known as Gang-lo-ma. The hundredth mahasiddhi wrote a slightly different praise, which became a supplementary prayer to Gang-lo-ma called Sheja-kha-yingpa. This is very, very famous and was recited by the pandit Vidyakokila the Younger. The text is now almost lost; it is extremely rare and it is something many people are searching for, because it is a very, very important praise to Manjushri.
My personal Dream Manjushri statue that I commissioned. Click on the image to learn more about this form of Manjushri.
Although the text begins with “I make prostrations to the lama and Manjushri”,1 in your visualization, in your own mind, the two should be inseparable. There should not be any separation of the lama and Manjushri, so whenever you see Manjushri, you should see the lama. There should be inseparability of the two. This is very important. In some other practices, whenever the word lama is mentioned—whether a deity is mentioned and visualized, or whether the sun is used, for example, there is no difference. Sometimes instead of using sun, they use moon, but it is the same thing, showing the clarity, or the total disintegration of physical and mental obscurations.
Ji nyé dön kün means “whatever you can find” or “whatever can be perceived,” and refers to the conventional truth. Everything that operates on the conventional level is perceived by Manjushri.
Ji zhin zik means “absolute truth” —not only the understanding of the conventional aspect of how things appear to us, the ordinary mode of existence—but seeing the absolute reality. The true mode of existence or absolute truth is understood by Manjushri.
Ji-zhin zik chir also references “absolute lama.” You should see there is no difference between Manjushri and the lama, according to the tantric texts as well as sutra texts. There is no difference of opinion and no difference in traditions. All the traditions of Buddhism agree on this.
Gang go lo-drö means “whose wisdom”, referring to Manjushri as just like the sun in clear space without any obstructions and obstacles of clouds. If there are clouds, the rays of the sun will not shine on us directly; there are obstructions. The wisdom of Manjushri is clear of the two types of obstacles, drip nyi, kleshavarana (the obstacle of disturbing emotions) and jneyavarana, (the obstacles to knowledge). He has freedom from ordinary and instinctive delusions, and he has the true qualities of an enlightened being.
There is no difference whether the moon or the sun is used to represent truth; he has the wisdom of understanding the dual truths. In order to signify this great transcendental wisdom void of all obstacles, which is not visible in any kind of physical form, he holds a book with his left hand at his heart. Holding the book at the heart signifies that he has these mental qualities. Physical qualities can be expressed by the marks and signs, and by what he does, by the compassionate deeds; but in order to show how his psychic qualities, he holds the book, signifying the wisdom of understanding the two levels of truth.
Manjushri Nagarakshasa (Click image to enlarge)
The basic qualities of enlightened beings are wisdom, compassion and power. Next is the quality of compassion. Gang-dag refers to sentient beings. Si-pa tsön-rar means “in the prison of samsara.” This refers specifically to the two kinds of obstacles: grasping at the true existence of phenomena and grasping at the true existence of the personality. These two types of grasping are what prevent us from getting beyond the cycle of samsaric existence. The physical world does not prevent us from getting out of samsara. We are prevented only by these two main faculties of the mind—grasping at the true existence of phenomena and grasping at the true existence of the personality, the false ego and such things. This is what is referred to as the prison of samsara.
Ma-rig mün-thom means “completely bewildered by ignorance.” The cause of our bewilderment is these two kinds of grasping. By this bewilderment we do many wrong things and make no discrimination between white and black actions. Due to doing more black actions, it’s almost as if we are intoxicated by the sufferings. In addition to “being overwhelmed,” zir-wa also means intoxicated.2
Manjushri has great compassion—like a mother’s compassion for her only child—for sentient beings who have this bewilderment of the two basic mistaken qualities or faculties of the mind. Bu-chik means “only child.” Manjushri’s compassion for sentient beings is just like a mother with only one child. The mother gives all her attention and loving care to that child, so it becomes like a jewel and a focus for her. Actually Manjushri’s compassion is much greater than what we can imagine or explain by any means or examples. Although the example of a mother’s love for her only child is the best we can use, it is quite limited. Sometimes our care and compassion is for the self-cherishing attitude—for our own self.
Manjushri’s unimaginable compassion is expressed by druk tar cher drok, which means “like the roar of a dragon’s thunder”. He makes the Dharma teaching known over a great distance with a loud sound. This is an expression of his kind concern and compassion for sentient beings. The ultimate way of benefiting sentient beings is not to improve their physical standard of living, but to improve their spiritual standard.
Nyön mong nyi long means “we are awakened from our sleep of ignorance”,3 just as a loud alarm clock awakens us completely from a peaceful sleep. Manjushri’s teachings are like the thunder of a dragon, completely disturbing the sleep of ignorance. Sometimes we sleep during meditation, and we need to be awakened.
Manjushri (Click image to enlarge)
Lä kyi chak drok means “fetters of karma.”4 We are bound and committed to our own previous actions, so what we do now has been mostly determined. The thunder-like actions of Manjushri cut the rope of ignorance of our karma.
There are many things we cannot do on our own because we have made certain rules for ourselves—the rules of delusions. We can consider this as karma which prevents us from doing many things that we would like to do. We have to break through these kinds of actions which keep us very limited and confined to a narrow point. Once we break through these, we become free from accumulating or forming further karma.
Our own actions are our limitations, like the handcuffs or legcuffs on a prisoner. When a prisoner has iron bars across his legs, he cannot go anywhere. We create these things in our own minds, but our positive action can prevent us from accumulating further karmas. This is by means of our own control, it’s usually determined by us. We should not allow this kind of continuation of past actions to determine our future.
Manjushri holds the sword of wisdom, indicating his power. This is an expression of his compassion, which cuts the rope of actions and the rope of ignorance and delusion of sentient beings. This is not something he has no means to do; he has a great deal of power to do this, as indicated by the sword in his right hand.
Dö nä dak means “pure from the very beginning”. This refers to the definitive form of Manjushri. The interpretive form of Manjushri can be the bodhisattvas who are not pure from the beginning, but who have worked and purified themselves. However, the definitive form is the manifestation of the Buddha’s wisdom. This aspect of Manjushri was pure from the beginning.
“He who has been pure from the beginning and who has traveled all the ten stages and has reached the stage of buddhahood, yet who manifests himself as the son of the buddhas.” 5
Gyal-sä tu-wö-ku actually means “the son of the Buddha who can do many things.”6 This explains his power of attainment, of manifesting according to the needs of sentient beings—sometimes as an enlightened king, sometimes as a prince of the Buddha, a bodhisattva.
When the Buddha’s qualities of wisdom, compassion and power are described, wisdom is the quality of his mind, and compassion is described by its expression—the teachings, the quality of his speech. Then there are his physical qualities; the qualities of his body.
Chu trak chu means “ten times ten” and dang chu nyi “plus twelve.” This refers to the 112 physical attributes of the Buddha; the 80 minor and 32 major attributes. These are like the natural ornaments of an enlightened being, which are without any burden. Silver and gold ornaments have tremendous weight; they may look nice but you get tired because of their weight and the care that you have to take.
Black Manjushri helps us to heal our deep inner negative emotions and mental suffering that arise due to sickness or problems (Click image to learn more)
Dak lö mün sel jam päi yang la dü means “I greet Manjushri with the deep veneration of my body, speech, and mind, who will eliminate the total darkness of my mind.”7 It is now talking about the Buddha’s qualities of wisdom, compassion and power, and the qualities of body, speech and mind. We are praising Manjushri just by expressing these various qualities.
Dü means “to go down, to bend down.” This is like a fruit tree having very large fruit that will pull down the branch—this is called dü. When you notice certain qualities in someone, then your pride and conceit becomes bent. You no longer feel that you are great, but you see something about yourself in someone; something you can just naturally become. You just bow the head: this is how all the homages and respects are paid.
At this point the mantra OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI should be said about a hundred times. If you say this mantra daily in connection with this prayer; if you really concentrate, then your wisdom can improve within a month. In one month you can feel the difference in your intelligence, and your wisdom really expands. This is the great mantra of Manjushri.
After saying the mantra there is the conclusion prayer.8
A very clever person who has never studied with any teacher could perhaps understand any text he picks up, but that would be a superficial understanding. He would only understand what is in the book, not the real deeper meanings which are hidden completely. Certain very special wisdom is needed for this, like the power of Manjushri, the transmissions of the lineages, the powers of the lamas and such things.
This is a daily practice we should do at home. The first thing we should do after getting up is rinse the mouth, then recite this prayer to Manjushri and the mantra. This is extremely beneficial; it makes a big difference to our day and gives us great wisdom. It can help, it can make a whole big difference.
Beautiful painting of Manjushri (Click image to enlarge)
Then it is good to make an offering of the mandala to Manjushri by using this verse: “In the place adorned with flowers and beautiful circumstances, on this great surface, the earth, I visualize all the continents, the sun and the moon. Together with my wealth, my body, speech and mind, I offer this to you.” It is a good practice to make a short mandala offering. There are two ways of saying this verse, for which the visualizations are slightly different. Sang-gyä zhing-la means you take the entire universe and make this offering to another place—to another pure land where the buddhas are residing. When you say zhing-du, you visualize this very place where you are now standing as a pure land and offer it to the objects of refuge. So if you see this spelled as zhing-la or zhing-du it is not a mistake, but a different visualization.
About Manjushri
Je Tsongkhapa said of Manjushri “Just as the elephant longs for the river, so do I long for your good qualities.” In another world age, there was a person with the same stream of consciousness as Manjushri. The ruling Buddha was Dawa Kunzik,9 the King of the Dragon’s Sound. Manjushri was one of the four chakra emperors then, and had a large family whose only work was to look after the Buddha and his disciples. He made a continuous practice of offerings, year after year, but was not sure how to dedicate the merit. A voice from the sky said that he should dedicate the merit for enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Manjushri went to see the Buddha with a large party and Buddha said that the power of his merit would not fail for what he wished and dedicated them for. He advised the king to develop bodhicitta and take the bodhisattva vows. The king made elaborate offerings and vowed very strongly to destroy the self-cherishing attitude, because he might never enjoy results if he were to find himself cheating other sentient beings by having self-cherishing attitude. Many others took bodhisattva vows at the same time. The only one left was the Tathagata Sa-lha, the deity of the earth, who remained under the earth according to his bodhisattva promises. All the others went to other worlds.
It is Manjushri who will cause all the buddhas of this world age to take bodhisattva vows. His name then was Chö-gyäl-tsän, Banner of Dharma. He became the guru of 100 aspiring buddhas. Manjushri is the father of all the buddhas to come. He is always spoken of as a bodhisattva and his manifestations are those of a bodhisattva, but he is really a full buddha. He attained enlightenment many times to set examples, going through the twelve deeds. When he attained enlightenment, it was in this universe, several times in the south.
There are pure lands of Manjushri, which are hard to be born into. Even if all bodhisattvas made prayers to be born there, only 16 could be born there. There are only bodhisattvas in this pure land; not even arhats can go there. There is no suffering or lack of freedom, so there is speedy progress. The residing buddha, Kun-zik himself, looks after us and gives us teachings. To go there it is necessary to do Manjushri practice, the practice of dawa-para(?) and to have bodhicitta.
Manjushri should be visualized as just like the Buddha, but all yellow. His left hand is in the teaching mudra and his right hand is in the mudra of fearlessness. He should be visualized as miles high. Make many paintings or statues of Manjushri. We don’t need to make requests of him; just by being there, he solves all our questions and problems. Making devotion to Manjushri is like making devotion to all the Sutrayana and Tantrayana deities. It is better to recite Manjushri’s name than those of all the buddhas.
White Manjushri practice is very powerful for helping us to clear our delusions and ignorance and helping us to gain wisdom (Click image to enlarge)
In Manjushri’s time, there was a king who had killed his father by hitting him in anger. He was overwhelmed with regret, and the present Buddha came down to him and said that Manjushri could deal with the problem, although he himself couldn’t. Mahakashek and Manjushri came with 499 disciples each. The king prepared offerings and food for 1,000 persons, but 100,000 manifestations of Manjushri came. The king was downcast, as it was so inauspicious to have inadequate offerings. Moreover, he didn’t have enough bowls, so Manjushri manifested begging bowls in front of his manifestations. The king wanted to offer clothing to Manjushri, but Manjushri, who took different forms, turned into light and said: “Are you square, circular, triangular or something else?” Thus he tricked the king into meditation on voidness.
Manjushri is the father, the method, bodhicitta, and the mother, the wisdom understanding voidness. The name of Manjushri is more powerful than that of other buddhas, not because of the quality of enlightenment, but because of the differences in expansiveness of the vows taken as a bodhisattva.
Most Indian pandits had Manjushri as their main deity. For example, Manjushri was the closest friend and advisor of Je Tsongkhapa. Manjushri does not discriminate when to appear; this depends on the enthusiasm of the disciple, as in the story of Asanga and the dog.
Notes
1 “Lama” could be seen as one object of praise and “protector Manjushri” as the other object of praise, thus Geshe Rabten comments that the two are inseparable.
2 Zir-wa is usually translated as “afflicted”, but in the FPMT prayer above, it is translated as “overwhelmed (by suffering).” Applying the meaning “intoxicated” to this term must be an alternative or oral tradition.
3 Different from FPMT translation; both are correct.
4 Different from FPMT translation; both are correct.
5 Different from the FPMT translation of this prayer. The difference is important because of the use of the conjunction “yet” in this translation, absent in the FPMT translation. It is not technically there in the Tibetan, but it is verse and can be assumed, as long as there is consistency.
6 This means “the primary son of the Conqueror,” which is a euphemism for bodhisattva. This is an interpretation, not a literal translation.
7 Different from the FPMT translation. This is an interpretation, not a literal translation. The words say, “To Manjushri, who clears the darkness of my mind, I bend down.”
8 Lama Thubten Yeshe’s translation of this prayer:
Most compassionate Manjushri:
With your great kindness, please
Dispel through your magnificent light
Of understanding wisdom
My mental darkness of ignorance,
That I might comprehend fully all Lord
Buddha’s sutras and the Mahayana pandits’
Commentaries, by receiving the courageous
Vision of understanding knowledge wisdom.
9 This is a best guess, however, “Dawa Kunzik” is not even close to meaning “The King of the Dragon’s Sound,” so it’s possible that these two are separate entities.
Source: http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/praise-manjusri
Other Forms of Manjushri
Another form of Manjushri known as Manjushri Namasamgiti together with Dorje Shugden. Click on image to enlarge or click here for more beautiful thangkas.
For more interesting information:
- All About Manjushri
- 1,000-armed Manjushri!!!
- Black Manjushri and An Overview of the Mind
- Manjushri on a Pond
- Kechara Forest Retreat’s Manjushri!
- White Manjushri Daily Practice
- Dream Manjushri
- A Concert of Names of Manjushri
- A Black Manjushri Sadhana: Self-Healing Meditation and Exercises
- Wu Tai Shan
- Manjushri for Justin
- Justin’s Manjushri
- Hecelus Tan does his first Manjushri Retreat!
- Manjushri for Li Kim’s boys!
- Look what the postman brought!
- 15 year old does Manjushri retreat
- In You Manjushri
- Gangloma
- Sacred Mountain of Manjushri
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Venerable Geshe Rabten Rinpoche known as a debater, scholar, and meditation master. Geshe Rabten was one of the pioneer and the first Tibetan Buddhist masters to give teachings in the West. Interesting sharing and with detail explanations understanding the Praise to Manjusri by Geshe Rabten. We are blessed to have learn and practice it . A good practice with the correct way to visual and reading this post had me understand better the meaning of this powerful prayer.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Clear explanation and understanding of Praise to Manjusri by Geshe Rabten a great masters much appreciated with folded hands. With these explanation will help us in the practice. Venerable Geshe Rabten Rinpoche was one of the most outstanding Tibetan masters of our time. Also known as Milerpa. We are fortunate we are to learn about Manjushri’s sacred prayer. May all be blessed with this powerful praise of Manjushri.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing of powerful practice of Gangloma.
Mantras in the waters of Kechara Forest Retreat-Malaysia
Mantras represent the blessings of the enlightened beings in the form of sound. When we recite mantras they stimulate the various parts of our body to heal itself, to clear itself, to purify itself and to gain higher states of consciousness. Therefore, mantras are very powerful. They can be written, visualised or recited out aloud. The mantras of enlightened beings bless ordinary beings, animals, ethereal or formless beings and everyone in the environment.
In Kechara Forest Retreat, Malaysia, we have a koi fish pond, on which sits a magnificent statue of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. When the fish circumambulate around Manjushri they are blessed by his divine presence. At the same time, people who come to visit the pond and circumambulate around Manjushri receive the same blessings.
Along with the Manjushri fish pond, we also have a lake in Kechara Forest Retreat. In the middle of this lake is a Shakyamuni Buddha statue. In both these places we have placed Manjushri mantra stones underneath submerged under the water so that the animals, humans and beings who circumambulate these holy statues, not only circumambulate the images of the Buddhas but also sacred mantras. The is done in order to plant the seeds of enlightenment in their mindstreams so that in the future they are able to realise Bodhicitta, the realisation of Emptiness and higher states of consciousness. So, I thought I would share this little video with everyone. Thank you.
Tsem Rinpoche
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1542840739.mp4
This video, narrated in Chinese, features Manjushri mantra stones. These are stones carved with the sacred mantra of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. The mantra of any Buddha is basically the manifestation of the enlightened being in the form of sound. Therefore, Manjushri’s mantra embodies the special qualities of his transcendent wisdom. Offering of these mantras stones is likened to an offering of Manjushri-like speech to the Three Jewels.
Sponsoring and offering such stones has the benefit of gaining deeper insight into spiritual practice, improving one’s memory, critical thinking, creativity, language and the purification of negative karma related to speech. It also promotes the development of powerful speech that has a positive impact on others.
In the video we see mantra stones placed at the majestic Four-armed Manjushri statue in Kechara Forest Retreat, Malaysia. The more stones are offered there, the more benefit it brings to the person circumambulating and paying homage to Lord Manjushri. These stones are available at Naropa’s Cave in Kechara Forest Retreat and can be offered to the statue of Manjushri here just as you see in the video.
Tsem Rinpoche
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1542838906.mp4
Good sharing of this powerful “Praise of Manjushri” by Venerable Geshe Rabten . We are indeed fortunate to have great master explaining the details of Manjushri’s prayers. Beautiful practice when we mediate on Manjushri , we will gain the seven wisdoms. Manjushri comes in many forms and in many ways to help us depending on our needs. May all be blessed by the practice of Lord Manjushri and Geshe Rabten’s details explanation.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing ……i could understand better , a deeper meaning and importance of Manjushri’s practice.
I have experienced Manjushri practice and also recommended to my mum and some dharma friends. We find the practice is very effective.Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing this powerful explanation of the “Praise of Manjushri” by the Venerable Geshe Rabten Geshe Rabten .????
Dear All
I would like to share with you the sacred prayer of Manjushri – A Concert Names of Manjushri (’Jam-dpal mtshan-brjod, Skt. Mañjuśrī-namasamgiti), which consists of 160 verses and mantra sentences. One version is translated by Alexander Berzin, a scholar, translator, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, and the other one is from FPMT.
Valentina
I would have never even known about ‘Manjushri’ if I had not stumbled upon Tsem Rinpoche’s teachings many years ago. Manjushri is synonymous with wisdom, without wisdom enlightenment would be almost impossible.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this powerful explanation of the “Praise of Manjushri” by the unexcelled Master, Geshe Rabten .
Manjushri has always been in my mind, the Buddha of Wisdom, who blesess us with good memory and ultimately helps us realise true reality -the true nature of existence of all phenomena and all beings . Manjushri with his sword of wisdom cuts asunder our ignorance so that we can gain clarity and the wisdom of realising that all phenomena has no inherent existence. Only with this realistion, can we free ourselves from our grasping at self and other phenomena, and free ourselves from all suffering.
Hence,Manjushri, with his loud proclamation of Dharma , cuts the iron chains of our karma and delusions, the chief of which is ignorance, that bind us to samsara. Only when we are free of these fetters will we be able to free ourselves completely from suffering.
Furthermore, in Gangloma, the Praise to Manjushri, we also see how He uses his infinite compassion, like a mother for her only son(and even more because His love and compassion are boundless and unconditional) to help free us from the prison of samsara. Samsara is the prison of cyclic existence and unending suffering to which we are bound by the iron chains of our karma.
The infinite power and greatness of Manjushri’s compassion is seen in his manifesting again and again and also simultaneously as Yidam, Dharma Protector and Guru. He is Yamantaka, Manjushri Tsongkhapa and Manjushri Dorje Shugden. He also manfests as an enlightened king, sometimes as a prince of the Buddha, a bodhisattva.
It is Manjushri who will cause all the buddhas of this world age to take bodhisattva vows. He became the guru of 100 aspiring buddhas. Manjushri is the father of all the buddhas to come.
To Manjushri,Buddha of Infinite Wisdom, Compassion and Power, I prostrate.
Thank you Rinpoche for giving us this powerful practice of Gangloma. ,Praise of Manjushri .
When i was very young, i used to go to the temple with my mother to make wishes to get good result for my exam from Lord Manjushri. I know Him as a Buddha that very learned and will give me good memory, intelligent and wisdom so that I can study better. After reading this article I understand more about Manjuhsri’s story. Interesting part on how He became a Budhha.
H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche always talk about Manjushri. Manjushri manifested as Atisha, Lama Tsongkhapa, Dorje Shugden and many more Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. He is the guru of the Buddhas. Rinpoche always encourage us to do Mnajushri retreat to increase our wisdom and memory. We should recite his mantra as part of our daily sadhana. It is very beneficial especial to those that is getting older like me..
Wisdom Buddha Manjushri is most powerful and it is an essential practice as Rinpoche teaches us that one cannot gain full enlightenment without Manjushri’s practice. Pastor Chia shared with us today that when we do the Gangloma prayer, within one month our memory will improve very much.
With Manjushri’s practice, Rinpoche shares that we gain the wisdom to know what we should abandon and see the true nature of Samsara. We get so easily distracted by mundane things, which bring us nowhere in the long run, but to rely on Manjushri daily will bring us true happiness as we see the true nature of things.
I rejoice for everybody coming across this blog and holy Manjushri and by practice gaining the manyfold benefit of His practice.
We are very fortunate to have great masters like Venerable Geshe Rabten to give us this detail explaination of Manjushri’s prayer and preserve this rare text. All lamas although different school and linage, are doing their best to pass down these precious practises to us. Different people with different affinity will receive different practise, but every practise is the tireless result from these great masters whose only objective is to benefit all sentient beings. Thus we should respect every linage and practise as all are teaching from Buddha to bring us out of sufferings.
Many year ago,Thank to His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche has introduced Manjushiri practice to me personally.since that, I’m always interested all the form of Manjushiri,and wish to be like Manjushiri fill with wisdom to cut down ignorance. This article is like commentary of Gangloma prayer which help me about to understanding more the meaning of the prayer.
Manjushri is the father of all the buddhas to come. He is always spoken of as a bodhisattva and his manifestations are those of a bodhisattva, but he is really a full buddha. He attained enlightenment many times to set examples, going through the twelve deeds. When he attained enlightenment, it was in this universe, several times in the south.
The name of Manjushri is more powerful than that of other buddhas, not because of the quality of enlightenment, but because of the differences in expansiveness of the vows taken as a bodhisattva. We such devote ourself to Manjushri is like making devotion to all the Sutrayana and Tantrayana deities. It is better to recite Manjushri’s name than those of all the buddhas.
This is a very good article explaining the meaning of Gangloma prayers, when we do a prayer, it is very important for us to understand what the prayer mean, and not just reciting it like a robot repeating it everyday without understanding, then the prayers we do will have limited effect.
– Manjushri has great compassion—like a mother’s compassion for her only child—for sentient beings who have this bewilderment of the two basic mistaken qualities or faculties of the mind. Bu-chik means “only child.” Manjushri’s compassion for sentient beings is just like a mother with only one child. The mother gives all her attention and loving care to that child, so it becomes like a jewel and a focus for her. –
When I read this phrase, I thought to myself that am I reading article about Manjushri or Mother Tara, because the above phrase is often describe how Mother Tara takes care of all sentient beings like her only child, but in fact, here it written that Manjushri also carry this quality. The basic qualities of enlightened beings are wisdom, compassion and power. Means that when we practice manjushri, beside wisdom, we also get compassion and power, as Manjushri has embodied all these good qualities.
Manjushri’s compassion is so great that he even make himself like the roar of a dragon’s thunder, to disturb the deep sleeping ignorance, and shaken him that beside awake, there is no other way.
Manjushri practice is very powerful, he has many emanation that benefited so many people till today, like the most popular emanation – Lama Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden, it has became one of the main practice in Tibetan Gelug Tradition, and people who practice this 2 Buddha, they find them very effective and many of them showed tremendous improvement in their spiritual path.
Thank you Rinpoche for posting this article as to let us understand more about Manjushri, when we know more about the Buddha, it deepen our faith to them and become more effective when we pray to them.
To read this article again gives me more understanding and knowledge of this Wisdom Bodhisattva, who is highly praised, revered and propitiated by all Tibetans of all sects, including Mahayana practitioners. To the Buddha of Great Wisdom, I prostrate. I pray to emulate His wondrous qualities.
There are so many hidden meanings beneath the praise to Manjushri. It’s like the essential and summary of Dharma. I learned a lot by just reading once, by reading it few more times and truly understand the meanings behind the praise, do his practices consistently, and place our faith on Manjushri,The Buddha of Wisdom, we would definitely gain something positive.
Thank you, Rinpoche.
All this while, Manjushri to me is represent wisdom only, and after read the article, Manjushri has more than what I know especially about his great compassion that is “Manjushri’s compassion for sentient beings is just like a mother with only one child”, wah!
I am so fortunate to have the merit to read this article, at least the mantra “OM A RA PA TSA NA DHI’ has more meaningful to me now and fell powerful of recite it. Thank you.
The story of manjushri I like the most is the story of Monk Hanshan (寒山) and monk Shide (拾得)，Hanshan is the manifestation of Manjushri, His has written many poems and the one I like the most is :-
Drumming your grandpa in the shrine,
Cooking your aunts in the pot,
Marrying your grandma in the past,
Should I laugh or not?
Thanks Rinpoche and writers for the post.
Free from karma bound and embrace the Bodhisattva qualities are the path to enlightenment, and Manjushri practice is all that we need to achieve the goal.
I used to think why enlighten beings need to be praised as they are already perfect. I learn that praising the Buddha is to create the cause to gain the same qualities as Buddha. Buddha does not need any praises to be better or we can “bribe” Buddha with nice words, it’s us that need the qualities to be like them.
Gangloma is very very well written on Manjushri who possesses the highest qualities that we need to relieve from all sufferings.
Thank you.
It’s a very details about this ( Praise to Manjusri Explanation by Geshe Rabten ) article. I always attracted by Manjushri stories, emanations and even Manjushri prayers.
Thank You Geshe Rabten for an clear explanation of Manjushri praise.
_/\_
Eric kksiow
I always find that Manjushri is super attractive. I guess I really need the wisdom!
Pastor Chia shared with KFR team earlier that if we can do Gangloma 3 or 7 times a day, everyday, it will increase our wisdom tremendously! And how true because it is said “If you say this mantra daily in connection with this prayer; if you really concentrate, then your wisdom can improve within a month. In one month you can feel the difference in your intelligence, and your wisdom really expands.”
How fortunate that we have this prayer and also the explanation for it.
Lä kyi chak drok means “fetters of karma – this is the most intriguing part for me because to me karma is as real as gravity but at the same time as clear as mud. I used to think more along the line of “There’s no fate but what we make”, yes like in the movie Terminator but Buddhism introduced me to another concept – “We are bound and committed to our own previous actions, so what we do now has been mostly determined.” It messes with your head like time travel – the future changing the past that caused the future that would never have been if it was because of the future trying to change the past….
I totally agree that there are many things we cannot do on our own because we have made certain rules for ourselves—the rules of delusions. When I was young I wanted to see a different color. No matter how I tried to visualize this new color, it was always an existing color or a variant of an existing color. Technically our vision is limited by the light spectrum our eyes can process, so for sure there are other spectrum out there not visible to us. I realized then my mind is controlled and limited by what I already know. The colors I have already seen became a limitation and boundary. With life, I think it’s quite similar. The more we “know” the more entrapped we become. The more we act, the more our actions become or limitations. It is an impossible vicious cycle. Every now and then we catch glimpse of this vicious cycle and the prison we are in but then it’s gone and it’s back to living in the matrix.
If there indeed lies an answer – Manjushri who cut the rope of actions and the rope of ignorance and all our delusion. How much courage is needed to look beyond our ignorance and delusion? Would an animal that has been caged his entire life venture out excitingly or cautiously when the cage is unlocked?
This post gave an understanding of what we are reciting in Gangloma and the explanation help a lot.
Reading about Manjushri teaches me that it is important to continuously collect merits as with merits we are able to have a clear mind to understand the in depth of dharma to help us in our practice and ultimately to reach enlightenment.
How very, very fortunate indeed for us to be able to hear from a higly realised meditation master of the many masters, a beautiful and profound explanation of Manjushri’s sacred prayer called “Gangloma” by the most venearable Geshe Rabten. Yes, a Manjushri sacred prayer comes in a most perfect form of prayers for refuge helps one to collect blessings of good memory and penetrative insights to create perfect understandings – but best and most important of all to comprehend Dharma on a deeper level to gain Wisdom on ultimate levels of all existences. Practices of Manjushri encourages developments of wisdom on several levels. On an outer level, it helps us to nurture wisdom for our daily needs of life. Manjushri bestows vast benefits to people in education, communication, writing and teaching industries, as well as students of learning capacities! On an inner level, Manjushri helps to attain wisdom to free ourselves from karmic bondages, delusions and negative habituations. The great powerful Lord Manjushri, with the brandishing of his golden-sword on his right hand is to cut away ignorance and negative states of mind, which form the basis of all our sufferings. A great many thanks to Rinpoche for the kind sharing and briefing.
I thank Rinpoche and the people behind this very beneficial post on Wisdom Buddha, Manjushri and his supreme practice. I now know the exact meaning of all those Tibetan words that I have been reciting “blindly” all this while. Reading this post, especially these 2 paras, has increased my faith and love for Manjushri even more.
1. Making devotion to Manjushri is like making devotion to all the Sutrayana and Tantrayana deities. It is better to recite Manjushri’s name than those of all the buddhas.
2. Manjushri is the father, the method, bodhicitta, and the mother, the wisdom understanding voidness. The name of Manjushri is more powerful than that of other buddhas, not because of the quality of enlightenment, but because of the differences in expansiveness of the vows taken as a bodhisattva.
I am utterly grateful for having Manjushri in the form of my precious Guru, Yidam and Protector. May all be blessed with all the supreme qualities of Manjushri.
Bowing at thy lotus feet.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing with us about this powerful prayer. The praise look very simple there is without the deeper understanding of the praise but after reading the explanation this prayer is very profound and is very deep the meaning it really review the truth of samsaric existence and why we sentient being continue to take rebirth in this samsara.
Thank you so much Rinpoche for this sharing and teaching. Manjushri practice is so relevant for today’s degenerate time where wisdom and penetrative thoughts are much needed. I certainly understood in further detail of my recitations in the Praise to Manjushri.
Thank you so much.
Humbly yours
Lum Kok Luen
Thanks Rinpoche. This is a very powerful article with many layers of meaning. All we need now is to apply the will and strong concentration to discern the secrets of the prayer. _/\_
Will be beginning a Manjushri retreat tomorrow so it felt very auspicious to read this article today.
Manjushri is one of the first few “Tibetan” Buddhas that I came across after connecting to H.E. Tsem Rinpoche. More specifically, it was White Manjushri at the time as a friend of mine had a statue of him. I later found out that White Manjushri was a less common form of Manjushri and that there are in fact 5 main forms of Manjushri not to mention countless other emanations.
I have been attracted to Manjushri too since coming across him. The idea of having the knowledge and wisdom to understand the purpose of life was intoxicating. Why? I guess because ever since I was young, I’ve always wondered why I existed, where I came from, what my purpose was, what dying was all about, and where I would go next. Strange thoughts for a 5-year-old child to be sure, but I had them.
So yes, Manjushri’s promise to grant supreme understanding of the nature of reality is something that I hope to attain one day. Until then, I will continue my prayers and mantras to Guru Manjushri, Yidam Manjushri and Protector Manjushri and count myself fortunate to have him in my life.
Thanks Rinpoche for the post.
I heard from many that Gangloma is a powerful prayer that will increase wisdom. With the commentary by Geshe Rabten, I found that every line every word is so meaningful.
Manjushri practice is essential in this era where we need a lot of wisdom to see the truth. In the Gelug lineage, it’s inseparable with Manjushri as Tsongkhapa himself consider as an emanation of Manjushri.
I need to do this powerful prayer very much to advance my spiritual journey. Thank you!
Anyone young and old, are encouraged to engage in Manjushri’s practice because he blesses us to have good memory, ability to understand and see the inner nature of samsara and get better understanding of dhama.
Thank you Rinpoche for making this available online. Gangloma is a short prayer, very easy to start with, and suitable for people who is always on the go.
May more and more people involve in Manjushri practice. May more and more people benefited from Manjushri practice. May we all gain the seven wisdoms and ultimately lead us to full enlightenemnt. _/\_
Get your children to start with Manjushri practice, it will help them a lot in comprehension, memory, clarity of mind and focus. Young monks in the monasteries recite Gangloma every morning before they start their classes.
We have a some children in our Kechara who started to practice since a very young age, they are doing very well in their studies and very articulate. Manjushri practice is not only good for a young child, it is very good for adults also. It will help us to understand Dharma better and progress in our spiritual practice. Recite his mantra 10 malas a day consistently, you will definitely see the results.
This is a short prayer and easy to do on a daily basis. With this comprehensive commentary by Geshe Rabten made available to us by Tsem Rinpoche, we are better able to understand though we are far from Rinpoche’s side.
As it is written down in the bloig, we can always use this as a reference and go back to it as many times as we want or need.
Thank you, Rinpoche for making this commentary available to us 24/7.
Gangloma is part of my daily sadhana that had been doing for 4 years. This is very informative to know the praises deeply. So grateful to have it explained. Thank you Rinpoche and people who wrote up this article and researched about it.
Millions thank you.
Victor Choi
*Humbly bowed down with folded hands.*
Everyone young or old love to do well in their lives, may it be in education or making a living. Many institutions are set up and you pay to go study there to achieve these worldly goals. And there is nothing wrong with that.
To achieve wisdom and understand the purpose of this precious human life is another category and ultimate way to have the real purpose in your life. To achieve that is to gain understanding of the Dharma, the noble truths and the way to enlightenment.
In this beautiful post, HE the 25th Tsem Rinpoche has given us the guidance and our sincere and right motivation to propitiate Lord Manjushir. Thank you Rinpoche.
May we take this education to create wisdom and bodhichitta for the ultimate way to lead our lives with the greatest of all successes, achievement of internal peaceful grace to be of benefit to all sentient beings.
With folded hands,
Datuk May
Manjushri is one of my most favorite Buddha of all time. When i was a teenager, i have first attended activities in a Buddhist Temple name after Manjushri. That was my first encounter in learning Buddhism. I have many good memories from there.
This is a very beneficial post on the explanation of Praise to Manjushri (Gang-lo-ma). Those who are doing this practice, this articles explain every line of the prayers and make us understand better on what we a reciting.
It’s great to know about Manjushri and I have not really read about him until I read this article. Knowing his great deeds and the vase merits he has accumulated supported his transformation and he is also the cause for all the Buddhas of this world to take boddhisattva vows.
May this article bring much benefits and inspiration for many people to gain the wisdom as Manjuhsri.
So profound, so much knowledge, wisdom, benefits that one gets from Manjushri’s practice.
A big ‘Thank You’ to the people behind the scene, who patiently labour to put this great article to share and benefit others.
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