December 18, 2022 is Lama Tsongkhapa Day 2022 — Ganden Ngamchoe, Anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s Parinirvana!

The parinirvana of the great sage of the Land of Snows, Lama Je Tsong Khapa, is celebrated on December 18, 2022, this year. (Lama Tsongkhapa Day is celebrated on the 25th day of the Tibetan lunar calendar each year, which this year falls on December 18.)

On the actual day, December 18 — which is TSOG day! doubly auspicious! — celebrate the Enlightened Lama Tsongkhapa with his Guru Yoga, Lama Chopa,  or simply celebrate by chanting his mantra (video and text below.)

The Glorious One of the Three Worlds

Buddha Weekly YouTube Documentary with guided visualization and mantras for Lama Tsongkhapa:

Beautiful Migtsema

One of the best ways to honor the great Buddha of the Land of Snows is with the recitation of The Glorious One of the Three Worlds (below), or to chant the Migtsema (in the video chanted by the amazing Yoko Dharma!)

Benefits of chanting: healing, compassion, metta, wisdom.

MIG.ME TZE.WAI TER.CHEN CHEN.RE.ZIG

DRI.ME KYEN.PAI WANG.PO JAM.PEL.YANG

DÜ.PUNG MA.LÜ JOM.DZE SANG.WAI DAG

GANG.CHEN KAY.PAI TZUG.GYAN TSONG.KHAPA

LO.ZANG DRAG.PAI ZHAB.LA SOL.WA DEB.

Which translates as:

You are Avalokitesvara, great treasure of unimaginable compassion,

And Manjushri, master of flawless wisdom,

And Vajrapani, Lord of the Secret and destroyer of hordes of maras without exception.

Tsong Khapa, crown jewel of the sages of the land of snows,

Lozang Dragpa, I make requests at your lotus feet.

Mantra of Lama Tsongkhapa

OM AH GURU VAJRADHARA SUMATI KIRTI SIDDHI HUM

The Glorious One of the Three Worlds

By Khedrub Geleg Pelzangpo

Translated by Joona Repo (FPMT — download link below)

In the presence of the victorious ones, you adopted the bodhisattvas’ conduct;

In Tuṣita, you are renowned as “Jampel Nyingpo”;

And in the Land of Snows, you are known as “Glorious Lozang Dragpa.”

Principal son of the victorious ones, to you I pray.

Through the force of being endowed with the ripening of your vast merit,

You were able to read scriptures and understand the principles of Sanskrit

Without having studied the science of grammar.

To you who accomplished all good qualities without effort, I pray.

From the time that your sun-like body emerged from your mother’s womb,

You forever abandoned association with the frivolous enjoyments

Of the lightning bolt that strongly craves for the wonders of existence.

To you I pray.

Since your youth, you were properly restrained by the most noble and supreme ethics

Of all the Victorious One’s modes of disciplined behavior.

You are endowed with the force of habit

Of being completely conscientious in all lives—to you I pray.

Through the analysis that engages unhindered

With the words and meanings of all the Victorious One’s teachings,

You always made great effort to seek out eloquent instructions.

Vast treasury of knowledge, to you I pray.

Never satisfied with lines of hollow words,

Through detailed and very subtle flawless reasoning,

You understood all dharmas without exception,

Including points that are difficult for tens of millions of supreme scholars to fathom—to you I pray.

Lord, even if all the debaters trained in logic

Were to investigate your teachings hundreds of times,

Even the smallest portion will withstand the analysis of others.

To you endowed with a pure mind, I pray.

Who else, apart from you, sees the true intention

Of the scriptures expounded by the great charioteers of the Land of Āryas?

And to just you alone did all teachings appear as supreme instructions.To you I pray.

Because of this, the dust on the earth under the prints of your lotus feet—

Always resting on the crowns of all supreme scholars—

Is an object of offering for living beings

To you I pray.

However much the wisdom of the victorious ones investigates your mind,

It cannot find even a fragment of subtle faults

Arising from carelessly following the ethics of the thoroughly pure trainings.

To you I pray.

Like an ocean, a source of jewels,

Such is the depth of your mind of compassion—

Beyond even that of all those possessing the eyes of wisdom.

To you, venerable treasury of compassion, I pray.

For the benefit and happiness of embodied beings,

There is no burden that you do not carry

In the vehicle of your superior intention.

Magnificent brave one who completed all great deeds, to you I pray.

Since even just your breath, Lord,

Is medicine for all living beings,

What need is there to mention your other actions related to the two accumulations?

Friend of the beings of the three grounds, to you I pray.

Every day Mañjuśrī directly and uninterruptedly taught you

A nectar stream of eloquent instructions—

The condensed essence of the minds of the victorious ones of the three times.

To you I pray.

In the lotus garden of the Muni’s teachings, and in this world,

You are like the sun of the victorious ones.

Ajitanātha,in person, praised you as the supreme refuge.

To you I pray.

You perceived the victory banner-like forms of countless victorious ones.

You were blessed directly by many mahāsiddhas—

Saraha, Luipa, and others.

To you, the completely pure supreme being, I pray.

When you were blessed by

Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Buddhapālita, and Candrapāda,

At that very moment you abandoned the stains of errors regarding the profound ultimate reality.

To you I pray.

Through meditating excellently on the ultimate reality that is like the center of space

With the concentration of meditative equipoise,

In post-meditation, your illusion-like mind never wavered for even an instant.

To you I pray.

Accomplisher of all the Muni’s eloquent instructions,

You reveal the very essence of the ocean of all classes of tantra.

Supreme guru—indivisible with the powerful All-Pervading Victorious One Vajradhara—

To you I pray.

Having understood the profound points of the two stages—

The final part of the path not experienced by others in this land—just as intended,

And having ascertained their meaning, you engaged in the essential practices.

To you I pray.

Having removed the conceptualizations of the appearance of and adherence to ordinariness

Through the completion of the gross and subtle deity yogas,

Your mind is never distracted from seeing whatever appears as the manifold display of the maṇḍala wheel.

To you I pray.

You dissolved the current of the winds of conceptualizations into your central channel

And you saw the suchness of the all-empty clear light.

Whatever appeared arose as the manifold display of supreme great bliss.

To you possessing the vajra mind, I pray.

Through being endowed with the power of infinite prayers and through skillful means,

You lead infinite assemblies of trainees effortlessly and spontaneously

On the path that pleases the victorious ones.

To you, the refuge of all worlds, I pray.

Through your virtuous training in various aspects of the explanation and practice of all the teachings,

You shine light on all the holy Dharmas of the victorious ones

—the three trainings of scripture and realization—

At a time when the teachings of the Muni remain only in name.

To you I pray.

When you practiced during the time that your physical manifestation in this land was intentionally passing away,

The sky was inconceivably filled with

Deity assemblies of heroes and ḍākinīs making offerings.

To you I pray.

When you actualized the clear light dharmakāya,

Your body transformed into a mass of light.

To you who attained the supreme siddhi of the illusory body

Of the bardo’s complete saṃbhogakāya, I pray.

From now on, in all my lives,

Please bless me to respectfully make offerings at your lotus feet,

Listen to your teachings,

And practice, through the actions of my three doors, only that which pleases you.

Having abandoned the mind of peace and happiness for oneself

And striving for wealth and honor—the splendors of this life—

Please bless me never to be separated from supreme bodhicitta,

The mind striving for the benefit of living beings.

Having understood the meaning of all the logical teachings

Of the Victorious One without exception

With a subtle and wise exacting intelligence,

Please bless me to dispel confusion’s great darkness from living beings.

After I have gained certainty regarding the meanings of the manifold classes of tantra,

Please bless me to practice the profound meaning

Of the final two stages of the excellent path, one pointedly,

Unmoved by outer and inner adverse conditions.

In short, having precisely grasped the Victorious One’s intention

With regard to all of his holy Dharma

And the unexcelled Vajrayāna in particular,

Please bless me that I may be a guide for living beings.

Through this virtue, in all my lives,

May I never be separated from you, the guru, the supreme guide;

Be nourished, protector, by the overflowing essence of your mind;

And taste of the nectar of your eloquent instructions.

Furthermore, may all good actions I have done or am currently doing,

Whatever they may be,

Become causes for you to joyfully care for me

And for me to practice only in accordance with your instructions.

Whatever your form, Glorious Guru;

Whatever your entourage, lifespan, or pure land;

Whatever your supreme excellent name;

May I and all living beings attain only these.

Through the force of exalting and making prayers to you,

Please pacify sickness, spirits, poverty, and fighting

And increase Dharma and auspiciousness

Wherever I and all living beings dwell on this earth.

Through the force of the Victorious One, Tsongkhapa,

Acting as my direct Supreme Vehicle virtuous friend in all my lives,

May I never turn away for even an instant

From the excellent path praised by the victorious ones.

This praise was composed by Khedrub Geleg Pelzangpo.

Publisher’s Colophon:Translated by Joona Repo, 2020, for FPMT Education Services from Khedrub Geleg Pelzangpo (mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang po), dpal ldan sag sum ma in dpal ‘og min byang chub chos gling grwa tshang gi zhal ‘don thub bstan dga’ tshal, Kathmandu: Kopan Library, 2012, pp. 87–92. Edited with the assistance of Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Ven. Steve Carlier, 2020.

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