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Thunder from the Great Conquering Battle-Drum
Always frolicking in pristine cognition,
The pure, unchanging, peaceful expanse,
Where there is no trace of elaboration,
May the unequalled Guru conquer the world!
The sun of all-knowing pristine cognition alone is never obscured by elaboration:
May he protect us, for he sheds a thousand rays of spiritual and temporal well-being on the illusory city of the world, which arises dependent on causes.
Cool, soothing camphor and nectar do not compare
with this gift that cures delusion’s unbearable fever,
the panacea that destroys the plague of the world:
May that jewel of true doctrine, transmitted and realized, be our victorious crown!
I praise, above all, the supreme community, the banner of the teaching,
Supported by a golden shaft of superior aspiration,
Flying the exquisite cloth of the three correct trainings,
And beautified by the jeweled peak of exegesis and attainment.
Primordially pure, just what naturally is, the supreme body of reality, the all-embracing nucleus- this is the essence, awareness and emptiness, Samantabhadra;
Ceaseless transformation, pristine cognition’s expressive play , arisen as a billowing, magical net - this is his natural expression, bliss and emptiness, Vajrasattva;
Loving compassion, teaching each in accord with his needs at appropriate times, with an unqualified intention - this is his spirituality, appearance and emptiness, Vajradhara;
In devotion I bow to the gurus of the six lineages -intentional, symbolic, aural, and the rest - the teachers of the supreme vehicle, who are inseparable from these three buddha-bodies.
You embody everything, always delighting, in an authentic and secret great mandala endowed with supreme bliss.
To your many disciples you respond appropriately, appearing in a blazing form before wild ones, and before the peaceful and passionate as is fit;
And from the limitless union of your forms and abodes, arrayed like great thunder-clouds, you bring a satisfying and fertile shower of the two accomplishments.
O mighty warrior, glorious Heruka, favour me with acceptance! And grant that I accomplish the indestructible reality of your body, speech and mind.
There is nothing at all, animate or inanimate, that is not bound in the seal of this beauty, emptiness; there is no buddha who has not relied on you.
In the guise of a passionate lover you entice those who lust after form, for it is said that the pristine cognition of unchanging, supreme bliss may be known by this means.
You are a messenger to those who desire supreme accomplishment, and the sole mistress of my circle, for I have good fortune, O Vajra Queen!
Before you I bow, in the realization of co-emergence, the common savour of all.
Embrace me tightly in the alluring play of great bliss, and let us make love!
I give obeisant worship to the host of India’s great scholars,
The agents of the Conqueror, who revealed the Conqueror’s teaching,
and equalled the Conqueror himself, like Nagarjuna, Asanga, and others,
who commented on the the Buddha’s intention, and arrived at philosophy’s limits.
To the numberless host of accomplished masters I bow:
To Saraha, Luipa, Krsnacarin, Ghantapada and the rest,
who arrived at the indestructible level, by the indestructible path, so that they equalled Vajradhara’s intention.
O Lord of the World, renowned as Songtsen Gampo, You were the lord who ushered in the very first dawn of the Conqueror’s teaching in the dark Land of Snows beyond the pale. Who is it that would leave your feet, even on becoming enlightened?
Body complete with major and minor marks, released from a lotus bud in Sindhu Lake, containing the seed-syllable HRIH, the pristine cognition that is the knowledge and love of the Lord of Sukhavati Field:
You are neither born, nor do you die, while samsara exists, but by the dance, the indestructible discipline of great bliss, You cut off, or take into your following, all conscious beings within the three spheres.
This being the unobstructed expression of your power, you can be compared with yourself alone in this world.
Although all the conquerors equally love living beings, only you, Skull-garlanded Master, have been so kind as to protect the afflicted Tibetans; so I revere you with all my heart.
You were the sole spiritual son of the Sakya King, O heroic Lord of Secrets, who strictly maintained his vows, and was renowned as the great Bodhisattva.
Endowed with unlimited brilliance, retention, and mastery of the ten powers, you wilfully lived for nine hundred years to illuminate the Land of Snows.
You planted well the banner of the Tripitaka’s teaching as the ornament of Central Tibet, and gave birth to a line of the Conqueror’s family that had no precedent.
Thinking of you, Santaraksita, who had the meritorious fortune to become the first venerated priest in Tibet, I bow down in faith, time and time again.
In the Cold Land that was obscured by darkest ignorance, you, whose sceptre is discernment’s sword, assumed a kingly guise, and lit anew the illuminating lamp of the Conqueror’s precious teaching, so that this frontier land achieved even greater fortune than India.
If the mass of such wondrous grace were given form, the vast universe would be too small a vessel!
Knowing that here and now whatever enjoyment is found in this storehouse of profoundly significant, wish-granting gems is thus due to your power alone, lord Trhisong, I have faith.
A hundred times I praise the Tibetan translators and Indian scholars, who flawlessly translated, revised and established the immaculate scriptures of the Conqueror, and the commentaries on their intention, and so opened for the Land of Snows a hundred doors of spiritual and temporal well-being.
I give my heart’s faith to the host of supreme, accomplished masters, awareness-holders, who maintain the indestructible lineage of supreme transformation, delighting in whatever appears in the mandala of supreme bliss, intoxicated by the nectar of esoteric instructions, distilled from the intention of the three lineages.
Moreover, in devotion I here praise
all who appear as agents of our Guide, the Conqueror,
who glorify the teachings and living beings without bias, by their liberating careers of learning, dignity and accomplishment.
Dakinis and protectors of the transmitted doctrine, bearers of secrets!
Not wishing to divulge this profound history, please understand that the teaching now nears final rest, and with joyful smile grant your consent.
In this most degenerate age the sun of the Conqueror’s teaching is almost concealed by gathering black storm-clouds of disorder; and the extraordinary tradition of the supremely secret vehicle, to which even accomplished persons take recourse, has virtually disappeared.
At the present time there are few who have mastered the lives of those who attained realization, and those few rarely repeat the account. For that reason I will endeavour to set this forth, so that some small part of the ancient tales, might be kept from disappearing.
-Dudjom Rinpoche
Verses of Invocation to A Clearly Elucidated History of the Precious Teachings of the Vehicle of Indestructible Reality according to the Earliest of All Teachings of the Conqueror in the Land of Snows, the Ancient Translation School, entitled Thunder from the Great Conquering Battle-Drum of Devendra The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Book Two, Wisdom Publications, 1991 p 403-6
