DISCOVERING INFINITE FREEDOM: The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo

commentary by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, edited by the Samye Translation Group   

The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo explains how to strengthen our virtuous qualities of bodhichitta and non-grasping and how to see everything as the display of original nature. This is the essential teaching of the Buddha, as repeated by Guru Padmasambhava and continued on by Tibet's great practitioners. It is an esoteric practice revealed by Rigdzin Godemchen, and taught in the form of a prayer and aspiration. For centuries the voices of hermit yogis and yoginis reciting this prayer have echoed through the valleys and among the mountains of Tibet and the Himalayas. For generations it has been recited by all Nyingma practitioners.

This teaching points out how all of samsara and nirvana start in the mind. When we recognize, stabilize and fully realize the original nature of mind, both the fear of samsara and the hope for nirvana naturally dissolve within our own rigpa awareness. Once we regain the fearlessness of Kuntuzangpo, we begin to rule the spontaneous, inherent, inexhaustibly rich treasure of the dharmadhatu, benefiting all sentient beings without andy restriction of time or space.

Khenchen Palden Sherab and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal are founders and directors of Padmasambhava Buddhist Center, based at Padma Samye Ling in western upstate New York. PBC includes over twenty centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Russia, as well as retreat centers and monastic institutions in the United States and India.