Chanted Buddhist Prayer

Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajra-yana Mahamudra.

The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.

Tara practice is one of the most beloved of Buddhist chanted prayers. At Kadampa Centers worldwide, the eighth of the month is Tara Day. Tara is a female Buddha, whose name means Rescuer.

She is a wisdom Buddha, the embodiment of swift compassion, and the manifestation of the completely purified wind element. Tara is therefore able to help us very quickly! If we rely upon Tara sincerely and with strong faith, she will protect us from all obstacles and fulfill all our wishes.

Through practising transference of consciousness, known as ‘powa’ with faith, compassion and concentration we can transfer the consciousness of those recently deceased to a higher rebirth or to the Pure Land of a Buddha.

The Powa Ceremony can be done either by a group of practitioners or individually on behalf of one or more deceased persons, or countless deceased beings. By engaging in this practice we also create a great collection of virtue, which will also lead us into the pathway to a Buddha’s Pure Land.

Everyone is welcome. This practice consists of five parts: Praise to Manjushri, the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa, Self-generation as Heruka, the Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual of the General Protectors, and the Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual of the Great King Dorje Shugden. Of these, the last is the principal practice.

These prayers include two practices revealed by the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. The first is a special Guru yoga in which we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Je Tsongkhapa, who himself is a manifestation of Manjushri.

The second practice is a method for relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden. These two practices are the very essence of the New Kadampa Tradition of Mahayana Buddhism.