O spiritual father, Venerable Precious Lama, you who are inseparable from all the Buddhas,

out of mercy for me, your devoted son, you assume the form of the Perfect Victorious Son

(Bodhisattva). Due to your great supreme thought, you have accepted rebirth.

Glorious Karmapa, your fame pervades the world. Venerable One, in this age of darkness, beings cannot receive your powerful blessings due to the afflictions in their stream of consciousness.

By the force of their unwholesome conduct, they fall from the precipice only to land in the lower realms. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

Whatever I have done in the past is meaningless.

My Dharma practice is mingled with the eight worldly dharmas. I have not yet realised even one thought of the perfect path. I place my hope entirely in you. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion. Furthermore, from behind I am pursued by the lord of death. In front, I am faced with the continuing cycle of days, months and years. In between, because I am led by laziness, I am in danger of deceiving myself. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

When my faculties were youthful and clear, I had the mind of a child, and in adolescence I was distracted by worldly concerns. Now that I am old, I think about the perfect Dharma, but it is too late. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

Although I wish to live long, I am powerless, and although I wish to take my wealth with me when I die, I cannot; and though I'd like to remain with my friends, I must depart alone for it is certain that tomorrow I will leave this world behind. O spiritual father, Karmapa, Hold us with your compassion.

Whatever appears on the path of the intermediate state, the Bardo, is influenced by the power of habitual tendencies of this life and is as hard to control as last night's dream.

O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

In general, samsaric dharma has no substance, and in particular, there is no substance to this impermanent body which appears as rainbow colours in the sky. Although crystallised by the reality of self, it disappears. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

When there is no devotion to the Buddhas above and not even a little compassion towards sentient beings below, wearing the colours of the Buddhist robes is just for appearance. Not even shaving the head has meaning. O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

I hear many Dharma teachings, yet do not get the point. I explain many words, yet do not discipline the mind. I wander in places of solitude, yet am attached to the household life.

If one looks at my eyes, it appears that there is meditation, yet there is no experience.

O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

I who see even the small faults of others do not recognise that my own mind is rotten. I who deceive others, am I not creating my own suffering?

O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

Is it not certain that the scriptures of the Victorious Ones will benefit my mind? Am I learning and listening to the teachings in order to obtain profit and fame? Is this the path to liberation?

O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion.

In my manners I appear as the perfect Dharma practitioner, yet I commit worldly action.

Although I am accepted by all as a perfect holy man, I waste my life with distractions. What will happen to me when I stop breathing? O spiritual father Karmapa, hold us with your compassion. I pray to all the Buddhas above and I regret from the depths of my heart my transgressions.

O spiritual father Karmapa, in this age of darkness, hold with your compassion all sentient beings, especially those of us who attempt to practice the Dharma. I, your spiritual son, have none other than you in whom to place my hope, for you know my bliss and my suffering. I the Yogi, "renouncer of all actions", abide in the palace of great bliss and in the space where there is no suffering. O Lord, may I be inseparable from you; the state of one taste. The Tibetan title of this Text is bLa.Ma. rGyangs.hBod - the Lama Gyangbod, or, "Calling the Lama from Afar."

In his commentary to the Mahamudra prayer DORJE CHANG THUNGMA, entitled 'SHOWING THE PATH TO LIBERATION' (Published by Lhundrub Teng, Kathmandu, Nepal, I978.) the Ven. Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche writes of the Lama Gyangbod."The word gyang means "from a long way off" and bod means to"shout': so this prayer is a shout to the guru from a long way off, a shout like that of a child separated from his mother and crying for her to come to him. The practitioner is a being lost in cyclic existence screaming to his guru for relief from suffering and craving, release from the pangs of samsara. With this attitude one should recite the prayer, singing it in a beautiful tune."

This prayer was composed by Shamar Konchok Yenlak in the Tsaritra land, in the cave of the great stream (siltsen) and is addressed to the Eighth Karmapa, Mikhyod Dorje. The object of this prayer can also be your Root-Guru.This translation is by Rikzin Palzang under the guidance of Ven Lama Lodro and published by Kagyu Droden Kunchab Publications, San Francisco.Reprinted by Karma Rigdol Publications, Johannesburg, 1980 for private use only.Mangalam.

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