Padmasambhava Personal Deity Practice
Start by praying for the root lineage blessing: First empty the mind. Next, visualize the Root Lineage
Guru appearing above your crown and radiating light on everyone present. Chant the Root Lineage
Guru Heart Mantra 7 times. Pray to the Root Lineage Guru to empower you so that the practice will
be auspicious. Visualize your parents, children, relatives, friends, and enemies join you in this
practice.
Wake Up Call: Clap twice, then cross hands and snap thumbs and middle fingers.
1. Recite the Purification Mantras and Earth God Mantra
2. Recite the Invocation Mantra
3. Tender the Great Homage with Visualization
4. Mandala Offering
5. Fourfold Refuge
6. Armor Protection
7. Recite the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra
8. Recite the Rebirth Mantra (7 times)
9. Recite the Root Lineage Guru Heart Mantra (108 times)
10. Mudra and Visualization
Padmasambhava Vajra Mudra: Cross the hands, with the right
hand in front of the left so that they are back to back. Hook the two
little fingers onto each other. Extend the index fingers so they point
to the sky at an angle. Press the thumbs upon the middle and ring fingers of each hand
respectively so that they clench. Hold the mudra at chest level.
Visualization: First empty the mind.
Chant the Emptiness Mantra:
Om, si-ba-wa, su-da, sa-er-wa, da-er-ma, si-ba-wa, su-do-hang. (3 times)
(1) Above an expanse of ocean is a stretch of clear sunny sky. A moon
disc rises from the ocean into the sky. Inside the moon disc is the
red Sanskrit seed syllable “seh,” emitting great pink light.
(2) The seed syllable inside the moon disc revolves and transforms into
Padmasambhava. Padmasambhava’s body is pink and he wears a
jeweled crown. Sitting on a lotus moon disc, he holds a vajra
scepter in his right hand, a trident vajra (three pronged staff) in the curve of his left elbow,
and a nectar-and-jewels filled skull cup in his left hand.
(3) Visualize the nectar transform into a brilliant white light that travels in an arc to enter and
empower one. This nectar eradicates all transgressions, illness, and demonic interferences,
resulting in a state of great self-mastery.
11.Recite the Padmasambhava Heart Mantra
Visualization: Hold mala beads in front of the chest and move each bead with the thumb during
chanting. Visualize the left hand transform into a vajra bell and the right hand into a vajra scepter.
The mother bead or emblem transforms into the Many-Jewels Buddha’s Stupa and the four
“divider beads” transform into the Four Heavenly Tutelaries. The tassel transforms into a “lotus
hand” while the string threading through the beads transforms into a circle of inherent white light
of Vajrasattva. During mantra chanting, when a bead is moved, visualize Padmasambhava appear
inside the bead and come to the forefront.
Mantra: Om ah hum, be-dza, gu-ru, beh-ma, sid-dhi, hum, seh. (108 times)
12. Entering Samadhi
(Nine Cycle Breathing, Entering of the Deity into Oneself, Release of Oneself into the Cosmic
Consciousness, Breath Counting)
13. Emerging from Samadhi
Praise Verse:
Padmasambhava, Great Lineage Guru, Chief Holder of Light,
You appear whenever called upon.
Instill light into our hearts
And eternally guard the mind of bodhicitta.
Lian-shi zhong chi da-guang-ming,
Sui-qing sui-zhi da-zu-shi;
Guang-ming guan-zhu zhong-sheng xin,
Pu-ti da-xin heng hu-chi.
14. Recite the Principal Heart Mantras
15. Recite the Buddha’s Name (3 times)
16. Dedication
May my great resolve to cultivate
Enable me to quickly attain the realization of Padmasambhava.
By becoming one with him,
I will help all beings arrive at the Buddha Realm.
May all who uphold the name of Amitabha Buddha
Be born together in the Pure Land of His Western Paradise.
Recompense the Fourfold Generosity from above,
And aiding those who suffer in the Three Paths below.
Upon seeing the Buddha,
May I be liberated from the cycle of birth and death,
And may I develop the qualities of Buddhahood,
And thus free all who suffer.
I, ________ (your name), dedicate the merits of this practice to the Root Lineage Guru. May the
Root Lineage Guru always be healthy, remain in samsara, never enter nirvana, and forever turn
the dharma wheel. May everyone be healthy, free of hindrances, strong in cultivation, and may
all circumstances become auspicious.
May all supplications be completely fulfilled.
May all hindrances be removed. Wun!
17. Recite the Hundred Syllable Mantra (3 times)
18. Tender the Great Homage with Visualization
19. Recite the Completion Mantra
Om, Bu Lin. (3 times)
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Dismissal: Clap twice, then cross hands and snap thumbs and middle fingers.
End of Practice: May all endeavors be auspicious.
Xiu-fa yuan-man, ru-yi ji-xiang.