‘MAGNETISING ALL (WANGDU)’ GREAT CLOUDS OF BLESSINGS SUPPLICATION BY JU MIPHAM RINPOCHE (NEW TRANSLATION) AND ORAL TRANSMISSION BY 17TH KARMAPA

“If due to having no control over your mind, you are unable to give rise to bodhicitta, emptiness and other non-worldly accomplishments, reciting Wang Du with diligence will allow you to gain these qualities with ease.”– Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche

Introduction

Yesterday, on Day 13 of the Summer Teachings, HH 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, gave an oral transmission (lung) of the famous Ju Mipham Rinpoche’s Great Clouds of Blessings: Supplication that Magnetises All That Appearance-Existence (in Tibetan: Nangsi Wangdu Dupai Sol Deb Jinlab Trin Chen (སྣང་སྲིད་དབང་དུ་སྡུད་པའི་གསོལ་འདེབས་བྱིན་རླབས་སྤྲིན་ཆེན་བཞུགས་སོ། །  ) or Wangdu for short in Tibetan. He explained that:

““During the break, we will recite Ju Mipham Rinpoche’s Wangdu Supplication. The 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche said to me the other day that within the Karma Kamtsang there does not seem be much magnetising activity (wang gi trinley) [this was incorrectly translated as ‘gathering people’ in the English oral translation]. So, in order to increase our magnetising activity, we need to do some kind of ritual. This magnetising supplication is very precious and has a lot of great blessings. So during the break, we will recite it. Afterwards, I request all the monasteries and nunneries to recite it as much as you can. Individuals can also recite it, as much as they can with the idea of spreading the teachings. In particular, the precious teachings of the Karma Kagyu. I also give a brief transmission of this and have also recorded it. So, during the break you can also recite it together with the recording. Before, that I will also recite it as a transmission.”

I know this supplication well and have been reciting it every day since 2019, when I was first introduced to it at a monastery next to the Guru Rinpoche cave in Pharping, Nepal.  So what a joy to get the transmission of it from the 17^th Karmapa and hear him chant it with his sublime, dulcet tones on repeat during the break!  The 17^th Karmapa requested that all the Karma Kagyu monasteries recite this supplication for magnetising people and activities.

For the benefit of people who are interested in doing this supplication, there is a 2007 translation of it freely available on Lotsawa House (done by Rigpa Group Translations).  However, as it is not a long supplication, and I recite it regularly, I decided to do my own new translation as an offering to the 17^th Karmapa and the Karma Kagyu (with the fresh energy blessing of the oral transmission). This is published in full below, it can also be downloaded as a printable pdf (with this Introduction) here: WANGDU GREAT CLOUDS OF BLESSINGS by Ju Mipham. Of course, as with all Dharma activities, the magnetising activities are only Dharma if they are undertaken out of bodhicitta and for the benefit of beings and the teachings.

First, here is an Introduction and background to the supplication, considering the author, purpose, visualisation and then the actual supplication.

Music?  17th Karmapa chanting Wangdu video here. Abundance by Alexia Chellun….’Abundance is all around me,  It’s in the earth you walk upon, A gentle breeze, It’s in the water that bathes you….’

AUTHOR – JU MIPHAM RINPOCHE

Ju Mipham Rinpoche (Tib. འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་) (1846-1912) was a great Nyingma master and writer of the 20th century, student of Jamgon Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. Blessed by Manjushri, he became one of the greatest scholars of his time. His collected works fill more than thirty volumes.  Mipham was a prolific writer; three hundred and twenty-two of his Dharma works have come down to us. Apart from these, he composed more than thirty-five books on a range of subjects including medicine; poetry (particularly the Gesar epics); logic; cosmology; astrology and divination; alchemy; painting and sculpture; and engineering.

The Collected Works of Ju Mipham can be read in Tibetan on the Adarsha platform (founded by the 17th Karmapa) here.The 17th Karmapa named the software ADARSHA (Sanskrit), which means “clear mirror,” with the hope that users will be able to clearly see their own minds reflected in the scriptures as if they were looking at a clear reflection in a mirror.

PURPOSE OF THE SUPPLICATION

There is an online teaching by Khenpo Sogyarde on the Wangdu supplication (see here), in which he describes the great benefits of reciting it and how to practice it. He explains how it was of immense benefit to Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog of Larung Gar in Tibet:

Because of these incredible effects, Wang Du is a highly valued Dharma practice at Larung Gar. Every teaching and every tutorial begins with the recitation of this prayer three times. H. H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche once said, “If I and my future lineage holders want to benefit sentient beings for all future lives, recitation of this prayer is the most effective means.” In order to create favorable conditions for his students to benefit sentient beings, His Holiness made offerings to the sangha at Larung Gar so that they would recite Wang Du three times every day. This was later increased to five times a day. 

In terms of how to practice it, he explains that:

When you chant and practice Wang Du, you can follow the instructions of the common or advanced tantric practices. Of course, uninitiated practitioners, or practitioners who are foreign to tantric practice can practice Wang Du using the Sutrayana method. Mipham Rinpoche did not require people to strictly practice this prayer in the way of the generation or perfection stages. As long as we pray to the magnetizing deities with devotion, all animate and inanimate worlds will resonate. This will allow the essence of samsara and nirvana to be gathered into oneself.

For people who are new to dharma practice, the practice of magnetizing would definitely be of benefit. In this degenerate age, people have difficulty truly absorbing the Dharma because they lack inner strength; their path in learning the Dharma is filled with obstacles. If you are one of these people, by practicing magnetizing you will develop inner strength, and be able to bring the Dharma into your mind more easily. Then, no matter what kind of obstacle you encounter, you will be capable of handling it.

VISUALISATION – NINE DEITIES

There are nine deities supplicated in the short text. According to Khenpo Sodargye:  “H.H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche once asked an artist to draw the nine deities according to the description in Wang Du.” This is the image they drew:

1. Pema Gyalpo is the central deity portrayed in Sambhogakaya form.

Pema Gyalpo is one of the eight forms of Guru Padmasambhava, and is normally represented like this:

2. At the top, Amitabha.  3. Below him is Vajradharma (Dorje Cho). These are at the level of Dharmakaya.

4. Red Avalokiteshvara is top right (of the central deity),

5. Red Hayagriva is on the top left. Although Hayagriva is not actually mentioned in the Wangdu prayer and is called Powerful Heruka.

6. ‘Secret Primordial Awareness’ Guhyajñana is on the centre right.

7. Vajravarahi is on the centre left.

8. Kurukulla is in the bottom right corner.

9. Dope Gyalpo (Lotus King) is in the bottom left corner.

 

Great Cloud of Blessings: Supplication that Magnetizes All Appearance-Existence

by Mipham Rinpoche

 

ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྂ་ཧྲཱིཿ

om ah hung hrih

Oṃ āḥ hūṃ hrīḥ

 

THE MANDALA

བདེ་ཆེན་འབར་བ་དབང་གི་ཕོ་བྲང་དུ། །

dechen barwa wang gi podrang du

In the magnetising palace of blazing great bliss are

 

བདེ་སྟོང་སོ་སོར་རྟོག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་སྐུ། །

detong sosor tokpé yeshe ku

Primordial Discriminating Awareness forms (jñanakaya) of bliss-emptiness.

 

མ་ཆགས་བདེ་ལྡན་པདྨའི་རང་བཞིན་ལས། །

machak deden pemé rangzhin lé

From the nature of blissful lotuses, free of attachment, arise

 

རྡོ་རྗེ་ཉི་མ་སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོའི་དཔལ། །

dorjé nyima nangwa chenpö pal

Glorious, great, glowing vajra suns,

 

THE DEITIES

ཆོས་སྐུ་སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཆོས། །

chöku nangwa tayé dorjé chö

Dharmakāya Amitābha (Nangwa Thaye) and Vajradharma (Dorje Cho),

 

འཇིག་རྟེན་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཐུགས་རྗེས་རྗེས་ཆགས་གཟུགས། །

jikten wangchuk tukjé jechak zuk

Lord of the World, Avalokiteśvara, form of great compassion,

 

པདྨ་རྒྱལ་པོས་འཁོར་འདས་མངའ་དབང་བསྒྱུར། །

pema gyalpö khordé ngawang gyur

Pema Gyalpo (Lotus King), controller of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa,

 

སྣང་སྲིད་ཟིལ་གནོན་དབང་ཆེན་ཧེ་རུ་ཀ །

nangsi zilnön wangchen heruka

Subjugator of appearance-existence, Great Powerful Heruka,

 

གསང་བ་ཡེ་ཤེས་བཛྲ་ཝཱ་ར་ཧི། །

sangwa yeshe benza varahi

‘Secret Primordial Awareness’ (Guhyajñāna) and Vajravārāhī,

 

བདེ་མཆོག་འདོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་བདེ་ཆེན་གཏེར། །

demchok döpé gyalpo dechen ter

Supreme Bliss, Dope Gyalpo (King of Desire), treasure of great bliss,

 

མ་ལུས་སྐྱེ་རྒུའི་ཡིད་འཕྲོག་རིག་བྱེད་མ། །

malü kyegü yitrok rikjema

Captivator of all beings’ minds, Kurukullā.

 

QUALITIES OF VAJRA FORM

མཆོག་ཐུན་ཕྱག་རྒྱའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་བདེ་སྟོང་གར། །

choktün chakgyé wangchuk detong gar

Powerful supreme and ordinary mudrās, dancing in bliss-emptiness,

 

དབང་མཛད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དཔའ་བོ་ཌཱཀྐིའི་ཚོགས། །

wangdzé dorjé pawo daki tsok

Hosts of magnetising vajra ḍākas and ḍākinīs,

 

སྣང་སྟོང་མཉམ་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ངང་ཉིད་དུ། །

nangtong nyampa chenpö ngang nyi du

Within the great equality of appearance-emptiness,

 

རྡོ་རྗེ་སྐུ་ཡི་གར་གྱིས་སྲིད་གསུམ་གཡོ། །

dorjé ku yi gar gyi si sum yo

Their dancing vajra forms shake the three realms, and

 

QUALITIES OF VAJRA SPEECH

འགག་མེད་གསུང་གི་བཞད་སྒྲས་ཁམས་གསུམ་འགུགས། །

gakmé sung gi zhé dré kham sum guk

The ceaseless sound of laughter magnetises the three realms,

 

འོད་ཟེར་དམར་པོས་འཁོར་འདས་ཡོངས་ལ་ཁྱབ། །

özer marpö khordé yong la khyab

Pervading all saṃsāra and nirvāṇa with radiant red light,

 

སྲིད་ཞིའི་དྭངས་བཅུད་གཡོ་ཞིང་སྡུད་པར་བྱེད། །

sizhi dangchü yo zhing düparjé

Vibrating and gathering the essence of existence-peace.

 

QUALITIES OF VAJRA MIND

རྡོ་རྗེ་ཆགས་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཐུགས་ཀྱིས་ནི། །

dorjé chakpa chenpö tuk kyi ni

With the mind of huge vajra passion,

 

རྣམ་གཉིས་དངོས་གྲུབ་འདོད་དགུའི་མཆོག་སྩོལ་ཞིང༌། །

nam nyi ngödrub dö gü chok tsol zhing

Granting the supreme of all desires —the two siddhis;

 

རྡོ་རྗེ་ལྕགས་ཀྱུ་ཞགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིས། །

dorjé chakkyu zhakpa chenpo yi

With formidable vajra hooks and lassoes

 

སྣང་སྲིད་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོར་སྡོམ་བྱེད་པ། །

nangsi dewa chenpor domjepa

Binding appearance-existence in great bliss.

 

SUPPLICATION FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

མཐའ་ཡས་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་དྲྭ་བའི་རོལ་གར་ཅན། །

tayé gyutrul drawé rolgarchen

Playful dancers in the infinite, net of illusion,

 

ཏིལ་གྱི་གོང་བུ་ཕྱེ་བ་བཞིན་བཞུགས་པའི། །

til gyi gongbu chewa zhin zhukpé

Abiding like seeds in an open sesame pod,

 

རབ་འབྱམས་རྩ་གསུམ་དབང་གི་ལྷ་ཚོགས་ལ། །

rabjam tsa sum wang gi lhatsok la

To the vast array of the Three Roots, hosts of magnetizing deities,

 

གུས་པས་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་སོ་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། །

güpé solwa deb so jingyi lob

Devotedly, we supplicate your blessings,

 

མཆོག་ཐུན་དངོས་གྲུབ་འདོད་དགུའི་དཔལ་མཐའ་དག །

choktün ngödrub dö gü pal tadak

Grant all our glorious desires – common and supreme siddhis!

 

ཐོགས་མེད་དབང་དུ་བྱེད་པའི་དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ། །

tokmé wang du jepé ngödrub tsol

And the siddhi of unobstructed magnetizing activity!

 

ཅེས་པའང་རབ་ཚེས་ས་ཡོས་ཟླ་ ༧ ཚེས་ ༡ ལ་དྷཱིཿམིང་པས་སྤེལ་བ། གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་ན་གང་ཟག་སུ་ཡང་རུང་སྟེ་དབང་གི་ལས་ཀུན་ཇི་ལྟར་བསམ་པ་བཞིན་འགྲུབ་པར་གདོན་མི་ཟའོ། །དར་དམར་ལ་བྲིས་ཏེ་ཕྱར་བའམ། མེ་རླུང་ལ་འཁོར་ལོ་བྱས་ཀྱང་འགྲུབ་བོ། །མངྒ་ལཾ། །

This was composed on the first day of the seventh month of the Earth Hare year (1879) by one named Dhīḥ. Anyone who prays in this way will, without any doubt, accomplish all magnetizing activities exactly according to their wishes. This prayer may be written on red flags and flown in the air, or used in prayer wheels powered by heat or wind. Maṅgalaṃ!

Translated by Adele Tomlin, 5^th September 2022. Offered to HH 17^th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.