Prayer of Kuntuzangpo

The Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra

Prayer of Kuntuzangpo (Tib. ཀུན་བཟང་སྨོན་ལམ་, Kunzang Mönlam; Wyl. kun bzang smon lam) — a famous Dzogchen aspiration prayer from the Gongpa Zangthal. It is to be recited especially during a solar or lunar eclipse, an earthquake or at the solstices.

This aspiration prayer comes from the Dzogchen tantra called the Tantra of the Great Perfection which Shows the Penetrating Wisdom of Samantabhadra. In Tibetan, the short title of this tantra is Gongpa Zangthal Gyi Gyü, which means “The Tantra of Penetrating Wisdom” or “The Tantra of Transcendent Intention.”

Commentaries

• Khakhyap Dorje (1870/1-1921/2) kun bzang smon lam gyi don 'grel nyung ngu mchan bu

ཀུན་བཟང་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་དོན་འགྲེལ་ཉུང་ངུ་མཆན་བུ་། བྱང་གཏེར་དགོངས་པ་ཟང་ཐལ, kun bzang smon lam gyi don 'grel nyung ngu mchan bu / byang gter dgongs pa zang thal, 15th Karmapa, gsung 'bum, Vol. 9, p. 495. A partial translation into German is available in Samantabhadra Dzogchen-Gebet, s.b.

• Tulku Tsultrim Zangpo, kun bzang smon lam gyi rnam bshad kun bzang nye lam, written in 1925 (Wood Ox)

ཀུན་བཟང་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་རྣམ་བཤད་ཀུན་བཟང་ཉེ་ལམ།, kun bzang smon lam gyi rnam bshad kun bzang nye lam/, gsung 'bum, Vol. 1, p. 391.

English Translations

• Bhakha Tulku and Steven Goodman: 'The Prayer of Kuntuzangpo' in Quintessential Dzogchen: Confusion Dawns as Wisdom (Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2006), Ch. 9
• Dowman, Keith, 'The Wish-Granting Prayer of Kuntu Zangpo' in The Flight of the Garuda (Somerville: Wisdom, 1994 & 2003), pages 111-119
• Kapstein, Matthew, 'The Prayer of the Primordial Buddha' in Buddhism in Practice edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr. Princeton, 1995
• Lama Yeshe Gyamtso and The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2006), 'The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra', pages 1-6

German Translations

• Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche: Samantabhadra Dzogchen-Gebet. Khampa-Buchverlag, Osterby, 2000. This translation of the Kuntuzangpo-Prayer contains a partial translation of the commentary by the 15th Karmapa.

Teachings on the Prayer of Kuntuzangpo

• Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Rigpa London, 8-9 & 22-23 February 1992
• Garchen Rinpoche, Rigpa Berlin, 3-5 October 2008
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Rigpa Berlin, 4-5 June 2011
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Dzogchen Beara, 16 & 18 June 2011
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Rigpa Berlin, 1-3 October 2011
• Sogyal Rinpoche, Rigpa London, 5-6 November 2011

Further Reading

• Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2006)
• Keith Dowman, The Flight of the Garuda (Somerville: Wisdom, 1994 & 2003)
• Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, Discovering Infinite Freedom: The Prayer of Küntuzangpo. Dharma Samudra, 2010
• The Amnesic Monarch and the Five Mnemic Men: Memory in Great Perfection Thought. An article by Matthew Kapstein in the book In the Mirror of Memory, Articles by Buddhist scholars, collected by Janet Gyatso. Sri Satguri Publications, ISBN-81-7030-374-5. pp.239-269.

External Links

• Tibetan text on Lotsawa House