A Song of the Four Mindfulnesses as a Guide to the View of the Middle Way
by Kelsang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama

Audio: download mp3 (3 minutes)
The following prayer was recorded by the Sravasti Abbey Sangha in April 2010 and is included here in high-quality mp3 format.

Namo Guru Vajradhara (3x)

On the unwavering cushion of the union of method and wisdom
Sits the kind Lama who is the nature of all protectors.
There is a Buddha in the state of culmination of realizations and cessations.
Beseech him in the light of admiration, through casting away critical thoughts.
Don’t let your mind go astray, but place it within admiration and reverence.
Through not losing mindfulness, hold it within admiration and reverence.

In unending samsara, the prison of suffering,
Wander the sentient beings of the six realms, bereft of happiness.
They are your parents, who reared you with affectionate kindness.
Meditate on compassion and affection by relinquishing attachment and aversion.
Don’t let your mind go astray, but place it within compassion.
Through not losing mindfulness, hold it within compassion.

In the celestial mansion of great bliss, joyous to sustain,
There exists the divine form of your body which is a purified state of the aggregates.
There is a deity in the nature of union of the three divine bodies.
Don’t view it as ordinary, but train in divine dignity and immaculate appearance.
Don’t let your mind go astray, but place it within profundity and clarity.
Through not losing mindfulness, hold it in an attitude of profundity and luminosity.

The sphere of appearing and existing phenomena
Is pervaded by the space of the ultimate clear light of suchness.
There is an ineffable ultimate reality.
View this nature of emptiness through abandoning mental contrivances.
Don’t let your mind go astray, but place it in the ambiance of reality.
Through not losing mindfulness, hold it in the ambiance of reality.

At the crossroads of the six collections (of consciousness) which have diverse perceptions,
Are seen the hazy dualistic phenomena which are baseless.
There is a magical show which is by nature deceptive.
Don’t believe it to be true, but view it as having the nature of emptiness.
Don’t let your mind go astray, but place it in the nature of appearance-emptiness.
Through not losing mindfulness, hold it in the nature of appearance-emptiness.