You, our guru, sole refuge of all sentient beings,
Are the living emanation of Lama Tsongkhapa.
Embodiment of the compassion of Chenrezig,
The wisdom of Manjushri and the power of Vajrapani,
Please, please live long.
Through your manifest relationship with our beloved Lama Yeshe—
Whose kindness, like yours, is greater than that of the three time buddhas
And even more impossible to repay—
You showed us the way to practice guru devotion, the root of the path.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Through your example and teachings you show us the essence
Of the perfect human rebirth: what it is, how difficult it is to find and
How to make it highly meaningful every second of the day and night.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Through your example and teachings you show us the basis of renunciation:
Life is short and constantly getting shorter;
Death is definite but the time of its arrival is most uncertain; and
The suffering of the three lower realms is unbelievably unbearable.
Since we have not practiced the Dharma you have taught,
We are sure to be born there but you have given us hope by
Showing us how to take Mahayana refuge in the Three Jewels—
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha—for the sake of all sentient beings, and
How to follow karma by avoiding the ten non-virtues and keeping purely
The pratimoksha vows.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Through your example and teachings you clarify the four noble truths—
Suffering, its cause, its cessation and the path—the twelve links and
The profound Prasangika Madhyamaka view of emptiness, leading us to
Liberation from the beginningless sufferings of the six realms of samsara.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Through your example and teachings and inconceivable compassionate actions,
You are the personification of bodhicitta,
Working tirelessly, 24/7, for the enlightenment of all sentient beings,
Showing us, your disciples, how to make every moment of our
Perfect human rebirth most meaningful by vanquishing the enemy,
The self-cherishing mind.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Your infinite, holy mind, reaching far beyond our limited conceptions,
Allows you to see a 500-foot Maitreya statue that will,
For millennia to come, benefit countless future generations, and call
Maitreya Buddha himself to descend soon after the end of this age of
The five degenerations, when the present Buddha’s teachings have long since gone.
Permitting us to join you in this project allows us to create more merit than
All the atoms in as many triple worlds as grains of sand in the Pacific.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Rinpoche, the secret is out! Everybody now knows that you are, in reality,
Guru Vajradhara, offering us the crown jewel of
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s holy Dharma—the Vajrayana—through which
We can attain enlightenment in one short lifetime of this degenerate time.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
From our hearts, we, your disciples, thank you for leading us
By the example of your peerless actions,
By giving us teachings, vows and initiations,
By allowing us to create merit in a thousand different ways,
By serving you, the FPMT and all the precious mother sentient beings,
When otherwise we would be lost in the quicksand of samsara,
Wasting this rebirth that our previous lives worked so hard to create.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
Please live long, remain with us and continue to guide us in all future lives.
May all sentient beings come under your loving care,
And may all receive the supreme happiness of buddhahood
Without another moment’s delay.
How fortunate we are! Precious guru, please, please live long!
