The Parnashavari Sadhana from the Collected Works of Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön

Liberating us from the diseases of inexhaustible samsara, with the ocean of great bliss of samsara and nirvana you guide us beings to the supreme awakening – glorious Phagmodrupa, I bow at your feet.

Glorious Goddess Parnashavari, you liberate all others and myself from infliction of great harm. When we have taken refuge in you, sublime goddess, you will protect us from all dangers. Thus, I shall write these brief words.

Those who have purified their mind stream with certainty at the beginning as described above, should engage in the approach, accomplishment, and activities of the deity: Having cleaned your perfectly secluded place well and sprinkled water, take great joy in arranging flowers and so forth.

After placing images of the Goddess Parnashavari and others in the east and offering abundant gifts, sit on a comfortable seat facing eastwards. In the posture of meditative stability recite:

Refuge Prayer: sang gyé chö dang tsok kyi chok nam la/ jang chup bar du dak ni kyap su chi/ dak gi jin sok gyi pé sö nam kyi/ dro la pen chir sang gyé drup par shok/

In the Buddha, Dharma, and supreme assembly, I take refuge until awakening. Through the merit of practicing generosity and the other pāramitās, may I attain buddhahood for the benefit of beings.

May all mother sentient beings, limitless as space, have happiness and the causes of happiness. May they be freed from suffering and the causes of suffering. May they not be separated from the happiness that is free from suffering. May they dwell in equanimity, free from any bias of attachment or aversion.

The Seven Limbs: chak tsel wa dang chö ching shak pa dang/ jé su yi rang kül zhing söl wa yi/ ge wa chung zé dak gi chi sak pa/ tam ché dzok pé jang chup chir ngo/

Prostrating, offering, confessing, rejoicing, beseeching, and supplicating – I dedicate whatever slight virtue I have gathered for the complete awakening of all.

Having cultivated bodhicitta and accumulated merit, recite the following:

om svabhāva shuddhāh sarva dharmāh svabhāva shuddho ham

All phenomena are primordially completely pure by nature. Within the state of meditating on this, I imagine that my consciousness emerges as a yellow PAM syllable. From it, light rays radiate and purify the diseases and impairments of all beings in particular, as well as all their wrong doings and obscurations. Thereafter the light rays return and dissolve into the seed syllable, which fully transforms me instantly into the Illustrious One, Parnashavari, mother of the buddhas of the three times.

My body has a yellow colour and I have three faces. My central face is yellow, the left face white, and the right face blue. I have six arms. My lower right hand holds a vajra; the middle, a battle ax; and the upper, an arrow. My lower left hand displays the threatening mudra, holding a noose; the middle, a bundle of branches; and the upper, a bow. I am sitting on a white lotus in the midst of masses of fire. The PAM syllable at my heart transforms into a lotus and moon, with a yellow PAM syllable on top. From it, light rays radiate and invite the wisdom beings from their natural abode.

dsa hūng bam hoh Thus summon, absorb them, unite with them, and rejoice.

We merge inseparably. Again, light rays radiate from the seed syllable at my heart, inviting the five empowerment deities and their retinue.

om panchakula saparivāra pushpam pratītsa svāhā And similarly with: dhūpam, ālokam, ghandam, naividyam

OM SARVA TATHĀGATA ABHI SHINTSATU MĀM. With this, the empowerment deities are requested to grant empowerment.

OM SARVA TATHĀGATA ABHISHEKATA SAMAYA SHRĪYE HŪNG. Thus, they bestow the empowerment with water from the vase, which fills the body and purifies the defilements. The overflowing water transforms into Amoghasiddhi as a crown ornament. The empowerment deities dissolve into me.

Offer with: om pishatsi parna shavari saparivāra argham pratītsa svāhā And similarly with: pādyam, pushpam, dhūpam, ālokam, ghandam, naividyam, shabda.

After your body, speech and mind, have been blessed, you were granted the empowerment, you have meditated on the symbol of empowerment, and so on, the praise of the Goddess Parnashavari in verse follows:

Out of the mandala of dharmakaya’s great bliss, you protect against dangerous diseases such as epidemics and against untimely death – I pay homage to you, mother of wish-fulfilling activities.

Golden-colored Parnashavari, sitting on a lotus seat, your main face is yellow, the right face blue, and the left face white; your hair is bound up in a topknot, and you are full of splendor – I pay homage to the divine body of the goddess who grants accomplishments.

Illustrious One, you are the embodiment of wisdom and compassion, you dwell in the midst of masses of fire, which is burning like the fire at the end of time; with your three faces and six arms, you look terrifying and wrathful – I pay homage to you, who has one leg outstretched and the other bent.

Wearing a robe of leaves, holding bow and arrow, a battle ax, and a bundle of branches, Parnashavari, you display the threatening mudra and hold a vajra – I pay homage to you, great mother, protectress of beings.

Visualization during mantra recitation:

The crown of myself as Parnashavari consists of the five victorious ones. From their hearts flow streams of milky nectar, filling my body. Thus visualize. In this way, all wrong doings and obscurations are purified. Focus on that and then recite as many times as you can:

om pishatsi parna shavari sarva mari prasha mani hūng This protects oneself.

Protecting all others:

I visualize that the whole space of either a region or country is filled with the five sugatas and the Goddess Parnashavari. From them, streams of nectar flow down, fill the bodies of the diseased, the region or kingdom, and all diseases and harms are pacified. Focus on this visualization and then recite as many times as you can:

Concluding ritual: Offer with: om pishatsi parna shavari saparivāra argham pratītsa svāhā And similarly with: pādyam, pushpam, dhūpam, ālokam, ghandam, naividyam, shabda.

Out of the mandala of dharmakaya’s great bliss, you protect against dangerous diseases such as epidemics and against untimely death – I pay homage to you, mother of wish-fulfilling activities.

Whatever I could not procure, whatever was deteriorated, and whatever I did with a deluded mind or made others do: may you forgive all that. Thus request for forbearance and recite the hundred-syllable mantra:

Words of Auspiciousness:

May the great Vajradhara, the true lama, who is the essence of all buddhas, grant the auspiciousness of the Goddess Parnashavari to all beings of the three realms without exception and to myself.

Aspiration prayer:

Glorious Goddess Parnashavari, you liberate all others and myself from the infliction of great harm. Having taken refuge in you, sublime goddess, please protect us from all dangers. Thus recite the dedication and aspiration prayers.

In brief, the practice of Parnashavari is certain to be accomplished by a pure mind stream, love, compassion, bodhicitta, and a very clear samadhi. In a situation of infliction by great harm, I was freed from dangers by doing the practice of the Goddess Parnashavari, the mother who is the embodiment of love. Therefore, recalling her kindness, I have composed this practice. By means of it, may all achieve supreme awakening! This completes the practice method of supplications to the Goddess Parnashavari, requested by Thölungpa, the great spiritual friend of everyone.

At present, all regions of the world are affected by a terrible epidemic. May this compilation of the quintessences from the Parnashavari sadhanas written by Drikung Kyobpa Jigten Sumgön, arranged accompanied by singleminded supplications to him, first of all pacify the epidemic, and furthermore, the karmic, afflictive and cognitive obscurations, and joyfully lead us to the supreme state of complete awakening.

This was well-arranged by Gyalwa Drikungpa Tinle Lhundrup in the American Drikung Centre Kyobpa Chöling in the Iron Mouse Year 2020 on the fifteenth day of the month of miracles and entered into the computer by Könchog Chöwang. May it be virtuous!

Translation from the Tibetan: Könchog Yeshe Metog, 15th March 2020