Translating the "Mahamudra Aspiration"

While we were preparing a translation of Iron Hook of Compassion, a phowa text by Karma Chagme, Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche suggested we include several long aspirations, including the famous "Mahamudra Aspiration" by Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339). Although we had published a translation of the "Mahamudra Aspiration" twenty-five years earlier, we decided to revisit our work and prepare a new translation for publication with the phowa materials.

The distribution of the phowa text was highly restricted, being available only to practitioners who had already completed individual phowa practice in a six-dharmas-of-Naropa retreat. However, word soon spread that we had published a new translation of the "Mahamudra Aspiration," and many people—especially members of our sangha who are engaged in the study and practice of mahamudra— expressed an interested in using it. As the aspiration includes pith instructions on shamatha and vipashyana meditation—topics widely discussed these days—we offer this new translation to you.

This aspiration was one of the first projects the Translation Committee worked on with the Vidyadhara. In 1976, it was published in Empowerment, a book that documented the first American visit of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa. One of our members, John Rockwell, later prepared a revised translation, which he used when translating oral teachings on the text by Thrangu Rinpoche. In preparing our latest version, we consulted a number of translations by other translators: Garma C.C. Chang, Lama Sherab Dorje, Rosemarie Fuchs, Ari Goldfield, Matthew Kapstein, Ken McLeod, and Erik Pema Kunzang.

Translating Shamatha Mahamudra Continued...