
Who is Padmasambhava?
Padamasambhava, commonly referred to as Guru Rinpoche, is a major figure of the first transmission of Buddhism, especially Vajrayana, into Tibet and is considered the founder of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Born in Oḍḍiyāna, in the modern-day Pakistan, he came to Tibet in the 8th century at the request of King Trisong Detsen. The King had first brought Shantarakshita, Abbot of Nalanda Monastery in India, to Tibet to teach Buddhism. Difficulties arose, attributed to harmful local spirits, so Shantarakshita recommended that Padmasambhava be brought to subdue the spirits.
Padmasambhava subdued the spirits and made them promise to protect the Buddhadharma. With obstacles removed, he and Shantarakshita built Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Under King Trisong Detsen, Buddhism became the state religion and an effort to translate the Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Tibetan was organized.
The Engraved Text
The prayer (Sampa Lhundrupma) is in Tibetan, but an English translation is available at Lotsawa House.
The English explanation below the prayer reads:
After receiving Guru Padmasambhava’s prediction about the troubled times in the future, Nyimei Tongzhou Rinpoche decided to cast thousands black diamonds statues of Guru Rinpoche in the Year of the Dragon to match Guru Rinpoche’s cause of unbreakable Vajra. Hoping for world peace, liberation for those who see it, and for all sentient beings.
As prophesied by Orgyen [Padmasambhava], the Second Buddha, the sole refuge of beings, as a ritual to avert the decline of the degenerate age, in accordance with the key timing of the Wood Dragon year of the Rabgyen cycle, the eminent incarnation Jigme Dondrub Rinpoche, with unsurpassed compassion, has commissioned the creation of over a thousand images of Guru Padmasambhava made of black vajra stone.
These images will be enshrined in various countries, both domestic and international, to pacify disease, famine, and war throughout the vast kingdom, to bring peace to the world, and to ensure that all who see, hear, remember, or touch them may be liberated and attain enlightenment.