Tsongkhapas praise to Saraswati

[gregkavarnos]

Anybody got the Tibetan text and English transliteration for Tsongkhapas praise to Saraswati?
The English translation is:

Captivating presence, stealing my mind,
Like a lightning-adorned cloud beautifying the sky,
There amid a celestial gathering of youthful musicians.
Compassionate goddess, come here now!
Those alluring honeybee eyes in that lotus face,
That long, dark blue hair, glowing with white light,
There before me in a pose of seductive dance.
Grant me, Saraswati, your power of speech!
Those beautiful, playful antelope eyes,
I gaze insatiably upon you, seducer of my mind,
Goddess of speech with a mother’s compassion,
Make our speech as one.
More beautiful than the splendour of a full autumn moon,
A voice eclipsing the sweetest melody of Brahma,
A mind as hard to fathom as the deepest ocean,
I bow before the goddess Saraswati.

Thanks!

[Will]

Coincidentally (or maybe not) today is Saraswati's festival that the Hindus celebrate.

[gregkavarnos]

Not at all coincidental!
Hrim Hrim Hrim!

[Will]

Greg, do you know a Saraswati mantra that Buddhists use?

[Will]

Greg, do you know a Saraswati mantra that Buddhists use?

Thanks to a PM; here are two:

In Tsongkhapa's prayer it's Om sarasiddhi hrim hrim.

In Khyentse Chokyi Lodro's it's Om pitsu pitsu prajna vargani dzala dzala medhi vargani dhiri dhiri buddhi vargani svaha.

[Sheila]

Still looking for this, but in the meantime, here is Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö's:


༄༅། །ལྷ་མོ་དབྱངས་ཅན་མ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་རབ་དགའི་དབྱངས་སྙན་བཞུགས།

The Sweet Sound of Perfect Joy: In Praise of the Goddess Sarasvati
by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

ཧྲཱིཾཿ ཚངས་པའི་ཡིད་ཀྱི་སྲས་མོ་ནི། །
hring tsangpé yi kyi semo ni
Hrih! Daughter of the mind of Brahma

རོལ་པའི་མཚོ་ཆེན་ལས་བྱུང་བ། །
rolpé tso chen lé jungwa
Arisen from the great lake of enjoyment,

ཟླ་ལྟར་དཀར་བའི་ཞལ་མངའ་མ། །
da tar karwé shyal nga ma
With your face as pure and white as the moon—

དབྱངས་ཅན་ལྷ་མོར་ཕྱག་འཚལ་བསྟོད། །
yangchen lhamor chaktsal tö
Goddess Sarasvati, to you I pay homage!

རིག་བྱེད་གསང་ཚིག་འཛད་མེད་གཏེར། །
rikjé sang tsik dzemé ter
Unending treasury of the secret words of the Vedas,

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་གསུང་ཆོས་ཕུང་ཆེ། །
deshyin shek sung chö pung ché
And the vast collection of the buddhas’ Dharma,

འཆི་མེད་ལམ་ཡང་མཐར་ཁྱབ་བྱེད། །
chimé lam yang tar khyabjé
Reaching to the end of the path of deathlessness—

དབྱངས་ཀྱི་དཔལ་མོར་གུས་པས་བསྟོད། །
yang kyi palmor güpé tö
Glorious Lady of Melodies, to you I bow in devotion!

ཏམྦུ་ར་ལ་འཁྱུད་བྱས་ཏེ། །
tambura la khyü jé té
Clasping a ‘tambura’ lute in your hands,

སོར་རྩེས་དལ་གྱིས་བསྒྲེངས་པ་ཡིས། །
sor tsé dal gyi drengpa yi
And gently playing it with the tips of your fingers.

འཇིག་རྟེན་འདས་དང་མ་འདས་ཀུན། །
jikten dé dang ma dé kün
To you who captivate the minds of all, both beyond

ཡིད་ཀྱི་བརྟན་པ་འཕྲོག་ལ་འདུད། །
yi kyi tenpa trok la dü
And still within this worldly realm, I bow!

ངེས་དོན་ཤེས་རབ་ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན། །
ngedön sherab parol chin
In reality you are the Perfection of Wisdom herself,

རྣམ་པ་ལྷ་མོའི་གཟུགས་སུ་སྒྱུར། །
nampa lhamö zuk su gyur
Yet you appear in the form of a goddess,

ངོ་མཚར་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་བསམ་མི་ཁྱབ། །
ngotsar gyutrul sam mikhyab
A wondrous and inconceivable manifestation,

ས་བཅུའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་མོར་འདུད། །
sa chü wangchuk chenmor dü
Great Lady who has mastered the ten bhumis, to you I bow!

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་ཀུན་རྗེས་ཆགས་ཀྱིས། །
deshyin shek kün jé chak kyi
To all the buddhas who regard you with their love,

ཡེ་ཤེས་སྤྱན་གྱི་ཟུར་མདའ་གཡོ། །
yeshe chen gyi zur da yo
And glance at you with their eyes of wisdom,

སྙོམས་འཇུག་བདེ་ཆེན་མཆོད་སྤྲིན་བསྟོབས། །
nyom juk dechen chötrin tob
You offer great cloud-like gifts of blissful union,

དགྱེས་ཡུམ་ཆེན་མོར་གུས་པས་འདུད། །
gyé yum chenmor güpé dü
To you, the great mother of joy, respectfully I bow!

བློ་ལྡན་གང་གི་མགྲིན་སྙིང་ལ། །
loden gang gi drin nying la
As you enter the throats and hearts of the intelligent,

ཞུགས་པ་དེ་ཡི་མོད་ཉིད་དུ། །
shyukpa dé yi mö nyi du
In that very instant, they become transformed,

སྨྲ་བའི་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོར་བསྒྱུར། །
mawé wangchuk chenpor gyur
And are made powerful masters of speech—

བློ་གྲོས་མཆོག་སྩོལ་མ་ལ་བསྟོད། །
lodrö chok tsol ma la tö
To you, bestower of supreme intelligence, I offer praise!

དེ་ལྟར་བསྟོད་པའི་བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱིས། །
detar töpé jinlab kyi
Through the blessings of praising you in this way,

བདག་ཡིད་དད་པའི་འོ་མཚོ་རུ། །
dak yi depé o tso ru
May you enter the milky lake of my devoted mind,

བཞུགས་ནས་མཁྱེན་གཉིས་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི། །
shyuk né khyen nyi yeshe kyi
And grant me the brilliant light of wisdom,

སྣང་བ་ཆེན་པོ་སྩལ་དུ་གསོལ། །
nangwa chenpo tsal du sol
Complete with the twofold knowledge, I pray!

ཨོཾ་པི་ཙུ་པི་ཙུ་པྲ་ཛྙཱ་ཝཱརྡྷ་ནི།
om pitsu pitsu prajña vardhani

ཛྭ་ལ་ཛྭ་ལ་མེ་དྷི་ཝཱརྡྷ་ནི།
dzala dzala medhi vardhani

དྷི་རི་དྷི་རི་བུདྡྷི་ཝརྡྷ་ནི་སྭཱ་ཧཱ།
dhiri dhiri buddhi vardhani soha

ཞེས་བཟླས་བློ་གྲོས་འཕེལ་བར་བྱེད།
Recite this and your intelligence will increase.
ཅེས་པའང་སྐུ་ཞབས་སི་ཏུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་དབོན་བསམ་གཏན་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ནས་ལྷ་རྫས་བཅས་གསུང་གིས་བསྐུལ་བ་བཞིན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་སམ་མིང་གཞན་འཇམ་དཔལ་དགའ་བའི་གོ་ཆར་འབོད་པས་དཔལ་སྤུངས་ཡིད་དགའ་ཆོས་འཛིན་དབྱངས་ཅན་དགྱེས་པའི་དགའ་ཚལ་དུ་བྲིས་པ་སིདྡྷི་རསྟུ།། །།
In response to the requests of Samten Tulku Rinpoche, the nephew of the noble Palpung Situ Rinpoche, given together with the gift of a silken scarf, I, Chökyi Lodrö, also known as Jampal Gawé Gochar, wrote this in the Joyful Grove Delighting the Goddess Sarasvati in Palpung Monastery. Siddhirastu!
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Translated by Adam
Manjushri & Sarasvati Series

Reference:

ལྷ་མོ་དབྱངས་ཅན་མ་ལ་བསྟོད་པ་རབ་དགའི་དབྱངས་སྙན།, Collected Works of Jamyang Khyentse Chöyki Lödro, Vol 5, p. 339-340.

[gregkavarnos]

Thank you very, very much Sheila!

[Sheila]

Here it is - the one you asked about is called "Prayer to Sarasvati." There is also "In Praise of Sarasvati" which I'll post, too. Sorry it's only PDF - was hoping to find an actual text version, but:

[Sheila]

[Sheila]

I should have mentioned that's from the book "The splendor of an autumn moon: the devotional verse of Tsongkhapa
By Tsoṅ-kha-pa Blo-bzaṅ-grags-pa, translated by Gavin Kilty."

[Will]

This is from the Vairocanabhisambodhi Sutra:

The mantra of Sarasvatī: Namaḥ samantabuddhānāṃ, sarasvatyai svāhā. (Homage to all Buddhas! For Sarasvatī, svāhā!)

[divinesow]

Om swarasvati hrim!

[Sheila]

A lovely Piwa Karpo

[catmoon]

Holy Schamoley, I'd happily put that on the wall, on art value alone.

[himalayanspirit]

So the Tibetan Buddhists also worship Saraswati? I thought such gods and goddesses were mythical and a result of Brahmins' colorful imaginations.

If I tell the Hindus around me about it, they will again say that the Buddhists are stealing from the Hindus, as they always do.

[Caz]

So the Tibetan Buddhists also worship Saraswati? I thought such gods and goddesses were mythical and a result of Brahmins' colorful imaginations.

If I tell the Hindus around me about it, they will again say that the Buddhists are stealing from the Hindus, as they always do.

Buddha's eminate various forms there are even Buddhist versions of Ganesh. But they are different from the Hindu worldly gods.

[nirmal]

So the Tibetan Buddhists also worship Saraswati? I thought such gods and goddesses were mythical and a result of Brahmins' colorful imaginations.

If I tell the Hindus around me about it, they will again say that the Buddhists are stealing from the Hindus, as they always do.

It is only in human nature that you belong to this religion and I to that, but it is not the deities' nature to belong to one religion and not another. Some of you will be very doubtful about whether one deity can have two very different characteristics. Let me explain this to you as though we were talking about some human personality. In the first case, there is a man who is an evil person, a robber. At the same time, he is engaged by the secret police to detect and report the activities of other robbers. When he is a robber, he robs those who are not related to the police department. When he is working for the police he is not a robber but helps to capture them.

Again, there is a man who is a very bad person in his village or neighborhood and at the same time is a servant in an office in town and is controlled by the Chairman of some governmental or citizens' organization. While working, he is obedient to the Chairman or Master; so if you were to request a favour from the Chairman, through that power the servant must faithfully help you. If a favour is asked of him while he is in his own environment, he will grant it only according to the offerings given to him but not in accordance with your good wills in Tantric Buddhism. He also creates obstacles when the offerings do not please him. This is a very dangerous business!
http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw28/bk028.html

[nirmal]

So the Tibetan Buddhists also worship Saraswati? I thought such gods and goddesses were mythical and a result of Brahmins' colorful imaginations.

If I tell the Hindus around me about it, they will again say that the Buddhists are stealing from the Hindus, as they always do.

Buddha's eminate various forms there are even Buddhist versions of Ganesh. But they are different from the Hindu worldly gods.

The Female Buddha of Voice called Saraswati by Hindus is worshipped by them as a virgin for the attainment of knowledge or intelligence. Even though Hindus might say that Saraswati is the consort of Brahma, they never worship them together. When worshipped as a virgin, only the wisdom of the higher self can be attained. In Tantric Buddhism she is married to Manjusri and in this relationship denotes the highest wisdom, that which overcomes the bondage of the higher self. It is a very secret truth that the highest wisdom is in the third initiation which is called the wisdom initiation. By the "love actions" in this initiation the highest pleasure is produced and this pleasure produces the voidness of truth--the highest wisdom. The secret purport of the yoga lies in the anthropomorphic relationship between the sexes. Even in everyday life, the layman's intelligence develops during married life. According to Chinese history, the well-known work Ton-lai-po-yee was written during the author's honeymoon.
http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw28/bk028.html

[nirmal]

So the Tibetan Buddhists also worship Saraswati? I thought such gods and goddesses were mythical and a result of Brahmins' colorful imaginations.

If I tell the Hindus around me about it, they will again say that the Buddhists are stealing from the Hindus, as they always do.

The six gurus were named Purana-Kasyapa, Maskari-Gosaliputra, Sanjaya-Vairatiputra, Ajita-Kesakambala, KakudaKatyayana and Nirgrantha-Jnatrputra. They were the six heretical teachers living at the same time as Gautama Buddha. Purana-Kasyapa held to annihilationism, Maskari-Gosaliputra to naturalism, Sanjaya-Vairatipurtra to natural annihilationism as a mass of threads pulling off from a hill will finish by nature. Ajita-Kesakambala held to Asceticism. Kakuda Katyayana held to a philosophy of uncertainty, everything may be form or non-form, and Nigrantha-Jnatrputra held to fatalism. They all rejected Buddhism.

As regards the six schools of Indian philosophy, they are named Nyaya, Sankhya, Vaisesika, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. They all occurred later than Buddhism. Vedanta means the end of the Veda and is also called Uttara Mimamsa which means later investigation. It is attributed to Jaimini of the fourth, fifth century A.D. The Sankhya school is founded by Kapila whose age is not clear to historians but had expression in a poem attributed to Isvara Krishna who lived in the fourth century A.D.

The yoga school was formulated by Patanjali. His age is mentioned in three different records; one is 200 B.C., while the other is 300 A.D. and the other is 400 A.D. No matter which one is right, they are all later than the age of Buddha Gautama. These six philosophies are later than the age of early Buddhism.
http://www.yogichen.org/cw/cw28/bk031.html