Help with prayer in Tibetan

[KiwiNFLFan]

My friend (who is Han Chinese but practices Tibetan Buddhism) sent me a video of an Amitabha mantra in Tibetan. She told me that Venerable Jigme Phüntsok Rinpoche stated that anyone who chants this mantra 1 million times (or 6 million nianfo in Chinese) will be guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land.

Only thing is, the mantra is only given in transcribed in Chinese characters - no original Tibetan script or romanisation. I need help from someone who knows Tibetan to reconstruct the original Tibetan text.

炯丹迪得因夏巴
jiǒng dān dí dé yīn xià bā
札炯巴央达巴作波
zhá jiǒng bā yāng dá bā zuò bō
桑吉滚波奥华德美巴拉香擦洛
sāng jí gǔn bō ào huá dé měi bā lā xiāng cā luò
巧多嘉森切奥
qiǎo duō jiā sēn qiē ào

As the first part of the prayer is similar to one of the prayers before teaching at my local temple, I have managed to work out some of the words.

chom dän dä de zhin sheg pa
dra chom pa yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä [lhün?] po
...... [me pa] .....
chag tsäl lo chö do kyab su chi wo

Any help here would be good. By the way, is there a standard way of transcribing Tibetan into Chinese?

[GrapeLover]

I think the one million / six million thing comes from the book “Always Present” edited by Khenpo Sodargye, containing Jigme Phuntsok’s teachings. The relevant section goes:

The instruction on chanting the name one million times was unequivocally taught by my root teacher Thupga Rinpoche, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and Tulku Dongak Tenpe Nyima: “In the future, if you lead those with the necessary karma and good fortune to chant one million times the name of Buddha Amitabha (here it refers to the name of Buddha Amitabha in Tibetan; the Chinese “Namo Amitabha” needs to be chanted six million times), they will be able to attain rebirth in Sukhavati.”

No idea why this distinction is drawn or whether it’s Jigme Phuntsok or Khenpo Sodargye speaking within the parentheses. Anyway, it refers to recitation of the name, rather than anything longer. I assume the “Tibetan” refers to accumulation of the name mantra “Om Amidewa hrih” / “Om Amitabha Hrih”. Apologies if she has more first-hand confirmation that it does refer to that prayer specifically.

[jmlee369]

My friend (who is Han Chinese but practices Tibetan Buddhism) sent me a video of an Amitabha mantra in Tibetan. She told me that Venerable Jigme Phüntsok Rinpoche stated that anyone who chants this mantra 1 million times (or 6 million nianfo in Chinese) will be guaranteed rebirth in the Pure Land.

Only thing is, the mantra is only given in transcribed in Chinese characters - no original Tibetan script or romanisation. I need help from someone who knows Tibetan to reconstruct the original Tibetan text.

炯丹迪得因夏巴
jiǒng dān dí dé yīn xià bā
札炯巴央达巴作波
zhá jiǒng bā yāng dá bā zuò bō
桑吉滚波奥华德美巴拉香擦洛
sāng jí gǔn bō ào huá dé měi bā lā xiāng cā luò
巧多嘉森切奥
qiǎo duō jiā sēn qiē ào

As the first part of the prayer is similar to one of the prayers before teaching at my local temple, I have managed to work out some of the words.

chom dän dä de zhin sheg pa
dra chom pa yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä [lhün?] po
...... [me pa] .....
chag tsäl lo chö do kyab su chi wo

Any help here would be good. By the way, is there a standard way of transcribing Tibetan into Chinese?

You're good up to sang gya, from there my guess is "gon-po o-pag-tu-me-pa la" and continues as you mentioned.

Gonpo is a common title for Buddhas and bodhisattvas, meaning protector. O-pag-tu-me-pa is simply the drawn out form of Amitabha in Tibetan, which is normally rendered o-pag-me. Strictly speaking this is not a mantra but simply recitation of the Amitabha Buddha's name, in an elaborate fashion that incorporates more titles of the Buddha as is common in Tibetan practice and also in the sutras.

I think the one million / six million thing comes from the book “Always Present” edited by Khenpo Sodargye, containing Jigme Phuntsok’s teachings. The relevant section goes:

The instruction on chanting the name one million times was unequivocally taught by my root teacher Thupga Rinpoche, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and Tulku Dongak Tenpe Nyima: “In the future, if you lead those with the necessary karma and good fortune to chant one million times the name of Buddha Amitabha (here it refers to the name of Buddha Amitabha in Tibetan; the Chinese “Namo Amitabha” needs to be chanted six million times), they will be able to attain rebirth in Sukhavati.”

No idea why this distinction is drawn or whether it’s Jigme Phuntsok or Khenpo Sodargye speaking within the parentheses. Anyway, it refers to recitation of the name, rather than anything longer. I assume the “Tibetan” refers to accumulation of the name mantra “Om Amidewa hrih” / “Om Amitabha Hrih”. Apologies if she has more first-hand confirmation that it does refer to that prayer specifically.

The Tibetan accumulation would be the Buddha's name as given by OP, rather than the name mantra "om amidewa hrih." You can "get away" with fewer recitations of the name in Tibetan compared to the Chinese "namo amituofo" because the Tibetan phrase is much longer.

[KiwiNFLFan]

Thanks, jmlee! With the missing words you provided (which indeed sound like the chant in the video), I was able to find this book, which contained the prayer text and it is exactly as you said (although the book omits the last part 'chö do kyab su chi wo').

So the complete text of the prayer is (with the last part spliced in from my local temple's prayer book):

Chom dän dä de zhin sheg pa dra chom pa
Yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä ö pag tu me pa la
Chhag tshäl lo [chö do kyab su chi wo]

[Volan]

In Tibetan tradition they call these as "name mantras of Tathagatas". This particular one is a slightly modified
version for Buddha Amitabha. There are some sutras with these teachings - Shakyamuni version:

The Bodhisattva Compassionate Eye Looking One stood up from his seat, put his right knee on the ground, put his
palms together and requested the Buddha in this way:

CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ PÄL
GYÄL WA SHAKYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

Then the Buddha said, “Rigkyipu, Rays of the Sun, to benefit sentient beings well and for a long time, it is good to
listen well and keep this in mind. By merely reciting this Wisdom Gone Beyond, which has great merit, all sentient
beings’ negative karma is purified and it definitely brings them to enlightenment. Those who are attempting to
practice secret mantra, the Vajrayana, will accomplish it without experiencing obstacles.”

Then the bodhisattva, the great being Compassionate Eye Looking One, whose holy mind is enriched with qualities,
said this to the Buddha, “Please explain this for the benefit of all sentient beings.”
Then the Buddha’s holy mind abided in the equipoise concentration called Liberating All Sentient Beings. While the
Buddha was in that equipoise meditation, hundreds of thousands of light beams emanated from the white curled hair
in the center of his brow and these beams covered all the pure lands of the buddhas. All the sentient beings touched
by those beams definitely achieved the peerless full enlightenment. Then all the pure lands of the buddhas shook in
six different ways and in the presence of the tathagatas, there was a rainfall of sandalwood powder. Then the
Buddha said, “Bodhisattva, keep the mind in equanimity and loving kindness, the mind that wishes to repay the
kindness of others. Keep the mind free from all negativities. Recite this heart of the perfection of wisdom, this
Wisdom Gone Beyond.”

Commentary by Lama Zopa:
https://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/manda ... he-buddha/