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Please note: This is a detailed examination of the prophecy compiled by the Tibetan master, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. Please click on this underlined text, or use the navigation bar above (left pointing emoji), to read the prophecy first, if you have not done so yet.
The underlined text throughout this article will take you to further information or evidence related to that section.
The Prophecy and The Need To Put It Into Practice
This prophecy is referred to as a teaching of the Victorious One, Shakyamuni Buddha. Thus, it is not just an interesting text that is to be referred to, like looking up references for a footnote in an academic paper.
Instead, it is to be received as the Buddha’s Dharma, internalized through actual practice of the indicated meditation and mantra recitation — which are described in the Surangama Sutra. This sutra is not given by name here in this prophecy; but today, the Surangama Sutra is the only text that contains the description of the practice of Avalokitasvara, who is referred to in this prophecy as “the greatly responsive one.”
Practicing the Great Responsiveness Meditation causes fundamental changes in your mind so that you freely and authentically manifest Responsive Naturing in all your thoughts, words, and deeds. This practice of Avalokitasvara himself is what this prophecy unequivocally indicates — and not some other practice that is more well-known today. I raise this point because there has been confusion sown by another translation which does just that.
As well, the recitation referred to in this prophecy, which will protect us, is the well-known — for exactly that benefit — Surangama mantra. “Surangama” means heroic progress, and this is what this teaching indicates is the fruit of the practice referred to in that text as the “Great Responsiveness Meditation.”
Furthermore, this prophecy is not to be worshipped, without any real engagement. It must be put into practice for it to have a beneficial result. Also, the Buddha repeats throughout this text that it should be shared with others by writing about it and disseminating it. Here are some quotes:
And the Victorious One replied to the venerable Ananda:
“I have this to say about it. While I was residing in the great expanse of space, I was thinking of and gazing on the beings of the world. So, listen! There is a teaching useful during the time when the dark age arises. If one writes of it, propagates it, and practices the “Great Responsiveness Meditation” and recitation, impurities and obscurations will be quickly purified. If one sincerely makes offerings to this spiritual text with flowers and incense, all sentient beings will benefit. By propagating this text and writing about it, one will obtain a good existence throughout all of one’s lives.”
“I will lead sentient beings away from evil states (they have fallen into). At that time, this spiritual text will be well known. Because of this text and by making it known, all sickness will end. If written about by one person, it will benefit one city. If proclaimed by one city, it will benefit all states. The merit of humankind will be increased and secondary evil influences averted. One will be free of hellish torments, and it will be of benefit for both this life and the next one. This path is desirable for all sentient beings of the six classes. For example, it is like taking a boat across a river or the ocean. This is truly a most beneficial text until Maitreya arrives in the world of humans. By writing of this teaching and spreading it to other areas, in one lifetime, in one embodiment, one’s merit will increase limitlessly.”
This means that you should use your social media accounts to share this prophecy with your friends, family, and contacts — and discuss it with them, like the sangha followers of Shakyamuni Buddha, who themselves disseminated the Dharma by teaching it to others for the benefit of all sentient beings. This teaching of the Buddha is not for your benefit, but for the benefit of all, and so, for you to share in that benefit you must share it, write about it, and discuss it with all those you can. This is not a “chain letter.” This is a ‘call to arms’ to prepare yourself and to help others prepare themselves, for what is to come.
“This text will reverse the contributory evil causes of this time. By so much as seeing it, writing of it, proclaiming it, there is no doubt that these evil times will end. It is sufficient to see what is true and what is not true. And to say what one knows to be the truth. In those people who say it is untrue, from the tops of their heads to the bottom of their feet, signs that they will be seized by sickness will appear.”
By practicing the Great Responsiveness Meditation, we will foster within ourselves the conditions for the growing presence of Responsive Naturing in our lives, touching everyone that we meet with kindness, respect, and consideration, until such time as we have completely reversed our socially inculcated self-centered focus and concern, relieving all those we meet from the suffering that our egoic concerns are a contributory cause of.
The Victorious One replied:
“Very well, Maitreya. Listen to what I say. I choose this for the benefit of all sentient beings as well as Brahma, Indra, and so on. I will convey my words and their meaning for the sake of beings. It is certainly very positive to be energetically devoted to this.”
This means actively carrying out the prescriptions contained within this prophecy in one’s daily life.
“But,” the Victorious One said, “If people have an irrational trust in it, they will follow one another and fall straight into the most intolerable of hells. The earth and heavens will be filled with the cries of those who have not heard this teaching. A time of epidemics will result. But as soon as one hears this spiritual message and then writes it down and distributes it, these epidemics will be brought under control. All famine that might exist will be pacified and people will achieve a good existence.”
By “irrational trust” is meant that one merely holds this text close to their heart as a kind of blanket to protect themselves from the suffering all around them, while completely ignoring the actions that the prophecy instructs us to undertake.
So by not writing about this text, not sharing it with others, not reciting the Surangama Mantra, and not practicing the Great Responsiveness Meditation it refers to, one is completely ignoring the prescriptions for how to reduce suffering, to generate merit, and to protect ourselves and others, while still expecting a positive result. That is irrational.
The Victorious One replied:
“In the autumn of the Fire-Female-Horse year (2026), and in the year of the Earth-Male-Monkey (2028), all of those evil persons who have no confidence in this teaching will die. But, if one writes of it and propagates it, then one will live for a long time, without sickness, and merit will become very great.”
Some criticize the statement highlighted above, that people who have no confidence in this teaching will die. But clearly, if practicing the Great Responsiveness Meditation and reciting the Surangama Mantra will help us to survive the coming troubles, then wouldn’t it be silly to think that not doing those two practices wouldn’t make a difference at all? Surely, if doing what is prescribed will help us survive this period of time, then not doing it will leave us vulnerable to not surviving. And if the trouble is severe enough, then it is reasonable to assume that there will be widespread death. For example:
In the palace at Potala, a transformative form of the Spiritually Awakened One’s communication dwells, surrounded by a retinue of those in whom pure and total mind has taken over. All sentient beings, above and below, in all the ten directions, are placed in well-being. This well-being is intensified for the sake of all sentient beings on account of the compassionate intentions of the Greatly Responsive One for all humans. By thinking that this is untrue, or if one entertains doubts, a period of plagues will become widespread in the middle of summer. People will die from dawn to dusk. At that time, calculating from when the evil period of time increases, all the forest (ecosystems) will collapse. All the rocky mountains will crumble at their bases. One will not be able to bear the leveling (process) of the earth’s (mountains). For every ten persons, only one will be left. If one thinks that this is not so, it is the word of the Victorious One. Oh, pity sentient beings!
Why would a period of plagues arise as a result of not doing these practices? Why would ecosystems collapse? Why would mountains crumble? Simply as a result of doing nothing to change ourselves and the path we are on.
This work is a technique for diverting the evil time. If one is not able to spread (its ideas) to all countries, ripening crops will be destroyed by three frosts, or hail. Secondly, the specter of famine will arise. And when disease with no apparent etiology occurs, there will be much suffering and unhappiness. But, if one writes of and propagates this, there is no doubt that one will be liberated from all this misery.
If we do not foster within ourselves the conditions for the growing presence of Responsive Naturing by diligently internalizing the prescribed practices in our lives, we will not meet everyone with kindness, respect, and consideration, simply because we do not do so today. We will not reverse our socially inculcated self-centered focus and concern, so that our egoistic concerns will continue to impose suffering on all those we meet.
This failure to change will leave us on the current path humanity is on, which is leading to the immanent destruction of all ecosystems, overheating of our world so that there is increased volcanic activity and earthquakes.
In the Earth-Female-Bird year (2029), there will be no harm. Nonetheless, it will be very important to guard one’s discipline and not eat red meat.
So by continuing to ignore the effect our way of life has on others, such as the widespread desire to eat animal flesh, which drastically increases the possibility for viruses to cross from those animals we kill for their flesh, to our own human population, we will continue to suffer from pandemics. And because our appetite for their flesh contributes so much of the emissions that are leading to the overheating of our atmosphere, crops will fail, insect blights will increase, poor nutrition will be our norm, and thus plagues of all sorts will increasing occur. They are even now. Just read the news.
This teaching of the Buddha is not a matter of far-fetched and irrational assertions. It is making the very rational point that if we do not change our behavior now, we will not survive the troubles that are already here and growing. Only a fool would think that this is far-fetched.
But Why Now? The Markers, Both Explicit and Implicit, In This Text, Of The Time This Prophecy Becomes Active
The very first statements in this prophecy by the Buddha setup an important marker. In prescribing the Great Responsiveness Meditation, which is a name that did not exist in the world until I started to use it in this book, this time period now is the obvious one. This does not mean that this book was ‘foretold by the Buddha’ since the name I chose was one that described the primary benefit of Avalokitasvara’s practice, and thus is fairly obvious to anyone who knows this fact. And it is clear in the way that the Buddha keeps calling Avalokitasvara, the “Greatly Responsive One,” a name that alludes to his perfection of Great Responsiveness, that the practice is that of Avalokitasvara. In Tibetan Dzogchen teachings, what I refer to as responsive naturing, is called Great Responsiveness.
The next markers refer to how humans will be comporting themselves, and how they will be organized:
Things will be like this as a result of ten impure practices. One will not compliment or praise another person; there will only be praise of oneself and putting down others. There will basically be four social groups: the politicians, the rich, common people, and the well-educated. If all of these peoples have confidence in this text and devotion toward it, a good time period will result.
The Ten Impure Practices are violations of the Ten Major Bodhisattva Precepts or Vows, which are:
1. Not to kill or encourage others to kill.
2. Not to steal or encourage others to steal.
3. Not to engage in licentious acts or encourage others to do so.
4. Not to use false words and speech, or encourage others to do so.
5. Not to trade or sell alcoholic beverages or encourage others to do so.
6. Not to broadcast the misdeeds or faults of the Buddhist assembly, nor encourage others to do so.
7. Not to praise oneself and speak ill of others, or encourage others to do so.
8. Not to be stingy, or encourage others to do so.
9. Not to harbor anger or encourage others to be angry.
10. Not to speak ill of the Buddha, the Dharma or the Sangha (lit. the Triple Jewel) or encourage others to do so.
Even a cursory look at this list will identify the major characteristics of our society today. Two of these precepts are specifically Buddhist-related: # 6 and # 10, the others fit our time perfectly. But they are also a historically common set of ‘impure practices’ in human culture, so their presence does not select any particular timeframe.
However, since the Scientific revolution, the power of the Catholic Church, primarily in Europe, but elsewhere in the world, wherever they had a missionary or entrenched presence, as well, was significantly reduced. The battle between the two, and who won or lost is not interesting for our purposes here. What is important here is that in overthrowing the Church’s position as the definer of a moral standard of comportment — and not replacing it — our modern history has shown an increasing prevalence of the specific issues noted by the Buddha.
In fact, it is widely remarked that our society today has been completely changed by these common insults, especially on social media: the inability to graciously compliment or praise others, widespread harping on about oneself and one’s accomplishments, and the even more oppressive behavior of insulting and putting others down. What was a bad behavior observed in car drivers, who, being installed in a heavy and powerful metal machine felt no hesitation in aggressive or even violent acts towards other drivers, has been amplified by people on social media today who can frequently be asses to each other.
As for the organization of human society, I don’t feel that I have to spend much time on the diverging status and lifestyle of the very rich, their politicians, the well-educated, who seem to serve more often than not as tools for the first two classes, and the common people who live a precarious life, from moment-to-moment, with little hope that their circumstances will change. While not specifically selecting this time period today, this grouping fits our world, and reinforces that this is the relevant period of the prophetic teaching.
These considerations then lead into a specification of other markers, two of which I would like to highlight:
First, because of the ten impure practices, sentient beings will come under the power of conflicting emotions. Oh, pity on these sentient beings! After this, an area (valley) in the human realm will be (as if) filled with blood. Three, when it comes to reaping your own merits you will be powerless to do so. Four, human suffering will become very great. Five, people won’t be able to perceive the “path.” Six, cities will become filled with carnivorous animals. Seven, the residences of politicians will become deserted. Eight, individuals will be unable to cope with one another. Nine, hungry ghosts will be seen wandering about the cities.
Some of these make sense, others require a bit of empathy to get. The seventh is notable because it fits in with the ecosystem failures, pandemics, plagues, crop failures, volcanism and earthquakes, etc. leading to a collapse of the social order. This is not debatable, because we are already seeing these effects today.
And lest there be someone who wants to obfuscate the truth of this prophecy, it will be useful to heed the injunction of the Buddha, when he adds:
Out of deep space, in the Fire-Male-Horse year (2026), a large meteor will strike down on the shores of a large body of water. This spiritual text will appear when the meteor cracks open. Having appeared, it is very important, when teaching this document, that there are no secret or hidden meanings. There is but one, no secondary meaning. It has been put together for the benefit of all sentient beings. May all the torments of existence end!
The wording of the passage is unclear. It could mean that the impact of the meteor — its ‘cracking open’ — marks the appearance of the prophetic text in the world at large, rather than it actually spilling out of the meteor. At present, knowledge of this text is limited, and is only slowly getting shared by small groups of people. In 2026, hopefully, it will become generally known. However, I bring your attention to this statement in that paragraph:
Having appeared, it is very important, when teaching this document, that there are no secret or hidden meanings. There is but one, no secondary meaning.
This statement is very important as it is meant to dissuade people who would interpret the Buddha’s words and substitute their own understanding for how they should be read — why else would he have said it.
This is the reason why I have not added anything to the translated text of the prophecy, Instead, I have written down my thoughts about it in this article, and in the footnotes, because what we must remain cognizant of is that one of the characteristics of a prophecy is that it speaks of future events — events that are not yet known.
Unfortunately, that warning seems to be unheeded by some translators and academics who dismiss the prophetic text as a ‘chain letter’. They show their malevolence towards it, as well as their ignorance of the English language, because it is speaking of another teaching, that of the Surangama Sutra — which has been attacked by them as well — and it is that which the prophecy says should be written about and shared. And then they change what the Buddha clearly said that we should practice, simply because they have no knowledge of what he was talking about. They put themselves above Jamyang Khyentse Choki Lodro, and his senior student, Ngor Thartse Khenpo Sonam Gyatso Rinpoche, and crow about it, so be careful.
Finally, I would like to deal with certain criticisms that have been leveled at this prophecy, that are truly naïve or disingenuous:
Criticism 1: All Prophecies Are Vague About When They Will Happen
As with all prophecies, there is always a question of when the prophecy will come to pass, and although years are given in parenthesis in the translation above for the Tibetan Calendar “drukchu kor” element-animal year names used in the original Tibetan text, these names repeat every sixty years — as our Gregorian calendar year numbers repeat every century — so there is a possibility, some say, that the exact years are incorrectly translated to our modern Gregorian years.
Clearly, the translation of these element-animal years to Gregorian years would be something done with care by the translator and the rinpoches, khenpos, and lamas who proofread this translation. But this criticism is only being used by those who scoff at prophecies in general to dismiss this prophecy as well.
Unfortunately, there are even some who profess to be sincere Buddhists, but who seem to feel that their misgivings of prophecies in general, or this one in particular, have more weight, and thus overrule, the unimpeachable wisdom of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, the renowned Dharma master. He compiled this prophecy from the Buddha’s teachings, gave it a place in his heart, composed a benedictory prayer for it, and consigned it to us so that we might reduce our suffering and that of countless other sentient beings. But still there are some questioning its value — even as its predicted events are happening now, and accelerating in their effect, just two years before the foretold repercussions take place.
First off, it is not true that the element-animal years used in the Tibetan Culture do not have a designation for a particular cycle. They are called “rab-byung” (རབ་བྱུང in Tibetan). This rab-byung system was adopted in the Gregorian year of 1027, thus the first year of this system equates to that year:
The Tibetan calendar is derived from the Indian calendar tradition; it has the same general structure as Indian calendars, but the details differ significantly. The basis for the Tibetan calendar is the Kālacakra Tantra, which was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the 11th century. (Traditional date of the translation is 1027 when the first 60 year cycle started.) It is based on Indian astronomy, but much modified. The calendar became the standard in Tibet in the second half of the thirteenth century.¹
What we should consider though is that this text was compiled by Chökyi Lodrö, not written by him, although clearly it was edited at some point because it is the words of the Buddha, yet the years are given in a notation system adopted in the year 1027 CE. Chökyi Lodrö died in 1959, which was 33 years into rab-byung cycle 16. We are now in rab-byung cycle 17, and the period covered by this prophecy starts in 2026, which is 40 years into the current sixty-year cycle of the Tibetan calendar. Clearly, the prophecy is not for some date in the past, before Chökyi Lodrö’s time, as some otherwise intelligent people claim, because that assertion just insults Chöki Lodrö’s intelligence. It also seems highly unlikely that he would have made the effort of compiling a ‘prophecy’ for his immediate future — he would have just spoken about it in order to better inform people of what would soon be happening, and how they could reduce the suffering these events would create. He certainly wouldn’t leave it in his collected papers, away from the eyes of his students.
So at the earliest, this prophecy applies to us, as we are in the very next rab-byung cycle.
But what about it being for some time in some far future, and not now, in our immediate future?
This prophecy is not simply about some vague ruining away of the Buddha’s teachings as the 500 year periods depict, and which are included in the first part of the prophecy. It is about events that are irrefutably happening now, and will reach their full effect shortly — as all scientific evidence shows — during the times indicated by the prophecy, or very close to it — in fact, as I have said just above, they already are.
It’s not like these events are only discussed by a small group of cognoscenti whispering together about esoteric matters. As I write this, every newspaper, magazine, television, and radio news program, as well as a tremendous number of bloggers are screaming headlines like this: “‘It’s now or never’ The UN climate report’s 4 urgent takeaways” and “UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world.’”
But perhaps these skeptics are all overlooking a simple fact of our human ways. Do I need to remind everyone of the Y2K problem:
“The Y2K problem, refers to potential computer errors related to the formatting and storage of calendar data for dates in and after the year 2000. Many programs represented four-digit years with only the final two digits, making the year 2000 indistinguishable from 1900.” Wikipedia
In other words, even our most high-tech software systems didn’t bother to distinguish between centuries. Speaking from my own experience, as I was involved in reviewing and repairing large telecommunications systems for these commonplace errors at the time, many of the systems didn’t record the century because the systems’ developers weren’t expecting them to be used as long as they have been. And in the case of this prophetic text compiled by Jamyang Khyentse, why include the rab-byung cycle number if it was meant for the very next cycle?
Even more, it is simply astounding that anyone cannot see the correspondence between what is happening in the world today and this prophetic text: the Covid-19 pandemic which is still ongoing, the destruction of nation’s sovereignty and the wholesale slaughter of civilian populations by oppressors, genocide, the hacking of democratic systems of government by extremists or those that want to take all the power that we give to our governments to use against us, the fragility of the world’s economies because of these events, and their underlying defects which allow a few people to amass extreme wealth, while most of the world starves, lives in poverty, or struggles to survive, and most importantly, the ecocidal continuation and acceleration of “business as usual” around the world even in the face of what we all know is coming. These are events foretold in this prophecy, for this time. Trying to convince others that it is not worth paying attention to this text, leaves everyone unprepared, unprotected, and without hope. It is unconscionable behavior and the sangha should turn their backs on such people.
Criticism 2: The Actual Practice That The Buddha Exhorts Us To Practice Is Not Clear
There are some, all too often the same individuals that ridicule Chökyi Lodrö’s prophetic text, that are wary of the practice mentioned in this prediction, which was translated by the original translators as “Great Responsiveness Meditation.” I have explained earlier in this volume that I chose to use that specific name for the meditation technique that I have practiced throughout my life — before this prophecy was brought to my attention. I chose that name to indicate the beneficial result of the practice that I have been blessed with during my life, as I imagine the translators of this prophetic teaching similarly did. This practice is described in detail in the Surangama Sutra, though that sutra does not give the practice a name other than “the practice of Avalokitasvara.” And, as well, I describe it in detail from my own perspective in the fourth volume of this book — The Way Of Meditation.
This name is not otherwise known. Is this a failure of the prophecy to be specific? How so? It is specific in the name it gives for the practice to be done by all during this coming period. Or is it, in fact a prophecy that speaks of a practice whose name will only become known in the time of the events that are prophesied, which my own efforts are directed to?
While the Surangama Sutra did not give the practice a name, merely designating it as the practice of Avalokitasvara, who this prophecy refers to as the “Greatly Responsive One,” a glance at the steps and results of the practice that Avalokitasvara describes in the Surangama Sutra, are clearly a practice that will, as the Buddha put it, “quickly purify impurities and obscurations.” Unlike many secular practices that are taught today, the practice of Avalokitasvara is definitely a ‘direct path’, and one that brings many beneficial changes to the practitioner. In fact, it is categorized as a Vajrayana practice, of the Dzogchen class, by those that teach this practice today.
However, another translation² of this prophecy unfortunately redirects the reader to instead practice “the visualization and recitation of the Great Compassionate One”³ which is a well-known gradual practice that does not create the relevant changes in the practitioner quickly, but rather over many lifetimes. This is not the practice used by Avalokitasvara, but is rather, a practice that incorporates visualizing Avalokitasvara, totally missing the clear identification of “Great Responsiveness Meditation” in the prophecy to the actual practice used by Avalokitasvara.
And by saying this, I mean that the Great Responsiveness Meditation of Avalokitasvara is directed at releasing the intrinsic unselfish responsiveness that is within all of us, and for which, Avalokitasvara is the avatar in Buddhism. This unfortunate lapse in judgement on the part of this other translator is surely due to his lack of knowledge about the practice of Avalokitasvara, which is compounded by the fact that in Tibetan Buddhism, the Surangama Sutra, in which the practice is explained in detail, has a long history of being attacked by scholars who do not appreciate its pointing out the mistaken belief that scholarship without application can still lead to wisdom. Instead, the Buddha clearly states that this lack of practicing the teachings in one’s own life leaves the scholar without any empirical basis for their beliefs and cannot possibly lead to wisdom or enlightenment. For more on this, please see: “The Complete Instructions for the Practice of the Buddha’s Secret Path” in this volume.
And I need to also point out that this other translator was overruling the work of not just the original translator of this text, Stephen B. Aldridge, but also Ngor Thartse Khenpo Sonam Gyatso Rinpoche, the senior disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, and others, who worked with him, commenting on, and correcting parts of the translation, and, as well, the other Tibetan lamas, khenpos, and tulkus who have shared the original translation and spoken about it, such as Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the current reincarnations of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, Kyabje Jigme Dorje Rinpoche, the supreme head of the Tibetan Jonang lineage — and of course, and most of all, overruling Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö himself.
Those that think I am the one making an error here should know that I bring these matters out in the open at the request of one of my teachers, Khenpo Sodargye of Larung Gar:
It should be noted too that “compassion” which this other translator used to translate “great responsiveness” is not the same as “responsiveness,” which is not compassion in its conventional sense. This is an important distinction that is found in the Dzogchen refinement of the doctrine of Emptiness and Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche has himself given a teaching in China on this exact subject.
A further piece of evidence to support the assertion that the practice is in fact the one taught in the Surangama Sutra, which is initiated by ‘turning the hearing faculty around’ to the spontaneous, uncaused, unending sounds that arise within the mind, is this assertion found in the prophecy itself as the final event described:
Then the Victorious One said to the Greatly Responsive One: “During the year of the Mouse (2032), a sound with spiritual qualities will be heard coming out of the depths of space.
Thus, one can infer from the prediction’s final prognostication that this “sound with spiritual qualities” will become available to all, and the practice mentioned in the prediction should be understood to be the practice used by Avalokitasvara, simply because it is these spontaneous sounds ‘with spiritual qualities’ i.e., no physical cause, that are necessarily used to ‘turn the hearing faculty around’.
Additionally, a point must be made in regard to which practice and which teaching is being referred to in this prophecy, simply because the other translation that I just mentioned makes the mistake of confusing the prophetic text as being the teaching that is referred to by Chökyi Lodrö. To help make this point clear, here is the relevant paragraph at the beginning of the text:
I have this to say about it. While I was residing in the great expanse of space, I was thinking of and gazing on the beings of the world. So, listen! There is a teaching useful during the time when the dark age arises. If one writes of it, propagates it, and practices the “Great Responsiveness Meditation” and recitation, impurities and obscurations will be quickly purified. If one sincerely makes offerings to this spiritual text with flowers and incense, all sentient beings will benefit. By propagating this text and writing about it, one will obtain a good existence throughout all of one’s lives.
If one reads the bolded text carefully, it is clear that what one is supposed to write about, propagate, and practice is the Surangama Sutra in which the meditation practice of the “Greatly Responsive One,” Avalokitasvara, is described. There is no “recitation” in this prophetic text, only a short mantra of protection to be placed on the body. One does not ‘practice’ a tattoo, nor something otherwise placed on the body, like a bandaid. It is so ridiculous to miss this point that one has to wonder about what else is being missed in the other translation. The Surangama Sutra, on the other hand, has a very long mantra that is recited daily, each morning, in Buddhist temples throughout China and Southeast Asia, and elsewhere in the world, to honor the Surangama Sutra — and for exactly the reason this prophetic text states is its effect: purifying impurities and obscurations, and the attainment of great responsiveness. It is simply the ignorance about the Surangama Sutra — because of the ongoing campaign, principally by academics — that has so misled students of Tibetan Buddhism.
There is another important point that will only be clear to those who understand the difference between compassion and Great Responsiveness, such as those who have read this book. The quoted paragraph above also points out that if “one” does these practices and holds the teaching — that is, the Surangama Sutra — in high regard, which is necessary to properly put the teachings in that Sutra into practice, then “all sentient beings will benefit.” How is this possible? Because even one person, trained in and understanding the Way of Responsive Naturing, can change the course of events by fostering the necessary possibilities so that they exist, making certain outcomes more likely to occur, and can direct the attention of those involved towards the desired outcomes.
Criticism 3: No One Important Has Written, Shared, or Talked About This Prophecy.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche’s official Facebook page published a link to the prophecy, here in Tranquillity’s Secret, in October of 2019. Dzongsar Khyentse is the reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö. And I should point out that Dzongsar Khyentse recently published a book, entitled “Poison is Medicine” that quotes from the Surangama Sutra, finally breaking the slanderous dismissal of that sutra in Tibetan Buddhism.
A statement about the causes of the Coronavirus outbreak in China and Tibet, before it had become pandemic, and what people could recite and do about it, was released on Facebook⁴ — in Tibetan and Chinese only — by the supreme head of the Tibetan Jonang lineage and Kalacakra master, Kyabje Jigme Dorje Rinpoche, on February 7, 2020. Adele Zangmo, on the Dakini Translations and Publications website⁵, posted an English translation of his statement on that website. The mantra Jigme Dorje shared comes from the prophecy text in this book:
The “Ya chen” Tibetan edition of this prophecy notes that it was compiled by Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö “Vajradhara in person” for the sake of beings of the degenerate age, and it was published in 1979 by Tsering Tashi of Sikkim, the secretary of the publishing house of the Gyalwang Karmapa (Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa)⁶, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism.
ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། ཕན་ནོ་ཕན་ནོ་སྭཱཧཱ།
👈 || UNSAYING | CONTEMPLATION | TRADITION | MEDITATION | DISCUSSIONS | BACK MATTER || 👉
