Radiant Aspiration: The Butterlamp Prayer Lamp of Aspiration
Radiant aspiration was written by C.R. Lama while in retreat in Tso Pema in India and arose as a gesture of love and longing for his teacher, Tulku Tsorlo whom he had to leave in Tibet. While alive C.R. Lama offered 100,000 butterlamps each year with his disciples and this practice continues.
The book offers a clear introduction to the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of the nature of existence, exploring how to free ourselves from all that limits us. It provides a translation of a beautiful prayer which employs the symbolism of the ritual offering of butterlamps, where light is seen as the basis of the nonduality of all experience. Radiant Aspiration contains the full ritual text so that readers can engage in its practice if they so choose. There is an extensive commentary focusing on the development of wisdom and compassion making the traditional text fully relevant to the modern reader.
English Radiant aspiration: the butterlamp prayer lamp of aspiration. Translated with commentary by James Low. (Simply Being, 2011) ISBN 978 0956923905 Kindle Prepared 2021 by Andreas Ruft of Wandel Verlag and available at all Amazons including Amazon.com.
German Lichter der Weisheit: das Butterlampen-Wunchgebet von Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche. Translated by Heike Drinkuth (Wandel Verlag, 2014) ISBN 978-3942380065. You can buy it from Wandel Verlag here and from Amazon here.
It is also available as a Kindle from Amazon.
Polish. Świetliste Dążenie: Modlitwa Lampek Lampa Dążenia. Radiant Aspiration was translated into Polish by Joanna Janiszewska-Rain. Wojciech Czajkowski and Bartłomiej Czajkowski prepared it for print and Wojciech Czajkowski prepared the cover. It was published by Wydawnictwo Kunzang in 2012 but is now out of print. Contact Wojciech Czajkowski at info [at] kuntuzangpo [dot] net.
Spanish La Aspiración radiante: la lámpara de mantequilla. Translated by Marta Pérez-Yarza (Ediciones Dharma, 2011) ISBN 9788494532788
| Contents Preface |
ix |
| Introduction | xi |
| Part 1 Text in English | |
| The Butterlamp Prayer | 2 |
| The Sutra of the Story of the Lamp of King Golden Hand and his Aspiration | 8 |
| The Butterlamp Prayer (continued) | 11 |
| Part 2 In Recitation Format | |
| Initial practices | 16 |
| The Seven Branch Practice | 20 |
| The Butterlamp Prayer | 29 |
| The Sutra of the Story of the Lamp of King Golden Hand and his Aspiration | 65 |
| The Butterlamp Prayer (continued) | 84 |
| Concluding practices | 92 |
| Part 3 Radiant Aspiration | |
| Commentary on The Butterlamp Prayer | |
| Lamp of Aspiration | 95 |