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NAMO GURU!   
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Gurus, yidams, deities of the mandalas, all the Victors and your sons throughout the three times, please think of me with your compassionate love, and grant your blessing that my wishing-prayers come true.

Springing from the snow mountain of all the pure intentions and actions of myself and limitless beings are the rivers of accumulated virtue unpolluted by triplicity. May they flow into the ocean of the Victor's four kayas.

Until this be achieved, life after life in all my other lives may even the words "sin" and "suffering" be unheard, and may a plenitude of happiness and goodness be enjoyed.

Obtaining the freedoms and assets of the finest human existence, with faith, diligence and intelligence, may I rely upon a good spiritual friend, receive the quintessence of his instruction and, meeting no obstacles to their proper practice, may I make use of the sacred teaching in all my lives.

Studying the scriptures and correct reason, the cloud of ignorance is lifted. Contemplating the essential instructions, the darkness of doubt is conquered. The light born of meditation, the natural state, shines clearly, just as it is. May the brilliance of these three wisdoms ever increase.

May I meet the unerring teaching, wherein the two truths represent a basis, free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism, far from the excesses of value-judgments. The supreme path is that of the two accumulations whereby the result, the two-fold good, free from the extremes of existence and quiescence, is achieved.

The basis to be purified is mind itself, the union of clarity and voidness. The purifier is the great diamond practice of mahamudra, through which the object of purification, the stains of incidental illusion, is purified. May the purified result, the stainless dharmakaya, become manifest.

To cut through all misinterpretations of the basis is to have confidence in the view. To attend to that undistractedly is the crux of meditation. To become proficient in all aspects of the meditation is the best action. May I gain confidence in the view, meditation and action.

All phenomena are projections of mind; Mind is no-mind, devoid of any mind-essence. It is void yet unceasing, manifesting as anything whatsoever. After careful examination, may the ground and root of everything be known for good.

One's own projections, that never truly existed, become mistaken for objects. Overpowered by ignorance, one's mind becomes mistaken for a self. Under the sway of this dualistic belief, one wanders in the maze of existence. May ignorance - the state of illusion - be decisively exposed.

It does not exist - even the Buddhas have not seen it. It is not non-existent being the universal basis for samsara and nirvana. It is not a combination of opposites - but simultaneity, the middle way. May the true nature of mind, free from any extreme, be realized.

It cannot be shown by such statements as "this is it." It cannot be refuted by any statements of "this is not it." Inaccessible to the intellect, the universal essence is uncreated. May there be certainty about the ultimately true.

Not understanding this, one drifts round and round in the ocean of samsara. When this is understood, Buddha is nowhere else. All is this - there is nothing which is not this. May the "mystery" of the true nature, the universal ground, be known.

Manifestation is mind; yet voidness is also mind. Understanding is mind, yet illusion is also mind. Origination is mind, yet cessation is also mind. May all misinterpretations of mind be cut through.

To be uncontaminated by strained intellectual meditation, to be unruffled by the winds of ordinary hustle and bustle, to know how to leave the mind to its own course, unmodified and natural; this is the practice of the meaning of mind. May I be skilled in it and apply it always.

Rough or smooth, the waves of thought come to rest of their own accord. Without agitation, the river of mind settles naturally. Free from the polluting silt of drowsiness and torpor, may the ocean of tranquility remain unwavering and stable.

When looking again and again at the mind, there is no thing to look at. The "nothing to be seen" is seen vividly - just as it is. This is what cuts through all doubts of "being" or "not being." May I recognize it directly and unmistakenly.

When looking at objects, there are no objects - they are seen as mind. Looking at the mind, there is no mind - it is devoid of essence. Looking at both, the dualistic beliefs are automatically dispelled. May the luminous clarity which is the natural state of mind be understood.

Free from intellectual speculation, it is "mahamudra." Free from extremes, it is "the great middle way." Being the totality of everything, it is also called "the great perfection." May I gain conviction that to know this one thing is to understand all.

Without attachment, great bliss never ceases. Without labeling, luminous clarity is free from obscurations' shroud. Beyond intellect, no-thought is spontaneously present. May these effortless experiences flow without interruption.

Involvement with experiences - clinging to the pleasant - vanishes of its own accord. The plague of thoughts, that are but illusion, is naturally purified into "spaciousness." In the ordinary mind there is nothing to leave or take, nothing to remove or acquire. May the truth of the uncomplicated universal essence be realized.

The nature of all beings is at all times Buddha, but since they do not understand this they wander in endless samsara. May overwhelming compassion be born in me towards those beings in such endless, infinite suffering. 

The energy of overwhelming compassion never ceases. Yet while there is such love, the fact of its void essence appears nakedly. May I never be separate from this unerring, perfect path of simultaneity, and put it into practice day and night.

May the power of meditation give me direct insight and pure intuition; may it help me to mature beings, to make manifest the buddhafields through purification, and fulfill my prayers to achieve buddha qualities. Upon completing this fulfillment, maturation and purification, may I become Buddha.

Through the compassion of the Buddhas and their sons in the ten directions and the power of pure actions and whatever goodness there is, may my pure prayers and those of all beings be fulfilled just as is wished.

This was the "Aspiration Prayer of the Definitive Meaning of Mahamudra" written by the Lord Rangjung Dorje.
Translated into English by Tai Situ Rinpoche.