Pluvial Nectar of Blessings

The Rje btsun Bla ma Mahaguru Padma ‘Byung gnas La Gsol ba ‘Debs pa Byin rlabs Bdud rtsi’I Char rgyun Zhes Bya ba Bzhugs so translated here is simply the Pluvial Nectar of Blessings was written as a prayer by His Holiness Ngag dbang Blo bzang Rgya mtsho, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. The prayer is a supplication to Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava written in thirty-four quatrain verses including a colophon. The verses use a mixture of Buddhist terminology combined with Tibetan historical references to create what is a virtual petition for the welfare of the Tibetan nation during the seventeenth century. Padmasambhava was great champion in the cultivation of the Buddhist Drama in the land of snows and this text gives a tropology of both the sutra and tantra formats utilized by the Lotus Born Guru and the Great Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) to convey these teachings. The translator has provided a lengthy commentary to clarify the more esoteric and historical references or the intended (abhipraya, dgongs pa) theme or idea.