The Jewel Rosary of an Awakening Warrior

  Composed by the great Indian pandit Atisha with commentary based on an oral transmission by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey

Homage to great compassion.

Homage to all spiritual masters.

Homage to the deities of devotion.

Abandon all doubts and cherish

exertion for accomplishing the practice.

Abandon sleepiness, dullness, and laziness

and always exert enthusiastic effort.

With recollection, alertness, and watchfulness

always guard every door of the senses.

Three times during the day and night, again and again

investigate your mental continuum.

Proclaim your own faults

and seek not mistakes in others.

Hide your own good qualities

but proclaim the good qualities of others.

Reject acquisitions and honors

and always reject desire for fame.

Desire little, be content,

and repay acts of kindness.

Meditate on love and compassion

and stabilize the awakening mind.

Avoid the ten unwholesome actions

and always stabilize your faith.

Conquer anger and arrogance

and possess a humble mind.

Avoid wrong livelihoods

and live a life of truth (dharma).

Abandon all worldly possessions

and be adorned by the gems of superiors.

Abandon all frivolities

and abide in solitude.

Abandon all senseless talk

and always control your speech.

When seeing your master or teacher,

perform services with respect.

Toward a person having the eye of the doctrine

and toward sentient beings who are beginners

develop the recognition of them as teachers.

When seeing any sentient beings, develop

the recognition of them as parents and children.

Abandon misleading friends

and rely on virtuous spiritual companions.

Abandon minds of anger and unhappiness

and wherever you go be happy.

Abandon attachment to everything

and abide free from attachment.

Attachment will never procure you a happy rebirth;

it kills the life of liberation.

Wherever you see practices (leading) to happiness,

always exert effort in them.

Whatever you have started to do,

accomplish that very thing first.

Do everything well in this way,

otherwise nothing will be achieved.

Always be apart from liking evil.

Whenever a pompous mind arises,

flatten such arrogance.

Recall the teachings of your master.

When a cowardly mind arises,

praise the sublimity of the mind.

Whenever objects of attraction or aversion arise,

meditate on the emptiness of both;

view them as illusions and emanations.

When hearing any offensive words,

view them as an echo.

When your body is afflicted by harm,

view this as your previous actions.

Abide well in solitude, beyond town limits,

like the corpses of wild game.

Be by yourself, conceal yourself,

and dwell without attachment.

Always stabilize (awareness of) your yidam and,

whenever laziness or lassitude arise,

enumerate these faults to yourself

and feel remorse from your heart.

If you see others,

speak calmly and sincerely

Avoid a wrathful and frowning expression

and always remain cheerful.

When seeing others, continuously

be pleased to give without being miserly.

Discard all jealously.

To protect the mind of another,

avoid all conflict

and always have patience.

Do not be a flatterer or fickle,

but always be capable of remaining steadfast.

Avoid belittling others and

remain respectful in your manners.

When giving advice to others,

have compassion and thoughts for their benefit.

Do not disparage spiritual doctrines

and be intent on whichever you admire.

Through the door of the ten Dharma practices,

exert effort throughout both day and night.

Whatever virtues are collected during the three times,

dedicate them for the unsurpassable great awakening.

Distribute your merit for all sentient beings.

Always offer the seven-limbed prayer

and great aspirations for the path.

If you act in this way,  the two accumulations

of merit and wisdom will be accomplished.

Also, with the eradication of the two obscurations,

thus fulfilling the purpose of having gained a human form,

unsurpassable full awakening will be achieved.

The gem of faith, the gem of ethics,

the gem of generosity, the gem of hearing,

the gem of consideration,

the gem of shame, and the gem of intelligence:

these are the seven supreme gems.

These seven gems are never exhausted.

Do not tell this to non-humans.

Examine your speech when amidst many people.

Examine your mind when living alone.

This has been composed by the Indian master

Dipamkara Shrijnana, the Glorious Illuminator,

the Essence of Primordial Awareness.

Translated from the Tibetan by

Sharpa Tulku and Brain Beresford

Source: Advice from a Spiritual Friend by Geshe Rabten & Geshe Dhargyey. Translated and edited by Brian Beresford. A Wisdom Publication