A key Dzogchen text–available together with its Tibetan commentaries, including from the fifteenth Karmapa–from a preeminent translator. The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra, one of the most famous and often-recited Dzogchen texts, is at once an entreaty by the primordial buddha, Samantabhadra, that all sentient beings recognize the nature of their minds and thus become buddhas, and also a wake-up call by our own buddha nature itself. This monumental text outlines the profound view of Dzogchen in a nutshell and, at the same time, provides clear instructions on how to discover the wisdom of a buddha in the very midst of afflictions.

In this volume, Karl Brunnhoelzl offers translations of three versions of the Aspiration Prayer and accompanies them with translations of the commentaries by Jigme Lingpa, the Fifteenth Karmapa, and Tsultrim Sangpo. He offers further contextualization with his rich annotation and appendices, which include additional translation from Jigme Lingpa, Longchenpa, and Patrul Rinpoche. This comprehensive, comprehensible book illuminates this profound text and greatly furthers our understanding of Dzogchen–and of our own nature.