The Prayer of the great mother Thugje Drölma

གཏུམ་མོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྷ་མོའི ་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཡིས།

Tum mo yé shé lha mö tuk jé yi

Through the compassion of the wisdom goddess of Tummo, the great mother Thugje

Drӧlma

ཕྱི་རུ་ཉེས་གསུམ་ནད་རྣམས་སེལ་བ་ཤོག །

chi ru nyé sum né nam selwa shok

Externally, may the sicknesses of the three faults be dispelled.

ནང་དུ་རྩ་མདུད་མ་ལུས་གྲོལ་བ་ཤོག།།

nang du tsa dü ma lü dröl wa shok

Internally, may all the channel knots be released.

གསང་བར་དུག་ལྔ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དབྱིངས་ཐིམ་ཤོག །

sang war duk nga yé shé ying tim shok

Secretly, may the five poisons dissolve into the expanse of primordial wisdom.

ཡང་གསང་བདེ་སྟོང་ཐིག་ལེ་སུམ་ཅུ་ཡིས།

yang sang dé tong tik lé sum chu yi

Most secretly, through the thirty drops of indivisible bliss and emptiness,

སངས་རྒྱས་ས་ལ་རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བར་ཤོག།།

sang gyé sa la nam par dröl war shok

May we be liberated into the state of Buddhahood.

Symbolism of Thugjé Kundrol

The Meaning and Essence:

The symbolism of the body: 

As the single clear face which represents the gathering of all phenomena into a single sphere. This means that every phenomena is the nature of the single sphere. What means single sphere? The single sphere is a special word we can use to describe the natural state of mind. Therefore every phenomena is the same nature as the natural state of mind. Everything has one nature, one taste.

The two hands represent the equality of the two truths, the ultimate and relative truths. The meaning of the equality of the two truths is that all phenomena appearing as having the nature of mere illusion is the relative truth. And the fact that while appearing phenomena are not established by any nature is the ultimate truth. These two truths apply equally to all phenomena. 

The three eyes represent the realizations of the three enlightened bodies. 

The black pig face making pig noises represents the unborn body of reality, the unborn dharmakaya. Why the grunting pig? When a pig naturally grunts, it is without intention, but just the natural sound that arises from pigs. 

Thugjé Kundrol raises the hooked knife which represents cutting the root of torment of all conceptual thoughts.

Thugjé Kundrol’s left hand holding a skull cup filled with blood at the level of the heart represents the equal taste of everything in the non-conceptual state. All phenomena have the same nature; equal taste. We might separate blood and water, nectar and blood, but here the symbol of the blood shows no difference between water and blood in the state of the non-conceptual.

The five dried skulls adorning the head represent the realization of the five Buddha families. 

The fifty-one human head necklace, which are fresh and dripping blood, represents the natural liberation of the fifty-one mental factors. We have two ways to label the mind. First is the main mind, which has eight consciousnesses. The second way is the fifty-one mental factors of mind. Each of these mental formations are transformed into their own nature. 

Fifty-One Mental Formations:

The five omni-present.

1. Feeling

2. Discrimination

3. Intention

4. Contact

5. Mental engagement

The five determining factors.

1. Aspiration

2. Belief

3. mindfulness

4. Fixing the mind

5. Wisdom

The eleven virtuous mental states.

1. Nurturing

2. Non-attachment

3. Not taking

4. Speaking truth

5. Rejoicing

6. Calm speech

7. Pleasant words

8. Divine mind

9. Loving

10. Truth

11. Not transgressing

The six root afflictions.

1. Attachment

2. Hatred

3. Ignorance

4. Pride

5. Envy

6. Unknowing

The twenty sub-disturbances.

1. View

2. Hesitation

3. Anger

4. Resentment

5. Concealment

6. Imputation

7. Miserliness

8. Deceit

9. Dissimulation

10. Haughtiness

11. Harmfulness

12. Non-embarrassment

13. Lethargy

14. Excitement

15. Non-faith

16. Laziness

17. Non-conscientiousness

18. Forgetfulness

19. Distraction

20. Confusion

The four are changeable

1. Contrition

2. Sleep

3. Investigation

4. Analysis

Thugjé Kundrol has six bone ornaments. These represent having the six perfections. Normally we have ten perfections, but when they are completed we call them six. 

Six Perfections:

1. Generosity

2. Morality

3. Compassion

4. Energy

5. Meditation

6. Wisdom

Thugjé Kundrol’s right leg is bent with the heel touching the vagina. This represents the profound secret path of bliss. 

Thugjé Kundrol’s dancing posture trampling a lifeless corpse with her left leg extended, this represents the subjugation of the four demons. She is free of these four demons.

Four Demons:

1. Demon of the Lord of Death (what destroys this body)

2. Demon of the aggregates that take on a body (this demon gives you another body after death in another realm)

3. Demon of afflictive emotions (this demon is what reflects one’s own mental continuum by negative emotions) 

4. Demon of the son of god (what continuously engages in different diluted thoughts about different kinds of objects [pleasure seeking] )

Furthermore, the three-pointed trident represents cutting the root of the three poisons. This is why there are three points on the trident. Within the iron trident are three skulls. As a sign of benefit of sentient beings in the three times (past, present, and future) there are three skulls on the trident. One skull is a dried skull representing the past, the second is a soft fleshy skull representing the future, and the third is a wet fresh skull representing the present. Each skull represents that Thugjé Kundrol can benefit beings of the past, present, and future.

Also within the trident is a vase (bumpa). This vase represents the revealing of the unconditioned realization. Also within the trident are three branches branching off in three directions, which represent the flourishing enlightening activities in the three directions. She can benefit sentient beings in all directions; all ten directions. 

Also within the trident is a double cross dorje. This dorje represents the victory over the demons of birth, old age, sickness, and death. 

We need to understand the specific symbolism of each of the different elements. However we need to remember there is no physical body of Thugjé Kundrol. Thugjé Kundrol’s body is only symbolism. When our mind transforms into Thugjé Kundrol, why do we have a body? Because it helps us to understand. Thugjé Kundrol’s reality is the natural state of mind. But since the natural state of mind is beyond thoughts and words (which can be difficult to understand), we can understand this unspeakable state through Thugjé Kundrol. Thugjé Kundrol has no two hands, one body, three eyes. All are merely qualities of the natural state of mind – union of emptiness and awareness. All of this is here to help us recognize the quality of our own natural state of mind.