The Four Dharmas of Gampopa
Grant your blessings so that my mind may be one with the dharma
Grant your blessings so that dharma may progress along the path
Grant your blessings so that the path may clarify confusion
Grant your blessings so that confusion may dawn as wisdom
Practice
The Four Dharmas of Gampopa is chanted by the umdze alone at the beginning of each practice session. It is chanted slowly in monotone.
Translation
This translation is by the Nalanda Translation Committee. This chant is not restricted and available for purchase as part of the Collected Vajra Liturgies: Daily Chant Book.
Commentary
Gampopa was the main student of Milarepa, and the founder of the Takpo Kagyu lineage. He was a physician and a monk, and authored the first lamrim text, the Jewel Ornament of Liberation. He is the fifth in the mahamudra transmission lineage - Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa.
Trungpa Rinpoche says “The first dharma is ‘Grant your blessings so that my mind may be one with the dharma.’ You become completely one with the dharma. The second dharma is ‘Grant your blessings so dharma may progress along the path.’ When your mind has become one with the dharma, then practice becomes the natural behavior pattern that exists in you. The third one is ‘Grant your blessings so that the path may clarify confusion.’ That confusion has to be clarified. The last dharma of Gampopa is ‘Grant your blessings so that confusion may dawn as wisdom.’ You are beginning to have a very clear perception that the world is created out of no-mind -- properly and fully. The world does not have to be based on strategy anymore; the world can be based on your own experience and on clear vision, clear insight.” The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Teachings on Devotion and Crazy Wisdom page 56.
Blessings. The chant says “grant your blessings.” “Blessings” is a translation of the Sanskrit word “adhishthana.” Trungpa Rinpoche says “adhishthana…means the radiation that takes place between the opening of the student’s mind to the teacher and the teachings, and the opening of the teacher’s mind to the student.” The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Teachings on Devotion and Crazy Wisdom page 121.
Trungpa Rinpoche gave a series of teachings on the Four Dharmas of Gampopa at Karme Choling in July 1975.
Other commentaries
Ringu Tulku Confusion Arises as Wisdom
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche The Four Dharmas of Gampopa
Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche. The Four Dharmas of Gampopa
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche. Four Dharmas of Gampopa
The Four Dharmas of Gampopa in the Sadhana of Mahamudra
The Sadhana of Mahamudra contains several repetitions of the Four Dharmas of Gampopa.
Purchase of the Sadhana of Mahamudra practice text is restricted to tantrikas and sadhakas. However, in 2025 the text and teachings on the sadhana were published as The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Teachings on Devotion and Crazy Wisdom without restriction.
An earlier translation of the Four Dharmas of Gampopa by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche is found on page 210, note 1 to chapter 3 of The Sadhana of Mahamudra: Teachings on Devotion and Crazy Wisdom.