The Seven Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche is seven lines long and, in the Nyingma tradition, is said to contain every practice and every path within it. In this Sunday talk at Lion's Roar Dharma Center, given on August 30, 2026, Yeshe Sanglam (Dirk Johnson) opens up the prayer he has recited nearly every day since 1993.

Working from Mipham Rinpoche's White Lotus in Tulku Sherdor's recent translation, alongside Thinley Norbu's The Sole Panacea, he takes on the question that stops most Western practitioners cold: devotion toward whom, exactly? He also demonstrates three ways of chanting the prayer, and makes a case for "imagine" over "visualize" in generation-stage practice.

Lion's Roar Dharma Center: https://lionsroardharmacenter.org

CHAPTERS
0:00 Welcome
0:08 Dirk, Yeshe Sanglam, and the names his teachers gave him
1:58 The topic: the Seven Line Prayer and Mipham's White Lotus
2:31 The Sole Panacea, by Thinley Norbu
2:58 Coming from the Nyingma lineage
3:56 The view of emptiness across the four schools
4:25 Why he practices at Lion's Roar
5:50 On no longer having a living lineage connection
7:17 Thinley Norbu on science, neuroscience, and dharma
9:00 The Shower of Blessings — guru yoga on the prayer
11:22 One correction: a mala is not a rosary
11:53 A vajra song offering, in English
15:00 Tulku Sherdor's translation and commentary
15:42 From corporate lawyer to translator
17:08 Thinley Norbu teaching the prayer all day and all night
18:44 On translations and their shortcomings
19:44 The prayer contains all practices and all paths
21:42 Why there is no definitive version
21:54 First melody
23:06 A marching beat you can walk to
24:12 A third way, closer to recitation
27:08 Devotion — a problematic word
28:43 Devotion toward whom, or toward what?
29:57 Form, emptiness, and the realization of pure form
31:41 The generation stage
32:24 Why "imagine" beats "visualize"
34:13 The form kayas and the dharmakaya
36:12 Singing the prayer at Kusum Lingpa's bedside
37:02 The step that completes the visualization
39:55 Ground, path, and fruition in seven lines
41:19 The seven factors of awakening
43:28 From the shravaka path to Dzogchen
44:00 Try singing it 21 times, or 108
44:52 Q&A: what does taking refuge in the guru mean?
47:06 Guru, or lama?
48:24 Devotion is not blind acceptance

Lion's Roar Dharma Center is a Vajrayana Buddhist center in Sacramento, California, offering Sunday services, meditation instruction, and Middleway Recovery. All lineages and all levels of experience are welcome.

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