The Benefits of the Tenth Day of the Lunar Month

Every Guru Rinpoche day for the last 12 years or so, Phakchok Rinpoche has been sending out letters to remind his students to be mindful, and to bring them back on the path.

This whole year, Rinpoche will cover the visionary journeys of great practitioners to Copper-Colored Mountain, and Nekhor will be sharing them every Guru Rinpoche day. This second month’s letter is focused on benefits of the Tenth Day of the lunar month, and ends with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s journey to Copper-Colored Mountain:

Dear friends near and far,
I hope this message finds you happy and healthy. On this second Guru Rinpoche day of the lunar year of the pig, I wish to continue introducing you to Zangdok Palri, the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain, through the various accounts of great masters’ visionary journeys.
But first, I would like to share with you the benefits of the tenth day of the month:
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃ་བཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃཿ
om ah hung benza guru pema siddhi hung
oṃ āḥ hūṃ vajra guru padma siddhi hūṃ
The Oral Instruction on the Guru’s Gathering of Secrets, a terma revealed by Guru Chöwang states:
On the tenth day of the Monkey month in the Monkey year
and on the tenth day of all other months,
my emanations spread across the entire world,
and I grant the siddhis, common and supreme.
If you spend this human life accomplishing the guru,
at the time of your life’s end,
you will dissolve into my, Uḍḍiyāna’s, heart.
According to the Benefits of the Tenth, a terma revealed by Pema Lingpa:
On every tenth, king of all days,
whichever virtue you engage in, such as empowerments and instructions,
its benefits will be multiplied ten or a hundred thousand times.
Undeniably, the tenth day of the Monkey month of the Monkey year
is the day on which I, Padma, come in person.
The Essential Guide to Accomplishing the Guru declares:
On the tenth day of the monkey month, in the monkey year,
I of Uḍḍiyāna will come throughout Tibet.
This is a certainty: such is my oath.
On every tenth day of all other months,
my emanations will spread across Tibet.
Such is my samaya—the Lotus-Born cannot deceive.
You who place your trust and devotion in me—
arrange a Blazing Jewel torma with an incense stick,
invoke me with the skull-drum’s sound,
and call upon me with the yearning melody of the Seven-Line Prayer.
From the Glorious Mountain of Cāmara, I of Uḍḍiyāna,
like a mother who cannot bear the cries of her beloved child,
will come, my blessings to bestow.
Such is my samaya, hell awaits me should I fail.
According to the Wisdom Casket, the Essential Guide to the Sacred Tenth:
On the tenth day of the Monkey month of the Monkey year
you will meet with me, Padma, in person.
Ratna Lingpa’s terma prophecy states:
At sunrise on the tenth day of every month,
whoever brings me to mind
will from me be inseparable.
King and ministers of Tibet, my children and disciples,
on the tenth day of every month
I will come to you in person, such is my promise.
Padmasambhava does not deceive.
And The Golden Mālā Instruction of the Ḍākinīs’ Heart Essence declares:
Especially on the sacred tenth day, I of Uḍḍiyāna
will come to Tibet, the land of snows, and cover the entire land.
Riding on sun- and moon-rays, and the raindrops in rainbows,
I will dispel the obstacles of my devoted children,
and grant the four empowerments just as desired.
This is my oath—Padma does not lie.
If you are devoted to me, keep making offerings on every tenth.
If you follow my instructions, the entire country will enjoy happiness.
And, Rikdzin Gödem’s treasure prophecy states:
If you wish for happiness and well-being to come to Tibet —
at sunrise on the tenth day of the waxing part of the month,
an emanation of Padma from Uḍḍiyāna will appear.
The Manual of Exhortation for the Tenth Day, revealed by Ratna Lingpa, declares:
Once I have gone to the land of ogres,
Tibetan king and ministers, and tantric disciples,
I promise to come back in person
on every tenth day of every month.
The Lotus-Born does not deceive others,
so abandon all doubt, followers of mine!
The Supplication for the Spontaneous Fulfillment of Wishes states:
At dawn and dusk you come, to benefit Tibet,
riding on the radiant rays of the rising and setting sun.
And on the tenth day of the waxing moon, you come in person.
So, on this tenth day, I wish to share with you a brief account of Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo’s first journey to Zangdok Palri. Jamyang Khyentsé Wangpo was very close to Chokgyur Lingpa, and, like him, was a great treasure revealer.
At the age of sixteen, Khyentsé Wangpo went to the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain in a pure vision. There, he met with Guru Rinpoche, who was surrounded by a host of ḍākinīs. Guru Rinpoche introduced him to the three kāyas, and prophesied that he would become the holder of the seven transmissions: the unbroken oral lineage from the scriptures, profound actual treasures, mind treasures, rediscovered treasures, recollected treasures, pure visions, and whispered lineages. Then Guru Rinpoche and the ḍākinīs merged into Khyentsé, saying:
Maintaining empty intrinsic awareness nakedly,
unstained by grasped objects and
unpolluted by grasping thoughts
is the realization of the Buddhas.
May these messages inspire you in your practice.
Sarva Mangalam,
Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche