The King of Prayers: A Commentary on the Noble King of Prayers of Excellent Conduct

by Shamar Rinpoché, Julia Stenzel (Editor), Thea Howard (Editor)

In December, 2009, in Bodh Gaya, Shamar Rinpoche gave a teaching on the Noble King of Prayers of Excellent Conduct, also known as the Samantabhadra Wishing Prayer. Buddha Shakyamuni gave the teaching of the Samantabhadra Wishing Prayer to urge practitioners to treat the great Bodhisattva Samantabhadra as a role model to emulate so that all their wishes may be accomplished. The teaching by Shamar Rinpoche was transcribed into a book first released by Shanti Path Publications of Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2011. In this edition, the Tibetan text, as well as an English-language version of the prayer itself, translated by Pamela Gayle White under the guidance of Shamar Rinpoche, is included in the book.

126 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2015

About the author

SHAMAR RINPOCHE was born in 1952 in Eastern Tibet to the elder brother of the late 16th Karmapa. He was recognized as a reincarnation of the Shamarpa by the 16th Karmapa, and confirmed by the 14th Dalai Lama. The Shamarpa lineage is the second-oldest reincarnate lineage in Tibetan Buddhism and dates back to the 13th century. Historically, during the life of the 10th Shamarpa, the 18th century Emperor Qianlong of China imposed a law to ban the continuation of the Shamarpa institution, due to the 10th Shamarpa’s allying with the Nepalese government when the emperor was attacking Nepal.

According to this history, the present 14th Shamarpa is the 11th throne holder. The present day Shamar Rinpoche was enthroned in 1965 by the 16th Karmapa in Sikkim. He had a Buddhist education in Sikkim and, since age 29, has been teaching worldwide. In addition, he has founded several non-profit organizations worldwide engaged in charitable activities such as schooling underprivileged children and promoting animal rights.