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Teacher The First Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinle Özer 1745–1821 BDRC P293 TREASURY OF LIVES LOTSAWA HOUSE PHOTO CREDIT The First Dodrubchen Jigme Trinle Özer (1745–1821) was a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master and the principal heir to Jigme Lingpa's Longchen Nyingtik lineage. Born in Golok's Do valley, he trained under renowned teachers, including the Second Shechen Rabjam and other Dzogchen masters, and undertook extensive pilgrimages across Tibet, receiving key transmissions such as the Khandro Nyingtik. Known for his profound retreats and visionary experiences, he established significant religious centers, including Dodrubchen Monastery, and spread the Longchen Nyingtik teachings widely in Kham. As a trusted spiritual advisor to the Derge royal family and the Tibetan government, he performed pivotal rituals and contributed to regional stability. Revered as a treasure revealer and author, his disciples included luminaries like Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje and Dza Patrul Rinpoche, cementing his legacy as a cornerstone of the Nyingma tradition. Translated Works Song Passing Song of the First Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinle Özer Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje At the moment of his death, the First Dodrubchen Jigme Trinle Özer sings of his conscious dissolution into each of the five buddha wisdoms, before closing with final instructions to his heart student Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje. Read Biography The Biography of Ḍākki Losal Drölma Tubten Chödar A realized female master, Ḍākki Losal Drölma served as custodian of her half-brother Do Khyentse's treasure teachings while deepening her own spiritual attainments in Tibet's sacred sites Read Biography A Brief Biography of Jetsunma Do Dasal Wangmo Tsangpo A renowned female master in eastern Tibet, Do Dasal Wangmo - Do Khyentse's great-granddaughter - served as nun, physician, and treasure revealer, later teaching medicine despite political hardship. Read Biography Biography Of Getse Lama Jigme Ngotsar Gyatso Tenzin Lungtok Nyima Getse Lama Jigme Ngotsar Gyatso, disciple of Jigme Lingpa and founder of Kilung Monastery, spread the Longchen Nyingtik teachings while establishing his own enduring legacy. Read Biography The Hook Which Invokes Blessings: A Supplication to the Life and Liberation of Knowledge-Holder Jalu Dorje Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje A self-penned biographical prayer by Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, composed at the request of Trokyab's king Namkha Lhündrub, invoking blessings through life stories. Read Biography Abridged Biographies: The Lineage of the Do Family Do Dasal Wangmo Chronicling Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje's lineage, with special attention to his half-sister Losal Drölma - an honored teacher whose story emerges from the margins of temple narratives. Read Mentioned In Menu Close Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Research Tool Privacy Policy & Terms of Use SUBSCRIBE Publications Watch People Listen

A song by Tsangnyön Heruka, using the imagery of ocean, waves, and wind to point directly at the nature of mind. Abstract Sung by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507) in response to a student’s meditation report, this short mgur serves as a direct pointing-out instruction. Having received guidance on recognising the nature of mind, Tashi Rinchen Palsangpo reports his meditative experience to Tsangnyön, who replies in song. Through the recurring imagery of ocean, wind, and waves, Tsangnyön gives vivid expression to the relation between mind, dualistic grasping, and appearances, directing the listener to the nature of mind itself. By Tsangnyön’s own account, the highest use of mgur is to sing to realised yogins of view, meditation, conduct, and fruition, and this song stands as a succinct expression of precisely that purpose. BDRC LINK MW4CZ1248 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 01:26 TRADITION Marpa Kagyu CLAN Nyang HISTORICAL PERIOD 14th Century 15th Century TEACHERS sangs rgyas seng+ge kun dga' sangs rgyas yon tan rgya mtsho kun dga' nyi ma don grub grags pa The Second Drukchen, Kunga Peljor TRANSLATOR Tib Shelf INSTITUTIONS Pelkhor Chode Swayambhunath Rechung Puk Kailash Tsāri Labchi STUDENTS sna tshogs rang grol rdo rje seng+ge rin chen rnam rgyal dngos grub dpal 'bar AUTHOR Tsangnyön Heruka Ocean, Waves, and Wind: A Song on the Nature of Mind Namo guru! The ocean of mind is stirred by the wind of grasping at subject and object. The childish take the waves of appearance as something to reject. For the wise, the waves are none other than the water itself. In the ultimate, there is no river and no waves. When the waves cause harm, abandon the wind. When they do not harm, they are like a fair wind for a boat. If one is willing to make use of this wind, it becomes a companion on the path. When it causes harm, the very wind itself is the means of release. You, Yogi, understand it in this way! Evaṃ COLOPHON None NOTES * “Ocean, Waves, and Wind: A Vajra Song on the Nature of Mind” is a title supplied by the translators since this “song,” or doha , is untitled in the Collected Songs of Tsangnyön Heruka. BIBLIOGRAPHY Tsangnyön Heruka (gtsang smyon he ru ka rus paʼi rgyan can). rje btsun gtsang smyon he ru kas la phyi nas blangs pa’i nyams mgur . In gtsang smyon he ru kaʼi mgur ʼbum , 1 vol., 1, compiled by Godtsangpa Natsok Rangdröl (rgod tshang pa sna tshogs rang grol). BDRC MW4CZ1248 . Ocean, Waves, and Wind: A Song on the Nature of Mind VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. Tib Shelf has been accredited by the British Library with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2754–1495 CONTACT US | SHELVES@TIBSHELF.ORG © 2024 Tib Shelf. All rights reserved.

A self-penned biographical prayer by Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, composed at the request of Trokyab's king Namkha Lhündrub, invoking blessings through life stories. Abstract This concise biographical prayer to Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje was written by the master himself at the request of a king, most likely Namkha Lhündrub of Trokyab. BDRC LINK W18047 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 08:43 TRADITION Nyingma INCARNATION LINE Jigme Lingpa HISTORICAL PERIOD 19th Century TEACHERS The Fourth Dzogchen Drubwang, Mingyur Namkhe Dorje The First Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinle Özer Gyurme Tsewang Chokdrub Dola Jigme Kalzang Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu TRANSLATOR Tib Shelf INSTITUTIONS Mahā Kyilung Monastery Katok Monastery Dzogchen Monastery Tseringjong Yarlung Pemakö Drigung Til STUDENTS Losal Drölma Trokyab Gyalpo Tsewang Rabten Nyala Pema Dudul The Second Dodrubchen, Jigme Puntsok Jungne Patrul Orgyen Jigme Chökyi Wangpo The First Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinle Özer Ranyak Gyalse Nyoshul Luntok Tenpe Gyaltsen Özer Taye Kalzang Döndrub Pema Sheja Do Drimé Drakpa Kunzang Tobden Wangpo Gyalse Zhenpen Taye Özer The Third Alak Gyalpo Chöying Tobden Dorje Rigpe Raltri AUTHOR Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje The Hook Which Invokes Blessings: A Supplication to the Life and Liberation of Knowledge-Holder Jalu Dorje ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། emaho Emaho! གདོད་མའི་མགོན་པོ་ཀུན་བཟང་འོད་མི་འགྱུར།། dömé gönpo kunzang ö mingyur The Primordial Protector, Samantabhadra, the Buddha of Unchanging Light, རྩལ་སྣང་ཡེ་ཤེས་རིགས་ལྔའི་ཚོམ་བུ་ཤར།། tsalnang yeshe rik ngé tsombu shar Who arises as the appearing-radiance of the gathering of the five wisdoms; ཐུགས་རྗེས་གར་བསྒྱུར་འགྲོ་འདུལ་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ།། tukjé gar gyur drodul trulpé ku Transforming into the dance of compassion, the nirmāṇakāya that tames beings སྐུ་གསུམ་དབྱེར་མེད་མགོན་པོ་ཚེ་མཐའ་ཡས།། ku sum yermé gönpo tsé tayé And is indivisible from the three kayas, Lord Amitāyus, སྙིང་རྗེའི་རང་གཟུགས་འཕགས་མཆོག་པད་དཀར་འཆང་།། nyingjé rang zuk pakchok pekar chang The embodiment of compassion, noble and supreme Holder of the White Lotus (Avalokiteśvara), འགྲོ་ངོར་སྣང་བ་མཚོ་སྐྱེས་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ།། dro ngor nangwa tsokyé trulpé ku The Lake-Born nirmāṇakāya (Padmasambhava), who appears in response to beings, རིགས་བདག་རྡོར་སེམས་དགའ་རབ་དཔའ་བོ་དང་།། rikdak dorsem garab pawo dang Lord of the Family, Vajrasattva, hero Garab Dorje, དབྱེར་མེད་ཐོད་ཕྲེང་རྩལ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།། yermé tötreng tsal la solwa deb And the inseparable Guru Tötrengtsal, I supplicate. གང་ཁྱོད་གདོང་དམར་བོད་ཀྱི་གདུལ་བའི་དོན།། gang khyö dong mar bö kyi dulwé dön For the sake of those to be tamed, the red-faced Tibetans, མཐའ་དབུས་ཐམས་ཅད་གཏེར་གྱིས་བཀང་ནས་ཀྱང་།། ta ü tamché ter gyi kang né kyang You filled the whole of Tibet from center to its borders with treasures. གང་དང་ཐུགས་སྲས་རྗེ་འབངས་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ།། gang dang tuksé jebang trulpé ku I supplicate you and your emanated heart-disciples, the king and subjects, ཟབ་གཏེར་སྒོ་འབྱེད་ཚོགས་ལ་གསོལ༴ zabter gojé tsok la solwa deb Who opened the gateway to those profound treasures. དེང་དུས་ལྔ་ཕྲག་ཐ་མའི་སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན།། dengdü nga trak tamé semchen kün Currently, unbearable suffering is greatly increasing བཟོད་དཀའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཆེས་ཆེར་མཆེད་པའི་ཚེ།། zö ké dukngal ché cher chepé tsé For all sentient beings of the final five-hundred-year period. དྲི་མེད་དགའ་རབ་པད་འབྱུང་བཱི་མ་ལའི།། drimé garab pejung bi ma lé During this time, I supplicate the supreme, single-embodied emanation སྤྲུལ་པ་གཅིག་བསྡུས་མཆོག་དེར་གསོལ༴ trulpa chikdü chok der solwa deb Of Drimé Özer, Garab Dorje, Padmasambhava, and Vimalamitra. ལྷུམས་སུ་ཞུགས་ནས་ཏིང་འཛིན་མི་གཡོ་ཞིང་།། lhum su shuk né tingdzin mi yo shing You entered the womb never wavering from samādhi. བཙས་པའི་ཞག་གསུམ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་ཚོགས་གྲལ་འགྲིམས།། tsepé shak sum khandrö tsokdral drim Three days after your birth, you roamed among the assembly of ḍākinīs, ཟླ་བཅུའི་དུས་སུ་མཁའ་འགྲོས་དབང་བསྐུར་བའི།། da chü dü su khandrö wangkurwé And when you were ten months old, you received empowerment from them— རང་བྱུང་སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ་ལ་གསོལ༴ rangjung trulpé ku la solwa deb I supplicate the naturally arisen nirmāṇakāya. བགྲང་བྱ་གསུམ་ནས་དཔལ་རི་རིག་འཛིན་ཞིང་།། drangja sum né palri rigdzin shing At the age of the two, in Zangdok Palri (the Copper-Coloured Mountain), the realm of the knowledge-holders, སྤྲུལ་གཞིར་མཇལ་ནས་དབང་བསྐུར་བྱིན་གྱི་བརླབས།། trulshir jal né wangkur jin gyi lab You beheld the prominent nirmāṇakāya who conferred empowerment and blessings upon you— དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རིགས་ལྡན་ཚོགས་ཀུན་གྱིས།། pawo khandro rikden tsok kün gyi I supplicate the one who is always watched over མེལ་ཚེས་རྟག་ཏུ་བསྐྱངས་དེར་གསོལ༴ meltsé taktu kyang der solwa deb By the heroes and ḍākinīs of all the noble families. སྔོན་གནས་རྗེས་དྲན་རིགས་བདག་བླ་མ་བཙལ།། ngön né jedren rikdak lama tsal Recalling your previous lives, you searched for your guru, the Lord of the Family, [ 1 ] ཐུགས་རྗེས་རྗེས་བཟུང་བདུད་ཀྱི་གཡུལ་ལས་རྒྱལ།། tukjé jezung dü kyi yul lé gyal Who lovingly and compassionately accepted you [as a disciple]. ཆོས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོ་རིགས་ཀྱི་མྱུ་གུ་བཙས།། chö kyi dakpo rik kyi nyugu tsé Victorious over the hordes of demons, your potential as a Dharma lord was brought forth— རྟེན་འབྲེལ་དུས་སུ་སྨིན་དེར་གསོལ༴ tendrel dü su min der solwa deb I supplicate the one whose auspicious connections ripened on time. གཞོན་ནུའི་དུས་ནས་ངེས་འབྱུང་སྐྱོ་ཤས་ཀྱིས།། shönnü dü né ngejung kyoshé kyi From a young age, with the sadness born from renunciation, རྒྱུད་བསྐུལ་ཉིན་སྣང་རྨི་ལམ་སྒྱུ་མ་དང་།། gyü kul nyin nang milam gyuma dang You continuously saw daily appearances as an illusory dream, མཚན་སྣང་སྐུ་དང་འཇའ་ཟེར་ཐིག་ལེ་འདྲེས།། tsen nang ku dang jazer tiklé dré And at night you mingled the kāyas and the spheres of rainbow light— སྔོན་ལས་དུས་སུ་སྨིན་དེར་གསོལ༴ ngön lé dü su min der solwa deb I supplicate the one whose previous karma ripened on time. བཅུ་གསུམ་ལོན་ནས་བསྐྱེད་རྫོགས་ལམ་དུ་ཞུགས།། chusum lön né kyedzok lam du shuk When you reached twelve, you entered the path of creation and completion [stage practices]. ཉིན་དུས་རིགས་བདག་བླ་མའི་ཞལ་ཁྲིད་དང་།། nyin dü rikdak lamé shal tri dang During the day, you received oral instructions of the guru, the Lord of the Family, མཚན་སྣང་དཔའ་བོ་ཌཱཀྐིས་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་པས།། tsen nang pawo daki datröpé And during the night the heroes and ḍākinīs symbolically transmitted [the teachings] ས་ལམ་སྐད་ཅིག་བསྒྲོད་དེར་གསོལ༴ salam kechik drö der solwa deb By which you traversed the stages and paths in an instant—I supplicate you. བཅོ་ལྔ་ལོན་ནས་གཏེར་གྱི་ཁ་བྱང་ཐོབ།། cho nga lön né ter gyi kha jang tob When you reached fourteen, you obtained an inventory of treasures. བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་བསྐྱེད་ཨོ་རྒྱན་བྱིན་རླབས་ཀྱིས།། lamé tukkyé orgyen jinlab kyi By the compassion of the guru and the blessings of Orgyen [Guru Rinpoche], ས་གཏེར་དགོངས་པའི་གཏེར་དུ་དབང་བསྒྱུར་ནས།། sa ter gongpé ter du wanggyur né You had the authority over earth and wisdom-mind treasures— མཁའ་འགྲོའི་གསང་མཛོད་དབང་དེར་གསོལ༴ khandrö sangdzö wang der solwa deb I supplicate the one who has the command of the secret ḍākinī treasury. ཉི་ཤུ་ལོན་ནས་སྨིན་གྲོལ་བསྐྱེད་རྫོགས་ལ།། nyishu lön né mindrol kyedzok la When you reached nineteen, having mastered the creation and completion phases of maturation and liberation, མངའ་བརྙེས་རིགས་བདག་གནང་བ་ཐོབ་ནས་སླར།། nga nyé rikdak nangwa tob né lar You obtained permission from the Lord of the Family. དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོས་ལུང་བསྟན་ཇི་བཞིན་དུ།། pawo khandrö lungten jishin du Once again, in keeping with the prophecy of the heroes and ḍākinīs, རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་བསྐྱངས་དེར་གསོལ༴ naljor chöpa kyang der solwa deb You maintained the yogic observances—I supplicate you. བླ་མ་ཡི་དམ་དངོས་གྲུབ་མཆོག་བརྙེས་ཞིང་།། lama yidam ngödrub chok nyé shing You attained the supreme accomplishment of the guru and deity བསྙེན་སྒྲུབ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་བསྲེག་མནན་འཕེན་པ་ཡིས།། nyendrub tarchin sek nen penpa yi And defeated the attacks of unruly demons by completing the approach and accomplishment [stages of deity practice], མ་རུང་བདུད་ཀྱི་གཡུལ་ངོ་ཕམ་མཛད་པའི།། ma rung dü kyi yulngo pam dzepé And by burning, suppressing, and casting away [as found in those practices]— ཡེ་ཤེས་རོལ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེར་གསོལ༴ yeshe rolpé dorjér solwa deb I supplicate you, Yeshe Rölpe Dorje ("Vajra of the Display of Primordial Wisdom"). བསྐྱེད་རིམ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཕྲ་བའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་བརྙེས།། kyerim chakgya trawé naljor nyé You obtained the subtle, yogic mudrā of the creation stage, རྫོགས་རིམ་རྟགས་བཅུ་ཡོན་ཏན་མཐའ་རུ་ཕྱིན།། dzokrim tak chu yönten ta ru chin Perfected the qualities of the ten signs of the completion stage, དྭངས་མའི་ཐིག་ལེ་ཨ་ཝ་དྷུ་ཏིར་བཅིང་།། dangmé tiklé a wa dhu tir ching And held the pure vital-essence in the central channel— གྲུབ་བརྙེས་རིག་འཛིན་མཆོག་དེར་གསོལ༴ drub nyé rigdzin chok der solwa deb I supplicate the supreme and accomplished knowledge-holder. ཁྲེགས་ཆོད་སྣང་སེམས་འདྲེས་ཤིང་གཟུང་འཛིན་ཞིག། trekchö nang sem dré shing zungdzin shik By the [practice] of cutting-through ( trekchö ), you mixed appearances and mind, thus destroying subject-object grasping. དབའ་རླབས་ལ་བརྟེན་འབྲས་བུའི་དེ་ཉིད་མཐོང་།། walab la ten drebü denyi tong Relying on the [energy] waves, you beheld the resulting suchness. ཐོད་རྒལ་ཉམས་སྣང་གོང་འཕེལ་མཐའ་རྫོགས་པའི།། tögal nyam nang gongpel ta dzokpé Through the [practice] of leaping-over ( togal ), the experiences and visions were increased to their perfect culmination— འཁྲུལ་ཞིག་འཇའ་ལུས་རྡོ་རྗེར་གསོལ༴ trulshik jalü dorjér solwa deb I supplicate Trulzhik Jalu Dorje ("Indestructible Rainbow Body that Dismantles Delusion"). རྨི་ལམ་འོད་གསལ་ཉམས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བ་ལ།། milam ösal nyam kyi nangwa la In the experiential appearances of the clear light of dreams, བདེ་བྱེད་བརྩེགས་དང་མཁའ་སྤྱོད་ས་སྤྱོད་གནས།། dé jé tsek dang khachö sachö né You abided in the Tiers of Bliss and other celestial and terrestrial realms. རིག་འཛིན་དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་ཚོགས་གྲལ་འགྲིམས།། rigdzin pawo kha drötsok dral drim You roamed among the assembly of knowledge-holders, heroes, and ḍākinīs— ཁྲག་འཐུང་དཔའ་བོའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ༴ traktung pawö shab la solwa deb I supplicate at the feet of Tragtung Pawo ("Blood Drinking Hero"). ཐ་སྙད་ཤེས་བྱའི་གནས་ལ་མ་སྦྱང་ཡང་།། tanyé shejé né la ma jang yang Although you did not study the conventional fields of knowledge, ལྷན་སྐྱེས་ཡེ་ཤེས་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིས།། lhenkyé yeshe dewa chenpo yi You completely unraveled the cakra of the Wheel of Enjoyment ལོངས་སྤྱོད་འཁོར་ལོའི་རྩ་འཁོར་ཡོངས་ཞིག་པའི།། longchö khorlö tsakhor yong shikpé By the great bliss of the innate, primordial wisdom— བདེ་བའི་རྡ་རྗེ་དཔལ་དེར་གསོལ༴ dewé da jé pal der solwa deb I supplicate Dewai Dorje Pal ("Glorious, Blissful Vajra"). ངོ་བོ་ཆོས་སྐུའི་རྒྱལ་སར་མངའ་བརྙེས་ཀྱང་།། ngowo chökü gyalsar nga nyé kyang You seized the royal seat of the essential dharmakāya; མ་དག་འགྲོ་བའི་ལོས་བློ་མཐུན་སྣང་དང་།། ma dak drowé lö lo tün nang dang Still, you performed deeds to tame impure beings འཚམས་པར་གང་ལ་གང་འདུལ་དོན་མཛད་པའི།། tsampar gang la gang dul dön dzepé According to their devotion, intelligence, and common perceptions— མཐུ་སྟོབས་དཔའ་བོའི་ཞབས་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས།། tutob pawö shab la solwa deb I supplicate at the feet of Tutob Pawo ("Hero of Power and Strength"). ཡང་གསང་ལུས་མེད་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་ཐུགས་ཐིག་ཆོས།། yangsang lümé khandrö tuk tik chö To benefit the fortunate ones of the highest capacity, མན་ངག་སྙན་བརྒྱུད་ཡི་གེ་མོད་པའི་སྐོར།། mengak nyengyü yigé möpé kor You properly taught the cycle without letters, the pith instructions of the hearing lineage, དབང་རབ་སྐལ་ལྡན་དོན་དུ་ལེགས་བསྟན་ནས།། wang rab kalden döndu lek ten né The doctrine of The Extremely Secret Enlightened Heart-Essence of the Formless Ḍākinīs [ 2 ] — འཇའ་ལུས་འོད་སྐུའི་ལམ་སྟོན་ལ་གསོལ༴ jalü ökü lam tön la solwa deb I supplicate the teacher of the path of the rainbow body of light. གཟུགས་ཅན་གཟུགས་མེད་འགྲོ་བ་མཐའ་དག་ཀུན།། zukchen zukmé drowa tadak kün With great love and compassion, you held limitless beings, བྱམས་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོས་རྗེས་བཟུང་ནས།། jam dang nyingjé chenpö jezung né Both those with form and those without form, དངོས་སམ་བརྒྱུད་ནས་སྨིན་གྲོལ་སྒོར་བཅུག་ཅིང་།། ngö sam gyü né mindrol gor chuk ching And, directly and indirectly, ushered them through the gates of maturation and liberation— བཙན་ཐབས་རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་མཛད་ལ་གསོལ༴ tsentab dzoksang gyé dzé la solwa deb I supplicate the one who enacts the robust deeds of a perfected buddha. བདག་སོགས་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་གདུལ་བྱར་གྱུར་པ་རྣམས།། dak sok khyé kyi duljar gyurpa nam We who have become your disciples ལས་ཉོན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དྲག་པོའི་མུན་འཐུམས་ཤིང་།། lé nyön dukngal drakpö mün tum shing Are enveloped in the darkness of the intense sufferings of karma and afflictions. ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་གསང་གསུམ་གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བ་ཡི།། khyö kyi sang sum ting pak kawa yi We are blind to the qualities of your three secrets, so difficult to fathom, ཡོན་ཏན་ལྟ་བའི་འདྲེན་བྱེད་ཅེ་རེ་ལོངས།། yönten tawé dren jé ché ré long And the view that would guide us. ལས་ངན་དབང་གིས་ཐེ་ཚོམ་ལོག་ལྟ་འཁྲུགས།། lé ngen wang gi tetsom lokta truk By the power of negative karma, we are conflicted with doubt and wrong views ལོག་སྨོན་བདུད་ཀྱི་སྡེ་ཚོགས་དབང་ཤོར་ཞིང་།། lok mön dü kyi dé tsok wang shor shing And overpowered by the demonic masses of wrong aspirations. རྩ་བ་ཡན་ལག་དམ་ཚིག་ཉམས་འགལ་རལ།། tsawa yenlak damtsik nyam gal ral Our root and branch samayas have deteriorated, been transgressed, and torn apart. གཏིང་ནས་འགྱོད་པ་དྲག་པོས་བཟོད་པར་གསོལ།། tingné gyöpa drakpö zöpar sol With fervent, heartfelt regret, we pray for forgiveness. རྨོངས་དང་མཉམ་འགྲོགས་དབང་ཤོར་ལོག་པར་བལྟས།། mong dang nyam drok wang shor lokpar té Influenced by ignorance and its close friend, wrong views, གཤེ་ཞིང་སྐུར་པ་འདེབས་དང་དད་མེད་ཀྱི།། shé shing kurpa deb dang demé kyi I have abused and slandered, སྣང་ངོར་བསམ་བཞིན་མ་དག་ཚུལ་བསྟན་ནས།། nang ngor samshin ma dak tsul ten né And intentionally demonstrated impure behavior in the presence of those without faith. ཐེ་ཚོམ་བསྐྱེད་ཅིང་ངན་འབྲེལ་གྱིས་སྡུད་པའི།། tetsom kyé ching ngen drel gyi düpé I have given rise to doubt and have amassed negative connections, གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་དགོངས་པ་མ་རྟོགས་ཤིང་།། ting pak kawé gongpa ma tok shing And because of this, I have not realized your unfathomable and all-subsuming enlightened mind. བཀའ་འགལ་ཐུགས་དཀྲུགས་ཐུགས་སུན་སྐྱོན་བརྗོད་ཅིང་།། ka gal tuk truk tuk sün kyön jö ching I have opposed your command, upset and disturbed your mind, proclaimed faults, ཅི་མཛད་ལེགས་མཐོང་དག་སྣང་འགྲིབ་གྱུར་པ།། chi dzé lek tong daknang drib gyurpa And have diminished my pure perception that sees all that the master does as good. ཡོན་ཏན་རྗེས་སུ་དྲན་པས་བཟོད་པར་གསོལ།། yönten jesu drenpé zöpar sol By remembering your qualities, I pray for forgiveness. བླ་མའི་ཐུགས་རྒྱུད་དགོངས་པའི་བྱིན་རླབས་འཕོས།། lamé tukgyü gongpé jinlab pö Now, by the blessings transferred from the wisdom-mind of the guru, ད་ནི་ལས་ངན་བག་ཆགས་སྲབ་གྱུར་པས།། dani lé ngen bakchak sab gyurpé My negative karma and habitual tendencies are diminished. ལོག་པར་མི་རྟོག་སྙིང་ནས་དམ་བཅའ་འཛིན།། lokpar mi tok nying né damcha dzin Thus, from my heart, I vow not to hold onto wrong concepts, བརྩེ་བ་ཆེན་པོས་རྗེས་སུ་བཟུང་དུ་གསོལ།། tsewa chenpö jesu zung du sol And I pray you lovingly hold me close. མགོན་ཁྱོད་ཡོན་ཏན་གབ་ཅིང་སྐྱོན་སྟོན་པས།། gön khyö yönten gab ching kyön tönpé Protector, you hide your qualities and display faults, མ་དག་སེམས་ཅན་མགོ་བོ་རྨོངས་གྱུར་ཅིང་།། ma dak semchen gowo mong gyur ching So that we impure sentient beings are fooled. ལས་སྐལ་ལྡན་པའང་ཐེ་ཚོམ་དབང་གྱུར་ཕྱིར།། lekal denpa ang tetsom wang gyur chir For the karmically fortunate beings under the sway of doubt, གཏིང་དཔག་དཀའ་བའི་ཡོན་ཏན་བསྟན་དུ་གསོལ།། ting pak kawé yönten ten du sol Please reveal your unfathomable qualities. རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྐུ་ལ་བགྲེས་རྒུད་མི་མངའ་ཡང་།། dorjé ku la dré gü mi nga yang The vajra body is not subject to decay or decline; སྐུ་ཚེ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་འགྲོ་དོན་ཡོངས་རྫོགས་ཤིང་།། kutsé tarchin dro dön yongdzok shing Yet I pray that your life reaches its fullest extent so that you fully accomplish the benefit of beings; ད་དུང་འཁོར་བའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་མ་སྟོངས་བར།། dadung khorwé jikten matongwar And thereafter, until cyclic existence is emptied, སྣ་ཚོགས་སྤྲུལ་པས་འགྲོ་དོན་མཛད་དུ་གསོལ།། natsok trulpé dro dön dzé du sol Please act to benefit beings through a myriad of emanations. རྩེ་གཅིག་གསོལ་བ་བཏབ་པའི་འབྲས་བུ་ཡིས།། tsechik solwa tabpé drebu yi By the fruit of this one-pointed supplication, ཞབས་ཏོག་མཐར་ཕྱིན་འགྲོ་དོན་ཡོངས་རྫོགས་ནས།། shabtok tarchin dro dön yongdzok né May I perfectly serve you and fully benefit beings. ཟག་པ་བག་ཆགས་བཅས་པ་ཡོངས་ཟད་ཅིང་།། zakpa bakchak chepa yong zé ching Having done so, may the defilements and habitual tendencies be completely exhausted; སྣང་བཞི་མཐར་ཕྱིན་འཇའ་ལུས་འགྲུབ་པར་ཤོག། nang shi tarchin jalü drubpar shok May I perfect the four visions and attain the rainbow body! དགེ་བས་འགྲོ་ཀུན་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མཚོ་སྐེམས་ནས།། gewé dro kün dukngal tso kem né By this virtue, may sentient beings’ ocean of suffering dry up. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་རང་རིག་ངོ་ཤེས་ཤིང་།། deshek nyingpo rangrig ngoshé shing May they recognize the reflexive awareness, the essence of the sugata. སྟོང་ཉིད་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་ཀྱི་འབྲས་སྨིན་ནས།། tongnyi changchub sem kyi dré min né May the fruit of emptiness-bodhicitta ripen! སྐུ་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཞིང་དུ་དབུགས་དབྱུང་ཤོག། ku sum gyalwé shing du ukyung shok May they be assured in the realms of the victors of the three kāyas! COLOPHON ཅེས་པའང་ཁྲོ་ཆེན་ས་དབང་མཆོག་གིས་གསུང་ནན་ལན་གྲངས་གནང་བ་ལྡོག་མི་ནུས་ཏེ་བློ་ངོར་གང་ཤར་ཐོལ་བྱུང་དུ་འཇའ་ལུས་རྡོ་རྗེས་རང་ཆེ་འབྱིན་བའི་རྒྱུར་འགྱུར་ཀྱང་དད་ལྡན་སུན་མི་འབྱིན་པའི་ཕྱིར་སྨྲས་པ་སྟེ་ཡི་གེར་འདུ་བྱེད་སློབ་བུ་འོད་ཟེར་མཐའ་ཡས་ཀྱིས་བགྱིས་པའོ།། །། This was repeatedly and earnestly requested by the supreme Trochen Sawang, and I was unable to refuse his request. Although this has caused self-aggrandizement to come forth, I, Jalu Dorje, in order not to disenchant those with faith, composed this supplication, which suddenly arose and filled my mind, and the disciple, Özer Taye, wrote it down. NOTES [1] This refers to the First Dodrubchen, Jigme Trinle Özer (1745–1821). BDRC P298 [2] The Extremely Secret Enlightened Heart-Essence of the Formless Ḍākinīs a cycle of revealed treasures discovered by Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje. BDRC W1PD89990 Thanks to Adam Pearcey at Lotsawa House for his editing. Published: January 2021 BIBLIOGRAPHY Ye shes rdo rje. 1859. rig ’dzin ’ja’ lus rdo rje’i rnam thar gsol ’debs byin rlabs ’gugs pa’i lcags kyu . In Mdo mkhyen brtse ye shes rdo rje'i rnam thar, pp. 406–413. Gangtok: Dodrupchen Rinpoche, null. BDRC W18047 The Hook Which Invokes Blessings: A Supplication to the Life and Liberation of Knowledge-Holder Jalu Dorje VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. 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Yogi Tsangnyön Heruka 1452 –1507 BDRC P442 TREASURY OF LIVES Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507), the “Madman of Tsang,” was one of Tibet’s most extraordinary yogins—renowned for his radical lifestyle, uncompromising devotion to practice, and enduring literary legacy. Trained as a monk but later abandoning conventional norms, he wandered as a tantric ascetic, deliberately adopting the wild appearance and conduct of the Indian siddhas to embody a path beyond social and religious constraint. A devoted follower of the Kagyü tradition and the legacy of Milarepa, he meditated in remote sacred sites such as Tsari, Labchi, and Kailāsa, where he sang spontaneous songs of realisation (mgur) expressing profound insight into the nature of mind. Despite his outwardly provocative behaviour, Tsangnyön was deeply learned, defending his conduct through scriptural authority and tantric philosophy. He is best remembered as the compiler and publisher of the Life and Songs of Milarepa , works that became foundational to Tibetan literature, as well as a pioneering figure in the use of printing to disseminate Buddhist texts. A paradoxical figure—at once wandering yogin, influential teacher, miracle-working siddha, and cultural force—his life continues to inspire as a powerful expression of realised practice lived beyond convention. Song Searching for Mind Tsangnyon Heruka This song points to the paradox that mind cannot find its own nature by searching for it, since seeker and sought are not separate. Read Song Ocean, Waves, and Wind: A Song on the Nature of Mind Tsangnyon Heruka A song by Tsangnyön Heruka, using the imagery of ocean, waves, and wind to point directly at the nature of mind. Read Song A Madman’s Meditation Experiences: A Song from Labchi Tsangnyon Heruka A Madman’s Meditation Experiences: A Song from Labchi, is a doha sung by Tsangnyön Heruka at the sacred hermitage of Labchi. Read Translated Works Mentioned In Menu Close Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Research Tool Privacy Policy & Terms of Use SUBSCRIBE Publications Watch People Listen

A heartfelt prayer to the ḍākinīs of three worlds, composed at Pemokö's Dudul Dewa Chenpo, seeking blessings to master the Vajrayāna path for all beings' benefit. Abstract This aspirational prayer, composed at the request of Trinle Losal, calls upon all the ḍākinīs of the three worlds to grant their blessings, so that the practitioner may complete the Vajrayāna path and bring benefit to all beings. It was composed at the camp of Dudul Dewa Chenpo, the heart dharmacakra of Pemokö, the supreme emanated realm of Akaniṣṭha. It is a remarkably emotional and powerful prayer one that, in our opinion, really demonstrates the heartfelt wishes of the author. BDRC LINK W22130 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 08:29 TRADITION Geluk | Nyingma INCARNATION LINE Lelung Jedrung HISTORICAL PERIOD 18th Century TEACHERS The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso The Fifth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Yesh e Damchö Zangpo Mingyur Paldrön Chöje Lingpa Dönyö Khedrup The First Purchok, Ngawang Jampa Ngawang Chödrak Yeshe Gyatso Damchö Gyatso Losal Gyatso Lhundrub Gyatso Dungkar Tsangyang Drugdrak The Second Dzogchen Drubwang, Gyurme Tekchok Tendzin TRANSLATOR Tib Shelf INSTITUTIONS Lelung Monastery Mindröling Ngari Dratsang Chökhor Gyal Trandruk Potala Tsāri STUDENTS Kunga Mingyur Dorj e Dorje Yom e Kunga Palzom Lobsang Lhachok Dönyö Khedrub Polhane Sönam Tobgy e Ngawang Jampa Mingyur Paldrön The Fifth Dorje Drak Rigdzin, Kelzang Pema Wangchuk Lhazang Khan AUTHOR Lelung Zhepe Dorje The Magical Lasso: A Prayer of Aspiration to Accomplish Khecara ཨེ་མ་ཧོ། emaho Emaho! སྣང་གྲགས་འགྱུ་བའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ཀུན། ། nangdrak gyuwé chönam kün All phenomena which appear, resound, and pass through the mind འཇོ་སྒེག་ལྷ་མོའི་རྣམ་འགྱུར་དུ། ། jogek lhamö namgyur du Are the appearances of the charming goddess, ཅིར་ཡང་རོལ་པའི་སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་ཅན། ། chiryang rölpé gyutrül chen Who magically displays as anything whatsoever: རང་རིག་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་མོར་འདུད། ། rangrig chakgya chenmor dü To the reflexive awareness of the Great Seal Mahāmudrā, I bow down. ཐོག་མཐའ་མེད་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེའི་སེམས། ། togta mepé dorjé sem Through the vajra mind, which has neither beginning nor end འཁོར་འདས་ཀུན་ལ་ཁྱབ་པ་ཡིས། ། khordé künla khyabpa yi And which pervades the whole of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, འཆིང་དང་གྲོལ་མཛད་དེ་དང་དེར། ། chingdang drölzé dedang der You manifest in untold ways for those who are bound and set free— ཅིར་ཡང་འཆར་བའི་ལྷ་ཚོགས་དགོངས། ། chiryang charwé lhatsok gong Assembly of deities, please consider me! བདག་ནི་ཐོག་མ་མེད་པ་ནས། ། dagni tokma mepa né Throughout beginningless time, ཀུན་ནས་དཀྲིས་པས་རྣམ་པར་དཀྲུགས། ། küné tripé nampar truk I have been plagued by my [mental] entanglements, ལས་ཉོན་སྲ་བའི་ཞགས་པས་བཅིངས། ། lenyön sawé shakpé ching And the intractable lasso of karma and afflictions has tightened around me ཉམ་ཐག་འཁོར་བའི་གནས་སུ་འཁྱམས། ། nyamtak khorwé nesu khyam As I wander through the destitute abodes of saṃsāra. ད་ནི་འཇིགས་པས་ཡིད་གདུངས་ཏེ། ། dani jigpé yidung té Now my mind is tortured by fear, སྐྱབས་གནས་ཁྱེད་རྣམས་མ་ལགས་པའི། ། kyabné khyenam malak pé So from the depth of my heart, I take refuge in you, གཙོ་བོ་གཞན་དུ་སྐྱབས་མ་མཆིས། ། tsowo shendu kyabma chi For there are no principal protectors other than you, སྙིང་ནས་ཁྱོད་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། ། nyingné khyöla kyabsu chi The sources of refuge! གདུང་བའི་མིག་ནས་མཆི་མ་འཁྲུག ། dungwé migné chima truk Tears flood from my despairing eyes; སྐྱོ་བའི་སྨྲེ་སྔགས་ཤུགས་རིང་འབྱིན། ། kyowé mengak shugring jin I cry out in sorrow and sigh deeply; བཟོད་མེད་སྙིང་རླུང་ཁོང་ནས་ལངས། ། sömé nyinglung khongné lang And an unbearable melancholy arises from within; གསོལ་བ་འདེབས་པ་འདི་གཟིགས་སམ། ། sölwa debpa disik sam Can you not perceive this supplication of mine? ཀྱེ་མ་བདག་ནི་ཁྱོད་བསམས་ནས། ། kyema dagni khyösam né Alas, I have been thinking of you ཉིན་མཚན་ལེ་བར་མ་མཆིས་པར། ། nyintsen lewar machi par Uninterruptedly, day and night. གདུང་བས་སྐྱབས་སུ་རེ་བ་ལ། ། dungwé kyabsu rewa la And so, will you not compassionately consider ཐུགས་རྗེས་དགོངས་པར་མི་མཛད་དམ། ། tugjé gongpar mizé dam My yearning hope for refuge? གཏིང་མཐའ་མེད་པའི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་འདིར། ། tingta mepé gyatso dir In this bottomless and boundless ocean, གནས་བཅས་འཇིགས་པས་གཙེས་པའི་དུས། ། neché jigpé tsepé dü When its inhabitants are oppressed by fear, དབུགས་དབྱུང་གཟེངས་བསྟོད་མི་མཛད་ན། ། ugyung sengtö mizé na If you do not provide respite and encouragement, ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་རྗེས་ཅི་ཞིག་བྱ། ། khyökyi tugjé chishik ja What is the use of your compassion? ཡུན་རིང་དུས་ནས་བསྒྲུབས་པ་ཡིས། ། yünring düné drubpa yi As I have engaged in your practice for a long time, མ་གཅིག་ལྷ་མོ་ཁྱེད་རྣམས་ཀྱི། ། machik lhamo khyenam kyi Sole mother goddess, མཛེས་ཞལ་ནམ་མཁའི་རྗེས་འགྲོ་བ། ། dzéshal namkhé jedro wa Will you not deign to reveal just a tiny portion of ཟུར་ཙམ་སྟོན་པར་མི་གནང་ངམ། ། surtsam tönpar minang ngam Your exquisite face that resembles the sky? ལས་ཉོན་སྲ་བའི་དཔྱང་ཐག་འདི། ། lenyön sawé changtak di This tight collar of karma and mental afflictions, ཕན་མཛད་ཐུགས་རྗེའི་རལ་གྲི་ཡིས། ། penzé tugjé raldri yi If you do not swiftly act to sever it མྱུར་དུ་གཅོད་པར་མི་མཛད་ན། ། nyurdu chöpar mizé na With the beneficial sword of compassion, ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཐུགས་དམ་མི་ཉམས་སམ། ། khyökyi tugdam minyam sam Would this not undermine your sacred commitments? ཁྱོད་ཀྱང་སྔོན་གྱི་དུས་ཀྱི་ཚེ། ། khyökyang ngöngyi dükyi tsé When even in your previous lives, བདག་ལྟར་རྨོངས་པ་ཞིག་ལགས་ན། ། dagtar mongpa shiklak na You were once deluded like me; སྒོ་གསུམ་མི་ཤེས་བག་མེད་པས། ། gosum mishé bagmé pé If, through unawareness and carelessness of my three doors, ནོངས་པར་ཐུགས་ཀྱང་འཁྲུག་མི་འཚལ། ། nongpar tukyang trugmi tsal I make mistakes, there is no need to be upset. ཤིན་ཏུ་བཙོག་པའི་རྐྱལ་པ་ལ། ། shintu tsogpé kyalpa la How could the excellent nature arise རང་བཞིན་བཟང་པོ་ཅི་ལ་འཆར། ། rangshin sangpo chila char In such a filthy leather bag [as this body]? དེ་ཕྱིར་བདག་གིས་ནོངས་པ་རྣམས། ། dechir dagi nongpa nam Compassionate one, for this reason, བཟོད་པར་བཞེས་ཤིག་ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཅན། ། söpar shéshik tugjé chen Please be patient with the mistakes I have made! རྩ་གསུམ་ལྷ་ཡི་འཁོར་ལོ་ནས། ། tsasum lhayi khorlo né Bless me so that I may be benefitted བེམ་པོའི་རྣམ་འགྱུར་ཚུན་ཆད་ཀྱིས། ། bempö namgyur tsünché kyi By whatever manifestations are appropriate, བཀོད་པ་གང་ལ་གང་འཚམས་པས། ། köpa gangla gangtsam pé From the maṇḍalas of Three Root deities བདག་ལ་ཕན་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dagla penpar jingyi lob Down to expressions of inanimate form! གཟུགས་སུ་སྣང་བའི་དངོས་པོ་ཀུན། ། suksu nangwé ngöpo kün As all things which visibly appear མཐོང་བ་ཙམ་གྱིས་ཡིད་འཕྲོག་པའི། ། tongwa tsamgyi yitrok pé Arise as the display of the lovely and beautiful goddess, མཛེས་སྡུག་ལྷ་མོའི་རོལ་པར་ཤར། ། dzeduk lhamö rölpar shar Whose mere glance is enchanting; བདེ་ཆེན་འབར་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dechen barwar jingyi lob Please bless me that the great bliss blazes forth! ཟིན་དང་མ་ཟིན་སྒྲ་རྣམས་ཀུན། ། sindang masin dranam kün As all sounds, whether natural or deliberately produced, གྲག་སྟོང་སྔགས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོར་འབྱོངས། ། dragtong ngakyi khorlor jong Manifest as the wheel of mantra—sound and emptiness, རླུང་སྔགས་གཉིས་སུ་མི་ཕྱེད་པའི། ། lungngak nyisu miché pé Please bless me so that the power of ནུས་པ་འབབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། nüpa babpar jingyi lob The indivisibility of prāṇa and mantra arises! རྟོག་ཚོགས་གང་ཤར་སྣང་བ་ཀུན། ། togtsok gangshar nangwa kün Let whatever conceptual patterns arise, all appearances, སྔོན་བསུ་རྗེས་གཅོད་མེད་པར་དེངས། ། ngönsu jechö mepar deng Dissipate without being anticipated or pursued; རང་སར་བཞག་པས་ཆོས་སྐུར་གྲོལ། ། rangsar shakpé chökur dröl And as I allow them to rest in their own place, so that they are liberated in the dharmakāya, རྟོགས་པ་འབར་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། togpa barwar jingyi lob Please bless me so that realisation may blaze forth! གནས་གསུམ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་ལུས་པ། ། nesum khandro malü pa May all ḍākinīs of the three worlds རང་དབང་མེད་པར་གྲོགས་སུ་ཁུག ། rangwang mepar drogsu khuk Be summoned irresistibly as companions; ཡིད་ཀྱི་རེ་བ་སྐོང་བྱེད་པའི། ། yikyi rewa kongjé pé Please bless me that they may grant the attainments དངོས་གྲུབ་སྩོལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། ngödrub tsölwar jingyi lob That fulfil the hopes within my mind! དམ་ཅན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མ་ལུས་པས། ། damchen gyatso malü pé Let the ocean of oath-bound ones, without exception, འགལ་རྐྱེན་བར་ཆད་ཐམས་ཅད་སེལ། ། galkyen barché tamché sel Clear away all adversity and obstacles. རབ་འབྱམས་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་པ་བཞི། ། rabjam trinlé nampa shi Please bless me that they may accomplish, without hindrance, ཐོགས་མེད་བསྒྲུབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། togmé drubpar jingyi lob The infinite array of the four types of enlightened activity! བཟང་ངན་རྐྱེན་གྱི་བྱེ་བྲག་ཀུན། ། sangngen kyengyi jedrak kün Let the variety of good and bad conditions ཐམས་ཅད་རོ་གཅིག་རྒྱན་དུ་ཤར། ། tamché rochik gyendu shar Arise as the ornament of one taste. འདེམས་ངོའི་དགག་སྒྲུབ་མེད་པ་ཡི། ། demngö gagdrub mepa yi Please bless me to practice the yogic conduct བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་སྤྱོད་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། tülshuk chöpar jingyi lob In which there is no preference for cultivating or rejecting. སྣང་བ་སྟོང་པའི་རྩལ་དུ་ཤར། ། nangwa tongpé tsaldu shar As appearances arise as the dynamic expression of emptiness, སྟོང་པ་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ཉིད་དུ་ངེས། ། tongpa tendrel nyidu ngé And emptiness is ascertained as dependent arising itself, ཟུང་འཇུག་ཅོག་བཞག་ཆེན་པོར་འབྱམས། །་ sungjuk chogshak chenpor jam Please bless me [to attain] the Great Perfection རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dzogpa chenpor jingyi lob And merge into the great, freely resting union. དབྱིངས་རིག་ཀ་དག་ཆེན་པོ་དང་། ། yingrik kadak chenpo dang The great primordial purity of space-awareness རྩལ་སྣང་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཐོད་རྒལ་གཉིས། ། tsalnang lhündrub tögal nyi And the spontaneously accomplished manifestation of dynamic energy, Leaping Over— རེས་འཇོག་ཕྱོགས་རེར་མ་གོལ་བའི། ། rejok chokrer magol wé Please bless me that I may practice the excellent path ལམ་བཟང་སྤྱོད་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། lamsang chöpar jingyi lob That does not stray into favouring one practice over another. དང་པོར་ཆོས་ཉིད་སྣང་བ་ཤར། ། dangpor chönyi nangwa shar First, the vision of dharmatā arises, བར་དུ་སྣང་བས་ཕྱོགས་ཀུན་ཁྱབ། ། bardu nangwé chok künkhyab Then, the visions extend in all directions, ཐ་མར་ཀུན་ཀྱང་དབྱིངས་སུ་ཐིམ། ། tamar künkyang yingsu tim Finally, everything dissolves into space; གྲོལ་སར་ཕྱིན་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། drölsar chinpar jingyi lob Please bless me to reach the state of liberation! གནས་མཆོག་པདྨོ་བཀོད་ལ་སོགས། ། nechok pemo köla sok In the naturally manifesting buddha-fields of Akaniṣṭha གནས་གསུམ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་ཀུན་འདུ་བའི། ། nesum khandro kün duwé And places where all ḍākinīs of the three worlds gather, རང་སྣང་འོག་མིན་ཞིང་རྣམས་སུ། ། rangnang ogmin shingnam su Supreme holy sites, such as Pemokö, འགྲོ་དོན་སྐྱོང་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། drodön kyongwar jingyi lob Please bless me to attend to beings’ benefit! དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས། ། düsum gyalwa tamché kyi Please bless me that I may tame མངོན་སུམ་འདུལ་བར་མ་ནུས་པའི། ། ngönsum dülwar ma nüpé All beings of lesser fortune, however many there are, སྐལ་དམན་སྐྱེ་བོ་ཇི་སྙེད་པ། ། kalmen kyewo jinye pa Those whom all the victorious ones of the three times བདག་གིས་འདུལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dagi dülwar jingyi lob Are incapable of taming directly! ནམ་མཁའ་ཟད་པར་མ་གྱུར་པར། ། namkha separ magyur par Please bless me that I may carry out the benefit of beings, སྐྱོ་ངལ་མེད་པའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ཡིས། ། kyongal mepé chöpa yi Tirelessly and without discouragement, འཕེལ་འགྲིབ་མེད་པ་འགྲོ་བའི་དོན། ། peldrib mepa drowé dön Without my actions waxing and waning, བདག་གིས་སྤྱོད་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dagi chöpar jingyi lob Until space itself fades away! བདག་ནི་མཐོང་དང་ཐོས་པ་དང་། ། dagni tongdang töpa dang May all those who see or hear me, མིང་ཙམ་འཛིན་པར་བྱེད་པ་ཡང་། ། mingtsam dzinpar jepa yang Or even merely recall my name, ཁམས་གསུམ་འཁོར་བ་དོང་སྤྲུགས་ཏེ། ། khamsum khorwa dongtruk té Be delivered from the depths of saṃāra’s three realms. ཆམ་གཅིག་གྲོལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། chamchik drölwar jingyi lob Bless me that I may simultaneously liberate them all! གང་ཞིག་ཕན་པར་སེམས་པ་དང་། ། gangshik penpar sempa dang Bless me to train those whose minds are altruistic, བཏང་སྙོམས་བར་མ་དག་ཀྱང་རུང་། ། tangnyom barma dakyang rung As well as those with feelings of indifference, བརྙས་སྨོད་བརྡེག་འཚོག་མཚང་འབྲུ་བ། ། nyemö degtsok tsangdru wa And especially those who would disparage others, ལྷག་པར་འདུལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། lhakpar dülwar jingyi lob Or abuse them and expose their hidden faults. དུག་གསུམ་དྲག་པོས་རྒྱུད་སྦགས་ཤིང་། ། dugsum drakpö gyübak shing The beings whose mind streams are sullied by the intense three poisons, ངན་སོང་གསུམ་དང་ཁྱད་པར་དུ། ། ngensong sumdang khyepar du And those who experience the suffering of the three lower realms, བར་དོའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ལ་སྤྱོད་པའི། ། bardö dugngal lachö pé And in particular the suffering of the intermediate state; འགྲོ་བ་འདུལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། drowa dülwar jingyi lob Please bless me so that I may tame them all! རིག་འཛིན་པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་དང་། ། rigzin pema jungné dang Please bless me so that my mind may be of one taste ཐུགས་ཀྱི་དགོངས་པར་རོ་གཅིག་པས། ། tugkyi gongpar rochik pé With the enlightened wisdom mind of Vidyādhara Padmasambhava, རྣམ་ཐར་མཉམ་པར་སྤྱོད་པ་ཡི། ། namtar nyampar chöpa yi And I may thereby accomplish the two aims དོན་གཉིས་འགྲུབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། dönnyi drubpar jingyi lob Through conduct that is comparable to his life of liberation! བདག་ནི་གལ་ཏེ་ཚེ་འདི་ལ། ། dagni galté tsedi la If I do not seize བཙན་ས་ཟིན་པར་མ་གྱུར་ན། ། tsensa sinpar magyur na The citadel [of enlightenment] in this life, ནམ་ཞིག་འཆི་བའི་དུས་ཀྱི་ཚེ། ། namshik chiwé dükyi tsé Then, when I reach the moment of death, ཁྱེད་རྣམས་བསུ་བའི་ཕྱིར་གཤེགས་ཤིག ། khyenam suwé chirshek shik May you all come back to welcome me. ཞལ་གྱི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་གསལ་པོར་སྟོན། ། shalgyi kyilkhor salpor tön May you clearly reveal the maṇḍala of your face, དབུགས་དབྱུང་གསུང་གི་སྣང་བ་སྩོལ། ། ugyung sunggi nangwa tsöl Bestow the elucidation of your comforting speech, བརྩེ་གདུང་མཛའ་བའི་ཐུགས་རྗེས་བཟུང་། ། tsedung dzawé tugjé sung Embrace me with your compassion of love, affection, and friendliness, འོད་གསལ་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོར་དྲོངས། ། ösal dewa chenpor drong And lead me to the great bliss of luminosity. འཁྲུལ་བའི་སྣང་བར་ཨ་འཐས་པའི། ། trülwé nangwar até pé When the terrors of the intermediate state arise བར་དོའི་འཇིགས་སྐྲག་ཤར་བ་ན། ། bardö jigtrak sharwa na As deluded perception solidifies, མདུན་བསུས་རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་མཐའ་ནས་བརྟེན། ། dünsü gyabkyor tané ten Be a welcome in front, a support behind, and an assistance all around. འཁྲུལ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་རང་སར་སྐྱོངས། ། trülpa tamché rangsar kyong Keep all delusions in their own place! བར་དོར་གྲོལ་བར་མ་གྱུར་ན། ། bardor drölwar magyur na If I am not liberated in the intermediate state, སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་སྣ་ཚོགས་སུ། ། trülpé shingkham natsok su May I be born on the stem of a lotus པདྨའི་སྡོང་པོ་ལས་སྐྱེས་ཏེ། ། pemé dongpo lekyé té In various emanated pure lands, མཚན་དང་ལྡན་པའི་ལུས་ཐོབ་ཤོག ། tsendang denpé lütob shok And may I obtain a body endowed with the marks of enlightenment! སྤྱན་དང་མངོན་ཤེས་གཟུངས་སྤོབས་སོགས། ། chendang ngönshé sungpob sok Through the limitless gates of meditative absorption, ཏིང་འཛིན་སྒོ་བརྒྱ་མཐའ་ཡས་པས། ། tingzin gogya tayé pé Including the divine eye, clairvoyance, retention, and eloquence, བདག་རྒྱུད་ལྷག་པར་ཕྱུག་པ་དང་། ། dagyü lhagpar chugpa dang May my mind stream become abundantly enriched, འཕྲིན་ལས་རྣམ་བཞིར་དབང་འབྱོར་ཤོག ། trinlé namshir wangjor shok And may I gain mastery over the four kinds of enlightened activity! འབྱུང་བཞིའི་གནོད་པས་མི་བརྫི་ཞིང་། ། jungshi nöpé mizi shing May I not fall victim to harm from the four elements, འཆི་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྐུ་གྲུབ་སྟེ། ། chimé dorjé kudrub té And may I accomplish the deathless vajra-body, རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱི། ། dorjé tegpé naljor gyi And thus complete the paths and stages of maturation and liberation སྨིན་གྲོལ་ས་ལམ་མཐར་ཕྱིན་ཤོག ། mindröl salam tarchin shok Of the Vajrayāna yoga! མདོར་ན་གནས་སྐབས་ཐམས་ཅད་དུ། ། dorna nekab tamché du In brief, may the ocean of ḍākinīs grant their blessings, རང་དང་གཞན་གྱི་དོན་གང་ཡིན། ། rangdang shengyi döngang yin That I may accomplish ཐམས་ཅད་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཡིས། ། tamché khandro gyatso yi All that is beneficial to myself and others གཡེལ་མེད་བསྒྲུབ་པར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས། ། yelmé drubpar jingyi lob In all circumstances without ever wavering! དུས་གསུམ་བསགས་པའི་དགེ་ཚོགས་དང་། ། düsum sagpé getsok dang Through the accumulation of virtue gathered throughout the three times, ཁྱད་པར་རྩ་གསུམ་ལྷ་ཚོགས་ཀྱི། ། khyepar tsasum lhatsok kyi And in particular, the power of the truth of the inconceivable compassion ཐུགས་རྗེ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པའི། ། tugjé samgyi mikhyab pé of the Three Roots and the assembly of the deities, བདེན་མཐུས་སྨོན་ལམ་མྱུར་འགྲུབ་ཤོག ། dentü mönlam nyurdrub shok May these aspirations be swiftly accomplished! ཆོས་ཉིད་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་ཀྱང་། ། chönyi samgyi mikhyab kyang Although dharmatā is inconceivable, ཆོས་ཅན་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་མི་སླུ་བས། ། chöchen tendrel milu wé The truth never changes, བདེན་པ་འགྱུར་བ་མེད་པ་དེས། ། denpa gyurwa mepa dé Since the dependent arising of conditioned phenomena is infallible; ཅི་བཏབ་སྨོན་ལམ་འགྲུབ་པར་ཤོག ། chitab mönlam drubpar shok Thus, may any aspirations I have formulated be accomplished! COLOPHON ཅེས་གནས་གསུམ་གྱི་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ཐམས་ཅད་དབང་མེད་དུ་འགུག་པར་བྱེད་པའི་སྨོན་ལམ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་ཞགས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་འདི་ཉིད་ནི་མཁའ་ཁྱབ་ཀྱི་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རྒྱ་མཚོར་གཅིག་ཏུ་མོས་པ་འཕྲིན་ལས་བློ་གསལ་གྱིས་ནན་ཏན་ཆེན་པོས་བསྐུལ་བ་དོན་ཡོད་པར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར་དུ་ངེས་མེད་ཀུན་ཏུ་སྤྱོད་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་ཆགས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེས་འོག་མིན་སྤྲུལ་པའི་ཞིང་མཆོག་པདྨོ་བཀོད་ཀྱི་སྐུ་འཁོར་གྱི་ཆ་ལས་འཁོར་ལོ་ལྔའི་ནང་ཚན་སྙིང་ག་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོའི་ཆར་གཏོགས་པ་ཀློ་ཁུག་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་བདག་པོའི་ཕོ་བྲང་གི་ཉེ་འདབས་བདུད་འདུལ་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྒར་དུ་སྤེལ་བ་བདེ་ལེགས་སུ་གྱུར་ཅིག ། In order to fulfil the insistent request of Trinlé Losal, who holds a singular devotion to all the oceans of ḍākinīs who pervade all of space, I, Chagpa Dorjé the aimless yogin, wrote “The Magical Lasso: An Aspirational Prayer” that spontaneously summons all the oceans of ḍākinīs of the three worlds. It was composed at the camp of Düdül Dewa Chenpo (Demon-Taming Great Bliss) in the vicinity of the palace of the lord of the Lo people. This area belongs to the heart dharmacakra, one of five cakras of the retinue of Pemokö, the supreme emanated realm of Akaniṣṭha. May there be happiness and well-being! NOTES Photo credit: Himalayan Art Resource Thanks to Adam Pearcey at Lotsawa House for his editing. Published: August 2021 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bzhad pa'i rdo rje. 1983–1985. mkha' spyod grub pa'i smon lam 'phrul gyi zhags pa sogs . In gsung 'bum/_bzhad pa'i rdo rje, vol. 7, pp. 421–428. Leh: T. Sonam & D.L. Tashigang. BDRC W22130 The Magical Lasso: A Prayer of Aspiration to Accomplish Khecara VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. 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Treasure Revealer Guru Chökyi Wangchuk 1200/1212–1270 BDRC P326 TREASURY OF LIVES LOTSAWA HOUSE Guru Chökyi Wangchuk, also known as Guru Chöwang, was one of the five treasure-revealing kings (gter ston rgyal po lnga ) and a scion of the Southern Treasures. He is known for his illuminating treatise on the phenomenon of treasure (gter ), known as Guru Chöwang’s Great Treasure Account (gu ru chos dbang gi gter ’byung chen mo ), and for his revelations: Lama Sangdu and Kabgye Sangwa Yongzok, amongst others. Biography The Great Symbolic Vision at Palpuk Ring: A Dream of Guru Chökyi Wangchuk Guru Chökyi Wangchuk In this 1245 dream vision at Palpuk Ring, Guru Chöwang encounters his recurring guide, a ḍākinī named Yeshe Gyen, at his childhood home - sparking profound symbolic revelations of dharmic truth. Read Biography Namkechenma: A Dream of Guru Chökyi Wangchuk Guru Chökyi Wangchuk Armed with the 'scroll of devastation' from his father, Guru Chöwang's first treasure excavation leads to a terrifying encounter with the Nine-Headed Nāga Demon, guardian of hidden teachings. Read Biography How Guru Chöwang Met the Guru at Ne Ngön Guru Chökyi Wangchuk During an alchemical corpse ritual, Guru Chöwang meets Padmasambhava in a profound encounter that defies categorization as dream, vision, or reality - an event he insisted truly occurred. Read Biography An Extraordinary Pure Vision at Kharchu's Nectar Cave: A Dream of Guru Chöwang Guru Chökyi Wangchuk After five days of Guru Pema practice, Chöwang's pure vision atop Mt Meru reveals worldly omens and a profound teaching: all phenomena, even demons, arise from mind itself. Read Translated Works Mentioned In Menu Close Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Research Tool Privacy Policy & Terms of Use SUBSCRIBE Publications Watch People Listen

This spontaneous song was composed by Lelung Zhepe Dorje (1697–1740) at Gyala in Kongpo in 1729, at the moment of departure from a gathered assembly of pilgrims and patrons on the threshold of the hidden land of Pemokö. Abstract This spontaneous song (mgur) was sung by Lelung Zhepe Dorje in 1729 and is preserved in his travel account, "Pleasant and Truthful Words: Directions to the Supreme Pilgrimage Site of Pemokö". [1] Commanded in a vision by Gesar Gyalpo, Lelung had set out on an expedition to open the sacred sites of this hidden land. Pemokö was no gentle paradise. In his own words, it was a terrain beset by venomous snakes, flies and insects, fanged and clawed beasts of prey, "wild savages" and "hateful barbarians”, a place of fevers, disease, oedema and gout, blisters, tumours and pustules, and malicious demons and spirits displaying all manner of magical emanations. By this point Lelung had reached Gyala in Kongpo, a rugged mountain site on the threshold of Pemokö, leading a party of some 130 people carrying provisions through vertiginous jungle and mountain terrain. He had just given a mass empowerment and hosted a large feast for the pilgrims and local patrons who had gathered there. This spontaneous song was sung at the moment of parting: the patrons would remain behind while the party pressed on, into the hidden land. BCRC W22130 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 00:27 TRADITION Geluk | Nyingma INCARNATION LINE Lelung Jedrung HISTORICAL PERIOD 17th 18th Century 18th Century TEACHERS The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso The Fifth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Yesh e Damchö Zangpo Mingyur Paldrön Chöje Lingpa Dönyö Khedrup The First Purchok, Ngawang Jampa Ngawang Chödrak Yeshe Gyatso Damchö Gyatso Losal Gyatso Lhundrub Gyatso Dungkar Tsangyang Drukdrak The Second Dzogchen Drubwang, Gyurme Tekchok Tendzin TRANSLATOR Tib Shelf English Editing by Libby Hogg INSTITUTIONS Lelung Monastery Mindröling Ngari Dratsang Chökhor Gyal Trandruk Potala Tsāri STUDENTS Kunga Mingyur Dorj e Dorje Yom e Kunga Paldzom Lobzang Lhachok Dönyö Khedrub Polhane Sönam Tobgy e Ngawang Jampa Mingyur Paldrön The Fifth Dorje Drak Rigdzin, Kalzang Pema Wangchuk Lhasang Khan AUTHOR Lelung Zhepe Dorje A Spontaneous Song on Departing for Pemokö Above, in the depths of the blue sky, Amidst swirling, five-coloured rainbow light, A great palace spontaneously rises. [2] There dwells great Orgyen, our sole father, With his ḍākinī consorts. May you bestow the supreme and common siddhis Upon the fortunate men and women gathered here. To Pemokö in the east, The second pure Khecara— [3] We yogis set out, Casting our homeland behind, Without attachment or clinging, To fulfil [4] the instructions of the lamas and ḍākinīs. May all the patrons gathered here Remain in good health. We, vajra brothers and sisters, With our words and hearts as one, [5] Entrust our minds to the Three Root deities And set out with delight. Since we’re happy when ill and joyful when dying, We have neither the slightest hope nor fear. The need for lords and lamas, The petty hope of protection, The binding ropes of kin, friends, and monastery— The fetters of this life and the next— We yogis have none of these. So we live as we please, Happy and joyful! If we happen to return, we’ll be happy. If we should die on the road, we’ll be glad. If we stay, there is nothing to desire. If we go, there is nothing to cling to. If you think you can challenge us, Come and do as we do! At the very least, we make this prayer To behold your fine faces once again. With that, I sang songs of whatever arose, and beat out the dance. Amid the buzzing of the melodic recitation of the three syllables HŪṂ PHAṬ BHYOḤ, whistling songs, flute, hand-drum, and damaru, I went forth in the tantric conduct of rigpa, with leaping, running, and gazes. COLOPHON None NOTES [1] The more familiar name for this region is Pemakö ( pad+ma bkod ). Throughout his travel account, however, Lelung writes pad+mo bkod , using the variant form pad+mo for "lotus." Both spellings refer to the same place, and in this translation we follow Lelung's own spelling and render the name "Pemokö." [2] We have chosen not to translate ma bzhengs (unbuilt) separately. The palace is described as lhun gyis grub pa , "spontaneously arisen." Something that arises spontaneously is by definition not constructed, so "spontaneously arises" already carries the sense of being unbuilt. [3] Khecara (mkha' spyod ) is first and foremost a highly purified experience connected with spiritual accomplishment ( dngos grub , siddhi) in Buddhist tantra, in which one's realisation manifests as a completely pure realm. In its higher sense it is an utterly pure realm endowed with eight qualities, such as subtlety of form, where one can train further on the path. In a lesser sense, associated with the form realm, the god realm and the human realm, it can be reached through meditative ability or with the help of yakṣī or siddha guides. In calling Pemokö "the second pure Khecara," Lelung presents the hidden land as an earthly counterpart of that realm. [4] “Fulfil” renders gtan la 'bebs par (lit. to establish). In the context of their departure for Pemokö, we understand this to mean carrying out the instructions received from the lamas and ḍākinīs. “Fulfil” conveys this contextual reading more naturally in English. [5] The Tibetan reads kha zhe med par gtad nas , an abbreviated form of the classical expression kha zhe gnyis med , "mouth and mind not two." Kha (mouth) stands for what one says and zhe for one's inner mind or intention, so the phrase describes a sincerity in which speech and heart do not diverge, with no gap between what is said and what is meant. Since gtad conveys committing or entrusting oneself, the line describes devoting oneself with complete sincerity. We have rendered it "with our words and hearts as one" to keep both halves of the pairing, and the warmth of zhe , rather than flattening it to "sincerely or wholeheartedly." Photo credit: Photograph © Thomas Laird, from The Dalai Lama's Secret Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet , Ian A. Baker (Thames & Hudson, 2011) Published: March 2026 BIBLIOGRAPHY Lelung Jedrung Zhepe Dorje (Sle lung rje drung bZhad paʼi rdo rje). 1983a. "Gnas mchog Padmo bkod du bgrod paʼi lam yig." In Sle lung rje drung bZhad paʼi rdo rjeʼi gsung ʼbum , v., 389–493. Leh: Sonam, T. and Tashigang, D.L. BDRC W22130 . Published March 2026 Republished October 2026 A Spontaneous Song on Departing for Pemokö VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. Tib Shelf has been accredited by the British Library with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2754–1495 CONTACT US | SHELVES@TIBSHELF.ORG © 2024 Tib Shelf. All rights reserved.

A rare collection of letters by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso, from the Water Pig year - now preserved in France, their recipients and original acquisition remain a mystery. Abstract These letters were purchased and are now conserved in a private collection in France. The means of the initial acquisition is unknown. The recipient(s) of the letters are currently unidentified, and their connection with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama is undetermined. We are happy to receive any information concerning these letters. TIB SHELF W002 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 00:27 TRADITION Geluk INCARNATION LINE Dalai Lama HISTORICAL PERIOD 19th Century 20th Century TEACHERS The Third Purchok, Jampa Gyatso The Fourth Amdo Zhamar, Gendun Tendzin Gyatso The Fifth Ling Rinpoche, Lobzang Lungtok Tenzin Trinle The Tenth Tatsak Jedrung, Ngawang Pelden Chokyi Gyeltsen Lobzang Rabsel The Eighty-Second Ganden Tripa, Yeshe Chopel Lerab Lingpa Agvan Dorjiev TRANSLATORS Rachael Griffiths Tib Shelf INSTITUTIONS Ganden Sera Monastery Drepung Monastery Tashilhunpo Kumbum Jampa Ling Tsel Gungtang Ralung Monastery Gyuto Dratsang Reting Monastery Drepung Gomang Dratsang Langdun Manor House Lhasa Tsuklakhang Shol Printery Namgyel Potala Norbulingkha Mentsikhang Ikh Khuree Tsari Bhutan House Wutai Shan Bodhgaya Lhamo Latso STUDENTS Tubten Namdrol The Fifth Reting Rinpoche, Tubten Jampel Yeshe Tenpai Gyeltsen The Ninth Panchen Lama, Tubten Chokyi Nyima Gedun Lungtok Rabgye The Ninth Dorje Drak Rigdzin, Tubten Chowang Nyamnyi Dorje The Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpai Dorje The Second Jamgon Kongtrul, Khyentse Ozer The Eleventh Tongkhor, Lobzang Jigme Tsultrim Gyatso The Fifth Kondor Tulku, Lobzang Namgyel Tendzin Lhundrub Jampa Taye The Sixth Ling Rinpoche, Thupten Lungtok Namgyal Trinle AUTHOR The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso Eleventh Day, Ninth Month, Water Pig Year LETTER ONE: These days, [I hope] your Mount Meru like body, which is produced as a result of the glorious and outstanding training of the past, is well and that the series of great benevolent waves of your four virtuous actions are continuously beautiful. Note that from Chabtru Khenpo, [ 1 ] who recently arrived in Lhasa on the 21st day of the 11th Tibetan lunar month of the Water Dog Year (1922), I have received, as offerings for advice, good khataks (offering scarfs) made of Mongolian silk, five zho of rin and tur , [ 2 ] one handkerchief [made of] a type of fine cloth, and a manaho snuff box with a lid and case. [ 3 ] On my side, my conditioned body is not tainted by any harm and is in a state of temporary comfort. I am continuously and happily, with the highest intentions, conducting religious and temporal matters for the benefit of beings and the doctrine, like that of the supreme one’s [ 4 ] life. In the future, too, please be sure to take good care of your health, which is the source of all the auspicious goodness and prosperity, and run [the country] as before to generate waves of benefit for the doctrine and all beings. Moreover, [please] continue to accumulate auspicious merit. Together with this letter, I enclose a blessed protective object, [ 5 ] a sealed pair of handprints, and three handmade, blessed circles of earth. [ 6 ] Sent on the auspicious 11th day of the 9th month of the Water Pig Year (1923). LETTER TWO: These days, [I hope] your body is as stable as conch, which comes from the glorious ocean of virtuous actions, and that you are enjoying the wealth, which competes with the gardens of heavenly paradise. Note that from Chabtru Khenpo, [ 7 ] who recently arrived in Lhasa on the 21st day of the 11th Tibetan lunar month of the Water Dog Year (1922), I have received, as offerings for advice, good khataks (offering scarfs) made of Mongolian silk, and five zho of rin and tur , one handkerchief [made of] a type of fine cloth, and a manaho snuff box with a lid and case. On my side, the conditioned constitution [of my body] is steady, and I endeavour to carry out virtuous actions to spread religious and temporal matters. In the future too, please spread happiness in accordance with local conditions. Moreover, like the good actions of the past, [please] continue to accumulate auspicious merit. Together with this letter, I enclose a blessed protective object, a sealed pair of handprints, and three handmade, blessed circles of earth. Sent on the auspicious 11th day of the 9th month of the Water Pig Year (1923). COLOPHON None NOTES [1] byab[s] khrus mkhan po [2] Zho is a measurement of currency. rin and mthur [3] Ma na ho is a type of precious stone. [4] Supreme one could be one of three things: the Manchu emperor, Russian royalty, or previous incarnations of the Dalai Lama. Given that the first two no longer existed in 1922, it is most likely that he was referring to his previous incarnations [5] For example, an amulet or protective thread [6] Dried soil. It is blessed with mantras and considered auspicious (many ingest it). [7] byabs khrus mkhan po BIBLIOGRAPHY Ta la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho. 1923. Private Collection. London: Tib Shelf W002 Published: May 2021 Eleventh Day, Ninth Month, Water Pig Year VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. Tib Shelf has been accredited by the British Library with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2754–1495 CONTACT US | SHELVES@TIBSHELF.ORG © 2024 Tib Shelf. All rights reserved.

Teacher The Second Dzogchen Drubwang, Gyurme Tekchok Tendzin 1699–1758 BDRC P677 TREASURY OF LIVES Gyurme Thekchog Tenzin (1699–1758) was the 2nd Dzogchen Drubwang and third throne-holder of Dzogchen Monastery, one of the six great Nyingma monasteries of Tibet, located in the Rudam valley of Kham. Born into the Oirat Mongolian royal lineage, he was recognised as the reincarnation of the 1st Dzogchen Drubwang Pema Rigdzin (1625–1697), with his names conferred by the foremost figures of the Mindroling tradition including Terdak Lingpa Gyurme Dorje (1646–1714). He received teachings from over forty masters across all traditions, undertaking two major journeys to central Tibet, and between 1741 and 1755 engaged in extended retreat, practising Dzogchen Trekchö and Thögal continuously until direct realisation was attained. He played a pivotal role in establishing the Dege Parkhang printing house in 1729 and oversaw the flourishing of Dzogchen Monastery as a major centre of scholarship and practice. Among his foremost students was Jetsunma Migyur Peldron (1699–1769), daughter of Terdak Lingpa and principal architect of Mindroling's restoration. He passed away in 1757 or early 1758 at the age of sixty. Translated Works Song A Series of Spontaneous Spiritual Songs Lelung Zhepe Dorje Two spontaneous songs by Lelung Zhepe Dorje: one honouring the 2nd Dzogchen Drubwang Gyurme Thekchog Tenzin, the other celebrating the experience of unobstructed, effortless awareness. Both transmit direct spiritual realization through verse. Read Mentioned In Menu Close Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Research Tool Privacy Policy & Terms of Use SUBSCRIBE Publications Watch People Listen

Through verse, Dudul Dorje explores addiction and worldly attachments, revealing how these forms of suffering stem from the clinging mind itself. Abstract Using poetic verses, this work delves into the theme of addiction, whilst emphasizing the destructive nature of clinging to worldly attachments. Dudul Dorje draws parallels between various forms of suffering and the importance of recognizing that they are rooted in the mind. BDRC LINK MW22123_ D2C055 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 02:02 TRADITION Nyingma INCARNATION LINE Dudjom Lingpa Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje HISTORICAL PERIOD 17th Century TEACHERS Drenpa Könchok Gyal Jatsön Nyingpo Derge Drubchen Kunga Gyatso TRANSLATOR Dr. Joseph McClellan INSTITUTION Katok Monastery STUDENTS Wangdrak Dorje Longsal Nyingpo Orgyen Palzang Nyima Drakpa Kunzang Pema Loden The First Dzogchen Drubwang, Pema Rigzin Nuden Dorje Orgyen Damchö Pal Tashi Özer AUTHOR Dudul Dorje Addiction [1] གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔ GURU PADMA SIDDHI HŪṂ! [2] ཨེ་མ་དཀོན་མཆོག་འགྲོ་མགོན་པདྨ་འབྱུང༔ འཁོར་བའི་ཞེན་ཆགས་བྲལ་བར་བྱིན་གྱིས་རློབས༔ Eh ma! supreme jewel, protector of beings—Lotus-Born One, Please bless me to sever my fixed attachment to saṃsāra! གཉུག་མར་རང་གསལ་ཆང་འདི་མ་འཐུང་ན༔ བྲམ་ཟེ་ཆང་མྱོས་འདི་ལ་མཐོང་ཚེ་ཡི་རེ་མུག༔ གཤིས་ལུགས་ཀ་དག་གི་ནོར་མཆོག་མ་མཐོང་ནས༔ བསླུས་ནོར་ཞེན་འཛིན་འདི་མཐོང་ཚེ་ཞེ་རེ་ལོག༔ How sad it is to see a brahmin [ 3 ] dissipated on drink, Having failed to imbibe the innate nature’s self-luminosity. When you don’t appreciate the supreme jewel of your primordially pure makeup, When you hang on to the counterfeit jewel of consuming fixation—this pains my soul .[ 4 ] མར་དམྱལ་བ་ཚ་གྲང་གི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཐར་མེད་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རྒྱུད་ཞེ་སྡང་གི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ ཡི་དྭགས་བཀྲེས་སྐོམ་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བཟོད་མེད་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རྒྱུད་སེར་སྣའི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ The inescapable, harrowing heat and cold of hell below ,[ 5 ] My dear, [ 6 ] are rooted in your mind’s hostility. The ghost’s overwhelming, burning hunger and thirst, My dear, are rooted in your mind’s rapacity. བྱོལ་སོང་བླུན་རྨོངས་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བཟོད་མེད་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རྒྱུད་གཏི་མུག་གི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ ལྷ་མིན་འཐབ་རྩོད་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བཟོད་མེད་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རྒྱུད་ཕྲག་དོག་གི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ The benighted brainlessness of a beast, My dear, is rooted in your mind’s vacuity. The asuras’ acidic quarrels ,[ 7 ] My dear, are rooted in your mind’s envy. འཆི་འཕོ་ལྟུང་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དོང་རིང་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རྒྱུད་འདོད་ཆགས་ཀྱི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ དེ་ལྟར་དབུལ་ཕོངས་ཀྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་དེ༔ བུ་སྦྱིན་གཏོང་གཉིས་པོའི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ The nightmarish chute of your fall from grace, [ 8 ] My dear, [241/242] is rooted in your mind’s indulgences. Likewise, my dear, the pauper’s pain Shares its root with the two kinds of giving .[ 9 ] འཁོར་འདས་ཤེས་བྱའི་ཐ་སྙད་དེ༔ བུ་རེ་དོགས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་རྩ་དེར་འདུག༔ བུ་རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་པ་ཞེས་བྱའི་སྒྲ་ཆེ་དེ༔ བུ་རང་རིག་སྐྱེ་མེད་ཀྱི་ཀློང་དེར་འདུག༔ The conventions known as saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, My dear, are rooted in your hopes and fears. My dear, what’s called “exalted, perfect awakening,” Is there, my dear, in the unborn expanse of your self-knowing awareness. ཡིན་མིན་འབུང་བའི་གླུ་ཆུང་འདི༔ རང་འདྲའི་ཞེན་ཆགས་རྟག་འཛིན་མཁན་རྣམས་ལ༔ མཆོག་སྨན་ཆུའི་དབེན་ཁྲོད་དུ༔ འབུང་བའི་གླུ་ཆུང་སྨྲས་པ་ཟེར་རོ༔ This little song about the struggles of dignity— [ 10 ] For those like me who are hooked and think things last forever— Was sung with sincerity In isolated retreat where sublime Healing Waters flow. [ 11 ] COLOPHON ཧ་ཧ༔ དགེ་བས་འགྲོ་ཀུན་བུདྡྷ་མྱུར་འགྲུབ་ཤོག༔ རིག་འཛིན་བདུད་འདུལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཡིས༔ སྨན་ཆུའི་ཡང་དབེན་དུ་སྨྲས་པ་ཟེར་རོ༔ མངྒ་ལམ༔ Ha ha! By the good of this, may all beings quickly attain buddhahood. This little poem was written in the Healing Waters of total solitude .[ 12 ] By Rigzin Dudul Dorje. Maṅgalam NOTES [1] The title is literally “The Drawbacks of Alcohol.” In classical Tibetan literature, and even today, alcohol (chang) is used as a catch-all term for addictive substances. This is no doubt largely because, until recently, there was little access to other addictive substances on the Tibetan plateau, with the exception of tobacco and occasional opioid abuse among the economic elite (See McKay, “Indifference, Cultural Difference, and a Porous Frontier: Some Remarks on the History of Recreational Drugs in the Tibetan Cultural World”). We choose to render the title more openly as “addiction” since it does not focus on alcohol but on the mind afflicted by addictions to its own poisons. [2] The only edition we find of this text has rather curious punctuation. Each line ends with Sanskrit visarga marks (ཿ ), which are very commonly conflated with Tibetan terma marks (༔) that indicate a text is a revealed treasure. Since Dudul Dorje was a treasure revealer, his works are full of terma marks, however, the present poem shows virtually none of the characteristics of a treasure text and seems to be a personal composition intended for his student. Thus, the use of the visarga/terma marks may just be an editorial quirk. [3] Brahmin (bram ze): the highest caste in traditional Indian social strata. Brahmins are distinguished by their access to the sacred Vedic scriptures, which are the source of all knowledge. As a seventeenth-century Tibetan, Dudul Dorje likely uses the term figuratively as something like the English “gentleman,” as in someone whose nature is essentially good. Thus, the line might be read in contemporary English as “One hates to see a good man in the throes of addiction.” [4] “Soul” here is in the figurative sense of one’s innermost being (zhe), not, of course, in the non-Buddhist metaphysical sense of a permanent self. There are synonymic resonances in this stanza between “soul” (zhe), “innate nature” (gnyug ma), and “makeup” (gshis lugs), which is more commonly translated as “disposition,” “character,” or the extremely long “fundamentally unconditioned nature.” [5] This and the following stanzas have a repeating structure in which lines 1 and 3 repeat the word “suffering” (sdug bsngal) + an intensifier like “inescapable” (thar med) or “unbearable" ( b zod med). Since the meaning of the lines is unambiguous, rather than render a stiff word-for-word translation of the repeated phrases, we prefer to use evocative synonyms for each in accord with English stylistic conventions. [6] The word here is literally “son,” which is a common term of affection that a lama uses to address a close male student. We believe that in the present context, the term’s affectionateness is more important than its gender, and that using “son” might create needless confusion about whether he’s referring to his literal son or not. A good alternative is sometimes “dear student,” but we reluctantly choose “my dear” because it is slightly lighter in the meter. [7] Asuras (lha min) can be translated as “demi-gods”—powerful and privileged beings tormented by competitiveness with the gods who are even more powerful and privileged. [8] This line uses a phrase associated with the experience of gods when their positive karma runs out, and they traumatically descend back into lower realms. [9] Two kinds of giving (sbyin gtong gnyis po) is synonymous with two kinds of generosity (sbyin pa gnyis), which are the giving of things (zang zing gi sbyin pa) and the giving of Dharma (chos kyi sbyin pa). This line seems to emphasize that suffering and wholesome categories like generosity both have their root in the mind. [10] This interesting line deserves unpacking. It is literally “is and is not” (yin min) + “making effort” (’bung ba) + of + “little song” (glu chung). The phrase “is and is not” usually concerns moral questions of what is and is not good or right, so the line could be read as “this little poem about right and wrong.” Here, we prefer to handle it slightly more delicately since Dudul Dorje does not emphasize ethics in the poem but rather the epistemology of a mind addicted to its poisons. This is how we arrived at “the struggles of dignity (i.e., self-respect).” [11] sman chu dben khrod. This is almost certainly a place name, as in the sublime “Healing Waters Hermitage.” However, since we cannot confirm its location, we prefer to translate the terms, which have some poetic value. [12] Again, here “Healing Waters” (sman chu) is likely the name of the hermitage where he stayed. Dudul Dorje spent many years in retreat and revealing treasures in remote places, especially in the southern Tibetan regions of Powo (spo bo), Kongpo (kong po), and Pemakö (pad+ma bkod). Published: September 2023 Thanks to Lowell Cook for this editorial feedback. BIBLIOGRAPHY Dudul Dorje (bdud ’dul rdo rje). chang gi nyes dmigs. In gter chos bdud ʼdul rdo rje, 3:249–50. Edited by Zhichen Bairo (gzhi chen bai ro 03 padma rgyal mtshan). Darjeeling: Kargyud Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1997. BDRC MW22123_D2C055 . McKay, Alex, Alex. “Indifference, Cultural Difference, and a Porous Frontier: Some Remarks on the History of Recreational Drugs in the Tibetan Cultural World.” The Tibet Journal 39, no. 1, Special Issue: Trade, Travel and the Tibetan Border Worlds: Essays in Honour of Wim van Spengen (1943–2013) (Spring-Summer 2014): 57–73. Addiction VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. Tib Shelf has been accredited by the British Library with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2754–1495 CONTACT US | SHELVES@TIBSHELF.ORG © 2024 Tib Shelf. All rights reserved.

Treasure revealer and Rimé master Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso's life story draws from his autobiography and oral accounts, revealing his significant impact on nineteenth-century Kham Buddhism. Abstract Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso, also known as Khyungtrul Kargyam, was not said to be a reincarnation of any particular Lama. Yet, he was a treasure revealer, a highly learned master, and undeniably an important figure in the Rimé movement of the nineteenth century in Kham. His writings comprise around four volumes which were collected and preserved by his son Pema Gyurme. Pema Gyurme’s disciple, Khen Orgyen Namgyal, composed this short biographical text, using Khyungtrul’s autobiography and the oral account. TIB SHELF W003 DOWNLOAD TRANSLATION GO TO TRANSLATION LISTEN TO AUDIO 00:00 / 00:27 TRADITION Drukpa Kagyu INCARNATION LINE None HISTORICAL PERIOD 19th Century 20th Century TEACHERS The Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye The Fifth Dzogtrul Tubten Chökyi Dorje Khenchen Tashi Öser Katok Khen Tubten Gyaltsen Öser Jamgön Mipam Namgyal Gyatso Khenpo Shenga Nesar Karma Tashi Chöphel Mura Pema Dechen Sangpo The Third Katok Situ, Chökyi Gyatso Chokling Terse Jigme Tsewang Norbu The Second Cholking, Ngedön Drubpe Dorje The BDRC Identifications have not been found for the following. Please contact us if you have any information: Satrül Rigzin Chögyal Gyalse Jampa Taye Tubten Chökyi Nangwa Gyarong Tokden Jamyang Tashi Rinchen Karma Tashi Öser Karma Tonglam TRANSLATOR Rinzin Dorjee Drongpa INSTITUTIONS Dzongsar Monastery Palpung Monastery Trulshik Monastery Dzogchen Monastery Pema Shelphuk Karmo Taktsang Netan Monastery Jang Tana Monastery Samye Chimpu The BDRC Identifications have not been found for the following. Please contact us if you have any information: Druk Heru Monastery Tashi Palri Kham Riwo Monastery Dilyak Monastery Druk Vaṃlung Monastery Shakchö Monastery Tsangsar Monastery Rago Tsokha Monastery Sertsa Tashi Ling Monastery Tsangsar Lakhyab Monastery Changlochen Residence STUDENTS Dzigar Kongtrul Lodrö Rabpel The Eighth Adeu Rinpoche Drubrik Khyuchok The Ninth Benchen Sangye Nyenpa, Karma Shedrub Tenpe Nyima The Eleventh Situ Pema Wangchuk Gyalpo The Second Cholking, Ngedön Drubpe Dorje The BDRC Identifications have not been found for the following. Please contact us if you have any information: Pema Gyurme Tsangsar Lodrö Rinchen Tana Penpa Tulku Tana Drubgyü Tulku Suru Jokhyab Dilyak Dabsang Japa Sangye Tenzin AUTHOR Khen Orgyen Namgyal The Biography of Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso, [ 1 ] commonly known as Khyungtrul Rinpoche, was born nearby the shaded side of the [Kyangtang Khampa] Mountain [ 2 ] in the Evaṃ Valley of Drongpa Meshung, [ 3 ] Nangchen, Kham in 1886, the Fire, Dog year of the fifteenth sexagenary cycle. His father was named Mipam Tsöndru of the Jo [clan] and his mother Adroza Deden Tso. [ 4 ] His father was a direct disciple of Drubchen Ngawang Tsoknyi [ 5 ] the mantra holder, who attained accomplishment through the practice of Palden Lhamo Dusölma . [ 6 ] Shortly after his birth, Khyungtrul met the Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje, [ 7 ] who performed the hair-cutting ceremony. Furthermore, he accepted the Three Jewels, received the vows of a lay disciple, [ 8 ] and was given the name Karma Gyatso. The Karmapa described how the child was a reincarnation of a great being and made a prediction that the boy was undoubtedly going to be a person who would benefit sentient beings and teachings in the times yet to come. At the age of five, his parents took him on a pilgrimage to meet lamas in eastern Kham. In Degé he met and received teachings from Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, [ 9 ] who was at that time performing his last religious activity at Dzongsar Monastery [ 10 ] before passing into peace. He also received many important teachings, such as empowerments, transmissions, and instructions, from Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche at Palpung Monastery [ 11 ] in Degé. After a successful pilgrimage to all the monasteries and sacred sites in the Degé, Kham, Khyungtrul returned home with his parents. His father took responsibility for his own father’s monastery, Druk Heru Monastery, [ 12 ] [which comes under the management of Trulshik Monastery, [ 13 ] the main Drukpa Kagyu seat in Nangchen]. Later, due to his realization in the practice of Palden Lhamo Dusölma , his father was appointed as the lama of the protector’s temple at Trulshik Monastery. Khyungtrul spent the next couple of years at Trulshik Monastery with his parents. During his time at Trulshik Monastery, even though he was very young, there were several marvelous signs that occurred, such as possessing a symbolically scripted inventory of treasures, indiscriminately extracting a variety of treasure-like substances, and receiving prophecies of the ḍākinīs. However, his father kept them secret and forbade revealing them [to the public], stating that they were insignificant. [Unfortunately], his father passed away when he was just seventeen years old, and he performed the funeral rites in a proper manner. Until he was nineteen, Khyungtrul spent most of his time at his personal Heru Monastery in addition to Trülshik Monastery where he received empowerments and instructions from Satrul Rigzin Chögyal [ 14 ] and other Drukpa Kagyu masters. He diligently trained in the rituals of his tradition, the Drukpa Kagyu. At the age of nineteen, Khyungtrul once again went back to Degé, Kham where he entered Dzogchen Monastery. [ 15 ] There he took full ordination from the Fifth Dzogtrul Tubten Chökyi Dorje [ 16 ] and received the name Tubten Chöpal Gyatso. From Gyalse Jampa Taye, Tubten Chökyi Nangwa, [ 17 ] and others, he received oral transmission of the Kangyur (Translated Words of the Buddha) and such teachings as the Bodhicaryāvatāra ( A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life ) and Kunsang Lame Shalung ( The Words of My Perfect Teacher ), achieving a great understanding of the Mahāyāna. He later went to Palpung Monastery, where under the care and tutelage of Khenchen Tashi Öser [ 18 ] the lord of the extraordinary family, he received bodhisattva vows in accordance with the tradition of Śāntideva the heir of the victors and was named Jamyang Lodrö Gyatso. With Lord Khenchen Tashi Öser, he studied all the sūtra and tantra teachings and received empowerments and instructions. Khenchen identified him outwardly as an embodiment of Gyalwang Dechen Dorje, inwardly as an embodiment of Taksham Nuden Dorje, and secretly as an embodiment of Longchen Rabjam. [ 19 ] Khyungrul also received and studied the sūtras and tantras along with the fields of knowledge from Katok Khen Tubten Gyaltsen, Jamgön Mipam Namgyal Gyatso, Khenpo Shenga, Nesar Karma Tashi Chöphel (one of the three chief disciples of Jamgön Kongtrul), Gyarong Tokden, Choktrul Pema Dechen Sangpo, Jamyang Tashi Rinchen, Katok Situ Chökyi Gyatso, Chokling Terse Tsewang Norbu, [ 20 ] and many other non-sectarian masters. Though this Lord was not said to be an emanation of any particular lama, he was called Khyungtrul because there was nobody who could rival his innate wisdom when he was studying and contemplating. Since everyone was discussing that he was an emanation of an excellent, superior being, he was considered an emanation. In those days the political relationship between Degé and Nangchen was not so friendly. So, for the safety of Khyungtrül, when anyone asked Khenchen about where the emanation was from, he would answer, “The emanation’s place of origin is Khyungpo.” [ 21 ] As a result, being called Khyungtrul in addition to his real name, Pema Trinlé Gyatso, he became widely known as Khyungtrul Pema Trinlé Gyatso. At the age of twenty-five, he began the traditional three-year retreat at the Samten Chöling retreat center of Palpung Tubten Chökhorling Monastery, [ 22 ] during which Karma Tashi Öser the extraordinary lord of the family [ 23 ] and Karma Tonglam [ 24 ] [shared the role of retreat master]. Khyungtrul completely mastered Mahāmudrā, the six yogas of Nāropa, and all other essential Kagyu practices during the retreat. His spiritual practices were so impressive that he was, for a short while, appointed master of the retreat center in accordance with the lama’s command. [ 25 ] [When he turned thirty-three], [ 26 ] he led the life of a renunciant, abandoning everything and practicing meditation at various secluded places, such as Tashi Palri, [ 27 ] Pema Shelphuk, [ 28 ] and Karmo Taktsang [ 29 ] and eventually left for his homeland. On the way back home, he visited Netan Chokling Monastery Gyurme Ling, met the Second Cholking, Pema Gyurme Tekchok Tenpel, [ 30 ] and received many teachings, such as the Chokling treasure teachings, empowerments, transmissions, and instructions from him. He subsequently visited Kham Riwo Monastery, Dilyak Monastery, and Jang Tana Monastery [ 31 ] where he received a grand welcome and gave instructional teachings and maturing empowerments. After returning to his homeland, Khyungtrul stayed at Druk Vaṃlung Monastery [ 32 ] for a while and turned the wheel of the teachings for his karmically fortunate followers. Since he was a treasure revealer and particularly an accomplished practitioner of the profound secret mantra, there were requisites for him, such as relying on the mudrā of another’s body, so he took Tanaza Rigzin Drölma [ 33 ] as a consort. However, some ordinary people [from his homeland] objected and disapproved of his taking a consort and criticized him explicitly and implicitly. As a result, Khyungtrul Rinpoché decided to leave his homeland for a period to embark on a pilgrimage to U-Tsang with his secret consort Tanaza Rigzin Drölma. He remained in U-Tsang for many years, visiting various sacred sites, practicing meditation at sacred places of Guru [Rinpoche], such as Samye Chimpu, [ 34 ] and composing many treatises and songs of realization. He conducted many religious activities while in Lhasa, including giving the empowerment and transmission of the Rinchen Terdzö (The Treasury of Precious Revealed Scriptures). [ 35 ] Then he returned to his homeland, and at his Druk Heru Monastery, he expanded the assembly hall and other areas and rebuilt temples and shrines. Thereafter, it received the name Heru Ngedön Sangngak Chökhorling. He also built his residence named Changlochen [ 36 ] and the Secret Mantra Palace meditation hall and stayed there regularly. There the teachings of scholars and adepts pervaded in all directions, and he constantly turned the wheel of the teachings to unfathomable assemblies of disciples and emanations—chiefly the lamas and emanations of the non-sectarian movement. Sometimes he traveled to other regions to give empowerments and teachings. He conferred the empowerment and transmission of the Rinchen Terdzö at Netan Monastery in Chimé and Shakchö Monastery in Khyungpo, [ 37 ] the empowerment and transmission of the Damngak Dzö (The Treasury of Precious Instructions) at Tsangsar Monastery, [ 38 ] and the empowerment of the Kagyu Ngakdzö (The Treasury of Kagyu Mantras) at Rago Tsokha Monastery. [ 39 ] There were many other empowerments, transmissions, instructions that he gave at Sertsa Tashi Ling Monastery [of the Bön tradition] and Tsangsar Lakhyab Monastery. [ 40 ] He also stayed at Jang Tana Monastery, the monastic seat of Drogön Yelpa for a long time, properly supporting the Yelpa teachings. In short, he was a lama of the non-sectarian movement of the philosophies of the Sakya, Geluk, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Yungdrung Bön; all revered him as a boundless superior being. Accordingly, having accomplished the benefit of self and others, Khyungtrül Pema Trinlé Gyatso passed away at the age of sixty-three on the eighteenth day of the Month of Miracles (the first month) of Earth, Bird year, 1948, at Tana Monastery. It was exactly on that day when Drogön Sangyé Yelpa passed away. [ 41 ] When Khyungtrul passed away, there were many astonishing signs, which once again established the disciples into a place of faith. His main disciples were his son Pema Gyurme, Kongtrul Lodrö Rabpel, Tsangsar Lodrö Rinchen [of the Barom Kagyu], Tana Penpa Tulku, Tana Drubgyu Tulku, Suru Jokhyab, etc. [ 42 ] There were many other disciples with whom he had a spiritual connection, such as [the Eighth] Adeu Rinpoche Drubrik Khyuchok, the [Ninth] Benchen Sangye Nyenpa, Dilyak Dabsang, Japa Sangye Tenzin, the [Eleventh] Situ Pema Wangchuk Gyalpo, [ 43 ] the Second Chokling, and many others. He had such a great assembly of students that there were almost none of the great lamas of his time who did not have a lama-disciple relationship with him. Among the chief disciples: his son Pema Gyurme was the main lineage holder of both his family lineage and teachings. He was a sovereign of loving-kindness and compassion, a vegetarian, a realized yogin intent upon the profound meaning, a holder of the fields of knowledge, a holder of his father’s lineage of Karma Garsar calligraphy, a disseminator of his father’s empowerments, transmissions, and instructions, and a preserver of his father’s collected works. For this, I wish to express much gratitude to him. Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso’s teachings, which are contained in about four volumes, are: Secret Embodiment of the Three Kāyas: Accomplishing the Enlightened Mind of the Guru , The Ocean of the Dohās of the Early Translation Nyingma School , The Ocean of Drukpa Dohā, The Excellent Vase of Nectar from The Grand Ritual of Severance , [ 44 ] instructional manuals on the creation and completion stages, songs of spiritual experience, a large volume of mind treasure teachings, and many other texts. COLOPHON Composed by Khen Orgyen Namgyal NOTES [1] khyung sprul pad+ma phrin las rgya mtsho [2] Khyungtrul’s memoir (rang rnam) mentions e waM lung pa'i d+hU ti'i sbubs/ ri bo me ltar 'bar ba'i zhol as his birthplace. Through personal communication, a resident of Meshung said the name of ri bo me ltar 'bar ba is Kyangtang Khampa (rkyang thang kham pa). [3] Drongpa Meshung ('brong pa rme gzhung) was formally known as Sengshung (seng gzhung), the valley looking like a resting lion, located in Nangchen. [4] 'byo mi pham brtson 'grus and a gro bza' bde ldan mtsho [5] Drubchen Ngawang Tsoknyi (grub chen ngag dbang tshogs gnyis, 1828–1888) was a highly realized mantra holder and Drukpa Kagyu master born in Senge Dzong, Kham, in 1828. His father was Ugyen Gönpo and mother was Drongza Lhamo Dröl. He passed away in 1888. [6] dpal ldan lha mo dus gsol ma [7] kar ma pa 15 mkha' khyab rdo rje, 1870?–1921?, BDRC P563 [8] The vows of the lay disciple (dge bsnen gyi sdom pa, upāsakasaṃvara) consists of the five precepts (bslab pa lnga, pañcasīla): (1) Not to kill, (2) Not to steal, (3) Not to engage in sexual misconduct, (4) Not to lie, and (5) Not to use intoxicants. [9] 'jam dbyangs mkhyen btse dbang po, 1820–1892, BDRC P258 [10] rdzong sar dgon, BDRC G213 [11] 'jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas, 1813–1899, BDRC P264 and dpal spungs, BDRC G36 , seat of Situ Pema Wangchuk Gyalpo and Jamgön Kongtrul [12] Druk Heru Monastery ('brug heru dgon) was initially founded by Gyalwang Dechen Dorje. [13] Trulshik Monastery ('khrul zhig dgon) is the seat of Satrul Rigzin Chögyal located in Nangchen Sharda. [14] Satrul Rigzin Chögyal (sa sprul rig 'dzin chos rgyas) was the sixth reincarnation of Satrul, born in the fifteenth sexagenary cycle. His father was a prince to Nangchen King, and his mother was a daughter to the Drongpa chieftain. [15] rdzog chen dgon pa, BDRC G16 [16] rdzogs chen grub dbang 05 thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872–1935, BDRC P701 [17] rgyal sras byams pa mtha' yas and thub bstan chos kyi snang ba [18] mkhan chen bkra shis 'od zer, 1836–1910, BDRC P1373 [19] It is said that Gyalwang Dechen Dorje (rgyal dbang bde chen rdo rje) built a hundred and eight Guru temples, including Heru Monastery and Vamlung monastery. stag sham nus ldan rdo rje, b. 1655, BDRC P663 and klong chen rab 'byams, 1308–1364, BDRC P1583 [20] kaH thog mkhan thub bstan rgyal mtshan 'od zer, b. 1862, BDRC P6048 ; 'jam mgon mi pham rnam rgyal rgya mtsho, 1846–1921, BDRC P252 ; mkhan po gzhan dga', 1871–1927, BDRC P699 ; gnas sar bkar ma bkra shis chos 'phel, BDRC P6173 (one of the three chief disciples of Jamgön Kongtrul); rgya rong rtogs ldan; mu ra sprul sku 03 pad+ma bde chen bzang po, BDRC P8693 ; 'jam dbyang bkra shis rin chen; kaH thog si tu 03 chos kyi gya mtsho, 1880–1923/1925, BDRC P706 ; mchog gling gter sras tshe dbang nor bu, BDRC P2713 , the second son of Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa [21] khyung po, a place in Kham [22] dpal spungs thub bstan chos 'khor gling gi sgrub sde bsams gtam chos gling [23] karma bkra shis 'od zer [24] karma mthong lam [25] According to the oral account, he was appointed as a retreat master for the next three-year retreat program. [26] According to the oral record, at the age of thirty-three, he left the Palpung Monastery for his homeland. [27] bkra shis dpal ri, a sacred site in Kham [28] pad+ma shel phug, BDRC G3624 [29] dkar mo stag tshang, BDRC G3625 [30] gnas brtan mchog gling 02 pad+ma 'gyur med theg mchog bstan 'phel, 1873/1874–1927, BDRC P1AG97 [31] byang rta rna dgon pa, BDRC G2628 [32] Druk Vaṃlung Monastery ('brug vaM lung dgon) was initially founded by Gyalwang Dechen Dorje in the twelfth sexagenary cycle, located in Drongpa Meshung [33] rta rna bza' rig 'dzin sgrol ma [34] bsam yas mchim phu, BDRC G3528 [35] rin chen gter mdzod [36] lcang lo can [37] Netan Monastery (gnas brtan dgon, BDRC G1AG98 ), the seat of Chokgyur Lingpa, is located in Chimé, southwest of Nangchen. Shakchö Monastery (khyung po zhag gcod dgon), is a Karma Kagyu monastery, founded by Shagchö Tashi Palzang in 1533 in Khyungpo. [38] gdam ngag mdzod; Tsangsar Monastery (tshangs sar dgon) is a Barom Kagyu Monastery and the seat of Tsangsar Lodrö Rinchen. [39] bka' brgyud sngags mdzod and ra mgo mtsho kha dgon [40] gser rtsa bkra shis gling (a Bön Monastery in Sertsa) and tsangs sar bla khyabs [41] Drogön Sangye Yelpa ('gro mgon sangs rgyas yal pa) is the founder of Yalpa Kagyu School. [42] pad+ma 'gyur med 1929–1999; kong sprul blo grus rab 'phel, 1901–1958, BDRC P1PD108567 ; tshangs sar blo gros rin chen; rta rna spen pa sprul ku; rta rna sgrub rgyud sprul sku; gzu ru jo skyabs [43] a lde'u grub rigs khyu mchog, 1930–2007, BDRC P6757 ; ban chen sangs rgyas gnyen pa 09 karma bshad sgrub btsan pa'i nyi ma 1897–1962, BDRC P934 ; dil yag zla bzang; ja pa sangs rgyas bstan 'dzin 1919–2001; ta'i si tu 11 pad+ma dbang mchog rgyal po, 1886–1952, BDRC P925 [44] Some of his teachings include gu ru'i thugs sgrub sku gsum gsang ba 'dus pa, snga 'gyur snying ma'i mgur mtsho, 'brug pa'i mgur mtsho, and gcod kyi tshogs las bdud rtsi bum bzang. Photo Credit: Heru Monastery contributed by the translator Published: July 2021 Edited: February 2022 BIBLIOGRAPHY Khen Orgyan Namgyal (mkhan o rgyan rnam rgyal). 2021. khyung sprul pad+ma phrin las rgya mtsho'i rnam thar . London: Tib Shelf W003 The Biography of Khyungtrul Pema Trinle Gyatso VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS NEXT PUBLICATION > < PREVIOUS PUBLICATION Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Subscribe to our newsletter Support Tib Shelf's ongoing work & Subscribe Today! Name * Email* Submit Tib Shelf is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to translating, presenting and preserving primary source Tibetan texts across a vast array of genres and time periods. We make these literary treasures accessible to readers worldwide, offering a unique window into Tibet's rich history, culture and traditions. Tib Shelf has been accredited by the British Library with the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2754–1495 CONTACT US | SHELVES@TIBSHELF.ORG © 2024 Tib Shelf. All rights reserved.

Treasure Revealer Nyagla Pema Dudul 1816-1872 BDRC P2424 TREASURY OF LIVES LOTSAWA HOUSE PHOTO CREDIT Nyagla Pema Dudul (1816–1872) was a Nyingma treasure revealer from Nyarong in eastern Tibet. Born into a once-wealthy family that fell into hardship—in a story his biographers explicitly compare to that of Milarepa — his early life was marked by loss, poverty, and illness. He trained with many of the leading masters of his time, among them Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje, Dza Patrul Rinpoche, the Fourth Dzogchen Drubwang Mingyur Namkhai Dorje, and the First Tsopu Drubchen Choying Rangdrol—whose teachings proved particularly transformative, inspiring Pema Dudul to dedicate his life entirely to yogic practice. He undertook long periods of solitary retreat, during which he revealed a number of treasures, including a spectacular public revelation from a large rock witnessed by his assembled disciples. Renowned as a yogin, teacher, and composer of songs of realisation—collected in a dedicated mgur 'bum—he was also known for his radical generosity and non-attachment, routinely crushing precious offerings and distributing wealth to beggars. His students included some of the most celebrated masters of the following generation: the terton Lerab Lingpa, the Dzogchen master Adzom Drukpa Drodul Pawo Dorje, and the yoginī A-gyu Khandro Dorje Peldron, to whom he transmitted the Longsel Dorje Nyingpo and instructions for the Yangti Nakpo dark retreat. According to tradition, he attained the rainbow body at the time of his passing, said to be the last of the hundred thousand yogins of Katok to do so. Song Five Aphoristic Couplets Nyagla Pema Dudul These five aphoristic couplets by Nyagla Pema Dundul use vivid images of natural impossibility to show that pride, confusion, and distraction obstruct liberation, emphasising that knowledge must be integrated into lived experience. Read Translated Works Mentioned In Menu Close Home Publications Read Listen Watch People Information About Meet the Team Services Translators Donate Research Tool Privacy Policy & Terms of Use SUBSCRIBE Publications Watch People Listen