Song One

Aho mahāsukha ye!

I bow at the feet of the benevolent, paternal lama!

Akaniṣṭha, the celestial realm of lotus light,

Is where the peaceful and wrathful victorious protectors reside.

As foretold by the oath-bound mother ḍākinīs,

Je Traktung Pawo (“Lord Heroic Blood-Drinker”), set foot here—[1]

In this supreme, protected holy abode where spiritual experiences naturally arise,

I offer these spontaneous spiritual songs.

Here today the assembly of vajra brothers and sisters,

Due to previously accumulated karmic fortune, which is not lacking,

Have met you, the essence of all refuge.

Now, having gained this feast of good fortune,

Vajra blessings permeate our three doors:

We’re ablaze with spontaneous visions in every way.

Our bodies, maṇḍalas of the major and minor marks, shimmer like a rainbow.

We’ve received the essential nectar of vajra speech.

The great joyful awakened mind embraces us. [183]

What auspicious fortune—an excellent, blissful experience!

Yet, we were born at the end of this degenerate age,

Where stainless Dharma conduct has nearly declined—

All paternal siddhas have passed into the realm of space.

Those who boast of being doctrine holders

Only ever pass their time in attachment and aversion.

In the glorious Vajrayāna tradition,

Sincere devotion is extraordinarily rare.

The life stories of the great, holy noble lords—

They have sullied them with their misconceptions,

Creating all sorts of entrances to negative deeds.

Even righteous deeds they view as wrong.

In these times when whatever one does becomes flawed,

Thinking of this stirs up anguish within.

Peerless precious father,

Infallible refuge,

When I recall how you care for me,

My anguish is quashed.

We, brothers and sisters, gathered here,

With minds of unwavering faith,

At this time we make this supplication:

Glorious Traktung Wangpo, our lord lama,

Atop the unchanging vajra throne,

May the prints of your vajra feet ever remain!

With the magnificent maṇḍala [184] of your three secrets,

In the hidden grove where the mother ḍākinīs assemble,

May you open gateways to hundreds of pure lands

And ever turn the wheel of the profound and vast Dharma!

With your limitless enlightened activity that tames beings,

O Protector, may you illuminate

The essential meaning of the glorious, indestructible luminosity

In all directions, times, and circumstances!

Those gathered together in this sacred abode,

All the devoted, fortunate men and women,

In the self-appearing Akaniṣṭha pure land,

With the lord lama, King of Self-Awareness,[2]

Amidst a retinue of one hundred thousand drops of self-luminous wisdom,

In a feast gathering of inseparable union,

In times that never shift, change, or wane,

May we enjoy it as one taste!

Root and lineage gurus of the three transmissions

And the assembly of heroes and ḍākinīs of the three places,

Through your unified unwavering enlightened intent,

May our hopes and aspirations be fulfilled!

Aho ye sarva maṅgalaṃ!

COLOPHON

Thus, when Dzogchen Tulku Rinpoche, the blood-drinking accomplished hero and crown jewel of all holders of the knowledge mantras, journeyed from Ölga in the east to the supreme place of the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain, those gathered there offered elaborate long-life prayers along with a feast offering, during which this melodious song, blazing with spiritual insight and faith, was spontaneously offered. Later on, Rabten, the venerable manager of that holy one’s enlightened activities, requested these be put into writing. Although the words may not be an exact match, I, Zhepe Dorje, the one who [185] practices according to his own spontaneous nature, arranged whatever I could recall. 

Song Two 

Aho ye!

I’ve realized my mind to be the dharmakāya!

Even what is called “Buddha” is nothing other than this.

In the state of the astonishing, unobstructed view,

Let whatever appearances arise be free and unfettered,

Undistracted presence in the continuity of non-meditation.

Though there is nothing to abandon like dullness, agitation, and other afflictions,

Rest the thoughts that grasp the objects of the six senses

Completely in the meditative equipoise where they naturally dissolve.

All appearing sense pleasures are for the enjoyment of one’s own mind.

Joyfully relaxing in a continuity free from grasping,

Rest in just this uncontrived yoga.

Through the kindness of the authentic guru, my sole father,

By making devoted prayers from the very depths of my heart,

Blessings have pervaded the wheel of phenomenal existence

And there is no distinction between the guru and my mind.

How joyful is the way I, the yogin, nurture good experiences!

There is no difference between the six classes of beings and buddhas.

Everything is the great dharmadhātu’s festive display.

By understanding this very nature of the fundamental state,

May everything be liberated effortlessly into the body of light!

COLOPHON

I, Zhepe Dorje, composed this following the wishes of Chö Samdrub the Scholar of Letters.

NOTES

[1] The recipient of Lelung's spontaneous song—addressed throughout as "Je Traktung Pawo" and "Glorious Traktung Wangpo," and described in the colophon as "Dzogchen Tulku Rinpoche"—can be identified with considerable confidence as Gyurme Thekchog Tenzin (1699–1758), the 2nd Dzogchen Drubwang. Several converging lines of evidence support this identification.

First, and most directly, the colophon's designation "Dzogchen Tulku Rinpoche" strongly points toward the Dzogchen Drubwang incarnation. The epithet Traktung (khrag ’thung, "Blood-Drinker") is not itself sufficient for identification, since Lelung employs comparable tantric epithets elsewhere; it is the explicit Dzogchen title, together with the historical context, that provides the principal evidence.

Second, the chronology fits closely. Lelung Zhepe Dorje was born in 1697 and died in 1740, while the 2nd Dzogchen Drubwang was born in 1699 and died in 1758 (Greensmith 2018; Chhosphel 2011). Significantly, primary Tibetan biographical evidence states that in the Iron-Monkey year (1740) Gyurme Thekchog Tenzin travelled to Ü together with the 2nd Dzogchen Ponlob Pema Sangngak Tenzin (Ye shes rdo rje 1996–2000, vol. 2, pp. 238–241). This makes 1740—the year of Lelung's death—a particularly plausible occasion for the encounter. Lelung died only on the twentieth day of the eighth Tibetan month of that year, leaving a substantial part of 1740 in which the meeting could have occurred (Bailey 2016). The song itself gives no date, however, so 1740 remains probable rather than certain.

Third, the two men moved within the same immediate spiritual network. The 2nd Dzogchen Drubwang was closely connected with Mindroling: he studied under Minling Lochen Dharmaśrī and received extensive teachings from Minling Trichen Pema Gyurme Gyatso, while Jetsunma Mingyur Peldron is listed among his important students (Chhosphel 2011; Ye shes rdo rje 1996–2000, vol. 2, pp. 197–205). Lelung's own religious career was deeply intertwined with the same Mindroling family and transmission network, including Pema Gyurme Gyatso and Mingyur Peldron (Greensmith 2018). His 1729 Pemakö travelogue also names Raspa Kunzang Dechen as a disciple of "Dzogchen Tulku," demonstrating direct connections between Lelung's circle and the Dzogchen incarnation lineage before the encounter (Bzhad pa'i rdo rje 1983, vol. 8, p. 399.3–399.4).

Finally, the colophon places the encounter at Zangdok Palri, Lelung's Copper-Colored Mountain establishment associated with Namdroling in the Ölga valley. Lelung constructed this complex on the basis of his visions of Guru Rinpoche's pure land, with patronage from Polhane (Bailey 2016). The colophon records that when "Dzogchen Tulku Rinpoche" arrived there, a long-life ceremony and Tsok were performed for him, during which Lelung spontaneously sang the present verses. Taken together, the title, chronology, shared Mindroling network, and documented visit to Lelung's own establishment make Gyurme Thekchog Tenzin the most convincing identification of Lelung's "Je Traktung Pawo," with the meeting most plausibly, though not demonstrably, occurring in 1740.

[2] “King of Self-Awareness” (rang rig gi rgyal po) is one appellation for the personification of the primordial ground (gzhi) in the Dzogchen view. This figure, who resides in the keep of Dzogchen thought, is generally referred to by various epithets, including All-Creating King (kun byed rgyal po), All-Knowing King (kun rig rgyal po), King of Awareness (rig pa rgyal po), King of Cognizant Awareness (shes rig gi rgyal po), Purifying King of Self-Cognizant Awareness (sbyong byed rang shes rig pa’i rgyal po), and Purifying King of Awareness (sbyong byed rig pa rgyal po), amongst others. Also see Karmay 2007, 52, n. 45.

Photo credit: Lelung Dharma Centre

Published: November 2024

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary:

Bzhad pa'i rdo rje. 1983–1985. mgur gyi rim pa thol byung rdo rje'i glu. In gsung 'bum Bzhad pa'i rdo rje, vol. 6, pp. 181–185. Leh: T. Sonam & D. L. Tashigang. BDRC MW22130_9A3DB8

Bzhad pa’i rdo rje. 1983. gnas mchog pad+mo bkod du bgrod pa’i lam yig. In Sle lung rje drung Bzhad pa’i rdo rje’i gsung ’bum, vol. 8, pp. 389–493. Leh: T. Sonam & D. L. Tashigang. MW22130_610579.

Ye shes rdo rje. 1996. “rDzogs chen dpon slob pad+ma gsang sngags bstan ’dzin gyi rnam thar mdor bsdus.” In Gangs can mkhas dbang rim byon gyi rnam thar mdor bsdus bdud rtsi’i thigs phreng, vol. 2, pp. 238–241. Beijing: Krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang. BDRC MW25268_93D431.

Ye shes rdo rje. 1996–2000. rDzogs sprul ’gyur med theg mchog bstan ’dzin gyi rnam thar mdor bsdus (1699–1758). In Gangs can mkhas dbang rim byon gyi rnam thar mdor bsdus, vol. 2, pp. 197–205. Beijing: Krung go'i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang.. MW25268_C75B7D.

Secondary:

Bailey, Cameron. 2016. "A Feast for Scholars: The Life and Works of Sle lung Bzhad paʼi rdo rje." DPhil thesis, University of Oxford, Wolfson College.

Chhosphel, Samten. 2011. "The Second Dzogchen Drubwang, Gyurme Tekchok Tendzin." Treasury of Lives. https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Second-Dzogchen-Drubwang/9383. TOL 9383; BDRC P677.

Greensmith, Tom. 2018. "The Fifth Lelung Jedrung, Lobzang Trinle." Treasury of Lives. https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Fifth-Lelung-Jedrung-Lobzang-Trinle/9361. TOL 9361; BDRC P675.

Melnick Dyer, Alison. 2015. “Mingyur Peldron.” Treasury of Lives. https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Mingyur-Peldron/9394