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—

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,[1]

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. 

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] “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:

Zhepe Dorje (bzhad pa’i rdo rje). 1983–1985. mgur gyi rim pa thol byung rdo rjeʼi glu. In gsung ’bum/_bzhad pa’i rdo rje, vol. 6, 181–185. Leh: T. Sonam & D.L. Tashigang. BDRC MW22130_9A3DB8.

Secondary:

Karmay, Samten Gyaltsen. 2007. The Great Perfection (rDzogs Chen): A Philosophical and Meditative Teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. 2nd ed. Leiden: Brill.