Here in Bennak,[2] sorrow’s grove,

Wretched company circles round.

As I sing this foolish song of woe,

A crow caws, “A-Qiu.”[3]

My cruel companion’s face—

Like a shifting shadow on a rocky mountain.

Our home, a dark hollow cave—

A breeding ground for sickness, cold, and blight.

For me, a beggar woman far from home;

My sole companion is the blue sky.

Never mind practising the true Dharma,

Even these daily quarrels never cease.

Now I am neither servant nor master,

Leaving such degrading work behind,

I’ll go wandering throughout the land.

At my singing, Gyalse demanded gruffly, “What are you on about? Go boil the tea!” When I went back into the house, his anger had subsided, and he simply asked, “What kind of song were you just singing?” I replied, "I sang this:"

Here in Benyak’s joyful grove,[4]

The man who holds the fine steed—[5]

His mood fickle as the three summer[6] months;

Ever shifting between light and dark.

Though the turquoise dragon[7] from the south

Is wild and deft in all her arts,

At times [even she] is powerless to act;

For when the driving wind of karma has spent its force,

Whatever one may do,

Karma alone will steer the course.

At that time, the local people were also extremely hostile toward me, calling me a demoness. For my part, I kept a humble, low profile and maintained strict secrecy while transcribing the profound treasure teachings.

COLOPHON

None

NOTES

[1] Gyalse Pema Namgyel (mgar ra rgyal sras padma rnam rgyal), the son of the treasure revealer Gara Tertön Pema Dündul Wangchuk Lingpa, was Sera Khandro’s consort during her years at Benak. Their relationship was deeply troubled: he opposed her activities as a treasure revealer and attempted to prevent her from writing and teaching. See Sarah H. Jacoby, Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), 54–61.

[2] Bennak (pan nag) is a Nyingma monastery of the Pelyul tradition in present-day Pema County, Golok, founded in 1824 (Jacoby, “Bennak”). The spelling pan nag also permits a pun meaning “bad” or “negative monk.” We have retained Bennak as a place-name in our translation while noting the wordplay here.

[3] The crow’s cry is written ཨ་ཥིའུ (a Shi’u). The letter ཥ (Sha) is usually used in the transcription of Sanskrit words. Here it takes the sound of ཁ (kha), so ཨ་ཥིའུ is read as “A-Qiu”. This unusual spelling represents the crow’s non-human cry, which we have rendered onomatopoeically.

[4] Banyag (pan yag) deliberately alters the earlier spelling ban nag. As Sarah Jacoby observes, pan nag can be understood as “bad or negative monk,” whereas pan yag suggests “good or virtuous monk.” Repeating the song in Gyalse’s presence, Sera Khandro thus disguises her earlier criticism as praise: “sorrow’s grove” becomes “joyful grove.” Although we have not translated “good monk” separately, this sense should be understood as part of the wordplay.

[5] The horse imagery is a veiled reference to Gyalse, who was born in the horse year.

[6] The text reads sos gsum, taken here as "the three summer months" (from sos ka, the warm season). The metaphor of unsettled, ever-changing weather holds whether one reads spring or summer.

[7] The "turquoise dragon" (g.yu 'brug) refers covertly to Sera Khandro herself, who was born in the dragon year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Source

Kunzang Dekyong Wangmo (Kun bzang bde skyong dbang mo). Dbus mo Bde ba’i rdo rje’i rnam thar. In Gsung ’bum, vol. 1 (pod dang po), pp. 196–197. BDRC MW1PD108254.

Secondary Sources

Jacoby, Sarah H. “Bennak.” The Treasury of Lives. Accessed 27 August 2026. https://treasuryoflives.org/institution/Bennak.

Jacoby, Sarah H. Love and Liberation: Autobiographical Writings of the Tibetan Buddhist Visionary Sera Khandro. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014

Jacoby, Sarah H. “Women and Wit in Tibetan Buddhist Literature.” Journal of Tibetan Literature 2, no. 1 (2023): 181–203. https://doi.org/10.58371/jtl.2023.52.