He (Drime Özer) accompanied us for a short distance. When the moment came to part, I was overcome with suffering, as though I were journeying to the land of death. Yet there was nothing I could do, and so I sang this foolish song:

Master of the dance

Of innate awareness and great bliss,

Appearing in bodily form

As the embodiment of skilful means,

My heart’s jewel, Pema LedrelTsal![1]

Once we were together,

Never apart for even an instant,

You revealed a joyful smile

And bestowed solace through your words;

Through your wisdom mind,

You showered down a rain

Of whatever Dharma I desired.

When method and wisdom mingled in one taste[2]

Upon the seat of bliss and emptiness,

Our joy was beyond imagining,

Like the bliss of a celestial realm.

Never did the thought of parting from you, my hero,

So much as enter my mind.

Yet driven by the force

Of karmic connections formed in lives gone by,

I must depart for a while

To another realm, unseen.

My mind is seized by sorrow,

As though I were already

In the Lord of Death’s realm.

Yet through the compassionate aspirations

Of Padmasambhava and his consort,

And through the pure samaya and love we share

As method and wisdom,

I pray that before long,

I may behold your face once again.

COLOPHON

None

NOTES

[1] Pema Ledrel Tsal (pad+ma las 'brel rtsal) is a name Sera Khandro commonly uses for Drime Özer (1881–1924), her principal teacher and tantric consort. She regarded him as an incarnation of the earlier treasure revealer Pema Ledrel Tsal, who revealed the Khandro Nyingtik cycle and was himself considered a former incarnation of Longchenpa.

[2] This stanza refers to karmamudrā (las kyi phyag rgya).

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.378-379. BDRC MW1PD108254.

Secondary Source

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