Sunday, February 7, 2021

Recognizing my Mother - Cangkya Rölpai Dorjé - 075

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Recognizing my Mother  (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

-- Cangkya Rölpai Dorjé (1717-1786)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changkya_R%C3%B6lp%C3%A9_Dorj%C3%A9 

Please enjoy this verse by verse comparison of various English translations of
Cangkya Rölpai Dorjé's Recognizing My Mother, An Experiential Song on the View.

Via: Martin Dude - https://www.facebook.com/dorjeduck/posts/10157738104431714

Source: Verse by Verse - Comparison of English translations of Buddhist texts
https://justdharma.com/versebyverse/ 

List of translations (arbitrary order):

(Résumé: This story is about directly realising our true nature as it is here & now, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.

-- the young child is our awareness -- trying to find his lost mother,
  the awareness of his own true nature, of the true nature of Reality / Ground,
-- the brother is the 1st truth / dependent origination,
-- the father is the 2nd truth / emptiness of inherent existence,
-- the mother is our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.

The story / path: From confusion / ignorance, the brother / dependent origination (1st truth) <==> leads us to the father / emptiness of inherent existence (2nd truth) <==> which leads, when sought, to the mother / Ground / Reality (the Union of the Two Truths about all dharmas including the two truths themselves & the Ground itself; the Union of opposites; the Middle Way free from all extremes & middle). This is the Liberating Truth. First, through listening and study we get a firm conceptual understanding of it; then repeated contemplation of it; then direct realisation in meditation; and then gaining certainty through repeated meditative exercises (Union samatha <==> vipashyana).

The important point is that ‘emptiness’ doesn’t contradict / invalidate / exterminate ‘conventional / relative appearances’ (physical, conceptual, mental; subject, relation / action, object), concepts, dualities, theories, truths, methods, goals, conditioning / karma. 

After enlightenment, appearances (body, speech, mind; individual, collective, cosmic) are still conventionally dependently co-arisen and relatively functional. We are just fully aware of their true nature & dynamic while using them. and never fooled by them. So we return to the normal life, and act spontaneously (not conditioned by karma) with perfected bodhicitta (Union perfected compassion <==> perfected wisdom / emptiness). We are totally free, without any grasping / attachment.

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Note: For  few verses, there is significant divergence in the meaning between translations.
That is why having many translations is very helpful.
Thanks justdhama.com for this assemblage, and Martin Dude, alias Dorje Duck, to point it out.

My analysis and comments are from a Madhyamaka, Dzogchen or Mahamudra point of view.)

ཨེ་མ་ཧོ།

E ma ho !

E MA HO

Verse 1 - Oh my guru!

[T1] ༄༅། །ཟབ་མོ་རྟེན་འབྱུང་གི་དེ་ཉིད་ངོ་མཚར། །

ཇི་བཞིན་རྗེན་པ་རུ་སྟོན་པའི་བླ་མ། །

བཀའ་དྲིན་འཁོར་མེད་དེ་སྙིང་དབུས་བཞུགས་ཤིག །

གང་དྲན་ཐོལ་བྱུང་གི་ཚིག་གསུམ་སྨྲའོ། །

[T2] You who reveals bare the wonder

of profound dependent arising nature, (1st truth: conventionally dependently co-arisen relatively functional impermanent appearances, merely labelled / imputed / conceptualised by the mind) 

O my guru, your kindness is boundless indeed.

Kindly reside in my heart

as I utter these extemporaneous words

from the thoughts flashing in my mind.

[T3] The amazing true reality of profound dependent origination

Is demonstrated by the guru in a naked way, just as it is—

With your kindness unrepayable, please remain in my heart.

I will utter three spontaneous words on whatever comes to my mind.

[T4] (1) My master, kindness without compare

Imparts with total clarity
The wonderful truth of profound interdependence

May he forever remain within my heart

(5) I will say a few words extemporaneously

From whatever understanding is within my mind

[T5] My master, kindness without equal, reveals with total clarity

the wonderful truth of profound dependent arising.

May he remain forever within my heart.

I will say a few spontaneous words

of whatever arises within my mind.

Verse 2 - It is about directly realising our true nature as it is here & now, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.

ཨ་མ་རྒན་མོ་དེ་ཡུན་རིང་སྟོར་བའི། །

བུ་ཆུང་སྨྱོན་པ་ང་ཇི་ཞིག་ལྟར་ཏེ། །

ཨ་མ་དྲིན་ཅན་དེ་ལྷན་ཅིག་འདུག་པ། །

ངོ་མ་ཤེས་པ་དེ་ཤེས་ལ་ཁད་སྣང་ངོ་། །

This lunatic child (ignorant),

who lost his old mother long ago,

is about to realize coincidently

what he has not recognized:

That she has been with him all along! (i.e. Mother, our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle is present in everything.) (i.e. Recognising that he was ignorant of the true nature of Reality as it is here & now, of his own true nature - already present in him, of the true nature of the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

It seems that I, this crazy small child,

Who have lost my old mother for a long time,

Am about to realize, by sheer coincidence, my failure to recognize

That my kind mother has been with [me all along].

(7) I, a mad son (ignorant)

Was for so long without recognition

Of the presence of my mother 

Now, by good fortune it dawns upon me –

She has been with me all along
(Note - alternative interpretation from this translation’s commentary: “The mind that is steeped in ignorance and yields only skewed vision is known as the ‘self-grasping mind’. In lines 7-11 of Recognizing My Mother, the narrator tells of his failure to recognize the presence of his mother despite having her continuous company. The mother in Rolpa Dorje’s soliloquy is a metaphor for the self-grasping mind.  The self-grasping mind is not merely one that reaches for and clings to the notion of the individual self, but is the mind that believes that things exist as they appear. The mind that clings to notions of inherent existence, whether of the self or of phenomena is the self-grasping mind.”)

I, a mad and stupid son,

was for so long without my mother;

now by good fortune it dawns upon me,

she was with me all along,

and I did not recognise her.

Verse 3 - Everything in both samsara & nirvana -- good & bad -- comes from this Ground, is this ground, the Union of the Two Truths. Ignoring this we are fooled by appearances thinking they are inherently existing, with inherently existing characteristics / properties / qualities, and in real opposition / duality. That is part of the Ground too.

ཇོ་ཇོ་རྟེན་འབྱུང་དེས་ལྐོག་ཏུ་བསྙད་པས། །

ཡིན་ཡིན་མིན་མིན་དེ་ཨེ་ཡིན་སྙམ་མོ། །

གཟུང་འཛིན་སྣ་ཚོགས་འདི་ཨ་མའི་འཛུམ་བག །

སྐྱེ་འཆི་འཕོ་འགྱུར་འདི་ཨ་མའི་བརྫུན་ཚིག །

She is perhaps that “is” and “is not,” (2nd truth - emptiness of inherent existence free from all extremes & middle: not existence, not complete non-existence, not both together, not neither)

as told quietly by my brother, dependent arising. (i.e. Union of the Two Truths: One truth implies / proves / introduces the other (<==>).)

The diverse subject-object duality is my mother’s benign smile; (i.e. Everything in both samsara & nirvana -- good / pure or bad / impure -- is the display / manifestation of our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

this cycle of birth and death her deceptive words. (i.e. Appearances of samsara are illusory, suffering, but are from my mother? How could this be? It is because the Ground is empty of inherent existence, that it can manifest all of those empty-appearances -- good & bad from our ignorant point of view, and beyond all dualities from an enlightened point of view --. It is because of the third qualities of the Ground, its dynamism, its compassionate energy; because of the fact that one truth (emptiness) implies / supports the other (the spontaneous dependent generation of appearances which goal is to teach us the true nature of Reality).)

My elder brother—dependent origination—explains her in a hidden way,

So I think, “Isn’t it that being is nonbeing?”

These various kinds of perceiver and perceived are mother’s smiles,

While birth, death, and change are mother’s lies.

(12) My brother, dependent arising

Unprovoked, taught me still

And now a doubt has arisen within me

About the semblance of reality

Sometimes seeming true and other times not

(17) The internal and external world in its diversity

Is merely the exhibition of my mother’s face

Likewise, the changes of birth and death merely her lies;

My brother dependent arising

has taught this secret to me

so now it raises a doubt in me

if that really exists which sometimes seems there

and seems not there at other times

The inner and outer world in its variety

is but the smile of mother;

the changes of birth and death her lies;

Verse 4 - Dependent origination is the door to realising the inconceivable true nature of Reality

བསླུ་མེད་ཨ་མ་ཡིས་ཁོ་བོ་བསླུས་སོ། །

ཇོ་ཇོ་རྟེན་འབྱུང་དེས་སྐྱོབ་པར་རེའོ། །

རྣམ་པ་གཅིག་ཏུ་ན་ཨ་མ་རྒན་མོ། །

ཁོ་ནའི་དྲིན་གྱིས་ནི་གྲོལ་བར་རེ་སྟེ། །

My undeceiving mother (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle is the only thing that is unconditioned / permanent / truthful),
you have betrayed me! (everything else, its displays, are conditioned, impermanent, illusory -- how to reconcile the two?)

So, I hope to be saved by my brother, dependent arising. (i.e. The solution: Transmuting our ignorance into wisdom. Realising the 1st truth - dependent origination -- is the door to realising emptiness, and then the true nature of Reality as it is here & now, the Ground, the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths, the Union of the Ground and its displays.)

Yet it is ultimately through your kindness alone, O mother,

that I can hope to be freed.

I have been tricked by my undeceiving mother,

So I hope to be saved by my elder brother, dependent origination.

But from a certain perspective, it is through the kindness

Of my old mother alone that I can hope for liberation.

(17 - cnt’d) I have since come to know – Mother, you have continually deceived me

May my brother, dependent arising, protect me!

(22) In my past, I have expected old mother to provide complete liberation

undeceiving mother you deceive me,

my brother dependent arising will protect me, I hope

Ultimately, it is solely by the kindness of old mother

that freedom can be expected to be won,

Verse 5 -- All dualities / contradictions are solved by realising the true nature of the Ground and its inseparable displays

གཟུང་འཛིན་འདི་ཉིད་ཀོ་འདི་ལྟར་ཡིན་ན། །

དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བས་ཀྱང་སྐྱོབ་ཐབས་མི་འདུག །

འགྱུར་བ་སྣ་ཚོགས་འདི་འགྱུར་མེད་ཨ་མའི། །

རྣམ་འགྱུར་ཡིན་པས་ན་གྲོལ་རྒྱུ་འདུག་གོ །

If subject-object duality is as they seem to be,

then not even the buddhas of the three times can save us.

But this diversity of changes is in reality

my unchanging mother’s expressions.

(i.e. Everything in both samsara & nirvana -- good / pure or bad / impure -- is display / manifestation of our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

Hence there is indeed a way out.

If those perceivers and what they perceive were just as they are,

There is no way I could be saved even by the Victors of the three times!

But since these various changes are the expressive moods

Of my changeless mother, there is the chance for liberation.

(22 - cnt’d) But, if I myself remain under the deception of these appearances –

These convincing internal and external worlds created by her

Even the buddhas of the three times

Will have no way of protecting me

(27) These changes are mere false expressions of Mother

Freedom, therefore, is possible

for if the inner and outer were as inherently existent as they seem,

even buddhas of the past, present and future

would have no way to protect.

These changes are expressions

of forever unchanging mother;

freedom, therefore, exists.

Verse 6 - The solution is realising that the Ground is the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths, Union of opposites, Union of the Ground and its displays

ཅིར་ཡང་མ་གྲུབ་པའི་བརྗོད་མེད་ཨ་མའི། །

ཅིར་ཡང་བརྫུ་བ་ཡི་ཕར་བརྟེན་ཚུར་བརྟེན། །

འདི་ག་ཙམ་ཞིག་ལ་གོ་རྒྱུ་འདུག་གོ །

This inexpressible mother of mine (Ground),

not existing in any form appears in all forms (appearances).

(i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle, the self arisen unalterable eternal pristine basis of everything, is indescribable / inconceivable for our flawed conditioned conceptual dualistic mind(s). Still we use various concepts to point to it: ex. the concept of the Union of the Two Truths [U2T]; Union of dependent origination / appearance <==> and emptiness of inherent existence. One truth implies / support / proves the other (<==>). Those two truths are inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, equal / non-dual / one -- in the non-dual sense of those terms -- <==> thus/because those two truths are themselves empty of inherent existence.)

In this mutual dependence alone [Union of emptiness and form] [U2T],

there is an important lesson indeed.

My inexpressible mother, not established as anything whatsoever,

Deceptively manifesting as anything whatsoever, you lean back and forth—

Just this is to be understood.

(29) Considering these manifestations of my mother

Nothing exists as true and therefore expressible

Manifestations of any sort is in every aspect a mutual dependence

Comprehension of even this fragment carries us towards full realization

Not existing as anything,

my mother has to be understood as the mere inexpressible,

manifesting is in every aspect a mutual dependence;

just this is something to realize.

Verse 7 - Gradual path: The brother / dependent origination (1st truth) <==> leads to the father / emptiness (2nd truth) <==> which leads, when sought, to the mother / Ground / Reality (Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle). This is the Liberating Truth. So, like everything else, emptiness / father, is also unfindable when sought / empty of inherent existence. Union of the Two Truths about the two truths themselves: they are both empty of inherent existence (2nd truth) <==> because/thus inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony, equal / non-dual / one -- in the non-dual sense of those terms: ex. not existent, not non-existent, not both together, not neither; not different / separate / multiple / dual, not identical / united / one / non-dual, not both together, not neither; etc. Meaning their true nature is beyond all conceptual elaborations, beyond all extremes & middle, beyond all conditioning / karma.

ཕ་རྒན་བཙལ་བས་ནི་མ་རྙེད་པ་དེ། །

མ་རྒན་རྙེད་པ་ཁོ་ཡིན་པར་འདུག་པས། །

ཨ་མའི་པང་ནས་ནི་ཕ་རྒན་རྙེད་པས། །

ཕ་མ་དྲིན་ཅན་གྱིས་བུ་ང་སྐྱོབ་སྐད། །

Not finding my father when sought (i.e. not finding it / emptiness / anything ==> leads to realising its emptiness of inherent existence, or the true nature of Reality / Union of the Two Truths -- it applies to any object, and even to emptiness as an object sought)

is, in fact, the finding of my mother; (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

and my father is found on my mother’s lap! (i.e. Union mother <==> father. Union of the Two Truths.)

That’s how the kind parents save their child, I am told! (i.e. This is the liberating Truth, the Ground: the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths)

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(i.e. One should not grasp at mere-emptiness. That is not the end of the path. That would be nihilism. If you look for this emptiness / father,  you will not find it. Mere-emptiness is not the true nature of Reality / ground. The true nature of Reality / Ground is more like the inconceivable inseparability / interdependence / harmony / Union of the Two Truths: Union of conventionally dependently co-arisen relatively functional impermanent appearances, merely labelled / imputed / conceptualised by the mind (1st truth) <==> and emptiness of inherent existence (2nd truth). One truth implies the other (<==>). One alone is not enough. Mother and father, in the sense of Reality & emptiness are inseparable, in Union. The brother / dependent origination (1st truth) <==> leads to the father / emptiness (2nd truth) <==> which, when sought, leads to mother / the true nature of Reality / Ground / the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle. There are the gradual steps leading to enlightenment. So, enlightenment is not about rejecting the world, ordinary life, appearances -- body / physical, speech / conceptual, mind / mental fabrications; internal, external, between; subject, action, object -- but about self-liberating / purifying / transcending / transmuting them through the wisdom of awareness of their true nature & dynamic. After that we can still use them but without being fooled by them, without any agrasping / attachment, without becoming slaves to them.)

Not finding my old father by searching for him

Means nothing but finding my old mother.

Through spotting my old father on the lap of my mother,

I hear that I, their child, am protected by these kind parents.

(33) To search for my old father

And not to find him (i.e. emptiness of inherent existence of father / emptiness)

Is to find my old mother 

And in her lap I discover my old father (i.e. Union mother <==> father. Union of the Two Truths about the two truths themselves.)

My kind-hearted parents, protect your son!
(Note from this translation’s commentary: “His old father in this passage represents wisdom realizing emptiness. 

Searching for my old father

and not to find him

is to find my old mother

and in her lap I find my old father.

My kind-hearted parents protect their son!

Verse 8 - Like everything else, Mother, the Ground, the true nature of Reality, is also unfindable when sought / empty of inherent existence. Union of the Two Truths about the Ground and its displays: they are both empty of inherent existence (2nd truth) <==> because/thus inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony, equal / non-dual / one -- in the non-dual sense of those terms: ex. not existent, not non-existent, not both together, not neither; not different / separate / multiple / dual, not identical / united / one / non-dual, not both together, not neither; etc. Meaning their true nature is beyond all conceptual elaborations, beyond all extremes & middle, beyond all conditioning / karma.)

གཅིག་མིན་གཞན་མིན་གྱི་ཨ་མའི་བཞིན་རས། །

ཇོ་ཇོ་རྟེན་འབྱུང་གི་མེ་ལོང་ནང་ན། །

ཟིན་པ་མེད་ཚུལ་གྱིས་ཡོད་ཡོད་འདྲ་སྟེ། །

སྨྱོན་པ་ང་འདྲས་ནི་རྟོག་དཔྱོད་མ་ཞུགས། །

It seems that my mother’s face, (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

which is neither one nor multiple, (i.e. Not many, not one, not both together, not neither)

appears (T1) ungraspably (T2) on my brother’s mirror.

Yet a lunatic like me had no clue at all!

Being neither one nor other, the face of my mother

In the mirror of my elder brother, dependent origination,

In a way that cannot be grasped, seems to be so very present.

But lunatics like me lack the engagement to explore it.

(38) My mother’s face seems existent (1st truth)

Yet within the mirror of brother dependent arising it is evanescent (2nd truth) (Union of the Two Truths about Mother.)

Traceable with neither the attribute of oneness or otherness

And I, as dull as I am

Had never discerned this

Not one, not other,

my mother’s face – traceable with neither the attribute of oneness & otherness

and which seems existent is yet unfindable

when looked for in the mirror of brother dependent arising;

and I, as stupid as I am,

had never considered this.

Verse 9 - Thanks to those who have contributed to the clarification and transmission of this liberating Truth, our true nature, the inconceivable Ground / Reality as it is, free from all extremes & middle. Without them I may have never found it.

ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཟླ་གྲགས་ཀྱིས་ཞལ་ཆེམས་རླུང་བསྐུར། །

འཇམ་དཔལ་སྙིང་པོ་ཡིས་བྱ་ཅིག་བཏང་བས། །

ཐག་རིང་འཚོལ་བ་ཡི་དཀའ་ལས་བཤོལ་ནས། །

ལྷན་ཅིག་གནས་པ་ཡི་མ་རྒན་མཐོང་རེ། །

Nāgārjuna and Chandrakīrti sent

their instructions through the wind;

and Mañjuśrīgarbha (Je Tsongkhapa) sent these to us by a bird.

So, avoiding hardships of a long search,

I hope to see my ever-present old mother. (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

The legacy of Nagarjuna and Candrakırti has been entrusted to the wind

And a bird has been dispatched from Mañjushrı’s very heart —

Through that, I left behind the hardships of searching for my old mother far away

And hope to see her being right here with me.

(43) Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti

Bequeathed their legacies to the wind

Tsongkapa sent an expeditious bird to bare the message

And it is thus that I have hope in discovering

Without great toil, the faults of my old mother

Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti

left their legacies on the wind,

Manjugarbha has sent a bird

And stopped my effort of searching far and wide,

And expect to see my mother here with me.

Verse 10 - The danger of falling in the extreme of mere-emptiness, clinging to the concept of emptiness, worshiping emptiness, rejecting / demonising all appearances (physical, conceptual, mental), conventional concepts, theories, truths, methods & goals -- not realising that the two truths -- conventional / relative reality & ultimate reality / emptiness -- are not contrary / in opposition, but more like inseparable, interdependent, in harmony. The same for the danger of falling into the extreme of radical oneness / holism / monism, and rejecting any distinction between good and evil actions.

ད་ལྟ་རང་རེ་ཡི་བློ་གསལ་འགའ་ཞིག །

ཚུགས་ཐུབ་བདེན་གྲུབ་སོགས་བརྡ་ལ་ཞེན་པས། །

སྣང་བ་ལིངས་ལིངས་འདི་རང་སོར་བཞག་ནས། །

དགག་རྒྱུ་རྭ་ཅན་ཞིག་འཚོལ་བར་སྣང་སྟེ། །

There seem to be among today’s scholars

those who, being caught in the web of words—

“thoroughly withstanding,” “true existence,” etc.—

seek only something with horns to be negated,

while leaving intact this everyday solid appearance.

Nowadays, it seems that some of our very own great luminaries,

Through their obsession with terms such as “self-sufficiency” and “real existence,”

Leave quivering appearances intact in their own place

And then look for something with horns to be negated.

(48) In these times, some of our bright minds

So attached to nomenclature

Intone ‘self-sustaining’, ‘truly existent’, and more

And neglect this solidly existent appearance

Searching for another horned creature to refute

These days some of our bright minds,

so attached to terminology,

‘self-sustaining’, ‘truly existent’ and so on,

ignore this solid appearance

and search for another horned creature to refute.

Verse 11 - The Ground should not be merely conceptually dualistically understood as an opposition between the two truths -- relative reality / appearances & ultimate reality / emptiness --, but directly realised as the inconceivable inseparability / interdependence / harmony / Union of the Two Truths. Grasping at / getting attached / becoming slaves to either of the two truths, or at both of them together, or at a neither of them (at a cosmic something or nothingness), is still grasping at one extreme or another, and necessarily leads to more conditioning / karma and suffering. The Ground / true nature of Reality is inconceivable, beyond all conceptual proliferations, beyond all extremes & middle.Words are useful but, like fire, it could burn if we are not careful enough.

སྒྲིབ་བྲལ་ཨ་མ་ཡི་བཞིན་རས་དེ་ན། །

ལང་ལང་ལིང་ལིང་འདི་ཡོད་སྐད་མི་འདུག །

གནད་འགགས་མ་ཕིགས་པའི་བཤད་བཤད་མང་ཀྱང་། །

ཨ་མ་རྒན་མོ་དེ་བྲོས་དོགས་འདུག་གོ །

But on my mother’s unveiled face (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

such vivid dualism (opposition between the two truths) is not found, I believe!

Through excessive discussions off the mark,

my old mother is likely to run away!

In the unveiled face of my mother,

There is not a word about these fluctuating, quivering [appearances] being existent.

So they may well ramble on with their many explanations that fail to hit the essential point,

But I am afraid this old mother will just run away from them.

(53) Upon the unveiled face of mother

No trace of this solid appearance is evident

If too many words are invoked in explanation

Without penetrating this subtle point

I suspect old mother may abscond

On the unveiled face of mother,

no trace of this solid appearance seems to exist

Without penetrating this subtle point,

you may explain and explain,

but old mother might flee elsewhere.

Verse 12 - In Reality apparent opposites of any duality / triad / quads / etc. are not really in opposition / contradictory; opposites are always more like inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony .. (1st truth) <==> thus/because empty of inherent existence (2nd truth). This also applies to the two truths themselves. So it is never about accepting one side / truth and rejecting the other side / truth, or vice versa, or about accepting both sides / truths, or rejecting both sides / truths. It is about the Middle Way free from all extremes & middle, free from those four extreme positions. It is about transcending the opposition / duality / triad / qua / etc. by directly realising the true nature & dynamic of the opposites and their relation: inseparability, interdependence, co-definition, co-relativity, co-dependence, co-emergence, co-evolution, co-cessation / co-transcendence, harmony ...

ཡོད་ཞིག་ཡོད་མོད་ཀྱང་ད་ལྟའི་དེ་འདྲའི། །

རོང་རོང་འགལ་འདུ་ཅན་ཡིན་ཚོད་མི་སྣང་། །

ཕ་མ་མཛའ་གཅུགས་ཀྱི་འབྲལ་མེད་བག་ཕེབས། །

འཇམ་འཇམ་སྐྱིད་སྐྱིད་ཅིག་ཡིན་པར་སྣང་ངོ་། །

Things exist, though not in this mode

of brute facts of discordant dichotomies.

For the inseparable bond of our loving parents

seems that of tenderness and joy (i.e. not opposition but Union).

[Appearances] indeed have a certain existence,

But they do not appear in such a black-and-white fashion like now —

My father’s and mother’s perfect harmony, inseparable great ease,

Appears to be so much gentle happiness.

(58) That which exists, of course exists

But not in the way as this upright contradiction

Mother and father

Inseparable in their harmony

Are at ease – happy and at peace

That which exists of course exists

but not in the way as this: erect and upright with contradiction

yet mother and father, inseparable in their harmony,

are at ease, happy and at peace.

Verses 13-14 - Answering to objectors and proponents of other systems, or other interpretations of the dharma:
First, mere names & theories, extremist views, cannot get to the essence of the true nature of Reality / Ground; it has to be directly perceived / realised / abided in.

བྱེ་མདོ་རྣམ་རིག་དང་ཤར་གསུམ་མཁན་པོས། །

ཨ་མ་གླང་ཆེན་གྱི་ཐལ་དཀར་གཟུགས་ལ། །

བེམ་པོ་འཛུམ་རིས་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་སྟག་ཁྲ་བོ། །

འཛིན་པ་ཀླད་མེད་ཀྱི་སྤྲེའུ་སྨྱོན་པ། །

གཉིས་མེད་ཚུགས་ཐུབ་ཀྱི་དོམ་བུ་ངར་མའི། །

ཐ་སྙད་སྣ་ཚོགས་ཤིག་འདོགས་པར་བྱེད་ཀྱང་། །

ཨ་མ་རྒན་མོ་དེ་སྟོར་ནས་འདུག་གོ །

Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Vijñānavāda,

and the three Eastern masters, though label

this mother, limestone-like white elephant,

with names so divergent: “external matter,” a beaming tiger!

“an intrinsic subject,” a crazy brainless monkey!

“inherently existing nondual nature,” a ferocious bear!

Yet they all seemed to have lost the old mother. (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

For the Vaibhaskas, Sautrantikas, and the Vijñapti[vadins], as well as the three eastern panditas,

Our mother, who has the form of [Indra’s] divine white elephant,

Is matter — as if she were a tiger with its colorful patterns;

The apprehender — as if she were a brainless, crazy monkey;

And self-sufficient nonduality — as if she were a wild bear!

They lay all kinds of such conventional terms on her,

But they just keep losing this old mother.

(63) Followers of the Specifics, followers of Sutra

Mind Only School, Three Scholars of the East –

(65) They try and harness the great white form of mother elephant

With the mere striped tiger-thread of matter

Becoming like mindless and aggravated monkeys

Or else, employing an army of words, they bind her with many a name

To the wild bear of self-sustaining existence without duality

But they have made of her such schisms that mother elephant is lost entirely

Followers of Vaibashika, Followers of Sutrantika,

Mind Only School, Three Scholars of the East,

they ascribe the great white form of mother elephant

to the striped tiger of matter with its painted smile,

or to the brainless monkey of consciousness

or to the wild bear of self sustaining existence of non-duality

They label her with many a name

but they have shattered away the old mother.

Verses 15-16 - Even within highly respected Buddhist Traditions there are people / teachers grasping at their extremist dualistic concepts, views, methods & goals; accepting / affirming / seeking / doing this, while rejecting / negating / abandoning / not-doing that; grasping at the finger pointing at the moon, thinking this It. It is Ok to use various adapted skillful means on the path, but not to grasp at them as if existing inherently / independently / universally / absolutely, not to get attached to them, not to become slave to them, and try to impose them to others through intimidation or force.

ས་རྙིང་ཀར་འབྲུག་གི་མཁས་གྲུབ་མང་པོས། །

གསལ་སྟོང་འཛིན་མེད་ཀྱི་རང་གི་རིག་པ། །

ཀ་དག་ལྷུན་གྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཀུན་བཟང་རང་ཞལ། །

མ་བཅོས་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ། །

ཡོད་མིན་མེད་མིན་གྱི་ཁས་བླང་བྲལ་སོགས། །

སྣ་ཚོགས་ཐ་སྙད་ཀྱི་ཞལ་ཕོ་སྒྲོགས་ཀྱང་། །

གཤིས་ལུགས་ཐིགས་པོ་ཞིག་ཡིན་ན་ལེགས་ཏེ། །

མཛུབ་མོ་འཛུགས་ས་དེ་ཅི་ཞིག་ཡིན་ཨང་། །

Likewise, many scholars and meditators

amidst Sakya, Nyingma, Karma and Drukpa,

pride themselves in diverse terminology:

“reflexive awareness,” subject-free, empty, and luminous;

“primordial purity and spontaneity,” Samantabhadra’s true face;

“mahāmudrā,” the uncontrived innate nature;

“neither is nor is not,” devoid of any standpoint.

It is all well if the target is hit;

but I wonder what you are all pointing at!

Many scholars and siddhas of the Sakya, Nyingma, Kargyü, and Drugba

[Call her] lucid and empty self-awareness without fixation,

Samantabhadra’s own face of alpha-pure spontaneous presence,

Uncontrived, connate Mahamudra,

And freedom from claims—being neither existent nor nonexistent.

They loudly proclaim all kinds of such conventional terms,

But that’s fine, if they refer to the heart-drop of the fundamental nature—

I just wonder what it is their fingers point to!

(71) Many scholars and meditators of the Sakya,

Nyingma, Karma Kagyu, and Drugpa Kagyu

Proudly promulgate their terms and locutions

Talking of a self-knowing consciousness

Comprised of the union of ungraspable clarity and emptiness

Of the primordially pure and spontaneous face of Samantrabhadra,

Of the uncreated, innate Mahamudra

They talk of being free from asserting existence or non-existence and so on

(79) And if they are on target, it is good and well

But I wonder at what they are pointing?

Many scholars and meditators of the Sakya,

Nyingma, Karma Kagyu and Drugpa Kagyutalk of a self-knowing consciousness of ungraspable clarity and emptiness,

of the primordially pure, spontaneous face of Samantrabhadra,

of the uncreated, innate Mahamudra,

of being free from asserting existence or non-existence, and so on.

Proudly you proclaim your terminology,

and if it is on target, good,

but I wonder what you are pointing at.

Verse 17 - Don’t worry. Although everything is empty of inherent existence <==> everything is still conventionally dependently co-arisen relatively functional. So there is nothing to accept / affirm / seek / do / add in absolute terms, nothing to reject / negate / abandon / not-do / subtract in absolute terms, just conventionally / relatively / inter-subjectively if it helps someone to get closer to the liberating Truth. This is the Middle Way free from all extremes & middle.

ཕྱི་དོན་མ་བཤིག་པས་བློ་ཚུབ་མི་དགོས། །

དོན་སྨྲ་སྡེ་གཉིས་རྣམས་དགྱེས་དགྱེས་མཛོད་ཅིག །

རང་རིག་མ་ཡིན་ཀྱང་ཚད་གཞལ་འཐད་པས། །

རྣམ་རིག་སྨྲ་བ་ཀུན་དགྱེས་དགྱེས་མཛོད་ཅིག །

རང་མཚན་མ་གྲུབ་ཀྱང་རྟེན་འབྲེལ་བཀྲ་བས། །

ཤར་གསུམ་མཁན་པོ་ཀུན་དགྱེས་དགྱེས་མཛོད་ཅིག །

As external matter is not dismantled;

Vaibhāṣika and Sautrāntikas, worry not and be pleased. (i.e. it is not about rejecting conventional reality / the world)

Though no self-cognition (subject), cognition (relation / action) and cognized (object) is tenable;

all Vijñānavādins, do be pleased. (i.e. It is about directly realising the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths about the three spheres -- subject, relation / action, object --: they are empty of inherent existence (2nd truth) <==> because /thus inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony, equal / non-dual / one in the non-dual sense of those terms … One truth implies the other (<==>). The three spheres are not existent, not non-existent, not  both together, not neither; not different / separate / multiple / dual, not identical / united / one / non-dual, not both together, not neither. So there is nothing to accept … nothing to rejects ... )

Though no intrinsic nature (2nd truth), dependent arising remains stark (1st truth);

O three Eastern masters, do be pleased as well.

Without destroying outer objects, you don’t need to be upset —

You two parties who propound real objects, just be joyful!

There is no self-awareness, but valid cognition’s evaluation is still justified,

So all you Vijñaptivadins, just be joyful!

(81) No need to be anxious,

As external phenomena are not annihilated

Be happy you believers in external phenomena

(84) Though there is no consciousness

Cognition can be validly established

So be happy you followers of Mind Only

(87) Phenomena do not exist by their own nature

Yet there is this diversity of dependent arisings

Be happy you Three Scholars of the East

No need to be anxious,

external phenomena are not destroyed,

be happy you the two believers in external phenomena.

There is no consciousness knowing itself

but valid still is the concept of cognition and its object,

so be happy you followers of Mind Only.

Phenomena do not exist by their own characteristics,

yet there is this variety of dependent arising.

Be happy you Three Scholars of the East.

Verse 18 - Don’t worry. Realising the Ground, the Union of the Two Truths, doesn’t deny conventional concepts, dualities, truths, methods, goals, actions, karma. In fact the two truths -- conventional / relative reality & ultimate reality -- are in harmony, one supports the other. Although everything is empty or inherent existence, everything is still relatively existent and functional. The world continues to turn. Continue to chop wood and carry water.

གསལ་སྟོང་མི་འགལ་བས་བཟུང་ཀྱང་ཆོག་གི །

སློབ་བཤད་རྒྱུད་འཛིན་རྣམས་དོགས་ཆུང་མི་དགོས། །

ཀ་ནས་དག་ན་ཡང་བཟང་ངན་འཐད་པས། །

རིག་འཛིན་ཞིག་པོ་རྣམས་བཟང་ཞེན་མི་དགོས། །

As clarity and emptiness can be held without conflict,

upholders of pupil-instruction, be not apprehensive.

Though primordially pure, good and bad are feasible,

knowledge-bearers, you need not grasp at purity.

Not established through specific characteristics, dependent origination still vividly blooms,

So all you panditas of the eastern tradition, just be joyful!

Since lucid and empty are not contrary, it’s sufficient to just sustain that,

So you lineage holders of “the guiding instructions” don’t need to worry about a thing!

(90) There is no trespass in holding the still clarity

Of interdependence’s multiplicity

As non-contradictory

Put away even your slightest suspicions

Upholders of the student instruction lineage

(95) All may be well primordially pure

But even still good and bad exist

Do not cling to purity Knowledge Bearers

It is alright to hold clarity and emptiness

as non-contradictory,

put away your slightest of suspicion

upholders of the student instruction lineage.

All may be primordially pure

but good and bad exist,

do not cling to purity Knowledge Bearers.

Verse 19 - Stop fighting! Just relax! Let it be! Be fully present here & now and you will see!

བཅོས་ནས་བསྒོམ་ན་ཡང་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་འཆར་བས། །

རྟོག་ལྡན་རྒན་པོ་རྣམས་ཨུ་ཚུགས་མི་དགོས། །

ཡོད་མེད་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་དེ་ཁས་བླང་ཆོག་པས། །

རྟོག་གེ་མགོ་མཁྲེགས་རྣམས་ཚབ་ཚུབ་མ་བྱེད། །

Since the innate nature can dawn

even through meditation that is contrived,

elderly meditators, you need not be persistent.

Since one can uphold the absence of elaboration

of existence and nonexistence,

stubborn logicians, you need not fret.

Though being alpha-pure, good and bad are still justified,

So you smashing awareness-holders don’t need to hang on to what’s good!

Even if you meditate with contrivance, the connate will dawn,

So you seasoned realized ones don’t need to be pushy!

It is sufficient to accept the freedom from the reference points of existence and nonexistence,

So you hardheaded dialecticians, don’t go helter-skelter!

(98) Though meditated with effort and contrivance

The innate realization will still occur

No need for such insistence

You old Togden meditators

(102) There is no violation in asserting the non-elaborations

Of existence and non-existence

Do not fret you stubborn logicians

Though meditated with effort and contrivance

the innate will yet still arise;

no need to be so insistent

you old Togden meditators

It is alright to assert the non-elaborations

of existence and non-existence;

do not fret you hard-headed logicians.

Verse 20 - It is ok to use conventional / relative concepts, dualities, truths, methods, goals, actions … but never forget their true nature & dynamic as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths. Everything appears and is relatively functional, but everything is still empty of inherent existence; so there is nothing to grasp / fear, get attached to, become slave to, bet our shirt or life on it. That is why proper study, contemplation and understanding are necessary, otherwise our meditation might lead us to one extreme or another, and be more harmful than helpful.

འོན་ཀྱང་གཞུང་ལུགས་ལ་སྦྱངས་པ་ཆུང་རྣམས། །

ཐ་སྙད་སྦྱོར་ཚུལ་ཞིག་མ་མཁྱེན་ཡིན་སྲིད། །

ཁོ་བོ་ཁྱེད་ཅག་ལ་མི་གུས་མ་ལགས། །

ཕོག་ཐུག་བྱུང་ན་ནི་བཟོད་པར་མཛོད་ཅིག །

All of this evolved perhaps due to

not knowing how to use conventions

by some lacking in extensive study.

It is not that I have no respect for you.

Do forgive me, if I cause offence.

However, it is possible that those with little learning in scriptural traditions

Do not know some ways of applying conventional terms.

It is not that I don’t have respect for you,

So if you have become irritated, please forgive me.

(105) However it is possible that these little obfuscations

May be attributable to those who, being ill-versed in scripture,

Are thus strangers to the terminology

I intend no disrespect

Forgive me if I have offended

However, it is possible that this has come about

because those not well versed in scripture

are not familiar with the terminology.

I mean no disrespect to you,

Forgive me if I have offended.

Verse 21 - Prayer of aspiration - hope this is helpful for/to you as it is for/to me

ཁོ་བོ་ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཤར་པོ་མིན་ཡང་། །

ཕ་མེས་གཞུང་ལུགས་ཀྱི་རྟ་ཕོ་བཟང་པོ། །

རྟག་སྦྱོར་གུས་སྦྱོར་གྱིས་བཞོན་ཚུལ་མཁས་པས། །

གཅིག་རྡུགས་འཕྲང་ལས་ནི་ཐར་བར་རེའོ། །

Though I am not an omniscient,

I do possess expertise in riding

the well-bred horse of my ancestors’ works.

And through enduring and dedicated striving,

I hope to ride through the difficult passage.

I am not the all-knowing youthful one,

But through constant and respectful exertion, I am skilled in the way of riding

The excellent stallion of the scriptural tradition of my forefathers,

So I hope to be liberated from this single obstructing, narrow passage.

(110) I mean not to maintain omniscience or even knowledge

It is with diligence and perseverance as my coaches

That I am a well-trained equestrian

And riding the noble stallion of my ancestors’ lineage

I am imbued with hope that I will be delivered

From the dual chasms that line either side of this precipice

I am not a young know-it-all

but I ride the noble stallion of my ancestors’ lineage.

With diligence and perseverance

I became skilled in riding

and be delivered with hope from this frightening precipice path.

Verse 22 - This Liberating Truth / Ground is inconceivable, beyond all extremes & middle, beyond all concepts and dualities: like: true / right & false / wrong, good / pure & bad / impure, something / existence & nothing / non-existence, difference & identity, many & one, relative & absolute, samsara & nirvana, acceptation & rejection, affirmation & negation, action & non-action, thinking & non-thinking, conceptualisation & non-conceptualisation, discrimination & non-discrimination.

འཚོལ་དགོས་མི་འདུག་སྟེ་འཚོལ་མཁན་རང་ཡིན། །

བདེན་པར་མི་ཞེན་ཏེ་བརྫུན་པ་ཉིད་ཡིན། །

བརྫུན་པ་མི་འགོག་སྟེ་བདེན་པ་རང་ཡིན། །

ཆད་མིན་རྟག་མིན་ལ་ངལ་གསོས་ཆོག་གོ །

No search is required, for the seeker is it.

Never grasp as true, for it is false. (i.e. nothing to accept / affirm / seek / do / add in absolute terms)

Yet shun not this falsity, for it is the truth. (i.e nothing to reject / negate / abandon / not-do / subtract in absolute terms)

And we can rest in this [truth],

which is neither nothing nor absolute.

There is no need for searching, it’s the searcher itself.

Don’t cling to something real, it’s just delusive.

Don’t block delusiveness, it’s reality itself.

Neither extinct nor permanent, all you have to do is rest at ease.

(116) No need to search, for this corporeality is enough

And search as I may, I am still an ostensible searcher

Do not cling to things as real for they are not

But do not condemn the false for they are what they are

Take rest! Be released from oblivion and eternity

No need to search for it is the searcher himself,

do not cling to things as real for they are false

but do not abdicate or refute the false for it is truth itself.

Take rest in freedom from nihilism and eternalism

Verse 23 - Although a direct realisation is ultimately necessary, there are still many benefits from a mere conceptual understanding of our true nature, of the true nature of Reality as it is here & now, of the Union of the Two Truths, of the Union of opposites, of the Union of the Ground and its displays.

ཨ་མ་མ་མཐོང་ཀྱང་མིང་ཙམ་ཞིག་གིས། །

ཕ་མ་དྲིན་ཅན་དེ་ཡུན་རིང་སྟོར་བ། །

གན་ན་འདུག་པ་བཞིན་འཕྲད་པར་སྣང་གི །

Though I may not see my mother directly, (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

through [hearing] their mere names I feel

that I’ve just found my long-lost kind parents,

as if they are right here next to where I am.

Though I didn’t see my mother, just through some names,

[Now] it seems I meet my kind parents lost for so long,

As if they were right here in front of me.

(121) I have mistakenly estranged my kind parents

By naming them distinctly

Infinitesimally, my vision begins to clear

And mother and father become reconciled

Thanks to my kind teachers

I have not seen my mother

but by just their names

it is as if my kind and long lost parents

are here standing before me.

Verse 24 - Gratitude to the lineage

ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཡབ་སྲས་དེ་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེའོ ། །

བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ་དེ་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེའོ ། །

དྲིན་ཅན་བླ་མ་དེ་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེའོ ། །

བཀའ་དྲིན་གཟོ་ཐབས་སུ་ཨ་མ་མཆོད་དོ། །

Great indeed is the kindness of Nāgārjuna and his heirs.

Great indeed is the kindness of Losang Drakpa,

Great indeed is the kindness of my guru.

To repay their kindness, I will honor my mother. (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

Great is the kindness of father Nagarjuna and his heirs.

Great is the kindness of Lobsang Tragba.

Great is the kindness of the benevolent gurus.

As a means to repay their kindness, I supplicate my mother.

(128) Nagarjuna and his followers, so kind!

Lobsang Dragpa, so kind!

My dear lamas, so kind!

In gratitude I perform the puja of mother

Nagarjuna and his followers, so kind!

Lobsang Dragpa, so kind!

My kind lamas, so kind!

In return I perform the puja of mother

Verse 25 - Bodhicitta Vow

སྐྱེ་མེད་བརྗོད་བྲལ་གྱི་ཨ་མ་རྒན་མོས། །

རིག་པའི་བུ་ཆུང་དང་ལྷན་ཅིག་འཛོམ་ནས། །

ཀུན་བཟང་སྤྱོད་པ་ཡི་དགའ་སྟོན་ཆེན་པོས། །

མ་རྒན་འགྲོ་བ་ཀུན་གཏན་བདེར་འཁྲིད་དོ། །

By the joyous celebration of all noble deeds,

through the meeting of the young child of awareness

with his unborn and inexpressible aging mother, (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.)

may all mother beings be led to lasting joy.

Once the small child of my awareness has met

With its unborn and inexpressible mother,

Through the great feast of the conduct of Samantabhadra,

I will lead all beings, my previous mothers, to lasting bliss.

(130) I pray that my unborn inexpressible old mother

Unites with her little child of the mind

And with a great festival of Bodhisattva deeds

Leads all beings to everlasting happiness

I pray that my unborn inexpressible old mother

comes together with her little child of the mind

and with a great festival of Bodhisattva deeds

leads all beings to everlasting happiness.

Verse 26 - Homage to the three inseparable Jewels

ཨེ་མ་ལ་རོལ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ། །

ཨ་འོ་ལ་སྐྱིད་པའི་རྐང་བྲོ། །

འོ་ན་ལ་འདི་རུ་བརྡུངས་ནས། །

ཨ་ཧོ་ཡ་དཀོན་མཆོག་མཆོད་དོ།། །།

Ah! I, Rölpai Dorjé

perform here right now

a dance of ecstatic joy

to honor the Three Jewels.

E MA LA, I, Rölpé Dorje,

A O LA, dancing here,

O NA LA, this enraptured dance,

A HO YA, pay homage to the [three] jewels.

(134) Ema! I Rolpa Dorje dance with great joy

Aho-la! In this very place – a puja for the Three Jewels

Ah yes! Rolpa Dorje

dances for joy.

Ah yes! In this very place,

puja for the Three Jewels.

Colophon

ཞེས་ཨ་མ་ངོ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་བརྫུན་ཚིག་བྲག་ཆའི་སྒྲ་དབྱངས་འདི་ཡང་དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་ལ་ལྷག་པར་མོས་པའི་ལྕང་སྐྱ་རོལ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེས་སྤྲུལ་པའི་གནས་མཆོག་རི་བོ་རྩེ་ལྔར་སྨྲས་པའི་ཡི་གེ་པ་ནི་དགེ་སློང་དགེ་ལེགས་ནམ་མཁའོ།། །།

These few deceptive lines describing the recognition of my mother (i.e. Our true nature, the Ground of Reality / Suchness / Dharmata / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness as pointed by the concept of the Union of the Two Truths free from all extremes & middle.) entitled “The Melodies of an Echo” have been written by Cangkya Rölpai Dorjé, someone who has deep admiration in the great Middle Way, on the miraculous holy site of Wutaishan (Five-Peaked Mountain). Scribed by Gelong Geleg Namkha.

These lines of Recognizing My Mother—the melody of an echo — were uttered by Janggya Rölpé Dorje, who is extremely dedicated to Great Madhyamaka, on the Five-Peaked Mountain, a supreme place of emanation. The scribe was the monk Geleg Namka. May there be virtue!

This untrue echo of a song entitled ‘Recognizing My Mother’ was composed by Chankya Rolpa Dorje, someone with great devotion to the Madhyamika, at the second place known as the Five Mountain Peaks. The scribe was the monk Gelek Namkha.I received teachings on Recognizing My Mother from Geshe Namgyal Wang

This untrue echo of a song entitled ‘Getting to Know Mother’ was composed by Chankya

Rolpa Dorje, someone with great faith in the Madhyamika, at the sacred place known as

the Five Mountain Peaks. The scribe was by the monk Gelek Namkha.

Remarks

Translated by Thupten Jinpa and first published in Songs of Spiritual Experience: Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight and Awakening (Boston: Shambhala, 2000); translation revised in January, 2021.

I received teachings on Recognizing My Mother from Geshe Namgyal Wangchen 12 at the Drepung Loseling Monastery in south India in June of 2003. It was a most undeserved and wonderful privilege to share many dialogues with Geshe Wangchen. It is with the humble hope of strengthening my tenuous comprehension of all that my teachers have imparted that I endeavor to write this commentary on Rolpa Dorje’s profound text. May an ocean of compassion and wisdom wash across the universe of sentient beings and may I someday be of service to all who suffer.

Translated into English by Gavin Kilty 1998

Edited by Geshe Dorje Domdul 2003


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