Saturday, April 06, 2013

Ornate, detailed, and wonderfully decorated spires of Buddhist Shrines, roof, pilgrimage, downtown Bangkok, Thailand, 1993

Apply the Antidote: A Melody of Experience

Namo Gurubhya:

You didn’t apply anything to your own mental condition,
Now,
No matter what you do,
You have no time to be happy with your mind.

You didn’t recognize that Dharmas are just your mind.
You didn’t believe that designations are just a bunch of names
For the delusions you perceive.
Now you have the name of “Beggar,”
And there is no one who thinks about you.

Resting in equanimity and the things that follow it
Are paths to enlightenment.
Every path is actually the Mahamudra.

You didn’t recognize that food is ambrosia.
You grew up buying and tossing out good and bad food.
You didn’t believe the real food would ever appear.
Now you are a beggar working hard for food,
And no one looks after you.

You are nourished by any food that falls into your mouth.
All this food is actually the Mahamudra.

You didn’t recognize that what you were looking at was a book.
You never finished with conventionalities.
You didn’t believe the words or the writings in the scriptures.
Now you are a beggar,
And no one tells you about the scriptures.

Every word of the holy instructions
Holds something for the person meant to receive it.
Everything they say is actually the Mahamudra.

You didn’t recognize that your mind is the master of Samsara and Nirvana.
You missed the student groups in Ngari.
You didn’t believe that people could steal your attention over there.
Now you are an unaffiliated beggar,
And there is no one to look after you.

These are six things that you think about after the fact.
They support your enlightenment.
All of them are actually the Mahamudra.

This Melody on the Six Things that are Actually the Mahamudra
Is something I sing when I feel sad.
I sing it in my mind to deal with adversity.

This is a song by Jetsun Rinpoche.

WORDS OF THE SAKYA MASTERS
Translation from the Tibetan by Chris Wilkinson

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