In the year of the Water dog, Lama Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso visited Gaden Monastery. Inspired by the extraordinary vibration pervading the place and filled with marvel at the strength and kindness of Omniscient Lord Tsongkhapa, who had founded Gaden, His Holiness Kalzang Gyatso was moved to write this song.
Above, in actuality pristine awareness
Manifest as a radiant Buddha mandala,
The pure land of Tushita, the Joyous Abode
Blessed by Buddhas past, present and future.
Mountains of herbs blanketed in sweet aromas,
Flowers blossoming morning, noon and night,
A forest of trees with turquoise leaves:
Reminders of the splendid body of Je Rinpoche.
The murmur of a river swiftly flowing,
The stirring songs of birds,
The majestic sound of a Dharma teaching:
Reminders of the gentle voice of Je Rinpoche.
The blue sky freely hovering,
Clear, white clouds scattered abstractly,
The young sun casting beams everywhere:
The wisdom, compassion and power of Je Rinpoche.
Body adorned with the marks of a Buddha,
Speech raining down vast and profound Dharma,
Mind seeing all things in the sphere of clear light:
I recollect Je Rinpoche, Lobsang Drakpa.
Fulfill your vow to benefit beings;
Descend, grant protection and power.
To you I offer an ocean of all-good things.
Enjoy them within your great bliss.
On the Mighty Nomad Mountain, quiet, easy,
A land made pure with goodness and strength,
Stands your Gaden Monastery, prophesied by Buddha:
A monastery producing limitless Awakened Ones.
Your mind on Bliss and Void inseparable,
The flow of events appeared as a rainbow.
One body sends endless clouds of emanations
To set this world ablaze with joy.
Your profound teachings bridging Sutra and Tantra
Are jewels for those truly seeking liberation.
Even the words you used are perfect,
Nakedly pointing the way for the ripe.
O Je Lama, because of your infinite kindness
We can understand all Sutras and Tantras as precepts,
Can see the entire path leading to perfection
And can correct all delusions and mistaken concepts.
O Master, merely hearing legends of your deeds
Can place a man on the enlightening path;
With thoughts of your greatness, with heart
Trembling, I fix mind upon you.
Invisible father gone to Bliss,
Listen to this plaintive song
Of a boy still in Samsara’s quicksands,
Of an ill-fated son cut from his Refuge.
In terms of external appearances,
A monk is easily proud of his robes,
But if his thoughts fall only on the transient
Are his lusts not worse than a layman’s?
The masses revel in black actions
And through evil gain their ends.
Flashes of a degenerate age
Crash in the depths of my heart.
How glamorous and exciting to go
Through the motions of practising Dharma,
And to hear the profound teachings;
But the mind, hard as wood, is slow to change.
The spirit, weak and uncontrolled,
Staggers under the three psychic poisons
Whenever an object appears to it:
A golden vessel filled with urine
Precious humanity, the chance to be a Buddha;
But we create only misery with it
And throw away all hope of actually
Benefitting either ourselves or others.
I, born so late, unfortunate,
Pass my time amid negativity and confusion.
Father Lama, look upon me;
Hold me with hooks of compassion.
In this life, the bardo and future lives,
Pray, be my guide.
My Refuge, forsake me not.
Omniscient One, be with me always.
Care for all beings as a mother for her son.
Spiritual Father, to us who are children,
Reveal visibly the mandala of your body
Magnificent with every mark of perfection.
Bestow upon us the oral teachings
Which render every experience meaningful.
Bless us to make our minds at one taste
With great bliss and unapprehendable wisdom.
Life is impermanent like the setting sun.
Wealth is like dew on morning grass,
Praise is like wind in a mountain pass,
A youthful body is an autumn flower.
Bless me to understand the shortcomings
Of constantly turning on the wheel of becoming
And to fix the depths of my mind
On the path leading to ultimate knowledge.
Bestow upon me transforming powers to fill
My mental continuum with love and compassion,
To see the beings of Samsara’s six realms
As mothers who have forever helped me.
Bestow upon me transforming powers
Quickly to realize the way things are,
To understand images viewed by the mind
As paintings created by the mind itself.
Help me attain Enlightenment in this very life
Through the yogic methods of Tantra’s two stages,
To see external events as the sport of Buddhas
And the mind as satiated with Bliss and Emptiness.
And when, to fight delusion, meditation’s enemy,
I retreat to a cave on a distant mountain,
A place to give birth to serenity and joy,
Bless me to penetrate the innermost profundity.
Grant me powers swiftly to annihilate
All inner and outer negative forces,
And power to cleanse the stains of having dwelt
Far from the limits of Dharma’s three bonds.
O Manjushri, who reveals himself magically
In peaceful, wrathful and protective forms,
May your auspicious deeds reach fruition
And you remain a constant Refuge to the world.
Bestow upon me the powerful blessings
Of your mysterious body, speech and mind,
That my every physical, verbal and mental
Movement may benefit beings and the teachings.
May the thunder of the Sutras and Tantras shake the earth,
May the sun of Tsongkhapa’s “Practice Lineage” rage,
May all practitioners attain the power
And all sentient beings realize their wishes.
