Song From The Mad Dharma Lion
Namo Guru Vajra Jnana Samudraya!
my teacher Diamond Wisdom Ocean,
The link to the teachings is intrinsic
& beyond limit & concept, simple,
the embodied dimension of what’s real
& the display of the five certain things is there:
the source, called teacher
the message, called teaching
the gathered beings, called students
the special place & the special time
there spontaneous & perfectly complete
the full sensual presence of what is
taming & balancing everything & everyone
I pay homage as the teacher.
the primal purity of this world & beyond is this dance,
for it bears the seal of wisdom,
& its afterglow blazes radiant with signs & marks,
& is completely wonderful,
kuntuzang : samantrabhadra
& yet there are no divisions, no differences, no multiplicity
& is the ruler of sublime forces,
ruling the infinite shape shifting energies—both calm &
& to this retinue of energies
the three portals to freedom
are the expanse of the (ava)dhuti, the great mother:
she birthed buddhas before now
& births buddhas presently
& she will birth buddhas after now,
for now comes the gathering of dakinis
one hundred thousand well endowed
with the best of everything
suffused with the aura of every holy place,
the essence of Jalendhara.
In the sovereign realm of warriors,
the secret lord, free from wordy scribbled ramblings
was brimming with the nectar essence of all sixty million
which he then transmitted as the three series & nine spaces
Intense Joy / Lord Garab, revealed the supreme path:
in sacred rolls of spiritual splendor
filled with the energy of compassion,
& this transmission & knowledge was then passed down
through the ages to scholars & sages
& has arrived just now, in the present,
as the cresting wave of oceanic wisdom.
Having all buddha’s wisdom in a tangible form is a
& the manifest beauty of this presence
showing what to renounce & realize,
& all the spiritual qualities, the deeds & practices
the wise, powerful & kind shower
graciously & spontaneously born as
the nobly arisen wisdom holder
the Lotus Born Lord : Padmasambhava,
your handsome presence elegantly manifest as
the crown jewel amongst mortals,
guiding them in these snow bound lands stirred with
From the pure ocean of natural space,
primal, simple, uncompounded
the melody holder Sarasvati,
she who has the music, she who is resplendent
the embodiment & wisdom of the buddhas,
arisen from the energy of visions & insight
many a wave of vajra song plays forth
it becomes part of her sportful dance
in the circle of sensuous delight.
I was blessed by my teachers
Yeshe Gyatso & Rigzin Chopel,
so that from the path of melodious song,
the abiding nature of which descended into my heart,
& their spirit fell into my heart & then
there issued forth [my songs]which I set down here,
my account of the journey along the profound freedom
recorded for those fortunate ones who will come along
things just are & in the space
of that great whirl, they can’t stop, they
keep happening, naturally:
visions & insights arising inside
fresh wisdom, that sweet smell
wafting everywhere, & like circling insects
they respond, smart & sensitive to the five inner centers,
they respond with the message:
it’s through arousal of that wisdom energy,
that the ways of this world & beyond come about:
it’s an echo, ungraspable,
it’s a fine tune, you chase the innate
the essence of song, if expressed,
the ear catches the sound of things,
& then there’s a link to visions & insights
vibrating back & forth, & that melody
is then drawn through the vase in the throat
& this is “melodic song”, this is it’s real meaning
with disgust & revulsion [for the pain of this world] i was determined to get out,
so i was drawn toward the sublime melodies,
the teachings of the compassionate one
& with prayers & songs of grief & longing,
this music of exhortation was at the core of what i felt
through visions & insights & prayers,
the genuine way of being develops
& these songs enhance & mature this natural state
& in this way what needs to be learned,
heartfelt advice is taken as the path,
which is carried by these melodious songs,
thought & awareness distinguished,
experience & insight are different:
when troubles are gone & fortune comes,
then there are happy time songs & so,
in accord with circumstance, there are various melodies:
for invocation & benediction & so on,
& the distinctions & nuances are beyond mental capture
like following the trail of thought,
for flighty & lazy types, there are songs urging wholesome
their wayward habits are thereby cleansed with strong
leading to the portal through which pure visions arise;
but for the brave & energetic,
you just show them the right path,
for when you’ve got the view,
when you have the experience,
At present we know very little about this Mad Dharma Lion from the East Tibet region of Kham. He seems to
have spent considerable time in Lhasa. Tulku Thondup informed me he probably died in 1890 in Lhasa, and Kyabje
Dudjom Rinpoche told me he had been a teacher of one of his own teachers in Lhasa. In addition to the collection of songs, he composed commentaries on Cho according to the Longchen Nyingtig tradition of Jigme Lingpa
(1730–1798), a number of works on medicine, and a small commentary on the practice of the tantric feast ritual
