To be constantly aware of death and impermanence, To become skilled in living by karmic law, To always wear Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as one’s crown
And thus close the door to lower rebirth:
Turning the mind toward Dharma like this, It is not so bad, really, as a way to go.
To see cyclic existence as a mountain of frustration,
To identify the root of suffering as ego-grasping,
To behold the gateway leading to final liberation
And, in order to gain that sublime state of freedom,
To intensely practice the three higher trainings of discipline, meditation and wisdom:
Walking this path leading to knowledge,
It is not so bad, really, as a way to go.
To view all beings as having once been one’s parents, To continually abide in love and compassion for all, To achieve maturity in cultivating the two bodhiminds— The conventional bodhimind of the bodhisattva attitude
And the ultimate bodhimind of wisdom of emptiness— And thus become skilled in method and wisdom combined:
This path for cultivating peerless enlightenment, It is not so bad, really, as a way to go.
To know the faults of grasping at true existence,
To perceive the nature of relativity in causation,
To see the emptiness level of all that occurs
And to experience the highest vision of being:
This is what it means to follow
The sublime path elucidated by Arya Nagarjuna.
It is not so bad, really, as a way to go.
To be ripened by the waters of the tantric initiations,
To understand the vast and profound tantric teachings
And then to cultivate the yogas of the two tantric stages
Whereby enlightenment is quickly and easily attained:
Holding buddhahood in the palm of one’s hand like this,
It is not so bad, really, as a way to go.
