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Book
Contents
Foreward by the Ninth Traleg Kyabgön Rinpoche
Translator’s Introduction
Songs and Instructions
Prophecy
Recollection of Previous Births
Relics
A Rain of Blessings
Notes
Tibetan Text
Acknowledgements
Resources
Book
Excerpts
The
Glorious Guru
NAMO
GURU.
To Vajradhara, the sixth buddha and lord of all families;
To glorious guru Karmapa, indivisible from him;
And to his activity, renowned as Nyima Tashi,
I bow with devotion.
Motivated by bodhichitta, I will set forth here
Merely the smallest particle of the glorious mountain
Of his garland of lives, profound and secret,
Born from the splendid ocean of the three accumulations.
The glorious guru Nyima Tashi, the guide of the whole world, the
holy source of refuge for the three realms, the one like a precious
wish-fulfilling jewel, the peerless torch dispelling the darkness
of all four continents and the subcontinents, realized the meaning
of emptiness. He mastered mahamudra. While remaining for many years
in one-pointed, sealed retreat he examined his channels and winds.
As a sign of his mastery of the channels, winds, and drops he recollected
one hundred and eighty births. He therefore became known as “the
one who remembers one hundred and eighty births.”
He once wrote, “Many births ago, at the time of the great
sage Shakyaraja, Ananda displayed innumerable emanations. These
included innumerable emanations of Vajrapani. In order to display
miracles, Ananda emanated me. At that time I was known as Vajrapani
Uchaya Stalk of Secret Mantra.”
Beginning with that birth, he extensively described his recollections
of each of his lives up to his birth as Nyima Tashi, including astonishing
accounts of his assistance of beings and his great compassion. This
all comprised an entire wondrous volume. He also wrote an account
comprising slightly more than thirty folios. Unfortunately, a wicked
attendant said to him, “Since you never described your great
qualities in such detail while your hair was still black, why do
it now that your hair is white?”
Nyima Tashi replied, “Oh! You’re right!” He then
burnt the manuscripts of his accounts in a fire that was ablaze
before him. He did this because of that attendant’s unfortunate
remark.
Then the guru thought, “I know that my impermanent body is
soon to be destroyed.”
He announced, “I will not remain here! It’s time for
me to go to Sukhavati!”
Practice
Holy Dharma Immediately
Because
Nyima Tashi sang that song, his nephews said, “If you will
not remain and must go, please bestow instructions on all assembled
here.” In response, the guru sang this:
Lord, all buddhas of the three times embodied as one,
Beings’ protector, glorious and supreme guru,
Kind essence of the three jewels:
I pray that you protect me, lord guru.
Even a seemingly pleasant, pleasant home
Is abandoned and destroyed when away, away you go.
Even seemingly loving, loving relatives
Cry in anguish when your breath comes to a sudden, sudden stop.
Although nice, nice talk is diverting,
It won’t reoccur, reoccur. This hurts us.
Although through this attachment to your beautiful, beautiful body
You adorn it with fine, fine jewelry,
When your circulation comes to a harsh, harsh end,
No matter how many loving, loving relatives surround you,
You will be caught by terrifying, terrifying Death.
With bulging, bulging eyes you’ll gaze at his face.
With a quivering, quivering body you’ll wail.
If you don’t practice holy dharma immediately, immediately,
Your life will be wasted by a distracted, distracted mind.
You will be stuck again and again in the box of samsara.
Stuck again, again; circling again, again!
Although it seems hard, so hard, apply yourself to virtue.
Although it seems miserable, so miserable at the time, practice
austerity.
Although it’s easy, so easy, abandon wrongdoing.
Although it seems like a nice, nice place, abandon samsara.
Your head will be covered only by white, white hair.
Your frail, frail form will be covered by wrinkles.
Your bent, bent body will lean on a cane.
Your timid, timid mind will be unable to do anything.
Those things that seemed delightful, so delightful at the time,
Will become sources of delight, such delight for others.
Shaking, shaking, you’ll go alone without the ability to take
The slightest, slightest amount of your wealth with you.
Again and again think of death in your heart.
Practice divine dharma of certain, certain benefit.
Pray to the guru with a loud, loud voice.
Put everything into anguished, anguished devotion.
Give up plans for successful success in this life.
These vivid, vivid external appearances
Appear to exist, exist, but are like dreams.
These various distinct, distinct sounds
Are loud, loud emptiness like an echo.
In this mind that is aware and aware of various things,
Whatever arises and arises is awareness-display beyond intellect.
It is good for the mind to search for itself: its self-nature.
I have sung these truth-like stanzas of truth,
As they appeared fleetingly, fleetingly in my mind.
If they seem correctly correct, consider them.
If these words are pretty, so pretty, sing them.
If they seem not, not at all, cast them behind you.
Although I see no great, great meaning in
This babbling speech formed like formal verse
I have sung it like the repetitive, repetitive speech of a parrot.
Those verses employing duplication were composed at Garuda Fortress.
Nyima Tashi's Final Instructions
Then
Nyima Tashi gave his final instructions, containing advice for this
life and the next, to chieftains, ministers, leaders, fathers, uncles,
sons, mothers, aunts, and maidens:
EMAHO!
In the vast sky of the view, mahamudra,
Is the great perfection, like a rainbow in that sky.
This mind-in-itself, luminosity that pervades all samsara and nirvana,
Is like a never-setting sun without fluctuation in its brilliance.
I salute and praise the precious Kagyu.
I, Nyima Tashi, the culmination of the awareness
Embodied in Saltong Shogom’s series of births,
See clearly in the state of dharmakaya
Whatever arises in your minds, good or bad.
Let your minds not be lost in doubt, worthy disciples. Listen.
In these evil dregs of time renunciates and laypeople, the powerful
and the weak,
All the men and women in the whole country,
Fail to know their place. Their ambitions are sky-high.
Don’t be like that. It’s the wrong way to act.
All of us gathered here, both men and women,
Are getting closer and closer to death with the passing of each
year,
Closer and closer to death with the passing of each month,
Closer and closer to death with the passing of each day.
Men and women in this abyss of samsara,
There is no time to do lots of good and evil.
Even if you do a lot, it is self-deception.
Don’t do a lot. Think about dharma.
After this life there will be the next. Keep this in mind.
On the road out of this life
None of your family will be of the slightest help.
They will hurt you.
They will weep torrential tears of blood.
They will drive you over a precipice with their crying.
Survivors of the dying,
Don’t cry and rain down torrents of tears.
All sentient beings, high and low,
Lose their physical bodies to impermanence.
What good is a lot of crying then?
All this wailing and crying
Causes the dying to become more attached and bewildered.
The sound of loud crying is no help.
It can cause the dying to fall into hell.
Don’t wail and cry.
All you men and women, high and low,
Keep this in mind.
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