[hannah]

This spiritual poem is said to be composed by the Fifth Dalai Lama. I felt grateful to have a chance to read this, hence wanting to share it here. Unfortunately my language skill is not good enough to translate the poem to Vietnamese, in a way that would do it justice. Hopefully somebody skillful will be inspired enough to take this task someday.

“Meypa! To hear the melodious sounds of Dharma
From the mouth of a qualified spiritual master,
And to listen thus with an ear unobstructed
By the faults of being an immature vessel,
Arouses the store of creative energy
Developed over many aeons.

This Dharma lineage possessing four great qualities,
The heart essence of all the Buddhist masters
Who appeared in India and also in Tibet,”
Is a medicine beneficial to all living beings,
A magic elixir, a path most rare to find.

O fortunate ones who take up this supreme way
By means of listening, contemplation and meditation,
Extend your vision beyond the insignificant things
That benefit this one short life alone;
Instill the mind with a sense of firm detachment
And look to the enduring treasures of the spirit.

Find yourself a hermitage large enough for just one person
On a high mountain far from human habitation,
A dwelling fenced by meadows, forests and flowers,
With your shadow as your only companion.
The laughing sounds of running water
And the gentle chatter of wild deer:
These are the only sounds you need hear.
Then there is no chatter born from the three delusions
To act as a thorn to meditation.

Living like this in solitary retreat,
Wearing simple clothing and eating whatever comes,
One avoids the faults of a deceptive life.
All activities of body, speech and mind
Gradually produce only positive energy
And one arrives at the peak of aspirations
To accomplish the very highest of goals.

Meypa! We see as most kind the person
Who helps those harmed by the great enemy poverty
By giving them food, drink, clothing or other things;
Yet how immeasurably kind is the spiritual teacher
Who places the jewel of eternal inner peace
And knowledge in the palm of our hand,
Thus delivering us to freedom from all the countless fears
And pains found throughout the three worlds?

Even the state of mere nirvana is rare,
So how much more so that of final buddhahood?
What then of the embodiments of the buddhas
Who guide us to that most rare of attainments?
Should we not show them supreme consideration?
And when faults do appear in their deeds,
Should we not merely regard these
As projections of our own imperfect mind?

The root of spiritual fulfillment is simple enough:
Cultivate pure perception of your spiritual teachers;
Cultivate the pure attitude that practices as instructed;
And cultivate the key of making every moment essential.

Meypa! In many past lives we have owned and enjoyed
All the various worldly possessions and glories,
But still we are bereft of inner peace.
O foolish mind, you see this, and yet you continue to hold
Food, wealth and possessions as essential.

In past lives and even right now
The eight worldly concerns have held great sway,
Like a ghost in the heart, causing us to see
Some things as white, some as black, and some as gray.
Misery is mistaken for pleasure and excitement,
And higher goals are tossed away on the wind.

This precious human life, a boat that can carry us
To eternal happiness and higher knowledge,
Has this one time been gained.
If we do not use it now to travel
To the jewel island of enlightenment,
And instead allow ourselves to die empty-handed,
Are not the very veins of our heart corrupt?

Meypa! This life is driven by karma and delusion,
And is pointed at death from the very moment of birth.
It veers not from this course for even one moment.
What is more foolish than ignoring this fact?
Death does not wait for a particular day, month or year,
Nor care if its prey is young, mature or old.
Intellectually we accept this, but somehow we nonetheless
Place the time of our own death far away in our mind.
O you with eyes to see, why are you so blind?
We miss what would be truly beneficial to us
And instead chase after what is of limited benefit.
But beware: When death comes you must leave all behind
And alone enter into the treacherous hereafter.

Meypa! Then those who during their lives mainly created
Negative karma and harmful deeds
Are drawn into iron houses filled with fire and flame,
With heat so intense that every sense seems on fire;
Or they fall into rivers of blood,
And are cut, chopped and crushed.
To know this and yet not be apprehensive:
Has not a demon captured your heart?

Others driven by negative karma find themselves
In dark fields of ice whipped by freezing winds,
The instruments of torture freezing to the touch.
Their bodies become so cold that they break and shatter
Into hundreds and thousands of tiny freezing pieces.

Right now we find even a small pain unbearable;
Should we not then look now to the cause
Of the terrible miseries of lower rebirth,
Which is the inner enemy, our own negative karma?
And should we not cultivate the ways of transcendence?
Those who see this and do not swoon with passion,
Are they not made of mindless stone?

Right now we make many efforts merely to acquire
The things that benefit this short life alone,
Such as food and drink; and we endure many hardships for them.
Why then not now take up the effort to attain
The state of final spiritual liberation, that benefits forever?
Why not face the hardships whereby the sufferings
Of a hundred million lifetimes are left behind?

But no! You do not make the effort to arouse
Even one goosebump of concern
For this great abyss that falls to terror,
And instead, O foolish mind, you dedicate your genius
To the vain pursuit of the eight worldly concerns.

Meypa! This unstable human life is brief as lightning;
Why squander it in vain pursuits
Such as social status and petty indulgences?
Better instead to use it to discover
The place of safety from unbearable samsaric pain.

That haven is refuge in the Three Unfailing Jewels,
The buddhas, Dharma and sangha, for these point the way
To highest happiness and liberation.
Be delighted that you have met with them,
For that meeting is a product of much good karma
Generated over millions of past lives.

Previously in this and in previous lifetimes
We experienced untold dissatisfaction and pain
Because of our inner forces of negativity.
Is that not enough? Arouse the inner force of the heart
Determined to use wisely whatever remains of this life,
And to establish the basis of higher being forever.

Meypa! Blinded by the thick cataracts of ignorance
We know not what to cultivate nor what to avoid.
We clean our face and clothing with great care,
But forget to clean up our inner life.
Most people pass their life gathering
Ephemeral possessions that soon will be lost.

They exert great effort and endure hardships for them,
Yet these things are like traces left by a bird in flight,
Or like images drawn on flowing water.
The worldly norms of harming enemies and protecting loved ones
Are like the pains and pleasures experienced in a dream.

When we pass our life in the eight worldly concerns,
All our works just become more fuel for the hells.
Perhaps it is reasonable that an ignorant fool
Would give his or her life to such meaningless pursuits;
But how tragic when those who know of enlightenment do so
And throw ultimate aims to the wind!

Kah yeyl The seeds that are planted in spring
Bring an according harvest in fall.
In the same way, white and black karmic deeds
Produce according results of happiness and pain.
Contemplate this basic spiritual principle
And draw it into every aspect of your life.

Take up the practice of karmic purification
By means of the four opponent forces:
The power of invoking the Three Supreme Jewels;
The power of regretting karmic wrongs that were done;
The determination to transcend negative ways;
and The practice of specific spiritual remedies.
These four uproot the forces of negative karma
That have ruled us for long as instincts from within.


Meypa! After lying for months in darkness in the womb,
With slush and slime embracing us on every side,
We must face the terrible pain of our birth.
Then for a moment we have a body blossoming with youth;
But soon hair and eyebrows turn white as snow,
Our physical radiance becomes dark as night,
And our posture, once so straight, bends like a bow.
Death presses upon us, and the objects of the senses
Lose all of their appeal.

Medicines, divinations, prayers and rituals:
Nothing helps, and life’s power
Fades faster with every passing day.
Eventually the mere sight of us upsets the minds
Of even our nearest and dearest of friends.
This is a call from the messengers of death.

At the present moment this mind seems inseparable
From the perishable aggregate known as the body;
But soon a corpse will lie on a deathbed,
And the mind will travel on alone
Into the treacherous path of the hereafter.

We never want to meet with unpleasantries,
But unpleasant experiences fall like rain;
And we carefully collect friends and possessions,
Yet they scatter like clouds into all directions.

The body may enjoy the glories of a god,
But the mind experiences the sufferings of the hells;
And when the signs of death befall a god,
Even a heart made of iron can shatter.
Just like a bird flying in the sky
Must eventually come back down to earth,
We may climb to the top of the world,
But again we must return.
Even the gods of sun and moon can fall
And descend to realms of darkness,
If they are bereft of transcendental wisdom.
When this is the case, has the time not come then for you
To reverse the momentum of the cycle?

Meypa! In countless lives since time without beginning
We traveled with delusion and called it a friend.
It has never left us even for a moment,
Following us through every realm of rebirth.
But when it is stirred by the wind of negative karma,
Delusion gives rise to waves of pain.
Ah, cyclic patterns that just go on forever!
Observe them, and see delusion as the foe.
A soldier who overcomes an ordinary enemy in battle
Has a sense of accomplishment and feels like a hero.
Would it not be good, then, to become a true hero
By conquering delusion, the enemy within?

We have now attained an auspicious human life
And learned the key points of the three higher trainings.
Thus we hold now in our very hands the power
To destroy the sources of suffering from within.
If we do not act now before death strikes us down,
Then alas, again and again will the cycles of suffering prevail.

Meypa! A seed of karma and delusion is planted
On the mindstream in a previous life.
When activated by desire and craving,
It becomes the force creating a future life.
When an aggregate conditioned by name and form
Adorned by the elements and sensory spheres
Experiences contact and sensation with the sensory objects,
The circles of samsaric birth, aging and death ensue.
In this way the mode of cause and effect operates
Through the twelve links of dependent arising,
And the world of samsara comes into play.
Would it not be good to reverse the process?

Meypa! Pure self-discipline is the earth in which to plant the seed;
A mind made strong with meditative power is
The moisture and nutrient to be used;
And the wisdom of insight is the sun that ripens the crop.
In this way one’s spiritual path matures,
Producing an inner harvest that utterly eradicates
Every semblance of spiritual poverty.

When one makes careful awareness the guard at the gate,
Focuses clearly with the thousand eyes of meditative absorption
And throws the hundred point diamond scepter
Of wisdom that understands the non-self nature,
One guts the monster of misconstruing the world.
Therefore plant the wish-fulfilling tree of the three higher trainings
In the very center of your cluttered, busy life.
The hot flames of misery will be unable to touch it,
And it will grow into a rich and beautiful garden
Producing everlasting happiness and the highest of joys.

Meypa! However, to climb up the jeweled ladder
Of the precious three higher trainings
In order to escape the ocean of worldly sufferings
And then enter the mansion of personal nirvana oneself
While ignoring the plight of all other sentient beings,
What could be more shameless?

All have been your kind mother in a past life,
Yet they are locked in the terrible prison of samsara,
Are weakened, and they cry out in pain.
Meditate on all others as having been
A kind mother to you in many past lives,
And arouse the strong wind of love and compassion.
Use this to sail the boat of universal responsibility
That carries the weight of benefiting all living beings,
And travel directly to the jewel isle of omniscience.

For untrained people, those who behave with enmity
Are like a sharp thorn pricking at the heart.
Train yourself in the great patience born
From exchanging self-cherishing for universal love.
One uproots the mind of partiality that sees some people
As friends, others as strangers and still others as foes,
And learns to see all as friends, relatives and loved ones.

Transcend the mind that holds self above others
And with the key of meeting harms with goodness
Open the door that releases spontaneous accomplishment
Of beneficial happiness to both self and others.
Fulfilling both at once in this way,
Ah, what a marvelous miracle.

Meypa! The bitter tastes of hardships and difficulties
Are but sources of warmth to ripen the seeds
Of your own inner strength and understanding.
The approach taken by the aryas of the three ways
Is to face the sharp weapons of difficult people and situations
With an attitude that sees those who harm
As having been your kind parent in a previous life.
Drink the nectar of compassion for them;
Rely on the indestructible universal mind.

Accomplished bodhisattvas are rare as sky flowers,
The Mahayana path is vast as the sky,
And the teachings of the sages of India and Tibet
Are as deep as the deepest of oceans.

However, these days most teachers’ wisdom
Is as thin as dry grass,
And most students’ minds are as dark as the night.
Therefore we have to proceed with care
In using the fingers of the enlightenment teachings
To untie the hard-to-untie knots at the heart.
Listen closely to the treasury of instructions
And gain an inexhaustible source of knowledge.

Meypa! Arouse the mind of fierce generosity
And dedicate all to the benefit of the world,
To the living beings of unrepayable kindness.
One instantly gains an inexhaustible treasure
And plants the seeds of the highest of joys.
The perennial stress of being in need
Is not something that falls on oneself alone,
For every living being is prone to it.
The generous mind automatically arises
When one contemplates this simple truth,
And contemplates how all have been a mother to you.
Because of karma collected in the past,
The present situation is as it is
(With myself having surplus and another a lack).
Therefore, with the aspiration to benefit all others,
I should practice the paramita of sublime generosity.

Meypa! In the garden of this precious human life,
The wish-fullfilling tree is the three types of discipline.
It is laden with the weight of nirvana’s rich harvest
And drips with the juice of a hundred joyful tastes.
Although generosity practiced for countless ages
Brings happiness and prosperity here and hereafter,
We must combine it with the practice of self-discipline
In order to ensure rebirth as a human or a god,
And thus continue along the enlightenment path.

The chariot of this human life we have gained
When driven carelessly gets stuck in the mud.
If we do not maintain it well through self-discipline
And use it to ride to the plateau of eternal joy,
Surely its driver is a demon.

Meypa! The valley forests of positive karma
That were built up over many past lives
Are easily destroyed by the terrible fires
Of a single burst of anger,
Piling burned stumps of negative energy
Right up to the top of the world.

Indeed, a source of great suffering is the mind
Unable to calmly face difficult people.
The steady stream of rocky results that strike us
Have fallen down from the mountain of our own bad karma.
Why put the blame on somebody else?
Should those locked in the prison of samsara
Not use the experiences to eliminate the cause?
Who could criticize such a response?
We are at war with the very source of our sufferings;
We should wear the strong armor of the patient mind
That cannot be penetrated by any sharp weapon,
Neither physical blows nor harsh, cruel words.
It is a most marvelous method; and in the end,
It carries us to nirvana itself.

Meypa! The tastes of the pleasures that are gained
From sloth, excessive sleep and mental lassitude
Are useless distractions bringing no fulfillment,
No matter how much one indulges in them,
Like drinking salt water to quench a thirst.
Joyous effort, on the other hand, brings Great success in every field.
For example, a soldier who makes great effort
May prevail over another who is stronger than he;
His enthusiasm gives him the edge.
Thus to bring a weak mind to the task
Of accomplishing buddhahood is a mistake.

Appreciate the brief nature of human life
And strike with the iron of the paramita
Of joyous effort, that does not waste a single day,
But dedicates every moment to the task
Of Dharma practice, that produces eternal joy.
Doing that, one most certainly will travel
To the precious land of highest liberation.

Meypa! Look at the faults of the five obstructions
To the attainment of meditative absorption
And behold the benefits of applying the eight remedies;
Cultivate the nine stages of shamatha, or meditative focus,
And give rise to a state of samadhi that is
Blissful, luminous and beyond conceptuality.
Familiarity with the practice of meditation
Can quieten the activity of the coarse delusions
And give rise to a sense of great bliss.

However, persistence in the application soon reveals
The mundane nature of this level of attainment.
Some get stuck in the bliss, and do not achieve
Even a common level of samadhi,
But nonetheless claim to have attained
Buddhahood itself, beyond samsara and nirvana.
They should take a look inside themselves.
The scriptures state that the attainment of samadhi
Is the key to clairvoyance and miracle powers.
But hoping to gain these without making the effort,
Just feeding one’s belly and basking in the sun,
Is like trying to get oil by pressing on a stone.

Kyema! In the past one’s mind has been indulgent and lazy,
And one’s precious human life lost to empty pursuits.
Go now to a place far from the crowds
And delight in the practice of meditation.
When meditative bliss pervades both body and mind,
It is a simple matter to make every moment spiritual.
When this crucial point is achieved,
Famed buddhahood is not far away.

Meypa! The cataracts of the dense darkness of confusion
Obscure knowledge of the nature of the self;
We mistakenly place “I” somewhere on body and mind,
Like a snake seen in the dark is mistaken for a rope.
All misery and suffering that exists
Arises on the basis of this colossal error.
Misapprehending the nature of the self,
The magician’s creations are mistaken as real,
Like the pleasures and pains experienced in a dream.

Thus one chases after the illusions of the mind
And distorts experience of everything in the world.
Ah, the problems that arise when ignorance prevails!
No matter how much we search we never will find
Even a hint of this much-cherished “I”,
Just as a bird in flight leaves no trace.
In the end the search leads to the void,
Giving rise to the wisdom that directly perceives
The emptiness nature primordially there.

It also gives rise to knowledge of how
Even though all things lack true self-nature,
On the conventional level all things nonetheless
Operate as illusions and magical creations
In accordance with the infallible laws of cause and effect;
Both the pain of the fires of the deepest hells
And the pleasures experienced by humans and gods
Manifest in reliance on their individual karmic causes.

From the beginning everything is mere emptiness;
The conventional status of things is created
Simply by the process of labels and names.
This is the crux of the Middle View,
And, realizing it, one gives rise to a wisdom
That is like a sharp sword that cuts the chains of misapprehension
Of the nature of self, as well as its offspring,
The delusions and afflicted emotions, and the karma they support.

Even though this wisdom is the one path
Traversed by all who achieve aryaship in any tradition,
These days there are many so-called “lineage holders”
Who lack any true experience of it.
Their words on the subject are utterly useless,
Like measurements made in the dark.
However, there are also numerous qualified masters
Who speak from the sphere of authentic realization
When they teach this profound aspect of truth.
When I think of them I am filled with joy
And send out clouds of devotion from my heart.

Meypa! With joyous energy empowering one’s heart
And spontaneous wisdom driving the mind,
One engages in these profound six paramitas
And travels to the peak of personal perfection.
Then, in order to be of benefit to others,
One avoids attachment to personal bliss and nirvana
And engages in the four ways to ripen others’ minds,
Releasing a steady stream of all-white deeds
That flows with the waters of eight excellent qualities.
Like the garuda eagle with its two strong wings
That flies in the sky high over the world,
Spread the wings of method and wisdom
And fly high over both samsara and nirvana;
Travel now to the land of the three Buddhakayas.”

Excerpt From: “Glenn H. Mullin - The fourteen Dalai Lamas  a sacred legacy of reincarnation”.