Words of Wisdom 13

January 2023

Rinpoche at the Drubthab Kuntu empowerments and teachings, Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö Institute, India, October 2022. Photo courtesy Cielo Croci.

Invocation

Dewdrop, lamp, phantom, rainbow, oasis,

Such is my life and the lives of others –

I surrender to this truth.

To the one who spoke this truth,

The Prince of the Shakyas

I offer my adoration.

To all those who take this truth to heart,

I offer my allegiance.

With determination, I remind myself:

No emotion, just peace,

No ignorance, just awareness,

No anxiety, just serenity,

No weakness, just strength,

No fear, just tranquillity.

With this attitude and free from doubt,

I alone will liberate the world’s living creatures,

Plants, water and atmosphere.

Appearances are deceptive, I shall mistrust them.

Nothingness is just a point of view, I shall not get entangled in it.

Living beings are, by nature, stainless, I shall treasure that stainlessness.

Reality is the bait, I shall not be lured into conformity.

Only in darkness can I see light,

Only in mud can I find a lotus,

Only in defilements can I see Buddha.

Humbly, without a trace of hypocrisy,

I solemnly promise all living beings

That from this day forward,

I will never abandon you.

Wherever you are, may I always be beside you.

Past is now, future is now,

Now is an illusion,

Illusion is luminous.

Such boundlessness is mind:

Other than mind, there is no Buddha.

I beseech you, O Mind!

May I be free from death, old age and sickness.

May I be free from ideas and opinions,

May I be free from time,

May I be free from space,

And may I free all others from their limitations.

Written in response to a number of requests, on the last day of the tumultuous year of 2022, by one on whose five aggregates the label ‘Khyentse Norbu’ has been adhered.

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