KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY

THE SARAHA OF TIBET:

HOW MGUR SHAPED THE LEGACY OF LINGCHEN

REPA, TIBETAN SIDDHA

by
BENJAMIN EWING

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

in Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology

Center for Buddhist Studies at rangjung Yeshe Insititute

Kathmandu University, Nepal

Under the supervision of Dr. James Gentry

Boudha, Kathmandu

January 2017
Abstract

This thesis investigates the songs (mgur) of Lingrepa (gLing ras pa pad ma rdo rje, 1128-

1188) contained in Grub thob gling ras kyi rnam mgur mthong ba don ldan (GT), a biography

written by Lhatsun Rinchen Namgyal (Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal, 1473-1557). It argues that

these songs play an important role in characterizing the legacy of Lingrepa and, through him, the

foundation of the larger Kagyu sect. Through both their content and their significance as a potent

literary trope, these songs connect Lingrepa to the philosophy and antinomian ideals of the

Indian siddhas and Tibetan yogis of the past, promoting a vision of the wandering, ascetic yogin

as the idealized Buddhist practitioner. This thesis contributes the understanding of the

narratological function and literary significance of song in Tibetan hagiography and specifically,

in the literary project initiated by Tsangnyon Heruka. This thesis also provides the first English

translations of the songs of this important master.

2
Contents

I. Acknowledgements 4

II. Introduction 5

-The Life of Lingrepa 15

-The Textual Life of GT 21

- Context of GT’s Production 23

-Song as a Rhetorical Trope 28

-Inside the Text 34

-Conclusion 45

III.Translation 49

IV. Appendix 1 121

V. Bibliography 173

3
Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. James Gentry for suggesting I look at the early Drukpa masters

and their songs when I came to him with a vague idea of a thesis topic, and for his invaluable

feedback throughout the process of writing this paper. I am also grateful for the patient support

and attention Catherine Dalton gave to my early attempts at these translations. I would have been

completely lost with most of these translations without the help of Tenzin Phuntsok of Rangjung

Yeshe Institute. I would also like to thank Khenpo Shedup Tenzin of Shri Gautam Buddha

Vihara in Kathmandu, Nepal, who provided me with my first copy of Lingrepa’s songs. Also,

many thanks to Drs. Michaela Clemente, Jim Rheingans, Marta Sernesi and Dan Martin for their

expertise and willingness to help a struggling MA student they had never met.

4
Introduction

At least since the time of the famous Tibetan saint Milarepa, a genre of Tibetan folksong

known as mgur has been used to express the inexpressible. These songs, which could just as

easily be called poems, are said to arise spontaneously from a state of rapture. Like many other

lyrical religious traditions across the globe, Tibetan mgur pair profound spiritual realization with

an every-day, popular style that could be heard in markets, in monasteries, or among groups of

renunciate meditators in the mountains. Given that Tibetan society was largely illiterate, and the

general public would have had limited access to Buddhist scriptural texts, the appeal of the

repetitive, easily-remembered mgur is understandable. Song, as a form, rendered religion

accessible to the public in a society where education and textual knowledge were reserved

primarily for the monastic elite. For Milarepa and the generations of practitioners that followed,

such songs were not only an effective way to transmit their teachings, but also became a

testament to the singer’s level of accomplishment. Yet Milarepa’s songs are alive today not only

as part of an oral tradition, but, most famously, as the result of a massive 15th and 16th century

literary project that printed the biographies and songs of some of Tibet’s most famous saints.

How, then, did mgur, with orality and spontaneity as central elements of its appeal, become a

5
literary genre? How, moreover, do mgur function in the life stories of their singer-saints? In this

thesis, I will attempt to address this set of issues by translating songs contained in a biography of

the famous Tibetan yogi, Lingrepa Pema Dorje1 and analyzing their roles within the narrative of

his life story. My broader goal is to shed some light on the roles these songs play as a literary

trope within the Tibetan imaginaire.

While it is a decidedly Tibetan genre, mgur, in many ways, is the Tibetan heir to the

Indian dohā famously sung by great mahāsiddhas such as Saraha and Tilopa. Around the turn of

the first millennium, these masters of tantric Buddhism wandered India as mendicants using their

"iconoclastic poetic songs" to spread teachings of renunciation, cataphatic mahāmudrā

philosophy, and strong critiques of social and religious norms.2 The powerful iconoclasm of

these songs is clearly exemplified by a famous story about Atiśa (980-1054), the great Indian

scholar who helped to re-introduce Buddhism to Tibet in the 11th century. Soon after arriving in

Tibet, he was advised by his students to stop teaching the dohās to Tibetan disciples out of

concern that, without formal initiatory rituals, the esoteric songs would lead to moral

degradation3. He and his monastic students believed that the transgressive behavior and the

immanent philosophy espoused by the songs was dangerously removed from the traditional

gatekeepers of such high teachings.

Despite these fears, in the 11th century, the Indian mahāsiddhas and their anti-

institutional teachings were transmitted to Tibet via the great translator, Marpa Lotsawa (Mar pa

chos kyi blo gros, 1012-1097). The Tibetans readily embraced the Indian siddha tradition and

1
Lingrepa is also known as gLing rje ra pa, gLing chen ras pa, or sNa phu pa.
2
Schaeffer (2005) p.6
3
Guenther (1968) p.15

6
translated it into their own, wholly native form, with the pre-buddhist mgur4 taking the place of

the siddhas’ dohā 5. Like their Indian forebears, the songs of great Tibetan saints such as

Milarepa and Drukpa Kunley (’Brug pa kun legs, 1455-1529) confront the established religious

structures of the day from the monastic code, to the complex rituals and initiations of tantra, to

the academic philosophizing of scholars. Eventually, the anti-institutional teachings of the

siddhas, such as the esoteric mahāmudrā philosophy and the Yogas of Nāropā 6, came to

constitute a large part of the scriptural core of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

While all of the Kagyu sects stem from the lineage of the siddhas, and even the

academically-focused Gelugpa preserve their mahāmudrā practices, the Drukpa Kagyu stand out

as perhaps the most vigilant stewards of this siddha tradition. The Drukpa lineage can claim

some of the most famous and eccentric mgur-singing yogis in Tibetan history such as Tsangnyon

Heruka7 (gTsang smyon he ru ka, 1452-1507) and Drukpa Kunley; it also preserved the esoteric

Aural Lineage (snyan brgyud) stemming from Milarepa and Rechungpa (Ras chung pa, 1083/4-

1161). The close connection between Drukpa Kagyu and the Indian siddha tradition can be seen

from the very beginning in Lingrepa, who is the subject of this study and the founder8 of the

Drukpa Kagyu. A famous mgur-singer himself, Lingrepa was the author of one of the first

Tibetan commentaries on Saraha’s dohā.9

4
As mentioned above, mgur existed as a genre of song even before the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, but
during this period, the genre was given a new significance and eventually became associated primarily with the yogi
tradition.
5
Kapstein (2003, p.772)
6
See Kragh, 2006 for more on the Yogas of Nāropā and their important place in the Kagyu and Gelugpa schools.
7
Although Tsangnyon famously never held any institutional affiliation, his legacy has posthumously been
incorporated fully into the Drukpa Kagyu.
8
His role as "founder" is somewhat debatable as he is generally considered the ideological source of the Drukpa,
while his student Tsangpa Gyare (gTsang pa rgya ras, 1161-1211) founded the monasteries and began the
institutions of the sect. In what appears to be the first Western scholarly treatment of Lingrepa’s life, Dan Martin
(1979) discusses Lingrepa’s role in the founding of the Drukpa Kagyu. More recently, Blythe Miller (2005) wrote an
excellent discussion of the historical legacy of Lingrepa and his heir, Tsangpa Gyare.
9
See Schaeffer (2005), p. 72

7
 In this study, I will present a translation of 27 songs (mgur) as well as the last testimony

of Lingrepa which appear in a biography that was compiled in the 16th century10 by Lhatsun

Rinchen Namgyal as part of a larger project to edit and print the biographies of Kagyu masters.

While biographies and song collections are found throughout Tibetan literature, this text is a

rnam mgur11, a hybrid combination of the two genres which is much less common. This

combination is perhaps appropriate for Lingrepa, who was renowned for his skill in song during

his lifetime; yet here, that reputation is taken a step further. Couched in the authority of historical

record, this text, which was the first of Lingrepa’s biographies to be mass-produced with carved

wooden blocks, indelibly tied Lingrepa’s legacy to the style and message of his songs. It uses a

variety of rhetorical tools to present a literary persona that would have been easily recognizable

to a 16th century Tibetan audience as a parallel to the anti-scholastic, anti-institutional wandering

ascetics of the past. Furthermore, the songs themselves reinforce this image again and again

using Lingrepa’s own voice to engage in a polemic of style and remind of his place in the

"unbroken lineage of siddhas"12. Taken as a whole, this text works through songs and their

narrative settings to present an image of Lingrepa as an anti-institutional yet authoritative figure;

in short, as an heir to the unbroken lineage of the Indian siddhas, forefathers of the Kagyu.13

This study presents English translation of a selection of songs found in the text, Grub

thob gling ras kyi rnam mgur mthong ba don ldan (GT).14 This work was edited by Lhatsun

10
The exact date is unknown but the closest estimate is between 1538 and 1557 based on the names of the block-
print carvers (Clemente, personal communication).
11
Combining rnam from the Tibetan word for "biography", rnam thar, with the word mgur for "song."
12
Tib. grub thob brgyud chad med
13
My attempt at taking this narratological approach was heavily influenced by the work that Jim Rheingans did in
his study of the dialogues included within a biography of the 8th Karmapa. See Rheingans (2014).
14
Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal, grub thob gling ras kyi rnam mgur mthong ba don ldan. 1 volume; 57 ff.. TBRC:
W4CZ1043. Also see NGMPP E2518/6: f. 57–61a7–b1 (last folio is numbered 57–61), NGMPP L194/11 (some
folios are difficult to read), L12/1 (difficult to read) and L581/5 (incomplete; last folio is missing). I consulted these
records and found them to accord exactly with the TBRC W4CZ1043. They were no easier to read so I did not
consult them in the process of translation.

8
Rinchen Namgyal and printed between 1538 and 155715 as part of the large biography-printing

project initiated by Namgyal’s teacher, Tsangnyon Heruka. Printed at the famed printing house

at Drakar Taso (Brag dkar rta so) by means of carved wooden blocks, GT is 57 folios in length,

written in dbu can script, and contains 95 songs in total16. I consulted two witnesses of this text

that appear to be different printings from the same blocks as they are completely identical except

for a few small orthographic differences that could have resulted from the printing process or

some other extremely slight changes to the blocks.17 The first witness is published on its own by

TBRC and was the witness I began with (GTa). I later found the second witness appended to the

end of a collection of Shangpa Kagyu (Zhangs pa bka’ brgyud) texts (GTb).18 This witness was

much clearer and easier to read, elucidating many confusing passages. Certain songs also appear

in their entirety in two other biographical sources, allowing fruitful comparison between

versions. These sources are:

- "Grub chen gling kyi rnam thar" (SGB) in Rwa lung dkar brgyud gser 'phreng19

Printed in 1771-1772, this biography of Lingrepa includes 24 full-length mgur and is part

of a "golden rosary"20 collection from Ralung Monastery21 (Rwa lung), the main seat of the

15
This date is based on the names of the wood-block carvers given occasionally throughout the text. Michaela
Clemente, personal communication, January 2016.
16
Here and throughout, I am only enummerating songs that appear at least as a fragment. In many cases only song
titles are given, but these titles appear to be fluid and do not correspond precisely between sources.
17
There were scattered discrepencies btween the two versions of GT, but the more likely reading was consistently
found in GTa, leading me to wonder if they were printed from different sets of blocks.
18
"Grub thob gling ras kyi rnam mgur mthong ba don ldan" in Shangs pa bka' brgyud pa'i rnam thar dang gsung
skor. (Appended) TBRC W23708 Vol. 2/2; pp.291-412.
I have not been able to find any connection between Lingrepa and the Shang-pa, a lineage that branched away from
the mainstream Kagyu sect generations before Lingrepa. Dan Martin suggests it may have been included simply to
meet the minimum page limit required by Gene Smith during his collection process for the Library of Congress.
(personal communication, January 2016).
19
"Grub chen gling kyi rnam thar bzhugs so" in rwa lung dkar brgyud gser 'phreng TBRC W19222 Vol. 1/4 pp.347-
404 [tha]
20
Tib. gser ‘phreng; a type of biographical collection, common in the Kagyu sect, that traces a particular succession
of masters by giving short biographies.

9
Drukpa Kagyu until the 17th century. While several of the biographies of Lingrepa’s

contemporaries included in this collection22 were written by Sangye Bum (Sangs rgyas ’bum, b.

12th century), this text lacks even the distinctive colophon that allowed Quintman to attribute

Milarepa’s biography to this author.23 While the original authorship likely predates its date of

printing, nothing more can be reliably said at this point about the authorship and date of this text.

It does, however, provide many interesting alternate readings of the songs and a slightly different

biographical narrative. Printed in dbu can script in 29 folios, SGB is about half as long as GT

with the amount of songs making up the majority of the difference in length. Six of the songs

translated here appear in SGB as well as GT.

- "Grub thob chen po'i bka' 'bum las gsung mgur gyi rim pa" (NP) in gLing chen ras pa pad ma

rdo rje’i bka’ ’bum

This is a modern collection of Lingrepa’s songs included in his "collected works," which

was assembled under the auspices of Khamtrul Rinpoche in India and printed in 1985. The

original sources for these songs is not noted and I have found no earlier examples of song

collections, so it seems likely that they were taken from sources such as SGB and GT, although

this is speculation. This collection also includes many songs that are not found in any available

biography. This text includes some 200 songs with no discernible order or organization along

with very brief contextual introductions that mainly name the place where the song was sung.

Like SGB, these songs cannot be dated accurately so their value in tracing a historical

progression is minor, and their extremely minimal context provides little interesting information.
21
Ralung Monastery is the seat of the so-called "Middle Drukpa" sub-lineage. The abbot of this monastery was the
de-facto leader of the Drukpa Kagyu from the time of its founder, Lingrepa’s student Tsangpa Gyare, until the
schism of 1592 following the death of the 4th Drukchen (Kun mkhyen padma dkar po, 1527-1592). See Samuel
(1993), pp. 106, 279 and http://treasuryoflives.org/institution/Ralung-Monastery
22
Including Gampopa (sGam po pa, 1079-1153) and Tsangpa Gyare.
23
See Quintman (2014) p.71

10
I used this text only as a reference to help with understanding songs with difficult orthography

and it will be excluded from further discussion of sources. Every song translated here except for

song 60 appears in this text.

The mgur translated here were chosen from among GT’s ninety-five songs because they

illustrate with particular clarity the relationship between the songs and the biographical narrative

and/or because they reinforce themes that are important to Lingrepa’s literary identity. This

selection includes songs that mark important occasions in Lingrepa’s life story; songs that appear

in other available sources or were mentioned by name in other sources; and songs that are

emblematic examples of the importance Lingrepa placed on the concepts of lineage, mahāmudrā,

and criticisms of Buddhist institutions. Using GT as a copy text, I created critical editions of each

song translated here; incorporating variant readings from other available witnesses where the

variants gave a clearer reflection of the sense of the song, either in terms of meaning or

consistency. This edition is presented in Appendix I.

While all three of these texts differ from each other, it seems that in terms of spelling and

word choice, NP and SGB agree more often with each other than with GT and may represent a

different line of textual transmission. Also, while GT was the primary text and the basis of this

study, occasionally it was necessary to use an alternate reading found in one of the other

witnesses to clear up confusion or to help make a clearer translation. This is more an

acknowledgment of my imperfect knowledge of Tibetan and the notoriously difficult

orthography and colloquialisms of Rinchen Namgyal’s works than it is an accusation of

corruption or error on the part of the editors and carvers of GT24.

24
See Stearns, 2000 p.xii; Sernesi, 2004 p.263; and Clemente, 2014 p.436.

11
 I undertook this comparative work recognizing the impossibility of determining whether

these songs were the "original" words of Lingrepa. The fact that these songs were sung, and not

written, is an important aspect that will be discussed later on, and brings up the issue of who

actually put them into writing, if not Lingrepa. Furthermore, our main text, GT, was written over

350 years after the death of Lingrepa and is an edited compilation of many earlier sources, some

of which may have been passed on orally25 or descended from oral versions. In addition, at least

three of the songs found in GT are the same or very similar to songs attributed to Godrakpa (Ko

brag pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan, 1170-1249) in a biography that was also produced by Rinchen

Namgyal and translated into English by Cyrus Stearns26. So, while it would be difficult to ascribe

certain authorship of any of these songs to Lingrepa, our earliest sources record him singing

many songs with titles that correspond to some that we find in GT, allowing us to assume that he

was at least singing songs that were similar to the ones we find here. There is no doubt that a

person known as Lingrepa did exist in 12th century Tibet, but it is important to remember that the

person remembered in this text is a literary persona; this character is the 300 year-old memory of

a man that had been shaped by the telling and retelling of his story. Like so much of history, GT

is a record not only of who the subject was and what he did, but also of what historians, with

their own biases, thought was important to record about him. In this case, we have a record of

Lingrepa’s life and songs, but we also have a record of what the historian, Rinchen Namgyal,

and the historians before him, saw as the most important aspects of Lingrepa’s legacy.

While there is no earlier, extant, collection of Lingrepa’s songs for us to compare GT to,

the biographical narrative of this text is not original and largely mirrors earlier biographies. The
25
For more on the primacy of the written vs. oral tradition in the history of Tibetan biography, see Quintman (2014,
p.53)
26
Stearns (200, p.15) mentions this similarity but apparently didn’t find the other instances. Tracing the
relationships between these songs and the various other famous song-singers would provide a interesting avenue for
further research. None of the songs in this study have been previously translated in full except for song 11 which
was included in Stearns (2000), although my translation was completed before I had read Stearns.

12
story of Lingrepa’s life has been told by biographers over the past 700 years with the various

versions generally following a similar arc, but with each offering some important differences.

The two other biographical sources27 I consulted did not include songs in their entirety but in

many cases gave the first line or simply the title of many songs. These records are useful to see

which songs were considered worthy of inclusion throughout the history of Lingrepa’s literary

persona. A complete survey of the various biographies and their progression over time in the way

that Quintman and Roberts have treated Milarepa and Rechungpa28 would be outside the scope

of this paper; rather, these alternate versions will serve as important points of departure as we

examine Lhatsun Rinchen Namgyal’s text and it’s particular literary qualities. These two

biographies are:

-"Grub thob kyi rgyal po gling chen ras pa’i rnam par thar ba" (DD) in dKar brgyud gser phreng

This early account of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage includes the earliest biography of

Lingrepa that I have found and likely one of the earliest that was written. It was composed in the

mid-13th century,29 about 70 years after Lingrepa's death, by Gyaldangpa Dechen Dorje (rGyal

ldang pa bde chen rdo rje, 12th-13th century), who is presumed to have been a disciple of

Gotsangpa (rGyal ba rgod tshang pa, 1189-1258).30 This biography is part of one of the earliest

examples of a "golden rosary" collection and includes 12 biographies of other great masters of

the early Drukpa Kagyu lineage. This text includes six song fragments: four clearly appear in GT

with very similar constructions, while the other two share introductory context with two songs in

27
I also consulted Roerich’s translation of Blue Annals (1979, p.659) but, given the brevity of that biography, I treat
it as an example of the many other, non-specific, popular biographies of Lingrepa that appear in general Kagyu
histories and biography collections.
28
See Quintman, 2014 on the biographies of Milarepa and Roberts, 2007 on the biographies of Rechungpa.
29
See Roberts (2007) pp. 14-15 for discussion of this date.
30
Gyaldangpa’s identity is unclear but more information on him can be found in Quintman (2014) p.72 and Roberts
(2007) p. 11.

13
GT but do not resemble any songs that appear in GT. There is also one song title that I cannot

find in other sources. DD is interestingly structured as 16 root verses which cryptically tell the

biography in poetic form and are followed by a detailed commentary on each.

-"Grub thob chen po gling chen ras pa pa dma rdo rje’i rnam par thar ba" (BR) in 'Ba' ra bka'

brgyud gser ’phreng chen mo

The author and date of this text is not stated in the colophon, but Roberts traces it to one

Montsepa (Mon rtse kun dga’ dpal ldan, 1408-1475) and dates the text to ca.1450-147531. It is

part of a collection of biographies tracing the lineage of the Bara (’Ba’ ra) sub-sect of the Upper

(stod) Drukpa Kagyu. This text follows a narrative arc and song order similar to that of SGB. BR

gives the first four-line verse of 30 songs in addition to the titles of at least 10 others. Except for

the first song, which is written in full but is not found in any of the other sources, all of these

song fragments can be traced to songs found in GT and 26 of them are shared with SGB as either

fragments or titles. While their order does vary slightly, the fact that so many songs are shared

between the witnesses points to a textual tradition that was widely available across centuries.

Treating any of these texts as purely historical sources of Lingrepa’s life and teachings

misses the fact that they were written many years after his death, at a particular time, in a

particular context, and for a particular audience. Rather than attempt a historical analysis of

Lingrepa’s life based on these texts, each with its own complicated and ambiguous history, I will

follow after the excellent work done by Andrew Quintman and Peter Alan Roberts on the

biographical tradition of Milarepa and Rechungpa respectively, and attempt a close reading of

GT, using these other sources as references to see what makes GT similar or unique. From

reading DD, which is surely the earliest of these sources, it is clear that the characterization of
31
See Roberts (2007) p. 29 for more on Montsepa and this text.

14
Lingrepa as a siddha existed from early on; it is also clear, however, that GT pushes this

characterization beyond the other sources. In the following study, I will attempt to point out

certain key themes and rhetorical devices within the text that further this characterization, and

then discuss how the context of 16th century Tibet would have influenced this aspect of the

text’s production. GT, then, is not unique for its portrayal of Lingrepa, but rather for how its

particular narrative form worked within its own cultural context through a variety of means to

reify this image. Acknowledging that this text is as much a literary production as it is a work of

history, this study will focus not on whether the story is true or not, but rather, how it is told. I

will take the perspective of what Nunning has called "applied cultural narratology"32 to look at

the aspects of content, voice, and style that are working together to make this text particularly

compelling.

The Life of Lingrepa

All the biographies begin by tracing Lingrepa’s previous births back to a story attributed

to the Ratnakūṭa-sūtra.33 The story takes place during the aeon of a previous buddha, when

Lingrepa was one of sixty monks who ridiculed and criticized a pair of bodhisattvas.34 This

resulted in many lifetimes in the lower realms until he was able to once again reach human form.

Eventually, Lingrepa meets the Buddha Śākyamuni in his birth as a bodhisattva known as

Vīryaprabha35 and receives prophecies for his rebirth in Tibet. He eventually takes birth in Tibet

to a noble family and is called Pema Dorje. His father was a member of the local king’s court,
32
Nunning (2004).
33
I have not been able to locate any of the quoted passages using the TBRC search function.
34
Kapstein (2003, p.774) notes this development of Tibetan hagiography whereby the authority of India was
accessed by tales of masters’ previous births, saying that, “spiritual authority within the Tibetan world was justified
not by a reference to prior authority in Tibet, but by a history of self-cultivation in India.”
35
Tib. brTson ’grus ’od

15
either as an astrologer or a doctor, and Lingrepa was educated in reading and writing from an

early age. He then followed a path that is very reminiscent of other famous Tibetans: first

studying the "old" ways of Imperial-era Nyingma tantras, and then quickly becoming famous in

his region for both his skill as a sorcerer of black magic as well as a doctor.

The next part of his life varies slightly across sources, but most agree that this is when he

met his consort, Menmo (sMan mo), as well as "the lama from central Tibet, Zhang."36 In most

versions, this Lama Zhang takes both Lingrepa and Menmo to meet Ra Lotsawa,37 from whom

the couple receive many of the important transmissions such as the Kālacakra-tantra and the

Cakrasamvara-tantra. Perhaps the most important part of this stage of Lingrepa’s life, however,

was that Ra Lotsawa introduced them to his teacher Kyung Tsangpa (Khyung tshang pa ye shes

bla ma, 1115-1176), who would be the first of many connections between Lingrepa and the great

yogi Rechungpa. Although Kyung Tsangpa was the student of Rechungpa, who lived as a

wandering yogi and had relationships with women, Kyung was known to disapprove of any

practitioners who were not monks. He criticized Lingrepa for this and convinced him to abandon

his wife and take ordination, "just as the completely pure Buddha himself had done."38 Lingrepa

acquiesced. But his ordination was shortlived; about a year later, Lingrepa, "powerless to resist,

reverted"39 and restarted his relationship with Menmo. This episode intones a theme of

indifference towards monasticism and strict vows that would continue through his life.40

36
GT, 4.b-.2: dbus pa’i bla ma zhang. This is most likely referring to Zhang Lotsawa (Zhang lo tsa ba grub pa dpal,
d.1237) and not the notorious Lama Zhang (Zhang g.yu brag pa, 1123-1193) although both are from Central Tibet
and Lingrepa does encounter Lama Zhang later on. I was initially very confused by this passage but it seems clear
now due to Zhang Lotsawa’s connection with Khyung Tsangpa and Ra Lotsawa. See, for example, Sernesi (2006)
p.185.
37
ra in GT, rwa in SGB, BR; DD uses both. This seems to be a general title for the holder of the Rwa lineage, in
this case it is probably Yeshe Sengey (Rwa ye shes seng ge, 12th century).
38
GT, 4.b-.5 yang dag par rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas nyid kyang rab du byung nas mdzad
39
GT, 5.a-.1: rang dbang med par ldog
40
Blue Annals (p.660) attributes Lingrepa’s transgression of his monastic vows to his previous life as one of the
monks who criticized a bodhisattva in the famous story from the Ratnakūṭa-sūtra.

16
 Kyung Tsangpa was one of the four principal students of Rechungpa41 and is thought to

be one of the few holders of Rechungpa’s esoteric Aural Lineage (snyan brgyud),42 a lineage that

was of much importance to the later masters of the Drukpa Kagyu such as Tsangnyon Heruka

and Pema Karpo (Pad ma dkar po, 1527-1592). Although none of the sources consulted here

explicitly state that Lingrepa received this lineage from Kyung Tsangpa,43 it was at this stage that

Lingrepa developed great faith in Rechungpa and his teachings, a faith that eventually led him to

question Kyung Tsangpa’s pedigree; at the age of 31,44 he left for Loro (Lo ro) in search of

Rechungpa himself.

Lingrepa and Menmo donned the single white cotton robe of a yogi (ras pa) and left for

Loro, only to arrive one year after Rechungpa’s death. Instead, they studied under the great

yogi’s two main attendants and disciples, Dampa Sumpa (Dam pa sum pa,45 c. 12th cent.) and

Gyalwa Lo (rGyal ba lo, c. 12th cent.). From these two masters Lingrepa received the teachings

of the Rechungpa lineage, including "all 60 of the oral instructions."46 While the Aural Lineage

is, again, not mentioned by name in any of the biographies, it is clear that Lingrepa spent many

years receiving and practicing the oral instructions (gdams ngag) of Rechungpa, which would

have been the highest, most secretive teachings of the lineage.

41
The others, according to Roberts, are Sumpa Repa (Sum pa ras pa), Gyalwa Lo (rGyal ba lo), and Yang-gon
(Yang dgon).
42
The Aural Lineage will be discussed again later on, but has been the subject of much scholarly interest recently.
The precise transmission history seems to be slightly unclear, but both Sernesi (2004) and Toricelli (2000) suggest
that Khyung Tsangpa may have been the only inheritor of the full instructions of Rechungpa’s Aural Lineage (Ras
chung snyan brgyud).
43
DD is the only biography that mentions the Aural Lineage by name and Lingrepa receives it from Phagmodrupa in
that biography.
44
This is agreed on by all sources.
45
Also known as Sum pa ras pa¸ Sum ston, and gTsang pa sum pa.
46
GT, 6.a-.2: gdams ngag drug bchu kha yar rdzogs par zhus. This number appears in all of the biographies except
DD, which says, "he received all of the instructions of those two lamas like filling a vase to the brim"; bla ma dam
pa de gnyis kyi gdams pa thams cad bum pa gang byo’i tshul du zhus DD, 6.b

17
 Then, in his late thirties,47 Lingrepa decided to venture to the southern border region for a

meditation retreat, only to meet a naked being of white light who told him to seek out

Phagmodrupa (Phag mo gru pa, 1110-1170), one of Gampopa’s three main disciples. Despite the

earlier influence of the Rechungpa lineage, Phagmodrupa is considered Lingrepa’s root guru,

placing Lingrepa and the eventual Drukpa Kagyu sect within the larger Dakpo Kagyu.48 It is

important to remember that historical masters such as Lingrepa had much more complex webs of

connections than is portrayed by the linear lineage histories. Of Lingrepa’s songs that refer to

lineage, there is equal mention of Rechungpa and Gampopa, and much more emphasis placed on

the lineage of siddhas and the Kagyu in general than any specific institutional line49.

Lingrepa clearly had a profound connection with Phagmodrupa and became remembered

as the "greatest in realization"50 among Phagmodrupa’s four main disciples for his mastery of the

highest teachings. From this master, Lingrepa received teachings on a particular aspect of the

esoteric mahāmudrā teachings called sahaja yoga,51 or co-emergence, which emphasizes the

primordial presence of an enlightened nature. This teaching is associated with the dohās of

Saraha and forms a distinctive aspect of Gampopa’s teachings on mahāmudrā. It is at this point

in all of the biographies where Lingrepa begins to gain recognition for his high realization as

well as his ability to articulate that realization in song. Soon after receiving teachings from

Phagmodrupa, Lingrepa commits to a multi-year retreat only to come back after three days

proclaiming he had accomplished full realization. He is chastised by his guru for breaking his

pledge and, in response to this criticism, Lingrepa sings perhaps his most important mgur, noted

47
DD gives his age as 37 while SGB and BR give 35 or 36. GT does not give a specific age.
48
Tib. Dwags po bka’ brgyud. This lineage encompasses the 12 sub-lineages that stem from Gampopa and generally
refers to the mainstream Kagyu sect.
49
See songs 4 and 13 which both trace Lingrepa’s lineages, making mention of both the Rechungpa and Gampopa
lines. This accords well with Kapstein definitions of "sect" and "lineage". Lingrepa viewed himself as a member of
two lineages that would later be separated into separate sects. See Kapstein (1979) p.139
50
rtogs pa’i mthar thug: Roerich (1976) p.566
51
Tib. lhan gcig skyes sbyor.

18
here as Song 12. Phagmodrupa was overjoyed and proclaimed that, "Up to [i.e., on the far side

of] the Ganges River, there has never been nor will there be anyone with greater realization in

this teaching than the Great Brahmin Saraha; on this side of the Ganges River, there will never

be anyone with higher realization in it than you, son!"52 This exchange would eventually give

Lingrepa the nickname, "the Saraha of Tibet."

This song and its reception are perhaps the most significant event in the life story of

Lingrepa, marking his ascendance to a level of enlightenment. This event is reported quite

consistently across the biographies and marks the beginning of his song-singing.53 Furthermore,

it is the only point where BR gives a song in it’s entirety, and the Blue Annals even give a song

fragment at this point.54 This moment and Phagmodrupa’s resultant affirmation of Lingrepa’s

high level of realization mark an important transition in Lingrepa’s life as he moves from student

to teacher and, in most sources, begins his activity as a song-singer.

Following his first mgur, the sources agree that Lingrepa stayed with Phagmodrupa but

was criticized for having a wife in a monastic camp; with the guru’s help, he sent Menmo back

to her parents. He then began wandering around Tibet, begging for alms, singing songs, and

giving teachings to students and admonitions to monks, scholars, and tantric lamas. During these

travels he performed miracles such as walking through solid rock and accumulated significant

wealth, only to leave it behind. During this period of travel, retreat, and teaching, his root guru,

Phagmodupa, as well as his earlier teacher, Sumpa Repa, both passed away and he conducted

their funeral ceremonies. He went on to establish a hermitage (dgon pa) at the valley of Napu

(sNa phu) after receiving the blessings of both the area’s protector deities and the local lord,
52
GT, 15.Lb-.7: chu bo gha gha yan chad kyis bstan pa ‘di la bram ze chen po sara has/ rtogs pa che ba ma byung/
mi yong/ chu bo gha gha tshun la/ bu khyod pas rtogs pa mtho ba mi yong mi ‘byung// The wording varies across the
biographies but all except BR mention Saraha and the Ganges.
53
GT includes 11 songs prior, beginning with one song offered to Lama Lo. Interestingly, these 11 songs include
most of the references to previous masters and the prayers to the lineage of siddhas.
54
Roerich (1976) p. 662.

19
earning him the nickname "Man of Napu" (sNa phu ba). During a trip to Samye55 (bSam yas) he

encountered a blue woman who identifies herself as Prajñāpāramitā after bestowing all of the

knowledge and empowerments of the tantras by touching him with the tantric texts.56 Following

this transmission, he composed some texts on tantra57 but was criticized for not having actually

studied the esoteric systems in any formal capacity. He responds to this criticism with a song

that, apparently, silenced his detractors. Then, later, a ḍākinī arrived who was the "protector of

the Kagyu doctrine and guardian of the Practice Lineage."58 Following her prophecy that an

emanation of Nāropā would come that day to hold his lineage, Lingrepa’s chief disciple and

eventual successor, Tsangpa Gyare, arrived at Napu.59

It appears that Lingrepa was well-established as a powerful lama at this point as he is

called on by the notorious Lama Zhang,60 first, to finance his enormous Buddha statue, and then,

to intervene in the wars over control of Lhasa on Zhang’s behalf. Interestingly, this interaction

with Lama Zhang and Lingrepa's involvement in the wars does not appear at all in DD, but

receives considerable attention in the later biographies. Its treatment in these biographies,

however, portrays a pacifist Lingrepa who first discourages the war-mongering parties and then,

after aiding Lama Zhang, apologizes for his involvement by saying he was merely a servant of

the lama.61 Rinchen Namgyal’s decision to deviate from DD by including these events is

especially interesting given their similarity to the disputes of the 16th century over the spiritual

55
The first monastery in Tibet, founded by Padmasambhava, Śāntarakṣita, and king Trisong Detsen.
56
In GT she touches his head, while in SGB it is his tongue. DD and BR are unspecific.
57
According to Miller (2005, p.388) the four tantric texts attributed to him are as follows: bDe mchog dkyil ‘khor
gyi cho ga yon tan kun ‘byung, bCom ldan ‘das dpal phyag na rdo rje’i dkyil ‘khor cho ga, rTen ‘brel snying po’i
las byang, and rGyud kyi rnam bshad.
58
GT, 38.La-.4: bka’ rgyud chos kyi bdag po yin/sgrub rgyud chos kyi bstan bsrungs yin//.
59
SGB and BR do not mention Tsangpa Gyare at all.
60
For more on this interesting character, see Yamamoto ( 2012).
61
GT, 42.a-.3: bla ma zhang gis ‘brug pa’i grogs byed ba zer ba la/sdig pa sog kyang mi skyon rang gi zhe ‘dod ni
ma yin/bla ma’i zhab tog byas pa yin gsung.

20
and temporal control of Lhasa.62 Then, following an encounter with a student who had broken

his sacred vows, Lingrepa falls ill and dies at age 61. Before his death, Lingrepa wrote down a

final testament and hid it inside a text, to be found later by his disciples. This testament is

interesting in that it is repeated almost verbatim in every one of the biographies and its verses are

very similar to Lingrepa’s mgur, yet it is storied to have been written, not sung.63

The Textual Life of GT

While some aspects, such as the last testament, are consistent across all of the

biographies, there are "secondary" events not marked by song that are more varied. In DD, there

is much more emphasis on extraordinary events that do not appear in the later sources, perhaps

being deemed old-fashioned or hyperbolic by the later biographers. For example, one episode

that appears only in DD is Lingrepa’s subjugation of local deities, following which, the gods

declare, "even the Lotus-Born One could not [tame] us like this. Someone with greater power

than Padmasambhava has arrived."64 Another important example is when Lingrepa journeys to

Kham and is given more offerings than he can carry, eventually deciding to leave them and

travel home empty-handed. In GT, this episode is glossed over quickly, but in all of the other

sources, it is more extended and involves Lingrepa rejecting the advice to keep the offered

riches. In BR and SGB, this advice is given by a lama known as Geshe Wataton (Wa ta ston),65

while in DD, it is Lama Zhang encouraging him to keep the wealth. In both versions, however,

62
For more on the political situation of this time, see Samuel (1993), or Divalerio (2015) among others.
63
This uniformity perhaps points to the consistency of written records across centuries, while the variability of the
songs may point to at least some level of orality in their transmission history.
64
DD, 16.b-.3: de yang sngon snlob dpon padma ‘byung gnas des ni/nged la ‘di ‘dra byung ba med/slop dpon
padmas kyang nus pa che ba cig byung ngo zer//
65
This spelling is taken from the first appearance in GT (GT, 18.b-.1), but the name appears in many variations such
as Wam rta pa (GT, 18.b-.6), Kha rta ston (BR, 13.a-.4) and Zhu rta ston pa (SGB, 10.b-.5). All sources, however,
refer to him with the title Geshe (dge bshes). I have not been able to confirm any information on this teacher.

21
Lingrepa evokes the Kagyu masters of the past in his rejection, saying, "I will not shame the

Kagyu, I have no need for wealth."66

The lack of reliable dates for most of these sources makes it difficult to fully trace their

historical development, but looking at the inclusion and exclusion of secondary narrative

episodes and songs, there are some clear relationships. SGB and BR share much in common,

from their order and selection of songs to the inclusion of Lingrepa’s interactions with Lama

Zhang. DD does not share these elements but does include the meeting between Tsangpa Gyare

and Lingrepa which does not appear in the former two. GT includes both of the above mentioned

episodes but also shows unique elements of its own, such as the de-emphasized rejection of

offerings in the episode mentioned previously. This editing of the biographical narrative

conforms with the research done by Roberts and Quintman on similar biographical collections to

indicate the historical priority of the other biographical sources as compared to GT. This would

suggest that DD, as well as SGB, BR, or their common ancestor, would have been available to

Rinchen Namgyal and, further, that he made editorial choices to include, exclude and re-word

parts of each of them in his creation of GT.67

As far as the songs included, these biographies show an apparently linear process of

accretion. Five of DD’s six songs appear among the 25 songs of SGB; all of SGB’s songs are

included among the 30 songs of BR68; and all of BR’s songs appear in the 95 songs of GT. The

mgur that appear in DD, such as those sung following Phagmodrupa’s death and Lingrepa’s

reception of the tantras, can be seen as the "core" songs of Lingrepa’s biographical legacy and,

66
SGB, 11.a.1: nga bka’ brgyud kyi bla ‘tsong mi byed nor gyi dgos pa med gsungs// The episode in DD is more
extensive but carries the same message.
67
This conclusion is dependent on the assumed completeness of the available textual collection. It is very possible
that Rinchen Namgyal was using a biography that is no longer extant, or that he was reading other biographies that
were related but not identical to these sources. I am basing this assumption largely on the exceptional work of
Roberts (2007) and Quintman (2014).
68
Many of the 5 songs that appear in BR but not in SGB are mentioned by title only in SGB. Furthermore, all of the
titles mentioned in SGB appear in BR as well.

22
accordingly, appear in all of the later biographies. These early songs are not simply inserted into

the flow of the story, but rather, are integrated into major life events. Most of the songs in GT

were inserted without affecting the primary narrative of Lingrepa’s life and can be considered

"embedded texts". The "new" songs that appear in successive biographies are inserted before and

after these "core" songs and their corresponding events. The new songs come with brief

introductory context, explaining where they were sung or giving a brief description of who they

were sung to, but they have no actual impact on the larger narrative, and the events of Lingrepa’s

life generally unfold independently of them. In the admittedly limited sources presented here,

this process of song-accretion seems to be similar to Quintman’s observation of the biographical

"fleshing-out" of Milarepa over time, where the songs fill in the skeleton of Lingrepa’s life story,

serving as proxy for the historical progression of Lingrepa’s biographical presentation.

Following Quintman’s logic then, it is reasonable to sketch the general chronology of these

biographies with DD as the earliest layer, followed by SGB, then BR and, finally, GT.

Context of GT’s Production

So, where did the new songs come from over the 350 years between Lingrepa’s death and

GT’s publication? Can we know that Lingrepa actually voiced these songs? It is distinctly

possible that there existed a written collection of Lingrepa’s songs, perhaps even during his

lifetime. It is also possible that there was an oral tradition of bards or meditators passing down

the songs orally until they were written down at some later point. The most likely situation,

however, seems to be similar to the one proposed by Quintman in regards to Milarepa’s

biography; that written records existed from the very beginning but were constantly edited and

23
amended in conversation with a living oral tradition.69 In the case of our text, the most interesting

aspect of this editorial process is that some songs are attributed to both Godrakpa and Lingrepa

in their respective biographies, both of which were edited by Rinchen Namgyal. This

commonality suggests not only that there was a kind of general storehouse of songs in

circulation, either orally or textually, during and perhaps before the 16th century. It also points to

just how ambiguous and, I would argue, unimportant, the concept of authorship is with these

sources. It is unclear when these songs entered the respective legacies of these two figures, but

regardless, their shared attribution illustrates how the literary legacy of Lingrepa corresponds

with Kurtis Schaeffer’s general observations about the Indian siddha Saraha: such liminal yogic

figures are "a construct of the religious imagination, and a vibrant one at that."70

Our text, GT, is the most developed version of this construct; it is the fully "fleshed out"

version−to use Quintman’s analogy of Lingrepa’s literary identity. The creator of GT, Rinchen

Namgyal, edited and published this biography following the example of his main teacher,

Tsangnyon Heruka, the notorious "mad yogi" and creator of Milarepa’s classic biography. 71

These biographies were just two texts among dozens produced by the massive printing project

begun by Tsangnyon and continued by his disciples, primarily Rinchen Namgyal and Gotsang

Rechen (rGod tshang ras chen, 1482-1559). These masters used the relatively new technology of

wood-block printing72 to mass-produce biographies, song collections, advice, and other types of

texts written by the previous masters of their lineage. The literary and editorial skill involved in

this project is evident in the lasting impact of some of the texts it produced, such as the Life and

69
See Quintman (2014) Chapter 1. It is interesting to note that the songs that appear in DD, while clearly being
"shared" with the later versions, have a very low level of commonality, whereas the songs that are "shared" by the
later biographies match each other very closely. This seems to point to the establishment of a written standard
sometime after DD.
70
Schaeffer (2005), p.4.
71
For more on Tsangnyon and his literary project see, for example, Larsson (2012), DiValerio (2015) among others
72
Many scholars, such as Larsson (2012), cite the beginning of the 15 th century as the starting point for native
Tibetan printing, although van der Kuijp (2010) has drawn attention to some possibly earlier Tibetan printings.

24
Songs of Milarepa.73 But more than individual works of literature, the biographies and other

works published by this project can all be seen as part of a larger vision of "glorifying" and

"valorizing"74 the esoteric Aural Lineage (snyan brgyud).

The key teachings of this lineage were storied to have been heard by Tilopa directly from

the ḍākinīs hence the name "aural" and "whispered" from teacher to student all the way to

Tsangnyon.75 Although it includes some of the most profound esoteric teachings of the Kagyu

tradition, the Aural Lineage existed outside of monastic institutions. The transmission history

given by Tsangnyon shows that these teachings were never held by abbots of great monasteries

or lamas of prestigious reincarnation lineages.76 Rather, they were passed down discreetly along

a line of renunciate yogis in the mold of Milarepa and the Indian siddhas before him. This

lineage never became an independent order and largely remained outside any institutional

affiliation or doctrinal systematization77 until reaching Tsangnyon. This is not surprising given

that this tradition questioned moral standards, advocated living in poverty and isolated

meditation retreats and often criticized monasticism and wealthy monasteries. Although the

Aural Lineage had been maintained secretly for generations, the work of Tsangnyon’s school had

73
This is perhaps the most famous Tibetan text and has been republished and translated numerous times. Smith
(2001) p.61 and Larsson (2013) p.74
74
Clemente (2015) p.185 and Sernesi (2006) p.181 respectively
75
See Sernesi, (2004) fn. 8
76
An interesting possible exception is Lingrepa’s student Tsangpa Gyare, who is considered both the first abbot of
Ralung Monastery, the seat of the Drukpa Kagyu order, as well as the first of the Drukchen incarnation line.
However, these designations, as is so common in history, were assigned retrospectively after his life. His second
reincarnation was not recognized for 200 years after Gyare’s death and the transmission was notably passed to the
yogi Gotsangpa, (rGod tshang pa mgon po rdo rje, 1189-1258), not Gyare’s nephew, the abbot of Ralung and
inheritor of the main Drukpa line, Dharma Senge (Dhar ma seng ge sangs rgyas dbon, 1177-1237). The Aural
transmission remained in the Upper Drukpa branch initiated by Gotsangpa as opposed to the mainstream Middle
Drukpa (bar ’brug) of Ralung monastery.
77
The first attempt to systematize these teachings was made by Zhang lotsawa (Zhang lo tsā ba, c. 13 th century).

25
an immediate impact and these teachings quickly became incorporated into doctrine of the

Kagyu sect and its monastic institutions.78

Perhaps due to the difficulty of maintaining a lineage without institutional support, the

Aural Lineage was splintered by the time it was received by Tsangnyon.79 It was out of fear that

this "root" of the Kagyu would be lost or distorted that Tsangnyon embarked on his literary

project.80 This work of preservation demanded not only the publication of rare texts, but also the

delineation and definition of the lineage. Tsangnyon and his school used biography to establish

the roots of their lineage in the authoritative soil of the great Indian and Tibetan masters that

came before them. In this way, this literary project not only delineated but also justified and

granted authority to the Aural Lineage; or, in other words, it provided "implicit structural

statements about the historical continuity and genealogical integrity"81 of the lineage. The

subjects of these biographies, however, were largely already considered part of the mainstream

Kagyu institutions and the biographies of saints such as Milarepa and Rechungpa had been

written many times before. It stands to reason, then, that if these biographies were meant to serve

as "the preliminaries to [Tsangnyon’s] grand record of the aural transmission tradition,"82 that the

unique qualities of these biographies would reveal much about Tsangnyon’s particular vision for

his lineage.

78
This is attested by the writings of both the 3rd Drukchen incarnation (1478-1523), who received the Aural
Lineage empowerments from Tsangnyon, as well as the famous 4th Drukchen, Pema Karpo, who wrote extensively
on the Aural Transmission.
79
The line of transmission following Milarepa is subject to some debate. A version of these teachings had been
passed to Milarepa’s student Gampopa, the founder of the Kagyu sect, and is preserved in the mainstream Kagyu
doctrine, but most scholars agree that this version was incomplete and the highest teachings were only given to
Milarepa’s other disciples Rechungpa and Ngen Dzong (Ngan rdzong ras pa, 11th cent). Lingrepa’s role in this will
be discussed later.
80
Larsson (2012) p.246.
81
Yamamoto, (2012) p.270.
82
Quintman (2014) p. 152.

26
 Aside from the narrative changes made by Tsangnyon, as noted by Quintman and

Roberts, the most unique aspect of these biographies, and, in fact, all of the literature produced

by this school, is the emphasis placed on song. Song has been an integral part of the Aural

Lineage since its inception in the form of the "vajra verses" the core teachings of the lineage that

were received by Tilopa from the ḍākinīs.83 It should be no surprise, then, that Tsangnyon and

his school viewed song as an integral part of their lineage and produced so many song-based

works, ranging from the biographies and song-collections of their lineage masters, to re-printings

of Saraha’s dohā and Milarepa’s esoteric "Six secret Songs." Schaeffer goes so far as to say that,

"a quick glance down the list reveals that the printers in Gtsang smyon’s tradition collectively

created a sort of canon of siddha story and song."84 Tsangnyon himself explicitly lays out the

importance of song to the Aural Lineage in his text, Opening the Eyes of Faith,85 a catalog that

outlines the mgur tradition and effectively characterizes the Aural Lineage as a succession of

mgur-singers. Song, then, was an important literary trope employed by Tsangnyon in his project

to characterize and "valorize"86 the Aural Lineage.

In addition to the breadth of their appearance in Tsangnyon’s overall project, songs

appear in large numbers within each work as well. With its 95 songs 65 more than any other

source the distinguishing feature of GT is clearly its larger number of mgur. It is difficult to

quantify the amount of space taken up in GT by narrative as opposed to song, but to give some

perspective, the average length of a song is about one folio side, so with its 95 songs, GT would

be approximately 80% mgur. By including mgur to such an extent, Lingrepa’s life story becomes

83
Larsson, (2012) p. 85.
84
Schaeffer (2011) p. 467.
85
mGur gyi dkar chags ma rig mun sel dad pa’i mig ‘byed zhes bya ba. See Quintman and Larsson (2015).
86
As above, Sernesi (2006), p. 181.

27
a mere frame for his songs. It would seem, then, that Rinchen Namgyal compiled GT to indelibly

link Lingrepa’s biographical and historical legacy with his mgur.

Song as a Rhetorical Trope

The biographical works of Tsangnyon’s school, such as GT, simultaneously characterize

the lineage as a whole and individual masters by means of mgur. Song was not a mere

coincidental trope, however, and has long been associated with a particular brand of Buddhism.

As Quintman says, Tsangnyon "employed the song tradition to construct a distinctive religious

identity. And as with his better-known literary achievements, that identity was fashioned around

the ideal of the ascetic yogin and his spontaneous expressions of spiritual awakening in song."87

More specifically, Tsangnyon himself explains the relationship between song and the siddha

tradition as follows:

"The victors and siddhas of the past undertook hardships in order to

directly realize the nature of mind [...] This resulted in the actualization of

unmistaken experience and realization, which they then expressed in vajra

songs. The experience and realization that arose in the minds of previous

buddhas and mahāsiddhas were expressed as vajra songs."88

This revealing statement lays out three major elements of the specific religious identity that

Tsangnyon was cultivating: predilection for a certain kind of literary form (song), lifestyle

87
Quintman, (2015) p.89
88
Translation by Quintman, see Quintman (2015) p.113

28
(radical asceticism, unconventional behavior), and philosophy (eminence, sudden realization).

This identity, or religious specialization, composed of these elements, would stand in direct

opposition to the institutionalized sects of Tsangnyon’s time. In contrast to the siddha ideal,

institutionalized Buddhism could be characterized by an emphasis on scripture and philosophical

treatises, monasticism and scholasticism, and a gradual path to enlightenment.89

The differences between these two styles of Buddhist religious observance point to a

division of religious specialization that has shown up throughout Buddhist history. Ruegg

identifies similar distinctions within first millennia Indian Buddhism when he writes of the

"cataphatic aspect" taught by Saraha in his Dohākośa and the "apophatic aspect" taught by

Nāgārjuna in his great Madhyamaka treatise Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.90 Modern scholars of

Tibetan Buddhism have divided the religious specialists of Tibetan history into groups along

similar lines. Geoffrey Samuel labels the two groups "shamans" and "clerics," identifying the

former with a cataphatic philosophy and mahāmudrā practice while the latter is associated with

the sutras and "academic analysis in purely negative terms."91 For the purposes of this study, I

will refer to these generalized groups as "institutional" and "anti-institutional" for convenience,

but these binary distinctions only point to ideal types, opposite poles on the spectrum of religious

specialization.

Perhaps the most well-known teachings of "anti-institutionalist" Buddhists are the dohā

of Indian siddhas such as Tilopa, Saraha, and Kāṇha who roamed India towards the end of the

first millennium CE. Jackson identifies a "focus on the innate", "celebration of the guru", and a

"critique of social and religious convention" as three of the key themes running through the

89
Quintman, (2014) p.122; Davidson, (2005) p.114-115; Smith, (2001) p.60
90
Ruegg, (2010) p.335.
91
Samuel, (1993) p.479.

29
songs of these masters92. That these mahasiddhas sang songs as their preferred method of

expression seems to be a direct result of their philosophical beliefs. Schaeffer, in his analysis of

Saraha’s dohā, identifies the importance of written song to the siddha tradition being its

"conformity with the general tantric rhetoric of orality," and the "primacy of the master’s oral

instructions over the written word."93 Furthermore, the spontaneity that is commonly associated

with the composition of dohā and their Tibetan counterparts, mgur, seems to be a natural

extension of the spontaneity, or co-emergence that is so central to the mahāmudrā philosophy of

the siddhas.94 Take, for example, the closing verses of both songs 25 and 40 of GT, which

Lingrepa says he sang as they "arose in my mind." The inherent connection between form and

content is exemplified perfectly by Ruegg’s discussion of the apparent dual identity of

Nāgārjuna:

"With regard to Nāgārjuna, for example, the predominantly positive ideas and

the cataphatic language found in the hymns ascribed to him stand in marked

contrast to the largely negative theory and apophatic approach of Nāgārjuna’s

scholastic works such as the Mūlamadhyamakakārikās; and we can say that

there indeed exists a clear and significant difference in philosophical ideas

and methods between the “Scholastic Corpus” and the “Hymnic Corpus.”95

92
Jackson, (2004) p.16.
93
Schaeffer, (2005) p.98.
94
Sometimes this is referred to as “sutric mahāmudrā,” as it did not rely on the tantric systems of initiations.
95
Ruegg, (2010) p.146.

30
The siddhas’ songs embodied the positivist philosophy of mahāmudrā with a rhetoric of

spontaneous, direct perception that is markedly contrasted by the negative Madhyamaka

philosophy of their scholastic contemporaries.

The distinctive voice of the siddhas’ songs was transmitted to Tibet in the 11th and 12th

centuries, where it was particularly embraced by the Tibetan yogis of the Kagyu tradition such as

Milarepa, Rechungpa, and Lingrepa.96 Like the Indian siddhas before them, these Tibetan yogis

continued the criticisms of institutional Buddhism, the focus on guru-devotion, the positivist,

mahāmudrā philosophy, and importantly for us, their tradition of singing songs. By writing one

of the first commentaries on Saraha’s Royal Song, Lingrepa, along with contemporary translators

and commentators, domesticated the Indian tradition to Tibet. These early masters sang their

songs before Sakya Pandita established Sanskritic poetry and its formal, intellectualized

structures as the highest standard of poetics in Tibet.97 In singing their mgur, these early Tibetan

yogis, beginning with Marpa and Milarepa, adapted a domestic genre of folk-song to express

esoteric Buddhist ideas while retaining the songs’ colloquial language, just as the siddhas had

done with dohā and carya songs in India.98 The mgur of Lingrepa’s time were the Tibetan take

on the spontaneous, populist style of the siddhas’ songs. The connection between mgur and dohā

as understood by Lingrepa is expressed explicitly in his commentary on Saraha’s songs, when he

says, "The lord of yogis, Great Saraha, composed his realization into mgur,"99 and then

96
Schaeffer (2005, 59)
97
Kapstein (1993, p.777) notes that according to Sakya Pandita it was "poetic excellence that was regarded as the
touchstone for moral and intellectual refinement". Following Sakya Pandita, Tibetan scholars translated many
influential texts on formal Sanskrit poetry such as Daṇḍin’s Mirror of Poetry and Jñānaśrī mitra Metrical Garland
Eulogy among others that would influence Tibetan poetry, including mgur, until the present day.
98
As noted by Kapstein (Ibid., fn.72), dohā primarily refers to a specific type of poetic meter that was used outside
of the context of Buddhist mystical song. Kapstein also points out that although they mirror doha in many ways,
mgur maintain a uniquely Tibetan voice and style.
99
DH, 2.a-.4: rnal ’byor gyi dbang ’phyug sa ra ha chen po/rtogs pa mgur du bzhengs pa

31
immediately uses the word do ha to refer to the songs, demonstrating a conflation of the terms in

his mind. 100

These mgur, such as those recorded in GT, were viewed by the masters who sang them as

a central part of their inheritance of the siddhas’ tradition. Much of the esoteric teachings that

were transmitted from India, such as those of the Aural Lineage and even Mahāmudrā itself,

were based on authoritative song collections that became the core scripture for Tibetan sects such

as the Kagyu. The Tibetan yogis who inherited these lineages not only preserved the siddhas’

songs, but also saw it as an integral part of their own identity to continue singing. Lingrepa

acknowledges as much in the first song of GT, when he describes the second of a yogi’s three

tasks:

The task for my voice is to sing short songs.

How could it not be?

From the great Vajradhara onward

That is what the masters of the past have done.101

Godrakpa is even more explicit on this point in the following song, which appears in his

biography that, like GT, was published by Rinchen Namgyal:

The singing of realization in song

100
Much has been written about the history and particularities of these genre labels. See, for example, Gamble
(2015) or Kapstein (2003), where he points out the differences between the two forms. The following quote shows
that Lingrepa, at least, conflated mgur and dohā. I will not delve too deeply into this discussion, but rather, I am
only trying to point out that both Indian and Tibetan groups of "anti-institutionalist" Buddhists used folk song to
convey their teachings and that the Tibetans viewed their mgur as the successors to the siddhas’ dohā.
101
GT, 6.a-.7: ngag gi las su dbyangs chung len/las su dbyangs chung mi len du/rdo rje ’chang chen la sogs pa’i/rje
gong ma rnams kyi spyod ‘gros yin//

32
 was the tradition of the Great Brahmin (Saraha),

known by name as The Dohā Trilogy.

The singing of experience in song

was the tradition of former adepts (siddhas),

known by name as the way experience is born.102

Perhaps ironically, the siddhas and their song collections were, in fact, important for the

establishment of the strong institutionalized lineages that would begin to form around the time of

Lingrepa. Later sects such as the Kagyu and Sakya were able to integrate, or "domesticate" the

charisma and authority granted to these songs through a process of taming their anti-institutional

aspects. These mainstream sects celebrated the individuality of the past masters, but, in practice,

reinterpreted their teachings through exegesis and encouraged scholasticism and externalized

tantric systems that better suited aristocratic values.103 Lingrepa self-identified first and foremost

as a member of the "unbroken lineage of siddhas"104 and it is this lineage, more than the Kagyu

or the Dakpo line, that he refers to throughout GT. For Lingrepa and, no doubt, many of his

contemporaries, writing commentaries on his lineage masters’ songs, as well as singing his own

mgur was a major aspect of their religious identity.

Given this long-standing and apparently integral relationship between song and anti-

institutional Buddhism, it is not surprising that it would appear as a defining characteristic of

102
rtogs pa glu ru len pa de/bram ze chen po’i bka’ srol lags/ming yang mdo ha skor gsum zer/nyams myong glu ru
len pa de/grub thob gong ma’i bka’ srol lags/ming yang nyams kyi skye tshul zer// Translation and transliteration by
Stearns. See Stearns, (2000) p.59-60.
103
Davidson (2005, p.354) does an excellent study of the domestication of the esoteric Lamdre (lam ’bras) system
into mainstream Sakya institutions. Rheingans (2010, fn.4) also notes that the mainstream Karma Kagyu school, and
the Seventh and Eight Karmapas specifically, developed a commentarial tradition and encouraged scholasticism and
the founding of monasteries.
104
Tib. grub thob brgyud chad med

33
Tsangnyon Heruka’s literary project. In creating a literary project to define a tradition that was

based so heavily on the instructions of one’s master, song served a functional role of maintaining

Schaeffer’s idea of the "rhetoric of orality."105 Furthermore, in creating what was essentially a

record of history, song served as a potent signifier to the readers of Tsangnyon’s school’s works.

Tsangnyon and his students’ use of song seems to be a prime example of what Nunning refers to

as, "the ways in which narrative forms function as an active cognitive force in the generation of

attitudes, discourses, ideologies, and ways of thinking."106 The association between song as a

literary form and the ideals of anti-institutional Buddhism, such as those espoused by the Aural

Lineage, would have been instantly recognized by the 16th century Tibetan audience of the

works of Tsangnyon’s school and instantly set it apart from the scholasticism popular at the time.

By organizing GT around such a potent trope as song, Rinchen Namgyal created a powerful

signifier of Lingrepa’s membership to a particular brand of anti-institutional Buddhism, and

cemented that association in the eyes of history.

Inside the Text

Our text, GT, can be broadly divided into two distinct parts: The narrative prose and the

songs themselves. As mentioned above, the distinguishing characteristic of GT, when compared

to other biographies of Lingrepa, is that the songs comprise the vast majority of the text. This

predominance of song, then, creates a text that is mainly cast in Lingrepa’s own voice, imbuing

this written collection with a "rhetoric of orality" that is so important in a Kagyu tradition that

emphasizes the importance of the guru’s oral instruction. In his discussion of Milarepa’s

105
Schaeffer (2005) p.98
106
Nunning, (2004) p.356.

34
biography, Quintman notes how the text’s first-person perspective "invests the text with a layer

of authenticity" and, further, allows the editor, Tsangnyon Heruka, to use a voice that is

"unimpeachable and in a sense unmediated, as if speaking out directly to readers across a span of

four centuries."107 Yet GT is not strictly a song collection. Prose sections frame the songs within

Lingrepa’s life and effectively use the narrator’s omniscient voice to lend objective credibility to

the songs and events of the text. While the two sections of GT are written with a vastly different

style, word choice, and composition, they are integrated to create a complete text. Here I will

discuss the dynamic between these two distinct, but related parts and attempt to clarify why

Rinchen Namgyal may have chosen to create this hybrid text instead of separating the two.

In the context of the early Kagyu masters such as Lingrepa, the word mgur is most

commonly translated as "song of experience" or "song of realization". These songs are exalted as

being the spontaneous expression of a master’s enlightened mind, or, to paraphrase John Ardussi,

the words that naturally appear in the mental experience of one who has achieved the longs

spyod108 level of Buddhahood.109 Looking at the translations provided here we find songs that

range in style and tone from confessions, to chastisements, to polemical refutations, to expansive

expositions on the nature of reality. Overall, however, the songs are all united around a

consistent set of issues reflecting Lingrepa’s core religious values, including asceticism, guru

devotion, and mahāmudrā philosophy. Lingrepa is uncompromising on these topics, calling out

hyposcrisy and false interpretations where he sees them, and in these songs, he takes

monasticism, scholasticism, and materialism as his most frequent opponents. These songs and

their polemic of style would have been just as poignant and biting in their criticisms of 16th

century Tibetan norms as they had been in Lingrepa’s time.

107
Quintman, (2014) p.157.
108
Skt. sambhogakāya; literally "the enjoyment body" of a Buddha.
109
Ardussi (1977) p. 117.

35
 The philosophical underpinning of Lingrepa’s position is the mahāmudrā philosophy

espoused by Gampopa and his Kagyu descendents and it’s assertion of a "direct path" to

enlightenment by means of the relationship with one’s guru. This philosophy holds that each

individual possesses an inherently enlightened nature that can be uncovered spontaneously with

the blessing and instructions of a qualified master. Lingrepa refers to this enlightened nature with

a variety of terms throughout the songs, including "innate nature," "essence of mind," or

"Buddha-mind" among others. 110 This approach obviates the need for the gradual, progressive

steps of traditional tantric systems’ initiations, commitments, and practices. It also emphasizes

the importance of one’s own meditative experience as a path to enlightenment, a path that does

not depend on learned understanding of philosophical treatises. In the songs of GT we find

Lingrepa using a variety of means, ranging from provocative language and allusions to more

subtle images and phrases, to assert a position in line with Gampopa and his Kagyu compatriots.

Rather than examine how Lingrepa treats each aspect of his position, it will be more revealing to

look at the rhetorical strategies he uses and the three ways he engages in this polemic; namely,

how he promotes his position, criticizes others’, and defends his position against critics.

Lingrepa is frequently explicit about key aspects of his position, repeatedly promoting a

life of wandering asceticism and begging, an accessible, cataphatic philosophy, and a reverence

for lineage masters. It is interesting to note that these aspects of lifestyle and philosophy are

neither disjointed nor coincidental, but rather, generally appear together within the same songs as

parts of a cohesive vision for what Lingrepa would term a true "yogi." Begging and wandering in

the mountains would have been an important distinction for the yogi of 11th century Tibet as it

would clearly separate him from the established monks and lamas who accumulated wealth. In

fact, Lingrepa seems to hold the term "yogi", with its accompanying implications of ascetic
110
gnyug ma’i don; sems nyid; sems chos kyi sku

36
solitude of authentic practice, as a signifier for his whole vision. Songs such as song 40 in GT

clearly elevate the term "yogi" to a title of the highest respect.111 The overall impression of the

songs, then, is that Lingrepa follows very closely the positions of the Kagyu mahāmudrā lineage,

casting him in the mold of Saraha, Milarepa, and Gampopa before him.

Lingrepa commonly asserts his philosophical view through the use of imagery that

expresses the aspect of spontaneity and effortlessness that is integral to the mahāmudrā view.

His repeated use of phrases such as "dawning" or "rising" evokes the idea of the sudden

appearance of something that was present yet unseen. Song 20, for example, explicitly uses the

sun as a metaphor for the appearance of enlightenment:

Rising from the horizon of intrinsic nature

The sun of pure light will dawn in the sky.112

As mentioned earlier, Lingrepa even describes these songs themselves as having "arisen" in his

mind, an allusion to the spontaneous experience of one’s innate Buddhahood.

Another important, yet occasionally opaque, aspect of these songs is the use of certain

phrases that are characteristic of the mahāmudrā position such as this verse from song 12:

I recognized thoughts as dharmakāya

Like meeting an old acquaintance.113

111
Not to mention Lingrepa’s own self-ascribed nickname used to introduce many songs: "this solitary yogi" Tib:
bdag phyis kyis rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘di.
112
GT, 18.b-.4: chos nyid kyi nam mkha' mtha' nas langs/'od gsal gi nyi ma mkha' la shar//
113
GT, 15.Lb-.3: sngar 'dris mi dang phrad pa bzhin/rnam rtog chos skur ngo shes pas//

37
Or song 78:

I had no need for wordy teachings;

I recognized my own mind, just as it is,

As unborn dharmakāya.114

In his paper on the 8th Karmapa, Jim Rheingans notes how these specific phrases relating the

conceptual mind to the pure mind of a Buddha, or dharmakāya, are characteristic of the

mahāmudrā philosophy of Gampopa and the Indian siddhas.115

In these songs, we also see Lingrepa directly challenging and even overtly criticizing

many of the established norms of Buddhist institutions of his day which he saw as neither

effective nor authentic. Lingrepa does not mince words with his criticisms of monastic

institutions, taking issue with both their behavior and their philosophical approach. Take these

two verses from song 29 for example:

Not taking the lowly position of a beggar,

You still eat up to scattered offerings of others;

Hypocrite, I worry about you.

You aren’t impartial towards the eight worldly concerns.

Think and be diligent!116

And:

114
GT, 46.a-.2: tshig lhag pa'i bstan rgyu mi gdog ste/ji zhig ltar la rang gi sems/skye ba med par chos skur rtogs//
115
Rheingans, (2012, p.8)
116
GT, 22.a-.1: sprang po'i dman sa mi 'dzin par/da dung gzhan gyi phye mthor 'gam/tshul 'chos mkhan khyod la
dgos pa yin/chos brgyad kyi mgo bo ma snyoms par 'dug pa/mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed//

38
 Not looking at the inexpressible meaning

you still read the written scriptures.

Bookworm,117 I worry about you;

Appearances don’t arise as scripture for you.

Think and be diligent!118

As in the above verse, the intellectual approach, in particular, is challenged and denigrated

repeatedly in Lingrepa’s songs. His use of pejorative terms such as "little books", and "mere

rhetoric" as well his "confessing" to the use of logic and reasoning, among other things, clearly

show that he regarded the exegetical and dialectical approach of many Buddhist schools to be

mired in conceptual thinking. In Lingrepa’s view, meditation gives access to one’s innate

buddhahood, so actions such as studying scriptures or following monastic codes would be

considered worldly or even hypocritical constructs. While he follows his predecessor Gampopa

closely in his philosophical views, Lingrepa differs from him greatly in his disapproval of

monasticism; Lingrepa’s whole life story could, in fact, be considered a direct challenge to the

monastic system. Both in his life as Lingrepa as well as in previous lives, he is forgiven for

transgressing his monastic vows and achieves much higher levels of realization once he adopts

the lifestyle of a yogi. Lingrepa even famously tried to convince his disciple Tsangpa Gyare to

abandon his monk’s vows by sending him to a female tantric consort.119

117
Tib: zin bris mkhan; literally, "note-taker" or maybe "scribe," but the connotation is pejorative towards someone
who puts too much emphasis on the written word of the texts.
118
GT, 22.a-.1: brjod med kyi don la mi lta bar/da dung yig nag gi dpe cha blta/zin bris mkhan khyod la dgos pa
yin/snang ba dpe char ma shar 'dug pa/mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed//
119
She and Tsangpa Gyare end up agreeing that consort practice is not necessary for him and he remains a monk.

39
 Less overtly, we also see Lingrepa challenging established norms by interpreting them

symbolically rather than literally. Take, for example, these verses from song 17, which offer

antinomian actions as "supreme" alternatives to characteristic aspects of monasticism:

I indulge in the five sense pleasures—

This is the supreme austerity.

I take the suffering of the five poisons onto the path—

This is the supreme antidote.

I make offerings to the illusory body—

This is the supreme object of worship.

I study my own mind—

This is the supreme scripture.120

Song 26 uses a similar logic in systematically asserting the superiority of the mahāmudrā view to

all other major Buddhist schools. Take, for example, these verses that challenge some norms of

tantric systems:

Abiding as the true maṇḍala of the three Buddha bodies

The essence of mind is the initiation.

120
GT, 17.b-.4: bdag longs spyod 'dod yon lnga la byed/dka' thub khyad par 'phags pa yin/lam du nyon mongs dug
lnga slong/gnyen po khyad bar 'phags pa yin/mchod pa sgyu ma'i lus la 'bul/mchod gnas khyad par 'phags pa yin/lta
rtog rang gi sems la byed/dpe cha khyad par 'phags pa yin//

40
 Unity with the true deity innate, essential nature—

Is the generation stage practice.

The true mantra non-arising—

Is recited without interruption.

Thoughts121 dissolving into the unborn dharmadhātu

Is the perfection stage practice.

Establishing these by not transgressing reality

Is the samaya.

Because it is blissful without impurity,122

Primordial widsom is the tantric feast.123

This strategy of reinterpretation allows Lingrepa to, in effect, adopt the important characteristics

of other systems and position the mahāmudrā view as superior.

One of the most controversial episodes in Lingrepa’s life story was when he began

writing compositions on the tantras despite his lack of formal education. The biography explains

121
Reading rnam rtog from NP, although the reading rlung sems; "vitality and mind" from GT is also plausible.
122
This seems to be a reference to the tantric practice of consuming "impure substances" such as meat and alcohol
during ritual feasts. Lingrepa is discrediting the idea of impurity.
123
GT, 20.b-.5: sku gsum don gyi dkyil 'khor du/sems nyid bzhugs pa dbang bskur yin/rang bzhan/bzhin gnyug ma
don gyi lha/'bral ba med pa bskyed rim yin/skye ba med pa don gyi sngags/rgyun chad med pa bzlas pa yin/skye ba
med pa'i chos dbying su/rlung sems yal ba rdzogs rim yin/de rnams don la mi gda' ba/brtan par byed pa dam tshig
yin/thob pa med par bde bas na/ye shes tshogs kyi 'khor lo yin//

41
his scriptural understanding as being the result of the divine inspiration of Prajñāpāramitā, who

transmits "all that could be known" directly to Lingrepa. Some of Lingrepa’s contemporaries

object to his compositions, citing his lack of education, to which he responds by sarcastically

asking for forgiveness in song 60, which contains verses such as this one:

Because the assembly of lamas, deities, and dakinis,

Abide in my heart

This teaching arose on its own.

If you think this is unprecedented, please excuse me.124

Following this song, we are told that the criticisms were "cut off." This interaction between song

and narrative forms one of the "core" events of Lingrepa’s life story, which, as mentioned above,

are reproduced consistently across sources. While all the songs of GT are contextualized via a

prose introduction, the songs of these "core" events also have stated effects on the narrative,

serving to "explain and determine the primary fabula," to use the terminology of narratologist

Mieke Bal.125 These songs are the only ones where a reaction is described by the omniscient

voice of the narrator and offered to the reader, giving, as Bal puts it, "explicit commentary on the

embedded text which influences our reading of that text."126 In this case, the impact of song 55

on the reader is prescribed by the reaction of the critics of Lingrepa’s time.

In the above song, Lingrepa is defending the validity of the Kagyu mahāmudrā approach

by asserting that the blessings and oral instructions of his teacher are viable means for access to

124
GT, 38.a-.2: bla ma yid dam mkha' 'gros'i tshogs/bdag gi snying du zhugs lags pas/rang dbang med pa'i slab bcol
shor/dpe med snyam na bzod par gsol//
125
Bal (1985, p.54)
126
Ibid., p.64

42
esoteric knowledge.127 This idea has been both celebrated and reviled as a "sudden" path to

enlightenment as it bypasses the traditional gatekeepers of tantric empowerment and scholarly

exegesis. As mentioned above, and then addressed in the verse quoted above, the chief criticism

of this path is that it is an innovation without scriptural precedent.128 Lingrepa was apparently

aware of this criticism; he frequently invokes his view’s accordance with scripture, as in this

verse from song 16:

Even without hearing every teaching,

If you sever superimositions from within

And express the natural state with words,

You won’t be contradicting the sūtras or tantras.129

Or again in this verse from song 11:

Establishing certainty in the nature of mind in accord with all sutras and tantras,

These instructions place buddhahood in the palm of your hand;130 how amazing!

Certainty arises instantly; how delightful!131

127
Guru devotion was seen as the "single means of realization" by some Lingrepa’s Kagyu contemporaries. See, for
example, Sobisch (2011, p.211)
128
Jackson (1994, p.84)
129
GT, 17.a-.7: phyogs med thos pa ma byas te/sgro 'dogs nang nas chod lags pas/gnas lugs tshig du brjod lags
kyang/bka' mdo rgyud gnyis dang ma 'gal tsam//
130
Tib. sangs rgyas lag du gtod; While this may be a more common phrase than I am aware, it is interesting to note
its usage in Saraha’s Doha, as translated by Guenther. See Guenther (1968) p, 37
131
GT, 14.La-.2: mdo rgyud kun dang 'thun par sems nyid gtan la phab nas/sangs rgyas lag du gtod pa'i gdams
ngag 'di nyams re dga'/nges shes 'phral du skye ba 'di dang re spro//

43
Despite the accusations of innovation, scholars such as Lara Braitstein have shown that much of

Gampopa’s mahāmudrā approach can actually be traced to south India and the songs of

Saraha.132 While this does not necessarily solve the question of authenticity, it does, at least,

mean that this philosophical position had a long history before Lingrepa and Gampopa and is

tied directly to the authority of the Indian siddhas such as Saraha. It stands to reason, then, that in

the face of questions of authenticity, many of Lingrepa’s songs would invoke the established

authority of the Indian siddhas by repeatedly using the phrases such as the "past masters" and the

"unbroken lineage of siddhas."

Lingrepa is further tied to the siddha lineage by another of the "core" events of his life—

when he sings a song to his teacher, Phagmodrupa, to demonstrate to him the high level of his

realization. As mentioned above, upon the completion of the song, Phagmodrupa is elated and

gives Lingrepa the nickname "Saraha of Tibet."133 Similar to the effect discussed above, the

narrative, speaking through the voice of Phagmodrupa, effectively prescribes a reaction to the

song. Lingrepa’s elevated status is doubly confirmed: first, in the logic of the song, the "truth" of

Lingrepa’s realization is shown by the profound meaning expressed by the song’s words.

Second, the narrative surrounding the song confirms to the audience that that was, in fact, an

exceptional song by Phagmodrupa’s effusive praise and comparisons to Saraha. Lingrepa’s

enlightened status is reinforced to the reader by the "truth" of the narrative in the form of the

legendary Phagmodrupa’s authoritative voice.134 This doubly-confirmed status, as well as the

132
Braitstein and Mathes both trace the origins of much of Gampopa’s philosophy to the mahāsiddhas of India. See
Bratstein (2006), p.57.
133
While all the sources compare Lingrepa to Saraha at this point, only Blue Annals explicitly uses this nickname.
134
For more on this terminology and the interaction of truth modalities with regard to embedded texts, see Bal
(1985) p.55.

44
association with Saraha,135 effectively casts all of Lingrepa’s following words and deeds as that

of a highly realized being.

Interestingly, while this event is marked by the first song to appear in most

biographies,136 and the reaction to the song is almost identical across sources, the sources do not

agree on which song is actually sung at this point.137 The variability points to the importance of

song as a rhetorical trope; the editors of these biographies may not have agreed on which song

best proved Lingrepa’s enlightenment, but they all agreed that a song was necessary at this

point.138 In a kind of circular logic, the songs are said to be the natural expression of Lingrepa’s

heightened realization, but to any reader or listener from 16th century Tibet, the appearance of

songs would signify his realization, and, moreover, affirm Lingrepa’s association with Saraha

and the other famous Kagyu forefathers.

Conclusion

In this study, we have seen how the mgur of GT both explicitly and implicitly tie

Lingrepa’s literary persona to the legacy of the Indian siddhas. Working as a literary trope, these

songs remind of the siddhas’ dohā and project the rhetoric of orality that is so important to the

Kagyu sect. Throughout the songs themselves, Lingrepa reinforces this connection by invoking

his place in the "unbroken lineage of siddhas" and echoeing their iconoclastic critiques of

135
This association accomplishes what Kapstein describes as "finding India in Tibet" 135 and lends Lingrepa’s words
even more weight.
136
It appears first in all sources except GT where it is song 12.
137
This first song, in fact, is the most variable of all the songs shared between the texts. While all biographies have a
song marking this occasion, only GT and DD agree on which song that is, with the others including completely
different songs, with SGB 1 appearing as song 31 in GT and BR 1 not appearing anywhere else.
138
This is the only song that appears in full in BR and Blue Annals quotes a fragment of this song.

45
religious and social norms. Furthermore, we have seen how the narrative frame of the biography

encourages a particular reaction to the songs, granting them added weight and authority. We

have also seen that GT was part of a larger literary project begun by Tsangnyon Heruka and

continued by his disciples that was aimed at preserving the antinomian, mystic ideals of the

foundational figures of the Kagyu sect. Centered on the esoteric teachings of the Aural Lineage

and the biographical legacies of the yogis that held it, the works produced by Tsangnyon’s

school presented a vision of Buddhist practice that would have been in stark contrast to the

mainstream religious institutions of the day.

This study has been primarily concerned with the literary aspects of GT and the impact

they have both on the reader and Lingrepa’s historical legacy. These rhetorical tools, however,

do not operate in a vacuum; their impact and import would have been dependent on the wider

socio-political context. GT was printed during a time of political turmoil as well as "fervent

religious reform and doctrinal systematization"139 in Tibet. Since the time of Milarepa,

Tsangnyon’s Kagyu sect had solidified into a number of distinct lineages with powerful monastic

institutions controlled by "hereditary monastic nobility" and, increasingly, lines of incarnate

lamas.140 As opposed to the web-like structures of transmission lineages, these hereditary

structures were closely tied to the aristocratic clans of Tibet and held political as well as religious

influence. As mentioned above, these monastic establishments largely maintained the esoteric

teachings of figures such as the siddhas as part of their doctrinal core, yet with the vestiges of

139
Smith (2001, p.60)
140
Rheingans p.249. This period saw a growing shift from familial lineages, which generally passed from uncle to
nephew, to the now-common tradition of reincarnate lineages. During this period, the Drukpa Kagyu, for example,
recognized the birth of the 2nd Drukchen (Kun dga dpal ‘byor, 1428-1476) more than 200 years after the death of
the first, Lingrepa’s chief disciple Tsangpa Gyare. Until that point, the Drukpa leadership had been passed along
between members of Tsangpa Gyare’s Gya (rGya) clan.

46
anti-institutional rhetoric transformed through a process of "domestication".141 It was in the

context of the growing power and systemization of religious bodies that Tsangnyon and his

disciples printed their texts, promoting an alternate vision of religious reform centered on the

ideal of the solitary, itinerant yogi.142

Tsangnyon himself embodied this ideal.143 He was one of the most famous of the "mad-

yogis", who emerged in the 15th century and emulated the antinomian behavior of the siddhas

and Kagyu forefathers such as Milarepa. The mad-yogi "phenomenon", as Gene Smith terms it,

is the "antithesis of the scholastic-monk" and is widely considered to be a response to the "great

prestige and wealth of the hereditary lineages".144 As such, they opposed the moral code,

scholasticism, and ritualistic approach of the mainstream monastic institutions through their wild

behavior and songs. Tsangnyon’s response extended far beyond his own conduct, however, as he

initiated his great printing project in order to reach the whole Tibetan population, from kings, to

commoners, to learned monks, whom he claimed were on the verge of becoming "non-

Buddhists".145

141
Davidson notes how monastic institutions grew to mirror the clan-based political system of Tibet and used
"institutional esoterism" based on externalized mandalas and complex tantric rituals and initiations which sacralized
hierarchical relationships. See Davidson (2005, p.353). Samuel discusses this process as the synthesis of shamanic
and clerical elements, with increased institutionalization coming at the expense of the shamanic. See Samuel (1993,
p.497)
142
Quintman (2014, p.122)
143
In this section, I will largely refer only to Tsangnyon Heruka, despite the fact that most of this printing project
was carried out by Tsangnyon’s disciples. I am employing this conflation partly in the interest of simplification but
mostly because Tsangnyon is responsible for initiating the project. Rinchen Namgyal, the editor of GT and
Tsangnyon’s most important disciple, was not a "mad yogi", but he was a follower of Tsangnyon and he composed
most of his texts following visionary experiences with the great mahāsiddhas such as Saraha, Tilopa, and Nāropa.
See Diemberger (2013, p.135) Furthermore, while Tsangnyon had no part in the creation of most of the texts of this
project, he did lay out the vision for the project and the main figures included in the biographies in his catalog,
Opening the Eyes of Faith mentioned above. See Quintman (2015) for more on this text.
144
Smith (2001 p.60). Tsangnyon’s Aural Lineage had been continued without any institutional affiliation.
145
Tsangnyon’s full statement on the intent behind his biographical project is quite interesting. He claims such a
biography would be an alternative to "bubbles of technical jargon" and a cure for arrogance. Furthermore, it would
serve as a support for those undertaking ascetic hardships and a response to those who doubt enlightenment is
possible in one lifetime. See Quintman (2014, p.128)

47
 Tsangnyon’s project is something of a paradox. Simultaneously innovative and

conservative, he systematized the secret, whispered teachings of the Aural Lineage and exposed

them to the general public.146 At the same time, these biographies and song collections celebrate

a time before the systematization and institutional esoterism of the established sects. GT was not

revolutionary in portraying a forgotten figure of history, but rather, it is focused on shaping and

popularizing the literary identity of a master who was at the very heart of the Kagyu sect.

Lingrepa was already a legend, with authority beyond reproach, but this biography casts him as a

Tibetan siddha while the songs convey his anti-institutional message directly to the audience.

This text would have played an integral part in taking the whole narrative of the Kagyu as an a

established, solidified sect, and shifting it back to its roots as a lineage of spiritual instruction,

passed from one ascetic yogi to the next.147 Speaking from the grave, across a span of hundreds

of years, this "Saraha of Tibet", criticized the religious institutions of the day, questioned the

necessity of monastic vows and scholasticism and exhorted the students of his lineage to

abandon worldly concerns and retreat to the wilderness. This message would have been a

powerful voice for reform in the time of Tsangnyon Heruka, with the growing political and

religious influence of hereditary sects and their institutional values of monasticism,

scholasticism, and hierarchical tantric systems; it is a message that continues to ring true today.

146
See Sernesi (2004, p.259) for an interesting discussion of how Tsangnyon justified breaking the "seal of secrecy"
that was put on these teachings.
147
It appears Tsangnyon was very effective, as, following him, the third and fourth Drukchens would compose
extensive commentaries and treatises on the Aural Lineage, effectively incorporating it into the mainstream. See
Sernesi (2004, p.252).

48
Translation

Song 1

Staying between gNyal and Loro for several years, he sang this song upon his farewell:

Namo Ratna Guru

I, this modern day yogi,

Following the masters of the past

From the great Vajradhara onward,

49
Have only three things I must do:

The task for my body is to wander the mountains.

How could it not be?

That is where the victors did their austerities,

That is where our forefathers dwelled,

That is where realizations are sustained,

That is where supreme and ordinary siddhis can be attained,

That is where one casts off the distraction of possessions,

And all concern148 for reputation is severed.

The task for my voice is to sing short songs.

How could it not be?

From the great Vajradhara onward

That is what the masters of the past have done,

They are a comforting friend, when alone,

They are for enjoyment when in a group,

They gather the mamos149 and ḍākinīs, 150

And enhance both experience and samādhi.

The task for my mind is non-conceptual meditation.

How could it not be?

148
thag pa
149
Tib. ma mo; Skt. mātṛkā; A class of ferocious female semi-divine beings. RY
150
Tib. mkha’ ‘gro ma; A class of female deitites who serve and protect the Dharma. RY

50
That is the realization of the buddhas of the three times,

That is the inner experience of our forefathers,

That severs the root of dualistic fixation,

That is the abandonment of all that must be abandoned,

That builds the bonfire of primordial wisdom

And, with its flames, consumes the firewood of concrete existence.

Song 2

Then, Lingchen Repa said, “I truly see the protector of beings, Phagmodrupa, as the Buddha and

I have not, for even an instant, have the misconception of him being ordinary." Then, he offered

this song of veneration for seeing the lama as the Buddha:

Namo Ratna Guru

The master’s mind is indivisible

From the great Vajradhara

Down to our own lama and master.

51
I pay homage to the master-buddhas.151

The master has perfected omniscience,

The superior qualities of the Buddha,

Such as the eight qualities of mastery152 and so forth.

I pay homage to the master-buddhas.

The master sees phenomena as dharmakāya153

He knows they are without true nature

Like a hallucination, a dream, or a magic illusion.

I pay homage to the master-buddhas.

The master has appeared in different ways

With a variety of forms and behaviors

[Yet] these are one in the state of Vajradhāra.

I pay homage to the master-buddhas.

The master sees all beings as his children

And works for them from a state without reference point

With compassion that knows no bounds.

151
rje, is translated first as "master" and later as part of the compound "master buddhas". In the Tibetan, rje appears
as the last word of the third line and the first word of the fourth line of each verse. This seems to be emphasizing the
view of one’s earthly masters as actual buddhas.
152
Tib. dbang phyug brgyad; these are mastery over the body, speech, mind, miraculous feats, all-pervasiveness,
desire, granting whatever is desired, and the abode. (Rangdrol, 2009) p.79
153
Tib: chos sku; Lit. "dharma body"; I back-translate into Sanskrit "dharmakāya" here because there seems to be
no good English translation and the Sanskrit is more commonly used than the Tibetan. Variously explained, it is the
third if the three "bodies" that constitute a Buddha and is closely related with the aspect of ultimate truth.

52
I pay homage to the master-buddhas.

The master radiates emanations beyond measure,

Manifesting forms as befits the needs of beings,

Yet still, he is one with the luminous dharmakāya.

I pay homage to the master-buddhas.

The master has given limitlessness teachings,

the 84,000 and so forth,

Yet still, he has shown they have a single point.

I pay homage to the master-buddhas

The master has guided countless beings

In an unfathomable number of ways

Yet he establishes them in the same realization.

Homage to the master-buddhas

Song 4

Then in front of his own lama, when Lingchen Repa requested many ordinary teachings, Je

Phagmodru said, “Tell me how you meditated before”. [Ling Repa replied] “I meditated short154

154
Tib. aen re (sic)

53
sessions.” [Phagmodru said,] “Train in the mind’s abiding mode by means of sahaja yoga."155

Then, one month after beginning, he saw the essence of meditation156 and he offered this lineage

supplication:

Namo Ratna Guru

The unexcelled Vajradhara, who perfected all five buddha bodies,

Son of the victors, lord of secrets, Vajrapāṇi,

Filled with supreme blessings, Saraha,

He who has control of appearances, Lūipa,

He who brings conduct onto the path, Deṅgipa157,

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

The lord of the ten bhūmis, venerable Ratnamati,

Prophecied to never regress, Nāgārjuna,

He who manifested clear light, Mātaṅgīpa,

With realization158 as pure as the sky, Sumati [Samantabhadrī],

He who attained stable samādhi, Thang-lo-pa,

He who purified the defiled, illusory body, Shing-lo-pa,

With blazing radiance like the sun, Karnaripa,

155
"Coemergent wisdom" Skt sahaja; Tib. lhan gcig skyes sbyor
156
sgom gyi ngo bo
157 Could be referring to Dingipa, “the teacher who introduced Dharmakīrti to the system of the Secret
Mantra.” (Taye, Jamgon. The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Six, Part Four: Systems of Buddhist Tantra. p.378)
158
thugs dgongs

54
I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

Capable in samadhi, Dombi [Heruka],

Benefiting both self and others, Bhinasa,

He who carried the sense pleasures on the path, Lawapa,

The excellent emanation, venerable Indrabhuti,

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

The great lord of yogis, Tilopa,

The learned one who attained supreme accomplishment, Naropa,

He of non-abiding nirvana, Śāvaripa,

He who obtained a prophecy in the intermediate state, Maitrīpa,

He who completed the supreme path of the messenger159, venerable Tipupa,

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

He who perfectly completed the austerities, venerable Marpa,

He who saw the face of Nairātmyā’s wheel160, venerable Ngokton161,

Uninteruppted clear light, venerable Milarepa162,

The embodiment of the three buddha bodies, venerable Rechungpa,

He who saw appearances as dharmakāya, Gyal-lo,

The destroyer of the illusion of true existence, the great Dampa [Sumpa]163,

159
Tib: pho nya’i lam, probably refers to consort practice
160
Tib: bdag med ‘khor lo’i zhal. Nairātmyā is the consort of Hevajra
161
rNgog ston Chos sku rDo rje (1036-1097)
162
The somewhat ambiguous epithet, ras chen zhabs, is clearly Milarepa by context

55
I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

He who protects beings with kindness, Gampopa,

With realization as pure as the sky, Phagmodrupa,164

Indisputably renowned as, "the Omniscient One",

The precious [master] endowed with the splendor of all the bliss-gone-ones,165

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

The source of all satisfaction, precious lama;

The crown jewel, precious lama;

The glorious protector of beings, precious lama;

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

Not depending on the words, exaggerations are severed from within.

Not depending on method, dullness and excitement are automatically liberated.

Not depending on the path, great bliss is uninterrupted.

Venerable one who has been to the ends of experience,

I supplicate you! Look with your compassionate gaze!

The precious one who fulfills needs, wants, and wishes;

The precious one who sees the six classes of beings as their children;

163
Gyal-lo (rgyal ba lo) and Dampa Sumpa (dam pa sum pa) were two of Rechungpa’s closest students, dates
unclear.
164
mthar tsa pa; Likely a misspelling of mtha’ rtsa ba, which is a epithet of Phagmodrupa. See (Stearns, 2001)
p.27
165
Skt: sugata, Tib: bde bar gshegs pa is an epithet for the buddhas, or literally, "those who have passed to bliss"

56
The precious one who places the Buddha in your hands;

The precious one who blesses the faithful;

The precious one who lifts [beings] out of confusion;

The precious one who shows mind itself to be dharmakāya;

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

The precious lama who is the root of all lineages;

The precious lama who is the essence of the deities;

The precious lama who is the essence of the three jewels;

I supplicate you! Look [on me] with your compassionate gaze!

If we beseech and supplicate

With respectful bodies, melodious speech, and a faithful attitude,

Please grant us stable and uninterrupted experience

And excellent realization!

For as long as we occupy this illusory body,

May we not be harmed by the collection of sufferings in saṃsāra,

May we have the excellent collection of good circumstances,

And may we have the power to dispel the suffering of beings.

Song 6

57
He offered this song after His devotion yielded especially great results:

Namo Ratna Guru

When that precious, wish-fulfilling jewel

– brought up from the ocean depths –

Comes into a merchant's hands,

The closer he looks the more its value grows;

When those instructions of the siddha lineage

– requested from a wise guru –

Come into a scholar-monk's166 view,

The closer he looks, the more his certainty grows.

That sword with its sharp blade

Was forged by a skilled blacksmith,

But when put to the sharpening stone

And polished, it becomes sharper and sharper still;

The wisdom of experience and realization

Was introduced by a wise teacher,

But when you meet the precious guru

166 The term used here, mkhas btsun, implies a scholar-monk, so the point here seems to be that the “secret
instructions of the siddha lineage” would be something outside the normal monastic education of an educated monk
and something he may not initially have trust in.

58
And meditate, it become stronger and stronger still.

The moon appears to wax and wane

Due only to the sun's light.

When separated from the sun

The moon appears in its fullness;

The dharmakāya-mind appears to wax and wane

Due only to the projections of your confusion.

When confusion fades away

Appearances dawn as dharmakāya.

You want to view the ocean beyond,

But if the forest is all you see, it is far away.

When you clear away all signs of the forest,

That is the moment when the ocean comes [into view];

You want to view the Buddha's mind,

But if signs and marks167 are all you’re concerned with, it is far away

When you dissolve attachment to those signs and marks,

That is the moment when Buddha-mind comes [into view].

The qualities of the sun, moon, planets, and stars

167
This is referring to the signs and marks of success on the path.

59
Intrinsically and originally abide

In the originally pure sky;

Yet they are not seen by the blind;

The supreme qualities of the buddhas

Intrinsically and originally abide

In the originally pure dharmakāya-mind;

Yet they are not seen by impure [minds].

Song 9

He sang this song of regret after thinking, "I only paid attention to the close lineage168, even

though the lamas are actually buddhas.169"

Namo Ratna Guru

The lama is a buddha, but I took him to be human;

I confess, I judged him on the closeness of his lineage.

The instructions are meant to be practiced, but I took them as [mere] words;

I confess, I subjected the pith instructions to logic and reasoning.

168
rgyud pa nye ba; the idea here is that he prioritized the shorter lineages instead of seeing all lamas as buddhas.
169
SGB repeats this introduction exactly, but it comes in the narrative directly after Lingrepa is recognized as Saraha
by his teacher.

60
The conventional is mere label, but I took it to be truth;

I confess, I haughtily debated about faults in the words.

Obstacles are merely my own mind, but I took them to be demons;

I confess, I counted off wrathful mantras for protection.

Samsara is Nirvana, but I took it seriously;

I confess, I cultivated the prison of my own suffering.

Thoughts are primordial wisdom, but I took them to be flaws;

I confess, I saw them as stains to be abandoned.

The dharmakāya is one taste, but I took it170 to be many;

I confess, I was biased towards things.

song 11171

Then, when he was travelling to central Tibet, he maintained the same behavior as before and

when he arrived, he sang this song of delight:

170
SGB: bzung. This reading maintains the parallel structure of using "took" throughout the song.
171
This song appears in Stearns, 2000: p.90

61
The undistiputed Kagyus are known throughout the land;

This lineage is revered by all; how amazing!

The line of siddhas is unbroken; how delightful!

The great saints have all the essential qualities and benefit both self and other;

They are like wish-fulfilling jewels; how amazing!

They are the source of all one needs and desires; how delightful!

Establishing certainty in the nature of mind in accord with all sutras and tantras,

These instructions place buddhahood in the palm of your hand; how amazing!

Certainty arises instantly; how delightful!

The one who leaves his home behind with no particular plans at all,

Wanders carefree in the mountains; how amazing!

He has no need to guard his home172; how delightful!

Having abandoned the cheating and lying of commerce, he no longer strives after reputation,

The beggar’s concern is this present moment, how amazing!

He has no cause to suffer from a miser’s stinginess; how delightful!

The one who has abandoned normal family life and given up the endeavors of the world,

172
NP: mkhar las ru ‘pho mi dgos has more of a connotation of not needing to do housework which is also a
plausible reading and it is possible that the slightly archaic phrase, mkhar bsrung ran could be implying that aspect
of "keeping a house" rather than protecting it.

62
Stays all alone, by himself; how amazing!

He doesn’t [need to] clean his mouth and nose;173 how delightful!174

Realization dawns from within, so if you clear away philosophical ambitions,175

The view surpasses all objects of thought and speech176; how amazing!

This is truly manifesting the intrinsic nature; how delightful!

By precisely focusing on the blessings, enlightened qualities will dawn in the mind.

This is the uninterrupted meditation on the innate; how amazing!

No object and no meditation; how delightful!

Attachment releases from within, so cut out the hypocrisy of fabrication.

This is the method of letting be with ease; how amazing!

No refuting or accepting; no adopting or rejecting; how delightful!

By embodying the intrinsic nature, the three bodies manifest spontaneously.

This is the fruit in which all enlightened qualities are perfected; how amazing!

Crossing the abyss of hope and fear; how delightful!

Song 12177
173
The meaning of this passage is slightly unclear, but reading nyog from NP makes more sense than nyol: "to lie
down", so it seems to be referring to the need to keep up appearances and hygiene when one stays with other people.
174
The Godrakpa song (Stearns song 13) is quite different after this verse.
175
grub mtha’i zhe ‘dod
176
Here, "objects of thought and speech" seems to be referring to the ordinary subjects that form the basis for debate
among the various philosophical schools.

63
Lingrepa went before the lama and offered a pledge to meditate for three years, but then, he left

after three days. The precious lama sent for him, and scolded him, because all beings have faults.

He told Lingrepa to sing a song about the manner of his view, so he offered this mgur:

Namo Ratna Guru

The lord guru said, “Meditate on the innate nature!”

So I meditated.

And I cast off both meditator and object of meditation and went beyond.

Now, there is no difference between meditating and not.

By the lamplight of experience and samādhi

I understood that mind itself is the dharmakāya,

So I cast off my fixation to experiences and went beyond

Now there is nowhere to go astray.

There is no placing the mind just as it is

And no need to create an antidote

So I cast off my uncertainty about "is" and "is not" and went beyond

Now I have no complaints.

I recognized thoughts as dharmakāya

177
This song is partially translated in the Blue Annals.

64
Like meeting an old acquaintance,

So I cast off my clinging to faults and virtues and went beyond

Now there is no need for refuting or asserting.

Realization dawns from within,

Like the rising sun in the darkness of dawn,

So I cast off the assertions of doctrinal schools and went beyond

Now there is no need for labeling.

I realized the inseparability of my mind,

the lamas, and the buddhas of the three times,

So I cast off my conventional perception and went beyond

Now there is no need for making prayers.

I understood that the mind is without birth or death

And this illusory body could burst178 like a bubble at any time

So I caste off the fear of death

Now there is no need for suffering.

When I meet others, it is in front of the master,

When I don’t, I aimlessly wander the land.

When I return, I beg for alms without attachment.

When I despair, I sing a little song.

178 Great wordplay here with the use of 'jig; to destroy and 'jigs; to fear and the repetition of 'chi; death

65
When I am cold, I keep warm by the fire of gtum mo.179

When I get sick, I equalize for the elements.180

Whether happy or sad I enjoy it just for what it is

May I continue to do what I want!

After offering this song, lama Phagmodru said: "Up to [i.e., on the far side of] the Ganges River,

there has never been nor will there be anyone with greater realization in this teaching than the

Great Brahmin Saraha; on this side of the Ganges River, there will never be anyone with higher

realization in it than you, son!”

Song 16

Some students of a fake181 Geshe questioned him with religious terms, so he sang this song in

response:

Namo Ratna Guru

Even without attending the lama for very long

If the pith instructions, untainted by words,

Are planted in the core of your heart

179
The yogic practice of generating inner fire
180 In Tibetan medicine imbalance of elements makes you sick
181 There is some discrepancy concerning this introduction. They all preserve tog-sounding words, but NP and SGB
use rtog while NP uses mdog.

66
You won’t place your hope in those little books.

Even without staying in caves for very long

If you realize the ceaseless meaning

With the blessings of the realized lama

Your virtuous deeds won’t be lost to poor circumstances.

Even without hearing every teaching,

If you sever misinterpretations from within

And express the natural state with words,

You won’t be contradicting the sutras or tantras.

Even without keeping celibacy vows,

If you rely on a consort182

In accord with the key instructions of secret mantra,

You won’t be blemished by the stains of desire.

Even with neither riches nor wealth,

If you discover the jewel of contentment

In the ocean of naturally subsiding attachment

You won’t chase after preverse livelihood.

Even without any signs or marks [of success]

182
Tib. las kyi phyag rgya; Skt: karmamudrā

67
If the mind of the buddhas of the three times is planted

In the core of your heart,

You won't pray for anything else.

Even without accomplishing the immortality of rejuvenation183 practice

If you realize the meaning of the unborn, undying mind

When you meet the demons of the lord of death

You won't have the suffering and pain.

Even without the ability to protect others,184

If you wander among the mountain spirits,

By the blessings of mahāmudrā

You won’t succumb to demons and obstacles.

Song 17

Some monks asked Lingrepa, "How is your behavior dharma activity?" He sang this song in

response:

Namo Ratna Guru

183
Tib.bcud len; SKT: rasāyana, one of the 8 ordinary siddhis, subsisting off the elements of nature. (RY)
184
This is possibly a reference to other yogis or monks who do demon-abating rituals for pay.

68
I indulge in the five sense pleasures—

This is the supreme austerity.

I take the suffering of the five poisons onto the path—

This is the supreme antidote.

I make offerings to the illusory body—

This is the supreme object of worship.

I study my own mind—

This is the supreme scripture.

I practice virtue in the sleep of ignorance—

This is the supreme oral instruction.

I will be in a joyful mood at the time of death—

This is the supreme confidence.

Song 18

Then, an arrogant teacher arrived and he said, "In order to practice the pure dharma, the basis

must be the discipline of monasticism. Having cut misinterpretations through study and

69
reflection upon the Conqueror’s speech, it is resolved through understanding and experience.

What will come of your stupid meditation?" Then Lingrepa sang this song to the pious one:

Namo Ratna Guru

You have heard so much heavenly dharma

But hasn't it just blown about like the wind?

You have held that monastic code so nobly

But hasn't it been tight like iron shackles?

You have wanted [your] view to be so lofty

But hasn't it been mere rhetoric?

You have wanted [your] meditation experiences to be so great

But haven't they been listless like wet leather?

You wanted those oral instructions to be so profound

But didn’t you just leave them on the sheet of paper?

You have wanted to calm those conceptual thoughts

But don't they rise up like a whirlwind?

70
You have wanted to subdue your own mind

But hasn’t it stiffened like a dry hide?

Song 19

Then, after he went to Nyangpo, when Lingrepa was staying in the turquoise sphere of a glorious

forest,185 someone like the prideful teacher arrived. He said, "You wear the earring of a king186,

what do you know about divination, medicine, astrology, and Bon?" So Lingrepa sang this song:

Namo Ratna Guru

I, this yogi who stays by himself,187

Do not know sorcery or spells of life force and hail,188

But by the fierce mantras of love and compassion

I uproot my enemy: hatred.

Wherever I may go, I have no enemy.

I think I must be the king of sorcerers;

I am not a butcher who kills people with sorcery.

I, this yogi who stays by himself,189

185
Tib. nags khrod dpal gyi g.yu gong
186
Tib. rgyal chas gya mtho; I am reading gya tho. I am unsure about this reading, but given the following song’s
use of the image of the king, this seems to get the basic point.
187
bdag phyis or bdag mchis seems to be a colloquialism meaning to be by oneself according to Tenzin Phuntsok at
RYI.
188
srog ser gtad: apparently this is a reference to "aspects of protective tantric rituals". RY

71
Do not know about healing medicine,

But, because the great king of medicines the oral instructions

Are the basis for both my faith and diligence,

I have transcended the disease of a mind that is born and then dies.

I think I must be the king of doctors,

I don’t carry the instruments of the lord of death.

I, this yogi who stays by himself,

Do not know about the Yungdrung Bon190,

But, for a practitioner191 with unchanging192 realization,

Who yokes the imagined bad omens to good fortune,

The fear of gods and demons fades on its own.

I think I must be the king of Bonpos,

[But] I don’t play the drum and cymbals of the heathen Bon.

I, this yogi who stays by himself

Do not know much about astrology,

But on the mountain of unchanging dharmakāya,

Having set a date free of mental constructs,

The child of the rūpakāya spreads and flourishes.193

189
I am repeating this line at the beginning of each stanza as it is done in NP.
190
Tib. yung drung bon. The Yungdrung Bon tradition maintains the pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion.
191
bon po can refer to either a practitioner of the pre-Buddhist Bon religion or a practitioner of religion in general.
This stanza is playing with the double valance in the same way that the previous stanza played on the concepts of
mantra and medicine.
192
This could be a play on the word "Yungdrung" from the previous line, which can be translated as "unchanging".

72
I think I must be the king of astrologers,

[But] I don’t lay out charts for false prophecies.

I, this yogi who stays by himself,

Have not amassed great wealth.

But I found the wish-fulfilling jewel of contentment

In the ocean of naturally-subsiding attachment;

Wherever I go, I feel no hunger.

I think I must be the king of the wealthy,

[But] I don’t seek out a perverted livelihood.

I, this yogi who stays by himself,

Received the faultless194 oral instructions

From the lamas of the siddha lineage.

Now, in a place without attachment or rejection,

Acting without lies and deception,

From you faithful, neither friends nor acquaintances,

I beg for alms, without attachment.

Song 20195

193
This confusing verse appears to be describing some of the activity of a Tibetan astrologer who would have
determined the auspiciousness of a child’s birth date.
194
bka’ rtsod pa med pa could also be an abbreviation for the commonly used phrase bka’ brgyud rtsod med,
referring to the Kagyu lineage in general

73
Then, when Lingrepa was invited by Geshe Watatonpa and he was staying among the nomads in

Yeru, he sang this song:

Namo Ratna Guru

I, this yogi who stays by himself,

Went to the heights of Chenaksho196

Wamtaton invited me for a meal.197

When the dark of night falls,

The nomadic herdsmen

Post a vigilant watchman

To protect their material treasure.198

This temporary solution comes to naught in the end.

But when a yogi like me thinks about such things,

The watchman of non-distraction, vigilant as the other,

Guards the stainless treasure.

195
This song may be the one referred to in SGB as, "Ru pa’i mi ste kun bcos pa’i mgur" since a very similar line
appears here and the setting and placement in the narrative match. In SGB this song is only referred to by name; the
poem itself is not reproduced there.
196
byang nags shod, this could be the same place in Western Kham mentioned by Yamamoto (2012) p.52, but the
introductory narrative says it was sung in g.yas ru, which is in Tsang.
197
It is very interesting here that the introduction and the song repeat almost the exact same line but with slight
differences. This seems to show clearly the different authors of the prose contextual material and the verse material.
The introduction reads: wa ta ston pas spyan drangs whereas the song reads: wam rta ston pas zan drangs
198
zang zing gi longs spyod

74
The watchman of careful mindfulness

Guards the wish-fulfilling jewel of samaya.199

The watchman of stable realization

Guards the result the spontaneously-present three buddha-bodies.

I kept watch in that way,

And, Rising from the horizon of intrinsic nature,

The sun of luminosity dawned in the sky,

Now I have no need for a night watchman, how delightful!

In the obscuring darkness of trickery and deceit

The sun of my own pure mind arose

And the burglar of transgression disappeared automatically.

Now I have no need for a night watchman, how delightful!

In the obscuring darkness of ignorance

The sun of the wisdom of realization arose

And the burglar of extreme views200 disappeared automatically.

Now I have no need for a night watchman, how delightful!

In the obscuring darkness of dualistic fixation

The sun of naturally-present dharmakāya arose

199
dam tshig; these are the sacred pledges, precepts, or commitments of Vajrayana practice. RY
200
Tib. rtag chad; rendered as "extreme views", it refers specifically to nihilist and eternalist views.

75
And the burglar of hope and fear disappeared automatically.

Now I have no need for a night watchman, how delightful!

Retiring to the bed of my mind’s innate nature,

Having mastered samsara and nirvana, no longer seeing enemies there,

I found the inexhaustible201 treasure of my own mind,

Blissfully, I fall asleep just so.

song 26

Then, at that time, many monks said to him, "teach the details of the views of the non-Buddhists,

the greater and lesser Buddhist vehicles, and the like." So he sang this song:

Namo Ratna Guru

Understanding the meaning of mahāmudrā

Smoothes 100 furrows with a single harrow.

In the eternalist view of the non-buddhist,

The three times never change.

In the nihilist view of the non-buddhist,

201
This seems to be a play on the word ‘dzad which seems like it could, as in the English "exhaust", have both the
meaning of "finish" as well as "tired", in keeping with the watchman metaphor.

76
Thoughts have no fundamental basis.

[Knowing] emptiness and compassion to be inseparable

Is taking refuge in the three jewels.

In the view of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas,

Ego-clinging subsides into space.

The unity of self and others

Is aspirational and active bodhicitta.

In the Mind-only [school’s view] of the self-reflexive mind,

There is no phenomenon other than mind.

In the Madhyamaka [view], free of extremes,

The essence of mind has no labels.202

Dispensing with clinging, that is generosity.

The absence of defilements, that is discipline.

The absence of arising, that is patience.

The absence of striving, that is diligence.

The absence of interruption, that is meditation.

202
The alternate reading here, ‘od gsal, is quite different. It yields a line that reads, "the essence of mind is
emptiness and clear light".

77
The absence of concepts, that is wisdom.

Losing the craving for accomplishment

Is perfecting the grounds, paths, and qualities.

Seeing truth by subduing ordinary thoughts

That is the real solitude.

Abiding as the true maṇḍala of the three Buddha bodies

The essence of mind is the initiation.

Unity with the true deity innate, essential nature—

Is the generation stage practice.

The true mantra non-arising—

Is recited without interruption.

Thoughts203 dissolving into the unborn dharmadhātu

Is the perfection stage practice.

Establishing these by not transgressing reality

Is the samaya.

203
Reading rnam rtog from NP, although the reading rlung sems; "vitality and mind" from GT is also plausible.

78
Because it is blissful without impurity,204

Primordial widsom is the tantric feast.

Not offering and having nothing to offer,

Intrinsic reality is the offering

Manifesting the self-cognizing wisdom of one’s intrinsic nature

Is spiritual accomplishment.

Clarifying the understanding of everything with one thing

Is the sublime dharma mahāmudrā.

In the forest of Phagmodru,

By the blessings of the lamas,

I sang this method of condensing [mahāmudrā] into a conceptual path

As it arose in my mind.

Song 27

204
This seems to be a reference to the tantric practice of consuming "impure substances" such as meat and alcohol
during ritual feasts. Lingrepa is discrediting the idea of impurity.

79
He sang this song when he was staying in the Chokang205 of Loro, in response to the requests for

dharma teachings from some arrogant meditators and dialecticians who were bemoaning the

hardships of meditation and had the pride of being learned.

Namo Ratna Guru

Observing the vows of a monk

You may reach the level gods and men,

But for becoming a buddha, their value is little,

The three-fold vow206 is better.

Though you have trained your mind in the three piṭakas

That are without a sliver of common207 speech,

But for attaining enlightenment, its value is little,

A realized lama is better.

Simply knowing the rituals for the empowerments

You may create a worthy vessel,208

But for giving rise to primordial widsom209, their value is little

205
Tib. cho skang; I could find no reference to this place.
206
This most likely refers to the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva, and vidyādhara vows. This set of vows was one of the
focal points for debates between Sakya Pandita and his opponents. In this song, they are being used as a reference to
the path of a tantric practitioner and are being contrasted with the monastic vows, likely because of the third vow
which would have included tantric empowerment. For more on these vows see Sobisch, 2002.
207
mi kha; this phrase frequently refers to slanderous speech, but I am rendering it here literally.
208
This seems to be a reference to the students who would be receiving the empowerments. In effect, Lingrepa is
saying that simply knowing how to do the rituals may create the correct conditions for empowerment, but without
the blessings of a realized lama there will be no effect.

80
The lama's blessings are better.

Training in the four classes of tantra

You may become more familiar with mantra,

But for attaining siddhis, the value is little

The lineage’s instructions are better.

Hearing the words of the oral instructions

You may feel quite nice,

But for generating real qualities, the value is little

Practicing the instructions is better.

Your stable, single-pointed concentration

May be a nice resting place,

But for liberating samsara, its value is little

The signs of experience are better.

Going to offer your understanding

It may be a great morsel of expression

But for realizing the innate nature, its value is little

Understanding whatever arises is better.

209
ye shes

81
Gaining mastery over the eight siddhis210

May be quite amazing,

But for attaining buddhahood its value is little,

The supreme siddhi211 is better.

song 29

Then he sang this song while staying in Loro mgo pa cave:

Namo Ratna Guru

Not wandering the mountains aimlessly,

You are still caught up in the distractions of town.

Desirous one, I worry about you;

You don’t remember the ways of the past masters.

Think and be diligent!

Not wearing the single cotton robe of the ascetic,212

You still don your fancy clothes;

Lazy one, I worry about you.

210 These are the eight common, or ordinary accomplishments: seems to be some discrepancy over the exact
list, but RY has them as, flying, seeing treasures underground, alchemy, fleet-footedness, the sword, balm of magic
sight, superknowledge, and power over humans and non-humans.
211 mchog gi dngos grub, Buddhahood
212
Tib: ras pa

82
Your body doesn’t blaze with inner heat.213

Think and be diligent!

Not taking the immaculate food214 as sustenance,

You still hunger for various sweet and tasty foods;

Glutton, I worry about you.

You don’t cut your bondage to food.

Think and be diligent!

Not taking the lowly position of a beggar,

You still eat up to scattered offerings of others;

Hypocrite, I worry about you.

You aren’t impartial towards the eight worldly concerns.

Think and be diligent!

Not aimlessly begging,

You still desire profit and respect;

Greedy one, I worry about you.

You haven’t become disgusted [with samsara].

Think and be diligent!

Not maintaining the experience of the innate,

213
Tib: gTum mo, is one of the six yogas of Naropa and a fundamental practice for the yogic practitioner.
214
We find the variant reading, ting ‘dzin, "samādhi" or "concentration", in SGB. This variant provides some insight
into the profound meaning likely hidden behind the reading, "immaculate food".

83
You maintain your social life and position;

You with spiritual instruction, I worry about you.

You haven’t changed your old behavior.

Think and be diligent!

Not staying in unknown lands,

You still stay in familiar places;

Affectionate one, I worry about you.

You don’t diligently keep solitude.

Think and be diligent!

Not looking at the inexpressible meaning,

You still read the written scriptures;

Bookworm,215 I worry about you.

Appearances don’t arise as scripture for you.

Think and be diligent!

Song 31216

215
Tib: zin bris mkhan; see note 116.
216
This is the song that earned him the title, "Saraha of Tibet" in SGB and BR.

84
Thinking, “A lama who is like the Buddha is staying over there. I will stay here”, and he offered

this “Sweet Song”217 to the lama:

Namo Ratna Guru

I, this solitary beggar, Lingrepa,

By the kindness of the lord lamas

Experience the essential meaning.

I have no understanding from analysis.

Certainty takes root in the mind,

I don’t identify with this body so I am happy.

I stay without feeling the movement of my breath.

Thoughts fade like the fog.

The nature of mind—pure like the sky—

Appears on the horizon of intrinsic reality,

The sun of pure light dawns in the sky

And the darkness of ignorance utterly vanishes.

Meditative absorption is clear without drowsiness or agitation.

The innate, essential nature is apprehended, just as it is.

All aspects of appearances and conditions are released, just as they are.
217
ngar mo kyi mgur

85
The river of awareness distinguishes between water and debris

The waves of thoughts naturally recede.

The dharmakāya clears into the state of emptiness.

Labels are lost in the ineffable expanse.

Now, by understanding that samsara is in the mind,

The pit of the six classes [of beings] has been traversed,

[Samsara] is futile, how delightful!

By deciding that buddhahood is within the mind,

There is nothing to desire or reject.

Having no hopes, how delightful!

In the mind itself emptiness and clear light—

There is no meditator and nothing to meditate on,

So there is neither meditation nor post-meditation, how delightful!

When disturbing emotions arise within

It is like snow falling on heated rocks:

All disturbing emotions and thoughts

Are pacified and transcended without being subdued.

86
When realization arises within

It is like the moon rising in water;

All emotional and cognitive obscurations

Dissipate are transcended without being removed.218

The lord with the dharma eye will bear witness

To whether these words are meaningful or not.

Then, known as "lamas", their kindness is great;

They introduce the inexhaustible treasure again and again.

Homage and praise to the lord buddhas!

Known as "blessings", they are powerful;

They can overwhelm samsara and nirvana.

Homage and praise to becoming wise!

Known as "the oral instructions", they are essential;

They have the power to cut dualistic fixation at its root.

Homage and praise to the blazing of experience!

So, by the blessings of turning away from everything,

I have the happiness of a yogi.219

218
This slightly confusing line seems to mean that like knowing that the reflection of the moon in water is not real,
emotional and cognitive obscurations are removed without doing anything.

87
Homage and praise to the precious one!

Song 32

Then, he sang this song to a group of people who been decieved220 a great meditator who taught

mainly about getting alms221:

Namo Ratna Guru

First, the Kagyu are indisputable,

Second the lineage of siddhas is unbroken,

Third the lama is unrivaled,

These three are the certainties of the Kagyu.

Do you have certainty all you fortunate ones?

You are being deceived by the lies of charlatans.

First, the path of means is without hardships,222

Second, the oral instructions are the profound introduction,223

Third is the mahāmudrā of the natural state,

219
Lit. “I am compelled to enjoy yoga.”
220
Tib. kha khyer
221
This translation is depending patially on the words of the song which seem to be addressing a group of students.
The Tibetan, however, could also be interpreted as indicating a group of false teachers.
222
This could be a pejorative reference to tantric practices that do not incorporate mahāmudrā, akin to the way
Yamamoto shows it is used by Lingrepa’s contemporary Lama Zhang. See Yamamoto (2012) p.111
223
Literally, "meeting the face" this is a reference to the esoteric personal instructions given by one’s teacher.

88
These three are the certainties of the oral instructions.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You have been proccupied with conventional words.

First, is the manifestation of intrinsic reality,

Second, is self-cognizing primordial wisdom,

Third, the absolute is ineffable, unfathomable, indescribable,

These three are the certainties of the view.

Do you have certainty all you fortunate ones?

You have fallen into the rhetoric of empty babble.

First, the mind is stainless clear light,

Second, the experience is bliss and emptiness, free of reference point,

Third, the absolute is inseparable from the innate state,

These three are the certainties of meditation.

Do you have certainty all you fortunate ones?

You have fallen into blank śamatha.224

First is closely examining pitfalls and obscurations,

Second is removing the stake of clinging,

Third is becoming disgusted [with samsara],

These three are the certainties of conduct.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

224
Tib: zhi gnas; "calm abiding" meditation.

89
You have fallen into meaningless activity.

First, the mind itself has always been enlightened,

Second is the manifestation of one’s realization,

Third, the qualities arise automatically,

These three are the certainties of the result.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You are lost on the path of wishful thinking.

First is following the lama’s instructions,

Second, making everything one does accord with the Dharma,

Third, one’s mind is as clear as space,

These three are the certainties of the sacred vows.225

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You patiently accept deception.

First is wandering with no objective,

Second, joy and sorrow are taken226 as they come,

Third, whatever arises is taken as a friend,

These three are the certainties of will power.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You are attached to your fortress of comforts and desires.

225
Skt. samaya
226
The variant readings: gcod; "to sever" [NP] provides a very different, although plausible, meaning to this
sentence.

90
First is begging for alms with no attachment,

Second is acting without deception or lies,

Third is finding contentment in the present moment,

These three are the certainties of [right] livelihood.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You taken up the falseness of wrong livelihood.

First is sleeping in the fortress of consolation,227

Second, the pure nature of mind is the consoling friend,

Third, the music of mindfulness is the uplifting consolation,

These three are the certainties of a consoling friend.

Do you have those certainties all you fortunate ones?

You have been deceived by worldly friends.

Song 36

Then, at that time, he sang this song in response to some hypocritical Jogden monks228 who said,

"Make a Dharma connection with us!":229

227
This verse uses the Tibetan word skyo: "despair" repeatedly in slightly different ways. I repeat "console" to
convey this despite the slightly awkward sound.
228
Tib. jo gdan
229
It seems that this request, usually a way of respecfully asking a teacher for a teaching, was done sarcastically by
these monks who apparently came from the Kadampa tradition.

91
Namo Ratna Guru

While I may not have the victory banner of saffron230 [robes],

These yogi’s clothes

Are the discipline231 of a heruka.

Don’t think I am an ordinary being.

While I may not keep the pure conduct of the vinaya,

This gallivanting around with girls

Is the pure conduct of a vajra holder232.

Don’t think I am a householder.

While I may not hold the vows of renunciation,

Eating delicious foods like this

Is the mandala offering of this eminent body.

Don’t think I am enjoying the meal.

While I may not stay in a pristine meditation hut,

Spreading mischief everywhere I go

Is compassion that benefits beings.

Don’t think that I am unstable.

230
the text reads ngur smin but this seems like a likely misspelling or archaic spelling of ngur smig: saffron
231
Tib: brtul zhugs can have a much broader connotation of a particular form of antinomian behavior traditionally
carried out by yogis at a particular stage. Here, this yogic discipline would contrast the more traditional monastic
discipline. For more information, see, for example, Divalerio (2015) p.96.
232
Skt. vajradhara

92
While I may not exert myself to practice virtue,

Sleeping both day and night like this233

Is the practice of the uncontrived yogi.234

Don’t think my sleep is an obscuration.

It is without even a little arrogance

That I sing a little song like this;

It is the way of the masters of the past.

Don’t think that I am just stacking bricks.

While I am unable to practice virtue in one place,

I wander the mountains with no direction

And benefit others without bias.235

Don’t think I am trying to get something.

I may not have extensive learning,

But by the lama’s blessing and oral instruction,

The understanding of some tantra collections springs forth.

Don’t think I expound according to my own desires.

233
This is reminiscent of a story about the mad yogi Drukpa Kunleg who was chastised by his hosts for sleeping all
day but he quickly showed their hypocrisy about dharma practice.
234
ku su lu has connotation of a tantric practitioner who puts no effort towards anything.
235
Tib: ro snyoms byed literally is "to equalize taste.”

93
song 40

Then, when he was staying in Onmeding [‘On rme sding] in the winter, he gave the example of

the winter solstice to inspire faith in some women. Then he sang this song.

Namo Ratna Guru

When putting my experience to song,

Sometimes I236 sing with reverence.

How could I not?

This life is brief like the days of winter

And when you meet the lord of death

You’ll have no more time to postpone the Dharma.

Give rise to faith all you fortunate ones!

That is why I sing with reverence.

Sometimes, I sing continuously.237

How could I not?

In order to reach unsurpassable enlightenment

236
Like most Tibetan verse, the subject of this song is not identified. I am using the first-person perspective here
because it makes sense in the context, it sounds slightly better, and there is one line in the 5th verse that uses a first-
person pronoun.
237
na re ba- Continuously (RY)

94
Plead for buddhahood, not for one or two years,

But until you have reached it!

Remain steadfast fortunate ones!

That is why I sing continuously.

Sometimes I sing with a wailing cry.

[Some] unfortunate ones have ears harder than rock;

They can’t hear the sound of the holy dharma.

That is why I sing with a wailing cry.

Sometimes I sing secretly.

How could I not?

When realization dawns in the mindstream

By putting that experience to song

Unfortunate ones could hear and be devastated.

That is why I sing secretly.

Sometimes I sing out of despair.

The lama is wonderful while I am awful;

I have faith, but no perseverance;

I will never be able to follow the father’s example.238

That is why I sing with despair.

238
Here, it seems "father" Tib. pha probably refers to one’s teacher.

95
Sometimes I sing boastfully.

How could I not?

Samsara has been nirvana all along;

Thoughts have been dharmakāya all along;

Essence of mind has been buddhahood all along;

There is no need for paths and levels.

That is why I sing boastfully.239

Sometimes I sing about cause and effect.

How could I not?

Even if you understand the unborn nature,

Please do not disregard karma, cause, and effect.

If you disregard cause and effect

You risk falling into the abyss of lower realms.

That is why I sing about cause and effect.

Sometimes I sing songs about pride.

How could I not?

In the undisputed Kagyu,

One receives the unrivalled oral instructions.

By reaching the ultimate,240 superimpositions are severed

239
I was initially confused by this verse, but it seems that the "boasting" mentioned here probably refers to the
mahāmudrā view and its claims of sudden enlightenment which may have been considered boastful by those who
adhere to the gradual path of mainstream Buddhism., i.e. a system of "paths and levels" as Lingrepa pejoratively
refers to it it.

96
Happy are those free of uncertainty.

That is why I sing with pride.

Song 42

One spring he made an especially big offering so his sangha pleaded with him not to give away

his food so frequently. "In the night, some robbers will come" they said. Then Rinpoche said, “If

a yogi has something to do, he is [someone concerned with] conduct. If he doesn't, he is a

wandering beggar.241 This is how you decide whether one is a yogi or not.”242 Then he sang this

song:

Namo Ratna Guru

Even though I have encountered material wealth,

To the yogi who has rejected attachment and greed

Wealth is a thorn to the mind;

If you hoard your wealth, you are not a yogi.

Even though I have run out of food and drink,243

To the yogi who goes begging for alms

Satisfying a hungry belly is [like] being led by a donkey;244

240
thug sa; I am reading this as an abbreviation for mthar thug pa’i sa
241
It seems, based on context, that the former is negative while the latter is positive in Lingrepa’s view.
242
rin po che’i zhal nas rnal ‘byor pa bya ba yod na spyod pa yin/ med na sprang du ‘gro ba yin rnal ‘byor pa yin
min ‘dis shan ‘byed pa yin gsung//
243
Tib. ’tso ba’i yo byad could be more literally translated as the "necessities of life"

97
If you worry about going hungry, you are not a yogi.

Even though I have encountered hated enemies,

To the yogi who cultivates loving kindness

The hated enemy is his kind old mother;

If you get angry, you are not a yogi.

Even though I have embraced loved ones,

To the yogi who cultivates equanimity,

Familial bonds are temporary ties;

If you have affection, you are not a yogi.

Even with all 80,000 obstructing spirits245 gathered together,

To the yogi who cultivates emptiness,246

Obstacles are reminders for virtuous practice;

If you perform obstacle-clearing rituals247, you are not a great meditator.

Even with all 434 diseases gathered together,

To the yogi who practices one-taste

Sickness is a teacher;

244
This line presents some difficulties. Tib. brgyags chad is translated here as "Satidfying a hungry belly", but is
literally something like "not enough provisions". Tib. skya rgyal which is translated here as "donkey", can also refer
to common grains, so this line could also be translated as "A hungry belly is what drives the harvest". So this line
seems to be either commenting on the stubborn drive of a donkey, or the motivation for farmers to work in the
fields.
245
Tib. bgegs
246
Tib. stong is both the word for "emptiness" and "thousand", giving these two lines a play on the word.
247
Tib. rim gro; This can refer specifically to rituals such as healing and long-life rites. RY

98
If you call a doctor, you are not a yogi.

Even [if] the great Vajradhara appeared,

To the yogi who has severed all superimpositions

Awakened forms248 are a projection of the mind;

If you called for [him], you are not a yogi.

Even encountering the lord of death,

To the yogi who has realized the nature of mind,

Death is just the fading of thought;

If you are afraid of death, you are not a yogi.

In the Crystal Cave of Drag Yangdzong,249

By the blessings of the lord lamas

I sang this little song of eight distinctions

As it arose in my mind.

Song 45

Then at one time Megom [Me sgom] asked for a song about the method of begging for alms, so

he sang this song in response:

248
Tib. gzugs sku; Skt. rūpakāya; The manifestation of form by awakened beings, such as Vajradhara, in this verse.
249
Tib. sGrags kyi yang rdzong shel gyis brag phug; A retreat cave of Padmasambhava between Lhasa and Samye
in central Tibet. (RY)

99
Namo Ratna Guru

Now, when you go on begging rounds

Megompa, you must do it like this:

On your shoulder, wear the dharma robes of the three vows,

In your right hand, carry the staff of skillful means,

In your left, hold the alms bowl of wisdom,

Beg for alms in both samsara and nirvana.

Yogi, be like an elephant:

In the endless city250

Of ocean-like samsara

Beg for alms without despair.

Yogi, be like a lotus:

In the unclean, filthy city

Of swamp-like samsara

Beg for alms without being tainted.

250
This somewhat awkward phrasing seems to be relating cities or towns, which is where a yogi would have gone to
beg for alms, with samsara in general.

100
Yogi, be like a peacock:

In the painful city

Of poison-like samsara

Beg for alms by changing poison into nectar.

Yogi, be like a jackal:

In the frightening city

Of charnel ground-like samsara

Beg for alms without fear.

Yogi, be like a bee:

In the pleasing city

Of flower-like desirable things

Beg for alms without craving.

Yogi, be like a vulture:

In the vast city with no edges and no center

Of the space-like sphere of reality

Beg for alms without striving.

Yogi, be like a lion:

In the unchanging city

Of the mountain-like nature of reality

101
Beg for alms without hope or fear.

Song 50

Then he went to Napu [sNa phu]. He was greeted by members of the assembly and when he

encountered the three supports251 he stood, joined his hands at his heart, and sang this song as an

assessment of his own behavior:

Namo Ratna Guru

Embodiment of everything condensed into one,

Glorious, precious lama,

From a state of non-duality, I pay homage to you,

And sing a yogi’s vajra song.

The Buddha is found in the mind

So I don’t bow to an outer support;

As far as dispelling the misconceptions of beings,

The extraordinary way of bowing is best.

The great accumulation is perfected in the mind,

So I don’t accumulate outer, composite things;

251
statue, stupa, and scriptures

102
As far as protecting the needs and desires of beings,

The extraordinary method for growing the two accumulations is best.

One’s own mind is utterly simple,

So I don’t meditate on a fabricated generation stage;

As far as taming beings

The extraordinary method for displaying awakened form is best.

The vajra mantra252 is constant,

So I don’t do the outer recitation;

As far as performing rituals253 that benefit others,

The extraordinary method for reciting the secret mantra is best.

The supreme mandala is constant,

So I preform the rituals with extensive lines and colors;

As far as inducting child-like ordinary beings [into the mandala],

The extraordinary method of constructing mandalas is best.

All that appears arises as mudrā,254

So I don’t engage in mudrā performance;

Compared to guiding beings like that

252
Tib. rdo rje bzlas; Literally, "vajra recitation". This refers to a practice of reciting mantra in sync with the stages
of the breath.
253
Tib. las
254
Tib. phyag rgya This verse is open to a variety of interpretations due to this term. Frequently translated as "seal",
mudrā has a variety of meanings including "consort", "hand gesture", or, as is most likely here, the three successive
practices associated with tantric practice, the karmamudrā, dharmamudrā, and samayamudrā.

103
The extraordinary method of mudrā performance is best.

I understand the inexpressible meaning,

So I don’t give conventional discourses;

As far as teaching the essential nature to others

The extraordinary method of the oral instructions is best.

The firewood of signs and marks255 has been consumed,

So I don’t do fire pujas256;

If you wish to accomplish pacification and so forth,

The extraordinary method of ladling257 into the fire is best.

This short song of the eight extraordinary [methods]

Sublime words teaching the twofold purpose,

Was sung in an assembly of yogis.

This is the way of a poor beggar like me.

Song 60

255
TIb. mtshan ma; This likely refers to the signs of accomplishment related to tantric rituals
256
Tib. sbyin sreg; Skt. homa; This is a tantric cermenony where religious offerings are burnt , frequently invoking
the four activities that are mentioned below, "pacification and so forth". The others are enrichment, subjugation, and
wrath. (Beyer, 1978) p.264
257
dgang blugs refers to the two long spoons that ares used to add oil and other substances into the fire during a fire
offering ceremony.

104
Then, when he was carrying books to offer at Phagmodru, he stayed a night at an inn near

Samye. In a state of dreams mixed with clear light, a blue woman appeared. She said, “After

placing these volumes on the top of your head, you will receive all the authorizations to give

initiation in Tibet. Now, you must write about and explain the tantras. There will be nothing you

don't know." “Who are you?” he asked. She replied, “I am the Great Mother of the Expanse”, 258

and dissolved like a rainbow. He stayed in that place for a few days and after examining the

volumes, he internalized and understood it all. He offered all of these volumes to [the library] at

Phagmodru. Later, when he returned to Napu, he composed many texts on the collections of

tantras. To those who slandered him by saying, “you have never heard the teachings, yet you

write on them”, he sang this song of asking forgiveness:

Namo Ratna Guru

By means of the lama’s kindness, this poor beggar

Has mastered the profound tantras.

Urged by faithful students,

I will clearly explain the words and meanings without mistake.

Like following after a great garuḍa,

This one, who is called "beggar",

Is [merely] imitating the great lord of yogis.

258
Tib. dbyings kyi yum chen mo; THis is an epithet of Prajñāpāramitā. (RY)

105
If this is improper, please forgive me259.

I don’t know [how to be] fake, deceitful, or treacherous

Yet because I don’t attribute [my teachings] to others,

[People] don’t recognize me to be truthful.

If you think this is my own fabrication, please forgive me.

[I teach] the tradition of the profound words and meanings,

By means of the unbroken lineage of ultimate blessings,

Descending from the Buddha himself.

If you think I am too knowledgeable, please forgive me.

This is not a teaching that I fabricated,

Tantra itself is intertwined with the mind;260

So it is said in the tradition of Vajradhara.

If you think that is too wondrous, please excuse me.

Not getting stuck on irrelevant topics

I take true realization of the tantras onto the path.

Without connection,261 I explain how the tantras truly are.

259
This construction caused me some confusion, but it seems likely to be a somewhat sarcastic request for
forgiveness.
260
This line is very terse and could be interpreted a number of ways. I believe it is a play on the word rgyud which
can refer either to Tantra or the continuity of the mind.
261
Again, this whole verse is quite terse and open to multiple interpretations. It seems that here ’brel, translated as
"connection", is referring to an external connection with something Lingrepa deems irrelevant, perhaps something

106
If you think I am overstepping, please excuse me.

Some people with inferior minds like mine,

Write explanations with few words,

In order to inspire the understanding of the meaning of tantra.

If you think it is too easy, please excuse me.

Because the assembly of lamas, deities, and dakinis,

Permeate my heart

This teaching arose on its own.

If you think this is unprecedented, please excuse me.

When meditation is cast aside, the words burst forth.

When experience is cast aside, wisdom bursts forth.

When selfishness is cast aside, altruism bursts forth.

[Am I], this beggar, carried away by Mara or not?

Until you possess the dharma eye

You cannot gauge another’s level

Please don’t pointlessly accrue sin.

I am afraid that some people,

By depending on me, will fall into the abyss of the lower realms.

like formal education, or contact with tantric texts. Alternatively, this line could be rendered as "I explain the
irrelevant in accordance with the tantra itself". (James Gentry, private communication, November 2016)

107
In the wilderness of the Napu dharma valley

I sang this song of forgiveness.

After singing that song, they stopped [their criticisms].

Song 65

Also, the monks of Changdo [Byang mdo] invited him to Leu Chung [sle'u chung]. They offered

him a pleasant cave and when he was staying there alone, he sang this song:

Namo Ratna Guru

[Finding] this precious human body is difficult enough,

[Yet] some leave empty handed262. So foolish!

When death comes, some haven’t practiced the [Dharma]. So pitiful!

After death, they again wander samsara. So sad!

[Finding] a qualified lama is difficult enough,

[Yet] some analyze faults in his behavior. So foolish!

Some are stuck with such stubborn minds. So tiring!

The three doors263 of others wander wildly. So sad!

262
The sense here is that some waste their time in a human body and do not accomplish their goals.
263
As above, this refers to the deeds, words, and thoughts of one’s "three doors": body, speech, and mind.

108
[Finding] the sacred, divine Dharma is difficult enough,

[Yet] some clever ones pointlessly analyze. So foolish!

Some are deceived by the name "dharma practitioner". So unfortunate!

Some are carried away by the temptations of Mara. So sad!

This lifestyle of aimlessly wandering the mountains is difficult enough,

[Yet] some don’t have their own independence. So unfortunate!

The virtuous practice of some is lost in the face of circumstances. So sad!

Remaining inseparable from one’s true nature is difficult enough,

[Yet] the movement of thoughts doesn’t know itself. So foolish!

Some keep following a confused mind. So unfortunate!

Some see suffering264 as an ornament. So sad!

This path of secret mantra methods is so profound,

[Yet] some don’t wear the single cotton robe of a yogi. So foolish!

Some haven’t understood the importance of interdependence. So unfortunate!

Some have lost control of the vital force. So sad!

Staying alone without distraction is difficult enough,

[Yet] some get married and have no food.265 So foolish!

264
He uses the Sanskrit dukha, "suffering".
265
This line seems to be saying that once married, one is always seeking food for their family.

109
Children repay you with shit. How unfortunate!

Some are lost in ordinary suffering. How sad!

This is "The Short Song of the Seven Compassions".

Keep it in your heart and practice it!

It will be extremeley vital!

Song 78

Then when he was staying in Pang Gong [sPang gong], some meditators requested his life story,

so he sang this song:

Namo Ratna Guru

I, this solitary yogi,

Was born in Tsang

From 8 or 9 I learned reading and arithmetic.

At 17, I entered the gateway of Dharma.

I went before a few lamas,

I received some complete empowerments and blessings,

I listened to some scriptures with their instructions.

I am grateful to all of those masters,

110
But my superimpositions were not severed.

By examining which instructions were the greatest,

Among the many vajrayāna institutes266,

I followed the three lords Lo, gTsang, and Ra

The heart sons of Je Rechungpa.

Not only did I serve and revered them,

By the power of devotion, I did everything they asked,

And they cared for me like their own child.

I received all the initiations and instructions

And for eight or nine years I practiced diligently.

At that time, I had the prideful thought

"Around the world, I am the best

In these instructions."

Even though I had resolved all the sublime instructions

My misconceptions were not resolved.

I went to the forest hermitage of the great Phagmodrupa

To be in the presence of the precious lord.

Before I even arrived I had a vision of his face,

It was like he looked on me as his child-disciple.

Merely seeing his form, my awareness was transformed,

266
Tib. grwa sa; This can refer to monastic schools, but in this context, it is likely referring to centers of learning for
yogis.

111
It was like a karmic connection from previous lives had been awakened.

Merely hearing his words gave me goosebumps,

It was like the blessings of his compassion entered me.

From making a Dharma connection, our minds mingled as one

It was like receiving all my missing qualities.

I had no need for wordy teachings,

I recognized my own mind, just as it is,

As unborn dharmakaya,

It was like the fundamental nature had manifested.

I had not even followed the lama for a long time,

Yet from that [short time] arose such devotion,

That I saw the lama and my dharma siblings as Buddhas;

It was like devotion changed my perception.

I didn’t receive even a single letter from a text

But from that [short time] I obtained the light of knowledge

Of the vast teachings of the Victorious One;

It was like the eye of primordial wisdom appeared.

I didn’t receive the stages of the initiation rituals,

But from the mind of the conquerors throughout the three times,

I obtained the supreme, precious initiation;

112
It was like I had been given the initiation of blessings.

I didn’t repeat the sacred commitments267 and vows,

I have no need to confess the stains of my faults, transgressions, and so forth,

They have been purifed and transcended,

It is like I have passed into the stainless expanse.

I had not meditated for a long time

But I offered the experience of my realization in words,

And was granted the acknowledgment of prophecy268

It was like an exalted conconversation.

From then on, I had no reason to meditate.

By the devotion of recalling the great lama

All needs and desires of myself and others would be accomplished,

Like finding a wish-fulfilling jewel.

Still, I pay homage to the kind ones.

I pay homage to the compassionate ones.

I pay homage to the blessed ones.

May I continue to be given blessings.

267
Skt. samaya
268
This seems to mean that after offering his experience to the lama, Lingrepa obtained a prophecy of his future
enlightenment; acknowlegment of his realization in the authoritative voice of prophecy.

113
Song 84

When he was staying at Yang Dzong [Yang rdzong], he sang this song to Megom about the way

of finding a place for retreat in the mountains and the method for keeping a kitchen:

Namo Ratna Guru

O Megom, consider this!

When you truly go to wander the mountains,

Find the unborn, empty valley

And stay in the unchanging cave;

Clean the temple of your primordially pure mind

By bringing true realization to bear

And make the offering of non-duality

On the altar269 of spontaneous presence;

Offer the tantric feast270 of stainless experience

To the dakini of co-emergence

And do the virtuous practice271 of great bliss

269
Tib. mchod gnas; This can refer either to the object or the person to which offerings are made.
270
Skt. gaṇacakra; This phrase could be literally rendered as "turn the wheel of the feast".

114
In the bed of innate nature;

Relax into self-liberation and non-attachment

In the forest of variegated appearances,

And, without desire, view the spectacle

Of the deer of the five sense pleasures.

When you cook a meal

While in the mountains like that,

Build the fire pit of the three spontaneously-present Buddha bodies

On the ground of equanimity;

Light the great fire of self-arising wisdom

With the firewood of the multitude of thoughts

And, in the cauldron of emptiness,

Cook with great compassionate activity.

At the tavern272 of perfected accumulations

Serve the guest of non-conceptuality,

And throw a feast of the great gift of Dharma

To those with good fortune.

271
Tib. dge sbyor; THis phrase could also be rendered as "virtuous union", which would be an unusual translation
for the term, but given the sexual nature of this verse, it might be appropriate.
272
Tib. chang tshang, literally, the place where beer is sold.

115
Send out prayers with a compassionate mind

To sentient beings, limitless as the sky,

And give the stainless abundance

To whoever may desire it.

Will you wander the mountains in that way?

If you do,

You will be following after the masters of the past.

You will be holding the lineage of the siddhas.

Last words

By means of the lama and the precious jewels,

The yidams,273 ḍākinīs, and dharma protectors,

May the following be fulfilled according to thier sacred oath!

May all beings become victorious through the supreme blessings!

Compounded phenomena disintegrate, concepts fade;

That is the suffering called "death".

The essence of the yogi’s mind274 is uncompounded

273
Tib. yi dam

116
It has dissolved into the expanse; it is great bliss.

My own mind’s essence is the vajra mind of the victorious one;

It abides indivisibly with the minds of all beings.

Don't think, “where will he go?"; look at your own mind!

If you see your mind's true nature, you will meet me.

My own body’s essence is the vajra body of the victorious one;

It abides indivisibly with the bodies of all beings.

Don't think, “he’s gone and doesn't exist”; look at your own body!

If you realize the nature of co-emergence, you will meet me.

My own voice’s essence is the vajra speech of the victorious one;

It abides indivisibly with all sounds without exception.

Don't think, “there can be no conversation”; rather, listen to all sounds!

If you realize the nature of the inexpressible, you will meet me.

I abide inseparable from all sentient beings,

Without exception, in every moment.

Whoever makes prayers will reap blessings.

Whoever accumulates merit will be granted bliss.

Whoever rests in the innate will see suchness.

274
Tib. rnal ‘byor sems nyid; The lack of grammatical particles in this phrase opens it up to interpretation. Another
possibility is to take rnal ‘byor literally as "to arrive at the basic state". This line would then read something like,
"The basic state, the essence of mind, is uncompounded".

117
Whoever observes the sacred vows will gain siddhis.

Whoever has great altruism will please the victors.

Whoever has pure vision will behold the pureland.

Whoever has perfected the two accumulations will benefit self and other.

Those who attain the lama’s realization

Serve him by abiding perfectly and inseperably from the lama.

If you let the three gates275 wander freely

Faithlessly, you will forever remain separate from the support, the lama.

Even I, in a previous life, prideful of my achievements

From training in the teachings of Buddha Krakucchanda, 276

Arrogantly ridiculed two pure monks who were preaching Dharma.

And for immeasurable births,

I experienced the suffering of the hells and such until [the time of] this Buddha.

By the power of my aspirations, I came before the Victorious One.

He said that the twenty of us had great qualities.

All together, our tears fell in response;

We confessed our faults and took every vow.

In that life, my name was the bodhisattva Tsundru O.277

It was prophesied that 500 [lifetimes] later my obscurations would be cleared

275
Here, "three gates" refers to body, speech, and mind; i.e. deeds, words, and thoughts.
276
Tib: log par dad sel; also know as ‘khor ba ‘jig, this was the fourth buddha of this eon. RY
277
Tib: brtson ‘gru ‘od

118
And I would [be born] in the Sukhāvatī pure land.

When I read the Sūtra Which Incites Resolve278

I remembered my previous life and started crying on the spot.

From that point until this life,

I had no births in any of the three lower realms,

But I was born into low castes and beggars’ families.

In unfortunate lands, I cleansed my suffering with the dharma,

Although I became endowed with qualities and intelligence,

I never became reknowned as undisputed279.

Having faith in the Dharma, I met the Dharma;

I attained the Dharma-eye and I understood the meaning of Dharma.

I was completely isolated from Dharma preachers

And only seldomly was I accepted by sublime beings.

Now, through the kindness of the precious Dharma masters,

Though I understand the sutras, without exception, in order to protect the minds of others,

I did not preach them, [rather] I composed a few teachings and set them aside.

Therefore, even you should act to protect the minds of others!

278
Skt. Adhyāśayasaṃcodanasūtra (D69); Reading lhag pa’i bsam pa bskul ba’i mdo from SGB. I could find no
record of the sutra title in GT: lhag bsam rnam par dag pa’i mdo. I could also not find any mention of the name
Tsundru O.
279
This is a reference to the Kagyu lineage, which he frequently refers to as "undisputed".

119
My previously-accumulated obscurations have been cleared during this life,

All my good deeds have been for the sake of sentient beings,

All my extensive prayers have been for the sake of sentient beings,

All my effort has been for the sake of sentient beings.

From now on, for as long as beings cycle in samsara,

I will automatically arise in a variety of forms

In order to perfectly fulfill all the needs and wants

Of beings, who are as limitless as the sky, in whatever way is needed.

Even though my own mind is mingled indivisibly with

The minds of the victorious ones in the stainless sphere,

My activity is all-pervading, uninterrupted,

And spontaneously accomplished.

All you who who have faith and devotion,

Renounce all thoughts of desire and hypocrisy

And supplicate ceaselessly!

Yogis, remember me, the fulfiller of all needs and desires!

120
 Appendix 1

Critical Edition for Translation

I apologize for any errors made in typing this edition, especially if they lead to confusion. Words
are highlighted to indicate the extent of the variant reading in cases where it may be unclear.

Song 1 GT: [F.6.a]; NP: [F.65.b]

gnyal dang lo ro’i bar la skyo po nyag rkyang la rten nas dgung lo ‘ga’ bzhugs dus mgur ‘di
gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bdag rang phyis280 kyi rnal 'byor 'di

rdo rje 'chang chen man chod281 nas
282
gong ma rnams kyis283 rjes zhugs nas284
bya ba'i las ka285 gsum tsam gdog286

lus kyi las su ri khrod 'grim

las su ri khrod mi 'grim du
rgyal bas dka' thub mdzad sa287 yin
pha mes288 po rnam kyi bzhugs gnas289 yin
rtogs pa'i nyams myong skyong sa yin
mchog thun mongs dngos grub bsgrub pa290 yin
zang zing gyeng ba spong sa yin
ngo bsrung thag pa gcod sa yin

ngag gi las su (lsu) dbyangs chung len291

las su dbyangs chung mi len292 du
rdo rje 'chang chen la sogs pa'i

280
NP: mchis
281 NP: chad
282 NP: rje
283
NP: kyi
284
NP: te
285 NP: dka'
286 NP: bdog
287 NP: pa
288 NP: myes
289 NP: sa
290 NP: sgrub sa
291 NP: yin
292 NP: blangs

121
rje gong ma rnams kyi spyod 'gros yin
gcig bur sdong ba'i skyo rogs293 yin
mang po tshogs294 pa'i nyams dga' yin
ma dang mkha' 'gro bsdud pa yin
nyams ting nge295 'dzin gyi bogs 'don yin

yid kyi las su (lsu) mi rtog sgom

las su mi rtog mi sgom du
dus gsum rgyal ba'i dgongs pa yin
pha mes296 po rnams kyi thugs nyams297 yin
gzung 'dzin298 rtsa ba gcod ba yin
spang bya ma lus sbong ba yin
ye shes299 me dpung bskyed ba yin
dngos 'dzin300 bud shing bsregs pa yin

Song 2 GT: [F.7.a]; NP: [F.5.a]

de nas gling chen ras pa nyid kyis/ ‘gro ba’i mgon po phag mo gru ba sangs rgyas dngos su
mthong zhing/ tha mal pa’i log rtog skad cig kyang yong ma myong gsung nas bla ma sangs
rgyas yu gzigs pa’i gsol ‘debs kyi mgur ‘di phul lo//

na mo ratna gu ru

rdo rje 'chang chen man chad nas

bla ma slob dpon yan chod la301
thugs dgongs cig du 'dres ba'i rje
rje sangs rgyas rnams la gsol ba 'debs

dbang phyug brgyad302 la sogs ba yi

sangs rgyas che ba'i yon tan rnams
thams cad mkhyen303 la rdzogs pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas rnams la gsol ba 'debs

'khrul snang rmi lam sgyu ma ltar

293 NP: grogs

294 NP: 'tshogs
295 NP: dang ting
296 NP: myes
297 NP: dam
298 NP: Insert gyi
299 NP: Insert kyi
300 NP: Insert gyi
301 NP: du
302 NP: ldan
303 NP: khyod

122
rang bzhin med par mkhyen pa yi304
snang ba chos skur gzigs pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas x

rten305 dang mdzad spyod mi 'dra yang

so so'i tshul du byon gyur nas
rdo rje 'chang dang gcig pa'i rje306
rje sangs rgyas rnams x

kun la khyab pa'i thugs rje yis

dmigs med ngang nas 'gro don mdzad
'gro kun307 bu ltar gzigs308 pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas rnams x

sprul pa dpag med bkye309 mdzad nas

gang la gang 'dul skur ston yang310
'od gsal chos skur cig311 pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas x

brgyad khri bzhi stong la sogs pa'i

dpag med chos rnams gsungs lags kyang
brjod bya gcig du ston pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas x

lam tshul bsam312 gyis mi khyab pas313

dpag med 'gro ba drangs lags kyang
rtogs pa cig pa 'god pa'i rje
rje sangs rgyas rnams la gsol ba 'debs

Song 4 GT: [F.8.b]314

de nas gling chen ras pa de nyid kyi bla ma’i drung du thun mong gi chos mang dag cig zhu ba’i
dus su/ rje phag mo gru ba’i zhal nas khyod kyis sdar ci sgoms gsung/ thun chog la rten pa en re

304 NP: yis

305 NP: bstan
306 Missing in NP
307 Reading NP; GT: drug
308 NP: skyongs
309 NP: 'gyed
310 NP: brtan kyang
311 NP: sku gcig
312 NP: gsum
313 NP: pa'i
314
I could not find any other versions of this song

123
bsgoms zhus pas/ sems kyi bzhugs tshul bes? pa la lhan cig skyes sbyor gyis khrid skyongs
gsung/ khrid kyis mgo tshugs nas zla gcig song ba dang/ sgom gyi ngo bo mthng ba’i dus su
rgyud pa’i gsol ‘debs ‘di phulo//

na mo ratna gu ru

rje sku lnga rab rdzogs bla mad 'chang

rgyal ba'i sras bo gsang bdag rdo rje 'dzin
mchog gi byin brlabs zhugs pa'i sa ra ha
snang ba dbang du 'dus pa'i lo yi pa
sbyod ba lam du slongs ba'i lding gi pa
gsol ba 'debs so thugs rje sbyan gyis gzigs

sa bcu'i dbang phyug blo gros rin chen zhabs

lung bstan phyir mi ldog pa klu grub zhabs
'od gsal mngon du gyur pa'i ma tang gi

thugs dgongs mkha ltar dag pa'i su ma ti

ting 'dzin brtan pa thob pa'i thang lo pa
zag bcas sgyu lus 'byongs pa'i shing lo pa
nyi ltar 'od zer 'bar ba'i karnari
gsol ba 'debs so thugs rje spyan gyis gzigs

ting 'dzin las su rung ba'i dha bhi pa

bdag gzhan don gnyis 'grub pa'i bhi na sa
'dod yon lam tu slongs pa'i la ba pa
sprul pa'i skyes mchog intra bhu ti'i zhabs
gsol ba x

rnal 'byor dbang phyug chen po ti lo pa

mkhas pas grub mchog thob pa'i na ro pa
mi gnas mya ngan 'das pa'i ri khrod pa
par dor lung bstan thob pa'i mi tri pa
pho nya'i lam mchog mthar phyin ti pu'i zhabs
gsol ba x

dka' spyad phul du phyin pa mar pa'i zhabs

bdag med 'khor lo'i zhal gzigs rngog ston zhabs
'od gsal rgyun chad med pa'i ras chen zhabs
sku gsum mngon du gyur pa'i ras chung zhabs
snang ba chos skur shar ba rgyal ba lo
dngos 'dzin 'khrul pa zhig pa dam pa'i rje
gsol x

thugs skyed 'gro mgon mdzad pa'i rgam po pa

thugs dgongs mkha' ltar dag pa'i mthar tsa pa

124
thams cad mkhyen pa rtsod med grags chen po
bde gshegs kun gyi dbal ldan rin po che
gsol ba x

dgos 'dod kun 'byung bla ma rin po che

gtsug gi nor bu bla ma rin po che
'gro ba'i dpal mgon bla ma rin po che
gsol ba x

tshig la ma rten sgro 'dogs nang nas chod

thabs la ma rten bying rgod rang sar grol
lam la ma rten bde chen rgyun chad med
nyams myong mthar phyin rje btsun rin po che
gsol ba x

dgos 'dod yid bzhin sgrub pa'i rin po che

'gro drug bu ltar gzigs pa'i rin po che
sangs rgyas lag du gtod pa'i rin po che
dad ldan byin gyis brlob pa'i rin po che
rmongs ba dang ba 'dren pa'i rin po che
sems nyid chos skur sbrod pa'i rin po che
gsol ba x

brgyud pa kun gyi rtsa ba bla ma rin po che

yid dam lha'i ngo bo bla ma rin po che
dkon mchog gsum gyi ngo bo bla ma rin po che
gsol ba x

bdag cag gus pa’i lus la snyan pa’i ngag bcug nas
dad ba’i yid kyis bskul zhing gsol ‘debs na
nyams myong rgyun chad med pa brtan pa dang
rtogs pa mchog du gyur ba bskyed du gsol

bdag cag sgyu lus ‘di dang ma bral bar du yang

’khor ba’i sdug bsngal tshogs kyi mi ‘tshe zhing
’thun rkyen ma lus phun sum tshogs pa dang
’gro ba’i sdug bsngal sel ba’i mthu ldan shog

Song 6 GT: [F.9.b]; NP: [F.10.a]

de nas khyed par mos gus la bogs skyed chen po thon nas mgur ‘di phulo//

na mo ratna guru

125
rgya mtsho'i gting315 nas blangs pa yi316
yid bzhin nor bu rin chen de
ded317 dpon gyi lag318 du 'grims319 tsa na
brtags shing brtags shing rin thang skye320

bla ma mkhas la321 zhus pa yis322

grub thob rgyud323 pa'i gdams ngag de
mkhas btsun spyan mngar324 'grims tsa na
brtags shing brtags shing nges shes skyes

mgar ba mkhas kyi325 brdungs pa yi

rno ngar ldan pa'i ral gri de
rnon po’i326 dbyig dang phrad tsa na327
bdar cing328 je rno je rno329 thal

rtogs ldan bla mas ngo sprad330 pa'i

nyams myong rtogs pa'i ye shes de
rje331 rin po che dang mjal ba yi332
bsgoms shing333 je brten je brten thal

zla ba'i gzugs la 'phel 'grib med

'phel 'grib nyi ma'i 'od las byung
nyi zla so sor song334 tsa na
zla ba'i gzugs de rdzogs par snang

sems chos kyi sku335 la 'phel 'grib med

'phel 'grib 'khrul snang gi rgyu las byung

315
NP: gling
316
NP: yis
317
NP: dad
318
NP: lam
319
NP: ‘grim
320
NP: ring thung che
321
NP: pas
322
NP: yi
323
NP: brgyud
324
NP: sngar
325
NP: kyis
326
NP: sdon po
327
NP: ‘phrad tsam na
328
NP: na
329
NP: brnor
330
NP: sprod
331
missing from NP
332
NP: yin
333
NP: shig
334
NP: gyes
335
NP: sku’i ngang

126
'khrul snang dbyings su yal tsa na
snang ba chos skur shar ba yin

phyi yi rgya mtsho blta336 'dod na

shing nags tshal mthong na rings337 pa yin
shing nags tshal gyi mtshan ma zad tsa338 na
phyi'i rgya mtshor slebs pa yin

sangs rgyas kyi dgongs pa blta339 'dod na

rtags mtshan ma 'dod na ring pa yin
rtags mtshan ma'i zhe 'dod zad tsa340 na
sangs rgyas kyi dgongs par slebs pa yin

gdod nas dag pa'i nam mkha' la

nyi zda gza' skar341 gyi yon tan rnams
rang chas gdod nas gnas mod kyi
dmus long rnams kyis342 mthong ba med

sems gdod nas dag343 pa'i chos sku la

sangs rgyas che ba'i yon yon tan rnams
rang chas gdod nas gnas mos kyi344
ma dag pa yis345 mthong ba med

Song 9 (GT: [F.11.a]; NP: [F.15.a]; SGB: [F.8.a]; BR: [F.11.a]

de’i dus su bla ma sangs rgyas su ‘dug pa la ngas rgyud pa nye ba kho na la gtso bor byas snyam
nas ‘gyod de mgur ‘di phulo//

na mo ratna gu ru

bla ma sangs rgyas su 'dug pa mi ru bzung

brgyud pa nye ring du bgrangs346 pa 'thol347 lo bshags

gdams ngag nyams len du 'dug pa tshig du348 gzung

336
NP: lta
337
NP: ring
338
NP: pa
339
NP: lta
340
NP: pa
341
NP: sgar
342
NP: kyi
343
NP: nyid gnas
344
NP: kyis
345
NP: yi
346
NP: bzung
347
NP, SGB: mthol, and repeated throughout

127
rigs349 pa rtogs350 dpyod bcug351 pa 'thol lo bshags

tha snyad btags par352 'dug pa don du gzung353

tshig skyon nga rgyal la354 rtsod pa 'thol lo bshags355

bar chad rang sems su 'dug pa 'dre ru gzung

bsrung ba drag sngags su bgrangs pa 'thol lo bshags

'khor ba myang 'das su 'dug pa dngos por gzung

sdug bsngal btson rar bsgoms pa 'thol lo bshags

rnam rtog ye shes su 'dug pa skyon du gzung

spang bya dri mar bldas pa 'thol lo bshags

chos sku ro cig du 'dug pa so sor bzung356

chos la phyogs ris su phye ba 'thol lo bshags

Song 11 GT: [F.14.L.a]357; NP: [F.23.a]

slar yang dbus su byon nas sngar ltar spyod pa skyong zhing yong pa’i dus su dga’ spro’i mgur
‘di bzhaso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bka' rgyud358 rtsod359 pa med par360 phyogs med yongs su grags nas361
kun gyis spyi bor khur ba'i brgyud pa 'di nyams re dga'
grub thob rgyun chad med pa 'di dang re spro

348
NP: su
349
NP, SGB: rig
350
SGB: rtog
351
NP: byad
352
SGB: rtag pa ru
353
SGB: bzung
354
Missing la in SGB
355
This verse is missing from NP
356
Reading SGB; GT: mthong
357
For folios 13, 14, and 15, there are two folios with same ennumeration. The folios with matching numbers are
differentiated as being either "upper" or "lower"/ For example, this folio is marked bcu bzhi ‘og and follows bcu bzhi
gong, aka "lower 14" and "upper 14". Here I have used "L" to denote ‘og or "lower".
358
NP: brgyud
359
NP: brtsod
360
NP breaks the first line of every verse into two lines
361
NP: pas

128
mtshan nyid kun dang ldan pas don gnyis phun sum362 tshogs nas
yid bzhin nor bu lta bu'i rje btsun 'di nyams re dga'
dgos 'dod thams cad 'byung ba 'di dang re spro

mdo rgyud kun dang 'thun par sems nyid gtan la phab nas
sangs rgyas lag du gtod pa'i gdams ngag 'di nyams re dga'
nges shes 'phral du363 skye ba 'di dang re spro

pha yul rgyab du bskyur nas dmigs gtad gzhi gzung med par
phyogs med kyi364 ri khrod 'grims pa365 'di nyams re dga'
mkhar bsrung ran366 mi dgos pa dang re spro

gYo rgyu log 'tsho spangs nas ngo bsrung367 rtsol ba med bar
'phral phyid ldom bu byed pa'i 'tsho ba 'di nyams re dga'
ser sna'i368 sdug sogs mi dgos pa 'di dang re spro

mi chos khyib369 thab spangs te370 'jig rten bya ba btang nas
gnyis med gcig pur sdod pa371 'di nyams re dga'
snabs372 shal nyol373 lcibs mi srol374 pa 'di dang re spro

rtogs pa nang nas shar bas grub mtha'i zhe 'dod zad na
bsam brjod yul las 'das pa'i lta ba 'di nyams re dga'
chos nyid mngon du byas pa 'di dang re spro

byin brlabs gnad du thebs375 pas rgyud la yon tan376 shar nas
gnyug ma rgyun chad med par sgom pa 'di nyams re dga'
sgom bya sgom byed dang bral ba377 'di dang re spro

zhen378 pa nang nas log pas bcos ma'i tshul 'chos zhig nas
shugs379 'byung lhug par shar380 ba'i spyod pa 'di nyams re dga'
362
NP: gsum
363
NP: la
364
Missing from NP
365
NP: pa’i dgon pa
366
NP: las ru ‘pho
NP: 367 bsrungs
368
NP: sna
369
NP: khyim
370
NP: shing
371
NP: pa’i grogs
372
NP: snab
373
NP: nyog
374
NP: dgos
375
NP: phog
376
NP: ‘od gsal
377
NP: med pa
378
NP: zhan
379
NP: shug
380
NP: skyong

129
dgag bsgrub blang dor dang bral ba 'di dang re spro

chos nyid mngon du gyur bas sku gsum lhun kyis grub nas
yon tan thams cad rdzogs pa'i 'bras bu 'di nyid381 nyams re dga'
re dogs gyang sa chod pa382 dang re spro

song 12 GT: [F.15.L.b]; NP: [F.10.a]

de bla ma’i drung du phul te/ bdag gi lo gsum gyi sgrub pa’i dam bza’ phul ba la/ zhag gsum gyi
snga gro thon pa ‘di la mi thams cad skyon pa gda’ bas/ bla ma rin po che ‘ang bdag shog gsung
ba de bka’ skyon cig gnang ba lags sam/ bdag gi mthong lugs kyi glu zhig ‘bul pa zhu zhus nas
mgur ‘di phulo//

na mo ratna gu ru

rje bla ma'i383 zhal nas gnyug ma'i don

sgoms384 shig gsung nas bsgoms lags pas
bsgom385 bya sgom byed stor nas thal
sgom la386 thun 'tshams kyi bzung rgyu mi gda'o387//388

nyams ting nge 'dzin gyi389 sgron me yis

sems nyid390 chos skur rtogs lags pas
nyams myong gi 'dzin pa stor nas thal
gol sa sbyad391 rgyu392 mi gda'o//

sems ji393 bzhin gzhag394 pa ma lags pa

gnyen po'i bcos rgyu395 mi gda' bas
yin min gyi the tshom stor nas thal
ma bde ba zhu396 rgyu 397 mi gda'o//
381
NP: missing nyid
382
NP: insert’di
383 NP: rje'i
384 NP: bsgom
385 NP: sgom
386
Missing from NP
387 NP: thun mtshams bzung rgyu yang mi gda'o
388 NP does not have the double shad at the end of each stanza
389 NP: gyis
390 NP: spros bral
391 NP: bcad, evidence that NP is "corrupted". Although gol sa bcad is a common phrase, it makes no sense
here
392 NP: Insert yang
393 NP: ci
394 NP: bzhags
395 NP: su
396 NP: dri
397 NP: Insert yang

130
sngar 'dris398 399mi dang phrad400 pa bzhin
rnam rtog chos skur ngo shes pas
skyon yon gyi401 'dzin pa stor nas thal
dgag sgrub402 bya rgyu mi gda'o//

mun403 la khri gdugs shar ba bzhin404

rtogs pa nang nas shar lags pas405
grub mtha'i khas len stor nas thal
tha snyad gdags406 rgyu mi gda'o//

bla ma dus gsum407 sangs rgyas dang408

rang sems dbyer med rtogs lags pas
tha snyad409 kyi 'du shes stor nas thal
yid smon bya rgyu410 mi gda'o//

sgyu lus kyi chu bur nam yang 'jig

sems skye 'chi411 med pa'i don rtogs pas
'chi ba'i412 'jigs pa stor nas thal
sdug bsngal bya rgyu 413mi gda'o//

bdag 'dzom na rje'i414 spyan sngar415 sdod416

ma 'dzom na phyogs med kyi rgyal khams skor417
ldog na zhen418 med kyi ldom bu byed
skyo na nyams myong gi dbyangs chung419 len420
'khyags na gtum mo'i me la bsrod421

398 NP: 'gris More evidence that NP is "corrupted". Easy spelling mistake with no real meaning.
399 NP: Insert kyi
400 NP: 'phrad
401 NP: du
402 NP: bsgrub
403
NP: Insert pa
404
NP: ltar
405
NP: sam
406
NP: bshad
407
Missing in NP
408
Strange double shad here in NP
409
NP: thar lam
410
NP: Insert yang
411
NP: shi
412
NP: ba yi
413
NP: Insert yang
414
NP: rje yis
415
Reading NP; GT: mngar
416
NP: gdod
417
NP: ri khrod 'grim
418
NP: zhan
419
NP: dbyangs su
420
This line is swapped with the next in NP
421
Reading NP; GT: sro

131
na na 'byung pa ro snyoms byed
skyid sdug gi snang pa thad kar spyod422
bdag423 spyod lam ci bder skyong ba424 zhu//

zhes pa’i mgur phul bas bla ma phag mo gru pa shin du mnyes nas/ chu bo gha gha yan chad kyis
bstan pa ‘di la bram ze chen po sa ra has/ rtogs pa che ba ma byung/ mi yong/ chu bo gha gha
tshun la/ bu khyod bas rtogs pa mtho ba mi yong mi ‘byung gsung shing shin du sges bar gyur//

Song 16 GT: [F.17.a]; NP: [F.21.a]; SGB: [F.8.b]; BR: [F.11.b]

dge bshes mdog gi slob ma ‘ga’ chos skad ‘drir byung ba la mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru
425
bla ma bsten yun mi ring du426
gdam ngag tshig gi427 ma bslad428 ba
snying gi dkyil du thebs429 lags pas
brjed tho dpe la mi re tsam

phug du rgyun430 rings ma bsdad de431

rtogs ldan bla ma'i byin brlabs kyis
rgyun chad med pa'i don rtogs pas
dge sbyor rkyen khar mi 'chor tsam

phyogs med432 thos pa ma byas433 te

sgro 'dogs nang nas chod434 lags pas
gnas lugs tshig du brjod lags kyang
bka' mdo rgyud gnyis dang ma435 'gal tsam

tshangs spyod kyi sdom pa mi gdog436 ste

422
NP: gcod
423
NP: missing bdag
424
NP: bskyong bar
425
NP: rje
426
NP, SBG: ste
427
NP: ru, SGB: gis
428
Reading SGB; GT: slad
429
SGB: 'khrungs
430
NP: yun
431 This line missing from SGB
432
NP, SGB: Insert kyi
433
SGB: bgyis
434
SGB: mchod
435
SGB: mi
436
NP, SGB: bdog

132
gsang sngags gnad kyi gdam ngag gis
las kyi phyag rgya bsten lags kyang
'dod pa'i dri mas ma gos tsam

'dod437 pa'i nor rdzas mi gdog438 ste

zhen pa rang log gi rgya mtsho nas
chog shes kyi nor bu rnyed lags pas439
log 'tshol440 rnyed pa mi tshol441 tsam

rtags mtshan442 rtan443 rgyu mi gdog444 ste

dus gsum sangs rgyas kyi445 dgongs pa de
snying gi dkyil du thebs446 lags pas
yid smon gzhan la mi 'bul tsam

'chi med kyi bcud len ma 'grub447 ste

sems skye 'chi448 med pa'i don rtogs pas
'chi bdag449 bdud dang phrad450 lags kyang
mya ngan451 sdug bsngal mi byed tsam

gzhan bsrung ba'i nus pa mi gdog452 ste

phyag rgya chen po'i byin brlabs kyis
ri khrod gnyan dgu 'grims lags kyang
bar chad bdud la mi 'tshor453 tsam

Song 17 GT: [F.17.b]; NP: [F.22.b]; SGB: [F.9.a] BR: [F.11.b]

yang btsun pa ‘ga’ khyod kyi spyod ‘gros ‘di chos ji ‘dra zhig byed dam zer ‘drir byung ba la
mgur ‘di gsungso//

437
NP, SGB: bsags
438
NP: 'dog, SGB: bdog
439
SGB: yid bzhin gyi nor bu rnyed
440
NP, SGB: 'tsho'i, written over by hand in GT
441
NP, SGB: 'tshol
442
NP, SGB: Insert ma
443
NP, SGB: bstan
444
NP: 'dog, SGB: bdog
445
NP, SGB: rgyal po'i
446
NP, SGB: shar
447
NP, SGB: bsgrub
448
NP: shi
449
NP: Insert gi
450
NP: 'phrad
451
NP, SGB: dang
452
NP: 'dog, SGB: bdog
453
NP, SGB: 'jigs

133
na mo ratna gu ru

bdag454 longs spyod 'dod yon lnga la byed

dka' thub khyad par 'phags pa yin455

lam du456 nyon mongs dug lnga slong457

gnyen po khyad bar 'phags pa yin

mchod pa sgyu ma'i lus la 'bul

mchod gnas khyad par 'phags pa yin

lta458 rtog rang gi sems la byed

dpe459 cha khyad par 'phags pa yin

dge sbyor gti mug gnyid la byed

gdam ngag khyad par 'phags pa yin

zhe brod 'chi ba'i460 dus su byed

gdeng tshad khyad par 'phags pa yin

song 18 GT: [F.17.b]; NP: [F.23.a]; SGB: [F.9.b]; BR: [F.11.b]

ston pa nga rgyal can cig byung nas/ kho na re chos rnam dag byed pa la/ lus btsun pa’i tshul
khrims kyi gzhi gzung/ rgyal ba’i gsung la thos bsam gyi sgro ‘dogs bcad de/ go myong gi sgo
nas gtan la ‘bebs pa yin pa la/ khyod kyis blun sgom des ci yong zer khrel byung pa la mgur ‘di
gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

mang du thos pa'i lha chos de

nam mkha'i rlung bzhin ma 'phyos sam

btsun por bsrungs pa'i 'dul khrims de

lcags sgrogs461 bzhin du ma bsdams sam

mtho ru re ba'i lta ba de

kha tshig rkyang par ma song ngam

454
Missing from NP
455
NP: lags and repeated in the rest of the verses
456
NP: dang
457
NP, SGB: slongs
458
NP: lto
459
NP: des
460
NP: ka'i, SGB: kha'i
461
SGB: sgrog

134
bzang du re ba'i sgom nyams de
ko tshab462 bzhin du ma ltengs463 sam

zab tu re ba'i gdams ngag de

shog bu'i ngos464 la ma las465 sam

zhi466 ru re ba'i rnam rtog467 de

rlung 'tshub bzhin du ma langs sam

thul du re ba'i rang rgyud de

ko skam pa bzhin du ma rengs sam468

song 19 GT: [F.18.a]; NP: [F.14.a]

de nas nyang po la thon nas nags khrod dpal gyi g.yu gong du bzhugs dus/ ston pa nga rgyal can
‘dra byung nas khyod rgyal chas gya mtho cig ‘dug pa la khyed kyis mo sman rtsis bon ci shes
zer ba la mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bdag phyis469 kyis470 rnal 'byor 'dug pa 'di

mthu srog471 ser gtad mi shes te
byams dang snying rje'i drag sngags kyis
zhe sdang472 gi473 dgra bo rtsad474 nas bcad
yul gang du phyin kyang dgra sdang475 med
bdag476 mthu mkhan gyi rgyal po zhig yin nam snyam477
mthu mi gsod kyi shan pa478 nga mi byed

bdag gi479 'tsho ba'i480 sman dag481 mi shes te

462
NP: ko chab, SGB: rko chab
463
NP, SGB: stengs
464
NP, SGB: logs
465
NP: lags
466
NP: zhib tu, SBG: rang zhi
467
NP: lta ba, SGB: nyon mongs
468
This verse is missing or almost completely altered in SGB
469
NP: mchis
470
NP: kyi
471
NP: Missing srog
472
NP: sdong
473
NP: gis
474
Reading NP; GT: rtsod
475
NP: sdong
476
NP: missing bdag
477
NP: sems
478
NP: mi gson po’i gshad pa
479
NP: missing bdag gi and adds a line: bdag mchis kyi rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘di

135
rje sman mchog rgyal po'i gdam ngag de482
dad brtson gnyis kyi rten483 lags pas
sems skye shi'i nad las grol nas thal
bdag484 sman pa'i rgyal po cig yin nam snyam485
gshin rje'i rtsags486 cha nga mi 'dzin

bdag gi487 g.yung drung gi bon dag488 mi shes te

rtogs pa 'gyur med kyi bon po yis489
rnam rtogs gi490 ltas ngan g.yang du blan491
lha 'dre'i 'jigs492 pa rang sar grol
bdag493 bon po'i rgyal po cig yin nas snyam494
bon495 mu stegs kyi rnga shang nga mi 'khrol

bdag gi496 srid pa'i rtsis dag497 mi shes te

chos sku 'gyur med kyi ri bo la
sems spros dang bral ba'i dus498 btab nas499
gzugs sku'i bu tsha dar zhing rgyas
bdag500 rtsis501 mkhan gyi rgyal po cig yin nam snyam502
rdzun lung gi gab rtse nga mi 'dings

bdag503 bsags pa'i nor dag504 mi gdog505 ste

zhen506 pa rang log gi rgya mtsho nas
chog shes yid bzhin gyi nor bu rnyed

480
NP: byed kyi
481
NP: dang
482
NP: ‘di
483
NP: brten
484
NP: missing bdag
485
NP: sems
486
NP: lag
487
NP: missing bdag gi and adds a line: bdag mchis kyi rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘dis
488
NP: dang
489
NP: yin
490
NP: gis
491
Reading NP; GT: bslan
492
NP: ‘dzin
493
NP: missing bdag
494
NP: nam sems
495
NP: missing bon
496
NP: missing bdag gi and adds a line: bdag mchis kyi rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘dis
497
NP: gtsug lag nga
498
NP: dur
499
NP: pas
500
NP: missing bdag
501
NP: sa
502
NP: sems
503
NP: missing bdag gi and adds a line: bdag mchis kyi rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘dis
504
NP: rdzas
505
NP: ma ‘dog
506
NP: zhan

136
yul gang du phyin kyang ltogs507 pa med
bdag508 phyug po'i rgyal po cig yin nam snyam509
log 'tsho di510 rnyed pa nga mi tshol511

bdag gi bslabs pa'i chos dag mi gdog ste512

grub thob brgyud513 pa'i bla ma la
bka' rtsod pa med pa'i gdam ngag zhus
da514 chags sdang med pa'i sa phyogs su
rdzun g.yo sgyu515 med pa'i spyod 'gros kyis
khyed 'dris bshes516 med pa'i dad ldan la517
zhen518 med519 ldom bu byed pa yin

song 20 GT: [F.18.b]; NP: [F.16.b]

de nas dge bshes wa ta ston pas spyan drangs te g.yas ru ru ba’i bseb du bzhugs pa’i ‘tsho mgur
‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bdag phyis520 kyi rnal 'byor 'dug pa 'di

byad nags shod kyi521 stod du phyin tsa na
wam rta ston pas zan drangs pas522

ru ba pa yi523 mi sded de
mun pa'i smag la bab tsa524 na
yengs pa med pa'i mel tshe525 yis
zang zing gi longs spyod bsrung526 shing gda'

507
NP: ltog
508
NP: missing bdag
509
NP: sems
510
NP: ‘tsho’i
511
NP: ‘tshol
512
NP: This whole line is missing, replaced with: bdag mchis kyi rnal ‘byor ‘dug pa ‘dis
513
NP: rgyud
514
NP: nga
515
NP: Insert spangs
516
NP: bshes
517
NP: pa
518
NP: zhan
519
NP: Insert kyi
520
NP: mchis
521
NP: missing kyi
522
NP: this line is missing
523
NP: rgya shod ru ba’i; DT: slightly unclear
524
NP: tsam
525
NP: rtse
526
NP: bzung

137
de527 'phral du sdug la nam phugs528 stong

rnal 'byor bdag gis tshur ba529 sams530 pas

531
yengs ba med pa'i mel532 tshe533 yis
zag med kyi long spyod bsrungs534 nas gda'

dam tshig yid bzhin nor bu de

bag yod dran pa'i mel tshes535 bsrungs
536
'bras bu sku gsum lhun grub537 de
rtogs pa brtan po'i mel tshes538 bsrungs

de ltar mel tshe539 bgyis lags pas

chos nyid kyi nam mkha' mtha' nas langs
'od gsal gi nyi ma mkha' la shar540
der541 mel tshe mi542 dgos blo re bde

gyo sgyu mun pa'i smag rum du

rang sems rnam dag gi nyi ma shar
nyes ltung kyi543 rkun mo544 rang sar grol
545
mel tshe ma546 dgos blo re bde

ma rig mun pa'i smags rum du

rtogs pa ye shes kyi nyi ma shar
rtag chad kyi547 rkun mo548 rang sar grol
da mel tshe ma549 dgos blo re bde
527
NP: missing de
528
NP: phug
529
NP: tshul;
530
NP: bsam
531
NP: sngar
532
Reading NP; GT; med
533
NP: rtse
534
NP: srungs
535
NP: tses
536
NP: Includes six extra lines here: lta ba skye med mkhar po de// lung rigs gnyis kyi mel tshos bsrungs// sgom pa
‘od gsal nor mchog ste// thabs lam zab mo’i mel tses bsrungs// spyod pa zhen med rta pho de// gnyen po thog brdzis
mel tses bsrungs/
537
NP: gtan nor
538
NP: tses
539
NP: tses
540
NP: This line reads: ‘od gsal gyi mkha’ la nyi ma shar
541
NP: da
542
NP: tse ma
543
NP: missing kyi
544
NP: ma
545
NP: insert da
546
NP: tse mi
547
NP: Missing kyi
548
NP: ma
549
NP: tse mi

138
550
gzung 'dzin mun pa'i smag rum du
chos sku rang byung nyi ma shar
re dog551 kyi rkun mo rang sar grol
da mel tshe ma552 dgos blo re bde

sems nyid gnyug ma'i mal553 du tshud

'khor 'das dgra zin med par 'byongs
rang sems mi ‘dzad554 kyi gter dang phrad555
bdag bde mor556 nyal ba de tshug557 lags

song 26 GT: [F.20.b]; NP:[F.8.b]

yang de dus dge ‘dun mang dag gis phyi rol pa dang nang pa’i theg pa che chung la sogs pa’i lta
ba’i khyad par cig gsungs dang zer ba la mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

phyag rgya chen po'i don rtogs558 pas

rol brgya shal559 pa gcig gis mnan560
dus gsum 'gyur ba med pas na
mu stegs rtag par lta ba yin
dran561 rtog gzhi rtsa bral bas na
mu stegs chad bar lta ba yin
stong nyid snying rje dbyer med pas
dkon mchog gsum gyi skyabs 'gro yin
bdag 'dzin dbyings su562 zhi bas na
nyan thos rang rgyal lta ba yin
bdag gzhan gnyis su med pa 'di
smon 'jug gnyis kyi sems bskyed yin

550
NP Includes two extra verses here: zhi gnas mun pa’i smags rum du// lhag mthong ye shes nyi ma shar// byid
rgod rkun ma rang sar grol// da mel tse mi dgos blo re bde// chags zhen mun pa’i smags rum du// zhen pa rang log
nyi ma shar// chos brgyad rkun ma rang sar grol// da mel tso mi dgos blo re bde/
551
Reading NP; GT: rang 'dod
552
NP: tse mi
553
NP: lam
554
NP: zad
555
NP: ‘phrad
556
NP: blo bder
557
NP: tsug
558
NP: rdzogs
559
NP: shar
560
NP: gnon
561
Reading NP; GT: ngan
562
NP: nas

139
sems las gzhan pa'i chos med pas
rang gi rig pa'i sems tsam yin
sems nyid 'dogs la563 stong pa la
mtha' dang bral ba dbu ma yin
'dzin pa thongs564 pa sbyin pa yin
dri ma med pa tshul khrims yin
skye ba med pa bzod pa yin
'bad rtsol med pa brtson 'grus yin
rgyun chad med565 pa bsam gtan yin
spros dang bral ba shes rab yin
sgrub pa'i566 zhe 'dod zad pa na
sa lam yon tan rdzogs567 pa yin
rnam rtog bcom pas568 bden mthong569 na
yang dag don gyi dgon pa yin
sku gsum don gyi570 dkyil 'khor du
sems nyid bzhugs pa dbang bskur yin
rang bzhin gnyug ma don gyi lha
'bral ba med pa bskyed rim yin
skye ba med pa don gyi sngags
rgyun chad med pa bzlas pa571 yin
skye ba med pa'i chos dbying su
rnam rtog572 yal ba rdzogs rim yin
de rnams don la mi gda' ba573
brtan par byed pa dam tshig yin
zag574 pa med par bde bas na
ye shes tshogs kyi 'khor lo yin
mchod bya mchod byed gnyis med bas
yang dag don gyi mchod pa yin
chos nyid rang rig ye shes kyi
mngon du byas pas dngos grub yin
kun go gcig gis chod ba 'di
dam chos phyag rgya chen po yin
rtog pa'i lam du575 'dus tshul 'di576

563
NP: ‘od gsal
564
This is one of the few occassions where the two versions of GT do not agree. GTb clearly reads thos pa while
GTa reads thongs pa. This is telling example of why I believe GTa to be more reliable
565
NP: mi chad
566
NP: bsgrub bya’i
567
Reading NP; GT: rtogs
568
NP: bcos mas
569
NP: dben pas
570
NP: snying po’i
571
NP: brjod
572
Reading NP; GT: rlung sems
573
NP: ‘da’ bas
574
Reading NP; GT: thob
575
NP: gyi
576
NP: yin

140
rje577 bla ma rnams kyis578 byin brlabs kyi579
pha mo gru yi nags khrod du
sems la shar nas blangs pa lags580

Song 27 GT: [F.21.a]; NP: [F.28.a]; SGB: [F.8.b]

grub thob gling gis slar yang byon nas lo ro’i cho skang du bzhugs dus/ sgom pa’i sdug yus che
zhing thos pa’i nga rgyal gyis dregs pa’i sgom chen dang mtshan nyid pa ‘ga’ chos zhung byung
pa la mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

btsun po'i 'dul khrims bsrungs lags kyang

lha mi'i go 'phangs581 ma gtogs pa
byang chub thob la phan rgyu chung
sum ldan gyi sdom pa zhig rtsis582 su che

sde snod gsum la blo sbyangs kyang

mi kha chogs583 tsam ma gtogs pa
byang chub thob584 la phan rgyu chung
rtogs ldan gyi bla ma rtsigs su che

cho585 ga mkhas pas dbang bskur kyang586

snod du rung tsam ma gtogs pa
ye shes skye587 la phan rgyu chung
bla ma'i byin brlabs cig rtsigs su che

rgyud sde bzhi la blo sbyangs588 kyang

sngags rgyus che tsam ma gtogs pa
dngos grub thob la phan rgyu chung
brgyud pa'i gdams589 pa590 cig591 rtsigs su che

577
NP: missing rje
578
NP: kyi
579
NP: kyis
580
NP: yin
581
SGB: 'phang
582
Reading NP, SGB in each verse; GT: cig rtsigs
583
NP: cog, SGB: gcog
584
NP, SGB: rang rgyud thul
585
Reading NP, SGB; GT: cha
586
NP, SGB: yang
587
NP: thob
588
NP: sbyongs
589
NP, SGB: gdam; repeated throughout
590
NP, SGB: ngag
591
Missing in NP

141
gdams ngag tshig du thos lags kyang
nyams dga' ba592 tsam las ma gtogs pa
yon tan skye la phan rgyu chung
593
khrid kyi lag len cig rtsigs su che

zhi gnas ting 'dzin brtan lags kyang

ngal 594so'i 595stegs tsam596 ma gtogs pa
'khor bar597 sgrol598 la phan rgyu chung
nyams kyi drod tshad cig rtsigs su che

go ba phul du phyin lag kyang

smra kham599 che tsam ma gtogs pa
chos nyid rtogs la phan rgyu chung
gang600 shar601 rtogs pa cig rtsigs su che

grub chen brgyad la mnga' brnyed kyang

ngo mtshar che tsam ma gtogs pa
sangs rgyas thob la phan rgyu chung
mchog gi dngos grub cig rtsigs su che

Song 29 GT: [F.21.b]; NP:[F.16.a]; SGB: [F.12.b]; BR: [F.14.a]602

de nas lo ro mgo ba’i phu yang chung du bzhugs mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru
603
phyogs med kyi ri khrod mi 'grim par
da dung604 grong khyer605 gyi606 'du 'dzir607 'jug
sred ma608 can khyod la dogs609 pa yin
592
Missing in SGB, NP
593
SGB: Insert dmar
594
SGB: Insert ba
595
NP, SGB: Insert lam
596
Missing in SGB, NP
597
SGB, NP: ba
598
NP: bgrod
599
NP, SGB: khams
600
NP: rang
601
NP, SGB: Insert gyi
602
Fragment
603
SGB: insert khyod
604
NP, SGB, BR: rung and repeated
605
NP, BR: yul
606
SGB: missing gyi
607
SGB: ‘dzin
608
Reading SGB; GT: srid pa; NP: prang ma
609
Reading SGB throughout; GT: dgos

142
rje gong ma'i spyod 'gros ma610 dran par 'dug pa
mno611 bsam612 thong613 dang614 snying rus bskyed615

khyod ras gos rkyang re616 mi gyon617 par

da dung r.nal618 ma'i gos lag gyon619
le620 lo can khyod la dgos pa yin
lus la gtum mo ma621 'bar bar 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

zas su zag med kyi kha zas622 mi za par

da dung zhim dgu dang dngar623 dgu 'dod
zhim lto can624 khyod la dgos pa yin
625
zas kyi 'khri626 ba mchod627 par 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

sprang po'i dman628 sa mi 'dzin par

da dung gzhan gyi phye mthor629 'gam
tshul 'chos mkhan khyod la dgos pa yin
chos brgyad kyi630 mgo bo ma snyoms par 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

don631 med kyi ldom bu ma byed par

da dung r.nyad632 pa dang bkur bsti633 'dod634
'dod pa can khyod la dgos pa yin
zhen pa nang nas ma log par 'dug pa
610
SGB: mi
611
NP: mon and repeated
612
SGB: insert zhig and repeated
613
NP: thang and repeated
614
SGB: la and repeated
615
SGB: skyed and repeated
616
SGB: pa
617
NP: gon
618
SGB, NP: snal
619
SGB: dug po ‘dug; NP: gos slag sdug
620
Reading SGB, NP; GT: lo
621
SGB: me; NP: mi
622
SGB, NP: ting ‘dzin
623
SGB, NP: mngar
624
NP: mkhas
625
NP: Insert kha
626
SGB: dungs; NP: gdung
627
NP: ma chod
628
SGB: dma’
629
DGB: gtor
630
SGB: missing kyi
631
SGB, NP: zhen
632
SGB, NP: rnyed
633
NP: sti
634
SGB, NP: len

143
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

gnyug ma'i nyams myong mi skyong par

da dung mthun635 'jug dang636 pho so637 skyong
khrigs kha638 can khyod la dgos pa yin
sngon gyi spyod pam639 ma 'gyur640 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

'dris641 med642 kyi yul du mi sdod643 par

da dung sngar 'dris644 kyi yul du sdod645
gdung646 sems can khyod la dgos pa yin
647
snying rus kyi chig648 skya649 mi thug650 par 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

brjod med kyi don la mi lta bar

da dung yig nag gi dpe cha blta651
zin bris mkhan652 khyod la dgos pa yin
snang ba dpe char653 ma shar654 'dug pa
mno bsam thong la snying rus bskyed

song 31 GT: [F.22.b]; SGB: [F.7.a]; NP: [F.62.b]

bla ma sangs rgyas dang ‘dra ba cig pha gi na bzhugs pa la/ nga ‘dir sdod pa snyam dgongs nas
bla ma la ngar mo kyi mgur ‘di phul lo//

bdag phyis655 kyi sprang po gling ras nga656

635
Reading SGB, NP; GT: ‘thun
636
NP: gi
637
NP: sgo
638
SGB: khrid ka; NP: khris kha
639
SGB: pa; NP: lam
640
SGB: insert bar
641
NP: ‘dres
642
SGB, NP: insert bshes med
643
NP: ma ldom
644
NP: ‘dres
645
SGB, NP: zlog
646
SGB: dung
647
SGB: insert khyod kyis
648
SGB: kyis gcig
649
NP: rgya
650
SGB: pher
651
SGB: ‘khur; NP: ‘khur gi
652
NP: mkhas
653
SGB: cha ru; NP: cha
654
NP: Insert ba
655
SGB, NP: mchis

144
rje bla ma rnams kyi bka' drin657 gyis
dpyad658 pas go ba ma lags te659
gnyug ma'i don cig660 nyams su myong

nges shes blo yi gting nas skyes

lus 'di661 ngos gzung662 med pas663 bde
dbugs 'gyu664 ba tshor ba med par sdod665
dran rtog na 'un666 lta bur667 yal

sems nyid668 nam mkha' lta bur dag

chos nyid nam mkha'669 mtha'670 nas langs
'od671 gsal672 nyi ma mkha' la shar
ma rig mun pa gting nas sangs
ting 'dzin bying rgod med par gsal
chos nyid gnyug ma'i rang sa 'dzin673
rkyen snang gi674 mtshan ma rang sar grol

rig pa'i chu bo dangs snyigs phyed675

rnam rtog gi676 rba rlabs rang sar yal677
chos sku678 stong nyid kyi679 ngang du gsal
tha snyad brjod med kyi680 dbyings su stor

da681 'khor ba sems su shes lags682 pas

656
NP: la
657
NP: byin brlabs
658
Reading NP; SGB: bshad; GT: spyad
659
SGB, NP: pa’i
660
SGB: zhig; NP: gcig
661
NP: ni
662
NP: bzung
663
SGB, NP: par
664
NP: rgyu
665
SGB, NP: bde
666
SGB: bu; NP: bun
667
SGB, NP: bzhin du
668
SGB: ni
669
SGB: kyi nam ni; NP: nam ni
670
NP: missing mtha’
671
SGB: bde
672
SGB, NP: insert gyi
673
SGB, NP: zin
674
NP: missing gi
675
NP: ‘byed
676
NP: missing gi
677
SGB: grol
678
SGB, NP: kun
679
NP: missing kyi
680
SGB, NP: missing kyi
681
NP: de
682
SGB, NP: ngo shes

145
rigs drug gi gyang sa rbad kyis683 chod
dgos pa med pa blo re bde

sangs rgyas sems su thag chod bas684

zhe 'dod685 sgrub686 bya mi gda' bas687
re ba med pa 'di688 blo re bde

sems nyid 'od gsal stong pa la

sgom bya689 sgom byed mi gda' bas690
mnyam rjes med pa 'di691 blo re bde

nang du nyon mongs skyes tsa692 na

rdo tshan la kha ba babs ba bzhin
nyon mongs rnam par rtog ba kun
bcom pa med pa693 zhi nas thal

rtogs ba nang nas shar tsa694 na

chu695 la zla ba696 shar ba bzhin
nyon mongs shes bya'i sgrib ba kun697
bsal ba med par sangs698 nas thal

tshig 'di don dang699 ldan mi ldan

rje chos kyi sbyan can dpang700 por zhugs

lar bla ma zer ba’i drin po che

mi zad kyi701 gter dang sprod sprod pa
rje sangs rgyas rnams la phyag 'tshal bstod702
703
byin brlabs zer ba'i nus mthu704 can

683
NP: kyi
684
NP: cing
685
SGB: kyi
686
SGB: bsgrub; NP: bsgrubs
687
Unclear in GT; SGB, NP: bas
688
SGB: missing ‘di
689
NP: byar med
690
SGB: na
691
SGB: missing ‘di; NP: par
692
NP: tsam
693
SGB, NP: par
694
NP: tsam
695
SGB, NP: mun
696
SGB: khri gdugs
697
SGB: rnams
698
SGB: dangs; NP: yal
699
SGB, NP: ‘di tshig dang don du
700
NP: dpong
701
SGB: missing kyi
702
SGB: lo

146
'khor 'das zil gyis705 gnon nus pa706
shes pa 'gyur la phyag 'tshal bstod707

gdams ngag708 zer ba'i gnad709 po che

gzung 'dzin rtsa ba gcod nus pa
nyams myong 'bar710 la phyag 'tshal bstod711

lar thams cad log712 pa'i byin brlabs kyi713

rnal 'byor skyid du 'jud714 pa yin715
rin716 po che la phyag 'tshal bstod717

song 32 GT: [F.23.a]; NP: [F.38a]

yang ldum bu gtso bor ston pa’i sgom chen kha khyer mang du ‘dug pa rnams la mgur ‘di
gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bka' rgyud718 rtsod pa med pa dang gcig

grub thob rgyud719 med pa dang gnyid
bla mar gran720 zla bral721 ba dang sum
'di gsum bka' rgyud kyi gdeng tshad yin
gdeng722 dang ldan nam skal ldan kun
khyed zog po'i khrim gyis slus723 par mchi'o

703
SGB, NP: Insert verse: gdam ngag zer ba’i gnad po che/ ye shes dngos su ‘char nus pa’i/ ngo mtshar can la
phyag ‘tshal bstod//
704
SGB: pa
705
NP: gyis
706
NP: pa’i
707
SGB: lo
708
SGB, NP: sgom pa
709
NP: gal
710
SGB: can; NP: ‘char
711
SGB: lo
712
SGB, NP: ‘dus
713
NP: kyis
714
SGB, NP: ‘jug
715
SGB: ‘jug ‘jug pa
716
SGB, NP: drin
717
SGB: lo
718
NP: insert ‘di
719
NP: rgyun
720
NP: ‘dren
721
NP: med
722
NP: gdengs de
723
NP: bslu

147
thabs lam dka' tshegs724 med pa dang gcig
gdams ngag725 zab mo'i ngo sprod dang gnyis
gnas lugs phyag rgya chen po dang gsum
de gsum gdams ngag kyi gdeng tshad yin
gdeng de dang ldan nam skal726 kun
khyed tha snyad tshig727 phyir 'brengs par mchi'o

chos nyid mngon du gyur ba728 dang gcig

rang gi rig pa'i ye shes dang gnyis
don smra bsam brjod du med pa dang gsum
'di gsum lta ba'i gdeng tshad yin
gdeng dang ldan nam X729
khyed kha lta730 rkyang bar shor bar 'chi'o

sems 'od gsal dri ma med pa dang gcig

nyams bde stong ngos gzung731 med pa dang gnyis
don gnyug ma 'bral732 ba med pa dang gsum
'di gsum sgoms733 ba’i gdeng tshad yin
gdeng dang ldan nam X
khyed734 zhi gnas ltangs735 por shor bar mchi'o

gol sgrib736 pa brdar737 sha chod pa dang gcig

'dzin pa'i btong738 phur thon739 pa dang gnyis
zhen pa nang nas log ba dang gsum
'di gsum sbyod ba'i gdeng tshad yin
gdeng de dang ldan nam X
khyed tho cho'i spyod par shor bar mchi'o

sems nyid ye sangs rgyas pa dang gcig

rtogs pa mngon du gyur pa dang gnyis
yon tan shugs las 'byung ba dang gsum
'di gsum 'bras bu'i gdeng tshad yin

724
NP: tshogs
725
NP: brda’ dbang
726
NP: insert ldan
727
NP: tshigs
728
NP: ‘gyur ba med pa
729
NP: this line is completed in each verse
730
NP: tshig
731
NP: bzungs
732
NP: ‘brel
733
Reading NP; GT: bsgroms
734
NP: sgom
735
NP: lteng
736
NP: sgrub
737
Reading NP; GT: dang
738
NP: rtod
739
NP: theng

148
gdeng de dang ldan nam X
khyed yid740 smon gyi lam du lus par741 mchi'o

bla ma'i742 bka' bzhin byad ba743 dang gcig

ci byed chos dang btun744 pa dang gnyis
rang745 sems mkha' ltar dag pa dang gsum
'di gsum dam746 tshig gi gdeng tshad yin
gdeng de dang ldan nam X
khyed g.yo sgyu'i khong sran747 zhugs par mchi'o
748
dmigs gtad749 med par 'khyams pa dang gcig
skyid sdug thad kar750 sbyod751 pa dang gnyis
gar752 byung grogs su 'khyer ba dang gsum
'di gsum snying rus kyi gdeng tshad yin
gdeng X
khyed skyid 'dod kyi rdzong la zhen753 par mchi'o

zhen med ldum754 bu sbyod755 pa dang gcig

brdzun756 g.yo sgyu med pa'i sbyod 'gros dang gnyis
chog shes 'phral phyir byed757 pa dang gsum
'di gsum 'tsho ba'i gdeng tshad yin
gdeng X
khyed log 'tsho'i khram la zhugs pa mchi'o

nyal sa skyo758 med kyi mkhar759 dang gcig

skyo rogs dangs760 ma'i sems snyid761 dang gnyis
skyo sangs762 dran pa'i rol mo dang gsum

740
NP: missing yid
741
Reading NP; GT: las pa
742
NP: missing bla ma’i
743
NP: insert pa’i mos gus
744
NP: bstun
745
Reading NP; GT: rung
746
NP: dbang
747
NP: skran
748
NP: insert bdag
749
NP: pa
750
NP: dkar
751
NP: gcod
752
NP: gang
753
NP: sbyor bas bcing
754
NP: kyi ldom
755
NP: byed
756
NP: rdzun
757
NP: ‘phral tshod
758
NP: skye
759
NP: insert po
760
NP: sru dang
761
NP: shes pa

149
'di gsum skyo rogs kyi gdeng tshad yin
gdeng de dang ldan nam skal ldan kun
khyed 'jig rten gyi grogs763 kyis slus par764 mchi'o

Song 36 GT: [F.24.b]765

yang de dus jo gdan tshul ‘chos mkhan ‘gas chos ‘brel cig mdzod zer byung ba la mgur ‘di
gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

dur smin rgyal mtshan mi gtog ste

rnal 'byor ba yi cha lugs 'di
he ru ka yi brtul shugs yin
skye bo yin snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

'dul ba'i tshangs spyod mi gdog ste

btsun mo 'khor du bsdung pa 'di
rdo rje 'chang gi tshangs spyod yin
khyim pa yin snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

dka' thub sdom pa mi gdog ste

za su zhim dgu za ba 'di
lus rgyal ba 'di dkyil 'khor mchod pa yin
zhim lto che bar mi dgongs 'tshal

gtsang ma'i sgom grwa mi gdog ste

'khor gang na dan nggu skyong ba 'di
snying rje 'gro don byed pa yin
lang long yin snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

dge sbyor rtsol sgrub mi nus te

gnyid nyin mtshan med par nyal ba 'di
ku su lu yi sbyong pa yin
gnyid sgrib pa yin snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

nga rgyal bcol chung ma bgyis par

kha nas glu chung len ba 'di
rje gong ma rnams kyis spyod 'gros yin

762
NP: insert su
763
NP: khe drag
764
NP: bslus pa
765
I could not find any other witnesses for this song

150
Ar por 'dug snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

gnas cig du dge sbyor mi nus te

phyogs med ri khrod 'grim pa 'di
gzhan don du ro snyoms byed pa yin
rnyed pa tshol bar mi dgongs 'tshal

phyogs med thos pa ma byad te

bla ma'i byin brlabs gdams ngag gis
rgyud sde 'ga' yi dgongs pa brdol
rang dgar 'chad snyam mi dgongs 'tshal

Song 40 GT: [F.27.b]; NP: [F.47.b]

de nas da’i dgun ‘ol rme sding su bzhugs dus/ nya ma dad pa skyes ba la dgun kyi nyi thung la
dpe blangs nas mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

nyams myong dbyangs su len tsa766 na

res 'ga' btud de btud de len

btud de btud de mi len767 du
tshe long med dgun kha'i nyi ma 'dra768
'chi bdag bdud dang phrad tsa na769
chos la phyi bshol btab770 long med
mos gus bskyed cig skal ldan kun
de phyir btud de btud de len

res 'ga' na re na re len

na re na re mi len771 tu
bla med byang chub sgrub pa la
lo re lo gnyis ma lags par
sang ma rgyas bar du sgrub kyang 'chal772
dkyus bzhugs773 bsrings cig skal ldan kun
de phyir na re na re len

766
NP: tsam
767
NP: blang
768
NP this line reads tshe dgun kha’i nyi thung ‘dra ba la
769
NP: this line is missing
770
NP: gdab
771
NP: blang
772
NP: ‘tshal
773
NP: zhugs

151
res 'ga' 'o dod774 dbyangs su len
775
skal med rna ba brag las sra
dam pa776 chos nyid kyi sgra mi thos
de phyir 'o dod777 dbyangs su len

res 'ga' gsang gin778 gsang gin779 len

gsang gin780 gsang gin781 mi len782 du
rgyud la rtogs783 pa shar tsha na
nyams myong dbyangs su len pa de
skal med rnams kyi784 thos su phangs785
de phyir gsang gin786 gsang gin787 len

res 'ga' yi mug dbyangs su len788

789
bla ma bzang ste bdag rang ngan
dad pa yod de snying rus med790
pha rjes sleb pa'i dus mi gda'791
de phyir yi mug dbyangs su len

res 'ga' rbad khams dbyangs su len

rbad khams dbyangs su mi len du792
'khor ba ye nas myang 'das yin793
rnam rtogs ye nas chos sku yin (mahamudra terminology)
sems nyid ye nas sangs rgyas yin
sa dang lam gyi dgos pa med
de phyir rbad khams dbyangs su len

res 'ga' rgyu 'bras dbyangs su len

rgyu 'bras dbyangs su mi gleng794 du

774
Reading NP; GT: ‘od do
775
NP: insert one line: ‘od do dbyangs su mi blang du
776
NP: pa’i
777
Reading NP; GT: ‘od do
778
NP: kyi
779
NP: kyi
780
NP: kyi
781
NP: kyi
782
NP: blang
783
Reading NP; GT: rtags
784
NP: rna bar
785
NP: ‘phangs
786
NP: kyis
787
NP: kyis
788
NP: insert one line: yi mug dbyangs su mi len su
789
NP: insert pha
790
NP: insert one line gdams ngag yod de nyams len med
791
NP: mchis
792
NP: rgyu
793
NP: mya ngan ‘das
794
NP: len

152
skye ba med pa'i don rtogs kyang
las rgyu 'bras khyad du mi bsod795 'tshal
rgyu 'bras khyad du bsad796 ba na
ngan song gYang la797 lhung nyen798 yod
de phyir rgyu 'bras dbyangs su len

res 'ga' nga rgyal dbyangs su len

nga rgyal dbyangs su mi blang du
bka' rgyud rtsod pa med pa la
'dran zla med pa'i gdam ngag zhus799
thug sar btugs800 pas sgro 'dogs chod
801
the tshom bral802 ba'i mi re skyid
de phyir nga rgyal dbyangs su len

Song 42 GT: [F.29.b]; NP: [F.27.a]

khyad par dpyid po zhig spong dag rgya chen cig mdzad pas/ ‘khor rnams kyis byung tshad la
zan mi sbyin par ‘tshal/ nam zla gnag pas zag rkun yong lags zhus pas/ rin po che’i zhal nas rnal
‘byor pa bya ba yod na spyod pa yin/ med na sprang du ‘gro ba yin rnal ‘byor pa yin min ‘dis
shan ‘byed pa yin gsung nas mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bdag803 zang zing gi nor dang phrad804 lags kyang

chags zhen805 spangs pa'i806 rnal 'byor la807
nor rdzas sems kyi tsher ma808 yin
sog809 'jog byed na rnal 'byor min

'tso ba'i yo byad zad lags kyang

ldom bu byed pa'i rnal 'byor la
brgyags810 chad skya rgyal gyis811 sna 'dren yin

795
NP: gsad
796
NP: gsad
797
NP: gsum du
798
NP: nyes
799
NP: this line is slightly different: gdam ngag ‘gran zla med pa ‘byung
800
NP: par gtugs
801
NP: insert blo
802
NP: med
803
NP: missig bdag
804
NP: ‘phrad
805
NP: zhan
806
NP: la
807
NP: pa
808
NP: ‘tsher ba
809
NP: bsog

153
brgyags kyid kyi dogs812 na rnal 'byor min

sdang813 ba'i dgra dang phrad814 lags kyang

byams pa sgom pa'i rnal 'byor la
dgra sdang drin can815 gyi ma rgan yin
zhe sdang816 byed na rnal 'byor min

byams pa'i gnyen dang phrad817 lags kyang

mnyam nyid sgom pa'i rnal 'byor la
nye gdung818 gnas skabs kyi 'brel ba yin
gdung sems byed na rnal 'byor min

stong phrag brgyad bcu'i bgegs 'dus kyang

stong nyid sgom pa'i rnal 'byor la
bar chad dge sbyor gyi gsal 'debs yin
rim gro byed na sgom chen min

bzhi brgya rtsa bzhi'i nad 'dus kyang

ro snyoms byed pa'i rnal 'byor la
na tsha byung na slob dpon yin
sman pa 'gugs819 pa'i rnal 'byor min

rdo rje 'chang chen byon lags kyang

sgro 'dogs chod pa'i rnal 'byor la
gzugs sku sems kyi rnam 'phrul yin
zhu rgyu byung na rnal 'byor min

'chi bdag bdud dang phrad820 lags kyang

sems821 nyid rtogs pa'i rnal 'byor la
'chi ba rnam rtog yal ba yin
shi822 yis dogs823 na rnal 'byor min

shan 'byed brgyad kyi dbyangs chung 'di

sgrags kyi824 yang rdzong shel gyis brag phug du

810
NP: rgyags
811
Reading NP; GT: gyi
812
NP: rgyag chad gyi dgo
813
NP: sdong
814
NP: ‘phrad
815
NP: chen
816
NP: sdong
817
NP: ‘phrad
818
NP: drung
819
NP: bkug
820
NP: ‘phrad
821
NP: stong
822
Reading NP; GT: sha
823
NP: dog

154
rje825 bla ma rnams kyi byin brlabs kyis
sems la shar nas826 blangs ba lags827

Song 45 GT: [F.31.a]; NP: [F.25.a]

yang skabs cig tu me sgom na re/ bdag ldum bu la ‘gro bas ldum bu byed lugs kyi mgur cig zhu
zhus pa’i lan du mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

khyed na 'dir ldum828 bu byed pa na829

'di bzhin mdzod dang830 me sgom pa
sdom gsum831 gyi chos gos phrag par832 khol
phyag g.yas su833 thabs kyi mkhar834 bsil thogs835
gYon836 du shes rab kyi lhung zed837 bzung838
'khor 'das gnyis la ldum839 bu mdzod
'khor ba rgya mtsho lta bu yi
gting mtha' med pa'i grong khyer du
glang chen lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas840
nyams841 nga med pa'i ldum842 bu mdzod
'khor ba 'dam rdzab lta bu yi
mi gtsang ljan ljin grong khyer du843
pad ma lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas844
gos pa med pa'i ldum845 bu mdzod
'khor ba btsan dug lta bu yi

824
NP: missing sgrags kyi
825
NP: missing rje
826
NP: na
827
NP: yin
828
SGB: rnams ldom (missing ‘dir); NP: nan ltar ldom
829
SGB: la
830
SGB, NP: cig
831
SGB ldom bu
832
SGB, NP: la
833
SGB: na
834
SGB: ‘khar
835
NP: sil bsnams
836
SGB: yon
837
SGB, NP: bzed
838
SGB: thogs; NP: thog
839
SGB, NP: ldom
840
SGB, NP: pa
841
SGB: nyam
842
SGB, NP: ldom
843
NP: na
844
SGB, NP: pa
845
SGB, NP: ldom

155
sdug bsngal 'byin pa'i grong khyer du
rma bya lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas846
dug847 bdud rtsir bsgyur ba'i ldom bu mdzod
'khor ba dur khrod lta bu yi
'jigs su rung ba'i grong khyer du
lce848 spyang lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas849
'jigs pa med pa'i ldum850 bu mdzod
'dod yon me tog lta bu yi
yid du 'ong ba'i grong khyer du
bung ba lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas851
zhen pa med pa'i ldum852 bu mdzod
chos dbyings nam mkha lta bu yis853
mtha' dbus med pa'i grong khyer du
rgod po lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas854
rtsol sgrub bral855 ba'i ldum856 bu mdzod
chos nyid ri bo lta bu yi
'gyur ba med pa'i grong khyer du
seng ge lta bu'i rnal 'byor pas857
re dogs bral858 ba'i ldum859 bu mdzod

Song 50 GT: [F.33.a]; NP:[F.29.a]

tsogs pas bsus te rten gsum dang mjal dus bzhengs te thugs khar thal mo sbyar nas rang gi spyod
‘gros la dpags pa’i mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

thams cad cig860 du 'dus861 ba'i sku

dpal ldan bla ma rin862 chen la

846
SGB, NP: pa
847
NP: missing dug
848
NP: ce
849
SGB, NP: pa
850
SGB, NP: ldom
851
SGB, NP: pa
852
SGB, NP: ldom
853
SGB, NP: yi
854
SGB, NP: pa
855
SGB: ‘bral; NP: med
856
SGB, NP: ldom
857
SGB, NP: pa
858
SGB, NP: med
859
SGB, NP: ldom
860
NP: gcig
861
NP: mus
862
NP: insert po

156
gnyis med ngang nas863 phyag btsal864 nas
rnal 'byor rdo rje'i glu cig len

sangs rgyas sems la865 snyed866 lags pas

phyi rol rten la phyags mi 'tshal
'gro ba'i log867 rtog bsal bya'i868 phyir
phyag gi btsal thabs ngo mtshar che

tshogs chen869 sems la rdzogs lags pas

'dus byas phyi rol tshogs mi sogs870
'gro ba'i dgos 'dod bskyang ba'i871 phyir
tshogs gnyis spel thabs ngo mtshar che

rang sems spros dang bral lags pas

bcos ma'i bskyed rim872 nga mi sgom
gdul bya873 'gro ba 'dul ba'i phyir
gzugs sku'i874 bstan thabs ngo mtshar che

rdo rje'i bzlas pa brtan lags pas

phyi rol bzlas pa875 nga mi byed
gzhan don las tshogs sgrub pa'i phyir
gsang sngags bzlas thabs ngo mtshar che

mchog gi dkyil 'khor brtan lags pas

thig ring876 tshon gyi las mi byed
byis pa skye bo bzhug877 pa'i phyir
dkyil 'khor bzhengs878 thabs ngo mtshar che

cir879 snang phyag rgyar shar880 lags pas

phyag rgya gar gyi las mi byed
'gro ba de yis881 'dul ba las882
863
NP: du
864
NP: ‘thal
865
NP: las
866
NP: rnyed
867
NP: don
868
NP: ba’i
869
NP: rang gi
870
Reading NP; GT: sol
871
NP: sgrub sa’i
872
NP: rims
873
NP: bya’i
874
NP: sku
875
NP: brjod
876
NP: dang
877
NP: gzhug
878
NP: bzhings
879
NP: ci
880
NP: rgya shes

157
phyag rgya gar thabs883 ngo mtshar che

brjod884 du med pa'i don rtogs pas

tha snyad bshad pa885 nga mi byed
de nyid gzhan la bstan pa'i phyir
gdams ngag bstan thabs ngo tshar che

mtshan ma'i bud shing zad lags pas886

sbyin sreg887 thabs888 kyi las mi byed
zhi889 sogs dngos grub 'dod pa la
dgang890 blugs 'bul891 thabs ngo mtshar che

don gnyis ston pa rdo rje'i tshig

ngo mtshar brgyad kyi dbyangs chung 'di
892
sprang po bdag gi spyod 'gros893 lags

Song 60 GT: [F.37.b]; NP:[F.47.a]

de nas gsung rabs rnams phag mo grur ‘bul ba la skyel du byon pas/ lam ka bsam yas kyi ‘gron
khang du zhag bzhugs mdzad pa’i nub mo mnal dang ‘od gsal ‘dres pa’i ngang la/ bud med
sngon po cig byung ste po ti rnams mgo thog du bzhag nas boddbang sbyin lung rnams nod/ da
ni khyod kyis rgyud sde rnams la rtsom bshad gyis dang mi shes pa mi yong gis gsung ngo/
khyed su yin zhus pas/ nga dbyings kyi yum chen mo yin gsung nas ‘ja’ ltar yal song/ gnas de
kar zhag shas bzhugs nas po ti rnams la gzigs rtog mdzad pas thams cad thugs su chud cing
mkhyen nas/ po ti rnams phag mo grur phul/ slar log ste sna phur bzhugs dus rgyud sde rnams la
yig sna mang du mdzad pas/ mnyan ma myong bar bshad rtsom byed pa zer sgro skur ‘debs pa la
bzod par gsol ba’i mgur ‘di gsungs so//

na mo ratna gu ru

sprang po bla ma'i bka' drin gyis

zab mo'i rgyud la nang894 byan tshud

881
NP: de’i
882
NP: la
883
NP: stab
884
NP: rjod
885
NP: nyan bshad
886
NP: kyang
887
NP: srigs
888
NP: thab
889
NP: zhe
890
NP: dgongs
891
NP: dpul
892
NP: Insert one line: rnal ‘byor ‘tshogs na len pa yin
893
NP: pa
894
NP: rang

158
gus ldan slob mas bskul gyur nas
ma nor tshig895 don gsal bar bshad

bya phran khyung gi rjes snyog ltar896

rnal 'byor dbang phyug chen po yis897
lad mo sprang pos bzlos pa 'di
mi rigs snyam na898 bzod par gsol

gyo sgyu rdzun zog899 khram ma shes900

901
gzhan la zhal mar902 ma gYar bar903
drang904 por bshad pas905 blor906 ma shong
rang bzo907 snyam na bzod par gsol

byin brlabs don rgyud ma chad pas908

rje sangs rgyas dngos kyi909 byin brlabs kyis910
zab mo'i tshig don srol ba de911
mkhas drags912 snyam na bzod par gsol

rang bzo’i bshad pa ma lags te913

rgyud nyid914 rgyud kyis915 legs bcings te916
917
rdo rje 'chang gis918 lugs su bshad
mtshar drags919 snyam na bzod par gsol

'brel med don la ma sbyar bar

rgyud nyid mngon rtogs lam du blangs
895
NP: tshigs
896
NP: zlos bzhin
897
NP: yi
898
NP: khyed ston rnams la
899
NP: NP zog is missing
900
NP: pas
901
NP: tshig rgyud
902
NP: missing mar
903
NP: bar missing
904
Reading NP; GT: dang
905
NP: smras pa’i
906
NP: blo
907
NP: drang grags so
908
NP: ngo mtshar can
909
NP: rnams kyis
910
NP: pas
911
NP: bshad pa phyin ci ma logs pas
912
NP: insert so
913
From NP; This line is missing in GT
914
NP: kyi
915
NP: nyid
916
NP: nas
917
GT insert a line here: dbang po rgyud sde rnams la bcol
918
NP: gi
919
NP: insert so

159
ma 'brel rgyud nyid ji bzhin bshad
'thad drags snyam na bzod par gzol

bdag 'dra'i blo dman920 'ga' tsam gyis

rgyud kyi921 don922 rtogs923 bya ba'i phyir
cung zad tshig gis rab gsal bris924
sla925 drags snyam na bzod par gsol

bla ma yid dam mkha' 'gros'i tshogs

bdag gi snying du zhugs lags pas
rang dbang med pa'i slab bcol926 shor
dpe med927 snyam na bzod par gsol

sgom pa stor928 nas tha snyad brdol929

nyams myong stor nas shes rab brdol930
rang 'dod stor nas phan sems skyes931
bdud kyi khyer ba ma lags sam
sprang po bdud kyis932 khyer lags kyang
chos kyi spyan dang mi ldan par933
gang zag blo934 tshod mi shes pas935
don med sdig pa mi bsag 'tshal

bdag la rten nas gang zag 'ga'

ngan song gyang la lhung dogs yod
sna phu chos lung ri khrod du
bzod gsol dbyangs su blangs pa lags

ces pa’i mgur bzhes nas rtsom ‘phro bcado//

920
NP: rmang pa
921
NP: sde’i
922
NP: insert nyid
923
From NP; GT: rtags
924
this line in NP: shin tu gsal bar phye nas bshad
925
NP: gsal
926
NP: gdams pa shor
927
NP: mi rigs
928
NP: stong
929
NP: sdol
930
NP: rdol
931
this line in NP: gsang gtam smras pas yongs su grags
932
NP: kyi
933
NP: na
934
NP: insert yis
935
NP: pas missing

160
song 65 GT:[F.39.a]936

yang dge ‘dun byang mdo pas sleu chung du spyan drangs te phug pa dga’ ldan phul nas dgon pa
mdzad pa’i dusu mgur ‘di ni gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

dal 'byor mi lus 'di yi dka' lugs la

mi tshe stong log byed pa col re chung
'chi khar nyams len med pa tsho ya re cha
shi nas 'khor ba rang khyams pa tsho snying re rje

mtshan ldan bla ma 'di yi dka' lugs la

mdzad spyod skyon la rtog pa tsho bcol re chung
dred po gom 'dris khyer ba tsho ‘o re rgyal
sgo gsum yan par shor ba tsho snying re rje

dam pa'i lha chos 'di yi dka' lugs la

gcang po don med phyed pa tsho col re chung
chos pa'i ming gis slus pa tsho ya re cha
slu brid bdud kyis khyer ba tsho snying re rje

ri khrod phyogs med 'grims pa'i dka' lugs la

rang dbang rang la med pa tsho ya re cha
dge sbyor rkyen khar shor ba tsho snying re rje

gnyug ma ‘bral med ‘di yi dka’ lugs la

’gyu ba rang ngo ma shes col re chung
’khrul pa yid phyir ’breng ba tsho ya re cha
du kha rgyan du mthong ba tsho snying re rje

gsang sngags thabs lam 'di yi zab lugs la

ras gos rkyang re mi gyon ba tsho col re chung
rten 'brel gnad du ma song ba tsho ya re cha
srog rtsol yan par shor ba tsho snying re rje

yengs med gcig pur sdod ba'i dka' lugs la

bzar med khyim thab byed tsho col re chung
phrug gu lci bas slog byed pa tsho ya re cha
nyon mongs rang dgar shor ba tsho snying re rje

dbyangs chung snying rje bdun ma yin

sems la zhog la nyam su long

936
I could not find alternate versions for Song 65

161
gnad ka shin du che bar yong

song 78 GT: [F.45.b]; NP: [F.64.a]

spang gong na bzhugs dus mis sgom gyis rnam thar cig gsung du gsol zhus pa la mgur ‘di
gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

bdag rang phyis937 kyi rnal 'byor 'di

skyes ba938 gtsang gi phyogs su skyes
lo brgyad dgu lon939 nas yig rtsis bslabs
bcu bdun lon nas chos sgor zhugs
bla ma 'ga'i spyan mngar940 phyin
dbang byin brlabs rdzogs941 pa 'ga' re zhus
gzhung gdams par bcas pa942 'ga' re mnyan
rje de kun943 bka' drin che mod kyi944
des kyang sgro 'dogs ma chod nas

gdams pa gang che'i rtsad945 bcad pas

sngags kyi grwa sa phal che na
rje ras chung pa'i thugs kyi sras946
947
rje lo gtsang ra gsum zhabs la btugs948
snyen949 bkur950 zhabs tog mi gdog ste
gus ba'i stobs kyi951 ci gsung mnyan
brtse ba'i thugs kyi bu bzhin bskyangs952
dbang gdams pa953 bcas pa rdzogs par zhus
lo brgyad dgu tsam du nan tan byas954
dus de tsa na955 nga yi bsam pa la
937
NP: mchis
938
NP: sa
939
NP: tsam
940
NP: sngar
941
NP: gdam ngag bcas
942
NP: pa’ang
943
NP: yang
944
NP: de
945
NP: brtsad
946
NP: brgyud pa ‘di che’o zer
947
NP: insert two lines: brgyud pa’i gdams pas gdung lags nas/gnyal dang lo ro’i phyogs su byon
948
NP: rtsa gsum gyi spyan sngar gtugs
949
NP: bsnyen
950
NP: dang
951
NP: kyis
952
NP: skyongs
953
NP: ngag
954
NP: bgyis

162
'dzam gling bskor956 yang gdams pa957 de
rang che'o snyam pa'i nga rgyal skyes958
gdams pa zab dgu chod lags kyang
sems kyi sgro 'dogs ma chod nas

dpal phag mo gru'i nags khrod du

rje rin po che'i spyan mngar959 phyin
bdag sleb pa'i gdong la zhal yang mjal
gdul bya'i sras su gzigs pa 'dra
sku mthong ba tsam gyi shes pa 'gyur
las 'brel bag chags sad pa 'dra
gsung thos pa tsam gyi ba spu gYos960
thugs rje'i byin brlabs zhugs pa 'dra
chos 'brel zhus pas961 thugs yid 'dres
yon tan962 dgos su thob pa963 'dra
tshig lhag pa'i964 bstan rgyu mi gdog965 ste
ji zhig ltar la rang gi966 sems
skye ba med par967 chos skur rtogs
chos nyid mngon du byas pa 'dra

yun ring po tsam yang ma rten968 te

bla ma mched grogs969 sangs rgyas su
mthong ba'i mos gus de nas skyes
bdag gus pas snang ba 'gyur ba 'dra

dpe yig ge970 cig kyang ma zhus te

rgyal ba'i bstan pa rab 'byam la971
shes pa'i snang ba de nas thob
shes rab kyi spyan cig snang972 ba 'dra

dbang cho ga'i rim pa ma zhus973 te

955
NP: tsam
956
NP: skor
957
NP: ngag
958
NP: This line is split into two: nga rang che’o snyams pa yi/mngon pa’i nga rgyal rloms sems skyes
959
NP: sngar
960
NP: longs
961
NP: pa’i
962
NP: yang nan tan
963
NP: mi to
964
NP: ma
965
NP: gda’
966
NP: gis
967
NP: pa’i
968
NP: bsten
969
NP: mchog la
970
NP: des yi ge
971
NP: ‘byams pas
972
NP: gnang

163
dus gsum rgyal ba'i dgongs pa la
rin chen974 dbang mchog de ru thob
byin brlabs kyi975 dbang bskur bgyis ba 'dra

dam tshig sdom pa ma skyar976 te

nyes ltung la sogs dri ma kun
bshags kyang977 ma dgos dag nas thal
zag med978 dbyings su phyin pa 'dra

yun ring ba979 tsam yang ma sgoms te

rtogs pa'i nyams myong tshig du phul
lung bstan rjes su gnang980 ba thob
mdun981 ma phul du phyin pa 'dra

phyin chad sgom rgyu mi gdog982 ste

rje bla ma dran pa'i mos gus kyis
bdag gzhan dgos 'dod 'grub par byung
yid bzhin nor bu rnyed pa 'dra

lar983 bka' drin can la phyag 'tshal lo984

985
thugs rje can la phyag 'tshal lo986
987
byin rlabs can la phyag 'tshal lo988
da dung byin gyis brlab du gsol

Song 84 GT: [F.49.b]; NP: [F.24.b]

yang rdzong du bzhugs dus me sgom la ri khrod dgon gnas ‘dzin tshul dang thab skyong byed
tshul gyis mgur ‘di gsungso//

na mo ratna gu ru

973
NP: bgyis
974
NP: rigs pa’i
975
NP: kyi missing
976
NP: bskyar
977
NP: pa
978
NP: kyi
979
NP: po
980
NP: gnong
981
NP: ‘dun
982
NP: bdog
983
NP: rje
984
NP: bstod
985
NP: insert rje
986
NP: bstod
987
NP: rje
988
NP: bstod

164
kye ho dgongs dang me sgom989 pa
nan tar990 ri khrod 'grim pa na
skye ba med pa'i lung stong du
'gyur ba med pa'i rnal 'byor nyol991

sems gdod nas dag pa'i mchod khang du

rtogs pa mngon 'gyur gyis992 phyags dar993 mdzod
lhun gyis grub pa'i mchod gnas la
gnyis su med pa'i mchod pa phul

lhan cig skyes pa'i mkha' 'gro la

nyams zag994 med995 tshogs kyi996 'khor lor997 bskor
rang bzhin gnyug ma'i mal998 sa ru
bde ba chen po'i dge sbyor mdzod999

sna tshogs snang ba'i nags khrod du

'dzin med rang grol skyo bsangs1000 mdzod
'dod yon lnga'i ri dags la
zhen pa med par ltad1001 mo ltos

de 'dra ba'i1002 ri khrod du

nan tar1003 thab kha1004 byed pa na1005
mnyam pa nyid kyi sa gzhi la
sku gsum lhun grub kyi1006 sgyed bu tshugs1007

rnam rtog sna tshogs kyi bud shing la

rang byung1008 ye shes kyi1009 me chen1010 sbor

989
NP: rnal ‘byor
990
NP: ltar
991
NP: brag phug bzung
992
Reading NP; GT: gyi
993
NP: phyag bdar
994
NP: insert pa
995
NP: pa’i
996
NP: missing kyi
997
NP: missing lor
998
NP: lam
999
NP: mdzad
1000
NP: sangs
1001
NP: ltan
1002
NP: ma’i
1003
NP: ltar
1004
NP: thabs ka
1005
NP: la
1006
NP: missing kyi
1007
Reading NP; GT: btsugs
1008
Reading NP; GT: sems
1009
NP: missing kyi

165
stong pa nyid kyi khog pa1011 ru
thabs1012 snying rje chen po'i g.yo skol1013 gyis

tshogs gnyis rdzogs pa'i chang1014 tshang gis

dmigs pa med pa'i mgron1015 la drongs1016
skal par1017 ldan pa'i gang zag la
chos sbyin chen po'i dga' ston gyis

nam1018 mkha' dang mnyam pa'i sems can la

smon lam snying rje'i bsam pas1019 khye
zag pa med pa'i longs spyod kyi1020
gang la gang 'dod sbyin par thong

de 'dra'i ri khrod 'grim spyod dam

de 'dra'i ri khrod 'grim spyod na
rje gong ma'i rjes su sleb pa yin
grub thob kyi brgyud pa zin pa yin

Last Words: (in writing) GT: [F.55.b]; SGB: [F.27.a]; BR: [F.21.b]; DD: [F.22.b]

bla ma 1021dang dkon mchog rin po che

yi dam mkha’ ‘gro1022 chos skyong rnams kyis1023
thugs dam bzhin du ‘di dag ‘grub1024 gyur cig
byin brlabs mchog gis ‘gro kun rgyal1025 gyur cig

’dus byas zhig ste rnam rtog yal1026 ba la

’chi ba zhes btags byas1027 pa’i sdug bsngal de
rnal ‘byor sems nyid ‘dus ma byas pa yin1028
1010
NP: bo
1011
NP: ma
1012
NP: missing thabs
1013
NP: bskol
1014
NP: phyags
1015
Reading NP; GT: 'gron
1016
Reading NP; GT: grongs
1017
Reading NP; GT: las dang
1018
NP: missing nam
1019
NP: pha ‘babs
1020
NP: gyis
1021
DD, BR: Insert rnams
1022
SGB: Insert dam can; BR: dam pa
1023
SGB: kyis missing; DD: bsrungs ma’i tshogs; BR: gis
1024
SGB, DD: bsrung; BR: srung
1025
DD: smin
1026
BR: ral
1027
SGB: grags byis; DD: bstan byis; BR: btags byams
1028
SGB, DD: yi; BR: yis

166
dbyings su gshegs pa bde ba chen po yin

bdag gi sems nyid rgyal ba’i thugs rdo rje

sems can kun gyi sems la dbyer med gnas
gang du1029 gshegs so ma snyam sems la ltos
sems kyi de nyid mthong1030 na1031 nga dang mjal

bdag gi lus ‘di1032 rgyal ba’i sku rdo rje

sems can kun gyi lus la dbyer med gnas
gshegs nas med do1033 ma snyam1034 lus1035 la ltos
lhan skyes rang bzhin rtogs1036 na nga dang mjal

bdag gi ngag nyid1037 rgyal ba’i gsung rdo rje

sgra rnams ma lus kun dang1038 dbyer med gnas
gsung gleng med do1039 ma snyam sgra kun1040 nyon
brjod med rang bzhin rtogs na nga dang mjal

nga ni sems can ma lus thams cad dang

skad cig tsam yang1041 ‘bral med khyab par gnas

gsol ba gang btab de la byin brlabs ‘byung

bsod nams gang bsags de la bde ba ster
gnyug mar gang gzhag1042 de yis de1043 nyid mthong1044
dam tshig gang bsrungs de la dngos grub ‘byung1045
phan sems gang che de la rgyal ba mnyes
snang ba gang dag1046 de yis zhing khams mthong
tshogs gnyis1047 gang1048 rdzogs de yis don gnyis ‘grub1049

1029
DD: nga ni
1030
SGB: nyid rang bzhin rtogs
1031
BR: nas
1032
Reading SGB; DD: lus nyid; BR: sku nyid; GT: sems nyid
1033
DD: nga nyid gshegs so
1034
BR: snyams na
1035
Reading SGB, DD, BR; GT: sems
1036
DD: rig ‘dzin mthong
1037
SGB: ‘di; BR: ni
1038
SGB: la
1039
DD: gling gling ler ro
1040
DD: rnams
1041
DD: dang
1042
SGB: bzhag
1043
DD: nga
1044
SGB: thob
1045
SGB: this line missing
1046
BR: missing dag
1047
DD: gcig
1048
BR: insert gis
1049
SGB: yis sangs rgyas thob; BR: sang rgya

167
bla ma’i rtogs pa thob nas tshul bzhin du
’bral med gnas pa de yis bla ma bsten1050
sgo gsum yan1051 par btang na1052 gus med par
rtag du bla ma rten1053 dang1054 so sor gnas

bdag kyang sngon tshe log par dad sel gyi

bstan1055 la1056 rab du sbyangs pa’i yon tan gyis
rgyags de chos smra’i dge slong1057 rnams gnyis la
’khrig pa’i skur1058 btab skye ba dpag med du
dmyal1059 sogs1060 sdug bsngal myong nas bstan ‘di la

smon lam dbang1061 gis rgyal ba’i spyan sngar phyin

bdag cag nyi shu yon tan ldan no zhes
grogs dang bcas pas1062 bka’ stsal1063 chu mar brlags1064
nyes pa1065 bshags1066 te sdom pa ma lus blangs1067

de tshe bdag1068 ming byang sems brtson ‘grus ‘od

lnga brgya1069 tha1070 mar sgrib pa kun zad de
’od dpag med pa’i zhing du nga1071 lung bstan1072

lhag pa’i bsam pa bskul1073 pa’i mdo mthong nas1074

sngon tshe dran pas yul nas1075 mchi ma shor

de nas bzung ste1076 skye ba ‘di bar du

1050
from SGB: GT: bstan; DD: sten; BR: brten
1051
BR: yal
1052
SGB: btan nas: DD: btang nas; BR: tang nas
1053
From DD, BR; GT: bsten
1054
SGB: skyang; BR: yang
1055
BR: brtan
1056
DD: pa
1057
DD: gang zag
1058
BR: bkur
1059
DD, BR: insert ba la
1060
SGB: ba’i
1061
SGB: stobs
1062
SGB: te; DD: la
1063
SGB: gsal
1064
SGB: mchi ma phyung; DD: ‘chi ma rlags; BR: mchi ma glags
1065
SGB: nye bar
1066
BR: gshegs
1067
DD: bzung
1068
SGB: nga
1069
BR: rgya
1070
BR: mtha’
1071
SGB, DD, BR: nga missing
1072
SGB, DD, BR: insert pa
1073
Reading SGB, DD, BR; GT: lhag bsam rnam par dag
1074
DD, BR: pas
1075
Reading SGB; DD: pas lus rnangs; BR: pas yus gnang; GT: pa’i yus brnangs

168
ngan song gsum du nam yang ma skyes te
cho1077 ris1078 dman zhing dbul po’i rigs su skyes
yul ngan rnams su sdug bsngal chos la sbyangs
yon tan ldan1079 zhing mkhas par gyur1080 kyang ni
rtsod med grags par nam yang ma gyur to

chos la dad1081 cing1082 chos la1083 mjal1084 gyur te

chos kyi spyan1085 thob chos kyi don shes kyang
chos smra’i skyes bu1086 shin du dben gyur cing1087
dam pa’i skyes bus bzung ba ‘ga’ re tsam1088

’dir gang1089 chos rje rin1090 chen bka’ drin gyis

mdo sde ma lus shes kyang1091 gzhan gyi sems
bsrung phyir ma bshad chos ‘ga’ brtsams nas bzhag
de phyir khyed kyang1092 gzhan sems bsrung bar byos1093
1094
sngon bsags sgrib pa skye ba ‘di yi1095 zad
dge ba ci byas ‘gro ba’i don du bsngos1096
smon lam rgya chen ‘gro ba’i don du1097 btab
’bad rtsol ci byas ‘gro ba’i don du1098 byas
’di nas bzung ste1099 ji srid ‘khor1100 ba’i bar
mkha’ myam ‘gro ba gang la1101 gang ‘dul ba’i
sprul pa sna tshogs shugs las byung ba yin1102

1076
SGB: nas
1077
BR: chog
1078
SGB, DD, BR: rigs
1079
SGB: mkhas
1080
SGB: insert lags
1081
From SGB, DD, BR; GT: btang
1082
SGB: nas
1083
SGB, DD: dang
1084
BR: ‘byal
1085
DD: rgyan
1086
SGB, DD: bus
1087
SGB: te; DD: to
1088
BR: rtsam
1089
SGB, DD, BR: yang
1090
DD: rig
1091
BR: mkhyen yang
1092
DD: dang
1093
BR: bgyis
1094
The next four lines are missing from BR, ending with don du byas
1095
SGB, DD: yis
1096
SGB: bsngo
1097
DD: la
1098
DD: la
1099
BR: nas
1100
SGB, DD: ‘tsho
1101
DD: missing la
1102
SGB: la byu byung ba yis; DD: yis; BR: las ‘byung pa’i

169
dgos ‘dod ma lus yid bzhin rdzogs par bskod1103
bdag gi1104 sems dang rgyal ba rnams kyi thugs
zag med dbyings su dbyer med ‘dres nas kyang
kun la khyab cing rgyun mi ‘chad pa yi
lhun gyis grub pa’i phrin las ‘byung1105 ba yin
kho bo1106 gdung zhing mos pa’i gang zag kun
zhe1107 ‘dod gyo sgyu’i1108 bsam pa kun spongs1109 la
rtag du gsol1110 ba thob cig rnal ‘byor1111 kun
dgos ‘dod yid bzhin ‘grub pa1112 bdag1113 rang shes

Abbreviations:

GT: Lha btsun Rinchen rNam rGyal. Grub thob gLing Ras kyi rNam mGur mThong ba
Copy Text Don ldan. Printed at brag dkar rta so. TBRC ref. W4CZ1043 Undated (16th
century). 61 ff.
NP gLing Ras pa Padma rdo rje. rJe Grub thob chen po'i bKa' 'bum las gSung mGur
gyi rim pa. In Gling chen Ras pa Padma rdo rje'i Bka' 'bum. Reproduced from a
collection of rare mss. from Go-'jo Nub Dgon, Khampa Gar Sungrab Nyamso
Gyunphel Parkhang, Tashijong (Palampur 1985), Vol.1 pp.49-226.
SGB Sangs rgyad 'bum? Grub chen gLing gi rNam Thar. In Rwa Lung dKar brGyud
gSer 'Phreng. Palampur, India: Sungrab Nyamso Gyunpel Parkhang, 1975-78. Vol.
1 pp. 347-404.
BR "Grub thob chen po gling chen ras pa pad+ma rdo rje'i rnam par thar pa (nya)." In
'Ba' ra bka' brgyud gser 'phreng chen mo. TBRC W19231. 1: 372 - 418. Dehradun:
Ngawang Gyaltsen and Ngawang Lungtok, 1970.
DD bDe chen rdo rje. "grub thob kyi rgyal po gling chen ras pa'i rnam par thar pa/ ." In
dKar brgyud gser 'phreng /. TBRC W23436. : 443 - 490. Palampur, H.P.: Sungrab
Nyamso Gyunphel Parkhang, Tibetan Craft Community, 1973.
RY The Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Culture (version 3.0)

TDCM Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo

1103
DD: skongs
1104
BR: gis
1105
DD: grub
1106
SGB, DD, BR: bos
1107
BR: zhen
1108
SGB, BR: rgyu’i; DD: rgyu
1109
DD: yongs
1110
DD: gsal
1111
SGB: ci skal ldan; DD, BR: gcig skal ldan
1112
SGB, BR: par
1113
SGB, DD, BR: nga

170
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