by
Jangkya Rölpe Dorje
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For Tibetan: Ode of Delight upon Recognizing the Mother
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E MA HO
O Lama, how to repay your kindness for showing me
The naked reality of emptiness clothed in profound
dependent origination! How marvelous that is!
Please stay unceasingly in the center of my heart.
I shall sing a few verses
About what has suddenly inspired my mind.
It seems that, like a small crazed child who’s lost
His darling mother for so long,
I’m about to know that ancient one
– lost through lack of recognition only–
Who was kindly with me all the while.
Since Sir Dependent Origination
Reveals her in a hidden manner,
I’m prone to think, “That’s she! That’s she!
Yet upon closer examination I wonder,
“Is that really she at all!”
All that apprehends and is apprehended
Are the mere vicissitudes of Mother’s smiling face;
Birth, death, and transmigration,
False terms apparent in her description.
Infallible Mother, while you elude me deluded,
I’ll put all hope of refuge in Sir Dependent Origination.
Truly, dear old Mother, my hope of liberation lies only
In the kindness of your being singular in aspect,
For, if apprehended and apprehender
Were really dual as they appear,
Indeed, even the status of the Buddhas of the three times
Would be powerless to protect me.
However, since these diverse dependent changes are
Merely manifestations of my changeless mother,
For sure one can become liberated.
My mother’s ineffable and ultimately nowhere fixed,
She’s everywhere in disguise
As “over here” and “over there” reliant.
In fact, this is all that is to be understood.
When searching for my old Father he’s not to be found,
For instead of finding him I find my old Mother.
Why? Because one only finds old Father in Mother’s lap.
Thus, it’s said that I’m the protected child of these kind parents.
In the mirror of Sir Dependent Origination
Mother’s face is neither identical nor distinct,
As if she existed there without ultimate apprehension.
Crazy as I am, though, I never analyzed this in detail.
The legacy of Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti,
Strewn upon the winds,
Was retrieved in full through the deeds
Of Tsong Khapa-Mañjushrigarbha.
Thus, the difficult task of prolonged search
Has been curtailed and new hopes stirred
Of seeing the face of my old Mother
Who was right here with me all along.
There are some bright-minded ones among us nowadays
Who, being attached to terms such as
“Steadfast abidance” and “true establishment,”
Yet leave vibrant appearance right where it is.
Hence, it seems they’re looking for the horn
Of a hornless beast as the object of refutation.
Though giving endless explanations, in short,
They fail to unravel the salient points
And make no mention of vibrant appearance
On Mother’s unobstructed face.
I fear that old Mother meanwhile is likely to make her escape.
Although things do indeed exist, it’s not in this
Thorny incongruous way that they now appear,
For it seems our parents’ inseparable relationship
Is far more intimate and quite compatible for sure.
Though scholars of Vaibashika, Sautantrika, and Chittamatra,
And the three learned ones of the Svatantrika,
Ascribe all manner of terms to the object of negation – let’s see:
“It has a form like that of a white elephant”;
“It is matter with the grin of a lustrous tigress”;
“It’s a crazy brainless monkey”;
“It’s a full-grown bear steadfast in its non-duality,” and the like,
– Yet our old Mother evades them all.
Also, even though scholars of the Sakya, Nyingma,
Kagyu and Drugpa traditions
Make proclamations using all manner of terms such as:
“Self-cognition of the non-apprehended clear-emptiness,”
“Samantabhadra’s own face
Of essential purity and spontaneous presence,”
“The innate, uncontrived Mahamudra,” and
“Free from assertions of non-existence or existence,”
That’s all very well and good if these terms are aptly applied.
However, I wonder whether they’re not
Just putting a finger in their own nose!
There’s no need to get flustered, Vaibashikas and Sautrantikas,
You who propound the substantial existence of external objects,
Be happy and take delight!
All you Chittamatrins, though there’s no apperception,
Be happy and take delight, for there’s still a correct way
to measure and validly ascertain reality.
Eastern Svatantrika scholars, although things are not established
by their own characteristics,
You can relax and take delight in the variegated nature
of dependent arisings.
You who hold the instructions of the Lineage,
no need to have the slightest worry
For clarity of mind and emptiness are not a contradiction
but still supreme.
No need to cling to the good, you mystic Nyingma yogis,
For, though primordially pure, both good and bad
still conventionally apply.
You old sages weighted with realizations, no need to get excited,
For, through contrived meditation still the innate appears.
You rigid Kagyu Drukpa logicians, don’t get so nervous,
It’s still best to assert existence and non-existence
free from elaborations.
Well then, those of you who are little trained
in the scriptural system,
It’s not that I don’t have respect for you,
But maybe you just don’t know how to apply conventional terms.
Anyway, please forgive me if I’ve caused you any aggravation.
Though I’m no youth endowed with omniscience,
Still I’m devoted and constant in my scholarly endeavors
And quite skilled at navigating the intricate waters
of our forefathers’ scriptural system.
Just so do I hope to liberate others from all peril.
There’s no need to search outside,
for the searcher himself is what is sought.
Do not grasp at true nature, for it is a lie.
And don’t refute what is taken for false
for that is still conventionally true.
It’s best to rest in what is neither extreme
– of nihilism or eternalism.
Though I’ve no direct experience of seeing my Mother,
Through just the mere mention of her name
It’s as if I were meeting right here before me
My kind parents whom I’d lost for so long.
How extraordinary is the kindness
of Arya Nagarjuna and his spiritual sons!
How magnificent is the kindness
of Je Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa!
Dearest thoughtful Lama, I have nothing but gratitude
for your immense kindness!
Let me make an offering then of my meditation to the Mother
as a way to repay you.
Through the great feast of all these noble deeds
Gathered by this child of meager wisdom in the encounter with
His ultimately unborn and inexpressible dear old Mother,
May she lead all migrators to the state of eternal bliss.
E MA!
How marvelous!
AH OH!
I, Rölpe Dorje, dance out of sheer delight!
Hurray! Now let me beat the drum right here
As a display of my joy and offering of gratitude
to those Most Precious Jewels.
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Translated from the Tibetan by Vincent Montenegro
