The path that is praised by the noble bodhisattvas,

And the entrance for all fortunate ones desiring liberation—

This, to the best of my ability, I shall now set forth.

 

2. You who are unattached to samsara’s pleasures,

And strive to make full use of the freedoms and advantages,

You who follow the path delighting all the buddhas,

Fortunate ones, listen well, with a clear and open mind.

 

3. Whilst lacking pure renunciation there is no way to pacify

The continual thirst for pleasure in the ocean of samsara,

And since all living beings are bound by their craving for existence,

You must begin by finding the determination to be free.

 

4. The freedoms and advantages are rare, and there’s no time to waste—

Reflect on this again and yet again, and dispel attachment to this life.

To dispel attachment to your future lives, contemplate repeatedly

The unfailing effects of karma and the sufferings of samsara.

 

5. When, through growing accustomed to thinking in this way,

Hope for the pleasures of samsara no longer arises even for an instant,

And throughout both day and night you long for liberation,

Then, at that time, true renunciation has been born.

 

6. Yet if this renunciation is not embraced

By the pure motivation of bodhichitta,

It will not become a cause for the perfect bliss of unsurpassed awakening,

So the wise should generate supreme bodhichitta.

 

7. Beings are swept along by the powerful current of the four rivers,[1]

Tightly bound by the chains of their karma, so difficult to undo,

Ensnared within the iron trap of their self-grasping,

And enshrouded in the thick darkness of ignorance.

 

8. Again and yet again, they are reborn in limitless samsara,

And constantly tormented by the three forms of suffering.[2]

This is the current condition of all your own past mothers—

Contemplate their plight and generate supreme bodhichitta.

 

9. If you lack the wisdom that realizes the nature of things,

Although you might grow accustomed to renunciation and bodhichitta,

You will be incapable of cutting through conditioned existence at its root,

Exert yourself, therefore, in the methods for realizing interdependence.

 

10. Whoever sees that cause and effect operate infallibly

For all the phenomena of samsara and nirvana,

And for whom any objects of conceptual focus have subsided,

Has set out upon the path delighting all the buddhas.

 

11. The knowledge that appearances arise unfailingly in dependence,

And the knowledge that they are empty and beyond all assertions—

As long as these two appear to you as separate,

There can be no realization of the Buddha’s wisdom.

 

12. Yet when they arise at once, not each in turn but both together,

Then through merely seeing unfailing dependent origination

Certainty is born, and all modes of misapprehension fall apart—

That is when discernment of the view has reached perfection.

 

13. When you know that appearances dispel the extreme of existence,

While the extreme of nothingness is eliminated by emptiness,[3]

And you also come to know how emptiness arises as cause and effect,

Then you will be immune to any view entailing clinging to extremes.

 

14. When, in this way, you have correctly understood yourself

The key points of the three principal aspects of the path,

Withdraw to solitude, dear son, strengthen your diligence,

And swiftly accomplish the ultimate and lasting aim.

 

This advice was given by the bhikshu of extensive learning, Lobzang Drakpé Pal, to Tsakho Önpo Ngawang Drakpa.

 

 

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2006

---

click here to download Tibetan text