Instructions for Chögyal

Instructions for Chögyal

by Dudjom Lingpa

Embodiment of all buddhas past, present, and future,
Glorious Samantabhadra, Lake-Born Vajra, care for me!

If you, a person with past aspirations and karmic connections,
Really want to accomplish some dharma, then
Think about how difficult it is to obtain the freedoms and advantages.
Hasten to make this life meaningful.
Don’t disregard impermanence and death;
Curtail all long-term plans.
Look at the countless lives you’ve had;
How difficult it is to encounter the sacred dharma.
This human life is fleeting as a dream.
Don’t fill it with actions and designs; focus on the dharma.
Don’t boast about a few years or months of practice, but
Keep practicing until the very end of your life.
To practice for as long as you live
Is the conduct of the best type of person.
If, without hypocrisy and without deceit,
You guard the vows and samayas, you’re the buddha’s heir.
To train in the precious view of emptiness
Without interruption is the practice.
When you let be without fabrication in construct-free rigpa,
The carefree state, you’re a vidyādhara.
To avoid modifying your behaviour for others
But hold your ground is to be a renunciant.
To avoid keeping company with others
But live in solitude is to have a mountain hermitage.
To draw a boundary against the eight worldly concerns
And remain in the intrinsic nature (dharmatā) is to be on retreat.
When you possess these seven qualities,
You’re a beneficiary of the buddhas past, present, and future.
You’re a holder of the sublime guru’s lineage.

Aho! Wherever you are, appearances are free and unconfined.
At all times, awareness is limpidly joyful.
Whoever you meet, your conduct is beautifully serene.
Whatever you do, it’s done carefully and blended with virtue.
These are the sacred quintessence of the instructions.
Mind is forever unfabricated, beyond concepts and extremes.
When you actualise this state, you’re realised.
Mind is primordially empty, naturally luminous and unsullied.
When you recognise this within yourself, you’re realised.
Mind’s true nature is primordially awakened.
When you actualise this state, you’re realised.
Mind is primordially liberated, the great purity and equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.
When you recognise this in its own place, you’re realised.
Mind is the great consummation of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.
When you see this for yourself, you’re realised.
Naturally present basic-space (dhātu), the bindu-kāya of great bliss,
Increasing, ripening, then reaching complete exhaustion, and
Finally liberated as the rainbow body into the youthful vase-body.

Hasten to attain liberation in this life!
This is what I, an old man, have to say.
Put it into practice, my fortunate son!

In response to Chögyal’s request, Heruka Dudjom Dorje (the Blood-Drinker, Māra-Subduing Vajra) gave this advice. Virtue! Sarva maṅgalam!

| Translated by Laura Swan in preparation for Tulku Pema Rigtsal Rinpoche’s teachings at Nyingma Palyul Dharma Center, 3–4 February 2024.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

bdud 'joms gling pa. "chos rgyal la gdams pa dus gsum sangs rgyas sogs". In gter chos bdud ʼjoms gling pa, Thimphu, Bhutan: Lama Kuenzang Wangdue, 2004. Vol. 18: 65–66

Version: 1.0-20240208