Blissful Path to Awakening

The Blissful Path to Awakening

A Song on the Essence of Definitive Meaning

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Father, authentic guru Vajradhara,
With a mind of intense and ardent faith, I pray to you.
Foremost one, through your compassion and power,
Inspire me to realize the secret of the definitive meaning.

These apparent phenomena are my own mind.
As in the deluded perceptions of a vivid dream,
They lack basis or origin and are but empty forms.
While they appear they are by nature empty;
While they are empty, their appearance is unobstructed.
On a relative level, causes and effects are unfailing.
Ultimately, the emptiness of freedom from arising, remaining and ceasing
Is indivisible from dependent origination—they are of a single taste,
And this ground beyond limiting extremes is the Great Middle Way.

That which does not exist externally is one's own mind.
The genuine nature of one's mind
Is the wisdom of the fourth part beyond the three.[1]
Unspoilt by thoughts involving dualistic grasping
Settle naturally into the fresh, unaltered ground
And while continuously mindful remain free of distraction and fixation.
Meditation on clear light unfettered by the intellect
And in a state that is beyond hopes and fears,
Free from the exertions of activity and actor,
Is the path, the cultivation of the Great Seal (Mahāmudrā).

Within the wisdom of the ground that is pure from the beginning,
The great empty dharmadhātu
Which is free from all dimensions and extremes,
The three kāyas are spontaneously present, unsought yet perfect.
By applying the key points of gateways, objects, winds and awareness,
The lamps of the visionary path blaze ever stronger.
Beginning with the vision of direct realization,
Until ultimately reaching the dissolution of phenomena beyond the mind.
The corruptions of the outer and inner elements come to an end
And awareness matures into a body of light.
Then activity for others' welfare continues without interruption.
This is the fruition, Great Perfection.

Through this instruction in the form of song,
May each and every sentient being of the three realms
Realize the indivisibility of these Three Greats
And saṃsāra be emptied from its very depths.

Thus, Chökyi Lodrö wrote this in the multistoried Palace Monastery at Gangtok, Sikkim, in response to a request, accompanied by gifts of silk and silver, from his own student Gelong Rinchen. May virtue abound!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Khyentse Foundation and Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2020.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. "nges don snying po'i glu byang chub bde lam/" in gsung 'bum/_'jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros/ (dbu med/). 8 vols. Gangtok: Dzongsar Khyentse Labrang, 1981–1985. ( BDRC W21813). Vol. 3: 21–23

_____ . "nges don snying po'i glu byang chub bde lam/" in ’Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung ’bum. 12 vols. Bir: Khyentse Labrang, 2012. (W1KG12986) Vol. 8: 435–436

Version: 1.2-20220420