Four-Point Advice

Four-Point Advice

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

At the feet of the guru, I pay homage.

Recollecting impermanence and death,
Averting attachment to this life and cultivating renunciation—
These are the three means of limiting your concerns.
This is the instruction for turning the mind to Dharma.

Recognize sentient beings as your parents,
Meditate intensively on love and compassion,
And cultivate the supreme attitude of cherishing others above yourself.
This is the instruction for progressing along the Dharma path.

All phenomena throughout the universe,
These vague, unexamined perceptions,
Are, when investigated, just like an illusion.
This is the instruction for pacifying confusion on the path.

Genuine dharmatā, awareness and emptiness,
Untainted by thoughts of intellectual analysis—
Sustain it nakedly as pure self-knowing.
This is the instruction for confusion dawning as wisdom.

Elaborating further it would all become vast,
But this covers the fundamental points.
These four instructions include all the Dharma,
So put them into practice in this way.

Chökyi Lodrö wrote this for Lama Jampa.

| 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. "zhal gdams don bzhi ma/" in ’Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung ’bum. 12 vols. Bir: Khyentse Labrang, 2012. W1KG12986 Vol. 8: 358–359

Version: 1.1-20230608