Necessary Advice

Necessary Advice

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Sacred refuge, root guru, care for me!
Someone like me has no advice to impart,
But in the words of the masters of the past:

As a means to escape this world of saṃsāra
Train your mind with the four mind-changers.

All acts that we accumulate—good, bad, great, small—
Do not go to waste but ripen when the time comes.
So do not err: embrace virtue and avoid misdeeds.

The vital axis for all Dharma is bodhicitta.
Cultivate the four immeasurables
And exchange your happiness for others’ suffering
Time and again, I beg you.

To realize the ground, sugatagarbha,
Continually strive to purify obscurations and gather accumulations.

Meditate on the profound path of guru yoga
With faith, devotion and pure samaya.

Know that the guru is your very own mind.
Realising how the mind’s delusory thoughts are unborn
Lays bare the pure awareness of the true natural state,
Wherein lie the three kāyas, beyond merger and separation
As the indivisibility of clear awareness and emptiness.
Rest in the evenness of stillness, movement and awareness.
Discard all hope and fear, all attempts to reject or cultivate.
Upon the ground, unaltered and beyond elaboration,
Settle in the path that is non-grasping non-meditation,
And as fruition, meet the true dharmakāya face of Mahāmudrā and the Great Perfection,
Through which the citadel of the three realms will be emptied.

Thus, in response to a request from Paksam Gyatso,
These words were offered by the reckless,
Stubbornly indolent one called Chökyi Lodrö.

Through this virtue, may all attain supreme awakening!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Khyentse Foundation and Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2021.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition Used

’Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. “Zhal gdams dgos gsungs pa/“ in ’Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung ’bum. 12 vols. Bir: Khyentse Labrang, 2012. W1KG12986. Vol. 8: 240–241

Version: 1.0-20210608