In Praise of Yerpa

Drumbeat of the Gods

In Praise of the Great Place of Yerpa

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

Namo Mañjuśriye!

Transcendent, accomplished conqueror, god among gods,
Lord who pervades all maṇḍalas, Mañjuśrī,
With a wisdom body, the supreme of all forms,
Embodiment of all qualities, to you I bow!

Naturally arisen through the force of the aspirations
Of the bodhisattva Vaibhūtika,
The great elements and so on
Are wondrous and primordially blessed.

Just like the moon, sun and wishing gems,
Which appear without human effort,
Or like the drumbeat of the gods,
The sacred vajra place manifests to all.

To the north in the Snowy Land,
In the country’s centre is the great Trulnang temple,
And the stake that maintains its life-force
Is Yerpa, this especially sublime place.

Divinely powerful dharma-king,
Manifestation of Amitābha,
The banner known as Songtsen
Illuminated Yerpa Lhari Nyingpo.

Through this, a great shrine of the world,
A divine hall for turning the dharma wheel,[1]
Arose through great miraculous power
And was revealed to the Mañjuśrī king.

Lord of all vidyā-mantra-holders,
Padmasambhava of Oḍḍiyāna,
Bodhisattva Śāntarakṣita and others,
At the pinnacle of learning and accomplishment
Like a mass of white crystal powder,
Through their hundreds of great miracles,
Made this a wonder of this world.

They concealed countless caches of dharma treasures
In the vajra cliffs and valleys
To bring benefit and happiness to beings
Throughout the remainder of existence.

Then again, in this increasingly degenerate age,
Glorious Dīpaṃkara and his heirs
Lit up this place like the sun and moon,
As it reverberated with the natural sound of Mahāyāna Dharma.

This is the lotus grove from which the Kadam teachings
First blossomed, growing ever greater
And expanding through the blessings of this
Spontaneously created, supremely sacred place.

This is the joyous garden of delight,
Where the lord of the hundred Tuṣita deities,
Great exalted sthaviras and others reside,
The mere sight of which calms distress.

With its beautifully arranged crystal platforms,
Its plants and forests that seem to frolic and sway,
And its streams of water possessing the eight qualities,
Which bring delight with their gentle ripple and flow.

This supreme paradise is like Sukhāvatī itself
Transported here directly to this land.
May I constantly practise approach and accomplishment
Here in this supreme sacred place of Yerpa!

Within a great celestial mansion in a place of purity such as this,
May we train our minds in the stages of the path of awakening,
And through the essence of the vajra pinnacle of the great vehicle,
Reach maturity in the vajra rainbow body of awareness and emptiness!

Thus, on the 17th day of the tenth month, Jamyang Gawé Gocha wrote this in the Moon Cave (Dawa Puk). Maṅgalaṃ Śubham

| Translated (provisionally) by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Khyentse Foundation and Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2022.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. gsung thor bu/_'jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros/ (rgya gar bir'i par ma/). 2 vols. null: null, null. (BDRC W21814). Vol. 1: 172–174

'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. "yer pa’i gnas chen la bstod pa lha’i rnga sgra/" in 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung 'bum. 12 vols. Bir, H.P.: Khyentse Labrang, 2012. (BDRC W1KG12986). Vol. 10: 328–330

Version: 1.0-20221209