Praise for Dudjom Rinpoche

Dispelling Darkness from the Hearts of the Narrow-Minded

Praise for the Great Tertön, the King of Dharma, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje

by The Seventieth Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Tulku Jigme Choeda

Essence of the buddhas of the three times, presiding lord of buddha families and the oceans of maṇḍalas, illustrious, glorious, holy guru whose kindness is unmatched, king of treasure teachings, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, seeking shelter, I bow in devotion at your lotus feet. Please grant your blessings!

The victorious ones have proclaimed that more merit is made
By venerating a single strand of the guru's hair
Than by venerating all the buddhas of the ten directions over the span of an aeon.
With this in mind, I praise you with devotion.

When the vidyādhara named Nüden Dorje[1]
Was prophesied and empowered to be the thousandth buddha,
He became the source of your emanations.
Let us remember the quintessence of his enlightened lives.

Through his unconditional compassion, he displayed nirmāṇakāyas, in legion,
For those who needed taming, according to their need.
Thus, his emanations took every form, stringing together a succession of lives to our time,
So that he could elucidate the entirety of the Buddha's teachings.

From the Copper-colored Mountain in Cāmaradvīpa,[2]
Orgyen Padma prophesied and blessed you.
As one commanded to help beings in the north,
You gained renown as Traktung Dudjom Lingpa.

Your own perspective is free from all the fears of birth and death—Jigdrel,
And you are the illusory dance of immutable, indestructible pristine awareness—Yeshe Dorje.[3]
I bow to you who appeared anew in the supreme site of Pemakö
As a rūpakāya with marks and signs for others to see.

Among the most renowned nirmāṇakāyas who were untainted by human impurities,[4]
In India, there was Bhagavan Śākyamuṇi;
In the Land of Snows, the self-arisen Karmapa;
In Pemakö, it was you, Dudjom Drodul Lingpa.

Your embodied dance as Drogben Khyeuchung Lotsāwa[5]
Was Ḍākinī Blazing Blue Light's[6] speech in the form of luminosity
And an emanation of Orgyen Pema's enlightened mind.
Wish-fulfilling jewel who embodies all that is holy, to you, I bow.

In this life, there was no need for you to toil long in training.
The light of the Great Master's heart essence
Coaxed open the thousand-petalled lotus of your twofold knowledge,[7]
Making you a perfect buddha, in the flesh, here on earth.

Among the most accomplished writers blessed by Sarasvatī,[8]
Your speech stands out as a symphony of dulcet tones.
In days of yore, it was the Lord of Siddhas, Milarepa;
In our time, it is your words that are heard on the wind.

It is said that from Cāmaradvīpa, the mother and father gurus
Trained the warmth of their enlightened perspective on you and suffused you with the breath of assurance.
This is why all the learned and accomplished ones
Proclaimed you as Padmasambhava's supreme regent.

Everyone knows about the way you turned the wheel
Of ripening and liberating Dharma to multitudes of fortunate audiences.
In this, you have no rival
Outside the life story of Orgyen Pema.

Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa prophesied that you would
Reveal new treasures and preserve those that came before.
Just as he said, for the way you shared the traditions of Kama and Terma with this generation,
Your kindness can never be repaid.

Especially in these valleys of medicinal herbs, this supreme Dharma realm of Bhutan,
To spread benefit and happiness to the place and the beings within it,
You never delayed your compassion
And the care you lavished on us, directly and indirectly, is impossible to measure.

You extolled every act of our leader, Zhabdrung,
Saying, "The way he established Dharma in the lawless land of Mön—
That redoubtable guru must have been a buddha himself!"
I bow to you, so forthcoming in your heartfelt, clear-eyed praise.[9]

As Guru Rinpoche warned in his prophecies,
Many charlatan scholars, false tertöns, and suppositious siddhas have appeared.
O Protector, you, though, are like the moon in the midst of the constellations—
Resplendently beautiful, your presence unchallenged and trusted.

In the sky, many stars and planets glimmer
But none of them can outshine the sun.
Similarly, here on earth, flocks of siddhas abound
But your like, O protector, these days, is nowhere to be found.

In this world, everyone with honor respected you,
Yet you were never imperious or proud.
Free from bias, expectation, worry, or fixation, your enlightened mind
Was so clearly united with the open expanse of space.[10]

Some, their twisted minds like fireflies, tried to compare their little glows
To the all-illuminating halo of your sun.
Yet, you never withdrew your compassion from them.[11]
I pray that I, too, may soon feel the good fortune of your unconditional grace.[12]

Through the power of the guru’s blessings
Piercing the hearts of all of us who follow in your footsteps,
May we experience, deep within, the dawning of the sun of pristine awareness
That dispels the darkness of our benighted minds.

Through the power of blessings of the yidam Vajrakumāra,
May the dagger-edge of non-dual pristine awareness.
Liberate the life force of Rūdra, dualistic clinging,
In the expanse of dharmadhātu, equalness itself.

Through the power of the blessings of the Ḍākinī Krodhikālī,
May I know that the source of all māras is my own mind;
May I cut through the net of my confusion in the face of all that arises;
And may I realize the enlightened perspective of the Great Mother, dharmakāya!

Through the intense power of the protectors of the teachings—Mahākāla, Mahākālī, and their retinues—
May I be naturally freed from my clinging to the eight trivialities.[13]
Through the samādhi of controlling my own perceptions,
May I gain the auspiciousness to prevail over the perceptions of others.

Since, ultimately, in dharmadhātu, there are no distinctions,
Self and others, teacher and retinue, are not separate.
The magical display of a single savor arising as many
Is beyond the scope of an ordinary, uninspired being's mind.

O Lord of the Maṇḍala,
You and the glorious Drukpa, Lord of Speech,[14]
Are one taste in the form of the Sugata Möpa.[15]
In the future, may my mind merge with your enlightened minds in perfect awakening.

This praise to the Lord of the Maṇḍala, Dudjom Drodül Lingpa, also known as Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, was composed without artifice, so that those of meager mentality might understand it, by the worst of his students, the monastic follower of Śākyamuṇi Buddha named Jigdrak, on the first day of the sixth month of the Wood Dragon year (2024). May it be meaningful.

| Translated by NT Ninjyed and Joseph McClellan, 2024.

Bibliography

Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal. Fearless Light of Indestructible Wisdom. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2008.

Mandelbaum, Arthur. "Khyeuchung Lotsāwa." Treasury of Lives, 2007.

Mang Stefan. The Tambura’s Yearning Song of Devotion: A Prayer Summarizing Khandro Yeshé Tsogyal’s Life and Liberation. By Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé. Lotsawa House, 2017.

Version: 1.0-20241230