The Five Perfections

The Vajrayāna Five Perfections

by the Seventieth Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Tulku Jigme Choedrak

Those of you who find yourself
In the maṇḍala of the Vajrayāna teachings, listen!
The enlightened ones have taught that you must understand the five perfections,
Which are integral to the orientation of Secret Mantra.

If, ultimately, luminous bodhicitta
Never wavers from the ongoing state of self-knowing awareness,
Then, site, occasion, teacher, community, and teaching—
All the perfections—are therein complete.

Spontaneously born outer appearances
Are the pure land of appearance and emptiness inseparable.
The place called Akaniṣṭha, dharmadhātu, is nowhere else to be found.
This is the perfect site.

Your innate, inmost mind,
Is the glorious guru, dharmakāya.
The one called Vajradhara is nowhere else to be found.
This is the perfect teacher.

The kāyas of the devas and devīs that populate the pure land,
Are none other than your ceaseless energy, self-arising and self-liberating.
What are called vīras and vīriṇīs are nowhere else to be found.
This is the perfect community.

Within dharmatā, the arena of awareness,
Past, future, and present do not exist.
This uninterrupted flow, this equalness,
Is the perfect occasion.

Thus, if you never lose the key point of practice,
Which is to know your own nature,
What is called "holy Dharma" is nowhere else to be found.
This is the perfect teaching.

The six kinds of being have the nature of the three kāyas.
Don't bother judging them as good and bad.
When your discursive thoughts are all over the place,
What are called "demons" are nowhere else to be found.
Your discursive thoughts alone are tragic obstacles.
This is why undistracted mindfulness is so important.
In the ongoing state of your mind's inseparability from the deity,
Stand firmly in your inherent non-confusion!

This was composed by the proponent of the Dharma, the monk named Jikdrak [Jigme Choeda], in the form of a conversation about the way things are. May it be good!

| Translated by NT Ninjyed and Joseph McClellan, 2024.

Version: 1.0-20241211