Counsel for Kalgön
Counsel for Kalgön
by Khenchen Ngawang Palzang
My mind filled with devotion,
I pay respect to Lungtok Tenpai Nyima
And extend to you this bit of advice to help your mind.
Always apply it to your experience.
These days, in the depths of the degenerate age,
Many pass themselves off as Dharma practitioners,
But good ones are as rare as stars in the light of day.
Even rarer are those who understand the path’s key points.
Following the special instructions of the lineage masters,
You should never stop surveying your mind
And abandoning toxic mentalities as if they were poison.
Bodhicitta, the supreme good,
Is the seed that grows into buddhahood.
Any good you do with body or mind,
You must make part of the path to omniscience.
Taking full advantage, through the Dharma, of the freedoms and advantages of your life,
And spurring yourself on with thoughts of impermanence and death,
If your fixations to this life do not collapse,
Then lofty, hollow talk about “freedom from conceptual elaborations”
And presumptuous attitudes about the paths of creation and completion—
These lead most inferior people astray.
Pure ethical discipline as the unassailable foundation;
The Three Jewels as the unassailable beacon;[1]
and unchanging conviction, unwavering faith—
You cannot do without these three.
Carrying southern wares up north:
Taking northern wares back south;
And being crushed under the burden of taxes—[2]
These three throw your Dharma practice to the wind.
Claiming clairvoyance when you don’t see;
Challenging gods and demons when you have no powers;
And raising a childless person’s son—[3]
These three bring a practitioner to ruin.
The damnable food of marbled meat;
The deranging drink of barley beer;[4]
And the seductive touch of young ladies—
These are a practitioner’s deadly poisons.
The vital essence of the unfailing, supreme path of the conquerors
Comprises the instructions on the profound and vast[5]
Which are encapsulated in the words of the great Omniscient One.[6]
Take the numerous scriptures that scholars memorize,
And, using your vision honed through study, reflection, and meditation,
Compare them to the beautiful words of the Three Chariots.[7]
If you are able to practice according to them,
Rest assured, you are on the unmistaken path.
On the other hand, the pedant’s clever discourse,
The deluded meditator’s invented oral lineage,
The fake tertön’s fraudulent, deceptive charms—
These are paramount demons for those who want to be free.
Kye ma! Make Dharma your life!
Gain insight that discerns the two truths!
Keep seeking teachings! It’s so important!
Keep them alive by contemplating their meaning,
And gain stability through meditation.
Until insight arises in your mindstream,
If you try to force your spiritual progress,
You’ll be just another practitioner who has lost their sense of Dharma[8]
And sells the soul of the Buddha’s teachings.
So, abandon, like a corpse in the street,
The eight delusions that fuel your obsessions in this life.[9]
Hostility to others’ philosophies and attachment to your own—
These anchor you to hopeless saṃsāra.
Gain a deep understanding of philosophy unbound by limitations.
Open your eyes to the authentic path.
Without bragging about your view and meditation,
Tame your stubborn mindstream.
Persevering in the three trainings,[10]
Follow in the footsteps of the great masters as much as you can.
Until then, Dzogchen practice and lofty words about Prasaṅgika Madhyamaka
Won’t offer much to your experience.
Therefore, starting with the general preliminaries of the four reorientations[11]
Up through the profound practice of guru yoga,
Practice mind training in every session,
And reflect on your practice every day!
With the Four Immeasurables[12] and bodhicitta
And with devotion in guru yoga,
Take the four empowerments and mix your mind with your guru’s.
This naked pristine awareness, knowing and empty—
Get to know it well, deep inside.
Sustain the enlightened perspective that is the magnificence of just being.
If you enhance your practice by carrying yourself in a way that is naturally free,
In a state of effortlessness,
You will arrive at your coronation in the dharmakāya of Samantabhadra.
This was written by Tsultrim Gyatso for Kalgön.
| Translated by Joseph McClellan with NT Ninjyed, 2024.
Bibliography
mKhan po ngag dgaʼ. sKal mgon dang a ka nyi ma la gdams pa. In gSung ʼbum ngag dbang dpal bzang, 2:177–80. Khreng tuʼu, nd. BDRC MW22946_CFA84F.
mKhan po ngag dgaʼ. gSung ʼbum kun mkhyen ngag gi dbang po, vol. 1, pp. 163–165. sNga ʼgyur kaḥ thog bcu phrag rig mdzod chen moʼi dpe tshogs. Khreng tuʼu: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2017. BDRC W4CZ364088.
Version: 1.0-20250108
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Here, "beacon" loosely translates blo rtse, which might more commonly be "thoughts' aim" or "object of attention." We go with "beacon" since a beacon draws attention and also resonates with the sense of the Three Jewels as sources of refuge. ↩
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This loosely translates the unique Tibetan idiom “feet” (rkang) + “flat” (leb) +” bound to servitude” (bran du bkol ba). In old Tibet, people would be taxed based on the number of people in their household, represented metonymically as “feet.” Likewise, one would be subject to a land tax, represented by “flat.” In addition, it was common to pay a tax on “bent-overs” (sgur), i.e., livestock, but this form is not mentioned in the line here. In the previous two lines, the transport of wares simply refers to wasting one’s life in commercial activity. ↩
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This expression seems to refer to wasting one’s life in something utterly futile and deluded. ↩
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The term used is chang, which covers all non-distilled alcohols. We use "barley beer" for meter and aesthetics, and because in the Khenpo's milieu, chang was almost always made from barley. ↩
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This is a reference to the “two commentarial traditions” according to which Mahāyāna treatises are organized. “Profound” here refers to the path of the profound view of emptiness inspired by the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and transmitted to and expounded by Nāgārjuna and the Madhyamaka philosophers. “Vast” here refers to the path of vast conduct taught by Maitreya to Asaṅga and carried on through the activities of Vasubandhu, Dignāga, and other important Cittamātra philosophers and logicians. ↩
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Longchenpa. ↩
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Tib. shing rta gsum. The Great Chariot (shing rta chen mo), Longchenpa’s own commentary on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind (sems nyid ngal gso); The Excellent Chariot (shing rta bzang po), his commentary on Finding Comfort and Ease in Illusion (sgyu ma ngal gso); and The Pure Chariot (shing rta rnam dag), his commentary on Finding Comfort and Ease in Meditation (bsam gtan ngal gso). ↩
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"Lost the sense of Dharma" translates chos gzhung shor. Chos gzhung can mean Dharma books/scriptures, but can also mean the whole canon or system of Dharma, connoting the true meaning of it all. ↩
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“Eight delusions” here stands for the “eight worldly concerns,” the false paths of basing one’s happiness on gain and loss, feeling good and not good, praise and censure, and recognition and insignificance. In verse, we find “the eight worldly concerns” to have too many syllables to fit into a felicitous line. We therefore go with “eight delusions” in the sense that we are delusional to think that those eight priorities will yield anything but more suffering. ↩
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Training in ethical discipline, meditation, and insight. ↩
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The "four reorientations" are more commonly called the "four thoughts that turn the mind" (blo ldog rnam bzhi). ↩
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Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. ↩
