Ultimate Testament

The One Ultimate Testament

by Longchen Rabjam

oṃ āḥ hūṃ
The yogin Natsok Rangdrol imparted the following advice to the fortunate.

Emaho! How wondrous!
When distilled into a single ultimate point, it is as follows:

Look, at all times, into this store of precious treasure,
The natural Great Perfection, the sovereign nature of mind,
Which is not created by anyone but spontaneously arisen from the first.

With threefold motionlessness, direct prāṇa and awareness into space.
Within the palace of light that emerges from oneself,
The vajra chains of one’s own king-like awareness
Manifest in the heart of space—clear, empty, and ungrasped.

Rest in an experience of the apparent yet unreal.
The stuff of pure appearance, forms empty in every respect,
Are like magical illusions, mirages, or the moon’s reflection.
The mind in its diversity resembles the element of wind.

Whatever arises, do not grasp at thoughts, but leave them as they are.
There is nothing to meditate on, simply forms that are wholly empty.
Savour whatever arises in an experience of kingly, spontaneous perfection.
Self-knowing awareness is freed by itself; freedom is not found elsewhere.

Don’t spoil this through contrivance; settle naturally and freely.
This is to abide in an experience of unchanging equanimity.
A yogin who practises in just such a way
Will be sure to let go of whatever might be fixated upon.
For if there is attachment to the point of focus, one is not a yogin.

Without attachment to whatever arises, savour it as you please.
When inner self-radiance manifests externally,
However much cognitive or visionary experiences might fluctuate,
Do not cultivate or reject them, for they are but rigpa’s magic play.

Absence of reference point is a sovereign experience of non-grasping;
While good and bad, acceptance and rejection, are contexts for elaboration.
All dualistic perceptions and ideas are forms of delusion;
All ties of hope and fear are causes of attachment.

The primordial state defies expression, is groundless and unsourced.
There is no acceptance, rejection, striving, hope, fear or partiality.
When remaining in such a state, all is dharmakāya,
The effortless self-liberation of things left as they are.

When you see reality as it is, there is no foundation or source.
In seeing the sole solution, there is not a scintilla of meditation.
For one who is without conceit, there is no formulaic conduct.
In seeing Trekchö, there is no remedy based on rigid mindfulness.
In seeing Tögal, there is no meditation based on fixed concentration.

When thoughts occur, whatever arises is freed by itself.
Do not strive or seek attainment; rest naturally and at ease.
In open transparency, fresh, genuine, and uncontrived,
Everything, no matter how it appears, dawns as dharmakāya.

This, which distils all the instructions of the guru,
I have set down for the sake of the yogins of posterity.

Practise in this way, O child of noble family!
Easily and effortlessly, you will proceed to Buddhahood.
In a state wherein kāyas and wisdoms are inseparable,
You will become a dharma sovereign, spontaneously accomplishing others’ welfare.

Like a passenger who has boarded some great ship,
Drimé Özer now sets sail for the island of liberation.
There is no time to delay. Practise diligently, child!
Let everything be excellent and auspicious! Virtue!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

klong chen rab 'byams pa dri med 'od zer. "zhal chems mthar thug gcig ma" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 9: 283–285 (1.5 folios)

Version: 1.0-20250115