הפואמה של שאבקר – By Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol .1781-1851

 Reminder of virtue
By Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol  (1781-1851)

 

From my heart

With respectful body, speech, and mind

I supplicate the Dharma King, Ngakyi Wangpo,

Embodiment of the Three Jewels,

Unfailing objects of refuge:

Grant your blessings so that I and all others

Maybe ripened and freed.

 

 

Fortunate friends who keep stainless samaya,3

Let this renunciate offer some heartfelt advice.

 

Dharma friends –

Now that you have the excellent support

Of a free, well‑favored human birth,

Fulfill its true purpose, enlightenment.

 

Dharma friends –

Give up concern for the meaningless things of life, and

Wander off to solitary places for retreat.

 

Dharma friends –

Death strikes suddenly; it comes without warning

When it comes, you must have no regrets [56a].

 

Dharma friends

You'll have to go along the bardo's narrow pathway all alone,

So give up your attachment to companions.

 

Dharma friends –

There is not a single sentient being

Who once was not your own parent,

So give up hatred toward enemies.

 

Dharma friends –

When you've tamed your mind—the inner adversary-

69 There are no outer enemies.

Tame your own obstinate mind!

 

Dharma friends –

Good and evil actions have inevitable results:

Give up doing wrong and do what is right.

 

 

Dharma friends –

When you die, you must leave food, wealth and belongings behind,

So give up greed.

 

 

 

 

Dharma friends –

In samsara there's no chance for contentment:

Regard it as a pit of fire.

 

Dharma friends

Food, wealth, society—all these have no ultimate meaning:

Don't perform rituals and exorcisms in villages to earn your keep.

 

Dharma friends

The commotion of worldly places

Distracts you from striving, from doing what is right:

Spend your time alone in isolated places.

 

Dharma friends—

When you're with friends who practice the teachings,

Adopt the intention to benefit them

And maintain pure perception.

 

Dharma friends-

You can be called "renunciate"

Only if you're free from hopes, plans, and saving face:

Don't fall under the sway of other people.

 

Dharma friends-

You can be called a siddha

Only when you've controlled the stream of obscuring emotions:

Dtpart from error by yourself.

 

Dharma friends –

The signs of accomplishment are

Gentlness and  discipline

Of body, speech, and mind:

Give up attachment to those close to you

And aversion toward strangers.

 

Dharma friends –

The Three Jewels are the unfailing refuge:

Take refuge in them from your heart.

 

Dharma friends –

The root of Mahayana is generating Bodhicitta:

Cultivate supreme Bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment [56b].

 

Dharma friends –

The four strengths are the principal means for purifying obscurations and  wrong actions:

Perform the practice of Vajrasattva.

 

Dharma friends –

Offering the mandala is the supreme means for accumulating merit:

Make mandala offerings constantly.

 

Dharma friends –

Guru yoga is the quickest way to receive blessings:

Ceaselessly supplicate the master.

 

Dharma friends –

The words of an authentic master are not misleading:

Regard what your lama says as perfect.

 

Dharma friends –

The yidam is the basis for the ordinary  and  extraordinary  siddhis:

Practice the development stage of the yidam.

 

Dharma friends-

Dakinis and dharmapalas dispel all obstacles:

Hold feast‑offerings and offer tormas.

 

Dharma friends-

Trekcho fosters the state of awareness that of itself is luminous

Maintain this nondual empty brilliance.

 

70 Dharma friends-

Thogal frees the material body as the body of light –

Cultivate the luminosity that is naturally present.

 

Dharma friends—

Practicing in this way,

One can achieve the rainbow body in a single lifetime:

Practice from your heart, with joy.

 

These words are spoken honestly and unerringly:

Practice in this way, Dharma friends.

 

By their truth, and by the power of all past, present, and future virtue,

May the glorious guru's life be firm and long.

May my Dharma friends' meditation experiences and realization flourish, and

May they realize the trikaya in a single lifetime.