In Praise of the Vision of Father Lobsang
Kelsang gyatso, seventh Dali Lama (1708-1757)
At the center of my heart,
the eight-petaled lotus dances
the dance of the diamond mind,
born of the changeless ground.
O father Lobsang Drakpa,
incarnate form of all the Buddhas,
I salute you, father guru.
All samsara and nirvana,
grounds of being, without exception,
are but constructs of the mind;
mind too is birthless, deathless,
when searched by a penetrating probe.
Emaho! This is the nature,
the essence of true being.
As clouds clear from the autumn sky,
all dual perception and experience
cease within the union of space and mind.
I, a yogin of unborn space,
behold the spectacle of great illusion----------
the wonderous lies of the void,
ungrounded in any way.
In the ecstatic marriage
of appearance and emptiness,
restored is my faith in dependendent origination,
which is illusory yet infallible.
By the eloquent words of father Lobsang,
himself the supreme Wisdom Treasure,
and the kindness of my perfect teachers,
I have sung this song of ultimate meaning.