The Three Principal Paths

  Homage to the venerable gurus

  1. The quintessence of all teachings of the Buddhas,

      The Path praised by all supreme Bodhisattvas,

      And the gateway for fortunate seekers of liberation:

      This I shall explain as well as I can.

  2. You not attached to Samsaric indulgences,

      Who strive to make precious life meaningful

      And have focused you mind on the path pleasing to the Buddhas,

      O fortunate one, listen with a delightful mind.

  3. There is no way divorced of a mind of renunciation,

      By which obsession to the ocean of Samsaric delights is calmed;

      And as it is this infatuation to Samsara that binds living beings (to suffering),

      First cultivate the spirit of renunciation.

  4. By contemplating how difficult a life of leisure and endowment is to acquire

And how our lifespan is not fixed, fantasies concerning this life are reversed;

      And by thinking again and again about the infallibility of karma and its fruit,

      As well as about the unsatisfactory nature of cyclic existence,

      Fantasies concerning future lives are reversed.

  5. By meditating in this way, eventually admiration for Samsaric indulgence

      Does not arise for even an instant; and

      The aspiration to liberation abides day and night unceasingly.

      At that time the spirit of renunciation has been born.

  6. Yet if this mind of renunciation is not conjoined

      With the pure mind of Bodhicitta, it does not serve

      As a cause of sublime enlightenment's perfect bliss.

     The wise therefore cultivate this supreme mind of Bodhicitta.

  7. Swept along by the currents of the four raging rivers,

      Tightly bound by karmic shackles hard to unlock,

      Caught in the iron web of ego-grasping,

     And lost in the thick for of ignorance.

  8. (The living beings) repeatedly take rebirth in limitless Samsara

Where they are inflicted by an unbroken stream of the three types of pain.

      By contemplating this state in which mother sentient beings exist,

      Give birth to the supreme mind of Bodhicitta.

  9. Yet if one is familiar with renunciation and Bodhicitta

      Bud does not possess the wisdom realizing the ultimate nature,

      One will not be able to sever the root of Samsara.

      Hence strive in the methods of understanding Dependent Origination.

10. The practitioner who perceives the ever-unfailing reality of

      The cause-and-effect nature of all in Samsara and Nirvana

      And has utterly destroyed the focus of apprehension (Of independent reality),

      That being stands on the path pleasing to the Buddhas.

11. On the appearance side, the infallible dependent origination;

      On the emptiness side, an insight into the absence of thesis:

      So long as there two  appear to the mind as separate,

      One still has not realized the intent of the Buddha.

12. When the two understandings occur simultaneously without sequence,

      Then simply perceiving the unfailing nature of dependent origination

      Dispels the apprehension of (an independent) object of the valid mind.

      At that time the enquiry into the view (of emptiness) is consummated.

13. Moreover, the appearacne of things eliminates the extreme of "absolutism"

      And emptiness eliminates the extreme of "nihilism."

      If one realizes that emptiness arises as cause and effect,

      No longer will one be trapped in extreme views.

14. When in this way  you have correctly understood

      The essential points of the three principal paths,

      O child, seek solitude and generate the strenght of joyful perseverance

      And quickly accomplish the highest spiritual goal.

(Source:

Translated into English by Glenn H. Mullin

Revised by Geshe Dorji Damdul)

The Daily Gong

After having a light dinner around 5 pm, we all were just relaxing outside our resident compound. Most of the monks were just inside their own room and silently involve in their study, while some were playing rubber-band under the shadow of trees.  A monk was just making fun of a small kid. Oh! I forgot to tell what I was doing. I was washing my smelling clothes that were left in a bucket for around a week. I was thinking that after a half hour we had to attend our debate class, which I hate the most. But as a discipline I had to attend there so I was thinking about some special topics to debate at monastery. I twist my mind again and again. And at last, I succeeded to collect some interesting topics. Thinking about all this I had finished washing clothes too.

After hanging them on veranda, I went inside my room and enjoyed some music. When we were just chatting about some unrelated worldly issues with my friends, the first strike goes on the large Gong 'Goooong'. But we didn't stop our nonsense chatting. Feeling like nothing had happened. One of my friends elaborated and made a pose of Shah Rukh Khan, while as other talked about postures of Chris Ghyal while hitting rains of sixes. Then the second strike goes 'Goooong'. "Hey, isn't that sound of monastic gong?" one of them said. Some others nodded to agree him while others still busy not finishing their talks. Third strike went. Now all had agreed that was the gong of call. But I was scratching my head, sitting at one of corner. "That was the Gong of dead" I said to myself. When fourth and fifth strike went my friends hesitatingly leaved my bed and returned towards their rooms. Making my room engulfed with bad smells of farts, they were still talking while returning. By the time now, it was around seventh-eighth strikes. I clean up the mess and relaxed on my bed for while. Asking myself whether I should go or not. I was confused whether to go or not. So I decided to throw a coin for the decision. "If it is head I will go but if it is tail I'll relax in room with lengthening my hands and legs", that was my promise. Here it goes once more strike. I was still searching for a coin. At last, I found an old coin in my pen holder. I put it on my upper part of thump. I closed my eyes and wished that the tail comes on front, and threw my lucky coin on the air. There went one more strike. It was around near to the end of the Gong. The coin felt on the ground but damn it was head. I hate to god, I hate to my wish, and I hate myself for being so unlucky. My friends came to my window with their large blue mat holding under armpit, and began to shout "hey, come on lets go. Don't hide like usual", which I hate the most. They shout with such a voice that whole monks of our compound will come to know that I'm hiding in my room. I request them to keep quiet and go for their class. When the Gong was exactly near to end, I put my slipper inside so that nobody could know (specially my teacher and khangtsen genla). Then the last strike went with big sound 'Goooong'. Everything went seems silent for few minute after the last gong. How noisy the gong is, that makes whole environment shaking. Even the small insects and birds might feel scared during this fifteen minute. Twisting the key of my door slowly like a thief on his own room, I headed towards my bed. If I don't have to go at Debate ground at last, then why did I prepared lots of topic earlier? Was I willing to go and the Gong made me not? Also, can it be that I'm interested on debate but don't like the system of class? Strange...