Friday, September 9, 2016

Shabkar (1781-1851) The Flight of the Garuda: Khading Shoklap

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Journal Éveillé is an informal exploration of awakened mind in the art of poetry....

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Flight of the Garuda (Tib. མཁའ་ལྡིང་གཤོག་རླབས་, Khading Shoklap; Wyl. mkha' lding gshog rlabs) — a poetic composition on Trekchö and Tögal by Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol.
Translations:
Erik Pema Kunsang, The Flight of the Garuda (Kathmandu: Rangjung Yeshe, 1984)
Keith Dowman, The Flight of the Garuda (Boston: Wisdom, 1993)

Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (Tib. ཞབས་དཀར་ཚོགས་དྲུག་རང་གྲོལ་, Wyl. zhabs dkar tshogs drug rang grol) (1781-1851) — studied with masters of all schools, receiving Dzogchen teachings from his principal root guru Chögyal Ngakgi Wangpo (a Mongolian king and disciple of the First Dodrupchen), who had spread them widely in Amdo. Shabkar was a prolific writer, said to be able to compose a hundred pages a day, and amongst the more popular of his writings is his poetic composition on Trekchö and Tögal, Khading Shoklap—Flight of the Garuda.

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Flight of the Garuda ... a poetic composition on Trekchö and Tögal by Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol.

How to Stop
When all I do is think about reality
And let awareness undermine itself --
I must stop.

When I let go
Of fighting, loving, dealing,
Prostrating, circumambulating,
Sacred dance and gesture --
I am alone and independent.

When I let go
Of mundane chatter,
Chants, prayers,
Psychic-energetic recitation --
I am in silence.

When I let go
Of muddled mundane thought,
Faith, compassion,
Esoteric practices --
I’m open, vivid.

Why?

When you stop running --
The body’s at ease,
When it’s at ease,
Nerves are settled,
When they’re settled,
Mind energy’s settled,
When it’s settled,
Thoughts stop by themselves,
Luminous intelligence erupts.

(The yogi’s never sick
Because his body’s undisturbed.)

When you stop language games --
Wordless concentration starts,
Free flowing energy inside
Nerves of kati’s crystal hollow
Intensifies the light.

(The yogi’s life is long
Because his energy’s at ease.)

When you stop thinking --
The twists and turns of thought stop,
You break free.

Shabkar -- From the Flight of the Garuda: Thod rgal: 37b, iii - 38b, i., 1825. Translated by Stephen Batchelor, 1998.

http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/index.php/en/how-to-stop

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Note: kati: “a crystalline translucent nerve or channel connecting the heart with the eyes.”
Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, First Dzogchen Master....p. 307
by John Myrdhin Reynolds (Translator)

"Dzogchen: Thodgal (Leap-Over) Instructions by Dudjom Lingpa....there are three kinds of lamps of the vessel. The quintessence of the body is the citta lamp of the flesh at the heart, the inside of which is soft white. This is called the lamp of the channels, the quintessence of the channels, and hollow crystal kati channel. It is a single channel, one-eighth the width of a hair of a horse's tail, with two branches that penetrate inside the heart like the horns of a wild ox. They curve around the back of the ears and come to the pupils of the eyes. Their root is the heart, their trunk is the channels, and their fruit is the eyes."....http://www.theopendoorway.org/thodgal.html "Discovering drala is indeed to establish ties to your world, so that each perception becomes unique. It is to see with the heart, so that what is invisible to the eye becomes visible as the living magic of reality." (Trungpa: 1984..pg 105) "The Nature of Mind is not only ... primordial purity (ka-dag), but it is equally characterized by a luminous clarity (gsal-ba) and intrinsic awareness (rig-pa)……the light of awareness that illuminates our world. ... This inner light (nang - od), the light of awareness, resides in the hollow space inside ... a maroon-colored carnelian stone decorated with white crystals ... . This inner light of awareness proceeds from the hollow space ..., moving upward through the kati channel, to the two ... lenses to focus this light. The two ... are the gateways for the emergence into outer space of this inner light of awareness…..Thus, this light and the images that appear in this light, are actually something internal ..., but here they manifest in the empty space in front of oneself. The light ... is projected ... out through the lenses of the two eyes into the space in front, much like one is watching a cinema show. This process may be compared to a magic latern or a projector. ...The objects that appear are not really outside oneself." ……http://texts.00.gs/Practice_of_Dzogchen_in_the_Zhang-Zhung_Tradition,_2.htm…..Practice of Dzogchen in the Zhang-Zhung Tradition of Tibet: Translations from the The Gyalwa Chaktri of Druchen Gyalwa Yungdrung, and The Seven-fold Cycle of the Clear Light By:John Myrdhin Reynolds (translator)

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"The teachings of Dzogchen, which directly introduces the practitioner to the Nature of Mind, were first expounded by Garab Dorje in the country of Uddiyana and later went to India and Tibet. The essence of Garab Dorje's message is "The Three Statements that Strike the Essential Points." Patrul Rinpoche wrote a brilliant commentary, together with practices entitled "The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King"—here translated with notes, commentaries, and a glossary of terms.

The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism
by Keith Dowman (Translator)

Translations of four sacred texts of the Dzogchen tradition: Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision, The Flight of the Garuda, Emptying the Depths of Hell, and the Wish-Granting Prayer of Kuntu Zangpo.

Flight of the Garuda conveys the heart advice of one of the most beloved nonsectarian masters of Tibet. Ordained as a Gelug monk, the itinerant yogi Shabkar was renowned for his teachings on Dzogchen, the heart practice of the Nyingma lineage. He wandered the countryside of Tibet and Nepal, turning many minds toward the Dharma through his ability to communicate the essence of the teachings in a poetic and crystal-clear way. Buddhists of all stripes, including practitioners of Zen and Vipassana, will find ample sustenance within the pages of this book, and be thrilled by the lyrical insights conveyed in Shabkar's words.

Along with the song by Shabkar, translator Keith Dowman includes several other seminal Dzogchen texts. Dzogchen practice brings us into direct communion with the subtlemost nature of our experience, the unity of samsara in nirvana as experienced within our own consciousness. Within the Nyingma school, it is held higher than even the practices of tantra for bringing the meditator face to face with the nature of reality.

"Flight of the Garuda conveys the heart advice of one of the most beloved nonsectarian masters of Tibet. Ordained as a Gelug monk, the itinerant yogi Shabkar was renowned for his teachings on Dzogchen, the heart practice of the Nyingma lineage. He wandered the countryside of Tibet and Nepal, turning many minds toward the Dharma through his ability to communicate the essence of the teachings in a poetic and crystal-clear way. Buddhists of all stripes, including practitioners of Zen and Vipassana, will find ample sustenance within the pages of this book, and be thrilled by the lyrical insights conveyed in Shabkar's words.".....https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Garuda-Dzogchen-Tradition-Buddhism/dp/0861713672

"Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (Tib. ཞབས་དཀར་ཚོགས་དྲུག་རང་གྲོལ་, Wyl. zhabs dkar tshogs drug rang grol) (1781-1851) — Shabkar Tsodruk Rangdrol (1781-1851), the great Tibetan yogi who espoused the ideals of vegetarianism.......Shabkar’s attitude toward the different schools of Tibetan Buddhism was unclouded by even the slightest trace of sectarian bias. No doubt this was due primarily to his free and independent lifestyle, uncomplicated by institutional allegiances or dependence on benefactors. He lived an entirely hand-to-mouth existence. He had no fixed abode and reduced his own needs to an absolute minimum.........http://www.dhammawiki.com/index.php?title=Shabkar....

Matthieu Ricard, 'The Writings of Zhabs dkar Tshogs drug Rang grol (1781-1851): A Descriptive Catalogue' in in Ramon N. Prats ed. The Pandita and the Siddha: Tibetan Studies in Honour of E. Gene Smith, New Delhi: Amnye Machen, 2007 (also published as The Writings of Shabkar, Shechen Publications, 2005)

Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol, The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin, translated by Matthieu Ricard, SUNY, 1994

Shabkar, Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat, Shambhala, 2004

Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol, Songs of Shabkar, translated by Victoria Sujata, published by Dharma Publishing, 2011. ISBN : 0898000009

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September 2016

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