Tsok Lu Commentary

The Sun Illuminating the Wisdom of Empty Awareness

Clarifications on the Hidden Meaning of “The Song of the Feast”

by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Namo Guru Sarva-Jñāna Abhayadvīpāya![1]

The profound meaning of the spontaneous vajra song of the omniscient guru[2] transcends the limits of ordinary thought. Yet, if one were to attempt to express its depth in ordinary words, it would convey the direct experience of the profound realization of the three secrets—vajra body, speech, and mind—attained through the supreme Vajrayāna path.

1. The Realization of the Vajra Wisdom Body

This refers to the unity of the relative truth with characteristics, in which all phenomena undeniably appear through interdependence and the ultimate truth devoid of characteristics, in which all phenomena are beyond arising, abiding, and ceasing. This is the realization of purity and equality as inseparable within the maṇḍala of kāyas and wisdoms, which constitutes a distinctive feature of the Early Translation School of the Secret Mantra.

Karma and aspirations coincide[3] as a wish-fulfilling tree[4]
Upon which the youthful peacock of eastern India alights.

Accordingly, on the relative level, virtuous karma strengthens wholesome habitual tendencies, while aspirations cultivate virtuous thoughts and deeds. Together, they create the auspicious conditions for the sublime vajra body, with its wisdom channels, winds, and essences, composed of the six elements and surpassing even the bodies of the gods. When these conditions are properly employed, the desired qualities of the inner vajra paths and bhūmis naturally unfold from within the central channel; thus numerous tantras compare the central channel to a wish-fulfilling tree. Since this process entails the purification of the wind-mind and essences within the space of the central channel, the song says “upon.”

Since India, as the central land of this world, is a naturally hot region, it symbolizes the fire of inner heat (tummo, caṇḍālī). This blazing fire stirs the moon-like bindu, the pure white element, thereby causing the inner sun of wisdom to shine forth. In relative terms, this is indicated in the song by the word “eastern,” as it is the direction where the sun and moon rise. By drawing up the non-conceptual experience of melting bliss hundreds of times, the arising and ceasing of the experience of the blending of the red and white elements unfold. This is likened to a youthful peacock in full display, representing the resulting experience of empty bliss. Such bliss manifests in harmony with the arising and dissolving of the four joys, descending and ascending, in both progressive and reverse sequences.

As the peacock’s majestic tail display leads us to the sublime Dharma,
We, the youthful, set out on the path to liberation.

Through this practice, the channels, winds, and essences that give rise to the delusory appearances of saṃsāra are purified, while the wind-mind and essences are guided into the central channel, from which the manifestations of the kāyas and wisdoms unfold. This is the sublime path—likened to the majestic tail display of a peacock—through which we are led to the Dharma.

In this way, we youthful ones, inexperienced in the qualities of the noble path, may swiftly perfect the ten bhūmis within the central channel, without resorting to exhausting austerities. Thus, we set out on the path of great liberation, entering the stage beyond learning, and ultimately attain the supreme accomplishment of the vajra body of all-pervasive wisdom.

2. The Realization of Melodious Vajra Speech

The cuckoo’s song from Mön’s[5] southern groves,
Rides upon the chariot of merit, the regal spring;[6]

Through accomplishing the six pāramitās of the definitive meaning—such as the generosity of blazing and dripping, the discipline of non-transference, and so forth—the great accumulation of merit is brought to completion. At that time, through the power of the invocation, “Ride upon[7] and ride upon the chariot, the wisdom wind, of the queen of spring, the ripened essence bindu!” the channel-knot of the enjoyment chakra at the throat is released.

Like sandalwood-scented winds from the southern Malaya forests that alleviate oppressive heat, the burning karma and afflictions are cooled, allowing one to effortlessly open the gate to the profound and vast Dharma upon the support of the life-force of liberation. Like the natural display of leaves, flowers, and fruits on the trees that grow in Bhutan and other southern regions, one spontaneously enters the grove adorned with hundreds of gates leading to the marvelous qualities of the path, such as perfect recollection, clairvoyance, and samādhi.

Its melody, sweeter than the flutes of the gandharva maidens above,
Heralds the auspicious conditions for the three nourishing months of summer.

In that moment, surpassing even the cuckoo’s sweet song proclaiming the coming of spring, these qualities of supreme ripening and liberation sing forth—more enchanting than the flutes of celestial maidens playing in the grove of the gandharva king, dwelling in the heaven of the Thirty-Three above.

Like a summer festival, the qualities of ripening and liberation nurture the seeds of liberation for disciples of the three lineages.[8] Similar to how the summer alleviates[9] the hardships of the other months, merit is also the auspicious condition that enhances and expands the qualities of the path to enlightenment. Hence, it is an extraordinary celebration, a time to make genuine aspirations. Thus, these auspicious conditions said to be “wonderful” in accordance with everyday speech.[10]

3. The Realization of Vajra Wisdom

All you vajra brothers and sisters here, united in karma and aspiration,
Come, join us in this Dharma gathering, with our guru at our head!

Here today, we have come together to celebrate this feast gathering. As vajra brothers and sisters, we are united by the virtuous karma and pure aspirations of our past—bound as one within the Dharma and under the guidance of our shared guru. It is only natural that we assemble for this feast, presided over by our guru, who, having realized the view and conduct of the supreme vehicle, abides as a vajra king—imparting the Dharma in which the profound path is laid out. With deep joy in our hearts, we welcome the guru, saying, “Please come.”

At this feast, as we partake of the ripening and freeing amṛta,
We have good reason to sing of our joyful experience.[11]

We partake of the amṛta as the swift path of the two stages, which ripens and liberates the mind-stream through the four empowerments—the very root of the secret mantra path. As it enters the excellent pathway of our throats of faith and diligence, we savor its essence. At this sacred feast, our confidence in view, meditation, and conduct is reaffirmed and strengthened.

Singing vajra songs of our joyful experience as expressions of ease and delight, is not mere noise or random singing. It holds purpose, for it is a hallmark of the conduct on the path of the supreme vehicle.

Within this assembly, resting in unchanging great bliss,
Even without cultivating, we behold the faces of deity and guru.

How so? Unlike the fleeting bliss and delight derived from temporary sense pleasures, through the Dharma one secures the fortress of the wisdom of originally pure, basic space. Within this, the luminous display of the ground—manifesting as the kāyas and wisdoms—abides inseparably with basic space as great bliss, whose essence is beyond transition, change, increase, or decrease. Within this assembly, the gathered deities of the Three Roots—the natural display of dharmatā’s maṇḍala of deities and mantras—are one in essence, yet manifest as the inconceivable diversity of sights, sounds, and thoughts, which are neither good nor bad and require neither acceptance nor rejection.

In this spontaneously perfect display of the five perfections, there is no distinction between the deities of the maṇḍala to be accomplished and the awareness-holder gurus who accomplish it; they are the primordially great non-dual nature. When directly perceiving their true faces, even without deliberately cultivating the conceptual[12] generation and completion stages, the supreme, ultimate deity—the naturally perfected[13] great absolute—is directly seen. Indeed, as The Vidyādhara’s Manual of Concealed Instructions states:

Until deity, appearances, and dharmatā
All merge into one, plant the dagger
That holds firm the crucial points of samādhi.

The root verses continue:

Through our practice of the vehicle of luminosity, this heart-essence of the mother and ḍākinīs,
Grant us, we pray, the siddhi of the rainbow body, the dharmakāya!

Cherished and protected by the mother and the vast ocean-like gathering of ḍākinīs, the guardians of the great secret tantras, this profound teaching arises from the refined quint-essence at the very heart of the ocean of Dharma traditions of sūtra and tantra. It precisely reveals the inconceivable reality of ultimate and definitive luminosity in accordance with the noble buddhas’ wisdom realization. By practicing the secret path of this sublime vehicle, one is granted the supreme siddhi of the Dharma—the realization of the stage of the path beyond learning—where buddhahood is actualized. At this stage, the body dissolves into the rainbow body, speech merges with the indestructible dharmadhātu, and mind becomes the dharmakāya, the inseparable union of profundity and luminosity.

Although the profound intent of the omniscient guru’s vajra speech lies beyond the grasp of ordinary minds, I have set down what arose in my heart from the condition of faith to the best of my understanding. If these words align with the intended meaning, I offer them as cloudbanks of offerings to bring joy to the assembly of vajra siblings.

With sincere regret and confession for any errors of bias or carelessness, this was written by the wandering fool from Eastern Tibet, the humble monk Maṅgala Śrī Bhūti, during the feast gathering of Palchen Düpa (Awesome Ones' Assembly) at the Paro Kyichu temple in Bhutan. May it serve as a cause for all beings to join the festival of supreme siddhis.

| Samye Translations (trans. Stefan Mang and Lowell Cook), 2025.

Bibliography

Primary Source

dil mgo mkhyen brtse. "tshogs glu las smon rten 'brel gyi sbas don rnam par gsal ba rig stong dgongs pa'i snang byed." In skyabs rje dil mgo mkhyen brtse rin po che'i bka' 'bum, Vol. 13: 349–352. Delhi: Shechen Publications, 1994.

Secondary Sources

Bogin, Benjamin. "Karma and Aspirations Converge: On Tendrel, Tsok, and Two Portraits of Jigmé Lingpa" in Holly Gayley and Andrew Quintman (ed.) Living Treasure: Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in Honor of Janet Gyatso, Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2023: 177–191.

Jigme Lingpa. The Vidyādhara's Manual of Concealed Instructions. Trans. Adam Pearcey, Lotsawa House.

Version: 1.1-20250825