The Excellent Vase of Ambrosial Advice

The Excellent Vase of Ambrosial Advice[1]

by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö

I pay homage to the lord guru.

Child, without procrastinating,
Meditate on death’s uncertain hour,
Reflect on the faults of saṃsāra,
And, in view of causality, adopt and abandon meticulously.

Continually discipline your own mind.
Embrace mindfulness, vigilance and conscientiousness.
And constantly train your mind in bodhicitta,
Which is the very essence of the Dharma.

Develop the sincere, undeceitful wish
To be of benefit to all sentient beings.
And, with stable faith and devotion,
Pray to your glorious root guru
From the very core of your heart.
Receive empowerment and merge mind and wisdom.
In that experience, you’ll find mind has never arisen—
Its essence is empty, its nature is clarity,
And its resonance, the radiance of awareness, unceasing.
Once, through the kindness of the guru, you recognize
This pristine wisdom, the fourth part beyond the three,[2]
In which the three kāyas are indivisible,
Settle naturally without contrivance.
Unbound by dualistic conceptions,
Allow whatever arises to be spontaneously freed.

Exert yourself constantly in the approach and accomplishment
Of the Three Roots, and make prayers of aspiration.

Acting in this way will prove significant.

Through my imparting this brief counsel
With a loving intention,
May your mind be benefitted
And the twofold benefit of self and other be spontaneously accomplished.

This was spoken by Chökyi Lodrö.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Khyentse Foundation and Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2022.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. gsung thor bu/_'jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros/ (rgya gar bir'i par ma/). (BDRC W21814). 2 vols. null: null, null. Vol. 2: 72–74

'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros. "zhal gdams bdud rtsi’i bum bzang" in 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi blo gros kyi gsung 'bum. 12 vols. Bir, H.P.: Khyentse Labrang, 2012. (W1KG12986) Vol. 8: 335–336

Version: 1.2-20230416