An Exhortation

Translator's Introduction

These words of advice from Khenmo Rigdzin Chödrön of Larung Gar were shared widely on social media several years ago. Although written as an appeal to Tibetans in particular, the verses have universal relevance. The author, Khenmo Rigdzin Chödrön, represents a new generation of highly educated, dynamic female scholars.

Khenmo Rigdzin Chödrön was born in 1978 in the Kongpo region of Tibet. At the age of fourteen, she was ordained at Shugseb Nunnery at Gangri Thökar, the site of Longchen Rabjam's former residence, and educated there as well as later at Larung Gar. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok (1933–2004) awarded her the title of khenmo in 1997, and she has been involved in the education and training of future khenmos ever since. She is also a contributor to the groundbreaking Gangkar Lhamo (Goddess of the Snowy Range) journal founded by Khenmo Kusum Chödrön in 2011. In a major article for the journal, "The Way Forward for You and Me", she championed female empowerment and greater opportunities for nuns. You can learn more about Khenmo Rigdzin Chödrön and read a translation (by Padma 'tsho) of her article "The Way Forward for You and Me" in Voices from Larung Gar: Shaping Tibetan Buddhism for the Twenty-First Century edited by Holly Gayley (Snow Lion Publications, 2021).

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An Exhortation to All Tibetans

by Khenmo Rigdzin Chödrön

You have conquered all the sufferings of saṃsāra, so difficult to bear,
And offer swift protection as the deity who embodies the buddhas’ activity,
Goddess who is without the eight flaws and gives vision to all beings:
Throughout all my lives, I honour you at the crown of my head!

If we do not relax our intense feelings of longing
For attractive objects of desire, outer and inner,
Happiness will never arise in our limited minds.
Therefore, to have few desires is my exhortation.

The inability to tolerate the wealth that others have,
Which they have gained through merit and effort,
Will eventually be the cause of our own downfall.
Therefore, to abandon envy is my exhortation.

The wealth and splendour that we amass is meaningless,
And even if we cling to it, unable to offer it to others,
It is never truly ours, only a cause of further suffering.
Therefore, to abandon miserliness is my exhortation.

While lacking basic human qualities such as a noble temperament
Or great learning and knowledge of the five sciences,
We might be puffed up by the thought of some minor virtue,
But to abandon such pride is my exhortation.

So that the excellent tradition of being polite and respectful
To the parents who have cared for us since we were tiny,
And to other men and women senior in years does not decline,
To respect one’s elders is my exhortation.

Forsaking entirely inappropriate, negative behaviour,
Such as being unreliable, undignified and immodest,
Acting with impropriety or spoiling one’s own body,
To respect one’s spouse is my exhortation.

Since you must offer the very greatest wealth, an education,
To the sons and daughters born from your own bodies,
Do not neglect them like animals, but teach them properly:
Thus, to raise your children with love is my exhortation.

Without due care, we’ll confuse what must be adopted and avoided,
And, in others’ eyes, appear hostile, even crazed,
Losing our stability and opening the way to errors:
Thus, to abandon carelessness is my exhortation.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey at the suggestion of Alak Zenkar Rinpoche, 2017.

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