The Eight Auspicious Nobles Ones in Verse

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE THE PRAYER BY JU MIPHAM NAMGYAL

TRANSLATED BY TONY DUFF PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

Copyright and Fair Usage Notice Copyright © Tony Duff 2008. All rights reserved. The translations and commentaries contained herein are made available online as a gift of dharma. They are being offered with the intent that anyone may download them, print them out, read and study them, share them with friends, and even copy and redistribute the files privately. Still, the following must be observed: • The files may be copied and given to others privately provided that no fee is charged for them. • Other web-sites are encouraged to link to this page. However, the files may only be put up for distribution on other sites with the expressed permission of the author. • Neither the files nor their content are in the public domain; the copyright for both remains with the author. • In accord with standard copyright law, you may use reasonable portions of these files for your own work, publication or translations. If you cite from them or use them in that way, please cite these files as if they were printed books. Please make it clear in your work which portions of your text is coming from our translation and which portions are based on other sources.

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE THE PRAYER BY JU MIPHAM NAMGYAL

TRANSLATED BY TONY DUFF PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

For enquiries regarding permission to reproduce this book or any portion of it, or to obtain further books, please write to the given address or contact the author via internet and e-mail.

Copyright © 2008 Tony Duff. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher. Second edition, February 2009 Palatino typeface with diacritical marks and Tibetan Classic typeface courtesy of Tibetan Computer Company Produced, Printed, and Published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee P.O. Box 4957 Kathmandu NEPAL Committee members who worked on this publication: Lama Tony Duff, Chris Vicevich. Web-site and e-mail contact through: http://www.tibet.dk/pktc Or search Padma Karpo Translation Committee on the web.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE . . . . . . . . . . 1 A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 TIBETAN TEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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INTRODUCTION

This book is about a very popular prayer in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, called the “Eight Auspicious Noble Ones in Verse”. The prayer is actually an invocation of auspiciousness that was written by the great Nyingma guru, Ju Mipham Namgyal Gyatso. There were many translations of the prayer around at the time of writing. The verses of the invocation that come after the first verse are straightforward and not difficult to translate, though, even then, they have not always been translated correctly. The first verse contains ideas which have not become common yet amongst Westerners and because of that, it seems, this verse till now has not been translated correctly. Chris Vicevich approached me early this year, asking me to help him with the problems that he was finding in other translations. The result was this new translation and a small commentary to help clarify the meaning. As the work progressed, we realized that we could make this into a very nice exercise in translation, which we could offer for free to help those trying to learn Tibetan and how to translate from Tibetan. We created the exercise and included it in here after the invocation and commentary on it. Then, to make the whole book complete, we supplied the Tibetan text of the invocation.

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The book is meant both for practitioners and for those who are trying to learn to translate Tibetan texts. For the former, the new and correct translation with commentary should be helpful. For the latter, the attention to detail in the translation exercise and the provision of the Tibetan text so that it can be compared with the translation should of special interest.

STUDY TOOLS In general, the Padma Karpo Translation Committee has published a wide range of books on Buddhist dharma. Reading nearly any of them will help anyone to understand more about both the subject and the language involved. Certainly all of them will be helpful to anyone who is seriously trying to become a translator. See our website at the address given on the copyright page; you will find free texts and texts for sale there, all of them prepared to the highest level of quality. You will also find many aids for those wanting to translate. We would strongly recommend the Illuminator Tibetan-English Dictionary as something you should use if you are translating. In addition, you will want to use it in conjunction with the translation exercise; it contains a large amount of information about Tibetan grammar in general and all of the points mentioned in the exercise in particular. You would also be interested in our major work on Tibetan grammar, The Thirty Verses of Minister Thumi, which presents, for the first time in the West, Tibetan grammar as it is actually used and understood by Tibetans. In fact, the translation exercise in here is founded on the principles of Tibetan grammar which are laid out very extensively in that book.

THE VERSES

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Finally, there are other publications on our website which can be used as exercises in translation. May all be auspicious for you, Lama Tony Duff Padma Karpo Translation Committee Swayambhunath, Nepal, 5th February, 2009.

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

If you recite this one time at the beginning of any undertaking, it will cause it to be accomplished easily and in accordance with your wishes. Therefore, turn your attention to it. OṂ

Apparent existence is complete purity’s nature, spontaneous presence; Its auspiciousness is the noble assemblies—the buddhas, dharmas, And saṅghas, who reside in the fields of the ten directions; Paying homage to them all may there be auspiciousness for us! Homage to the Eight Sugatas — Dronme Gyalpo, Tsalten Dondrup Gong, Jampa’i Gyen Pal, Gedrak Pal Dampa, Kunla Gongpa Gyacher Drakpa Chen, Lhunpo Tar Phak Tsal Drak Pal, Semchen Tamche la Gong Drakpa’i Pal, Yid Tshim Dzaypa Tsal Rab Drak Pal— Even hearing their names rouses auspiciousness and glory! 1

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Homage to the eight bodhisatvas— Youthful Mañjuśhrī, glorious Vajrapāṇi, Avalokiteśhvara, guardian Maitreya, Kṣhitigarbha, Nivaranaviskambin, Ākāśhagarbha, and the most noble Samantabhadra, Who, holding their insignia of utpala, vajra, White lotus, Nāga Tree, jewel, moon, sword, and sun, Are the supreme ones of auspiciousness and glory. Homage to the eight auspicious goddesses— The ladies of the eight excellent precious symbols— The excellent precious umbrella, auspicious golden fish, Good wish-fulfilling vase, exquisite Kamala flower, Conch of fame, glorious endless knot of perfect abundance, Ever victorious victory banner, and wheel of governance— Who offer to and delight the conquerors throughout time and space; Remembrance of your specific qualities of charm, and so on, increases glory. Homage to the Eight Protectors of the World— Great Braḥmā, Shambhu, Narayana, Thousand-Eyed, the Kings Dhṛiṭarāṣhṭra, Virudhaka, Nāga Ruler Virūpākṣha, And Vaiśhravaṇa—who hold the divine articles of Wheel, trident, short spear, vajra, Vīṇā, sword, stūpa, and banner of victory, and Increase the auspiciousness of virtue in the three levels’ abodes.

THE TEXT

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May the undertaking we are about to begin here Have all obstacles and harmful influences pacified, Proceed with success, then be accomplished as desired. May there be auspiciousness, goodness, and perfection. The supreme Conqueror has said that: If recited on rising, the day’s plans will all be achieved; If recited on sleeping, good dreams will be seen; If recited on entering battle, there will be total victory; If recited on starting a project, the plans for it will succeed; If recited continuously, there will be an excellence of glory, fame, and wealth, Perfection of goodness, and accomplishment of projects as desired; And all meaningfulness of cleansing evil and obscuration and rising to the definite goodness of higher stations will be accomplished. This, a great jewel encrusted Doshal necklace, came forth from the oceanic mind of Jampal Gyes pa’i Dorje in the third month of the Fire Monkey year, during a favourable conjunction of the planets, sun, and constellation Pushya. Sarva Mangalam. Translated by Lama Tony Duff in the magic forest of Broceliande, the place of Merlin, Arthur, and the fairies, in April 2008, with assistance from Chris Vicevich.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER

This prayer is an invocation. It is based on various things mentioned by the Buddha relevant to the development of auspiciousness. The author has summed up what the Buddha said and put it into four lines verses, together invocations to the various principles of auspiciousness. Thus it becomes a prayer for making a connection with auspiciousness. The invocations start with the highest principles connected with auspiciousness and proceed in order through lesser ones. According to Buddhism, ultimate auspiciousness is the Three Jewels, so the first verse connects with them. There are many reasons why the Three Jewels are the ultimate auspiciousness. You will find a long explanation of the subject in the book “Unending Auspiciousness”1 which contains a complete explanation both by myself and by Ju Mipham of the Sūtra of the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels. The next most auspicious principle will be the buddhas in general and they are mentioned here as a group of eight sugatas that Śhākyamuni Buddha connected especially with auspiciousness. Sugata

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By Tony Duff, published by Padma Karpo Translation Committee.

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is one of many names for a person who has become a buddha. Their names are mentioned as their Tibetan names. The next most auspicious principle will be the bodhisatva mahasatvas. There are bodhisatvas still caught in saṃsāra and those who have transcended saṃsāra. The ones who have transcended saṃsāra abide on the bodhisatva levels. The Buddha said that there were ten such levels. He explained that those on the first through seventh levels had the danger that they could fall back within the levels. However, those on the eighth, ninth, and tenth, because they had purified their minds so extensively, could not fall back and were close to being truly complete buddhas. All bodhisatvas on the levels are called “bodhisatvas”. However, the bodhisatvas dwelling on the eighth through tenth bhūmis, which are called the pure one’s bhūmis, are given an extra name to indicate how special they have become. They are called bodhisatva mahasatvas, the great being type of bodhisatvas. Thus, the name mahasatva when seen with the name bodhisatva is not just another nice name but specifically tells you that this is a bodhisatva on the levels of the pure ones. Śhākyamuni Buddha had eight, bodhisatva mahasatva heart sons. They were very far advanced and some of them like Maitreya, Mañjuśhrī, and Samantabhadra were on the tenth level, about to become buddhas. Each of the eight has his own insignia in the form of something carried, and those are mentioned in the verse, in the same order as the names of the heart-son bodhisatvas. The level of auspiciousness connected with the eight is similar to the level of auspiciousness connected with the principles mentioned in the previous verses.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE PRAYER

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Next comes a set of eight things that the Buddha himself stated to be auspicious. These have been honoured as “the eight auspicious items” throughout Buddhist history. Here, they are put together with goddesses who carry them as an offering of auspiciousness. The eight auspicious items are mentioned in the text. Each of the eight goddesses has her individual, specific good quality. The first one’s quality of “charm” is mentioned in the invocation. Next comes the great gods of our era who can exert a positive effect on our world. These gods were all well-known to ancient Indian culture and the Buddha included them in his teaching. A lot could be said about them, which would involve recounting ancient Indian cultural stories and Buddhist stories, too. The key point though is that all of them, according to the Buddha, have the ability to exert a positive effect on our world. If you stay on their good side, and invoke them, they could provide you with auspiciousness. There are two sets of gods here, the first four and the second four each are a group. The first four are the great gods of Indian culture in general. Great Braḥmā is the great god Braḥmā who has a wheel as his insignia. Shambhu is a name for the great god Śhiva, who has a trident as his insignia. Narayana is a name for the great god Viṣhṇu who has a short spear as his insignia. Thousand-eyed is a name for the great god Indra who carries a vajra as his insignia. All of them have great power and can have significant effect over the human realm. The second group of four is the four guardian kings. The level of existence immediately above the human realm is a set of four realms, one associated with each of the four cardinal directions. Each one is controlled by a king and that king and his minions—which in each case includes powerful spirits—can exert a strong influence on the human realm. Collectively, these gods

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are all traditionally associated with the idea of bringing down auspiciousness in one form or another. Following the invocations, all done in sets of eight, just as mentioned in the title, there is one, four-line verse of aspiration for auspiciousness. That is followed by two more four line verses that go together to complete the invocation. These verses sum up the possibilities, as stated by the Buddha, when these various principles are invoked for auspiciousness. The last section at the end, which says, “if recited continuously” consists of two lines that indicate the worldly benefits of doing so followed by the very last line that indicates the non-worldly, that is dharmic, benefits of doing so. The colophon of the prayer mentions the time and circumstance of the invocation’s composition. A doshal necklace is one of the three types of necklace traditionally worn by the gods and the women of Indian Hindu society and which was taken as one of the ornaments of Buddhist sambhogakāya deities. It is a very long necklace that hangs all the way down below the breast and above the navel and is encrusted in a specific fashion with gems. It is the most magnificent of the three types of necklace worn in that culture and hence by sambhogakāya deities. That gives you some sense of how he thinks of the invocation he has just composed. The translation was originally done by Lama Tony in France, in the magic forest of Broceliande, the place of Merlin, Arthur, and the fairies. Just after that, Chris Vicevich took an active interest and gave a great deal of assistance to the work.

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER A SMALL EXERCISE IN TRANSLATION

INTRODUCTION This is a small exercise in translation using the well-known and popular prayer written by Ju Mipham Namgyal called,

7.#<-ý-

/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊ “The Eight Auspicious

Noble Ones In Verse”.

The prayer itself is not difficult to translate except for the first verse. The first verse uses concepts that are not well known in the West and, because of that, it has not, to our knowledge, been correctly translated until now. This exercise focusses on the first verse, going through every step needed to understand how to translate it and offering many critical insights into the translation process on the way. The exercise is not based on any of the various ideas about Tibetan grammar that have been invented by Westerners for teaching Tibetan grammar. Systems like the “science of the dots” found in one popular book about translating from the Tibetan are fabrications which we believe take the student away from being able to understand Tibetan text correctly. This exercise is founded directly and 9

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THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

exactly in Tibetan grammar. It will be unfamiliar and not easy, in many cases, we are sure. However, the exercise is not intended to be easy. It is on the other hand, intended to give real insight into how to translate using Tibetan grammar itself. If you can follow it through, we are sure that it will help you. This exercise assumes that you can read Tibetan letters well enough to identify Tibetan “words”. If you can’t do that, read along anyway, and we are sure you will still be able to obtain valuable lessons. The exercise is available in this Adobe PDF file. Several key terms have been marked with this symbol L to remind you that you could look the terms up on the fly in our Illuminator Tibetan-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary. We strongly recommend the dictionary for use with this exercise; the dictionary is packed with authoritative information on Tibetan grammar and will expand considerably on several items mentioned in the brief introduction given here. The dictionary, together with all relevant files and many other useful materials can be found on our web site, which is provided on the copyright page at the front of the book. If you find this exercise helpful, please mention it to others and suggest they use it and our software. This is the one thing that we ask in return for our work for you. Thank you in advance.

BASIC PROCEDURES The first step in translating Tibetan text is to break the text down into its parts of speech. This procedure is not something specially invented for Tibetan translation, to the contrary, it is something that anyone who hears or reads a language has to do in order to understand what is being said or written. When you know the

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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language well, your mind does it for you so fast that you don’t notice the process, but it does get done, nonetheless. As a far as we are concerned, there is no choice for anyone learning to translate Tibetan except to go through this process laboriously again and again until that person can do it quickly and correctly. To be able to follow this procedure means that you have to learn the structure of Tibetan language and learn its parts of speech. The structures of Tibetan grammar have not been correctly identified in the few texts that are available in the West on Tibetan grammar. The parts of speech have been identified mainly through Western ideas about what they might be rather than through learning Tibetan grammar itself. This is a fact and it is one of the principal reasons why there is so little good translation of Tibetan texts available these days. We will be using the names of the structures and some of the parts of speech of Tibetan language in this exercise. One feature of the Illuminator Tibetan-English Encyclopaedic Dictionary is that every single structure and part of Tibetan speech is named, identified, and extensively explained on its own terms, often using quotations from Tibetan grammar texts and with translations of those provided. It is a remarkable resource for that alone and should be used by anyone who is interested in Tibetan grammar. The Illuminator has an extraordinary amount of information on grammar contained in it and also contains many insights into the meanings of dharma terminology that cannot be found elsewhere.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF TIBETAN GRAMMAR What are the structures that make up English text? You might not have thought about it but, if you are reading this, you are using

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THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

your knowledge of the structures of the English language as the first step towards understanding what you are reading! If you want to understand Tibetan text, you have to develop the same ability with Tibetan. Both English and Tibetan languages start with letters. This exercise assumes that the reader is familiar with those and says no more about them. As the next step after letters, English has “words” and only words as its basic structures of language. Each one stands in its own right and can be investigated to find out what it means and how it relates to the other words around it. Tibetan is not like that. Tibetan has a more complicated structure and you do have to know and understand it to read and understand Tibetan. Be sure on this point: every Tibetan does learn to do this. Just as you know how English works even if you cannot explain it to someone else, Tibetans do know the structure of their language and can use it, even if the average Tibetan cannot explain it to someone else. Tibetan language has not one but two types of structure. It has what are called L “grammatical names” and what are called L “phrase linkers” or just L “linkers” for short. A series of grammatical names and phrase linkers written one after the other, with punctuation marks as needed, is exactly what makes up Tibetan text.

2Ý#-n+-

0Ü$-

n+-

A grammatical name is not a noun. It is a primitive part of speech that carries meaning. It is used to provide all of the parts of speech that have meaning in them: noun, verb, adjective, adverb. It cannot show relationship or do any of the many things needed to make meaning-type words into an expression. Therefore, some kind of

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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linker is needed to join the grammatical names together. The linkers do the works of joining the grammatical names together so that there can be meaningful expressions. These grammatical names and linkers are the basic structures of Tibetan language. Now, these structures need something to separate them so that they can be individually identified. In English, words are separated with a space. In Tibetan, the individual structures of grammatical names and linkers are separated with a mark. The mark is called a L “tsheg”. This mark is not a “dot” as some Western grammar books insist. It’s name also does not mean “dot”. The mark itself signifies a break and its name “tsheg” means exactly that, “a break”. It makes a lot of sense.

2é#<-

Look at the piece of Tibetan text here and you will see the tshegs as small marks like this separating the grammatical names and

7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ýÊ linkers of the text:

You might think, “Isn’t there an easier way to refer to the basic structures of Tibetan text? In English, all I have to do is say “word” and that takes care of it all! For Tibetan, do I have to say “grammatical names and linkers” all the time just to refer to the basic structures of the language?” The answer is no, you don’t. The Tibetan grammarians made a specific name for them. That name is L “intertsheg”. It literally means that which sits between tshegs. That also makes a lot of sense!

2é#<-/9-

A point to note here is that Westerners, not understanding Tibetan grammar on its own terms, have not even known that there was a name for the basic “words” of Tibetan language and have called them “syllables”. An intertsheg is not a syllable and should not

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be called such. As a matter of fact, Tibetan language does not even have a word for “syllables”, at least not according to how English defines a syllable! According to Tibetan grammar’s own description, its basic structures are grammatical names and linkers and these have the common feature that they are always marked off by and sit in between the break points of text, called tshegs. Therefore, they are, as mentioned above, called “intertshegs”. There has been tremendous resistance to stop calling these as “syllables” and start calling them by their correct name. I think it strange that demonstrating vigorously for Tibetan rights and freedom but fail to honour the language, insisting instead on using unrelated Western ideas to talk about it. If we want to honour Tibetan culture, shouldn’t we honour its language, too, and use the names the language has for itself?! Would you call a French cedilla “a funny c mark” or would you call it a “cedilla”? You would call it a cedilla of course, so let’s start calling a Tibetan intertsheg an intertsheg and stop calling “syllable” which is not even a correct name for what they are! Now, if we go a step further, we find out that Tibetan grammar considers Tibetan language to be made up of what it calls grammatical names and L “grammatical phrases”. A grammatical phrase is a grammatical name with a phrase linker attached to it. It is necessary to understand all of these details but, for the sake of not making this too complicated, we are going to leave out a discussion of grammatical phrases and just go ahead with this

2Ý#-

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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exercise using the most basic structures of the language, grammatical names and phrase linkers.

THE ACTUAL EXERCISE We will now parse the title and first verse of the prayer using the Tibetan system just described. When we have parsed the text correctly, it will be possible to look at the Tibetan text, get the meanings of the grammatical names, and find out how they have been related to each other using the linkers. After that, we are underway, and can start turning what we have found into English. This way we do everything correctly according to the needs of the source and target languages, both.

The Title 1. The first step is to break the text down totally into its component parts. This is done like this:

ÉÊ Ê7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊÊ punctuation grammatical name phrase linker 2. The next step is to go through the text, going in Tibetan reading order, left to right, until we find a phrase linker. We let the phrase linker provide a stop point and we look to see what has happened up till there. When you read Tibetan text the way a Tibetan does, this is what you do.

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First there is some punctuation. As a matter of interest, the punctuation does have a distinct meaning but this is beyond the scope of the discussion here.

7.#<-

After that comes a grammatical name followed by the phrase linker . We stop at the linker and look at the grammatical names before it and the linker itself. This particular linker is called “a sign of the owner”. It affects the grammatical name to which it has been appended. To explain its effect properly and fully would be a major exercise though, as mentioned before, you will find more about it in the Illuminator Dictionary; try looking up L or search for “term of the owner”. For the moment, we will say that it makes the primitive grammatical name into a concrete noun, a verb, or other other part of speech carrying meaning such as an adjective or adverb. In this particular case, is functioning as a concrete noun that is the official Tibetan translation equivalent for the Sanskrit term “ārya”. Ārya is usually translated into English with “noble one” these days. It is a good translation though, unfortunately, most people think it just means “very fine” and do not understand the specific meaning that Buddha gave to it. The loss of meaning involved in that is great, which is why some people prefer to use the Sanskrit “ārya”.

ý-

/+#-ýë7Ü-…-

7.#<-ý-

After that comes a run of three grammatical names one after the other; followed by what looks like a linker . The is actually two linkers joined together: which is the sign of the owner mentioned earlier with the linker joined into it.

ý7Ü-

/g-;Ü<-/{+-

ý-

ý7Ü-

7Ü-

/g-;Ü<-/{+-

If we investigate the part, we find out that it comes out to two, separate units of meaning. The first is two grammatical names which, together, make one unit of meaning. It is which can be either the noun “auspiciousness” or the adjective

/g-;Ü<-

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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“auspicious”. It is followed by a single grammatical name that is one unit of meaning; it is which is the noun “eight”. Then, finishing this run is the phrase linker which is another term of the owner, the same as before. It turns the whole thing so far into a concrete noun phrase. Thus, for this run, we have a phrase “that which is the eight auspiciousnesses”.

/{+-

ý-

There is a second linker after that, so we have to look at that immediately. It is which, by definition in Tibetan grammar, is a connective case marker. When you see it, it says to you, “What is to the left of me is joined to what is to the right of me in a connective case relationship”. Tibetan grammar has eight cases, sometimes listed as seven. The connective case is the sixth case.

7Ü-

L

If you are not sure what a “case” is, then you must go and learn more of your own language. To translate, you have to know the grammar of both source and target languages.

The connective case of Tibetan is similar to the “genitive” or “possessive” case of English. However, it is not exactly the same. To find out exactly what is happening here, we have to look to the right. So we move on to the next run of text.

2Ý#<-

Next comes a grammatical name followed by a phrase linker . The grammatical name means “line of verse”. The linker is functioning to show how the action of a verb is being done. You could say that is an adverb. Again, we have to look to the right so see where the verb is.

<ß-

<ß-

2Ý#<-<ß-

/%+-

ý-

Next comes the grammatical name followed by the linker again. The grammatical name is functioning as a verb. The verb

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is the past tense form of the verb “to cut”, meaning “has been cut”. The linker again has the sense of producing a concrete noun type of thing. When you make a noun out of a verb you have a gerund and that is what we have here. Now we have to put all of that together. We have found the verb that the linker and the grammatical name modify. We have a verb phrase . It means “that which has been cut up into lines of verse”. In other words, “a setting into verse” or “a versification”.

<ß-

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

2Ý#<-

The easier and better way to translate this is not to dig through the individual intertshegs as we have just done but to recognize the whole thing as the official Tibetan translation for prose that has been set into the particular type of Sanskrit verse called “gatha”. Gatha is a type of verse that has a particular rhythm and has four lines per verse. In Tibetan verse, the Sanskrit system of rhythm is not kept but the need for four lines per verse when talking about was kept. The literal translation tells us about the verb and adverb combination but it doesn’t give us this extra information. This illustrates the point, developed further on, that you need a lot of knowledge to be able to translate Tibetan.

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

Here is another point that would not be immediately obvious. There is a term of the owner on the end of which makes it into a noun type of verb. However, that does not mean that you can jump to the conclusion that it means “verse”. There is a term in Tibetan, which, if you look, seems to be an abbreviation of . Many translators do jump to this conclusion. However, that is an error. The term is a noun, pure and simple. It means “verse”. However, is a verbal expression and it is a gerund and Tibetan verb theory gives it a very

2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

2Ý#<-/%+2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

2Ý#<-/%+2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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special explanation. If we were to translate this here simply as “verse”, we would be making a mistake. By using the particular construction that he did, the author was telling us in the title that this is a case not of “verse” but of something “having been set into verse (by him, the author)”. In this prayer, he has taken various teachings of the Buddha, put them together, and set them to verse, too. He did not write “verse” in the title as many have translated but wrote that this has been made into verse, which is what he did. This is an excellent example of how easy it is, not knowing the details of Tibetan grammar, to make wrong assumptions, and to lose or change the meaning in the process. Friends, there is a lot to learn! Next comes the end of the title with another grammatical name followed by a phrase linker. The is a grammatical name functioning as a verb. In Sanskrit, and in Tibetan following it, book titles are ended with a verb that says, “resides here”. This verb here is that verb. English book titles do not use that system. Instead titles are simply written as the title, therefore, we pass over the current term and do not translate it. The phrase linker at the end of the title is one of a particular set of phrase linkers called “completing terms”. You might like to look that up in the Illuminator under L . Completing terms have the purpose of showing that a complete expression has been brought to a close. They are the equivalent of an English full stop (American readers, this means a period). If you ask how to translate it, in this case it comes out as a punctuation mark, rather than text, though there is the complication that is can also function as the verb to be followed by a full stop.

/º¥#<-

<ëÊ

Jë#<-2Ý#-

Now, we put all of this together. We have “noble ones + eight auspicious ones + connective case marker + has been set into verse + (do not translate) + full stop”. The connective case marker conveys,

20

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

in its most general definition, the sense of one thing being related to another. Thus we could try this out as “the setting into verse that is related to the eight auspicious noble ones”. In proper English, with capitalization for the title, and with the full stop dropped because it is a title, that comes down to “The Eight Noble Auspicious Ones Set to / in Verse”. We could shorten that to “The Eight Noble Auspicious Ones in Verse”. If we did that, we lose a little of the meaning in the Tibetan but then in English convention, by saying “in verse” in a title, you are implying that something has been set into verse, so this might be an acceptable way of doing it. Whatever else it is, it is not “The Verses of ...”. That translation misses the point that the author used a specific wording that indicated that this was deliberately set into verse by him.

The Introductory Note The next thing in the text is a short note from Mipham with advice on how to use the actual invocation. We will go through it briefly and partially using the method above. Before we do though, let’s make it really clear: the phrase linkers are the key point of key points in Tibetan grammar. Thumi Sambhota, in his root text on grammar, states that the really important thing in understanding Tibetan language is to understand the phrase linkers. There are several reasons for that and he explains them all. Above all, the linkers are points at which the nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs of the language—all of which come as the grammatical names—are joined together and have their specific relationships shown. Any Tibetan who reads a text is watching the flow and picking the linkers out as the points where there has to be a moment of pause and estimation of what has gone before and what is being said about what comes next.

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

21

So, we do the same, just as was done above. The linkers are marked in red, everything else, by definition, is grammatical name.

:<-#$-5Ü#-Ië0-ý-,-*ë#-09-7+Ü-29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-iá/-ý-/+è-/-8Ü+/5Ü,-¸¥-eè+-ý9-7b²9-/<-%Ü-,<-8Ü+-:-e7ëÊ Ê If you recite this one time at the beginning of any undertaking, it will cause it to be accomplished easily and in accordance with your wishes. Therefore, turn your attention to it. Notice that there are many linkers in this run of text. This makes the text easy to understand. There is lots of direction given by the linkers for how the various grammatical names should be understood and how they relate to each other. Compare this with the first verse of the prayer in which some lines have almost no linkers and can, therefore, be very difficult to understand.

:<-

The first run starts with the grammatical name meaning action or job or work and ends with which is two phrase linkers that have a predefined function; it means “something”. Literally, it is “some work”. The next item is the grammatical name followed by the linker ; this is the present tense of the verb meaning “to begin” or “to start” or “to undertake” something and again the term of the owner on the end makes it into a noun, so “the beginning of something”. Following that is the linker which has many different meanings; in this case, it is like the preposition “at” or, because this is about time, it could be “when”. Following that is the grammatical name followed by the linker which has the linker joined into it. The means the initial position as opposed to the end position; the added to it is another form of the term of the owner; the is an instance of a specific type of linker called a “la-equivalent” that shows where or when

Ië0Ië0-ý-

ý-

#$-5Ü#Ië0-ý-

,-

0-

9-

ý-

9-

*ë#*ë#0-

22

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

in this case, a verbal action is done. Altogether, the beginning” that is, before anything else.

Ië0-ý-,-

*ë#-09- means “at

*ë#-09-

The two phrases and both seem to be saying “at the beginning”. What is the difference between them? The means “when you start some undertaking”. The is a very general word for the earliest time. So we have, “When you start out on some undertaking, the first thing...”.

*ë#-0-

Ië0-ý-

7+Ü- which is the pronoun “this”. 29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-; three grammatical names Following that is the run ,- 29- is a grammatical name functioning followed by the linker . The as the adverb “time” meaning number of times that something is #%Ü#- is a grammatical name functioning as the noun “one”; done; /Bë+- is a grammatical name functioning as the past tense of the Bë+-ý-, to express verbally. The ,- here is showing a conditional verb Following that is a linker

case. Thus we have “if you express /say one time...”.

iá/-ý-

The next run is which is a grammatical name functioning as the past tense of the intransitive verb with the linker which again provides a noun-like, that is, gerundial meaning, to the verb. This means “the accomplishment” of a task.

/+è-/-

7iá/-ý-

ý-

The next run is which again is a grammatical name followed by a linker. This linker, like the and we have already seen, is a term of the owner and makes the grammatical name it is attached to more concrete. In this case, the is a noun in Tibetan but has to be translated as an adjective in English; “easily, comfortably, without trouble” . It modifies the preceding term “accomplishment” so we have literally, “an accomplishment that is an easy type of accomplishment”.

ý-

0/+è-/-

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

8Ü+-/5Ü,-¸¥-

23

Next we have the run which consists of one grammatical name followed by two linkers. The is a grammatical name functioning as a noun. It is a general word for ordinary, mentating kind of mind. The after it provides a meaning of “consistent with, according to how something is”, so we have “as it has been thought of”. The final linker is like the linker which we saw in the title. It means that we need to find the verb to go with what has just been said.

8Ü+-

/5Ü,-

¸¥-

<ß-

The verb is immediately to the right. It is in the next run which is . First is a grammatical name functioning as a verb. This is the verb “to do”. It is followed by which is two linkers joined together, and . The first one is our concretizing linker again. It makes the verb into a gerund, a noun-like verb, again. The second one shows the location at which a verbal action is done. The two together are exactly like the already seen earlier in the sentence. To find out what the verb is, we have to look to the right again. We find the next run of which consists of a grammatical name followed by another double linker . The grammatical name is a grammatical name functioning as a verb and this is the verb we were looking for. The verb is an auxiliary verb used to give the meaning “will become a certain way”. Combined with the previous verb and the phrase before that, we get “will happen that it is done in a way that is according to how mind thinks about it”. In other words, it will get done according to how the person involved would like to see it happen.

eè+-ý9-

ý-

eè+ý9-

9-

7b²97b²9-

/<-

*ë#-097b²9-/<-

The last run has a double linker on the end. The first linker is our concretizing again. So that just makes all of what we just said into a concrete thing. The following that is a linker that requires a lot of explanation but comes down to meaning, “because of that being so”.

/-

<-

24

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

%Ü-,<-

The next run is two linkers . This is a standard phrase that means “whatever else you do”.

8Ü+-:-

8Ü+-

The next run is which is the grammatical name that we saw just before, meaning thinking or mentating mind. The is a linker that again shows the location of a verbal action (look up “la equivalent” in the Illuminator). If we look to the right we find the run . This is actually , the grammatical name with the linker joined into it. We separate them, as before, to understand the meaning. The grammatical name is the verb we are looking for. It is the future tense of the verb “to do” and translates exactly as “shall do” though that particular form of English, has, unfortunately because it is the correct meaning, fallen out of favour. That means we have something like “shall do in the thinking mind”. As with the “set into verse” phrase that we found in the title, is a verb phrase that specifically translates a Sanskrit verb phrase. It means “to keep your attention on something”.

e7ëÊ 7ëÊ

e-7ëÊ

:-

e-

e-

8Ü+-:-e-

7ëÊ

Finally, there is the linker which is the same type of linker as the in the title. It is spelled differently whenever it is used to fit with the grammatical name to which it is being applied. This is another aspect of linkers that has to be learned but we do not have time to go into it here. Again the Illuminator shows all the details. In short, this is providing the full stop at the end of the sentence.

<ëÊ

If you put all of that together, you will find out that it comes out as in the translation provided.

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

25

The First Verse The first verse is a four-lined verse, just as we would expect from having understood the wording of the title. The same procedure for parsing text should be applied to this verse, too.

>ù) [$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#ù Before we even get to the first line, there is the mantric syllable . 7oá- in Tibetan; look this Syllable is correct here and it is called L

up in the Illuminator for an extensive explanation. That syllable sums up the enlightened body, speech, and mind of the buddhas, so it does include all auspiciousness within it, and that is why it is there.

Now for the first line. This line is a long flow of grammatical names with a linker at the very end. As mentioned above, is actually two separate linkers joined into one. This occurs on the next two lines as well so, in order to see the linkers properly and hence to understand this more easily, we separate these linkers into their parts like this:

ý7Ü-

ý7Ü-

[$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý-7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°-7Ü-5Ü$-,/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê Now let’s look at the first line again. We run into a problem straight away and this is a problem that all Tibetans face, too. There is a long string of grammatical names

[$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-

26

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

starting the line and no phrase linkers to show how they are related and no other indication of when an actual unit of meaning starts and ends. What should we do? One of the features of Tibetan language is that there is nothing to show where any given unit of meaning begins and ends. It is not like English where we have the convenience of single words which are always separated by a space so that they are very readily identifiable. In fact, there is no way, in Tibetan, to know where one actual name begins and ends except to know all the words of the language! So here, we are confronted with the fact that you have to do a lot of learning of Tibetan just to be able to read the language, definitely more than with English. You might find this unpalatable. The world these days wants everything to be “spoon-fed easy”. I am sorry to tell you that Tibetan is not like that. It takes an extraordinary investment of time to get to the point where you can truly understand what a text is saying. Right now, before going further, you might want to consider whether it is worth the investment of your time. If you think it is, well, there is some real learning ahead of you. The first line, when cut up into units of meaning is like this:

[$-rÜ+- F0-+#- 9$-/5Ü,- T©,-iá/-ý- 7ÜÊ [$-rÜ+-, F0-+#-, 9$-/5Ü,-, and T©,-iá/- are called grammatical The

name equivalents. They are two (and it can be more) grammatical names written one after the other that function as a single grammatical name. That is why they are called grammatical name equivalents. They are to be taken as a single unit of meaning. This particular situation raises the issue touched on above. With Tibetan, you have to know two things. You have to be able to recognize the individual units of meaning and you also have to

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

27

know enough about the subject concerned that you know how these individual units of meaning will relate to each other in cases like this where all the necessary linkers have been left out. The first need is like having a dictionary knowledge of words and the second is like knowing how you would add phrase linkers to the stream of names so that their meaning would be correctly understood. The first is can be learned on your own but the second generally needs both experience with the subjects involved and knowledge gained from others. Well, we have the list of grammatical name equivalents for the first line. What about the linkers on the line? The

ý- on the end of T©,-

iá/- gives the concrete sense mentioned earlier and in this case gives

the sense of the whole line being one big grammatical name. It tells you that this whole line should be taken as one thought or concept that is being presented within the verse. This is hard to know without knowledge of the subject and also a lot of experience. All right you say, what do the Tibetans do? The answer, you’ll be mollified to hear, is that they spend years when they are young reading these things and having them explained. Later, if they stay around dharma, they keep learning and learning, so that they do know how these things work. In the end, they build up a huge body of knowledge and a feeling for how it works. There is no shortcut anywhere in the system, despite what anyone might tell you.

7ÜÊ

Finally, we have an at the end of the line. This is a phrase linker that shows the connective case. It shows a relationship, a connection, between what is to the left and what is to the right. In other words, the noun meaning to the left is shown to have a relationship, it is said in Tibetan grammar, to the text on the right. Just how much of what is to the left and what is to the right is connected together by this linker is something that you have to work out. Again, that

28

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

requires knowledge and experience. The connected text to the right is the text of the next line and, specifically, it is the first unit of meaning of the next line. The which is the first grammatical name equivalent on the second line is being joined with the whole of this first line. We have been astounded to see how many translations of this prayer throw out this phrase linker and lose the allimportant meaning of it.

/g-;Ü<-

Now for the second line:

Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°-7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ The lines starts out with a run of grammatical names

/g-;Ü<-

dë#<-/%°- followed by the phrase linker 7Ü-. The grammatical names /g-;Ü<- as a noun meaning turn out to be three units of meaning: dë#<- as a noun meaning “direction”, and /%°“auspiciousness”,

as the noun “ten”. We are not sure at this point what goes where but we’ll tentatively think that the “auspiciousness” is what is connected to the previous line and that “ten” and “directions” go together because “ten directions” is a common concept of Indian and Tibetan cultures. The phrase linker at the end of this set of grammatical names is the same as before and indicates that “ten directions” is connected with something to the right of the phrase linker.

7Ü-

5Ü$-

The next run is the single grammatical name with the phrase linker attached to it. The means “field” as in buddha field. It is, apparently, what is connected to the preceding “ten directions” by the following the “ten directions”. Thus we have “the fields of the ten directions”. The phrase linker can have many meanings — L check the Illuminator Dictionary—here it is a phrase connector acting as a case marker that shows the place where an intransitive

,7Ü-

5Ü$-

,-

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

29

verb does its work. We know that because we have looked ahead and seen that the next run of text is , and the grammatical name in it is a grammatical name functioning as a verb. It is an intransitive verb meaning “to reside, to be situated”. Now we can understand the function of the immediately preceding phrase linker as one that shows the place where the intransitive action is occurring. It shows the place where something or someone is residing. Now we know that “something or someone is residing in the fields of the ten directions”. Having more linkers makes it easier to understand how the grammatical names should be taken.

/º¥#<-ý-

/º¥#<-

,-

ý-

The verb has the phrase linker following it. Again, this has the effect of turning the verb into a noun-like verb, that is, a gerund. Following that, at the very end of the line, there is the phrase linker . This is a variant spelling of the we have now seen many times. It has the same meaning, namely, it is a connective case marker. There is a difference in usage, even though the meaning is the same but that is beyond the scope of this discussion; again, look up the terms involved in the Illuminator Dictionary. Now we know that something to the right is “the someone or something dwelling in the fields of the ten directions”. We will have to look at the third line to find out who or what that is.

8ÜÊ

7ÜÊ

/g-;Ü<-

Thus, for the second line, we tentatively have that the at the beginning of the line is related to the words of the first line, and that everything after that on the line is a clause “residing in the fields of the ten directions”, and that the who or what of that clause can be found on the third line. Now for the third line:

Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Ü-2ì#<Ê

30

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

The first run on this line has several grammatical names followed by a phrase linker. The grammatical names are which breaks down into two units of meaning: meaning “buddha” and meaning “dharma”. The phrase linker joined to the end of that is a phrase linker with one of five possible meanings according to Tibetan grammar. Here it has the function of separating items in a list. To know that, we would have to look at the text to the right, again. The text to the right contains which is a grammatical name equivalent meaning saṅgha. This whole phrase is a very common phrase meaning “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha”. We recognize that and so understand that the linker here is separating items of a list, just like the English “and” used for the same purpose.

<$<-{<-&ë<<$<-{<+$-

&ë<-

+#è-7¸¥,-

<$<-{<-&<ë -+$-+#è-7¸¥,+$-

+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý-7Üý-

The next run has two linkers at the end: . The first unit of meaning has already been recognized as the noun “saṅgha”. The following it has a linker on it. This is the same term as in the title; is functioning as a concrete noun and is the official translation equivalent of “ārya” or “noble one”. Following that, there is another which we now know to be a phrase linker that always shows the connective case. The belongs with the first part of the line. The can’t go with that because, just like with the use of “and” in English, the presence of shows the end of a list. Actually, in normal Tibetan usage, it is usually the other way around; lists are written with coming after the first item of the list as in as “buddha and dharma, saṅgha“. However, in this case, it is well known that “saṅgha” is the end of the list. This is an important point because many translations have joined the with “saṅgha”.

+#è-7¸¥,7.#<-

7.#<-ý-

7Ü-

+#è-7¸¥,-

7.#<-ý-

+$-

+$-

7.#<-ý7Ü7.#<-ý- says that the 7.#<-ý- is related to someThe after the

thing on the right of it. To the right we have the grammatical name

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

31

2ì#<Ê ending the line, and this is what the 7.#<-ý- is connected

with. Connective case in Tibetan has two main uses, one to show that something belongs to something else or is connected to it somehow or other, and one to show that something is a certain type of thing. The second meaning is the meaning here. The means a group of things taken together; a group, assembly, mass, etcetera. The connective case marker to the left of it shows the meaning “which group?” and that is answered by “the noble ones” to the left of the marker. Thus it is “the noble one’s group”. When we arrive at that conclusion, we are not surprised because we know that Buddhism defines its primary noble principles as the Three Jewels, which are the buddha, dharma, and saṅgha just mentioned. In other words “the assemblies of noble ones” is referring to the buddhas, dharmas, and saṅghas. And which buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas are we talking about? We know that because of seeing that the connective case marker at the end of the second line joins buddha, dharma, and saṅgha with “residing in the fields of the ten directions”. We have some progress!

2ì#<Ê

Now for the fourth line:

Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê ´¥,- is a grammatical name followed imThe first run is short: :´¥,- means mediately by a phrase linker. The grammatical name :,“all” and the can be a variant way of writing the seen in the second line. We look to the right to see whether or not we can :- might be like that and find a run of three confirm that the

grammatical names followed by a linker. The first two grammatical names look like a single unit of meaning that is functioning as the verb “pay homage to”. So we see that the is showing the location of the action and with that we have “paying homage to all”. Reading

,-

32

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

back from that, we see that this fits; “paying homage to all the assemblies of noble ones, the buddhas...”.

/+#-

The next run is the grammatical name followed by the phrase linker . The grammatical name is functioning as the first person singular pronoun, “I” and the phrase linker is a pluralizer specifically for personal pronouns. Thus the means “we” or “us”.

%#-

/+#-%#-

From there to the end we have three more grammatical names and no more linkers. They resolve into two units of meaning. The first is , which we have already seen twice now, a grammatical name equivalent functioning as the noun “auspiciousness”. The second is the grammatical name functioning as a verb meaning “may it happen!”. Thus it seems that this line has two parts to it. The first is paying homage to all that has preceded and the second, following that, is an prayer that “auspiciousness could happen for us”.

/g-;Ü<-

;ë#Ê

Now, how do we connect the two parts? The text doesn’t tell us because the length of the verse was too small for the author to have room to put in the linker that would tell as what the relationship is. If you go to those people who have learned the meaning from their teachers, who have in turn learned the meaning from their teachers, and so on, then you find out that it is an agentive case linker that is missing. It is “by the action of having paid homage to all the assemblies, who themselves are the embodiment of ultimate auspiciousness, may we have this auspiciousness come to us!” Thumi Sambhota himself, in his root text on grammar says that, by really knowing the linkers and how they work, you can understand text, like the above, that does not have the linkers explicitly shown. Actually, you need that knowledge and you also need a

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

33

vast body of learning gained from the people who do know. This line is a good illustration of this important point of grammar. Now we have seen all the parts of the first verse and gained a partial translation. Let us go through it all over again, trying to take it further.

[$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/-ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°7Ü-5Ü$-,/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$-+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<-;ë# Ê Previously wdid not do much work on the first line but just left it as a long listing of nouns ending with a connection, we think, to the “auspiciousness” mentioned at the beginning of the second line.

[$-rÜ+-

The first line says, “ “ which is a term meaning the various types of existence that come into appearance. It has the sense of one or all types of existence which would appear to beings and be known. It can refer either to all types of existence that are known to all types of beings-—which would be all of samsara and all of nirvana—or it can refer to either one. In this case, it refers to all the types of existence that appear to the beings both those of nirvana and those of samsara.

F0-+#-

Then it says, “ “ which is a technical term of Buddhism meaning the complete purity that is the hallmark of enlightenment. Buddhahood is described as complete purity because it has had all of the impurities of samsara removed from it. Alternatively, if you are talking in a primordial way, which this happens to be doing, “complete purity” refers to the primordially completely pure

34

THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

situation, the primordial reality that is free of all the impurities that could occur if it fell into the ignorance of samsara.

9$-/5Ü,-

Then it says, “ “ which means the nature of something. For example, if you have a fire, that is the thing itself and the nature of that fire is that it is hot and burning. The thing itself here is the complete purity of primordial reality. The nature of that complete purity is that it comes out into appearance for the sake of sentient beings in samsara. When it does come out, there is another technical term to describe the specific way that it comes out. That is

T©,-

iá/- spontaneous existence. Spontaneous existence is a very special

word used only to describe the way that reality works, it is never used to describe the way that samsara works. It is spontaneous because it happens without the karmic process of samsara, without the need of samsaric cause and effect.

ý-

The at the end of the line gives the sense that the whole, longwinded description ends there. This can be explained grammatically but it is very picky and difficult. The other way to know that this is how it works is to have learned the concepts involved. Whether you do it grammatically or through the meaning of the dharma teaching, that is how it comes out. So, what is this first line? It says, “apparent existence--all of it, both samsara and nirvana--is the complete purity of primordial enlightenment come into appearance, and the way that it comes into appearance is its nature, which is that whatever it appears as comes as spontaneous existence”. That’s a mouthful but it is what is said in that first line. It boils down to “Apparent existence, complete purity’s nature, spontaneous presence”. We have unravelled that piece so we’ll put that aside.

7Ü-

Now the at the end fo the first line connects all of that to what? Well, it turns out that it is connecting the first line with everything

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

35

that follows all the way through the second and third lines. It is very elegantly done. It immediately connects with the second line’s which means “auspiciousness” but that one word “auspiciousness” is then specified more extensively by everything following it in the second and third lines. This is how it goes:

/g-;Ü<-

Apparent existence, as a function of primordial enlightenment, does have auspiciousness. What, in particular is that auspiciousness? It is the noble assemblies, all of them. What are they? They are the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas who reside in the buddha fields, buddha fields that exist throughout the length and breadth of space, or, the Indians and Tibetans would say, throughout the ten directions.

dë#<-/%°-

The meaning “the ten directions” is an Indian concept that the Tibetans followed when the Buddhadharma was brought from India to Tibet. It is the same as the English “in the four quarters” or perhaps “up, down, and in every direction” because eight of the ten directions are the four cardinal and four intermediate directions and the remaining two are up and down.

5Ü$-

The meaning “fields” is a generic word, used very much like “a field” in physics. It is used to mean a whole, coherent region that operates according to certain rules. There are buddha fields as many as there are buddhas and there are all sorts of other fields, two, including all the regions of samsara. Although the meaning here is “buddha field” in particular, the word used is not “buddha field” but just “field” and we should stay with that. The rest of the second line shows that something or someone is residing in those fields. The third line starts out by connecting that to the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas as the ones who reside in

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THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

those fields. The third line ends with “assemblies of the noble ones” which is the key point. In Tibetan word order, by putting the “assembly of noble ones” here at the end, it rounds the whole thing out and sums up everything that has been said so far into the key point. The buddhas and so on residing in the fields of the ten directions is important but it is the fact that they are the noble ones as a whole that is the key point of this verse. That is for the simple reason that the noble ones that are the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas are the ultimate auspiciousness of all of samsara and nirvana. This verse is making that kind of point. There are several important issues in all of this. Firstly, each buddha field has its own buddha, and that buddha has his own dharma that he teaches, and his own saṅgha that he trains. There are infinite buddha fields so it is the “buddhas, dharmas, and saṅghas” not “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha” in the singular. Every translation we have seen so far makes this mistake of setting out “buddha, dharma, and saṅgha” in the singular.

7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

Next, the phrase “noble assemblies” does not refer to the sangha mentioned immediately before. This is another major error seen in most translations. There are many Buddhist texts where the phrase “assembly of noble ones” does refer to the sangha, because the saṅgha by definition is an “assembly of noble ones”. However-—and it is a really important point of understanding in Buddhism in general—the buddha and the dharma are also defined as “noble ones”. In this case, when it says it is specifically referring to all of the groups of the noble principles altogether, which is the Three Jewels, the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas. This also is a key point; the whole meaning of the sort of auspiciousness being

+#è-7¸¥,-

7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê

7.#<-ý-

discussed in this first verse is summed up with this phrase

7.#<-

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ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê “assembly of noble ones” so, if it is mis-translated, the whole meaning of the verse is immediately lost.

One of the reasons why this verse is so mis-translated is that, while it is well known in all Buddhist traditions of Asia that the Three Jewels, which are by definition the noble ones, are the ultimate type of auspiciousness, it is not so well known to Western practitioners and translators. You can find out more about the auspiciousness of the Three Jewels as a whole by reading our book “Unending Auspiciousness” which contains all of Mipham’s commentary on The Sūtra of the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels and Lama Tony’s extensive commentary on the same, too. It will make this particular point of the auspiciousness of the Three Jewels very clear. The book will be available in 2009 through our Padma Karpo Translation Committee web-site mentioned in the introduction and through major distributors. There is more contained here. Where are the noble ones found? They are found in all of the buddha fields throughout all directions of space. In other words, the noble ones are the ultimate auspiciousness and they are not just localized here on planet earth with Śhākyamuni Buddha, his dharma, and his sangha but are found throughout the whole of space, in their respective buddha fields. This is the imagery of the verse. The auspiciousness that comes from primordial enlightenment is the ultimate auspiciousness appearing in the form of the noble ones and that is all pervasive. Well, if it is like that, what do we do to connect with it? Well, the fourth line takes us right there. That auspiciousness is everywhere, even if we do not directly perceive it. All we have to do is connect to it. One way of connecting with something is to put one’s pride aside so that it can be connected to. To do that, in Buddhism, one

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makes a prostration. Having made the connection that way, this verse ends by making the prayer that that very auspiciousness of the noble ones will come into one’s own life. Now we understand the prayer in detail. For our next round of translation, we will put all of it together. However, to do this, we’ll take the specific approach of going backwards, from end to beginning. This is a very useful technique when translating Tibetan. It has the enormous fault that the syntactic meaning of the Tibetan is lost but has the great value of showing, usually, the meaning in a flow of English that can be understood. Here it is, from the end and going backwards: May there be auspiciousness for us because of having paid homage to all of the assemblies of noble ones—the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas who reside in the fields of the ten directions—who themselves are the auspiciousness of the apparent existence which is the nature of complete purity, being spontaneously existent. Now, in another round of translation, we can look at the Tibetan from the beginning again and compare it to the English, this time to recover as much as possible of any lost syntactic meaning. What is this syntactic meaning business? Literal meaning is the meaning contained in the words themselves. Syntactic meaning is the meaning contained in the arrangement of the words. It is very common for Tibetan Buddhist texts not only to have syntactic meaning in general but to have very pronounced levels of syntactic meaning that have been deliberately built into them by the author. This usually appears as a progression, a development that can be clearly seen in the Tibetan, but which can be very difficult to get

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into English because of the differences in the ways of composition of the two languages. The progression of the first verse here is very typical of Tibetan Buddhist texts. It starts with the seed-syllable OṂ. This is a completely meaningless word in itself; it is primordial utterance which is intended to capture the whole of enlightenment in one, primordial, grunt. So we start out with a “grunt” of primordial enlightenment. Then the words start with suggesting a picture of all the kinds of apparent existence that there are. Where does that existence come from? It is the complete purity of enlightenment manifesting. That manifestation is not the complete purity itself but the nature of the complete purity. And what is the nature of that complete purity? It is spontaneous existence. And then what? Well, this sort of apparent existence has an auspicious side to it. That auspicious side is found pervading all directions, everywhere, in the buddha fields. It is the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas, in those fields. And could we sum them up? Yes, they are the noble ones, the Three Jewels taken as a whole. Now, if we were to pay homage to all of them, we would be paying homage to the ultimate auspiciousness as a whole, the auspiciousness of the three main principles of enlightenment which are beyond samsara. Therefore, we do pay homage to them. And, we pray that, by having done so, we will be connected with that auspiciousness with the result that there will be auspiciousness for us. That is the whole content of the first verse laid out exactly according to the syntactic meaning of the Tibetan. You can see that there is an enormous amount of information contained in the sequence of the Tibetan words as well as the literal meaning of the words themselves. A whole story is told and it is that story, the syntactic

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meaning, that we would like to try to preserve in our English translation. The next step is to try to put that into verse that attempts to capture both the words and syntax of the Tibetan. Before doing that though, let me comment that there are two ways of writing verse in Tibetan, roughly speaking. One is to construct the verse so that each line of a verse is self-contained and is written as verse itself. The other is to write a long piece of prose of the exact length required for the whole verse then to artificially cut up into lines. Mipham’s first verse is of the second type. It is one very long sentence spread through the first three and a half lines followed by a very short sentence on the last half of the fourth line. We could try to force our translation to follow the exact line breaks of the Tibetan. That sometimes is nice if it can be done. However, we could also write out the prose for the whole thing and then cut it up conveniently so that it works in English, just as the author has done for the Tibetan. Here we go: Apparent existence as complete-purity nature spontaneous presence’s Auspiciousness, the buddhas, dharmas, and sanghas residing In the fields of the ten directions, the assembly of noble ones; Paying homage to them all may there be auspiciousness for us! This captures the literal meaning exactly. It loses a little syntactic meaning-—namely the loss of the vastness of the auspiciousness stated before the details of the auspiciousness. However, it is not smooth for a final translation.

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There are various ways that we could improve on it. One thought that comes to mind is that the homage could be moved to the very beginning of the verse, as has been done to very good effect with the remaining verses of the prayer. However, when that is tried— and we have tried it in every conceivable way—we find that there is no way to do it without losing large amounts of the syntactic meaning. Therefore, we have rejected it firmly as a possibility, even though it would make consistency with the arrangement of the remaining verses. There is great importance here in the progression of meaning: “OṂ … primordial reality… comes out into auspiciousness …” and so on. We found other ways to move things around while still retaining much of the syntactic meaning but all of them ran into trouble sooner or later. Therefore, we took another approach. The first line is without verbs in the Tibetan but in fact, when you understand the meaning as mentioned earlier, it is a complicated statement that includes the idea “apparent existence is…” and that does have a verb in it. Therefore, we will rewrite the first line as a sentence on its own. For purists this might seem like a big step but, if you understand what the first line is actually doing, this is in accord with it. We can do the same thing with the content of the second and third lines, too. In this way we get a translation that reads very smoothly in English, preserves the literal meaning, and captures most of the syntactic meaning. OṂ

Apparent existence is complete purity’s nature, spontaneous presence; Its auspiciousness is the noble assemblies—the buddhas, dharmas, And saṅghas, who reside in the fields of the ten directions;

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Paying homage to them all, may there be auspiciousness for us! As a further tip, note also how the connective case marker at the end of the first line in the Tibetan has been turned into a possessive pronoun at the beginning of the second line in this version. This does capture the Tibetan grammar correctly! The first line of the Tibetan is essentially one noun phrase, therefore it can be referred to with the pronoun “it” as we have done. The Tibetan then connects that noun phrase to auspiciousness using a connective case marker, and we have done exactly the same in the English by make the “it” into the possessive case—which is the equivalent of the Tibetan connective case—“its”. Yet another way to do the same thing would be to use “whose” instead of “its”. That also fits the grammar exactly and in the same way. We started out by emphasizing that you must know and use Tibetan grammar on its own terms and not on Westernized modifications of it. We’ll end up by emphasizing that you need to know your English—or your target language’s—grammar and know it very well. When you do, you’ll be able to see ways like that this you actually can match the Tibetan grammar, sometimes in ways like the above, that you might not expect.

Remaining Verses of the Prayer To dissect the rest of the prayer this way would make this document very long. It might also be very boring because much of the rest of the prayer consists of lists of items. Because it is mostly lists, its translation is straightforward compared to this first verse.

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Now that we have shown you the way, you could go on and dissect every line the way that we have shown you. You can then use our translation for the prayer together with the Illuminator Dictionary to see how it is done. You can also use the brief explanation of the meaning in the previous chapter to help you understand what is what. In English the main point of any paragraph is usually placed at the beginning of the paragraph whereas in Tibetan the main point is usually built up to and listed at the end. Thus, we would offer the advice that these verses do go better by moving the homage at the end of each verse in Tibetan to the beginning in English. Nothing is lost by doing so and the English readers have a syntax that is much more natural for them, making the recitation of the verses more easy.

…ë,-0è7Ü-{:-ýë-I:-/D,-+ë,-iá/-+#ë$<Ê Êe0<-ý7Ü-{,-+ý:-+#èi#<-+ý:-+0-ýÊ Ê´¥,-:-+#ë$<-ý-{-&è9-i#<-ý-%,Ê ÊT©,-ýë-P97.#<-I:-i#<-+ý:-+$-,ÜÊ Ê<è0<-%,-*0<-%+-:-+#ë$<-i#<ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê8Ü+-2Ý0-03+-ý-I:-9/-i#<-+ý:-)èÊ Ê02,-10-*ë<ý<-/g-;Ü<-+ý:-7.è:-/Ê Ê/+è-/9-#;è#<-ý-/{+-:-d#-72::ëÊ Ê Homage to the Eight Sugatas— Dronme Gyalpo, Tsalten Dondrup Gong, Jampa’i Gyen Pal, Gedrak Pal Dampa, Kunla Gongpa Gyacher Drakpa Chen, Lhunpo Tar Phak Tsal Drak Pal, Semchen Tamche la Gong Drakpa’i Pal, Yid Tshim Dzaypa Tsal Rab Drak Pal—

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THE EIGHT AUSPICIOUS NOBLE ONES IN VERSE

Even hearing their names rouses auspiciousness and glory!

7'0-+ý:-#5ë,-¹¥-+ý:-Q,-Eë-Bè-73Ý,Ê Ê,-9<-#6Ü#<-+/$0#ë,-ýë-e0<-ý7Ü-+ý:Ê Ê<-8Ü-XÜ$-ýë-…Ü/-ý-F0-ý9-<è:Ê Ê,00"7Ü-XÜ$-ýë-7.#<-0&ë#-´¥,-·â-/6$-Ê Ê>ß,:-Eë-Bè-ý+-+!9-tä-;Ü$+$ÍÊ Ê,ë9-/ß-w-/-9:-iÜ-(Ü-0-8ÜÊ Êd#-02,-:è#<-/[0<-/g-;Ü<+ý:-bÜ-0&ë# Êe$-&±/-<è0<-+ý7-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê Homage to the eight bodhisatvas— Youthful Mañjuśhrī, glorious Vajrapāṇi, Avalokiteśhvara, guardian Maitreya, Kṣhitigarbha, Nivaranaviskambin, Ākāśhagarbha, and the most noble Samantabhadra, Who, holding their insignia of utpala, vajra, White lotus, Nāga Tree, jewel, moon, sword, and sun, Are the supreme ones of auspiciousness and glory.

9Ü,-&è,-#¸¥#<-0&ë#-/g-;Ü<-#<è9-bÜ-(Ê Ê7+ë+-7e³$-/ß0-/6$8Ü+-7ë$-!-0-:Ê ÊX,-i#<-¸¥$-+$-.ß,-2ì#<-+ý:-/è7ßÊ Ê0Ü-¹¥/-{:02,-+/$-/€ç9-7"ë9-:ë-YèÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,-D#<-0&ë#-/{+-`Ü-d#-02,%,Ê Êdë#<-¸¥<-{:-/-0&ë+-%Ü$-+bè<-/þè+-0Ê ÊVè#-<ë#<-$ë-/ë-l,ý<-+ý:-\è:-/7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-T-0ë-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê Homage to the eight auspicious goddesses— The ladies of the eight excellent precious symbols— The excellent precious umbrella, auspicious golden fish,

HOW TO TRANSLATE THE PRAYER

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Good wish-fulfilling vase, exquisite Kamala flower, Conch of fame, glorious endless knot of perfect abundance, Ever victorious victory banner, and wheel of governance— Who offer to and delight the conquerors throughout time and space; Remembrance of your specific qualities of charm, and so on, increases glory.

2$<-ý-&è,-ýë-/+è-7e³$-rè+-0è+-/ßÊ Ê0Ü#-Yë$-Q,-+$-{:-ýë-8ß:7"ë9-rá$-Ê Ê7.#<-þè<-ýë-+$-tä-+/$-0Ü#-0Ü-/6$-Ê ÊF0-*ë<-r<)è-T-J<-7"ë9-:ë-+$-Ê ÊjÜ-»¥-:-+$-0¸¥$-*ß$-Eë-Bè-%,Ê ÊýÜ-4$-9:-iÜ0&ë+-Dè,-{:-02,-73Ý,Ê Ê<-#<ß0-#,<-<ß-+#è-:è#<-/g-;Ü<\è:Ê Ê7'Ü#-Dè,-þë$-/-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê Homage to the Eight Protectors of the World— Great Braḥmā, Shambhu, Narayana, Thousand-Eyed, the Kings Dhṛiṭarāṣhṭra, Virudhaka, Nāga Ruler Virūpākṣha, And Vaiśhravaṇa—who hold the divine articles of Wheel, trident, short spear, vajra, Vīṇā, sword, stūpa, and banner of victory, and Increase the auspiciousness of virtue in the three levels’ abodes.

/+#-%#-+è$-7+Ü9-e-/-Ië0-ý-:Ê Ê#è#<-+$-(è-/9-72é-/-´¥,-5Ü,<Ê Ê7+ë+-+ë,-+ý:-7.è:-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+-/5Ü,-7iá/Ê Ê/g-;Ü<-/+è:è#<-.ß,-<ß0-2ì#<-ý9-;ë# Ê

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May the undertaking we are about to begin here Have all obstacles and harmful influences pacified, Proceed with success, then be accomplished as desired. May there be auspiciousness, goodness, and perfection. Note that there is a progression in the second and third lines of this verse: any obstacles there to begin with being pacified, things going as planned on the way, and completion as desired at the end. It might not be obvious but it is there in the Tibetan.

Q$-2é-/Bë+-,-+è-(Ü,-+ë,-´¥,-7iá/Ê Ê(:-2é-/Bë+-,-HÜ-:0-/6$-ýë0*ë$-Ê Ê#8ß:-¸¥-7'ß#-2é-/Bë+-,-dë#<-:<-{:Ê Êe-/-Ië0-¸¥<-/Bë+,-7+ë+-+ë,-7.è:Ê Ê{æ,-¸¥-/Bë+-,-2é-+ý:-i#<-7eë9-;Ü<Ê Ê/+è:è#<-.ß,-2ì#<-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+-/5Ü,-7iá/Ê ÊZÜ#-…Ü/-´¥,-e$-0$ë,-0*ë$è<-:è#<-`ÜÊ Ê+ë,-´¥,-7iá/-ý9-{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<-#<ß$<Ê Ê The supreme conqueror has said that: If recited at on rising, the day’s plans will all be achieved; If recited on sleeping, good dreams will be seen; If recited on entering battle, there will be total victory; If recited on starting a project, the plans for it will succeed; If recited continuously, there will be an excellence of glory, fame, and wealth, Perfection of goodness, and accomplishment of projects as desired; And all meaningfulness of cleansing evil and obscuration and rising to the definite goodness of higher stations will be accomplished.

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In Tibetan, when words are going to be attributed to someone, as in “The supreme conqueror has said that…”, the attribution is usually

{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<#<ß$<Ê at the very end of that section is “The supreme conqueror ý9- which has said that …”. Immediately before that is the linker ýconsists of our usual linker making a concrete item out of what 9- which is a linker that, like before in the was said plus the placed after the quotation, as seen above. The

introduction to the prayer by the author, shows the location. This is the tell-tale for what is being quoted. In other words, it is what comes after “said that …”. Now in standard English style, the attribution is placed at the beginning, not the end. If you do it that way, as we have done here, the meaning will be clearer to an English speaker and the text will be easier to read.

Be careful when looking at the vocabulary of this section; things are not always what they seem. For example, is often thought of as “meaning” but it has other meanings too. For example in it means “the purpose desired” and comes down to meaning “plan”. Similarly means “purpose intended”, the things you have thought through that you would like to accomplish, and comes down to meaning “plan” again.

+ë,-

7+ë+-+ë,-

/<0-+ë,-

9/-2é<-0è-‡è:-w-/7Ü-2é<-#<ß0-:-#67-(Ü-0-+$-{æ-U9-{:-bÜ-¸¥
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Translated by Lama Tony Duff in the magic forest of Broceliande, the place of Merlin, Arthur, and the fairies, in April 2008, with assistance from Chris Vicevich.

TIBETAN TEXT

ÉÊ Ê7.#<-ý-/g-;Ü<-/{+-ý7Ü-2Ý#<-<ß-/%+-ý-/º¥#<-<ëÊÊ ÉÊ Ê:<-#$-5Ü#-Ië0-ý-,-*ë#-09-7+Ü-29-#%Ü#-/Bë+-,-iá/-ý-/+è-/-8Ü+-/5Ü,-¸¥eè+-ý9-7b²9-/<-%Ü-,<-8Ü+-:-e7ëÊÊ >ù) [$-rÜ+-F0-+#-9$-/5Ü,-T©,-iá/ý7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-dë#<-/%°7Ü-5Ü$-,-/º¥#<-ý-8ÜÊ Ê<$<-{<-&ë<-+$+#è-7¸¥,-7.#<-ý7Ü-2ì#<Ê Ê´¥,-:-d#-72:-/+#-%#-/g-;Ü<;ë# Ê…ë,-0è7Ü-{:-ýë-I:-/D,-+ë,-iá/-+#ë$<Ê Êe0<-ý7Ü-{,-+ý:+#è-i#<-+ý:-+0-ýÊ Ê´¥,-:-+#ë$<-ý-{-&è9-i#<-ý-%,Ê ÊT©,-ýëP9-7.#<-I:-i#<-+ý:-+$-,ÜÊ Ê<è0<-%,-*0<-%+-:-+#ë$ß,:-Eë-Bè-ý+-+!9-tä-;Ü$+$ÍÊ Ê,ë9-/ß-w-/-9:-iÜ-(Ü-0-8ÜÊ Êd#-02,-:è#<-/[0<-/g-;Ü<+ý:-bÜ-0&ë# Êe$-&±/-<è0<-+ý7-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,#¸¥#<-0&ë#-/g-;Ü<-#<è9-bÜ-(Ê Ê7+ë+-7e³$-/ß0-/6$-8Ü+-7ë$-!-049

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:Ê ÊX,-i#<-¸¥$-+$-.ß,-2ì#<-+ý:-/è7ßÊ Ê0Ü-¹¥/-{:-02,-+/$/€ç9-7"ë9-:ë-YèÊ Ê9Ü,-&è,-D#<-0&ë#-/{+-`Ü-d#-02,-%,Ê Ê dë#<-¸¥<-{:-/-0&ë+-%Ü$-+bè<-/þè+-0Ê ÊVè#-<ë#<-$ë-/ë-l,-ý<+ý:-\è:-/7ÜÊ Ê/g-;Ü<-T-0ë-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê2$<-ý-&è,-ýë/+è-7e³$-rè+-0è+-/ßÊ Ê0Ü#-Yë$-Q,-+$-{:-ýë-8ß:-7"ë9-rá$ÍÊ Ê 7.#<-þè<-ýë-+$-tä-+/$-0Ü#-0Ü-/6$-Ê ÊF0-*ë<-r<-)è-T-J<-7"ë9-:ë+$ÍÊ ÊjÜ-»¥-:-+$-0¸¥$-*ß$-Eë-Bè-%,Ê ÊýÜ-4$-9:-iÜ-0&ë+-Dè,-{:02,-73Ý,Ê Ê<-#<ß0-#,<-<ß-+#è-:è#<-/g-;Ü<-\è:Ê Ê7'Ü#-Dè,þë$-/-/{+-:-d#-72:-:ëÊ Ê/+#-%#-+è$-7+Ü9-e-/-Ië0-ý-:Ê Ê #è#<-+$-(è-/9-72é-/-´¥,-5Ü-,<Ê Ê7+ë+-+ë,-+ý:-7.è:-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+/5Ü,-7iá/Ê Ê/g-;Ü<-/+è-:è#<-.ß,-<ß0-2ì#<-ý9-;ë# ÊQ$-2é-/Bë+-,+è-(Ü,-+ë,-´¥,-7iá/Ê Ê(:-2é-/Bë+-,-HÜ-:0-/6$-ýë-0*ë$ÍÊ Ê#8ß:-¸¥-7'ß#-2é-/Bë+-,dë#<-:<-{:Ê Êe-/-Ië0-¸¥<-/Bë+-,-7+ë+-+ë,-7.è:Ê Ê{æ,-¸¥-/Bë+-,-2é-+ý:-i#<7eë9-;Ü<Ê Ê/+è-:è#<-.ß,-2ì#<-/<0-+ë,-8Ü+-/5Ü,-7iá/Ê ÊZÜ#-…Ü/-´¥,-e$-0$ë,-0*ë$è<-:è#<-`ÜÊ Ê+ë,-´¥,-7iá/-ý9-{:-/-0&ë#-#Ü<-#<ß$<Ê Ê9/-2é<-0è-‡è:-w-/7Ü-2é<#<ß0-:-#67-(Ü-0-+$-{æ-U9-{:-bÜ-¸¥<-/6$-ýë7Ü-&-:-7'0-+ý:-+bè<-ý7Ü-Eë-Bè7Ü-8Ü+-02ì:<-e³$-/-,ë9-/ß7Ü-+ë-;:-&è,-ýë7ëÊÊ
PADMA KARPO TRANSLATION COMMITTEE P.O. Box 4957 Kathmandu Nepal http://www.tibet.dk/pktc