Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

Toward your kind parents, the six kinds of beings,
You’ll need uninterrupted love and compassion.
Toward phenomena that are like a magical illusion,
You’ll need to destroy clinging to their reality.
Toward the harm of demons who cause obstacles,
You’ll need fearless rest within natural repose.
To accomplish the spiritual master’s blessings,
You’ll need to keep them within you, without arrogance.
To practice the Teachings correctly,
You’ll need to cut your bonds of attachment at their roots.
I sing this short song of twelve needs,
These delicious and nutritious words,
For my child who is going away to meditate.
Not forgetting your old father,
Know all appearing existence,
Including thoughts of happiness, suffering, or in between,
To be the spiritual master’s display:
Please travel to that place!
You who learn these words from my heart,
Should promise yourself never to forget them:
You will thereby accomplish great things in this life and the next!
In all places, times, and circumstances,
The protector of the teachings, Swift Protector,
Will surely guard you like a mother her child.
A Sea of Blessings 203
I offer you my prayers that your life be long and without sickness,
And that you accomplish all your wishes in harmony with the
Teachings.
May you practice as long as you live!