Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

The Shangpa Masters and Their Lineage 231
A Garland of Udumvara Flowers: Supplications to the Lives of the Wonderful
Lineage of Jewels, the Masters of the Glorious Shangpa Instruction Lineage.
Kongtrul wrote to inform and to inspire, and usually included in each
supplication the main events of each master’s life. In Niguma’s case, he
had little choice but to depart from his seminarrative style. Instead, he
praises her for having followed the path to enlightenment, without having
“to rely on exhausting training,” and he describes her realization of the
view, tantric meditation’s four stages of familiarization and accomplishment,
postmeditation conduct, and the final result. Despite its lack of new
information on Niguma’s life, I have included this supplication in part to
give non-Shangpa readers a chance to read something they have probably
never seen before. Where else in this world can we read devotional supplications
to a dark-brown woman as an enlightened being, a buddha, and
as head of a living, worldwide spiritual lineage?
The Melody of Wisdom:
A Supplication to the Wisdom Dakini Niguma
by Jamgon Kongtrul
Vajra queen, mother of all buddhas,
Dark-brown woman wearing bone ornaments who flies through
space,
You bestow supreme accomplishment on your fortunate disciples:
Noble Niguma, to you I pray.
You were born in the wonderful land of Kashmir,