Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

26 Timeless Rapture
I found another example of Rinpoché’s handiwork recently, in a book
optimistically entitled Indestructible Truth:
Also considered a Kagyü subschool is the Shangpa Kagyü. Originally
an independent lineage, the Shangpa was established by the
accomplished yogin Khyungpo Naljor (or Naljorpa, 978–1079).
This master studied in India with some of the great siddhas of his
day and received transmission in a vision from Niguma, the tantric
consort of Naropa. Subsequently, the lineage was brought into the
Kagyü orbit and is now considered Kagyü. One of the most wellknown
representatives of the Shangpa Kagyü is the late Ven. Kalu
Rinpoche, quoted frequently in this book, a master who spent
much of his life in retreat and, at the request of the sixteenth
Karmapa, taught meditation widely in the West. (p. 183)
By the end of this book, the reader will be in a position to recognize that
much of the “information” contained in this paragraph reflects the willful
misinformation that I have every reason to suspect was spread by my
beloved spiritual master. (For example, it is not true that the Shangpa lineage
is a Kagyu subschool, that it is no longer independent, or that it has
been brought into another school’s orbit.) The author, who commendably
seems to have gone directly to Rinpoché for his information, is not
to blame. We can imagine that Rinpoché, who spent much of his life in
retreat, wanted to keep his Shangpa lineage in retreat too and out of the
spotlight.
This book, a collection of the songs of realization of the Shangpa masters,
constitutes a major source of the lineage’s spiritual nourishment. Kalu
Rinpoché told those of us in retreat under his guidance to read this collection
if we wanted to read something apart from the texts of our program’s
meditations. During retreat or after, in Western meditation centers
or in Asian monasteries, we sometimes gather to sing these songs in unison.
They guide us, nourish us, remind us, and take on new meaning as
the years go by. We return to them, as to trusted friends, for the support
and encouragement we need to keep on giving our best to this precious
life. We have always enjoyed them in Tibetan; they appear here in translation
for the first time.
As the translator, I have some concerns to share. First and foremost, I
felt it important to relate my own introduction to the lineage—“Sorry, it