Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

The Shangpa Masters and Their Lineage 301
Inaction prevents the rapid purification of the two obscurations:
exert yourself to cultivate merit and active virtuous
practice.
Attachment to the reality [of phenomena] prevents the rapid
completion of the cultivation of wisdom: know all phenomena
to lack an intrinsic nature, like a magical illusion or a
dream.
Self-interest prevents others’ benefit: it is crucial to exert yourself
in altruism and in prayers of aspiration. (Shangpa Preliminary
Practices, pp. 7a-8a)
The Melody of Glory: A Supplication to the Learned
and Accomplished Tsangma Shangtön
by Jamgon Kongtrul
The flowers of your marks and signs of physical perfection exude the
three trainings’ fragrance.
The stamens of wisdom and love adorn your immaculate, handsome
body.
To see you, to hear your voice, or to bring you to mind dispels all
anxiety.
Shangtön, learned and accomplished lord of the teachings, to you
I pray.
From the stem of your free and fully endowed human life, ethical
conduct’s leaves and petals flourish.
On the stable basis of your study and reflection, meditation’s lotus
blooms.
Your meditative experience and realization’s delicious fruit has
ripened.
Tsangma Shangtön, to you I pray.
In the region of Shang, to parents of the Ra clan,
You were born amid auspicious and virtuous portents.
With unlimited disengagement, devotion, and compassion,
You far surpassed childish behavior; to you I pray.