Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

The Shangpa Masters and Their Lineage 311
Among your disciples numbered six supreme children, eight close
sublime sons,
Five wisdom dakinis, sixteen hidden dakinis,
Eighteen dakinis of the tantric commitments,
Thirty-seven male and female awareness holders,
Fifty-eight with karmic connections, five hundred nonreturners,
And one million eighty thousand persons who could help others.
You brought them to spiritual maturity, liberated them,
And compiled your instruction into eight sections.
Master empowered as [Buddha’s] regent, to you I pray.
Your substantial body lived one hundred twenty-eight years.
On the Miracle Month’s fourth day, it dissolved into a mass of light
in space.
In answer to the plaintive songs of your heart disciples,
You displayed form bodies in the sky; to you I pray.
When they again prayed, your body, a cubit in height,
Appeared at your meditation place and dwelt in clear light for a week.
This amazing relic-support lasts forever without moving,
The place for gods and humans to make offerings; to you I pray. 47
Afterward, in response to your fortunate disciples, near and far,
You continue to appear and to bless them.
Your enlightened activity for Tibet’s happiness is uninterrupted;
Your kindness is inconceivable; to you I pray.
Powerful All-Seeing One, accomplished master, Lord of the Teachings,
Your compassion knows no weariness or fatigue.
For me and other unlucky persons of this final time,
Please show your face and give us your blessing!
Supreme accomplished master, may my accomplishment quickly
become like yours—
Your life span, the extent of your disciples,
Your life of freedom, your aspirations, acts, and strength—
And may I liberate all beings whose numbers reach the bounds of space!
(A Garland of Udumvara Flowers, pp. 22b-24a)