Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

34 Timeless Rapture
which we catch like a bad cold that is going around. Here we invite a large
crowd of those who epitomize nondual wisdom, in the expectation that
our intentional association with them will infect us with awakening. A
self-image as the deity along with faith and devotion weaken our resistance
to enlightenment-germs.
Following prayers of supplication to the lineage masters, Kongtrul leads
us through the songs, beginning with one sung by Buddha Vajra Bearer,
heard and recorded by Niguma. The songs of this collection generally
appear in chronological order, each with a short introduction by Jamgon
Kongtrul. At Bokar Rinpoché’s request, I have added songs by Kalu Rinpoché.
These were given to me by an elderly lama, a devoted disciple of
Kalu Rinpoché, who never left Palpung Monastery in eastern Tibet, where
Kalu Rinpoché once lived and taught. It seems many of these songs stayed
in Tibet with him, as Bokar Rinpoché had not seen most of them. I am
delighted that Lama Tcheuky Sengé received Bokar Rinpoché’s permission
to include a number of Rinpoché’s songs as well.
In the book’s second half, I have included some details of the lives and
times of each of the masters whose songs appear in the collection and some
information concerning the Shangpa lineage in general. I have not commented
upon or added notes to the songs. In the years that we have sung
them, these songs have revealed many new dimensions of meaning, and I
suspect they will continue to do so. I feel they can be enjoyed without our
understanding every last word—that has been, and remains, true for me.
Further, most of us read or sing these songs as meditation texts, useful in
our training under the guidance of a qualified teacher, the most appropriate
context for delving into the text’s deeper meanings.
Finally, readers will soon discover in these pages the meaning of the
phrase “something got lost in the translation.” In this case, it is the music
of the songs: they cannot be sung in English as they are in Tibetan. You
may chant them if you wish, of course, but a translation that respects the
form as well as the meaning of these precious songs still eludes us. I sincerely
pray (and you should too) that translators someday become able to
render these songs in a form that can fly far above simple chants, to the
realm of music. For the moment, we must all content ourselves with the
meaning alone.
Kongtrul named this collection A Sea of Blessing. I find that title amusing,
for most Tibetans over the centuries, including Jamgon Kongtrul himself,
never saw an ocean. Those who have left Tibet recently and have seen