Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

86 Timeless Rapture
And no time the demons finally left.
Now my principal activity is to live without gods and demons.
I pursued emptiness,
Yet I couldn’t see the limit of its view.
Now my principal activity is to cut the single root of mind.
In one who is the lowest in human society,
The best in spiritual qualities has arisen.
If we don’t attend to the correct meaning,
We lose ourselves striving for illusory wealth in business.
If we don’t search for what helps our mind,
We lose ourselves pursuing intellectual knowledge.
If we don’t maintain a humble life,
We busy ourselves with the haughtiness of the outwardly pure or
mighty.
If we don’t wander, begging aimlessly,
We’ll mistakenly destroy anthills [while building a home] in an
empty valley.
If we don’t live alone in meditation practice,
We busy ourselves with acting as the leader of many.
This useful free and fully endowed human body
Can be wasted in meaningless acts.
This precious jewel of the mind
Can be lost when sunk in the mire of existence.
This nectar of the master’s instructions
Can be lost under the sway of distraction.
This radiant flame of nonduality
Can die in thoughts’ windy breezes.