FINAL HEARTFELT ADVICE from MARPA & DAGMEMA to MILAREPA: DEPARTING WISHES, Lord Marpa and Lady Dagmema’s wishes for Milarepa.

From “Life of Milarepa”, Part II, Chapter 5 – The Parting from the Guru

INVOKATION OF THE LAMAS, YIDAMS AND DAKINIS, AND FOR HAVING “GOOD CONDITONS” AND REALISATION
The dawn of the next day appeared. Bringing ample provision, the Master, with about thirteen disciples, accompanied me for half a day’s journey. All this time they walked with the sadness of loving hearts, speaking words of affection and showing signs of love.  
Then at a mountain pass from where the Ridge of Religion could be seen, we sat down to take part in a ritual feast. And the lama, taking my hand in his, said,  
 
‘My son, you are going into U and Tsang. At Silma Pass in Tsang there is a strong chance of meeting brigands. I had thought of not letting you leave without a good companion, but the time has come when you must go alone. Now I invoke my lama and yidam and command the dakinis to keep my son from harm on the way. For your part, it is important that you take care during the journey. Go from here to Lama Ngokpa. Compare your instructions and see if there are any differences. After that, set out quickly. Do not stay more than seven days in your own district, and go immediately into solitude. It is for your own good and for that of all sentient beings.’   

On leaving I offered the lama … ‚Song of Departure for Tsang‘ … I prayed and the lama answered, ‘My son, it shall be so. Keep in your memory the last words coming from your old father’s heart. Do not forget them.’. Then, having placed his hand on my head, he sang this song:

ན་མོ་གུ་རུ་བེ།   NAMO GURAVE!

རྗེ་བླ་མ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།

To all lord gurus I bow in salutation!

ལས་ཅན་ཆོས་དང་མཐུན་པའི་བུ།
Deserving offspring, who practices in total accord with the Dharma,

ཆོས་སྐུ་སངས་རྒྱས་གྲུབ་པར་ཤོག

May you awake to Buddhahood, the Dharmakaya.
ངག་རྡོ་རྗེའི་བཟླས་པ་བདུད་རྩིའི་རོས།

May the uttering of ‘Vajra recitation’ with its nectar-like taste

རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ལོངས་སྐུར་གྲུབ་པར་ཤོག
Provide the link that is needed to gain sambhogakaya.
སེམས་རྩ་བ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སྡོང་པོ་ལ།

On the tree of enlightenment, whose root is your mind

སྤྲུལ་སྐུའི་ལོ་འདབ་རྒྱས་པར་ཤོག
May the leaves of the emanation body – nirmanakaya – unfold.

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བླ་མའི་བཀའ་ཚིག་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུང་།

May the vajra speech – resounding as the words of the guru –

སྙིང་ལ་བརྗེ་མེད་གནས་པར་ཤོག

Abide in your heart unforgotten.

ཡི་དམ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་དྱིན་རླབས་དེ།

And may the blessing of the yidams and dakinis
སྲོག་གི་རྩ་བར་གནས་པར་ཤོག

Soak down and penetrate the very essence of your life – the roots of life.

ཆོས་སྐྱོང་སྲུང་མའི་རྒྱབ་རྟེན་དེས།

May the supporting protectors and guardians of dharma

འབྲེལ་བ་མེད་པར་སྐྱོང་བར་ཤོག

Protect you, never leaving your side.

May they be with you always and take good care of you.
རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ཟབ་མོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་དེ།

Through these prayers of profound interconnections

[And through the link that is forged through this wish for you so deep,]

མྱུར་བ་ཉིད་དུ་གྲུབ་པར་ཤོག
May you accomplish quickly what it aspires to.
ཆོས་མཛད་ཀུན་གྱི་ཐུགས་རྗེ་དེས།

And may the compassion of all who practice Dharma

དུས་གསུམ་ཀུན་ཏུ་འཛིན་པར་ཤོག
Guide you as you’re passing on your way through all three times.

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གཙང་སིལ་མ་ལ་ཡི་ལ་ཐོག་ཏུ།

As soon as you get to the Silma pass in Tsang
བརྟེན་མ་བཅུ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བསུམ་ཡོད།

The 12 Tenma goddesses will be waiting there, to guide you on.

སང་ཉིན་འགྲོ་བའི་ལམ་བར་ལ།

Tomorrow along the road that you travel,
དཔའ་བོ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་སྐྱེལ་མ་ཡོད།

Dakas and dakinis will escort you on your way

ཕ་ཡུལ་ཞེན་པའི་མཁར་ཞིང་ན།

At your longed for house and field, back in your homeland
མི་རྟག་སྒྱུ་མའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཡོད།

There you will find the masters Impermanence and Illusion

ཨ་ནེ་སྲིང་མོའི་ཉེ་འཁོར་ལ།

Among your family circle, your aunt and sister
སྒྱུ་མ་ཞིག་པའི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཡོད།

you will find the masters who shatters illusion.

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མི་མེད་ལུང་པའི་བྲག་ཕུག་ན།

In a cave of desolate places, in rocks or valleys
འཁོར་འདས་བརྗེ་བའི་ཚོང་འདུས་ཡོད།

You’ll find your marketplace to trade samsara for nirvana.
སྙིང་རུས་ལུས་ཀྱི་དགོན་པ་ན།

And, in the monastery of your persevering body

ལྷ་བདེ་གཤེགས་འདུས་པའི་མཆོད་ཁང་ཡོད།

You’ll find the shrine room, where

deities and ‘Buddhas gone to bliss’ gather.

ནད་མེད་ཟ་ཡི་ཚོགས་འཁོར་ལོ།

And at the feast where nettles are the healthy food that‘ is offered,

མཁའ་འགྲོ་མཉེས་པའི་བདུད་རྩི་ཡོད།

You’ll find the nectar pleasing to the dakinis.

འཁྲུལ་འཁོར་གནད་ཀྱི་ཁ་བསྒྱུར་ལ།

And in the trulkhor yoga transforming all your vital points,

འབྲས་རིན་ཆེན་སྐྱེ་བའི་སོ་ནམ་ཡོད།

You’ll find the farm work just for you, that yields such precious fruit.

ཡུལ་མི་རྩིས་ཆུང་བའི་རང་ཡུལ་དེར།

And in your own home country, where you don’t count for much

[ – where countrymen show little respect]

འཕྲལ་གཡེང་བ་མེད་པའི་དགེ་སྦྱོར་ཡོད།

You’ll find practice free from unforeseen distraction,

[Getting straight down to practice, not getting off the track.]

མཚམས་དམ་པོ་མི་མེད་ཁྱི་མེད་ན།

In strict retreat, with neither man nor dog as your companion,

རྟགས་མྱུར་དུ་མཐོང་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཡོད།

You’ll have the torch in hand for quickly seeing the signs.

ཟས་དཀོར་ཟས་མེད་པའི་རང་ཟས་ལ།

Eating your food will not be a ritual stipend
བདེ་བ་ལྷ་ཡི་ཕམ་ཕབ་ཡོད།

It will be a gift of bliss that comes straight from the gods.
གྲིབ་མེད་ལྷ་ཡི་གཞལ་ཡས་ན།

And in this palace of the deity, that casts no shadow
རང་དོན་གྲུབ་པའི་ལྟད་མོ་ཡོད།

You will be witness to the accomplishment of life’s aim [རང་དོན་].

[You’ll enjoy the spectacle of your own ends achieved

You will be witness to your own victory, winning your life’s aims.]

ངོ་ལྐོག་མེད་པའི་ལྷ་ཆོས་ལ།

By practicing the Dharma without hypocrisy – free of all pretension

དམ་ཚིག་གཙང་མའི་ཕྲིན་ལས་ཡོད།

You’ll perform enlightened deeds of samaya so pure.

བཀའ་བཞིན་སྒྲུབ་པའི་སོ་ནམ་ལ།

Through tending well your farm work of practicing as taught
དངོས་གྲུབ་ཀུན་གྱི་གཏེར་ཁ་ཡོད།

You’ll find the hidden treasure of the siddhis all at hand.

(You will find the treasure-vein of all accomplishments.)

དམ་ཆོས་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་སྲོག་སྙིང་ལ།

And in the authentic Dharma, the sacred teachings, the dakinis’ living heartbeat,

འཁོར་འདས་གྱེས་པའི་སོ་མཚམས་ཡོད།

You’ll find the last frontier between samsara and nirvana.

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མར་པ་ལོ་ཙྰའི་བུ་བརྒྱུད་ལ།

In this transmission lineage of Marpa Lotsawa,

(Mila / Ngoktön of Shung / Tsurton Wang-nge of Tol / Meton Tsonpo of Tsangrong)

[Tummo / Hevajra      /       Phowa                 /   Luminosity]

གཏམ་སྙན་མང་པོའི་འོང་སྒོ་ཡོད།

You’ll find the door through which much good news will arrive.

མི་ལ་རས་པའི་སྙིང་རུས་ལ།

Through the persevering spirit of Milarepa

སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པའི་སྲོག་ཤིང་ཡོད།   །
The pillar of the Buddha’s teaching will stand

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སྲོག་ཤིང་འཛིན་པའི་སྐྱེས་བུ་ལ།

May all of those who take this as their central pillar

བརྒྱུད་པ་བཟང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག
May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of an excellent lineage

བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག
May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of the Kagyu lineage gurus

ཡི་དམ་བཟང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག
May this person be blessed and enjoy the good of yidams in all their excellence
བདེ་དགྱེས་གསང་གསུམ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the goodness of the lord Hevajra’s presence

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good of Chakrasamvara’s and Guhyasamaja’s presence
དམ་ཆོས་བཟངཔོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good of Authentic Dharma in all its excellence

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མཁའ་འགྲོའི་སྲོག་སྙིང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of the heartbeat of dakinis
མཁའ་འགྲོ་བཟང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of good dakinis‘ presence

གནས་གསུམ་མཁའ་འགྲོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of the dakinis of the 3 domains.

ཆོས་སྐྱོང་བཟང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good of excellent dharmapalas
དུད་སོལ་ལྷ་མོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes about by Dakini Dúsolma, the goddess

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བུ་སློབ་བཟང་པོའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes of having excellent students

བཀའ་བཞིན་སྒྲུབ་པའི་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good of practicing according to the guru’s word
རྒྱུད་ནས་བརྒྱུད་བཅས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཤོག

May this person be blessed and enjoy the good that comes

བཀྲ་ཤིས་མི་འགྱུར་བརྟེན་པར་ཤོག

From an authentic lineage surviving through transmission,

དོན་དེ་དག་མ་བརྗེད་ཉམས་སུ་ལོངས།

and may the practicing lineages long remain;

[May good fortune remain stable without changing.]

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དོན་དེ་དག་མ་བརྗེད་ཉམས་སུ་ལོངས།

May you, the practitioners, [taking these instructions as your central pillar and practice] know the good of being stable and not wavering.

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Do not forget the points named here but put them into practice – Practice these points without letting them go.

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ཞེས་གསུང་བཞིན་དགྱེས་དགྱེས་མཛད།

Having sung this, the lama expressed great joy.

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དེ་ནས་ཡུམ་གྱིས་་་་

སྐལ་བ་བཟང་མོའི་བདག་མེག་མ། བུ་ལ་སྙིང་གཏམ་བསྐུལ་བ་རྣམས།

In this way, I,   the Lady  Dagmema, the fortunate one,

Encourage you, my son, with such heartfelt advice.

བླ་མའི་བདུད་རྩི་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཆང། ངོམས་པར་འཐུང།

The Ambrosia of the Lama, is like beer of

‘primordial awareness’. Drink this, to your satisfaction.

སྙིང་ལ་ཕན་པའི་གདམས་ངག་ཟས། འགྲངས་པར་ཟ་ཞིང་།

The nourishment for the heart is the oral instruction.

Eat this, until you are fully satisfied.

མཁའ་འགྲོའི་ཁ་རླངས་ཟབ་མོའི་གོས། གྲོ་བར་གྱོན་ཞིན་བཞུད་པར་ཞུ།

The warm cloak of the dakinis’ breath most profound. Wear this as your cover.

ཐེག་ཆེན་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་བསྟན་པའི་ཁུར། ཆེ་བར་བསྣམས་ལ་བཞུད་པར་ཞུ།

The development of the attitude of the Great Path [i.e. the Bodhicitta of Maha Yana] is in fact a big thing. Take up this great commitment.

བུས་ཀྱང་མ་བརྫེད་སྙིང་ལ་ཟུང།  ན་པ་བཞིན་དུ་འགྲུབ་པར་ཤོག དྲིན་ལན་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་འཁོར་བར་ཤོག

Son, do not forget this, take this to heart,

May this prayer be fullfilled just as I have spoken,

May you repay our kindness through turning the dharma

NOTES:

TENMA: The twelve goddess. Twelve invisible dakinis who were said to have been subdued by Guru Padmasambhava at Palmo Palthang in Porong, West Tibet, and who were assigned by him to protect practicing initiates and yogins of the Vajrayana Order.  DUDSOLMA: A goddess in wrathful aspect whom Marpa recognized as the guardian of the Kagyu tradition.

English suggestion completed the 20^th of May 2016, 14^th lunar day, Sodjong,

in the 4^th month, Saga-Dawa, in the blessing of the full-moon day of Buddhas enlightenment

COLOPHON:

English text based on 5 sources: 1) Main source: Jim Scotts translation (1996), with the blessing and advice of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche as main source. Then lightly used (2) Andrew Quintman, assistant professor, Yale, for Penguin Books (2010), and also (3) the odd reference Heather Hughes-Calero, aka Winged Wolf aka Maticintin, founder of Hümüh (1994). Finally (4) taking in the authorative Shambhala Publication version (1977/1979), translated by Lobsang Phuntshok. Lhalungpa  (born 1926). The 5^th source is that I have myself made the compilation 20^th of May 2017, and, by help of Sönam Spitz, who helped me find the Tibetan text,  taken in the tibetan during september 2017, completing it 24^th Sep 2017. The 26^th of November 2017 I received lung from Khenchen Nyima Rinpoche, as well as suggestions for errors of typing. This was included and revised 31^st January 2018, Taipei/Taiwan. Also, end of December 2017, I received lung from Khenpo Chöskyab. And 16^th of June 2019, in the Saga-Dawa, just before fullmoon, I completed the ‘Words of the Lady Dagmema”, by adding both the tibetan and revising/adapting the English translation, taken from source 2.