Advice for Abushri

Patrul Rinpoche

Translated by Constance Wilkinson

Buddhist Himalaya: A Journal of Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods

Vol. III No. I & II  (1990-1991)

Copyright 1990 by Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods

You sit on a full moon cushion of white light

In the full lotus bloom of Youth.

Master, sole deity,

Think of me, Vajrasattva.

You who remain unmoved within the manifest display

That is Mahamudra, bliss and emptiness.

Bad-karma Abu Shri !

You who are completely distracted,

Obscured, and for so long

Beguiled and entranced,

Fooled by delusion:

Keep this in mind ! Got it

Right now, when you're

Under the spell of mistaken perception

You have to watch out !

Don't get carried away by this fake and empty life,

Your own mind spinning round

About doing a lot of useless things

It's a waste ! Give it up !

Thinking about the hundred thing to accomplish

With not enough time to do them

Just weighs down one's mind.

Completely distracted

By all the work that never comes to an end,

Spreading out like ripples in water,

Don't make such a fool of yourself ! Keep quiet !

Listening-you've heard hundreds of teachings.

But you haven't grasped even one of them,

So what's the point ?

Reflecting even though you've listened,

If You can't remember the teachings when you need them,

There isn't any point !

Meditating-when you practice isn't curing

The obscuring states of mind-forget about it !

You've calculated just how many mantras you've done

But you aren't accomplishing the kyerim visualization !

You get the form of the deity nice and clear

But you don't put an end to subject and object !

You tame what appear to be evil spirits and ghosts !

But your own midstream isn't tamed !

You four fine sessions of sadhana practice,

So meticulously arranged

Forget about them !

When you're in a good mood,

Your practice seems to have lots of clarity

But you just can't relax into it !

When you're depressed,

Your practice seems steady enough,

But there's no brilliance to it !

You're focusing so strongly

That you seem to have awareness

But it's just like a stick stuck in the ground !

That way of gazing-it only seems stable !

You've concentrated mind by keeping it tethered ! !

Forget about that ! !

Giving lectures sounds nice enough

But it doesn't benefit mind.

So keen and so sharp,

The path of logical reasoning

But that's delusion, good-for-nothing goat-shit.

The oral instructions seem so very profound

But you don't put them into practice.

Looking over those books that just distract Your mind

And make your eyes sore-forget about it !

You beat your little drum-ting, ting

Just because your audience thinks it's nice to hear !

Though you say you're giving away your body and blood,

You still haven't stopped holding them dear.

You just make your little cymbals go cling, cling

Without having any real purpose in mind.

All these pretentious items

That seems so fine and attractive

Get rid of them !

Right now, they're all studying so very hard,

But in the end, they won't keep it up .

Today, they seem to get the idea,

But later on, there's not a trace left.

Even it one of them does learn a little,

He never applies his learning to himself !

These students who look so elegant

Get rid of them !

This year, he really cares about you,

Next year, it's not like that.

At first, he seems nodest,

Then he grows exalted and pompous.

The more you nurture and cherish him,

The more distant he grows.

These dear friends

Who show such smiling faces to begin with

Get rid of them !

Her smile seems so full of joy

But who knows if that's really the  case ?

One time, it's pure pleasure,

Then it's nine months of mental pain.

It might be fine for a month,

But sooner or later, there's trouble:

People teasing; your mind entangled

Your lady friend-get rid of her!

This endless talking, talking

It's just attachment and aversion

Good-for-nothing goat-shit.

It seems marvelous and entertaining.

But you're just spreading around the errors of others.

Your audience seems to be listening politely,

But then they grow embarrassed.

Useless conversation that just makes you thirsty

Forget about it !

Giving teachings on meditation

Without yourself having

Gained experience in practice,

Is like reciting a dance-manual out loud
And thinking that's dancing.

People may be listening to you with devotion,

But it just isn't the real thing.

Sooner or later, when your own actions

Contradict the teachings, you'll be ashamed.

Just mouthing the words,

Giving dharma explanations that sound so eloquent

Forget about it !

When you don't have a book, you want it;

When you have it, you don't use it.

The number of pages seems small enough,

But it's a bit hard to find time to copy them all.

Even if you wrote down all the books on earth,

You wouldn't feel satisfied.

It's a waste of time to copy down books

You're not even getting paid for it ! !

So forget it !

Today, they're happy as clams

Tomorrow, they're furious.

With all their black moods and white moods,

These people will never be satisfied.

Or even if they're nice enough,

They won't come through when you really need them,

Disappointing you even more.

All this fawning attentiveness, wearing a

Pleasing, praising face-forget about it !

Worldly and religious work

Is the province of gentlemen.

Abu, my boy-that's not for you, friend.

Haven't you noticed ?

An old bull, once you've borrowed him,

Has just one desire-to go back to sleep .

So you just sleep, eat, piss, shit

There's nothing else you've got to do !

Don't do anything else;

It's none of your business !

Just do what you have to, pipe down, and sleep.

In the triple universe,

When you're lower that your company,

You should take the low seat.

Should you happen to be superior,

Don't get arrogant.

Since you're better off keeping to yourself,

You don't need lots of close friends.

When you don't have my worldly or religious duties,

Don't keep hankering after them.

If you let go of everything

Everything, everything

That's the real point !

This advice was written by the practitioner Trime Lodro for dear Abu Shri, in order to give advice that is tailored exactly to his capacity. This advice should be put into practice. Even though you don't know how to practice give up everything-that's really want I want to say ! Even though you aren't able to succeed in practicing the dharma, don't get angry.

May it be virtuous.