Mahamudra Upadesha

Please enjoy this verse by verse comparison of various English translations of Tilopa's Mahamudra Upadesha. As the arrangement of the verses seem to be different between the various translations I took the freedom to rearange some of the translations so we can easier compare them here - please refer to the listed sources of the translations to see the original translations.

List of translations (arbitrary order). Please use the checkboxes to show/hide translations:

Homage

དཔལ་རྡོ་རྗེ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ༈ །

I bow to Vajra Dakini. (Ken McLeod)

I prostrate to the glorious Vajra Dakini. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Homage to the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas!
Homage to Mahamudra! 
Homage to the Vajra Dakini! (Keith Dowman)

I prostrate to glorious Vajradakini. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Homage to the Co-emergent Wisdom! (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Homage to the Vajra Dakini! (Dharma Fellowship)

Homage to glorious coemergence! (Ari Kiev)

Verse 1

དཀའ་བ་སྤྱད་ཅིང་བླ་མ་ལ་གུས་པ། །
སྡུག་བསྔལ་བཟོད་ལྡན་བློ་ལྡན་ནཱ་རོ་པ། །
སྐལ་ལྡན་ཁྱོད་ཀྱིས་བློ་ལ་འདི་ལྟར་བྱོས། ༈ །

Mahamudra cannot be taught, Naropa,
But your devotion to your teacher and the hardships you’ve met
Have made you patient in suffering and also wise:
Take this to heart, my worthy student. (Ken McLeod)

Intelligent Naropa, who endures hardship,
Respects the guru, and bears suffering,
You who are fortunate, take this to heart. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Mahamudra cannot be taught. But most intelligent Naropa,
Since you have undergone rigorous austerity,
With forbearance in suffering and with devotion to your Guru,
Blessed One, take this secret instruction to heart. (Keith Dowman)

You work with hardships, are dedicated to the guru, 
Can endure suffering, and are full of insight, Naropa. 
You fortunate one, deal like this with your mind! (Karl Brunnholzl)

Mahamudra cannot be shown;
But for you who are devoted to the guru, who have mastered the ascetic practices
And are forbearant in suffering, intelligent Naropa,
Take this to heart, my fortunate student. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Mahamudra is beyond description.
But for your sake, O Naropa, my most devoted disciple,
who is diligent in ascetic practice and exertion,
this shall be said: (Dharma Fellowship)

Intelligent Nāropa, forbearing of suffering,
you have endured hardships and are devoted to the guru.
Thus, though mahāmudra cannot be shown,
take this to heart, you fortunate one! (Ari Kiev)

Mahamudra is beyond all words
And symbols, but for you, Naropa,
Earnest and loyal, must this be said. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 2

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་བསྟན་དུ་མེད་ཀྱིས་ཀྱང༌། །
དཔེར་ན་ནམ་མཁའ་གང་གིས་གང་ལ་བརྟེན། །
རང་སེམས་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ་ལ་བརྟེན་ཡུལ་མེད། །
མ་བཅོས་གཉུག་མའི་ངང་དུ་གློད་ལ་ཞོག ༈
བཅིངས་པ་ཀློད་ན་གྲོལ་བར་ཐེ་ཚོམ་མེད། །

For instance, consider space: what depends on what?
Likewise, mahamudra: it doesn’t depend on anything. 
Don’t control. Let go and rest naturally.
Let what binds you let go and freedom is not in doubt. (Ken McLeod)

Mahamudra cannot be shown.
Just as who can show space to whom?
Likewise, there’s nothing to show in the nature, mahamudra.
Relax and rest in the unaltered basic nature.
If the bonds are loosed, there’s no doubt you’ll be freed. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Is space anywhere supported? Upon what does it rest?
Like space, Mahamudra is dependant upon nothing;
Relax and settle in the continuum of unalloyed purity, 
And, your bonds loosening, release is certain. (Keith Dowman)

Though Mahamudra cannot be taught, 
Just as in the example of which [part of] space is supporting which, 
Your own mind, Mahamudra, lacks any supporting ground. 
Let go and rest in the uncontrived, fundamental state. 
if you loosen up your tightness, there is no doubt that you are liberated. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Space is completely without locality.
Likewise, mahamudra mind dwells nowhere.
Without change, rest loose in the primordial state;
There is no doubt that your bonds will loosen. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Space lacks any locality at all.
Likewise, Mahamudra rests on naught.
Thus, without making effort, abide in the pure primordial state,
and the fetters that bind you will simply drop away. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, in space, what is supported by what?
Like [space], the mahāmudra that is mind itself has no supporting ground.
Rest at ease in the uncontrived, innate continuity.
When the bonds are loosened, there is no doubt of release. (Ari Kiev)

The Void needs no reliance,
Mahamudra rests on nought.
Without making an effort,
But remaining loose and natural,
One can break the yoke
Thus gaining Liberation. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 3

དཔེར་ན་ནམ་མཁའི་དཀྱིལ་བལྟས་མཐོང་བ་འགག་པར་འགྱུར། །
དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཀྱིས་སེམས་ལ་བལྟས་བྱས་ན། །
རྣམ་རྟོག་ཚོགས་འགག་བླ་མེད་བྱང་ཆུབ་འཐོབ། ༈ །

When you look into space, seeing stops.
Likewise, when mind looks at mind,
The flow of thinking stops and you come to the deepest awakening. (Ken McLeod)

Just as when you look in the center of space, seeing stops,
Likewise, when the mind looks at mind,
Thoughts cease and unexcelled enlightenment is achieved. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Gazing intently into the empty sky, vision ceases;
Likewise, when mind gazes into mind itself,
The train of discursive and conceptual thought ends
And supreme enlightenment is gained. (Keith Dowman)

For example, when you look at the center of the sky, seeing will cease. 
Likewise, when mind looks at mind, 
The swarms of thoughts cease and unsurpassable enlightenment is attained. (Karl Brunnholzl)

If you perceive space,
The fixed ideas of center and boundary dissolve.
Likewise, if mind perceives mind,
All mental activities will cease, you will remain in a state of non-thought,
And you will realize the supreme bodhi-citta. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Just as when looking into the open sky,
fixed concepts of centre and circumference dissolve,
So, if with mind one perceives the mind, mental activity ceases;
then is it, that Enlightened-mind is realized. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, if you examine the center of space,
the one who fixates on the boundary and center ceases to be.
Likewise, when you investigate the mind with the mind, the multitude of thoughts ceases
and you see the nature of mind. (Ari Kiev)

If one sees nought when staring into space,
If with the mind one then observes the mind,
One destroys distinctions
And reaches Buddhahood. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 4

དཔེར་ན་ས་རླངས་སྤྲིན་ནི་ནམ་མཁའི་དབྱིངས་སུ་དེངས། །
གར་ཡང་སོང་བ་མེད་ཅིང་གར་ཡང་གནས་པ་མེད། །
དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་རྟོག་ཚོགས་ཀྱང༌། །
རང་སེམས་མཐོང་བས་རྟོག་པའི་རྦ་རླབས་དྭངས། ༈ །

Mists rise from the earth and vanish into space.
They go nowhere, nor do they stay.
Likewise, though thoughts arise,
Whenever you see your mind, the clouds of thinking clear. (Ken McLeod)

Just as clouds of mist dissipate in the expanse of the sky,
Not going anywhere, not staying anywhere,
So is it with the thoughts arising from your mind.
Seeing your own mind purifies the waves of thought. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Like the morning mist that dissolves into thin air,
Going nowhere but ceasing to be,
Waves of conceptualization, all the mind’s creation, dissolve,
When you behold your mind’s true nature. (Keith Dowman)

For example, clouds [formed by] vapor on earth vanish in the sky’s expanse. 
They neither go anywhere, nor do they dwell any place. 
The same is true for the swarms of thoughts sprung from the mind: 
Through seeing your own mind, the waves of thoughts clear up. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Vapors arising from the earth become clouds and then vanish into the sky;
It is not known where the clouds go when they have dissolved.
Likewise, the waves of thoughts derived from the mind
Dissolve when mind perceives mind. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Clouds that arise and take form in the sky,
pass away quite automatically according to natural law.
Likewise, the flow of concepts arising in the mind,
naturally pass away when mind perceives mind. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, [when] vapors from the earth or clouds disperse into space,
they have gone nowhere and yet do not remain anywhere.
So it is with the multitude of thoughts that arise from the mind:
by seeing the mind itself, the waves of thoughts dissipate. (Ari Kiev)

The clouds that wander through the sky
Have no roots, no home; nor do the distinctive
Thoughts floating through the mind.
Once the Self-mind is seen,
Discrimination stops. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 5

དཔེར་ན་ནམ་མཁའི་རང་བཞིན་ཁ་དོག་དབྱིབས་ལས་འདས། །
དཀར་ནག་དག་གིས་གོས་ཤིང་འགྱུར་བ་མེད། །
དེ་བཞིན་རང་སེམས་སྙིང་པོ་ཁ་དོག་དབྱིབས་ལས་འདས། །
དགེ་སྡིག་དཀར་ནག་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་གོས་མི་འགྱུར། ༈ །

Space is beyond color or shape. 
It doesn’t take on color, black or white: it doesn’t change.
Likewise, your mind, in essence, is beyond color or shape.
It does not change because you do good or evil. (Ken McLeod)

The nature of space transcends color and shape,
Neither stained nor changed by black or white.
Likewise, the essence of your mind transcends color and shape,
Unpolluted by black or white qualities, misdeeds or virtues. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Pure space has neither colour nor shape
And it cannot be stained either black or white;
So also, mind’s essence is beyond both colour and shape
And it cannot be sullied by black or white deeds. (Keith Dowman)

For example, the nature of space is beyond color and shape, 
Untainted and unchanged by black or white. 
Likewise, the essence of your own mind transcends color and shape, 
Not tainted by the black and white phenomena of good and evil. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Space has neither color nor shape;
It is changeless, it is not tinged by black or white.
Likewise, luminous mind has neither color nor shape;
It is not tinged by black or white, virtue or vice. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Space has neither shape nor colour;
it is changeless, and not tinged by either white or black.
Likewise, mind-in-itself has neither form nor colour,
nor can it be stained by virtue or vice. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, space transcends color and form.
It is immutable and without a tinge of black or white.
Similarly, the mind itself, beyond color and form,
is untainted by the white and black phenomena of virtue and evil. (Ari Kiev)

In space shapes and colors form,
But neither by black nor white is space tinged.
From the Self-mind all things emerge, the mind
By virtues and by vices is not stained. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 6

དཔེར་ན་གསལ་དྭང་ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ་དེ། །
བསྐལ་པ་སྟོང་གི་མུན་པས་སྒྲིབ་མི་འགྱུར། །
དེ་བཞིན་རང་སེམས་སྙིང་པོ་འོད་གསལ་དེ། །
བསྐལ་པའི་འཁོར་བས་སྒྲིབ་པར་མི་ནུས་སོ། ༈ །

The darkness of a thousand eons cannot dim
The brilliant radiance that is the essence of the sun. 
Likewise, eons of samsara cannot dim
The sheer clarity that is the essence of your mind. (Ken McLeod)

Just as the bright, clear essence of the sun
Cannot be obscured by the murk of a thousand aeons,
Likewise, the luminous essence of your mind
Can’t be obscured by aeons of samsara. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The darkness of a thousand aeons is powerless
To dim the crystal clarity of the sun’s heart;
And likewise, aeons of samsara have no power
To veil the clear light of the mind’s essence. (Keith Dowman)

Just as the bright and clear heart of the sun 
Cannot [even] be obscured by the darkness of a thousand eons, 
The luminous heart of your own mind 
Cannot be obscured by this cyclic existence of [infinite] eons. (Karl Brunnholzl)

The sun’s pure and brilliant essence
Cannot be dimmed by the darkness that endures for a thousand kalpas.
Likewise, the luminous essence of mind
Cannot be dimmed by the long kalpas of samsara. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

The burning stellar radiance of the sun
can not be covered by the eternal darkness of space.
Likewise the luminous essence of mind
can not be shrouded by Samsara's endless duration. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, the clear and pure orb of the sun
is not eclipsed by the darkness of a thousand aeons.
Likewise, aeons in cyclic existence
cannot obscure the luminous essence of mind itself. (Ari Kiev)

The darkness of ages cannot shroud
The glowing sun; the long kalpas
Of Samsara ne’er can hide
The Mind’s brilliant light. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 7

དཔེར་ན་ནམ་མཁའ་སྟོང་པར་ཐ་སྙད་རབ་བརྟགས་ཀྱང༌། །
ནམ་མཁའ་ལ་ནི་འདི་འདྲར་བརྗོད་དུ་མེད།
དེ་བཞིན་རང་སེམས་འོད་གསལ་བརྗོད་གྱུར་ཀྱང༌། །
བརྗོད་པས་འདིར་འདྲར་གྲུབ་ཅེས་ཐ་སྙད་གདགས་གཞི་མེད།

Although you say space is empty,
You can’t say that space is "like this".
Likewise, although mind is said to be sheer clarity,
There is nothing there: you can’t say "it’s like this". (Ken McLeod)

Though space is given the appellation “empty,”
There’s nothing in space that can be described as such.
Likewise, though mind is described as luminous,
There’s nothing to give a name, saying it’s like this. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Although space has been designated "empty",
In reality it is inexpressible;
Although the nature of mind is called "clear light",
Its every ascription is baseless verbal fiction. (Keith Dowman)

For example, though space is conventionally labeled as empty, 
Space cannot be described as being like this. 
Likewise, though your own mind may be called luminosity, 
Through this expression, it is not established in this way nor is there a basis for conventional labeling. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Though it may be said that space is empty,
Space cannot be described.
Likewise, though it may be said that mind is luminous,
Naming it does not prove that is exists. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Though we say that space is empty,
the actual nature of this vacuity defies description.
Though we say that mind is luminous,
it is actually beyond all words and concepts. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, although space is labeled ‘empty,’
space itself is indescribable by such [terms].
Similarly, though the mind itself is described as ‘clear light,’
there is no basis for designating it as such through verbal expressions. (Ari Kiev)

Though words are spoken to explain the Void,
The Void as such can never be expressed.
Though we say "the mind is a bright light,"
It is beyond all words and symbols. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 8

དེ་ལྟར་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་གདོད་ནས་ནམ་མཁའ་འདྲ། །
ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་དེ་རུ་མ་འདུས་མེད། །

Thus, the nature of mind is inherently like space:
It includes everything you experience. (Ken McLeod)

Therefore, the nature of mind has always been like space.
There are no phenomena at all not contained within it. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The mind’s original nature is like space;
It pervades and embraces all things under the sun. (Keith Dowman)

Thus, the nature of the mind is primordially like space. 
There is not a single phenomena that is not included within it. (Karl Brunnholzl)

The essence of mind is like space;
Therefore, there is nothing which it does not encompass. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

In that mind is like space, it encompasses all. (Dharma Fellowship)

In that way, the nature of mind is like space.
There is no phenomenon not included in that. (Ari Kiev)

Although the mind is void in essence,
All things it embraces and contains. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 9

ལུས་ཀྱི་བྱ་བ་ཡོངས་ཐོངས་རྣལ་འབྱོར་དལ་བར་སྡོང༌། །
ངག་གི་སྨྲ་བརྗོད་མེད་དེ་གྲགས་སྟོང་བྲག་ཆ་འདྲ། །
ཡིད་ལ་ཅི་ཡང་མི་བསམ་ལ་བཟླའི་ཆོས་ལ་ལྟོས། །

Stop all physical activity: sit naturally at ease. 
Do not talk or speak: let sound be empty, like an echo.
Do not think about anything: look at experience beyond thought. (Ken McLeod)

Let go of all bodily acts; sit naturally at ease.
Not speaking, your speech is empty sounding, like an echo.
Don’t think of anything with your mind;
Look at the dharma that gets straight to the point. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Be still and stay relaxed in genuine ease,
Be quiet and let sound reverberate as an echo,
Keep your mind silent and watch the ending of all worlds. (Keith Dowman)

Cast away all bodily activities, rest at ease in naturalness. 
Let your speech be without utterance, resounding yet empty, like an echo. 
Don’t think of anything in your mind, behold the dharma of the final leap.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

Let the movements of the body ease into genuineness,
Cease your idle chatter, let your speech become an echo,
Have no mind, but see the dharma of the leap. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Therefore cease with bodily movement and sit relaxed;
close your mouth and simply remain in silence;
empty your mind and leap beyond the phenomenal! (Dharma Fellowship)

Completely give up physical activity and remain at ease.
Without much speech, [sound] is like an echo.
Without thinking, look at decisively-resolved reality. (Ari Kiev)

Do nought with the body but relax,
Shut firm the mouth and silent remain,
Empty your mind and think of nought. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 10

ལུས་ལ་སྙིང་པོ་མེད་པ་སྨྱུགས་མའི་སྡོང་པོ་འདྲ། །
སེམས་ནི་ནམ་མཁའི་དཀྱིལ་ལྟར་བསམ་པའི་ཡུལ་ལས་འདས། །
དེ་ཡི་ངང་ལ་བཏང་བཞག་མེད་པར་གློད་ལ་ཞོག ༈ །

Your body has no core, hollow like bamboo. 
Your mind goes beyond thought, open like space.
Let go of control and rest right there. (Ken McLeod)

The body has no essence, like a bamboo stalk.
The mind, like the center of space, transcends conception.
Neither taking nor leaving, rest relaxed in its nature. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The body is essentially empty like the stem of a reed,
And the mind, like pure space, utterly transcends 
the world of thought:
Relax into your intrinsic nature with neither abandon nor control - (Keith Dowman)

The body is without pith, just like a bamboo cane. 
Mind is like the center of space, beyond being an object of thinking. 
Without discarding or placing, relax and leave it in its own state.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

The body, like a hollow bamboo, has no substance.
Mind is like the essence of space, having no place for thoughts.
Rest loose your mind; neither hold it nor permit it to wander. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Let the body rest at ease, insubstantial like a bamboo tube.
Let the mind rest in itself, spacious and un-preoccupied with thought. (Dharma Fellowship)

The body is insubstantial, like the hollow stalk of a reed;
and the mind, like the center of space, transcends the realm of thought.
Rest at ease in that state, without releasing or placing. (Ari Kiev)

Like a hollow bamboo
Rest at ease your body.
Giving not nor taking,
Put your mind at rest. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 11

སེམས་པ་གཏད་སོ་མེད་ན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན། །
དེ་ལ་གོམས་ཤིང་འདྲིས་ན་བླ་མེད་བྱང་ཆུབ་འཐོབ། ༈ །

Mind without projection is mahamudra.
Train and develop this and you will come to the deepest awakening. (Ken McLeod)

When mind has no aim, that is mahamudra.
When you are habituated to that, you will achieve enlightenment. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Mind with no objective is Mahamudra -
And, with practice perfected, supreme enlightenment is gained. (Keith Dowman)

If mind lacks any point of reference, this is Mahamudra. 
If you become familiar and acquainted with this, you attain unsurpassable enlightenment. (Karl Brunnholzl)

If mind has no aim, it is mahamudra.
Accomplishing this is the attainment of supreme enlightenment. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

When the mind is not possessed by aims, that is Mahamudra.
When this is realized, that is Great Enlightenment! (Dharma Fellowship)

When the mind is without a focal point, that is mahāmudra.
By habituating yourself to that, unsurpassable awakening is attained. (Ari Kiev)

Mahamudra is like a mind that clings to nought.
Thus practicing, in time you will reach Buddhahood. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 12

སྔགས་སུ་སྨྲ་དང་ཕ་རོལ་ཕྱིན་པ་དང༌། །
འདུལ་བ་མདོ་སྡེ་སྡེ་སྣོད་ལ་སོགས་པ། །
རང་རང་གཞུང་དང་གྲུབ་པའི་མཐའ་ཡིས་ན། །
འོད་གསལ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་མཐོང་མི་འགྱུར། །

You don’t see mahamudra’s sheer clarity
By means of classical texts or philosophical systems,
Whether of the mantras, paramitas, 
Vinaya, sutras or other collections. (Ken McLeod)

You will not see luminous mahamudra
Through recitation of mantras, the paramitas,
The vinaya, sutras, or other baskets of scriptures
Or through your own texts and philosophical schools. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The clear light of Mahamudra cannot be revealed
By the canonical scriptures or metaphysical treatises
Of the Mantravada, the Paramitas or the Tripitaka;
The clear light is veiled by concepts and ideals. (Keith Dowman)

Whether it be what the mantra[yana] or the paramita[yana] say, 
The collections of the vinaya, the sutras, and so on, 
Or your own individual scriptures and philosophical systems, 
Through none of these will you see luminous Mahamudra.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

The followers of Tantra, the Prajnaparamita,
The Vinaya, the Sutras, and other religions-
All these, by their texts and philosophical dogmas,
Will not see the luminous mahamudra. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Adherents of the Tantra and of the Mahayana,
of the Vinaya and Sutra, and the followers of the World Religions,
with all their various scholastic theologies and devotions,
have no idea whatsoever of this wondrous simultaneously-born Mahamudra. (Dharma Fellowship)

The luminosity that is mahāmudra will not be seen
through expounding the [secret] mantra and parāmita [vehicles],
the scripture collections including the vinaya,
or even through individual philosophical scriptures and tenet systems. (Ari Kiev)

The practice of Mantra and Paramita,
Instruction in the Sutras and Precepts,
And teaching from the
Schools and Scriptures will not bring
Realization of the Innate Truth. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 13

ཞེ་འདོད་བྱུང་བས་འོད་གསལ་མ་མཐོང་བསྒྲིབས། ༈ །
རྟོག་པའི་སྲུང་སྡོམ་དམ་ཚིག་དོན་ལས་ཉམས ། །
ཡིད་ལ་མི་བྱེད་ཞི་འདོད་ཀུན་དང་བྲལ། །
རང་བྱུང་རང་ཞི་ཆུ་ཡི་པ་ཏྲ་འདྲ། །
མི་གནས་མི་དམིགས་དོན་ལས་མི་འདའ་ན། །
དམ་ཚིག་མི་འདའ་མུན་པའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཡིན། ༈ །

Ambition clouds sheer clarity and you don’t see it. 
Thinking about precepts undermines the point of commitment. 
Do not think about anything; let all ambition drop.
Let what arises settle by itself, like patterns in water.
No place, no focus, no missing the point — 
Do not break this commitment: it is the light in the dark. (Ken McLeod)

When wishes arise, luminosity is unseen, obscured.
Keeping vows and samaya conceptually violates the actual.
Not engaging mentally, free of all wishes,
Self-arising, self-subsiding, like ripples in water—
If you don’t transgress the nonabiding, unobservable meaning,
You will not transgress samaya. This is the lamp in darkness. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

By harbouring rigid precepts the true samaya is impaired,
But with cessation of mental activity all fixed notions subside;
When the swell of the ocean is at one with its peaceful depths,
When mind never strays from indeterminate, non-conceptual truth,
The unbroken samaya is a lamp lit in spiritual darkness. (Keith Dowman)

Through what springs from wanting, you do not see luminosity, but it obscures. 
Through conceptions, precepts and samayas fall away from the actual.
Not engaging mentally, free from all wanting, 
Self-arisen and self-settling, just like patterns on water--
If you do not go beyond the actuality of nondwelling and being nonreferential, 
You do not go beyond samaya, which is the lamp in the darkness. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Having no mind, without desires,
Self-quieted, self-existing,
It is like a wave of water.
Luminosity is veiled only by the rising of desire.
The real vow of samaya is broken by thinking in terms of precepts.
If you neither dwell, perceive, nor stray from the ultimate,
Then you are a holy practitioner, the torch which illuminates darkness. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Not caught up in perceptions, nor caught in desire,
seeking nothing, abiding in the self alone, one simply lets
consciousness be, like a wave in the Great Ocean.
As to the keeping of covenant-vows (samaya), they are broken
only by the act of trying to adhere to them. The light is hidden only by striving to know it.
Cease with rules and ritual, abandon volition, stray not from the Ultimate,
and then a true Precept-keeper will you be, a lamp illuminating the darkness. (Dharma Fellowship)

When a wish arises, luminosity is obscured and not perceived.
Preserving the vows conceptually, you violate the samaya on the level of ultimate meaning.
When you fabricate nothing in the mind and are devoid of any wish,
[thoughts] are like self-arising, self-subsiding ripples in water.
If [mind] does not stray from the non-abiding, unobjectified ultimate meaning,
the unimpaired samaya is a lamp in the darkness. (Ari Kiev)

For if the mind when filled with some desire
Should seek a goal, it only hides the Light.
He who keeps Tantric Precepts
Yet discriminates, betrays
The spirit of Samaya.
Cease all activity, abandon
All desire, let thoughts rise and fall
As they will like the ocean waves.
He who never harms the Non-abiding
Nor the Principle of Non-distinction,
Upholds the Tantric Precepts. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 14

ཞེ་འདོད་ཀུན་བྲལ་མཐའ་ལ་མི་གནས་ན། །
སྡེ་སྣོད་ཆོས་རྣམས་མ་ལུས་མཐོང་བར་འགྱུར། ༈ །
དོན་འདིར་གཞོལ་ན་འཁོར་བའི་བཙོན་ལས་ཐར། །
དོན་འདིར་མཉམ་བཞག་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྲེག །
བསྟན་པའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ཞེས་སུ་བཤད་པ་ཡིན། །

When you are free from ambition and don’t hold any position,
You will see all that the scriptures teach.
When you open to this, you are free from samsara’s prison.
When you settle in this, all evil and distortion burn up.
This is called "The Light of the Teaching". (Ken McLeod)

If, free of all wishes, you do not dwell in extremes,
You will see the dharmas of all the scriptures.
Settling into this meaning, you’re freed from the prison of samsara.
Resting evenly in this meaning incinerates all misdeeds and obscurations.
This is taught to be the lamp of the teachings. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Free of intellectual conceits, disavowing dogmatic principles,
The truth of every school and scripture is revealed.
Absorbed in Mahamudra, you are free from the prison of samsara;
Poised in Mahamudra, guilt and negativity are consumed;
And as master of Mahamudra you are the light of the Doctrine. (Keith Dowman)

If you are free from all wanting and do not dwell in extremes, 
You will see all dharmas of the scriptural collections without exception. 
If you merge into this actuality, you are released from the dungeon of cyclic existence. 
Resting in equipoise in this actuality, all wrongdoing and obscurations are consumed. 
This is explained as "the lamp of the teachings." (Karl Brunnholzl)

If you are without desire, if you do not dwell in extremes,
You will see the dharmas of all the teachings.
If you strive in this endeavor, you will free yourself from samsaric imprisonment.
If you meditate in this way, you will burn the veil of karmic impurities.
Therefore, you are known as "The Torch of the Doctrine." (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

If you slip not into conation, if you hold to neither this nor that,
the real meaning behind all the Scriptures, will make itself clear.
Just abiding, one is released from the prison of Samsara.
Just abiding, all one's karmic impurities are burned away.
It is then that you shall be known as a "Lamp of the Teaching". (Dharma Fellowship)

When, devoid of any wish, you are not confined to a position,
all the teachings of the scripture collections without exception will be realized.
If you exert yourself in this truth, you will be freed from the prison of samsara.
If you [cultivate] even meditation upon this truth, all unawareness, negativities and obscurations will be burnt away.
[Thus], it is known as the lamp of the teachings. (Ari Kiev)

He who abandons craving
And clings not to this or that,
Perceives the real meaning
Given in the Scriptures.
In Mahamudra all one’s sins are burned;
In Mahamudra one is released
From the prison of this world.
This is the Dharma’s supreme torch. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 15

དོན་འདིར་མི་མོས་སྐྱེ་བོ་བླུན་པོ་རྣམས། །
འཁོར་བའི་ཆུ་བོས་རྟག་ཏུ་ཁྱེར་བར་ཟད། །
ངན་སོང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་མི་བཟད་བླུན་པོ་སྙིང་རེ་རྗེ། །
མི་བཟད་ཐར་འདོད་བླ་མ་མཁས་ལ་བསྟེན། །
བྱིན་རླབས་སྙིང་ལ་ཞུགས་ན་རང་སེམས་གྲོལ་བར་འགྱུར། ༈ །

The foolish are not interested in this.
The currents of samsara constantly carry them away.
Oh, how pitiable, the foolish — their struggles never end.
Don’t accept these struggles, long for freedom, and rely on a skilled teacher.
When his (her) energy enters your heart, your mind is freed. (Ken McLeod)

Fools who take no interest in this meaning
Are always swept away by the river of samsara.
The sufferings of the lower realms are inexhaustible—pity the fools!
You who want to be freed from inexhaustible suffering, follow a wise guru.
When blessings enter your heart, your mind will be freed. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The fool in his ignorance, disdaining Mahamudra,
Knows nothing but struggle in the flood of samsara.
Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety!
Sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master,
For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated. (Keith Dowman)

Foolish beings who are not interested in this actuality 
Are always just carried off by the stream of cyclic existence. 
How pitiful are these fools who undergo unbearable sufferings in the lower realms! 
If you wish to be liberated from such unbearable sufferings, rely on skillful gurus. 
Once their blessings enter your heart, your own mind will be released. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Even ignorant people who are not devoted to this teaching
Could be saved by you from constantly drowning in the river of samsara.
It is a pity that beings endure such suffering in the lower realms.
Those who would free themselves from suffering should seek a wise guru.
Being possessed by the adhishthana [blessing], one’s mind will be freed. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Even the ignorant who understand not Mahamudra,
and fools who are lost for a time in Samsara,
can be saved if they but rely on a holy Lord (guru).
Through grace (adhisthana) they may be sure of deliverance. (Dharma Fellowship)

Those foolish people who are disinterested in this truth are continually carried off
and wasted by the great river of cyclic existence.
How sad that they [endure] the unbearable suffering of evil rebirths!
If you want release from suffering, follow a masterful guru!
Becoming infused with [the guru’s] blessing, your mind will be liberated! (Ari Kiev)

Those who disbelieve it
Are fools who ever wallow
In misery and sorrow.
To strive for Liberation
One should rely on a Guru.
When your mind receives his blessing
Emancipation is at hand. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 16

ཀྱེ་ཧོ་འཁོར་བའི་ཆོས་འདི་དོན་མེད་སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྒྱུ། །
བྱས་པའི་ཆོས་ལ་སྙིང་པོ་མེད་པས་དོན་ལྡན་སྙིང་པོ་ལྟོས། །
གཟུང་འཛིན་ཀུན་ལས་འདས་ན་ལྟ་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཡིན། །
ཡེངས་པ་མེད་ན་བསྒོམ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཡིན། །
བྱ་བཙལ་མེད་ན་སྤྱོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ཡིན། །
རེ་དོགས་མེད་ན་འབྲས་བུ་མངོན་དུ་འགྱུར།༈ །

What joy!
Samsaric ways are senseless: they are the seeds of suffering.
Conventional ways are pointless. Focus on what is sound and true. 
Majestic outlook is beyond all fixation.
Majestic practice is no distraction.
Majestic behavior is no action or effort.
The fruition is there when you are free from hope and fear. (Ken McLeod)

Kye ho! These samsaric dharmas are causes of pointless suffering.
The things you’ve done are pointless, so look at the meaningful essence.
Transcending all object and subject is the king of views.
Having no distraction is the king of meditation.
Lacking effort is the king of conduct.
Having no hope or fear reveals the result. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

KYE HO! Listen with joy!
Investment in samsara is futile; it is the cause of every anxiety.
Since worldly involvement is pointless, seek the heart of reality!
In the transcending of mind’s dualities is Supreme vision;
In a still and silent mind is Supreme Meditation;
In spontaneity is Supreme Activity;
And when all hopes and fears have died, the Goal is reached. (Keith Dowman)

Oh! The phenomena of cyclic existence are meaningless and the causes of suffering. 
Since produced phenomena lack any essence, behold the essence that is meaningful. 
Being beyond all that apprehends and is apprehended is the king of views. 
If there is no distraction, this is the king of meditations. 
If there is no activity with effort, this is the king of conduct. 
If there is no hope and fear, the fruition is revealed.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

The dharma of samsara is petty, causing passion and aggression.
The things we have created have no substance; therefore, seek the substance of the ultimate.
This is the king of views - it transcends fixing and holding.
This is the king of meditations - without wandering mind.
This is the king of actions - without effort.
When there is no hope or fear, you have realized the goal. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Know all the phenomena of Samsara as worthless;
just the cause of attachment and aversion.
All created phenomena are without real substance,
therefore seek instead the nature of the Ultimate.
Non-duality is the King of Views.
Resting the mind without flux is the King of Meditations.
Not choosing this or that is the King of Conduct.
When there is neither hope nor fear, that is the King of Results. (Dharma Fellowship)

These worldly affairs are the useless causes of suffering.
Look at the ultimate essential meaning [that realizes] the futility of deliberate action!
Transcendence of all subject and object [duality] is the king of views.
When there is no distraction, that is the king of meditations.
When there is no deliberate effort, that is the king of conduct.
When there is neither expectation nor doubt, the fruition is made manifest. (Ari Kiev)

Alas, all things in this world are meaningless,
They are but sorrow’s seeds.
Small teachings lead to acts;
One should only follow
Teachings that are great.
To transcend duality
Is the Kingly View;
To conquer distractions is
The Royal Practice; (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 17

དམིགས་པའི་ཡུལ་འདས་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་གསལ།
།བགྲོད་པའི་ལམ་མེད་སངས་རྒྱས་ལམ་སྣ་ཟིན། །
བསྒོམ་པའི་ཡུལ་མེད་གོམས་ན་བླ་མེད་བྱང་ཆུབ་འཐོབ། ༈

Beyond any frame of reference mind is naturally clear.
Where there is no path you begin the path of awakening.
Where there is nothing to work on you come to the deepest awakening. (Ken McLeod)

Beyond objects of focus, the nature of mind is clear.
With no path to traverse, you’ve embarked on the path to buddhahood.
There’s nothing to be used to. When used to that,
You have achieved the unsurpassable. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Beyond all mental images the mind is naturally clear:
Follow no path to follow the path of the Buddhas;
Employ no technique to gain supreme enlightenment. (Keith Dowman)

Beyond an object of focus, the nature of the mind is luminous. 
Without a path on which to travel, the beginning of the path of the Buddha is seized. 
If you become familiar with there being no object with which to become familiar, unsurpassable enlightenment is attained. (Karl Brunnholzl)

The nature of mind is luminous, without object of perception.
You will discover the path of Buddha when there is no path of meditation.
By meditating on non-meditation you will attain the supreme bodhi. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Once you let go of all objects-of-perception,
the true nature of the mind shines forth.
Not trying to meditate is the supreme path of the Buddha.
By the meditation of non-meditation Enlightenment is won. (Dharma Fellowship)

When there is no object of focus, the mind is naturally clear.
When there is no path, the path of the buddhas is entered.
By habituating non-meditation, unsurpassable awakening is attained. (Ari Kiev)

The Path of No-practice
Is the Way of Buddhas;
He who treads that Path
Reaches Buddhahood. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 18

ཀྱེ་མ་འཇིག་རྟེན་ཆོས་ལ་ལེགས་རྟོགས་དང༌། །
རྟག་མི་ཐུབ་སྟེ་རྨི་ལམ་སྒྱུ་མ་འདྲ། །
རྨི་ལམ་སྒྱུ་མ་དོན་ལ་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། །
དེས་ན་སྐྱོ་བ་སྐྱེད་ལ་འཇིག་རྟེན་བྱ་བ་ཐོངས།

Alas! Look carefully at this experience of the world.
Nothing lasts. It’s like a dream, like magic.
The dream, the magic, makes no sense.
Experience this grief and forget the affairs of the world. (Ken McLeod)

Alas! Examine worldly phenomena well.
They cannot withstand analysis, like dreams and illusions.
Dreams and illusions do not exist in actuality.
Therefore, rouse weariness and give up worldly affairs. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

KYE MA! Listen with sympathy!
With insight into your sorry worldly predicament,
Realising that nothing can last, that all is as dreamlike illusion,
Meaningless illusion provoking frustration and boredom,
Turn around and abandon your mundane pursuits. (Keith Dowman)

Oh! Worldly phenomena, well seen through, 
Are unable to persist, just like dreams and illusions. 
Dreams and illusions do not exist in actuality. 
Therefore, give rise to weariness and cast away worldly activities.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

Kye-ho!
Look at the nature of the world,
Impermanent like a mirage or dream;
Even the mirage or dream does not exist.
Therefore, develop renunciation and abandon worldly activities. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Alas! Impermanent is this world.
It passes like a mirage or a dream.
Even the illusion of its existence
is not something that exists.
Moved by weariness, abandon worldly pre-occupation. (Dharma Fellowship)

O! Look well at worldly phenomena!
Dream-like and illusory, they cannot last!
[But] they are not dreams or illusions in actuality.
Therefore, when giving rise to disenchantment, you have insight into worldly activities. (Ari Kiev)

Transient is this world;
Like phantoms and dreams,
Substance it has none.
Renounce it and forsake your kin, (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 19

འཁོར་ཡུལ་ཆགས་སྡང་འབྲེལ་པ་ཀུན་གཅོད་ནས། །
གཅིག་པུར་ནགས་འདབས་རི་ཁྲོད་གནས་པར་བསྒོམ། །
བསྒོམ་དུ་མེད་པའི་ངང་ལ་གནས་པར་གྱིས། །
ཐོབ་མེད་ཐོབ་ན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་འཐོབ། །

Cut all ties of involvement with country or kin,
Practice alone in forest or mountain retreats.
Rest, not practicing anything.
When you come to nothing to come to, you come to mahamudra. (Ken McLeod)

Sever all ties of greed and hatred for samsaric objects.
Meditate alone in forest or mountain retreats.
Dwell in the nature of nonmeditation.
When you attain the unattainable, you attain mahamudra. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Cut away involvement with your homeland and friends
And meditate alone in a forest or mountain retreat;
Exist there in a state of non-meditation
And attaining no-attainment, you attain Mahamudra. (Keith Dowman)

Cut through all bonds of attachment and aversion toward your retinue and country 
And meditate alone in forests and mountain retreats. 
Dwell in the sphere of there being nothing on which to meditate.
If you attain the unattainable, you have attained Mahamudra. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Renounce servants and kin, causes of passion and aggression.
Meditate alone in the forest, in retreats, in solitary places.
Remain in the state of non-meditation.
If you attain non-attainment, then you have attained mahamudra. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Renounce distinctions of class and race,
and meditate alone in forest, mountains and solitary places.
Abide without seeking; loosely remaining in the natural state.
By attaining non-attainment, quickly shalt thou reach the state of Mahamudra. (Dharma Fellowship)

Completely severing the connections of attachment and aversion – the domain of samsara –
meditate alone in mountain and forest hermitages!
When, through remaining in an ongoing state of non-meditation,
non-attainment is attained, mahāmudra is attained. (Ari Kiev)

Cut the strings of lust and hatred,
Meditate in woods and mountains.
If without effort you remain
Loosely in the "natural state,"
Soon Mahamudra you will win
And attain the Non-attainment. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 20

དཔེར་ན་ལྗོན་ཤིང་སྡོང་པོ་ཡལ་ག་ལོ་འདབ་རྒྱས། །
རྩ་བ་གཅིག་བཅད་ཡལ་ག་ཁྲི་འབུམ་སྐམ། །
དེ་བཞིན་སེམས་ཀྱི་རྩ་བ་བཅད་ན་འཁོར་བའི་ལོ་འདབ་སྐམ།

A tree spreads its branches and leaves.
Cut the root and ten thousand branches wither.
Likewise, cut the root of mind and the leaves of samsara wither. (Ken McLeod)

When branches and leaves grow from a tree,
If you sever the single trunk, the millions of branches wither.
Likewise, if you cut the root of mind, the leaves of samsara wither. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

A tree spreads its branches and puts forth leaves,
But when its root is cut its foliage withers;
So too, when the root of the mind is severed,
The branches of the tree of samsara die. (Keith Dowman)

For example, on a tree with a trunk, branches, and foliage so vast, 
Once its single root is cut, its millions of branches will whither. 
Likewise, if mind’s root is severed, the foliage of cyclic existence will wither. (Karl Brunnholzl)

When trees grow leaves and branches,
If you cut the roots, the many leaves and branches wither.
Likewise, if you cut the root of mind,
The various mental activities will subside. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

If you sever the main root of a living tree,
then all the many branches wither and die at once.
Cut through (kathinaccheda) the very root of consciousness,
and all mental projections will immediately cease. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, [if] the root of a tree with flourishing branches and foliage is cut,
its ten thousand branches and hundred thousand leaves wither. (Ari Kiev)

Cut the root of a tree
And the leaves will wither;
Cut the root of your mind
And Samsara falls. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 21

དཔེར་ན་སྐལ་སྟོང་བསགས་པའི་མུན་པ་ཡང༌། །
སྒྲོན་མེ་གཅིག་གིས་མུན་པའི་ཚོགས་རྣམས་སེལ། །
དེ་བཞིན་རང་སེམས་འོད་གསལ་སྐད་ཅིག་གིས། །
བསྐལ་པར་བསགས་པའི་མ་རིག་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་སེལ། ༈

Though darkness gathers for a thousand eons.
A single light dispels it all.
Likewise, one moment of sheer clarity
Dispels the ignorance, evil and confusion of a thousand eons. (Ken McLeod)

Even if darkness has collected for a thousand aeons,
A single lamp dispels the gathered darkness.
Likewise, your luminous mind instantly dispels
The ignorance, misdeeds, and obscurations accumulated over aeons. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

A single lamp dispels the darkness of a thousand aeons;
Likewise, a single flash of the mind’s clear light
Erases aeons of karmic conditioning and spiritual blindness. (Keith Dowman)

Take, for example, the darkness that has accumulated over thousands of eons: 
A single lamp dispels the immensity of this blackness. 
Likewise, a single moment of mind’s luminosity 
Eliminates the ignorance, wrongdoing, and obscurations that have amassed for eons. (Karl Brunnholzl)

The darkness that has collected in thousands of kalpas
One torch will dispel.
Likewise, one moment’s experience of luminous mind
Will dissolve the veil of karmic impurities. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

The darkness of long ages is dispelled
instantly by the lighting of a single lamp.
One moment's experience of the mind of Clear Light
immediately rends the veil of ignorance for ever. (Dharma Fellowship)

For example, even the accumulated darkness of a thousand aeons
is cleared away by a single lamp flame.
Similarly, an instant of the luminosity of mind itself
dispels aeons of accumulated negativity and obscuration without exception. (Ari Kiev)

The light of any lamp
Dispels in a moment
The darkness of long kalpas;
The strong light of the mind
In but a flash will burn
The veil of ignorance. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 22

ཀྱེ་ཧོ། །བློ་ཡི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་བློ་འདས་དོན་མི་མཐོང༌། །
བྱས་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱིས་བྱར་མེད་དོན་མི་རྟོགས། །
བློ་འདས་བྱར་མེད་དོན་དེ་ཐོབ་འདོད་ན། །
རང་སེམས་རྩད་ཆོད་རིག་པ་གཅེར་བུར་ཞོག །

What joy!
With the ways of the intellect you won’t see beyond intellect.
With the ways of action you won’t know non-action.
If you want to know what is beyond intellect and action,
Cut your mind at its root and rest in naked awareness. (Ken McLeod)

Kye ho! The meaning beyond mind is not seen with mental dharmas.
The uncreated meaning is not realized through created dharmas.
If you wish to attain that meaning beyond mind and uncreated,
Sever your own mind’s root and rest in naked awareness. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

KYE HO! Listen with joy!
The truth beyond mind cannot be grasped by any faculty of mind;
The meaning of non-action cannot be understood in compulsive activity;
To realise the meaning of non-action and beyond mind,
Cut the mind at its root and rest in naked awareness. (Keith Dowman)

Oh! Through the phenomena of the mind, the actuality beyond mind is not seen. 
Through the phenomena of doing, the actuality of nothing to be done is not realized. 
If you wish to attain the actuality beyond mind in which nothing is to be done, 
Resolve mind to its depths and leave awareness nakedly.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

The dharma of mind cannot see the meaning of transcendent mind.
The dharma of action cannot discover the meaning of non-action.
If you would attain the realization of transcendent mind and non-action,
Then cut the root of mind and let consciousness remain naked. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Aha! That which pertains to consciousness is unable to perceive transcendental Gnosis (jnana).
That which pertains to created phenomena is unable to perceive the uncreate Reality.
If you would attain the transcendent, beyond consciousness and creation;
then look directly into one’s own mind, until awareness is revealed in its bare nakedness. (Dharma Fellowship)

The truth that transcends the intellect will not be seen by means of the intellect.
The point of non-action will not be reached by means of deliberate action.
If you want to achieve the point of non-action transcending thought,
sever the root of mind itself and rest in naked awareness! (Ari Kiev)

Whoever clings to mind sees not
The truth of what’s
Beyond the mind.
Whoever strives to practice Dharma
Finds not the truth of
Beyond-practice.
To know what is Beyond both mind and practice,
One should cut cleanly through the root of mind
And stare naked. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 23

རྟོག་པ་དྲི་མའི་ཆུ་དེ་དྭངས་སུ་ཆུག །
སྣང་བ་དགག་སྒྲུབ་མི་བྱ་རང་སར་ཞོག །
སྤང་ལེན་མེད་པར་སྣང་སྲིད་ཕྱག་རྒྱར་གྲོལ། །
ཀུན་གཞི་སྐྱེ་བ་མེད་པར་བག་ཆགས་སྡིག་སྒྲིབ་སྤོང༌། །
སྙེམ་བྱེད་རྩིས་གདབ་མི་བྱ་སྐྱེ་མེད་སྙིང་པོར་ཞོག །
སྣང་བ་རབ་སྣང་བློ་ཡི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ཟད་དུ་ཆུག །

Let the cloudy waters of thinking settle and clear.
Let appearances come and go on their own. 
With nothing to change, the world you experience becomes mahamudra.
Because the basis of experience has no beginning, patterns and distortions fall away.
Rest in no beginning, with no self-interest or expectation.
Let what appears appear on its own and let conceptual ways subside. (Ken McLeod)

Let the water polluted with thought clear.
Do not negate or prove appearances; let them alone.
If you do not adopt or reject,
Appearance and existence are liberated as a mudra.
The alaya is nonarising, so the veil of imprints is removed.
Do not get conceited or judge; rest in the unborn essence.
Appearances appear; let intellectual dharmas exhaust themselves. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Allow the muddy waters of mental activity to clear;
Refrain from both positive and negative projection - 
leave appearances alone:
The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra.
The unborn omnipresent base dissolves your impulsions and delusions:
Do not be conceited or calculating but rest in the unborn essence
And let all conceptions of yourself and the universe melt away. (Keith Dowman)

Allow the polluted waters of thoughts to become clear. 
Do not stop or make up appearances, leave them in their own place.
If there is no rejecting and adopting, whatever can appear is liberated as Mahamudra. 
Since the all-ground is unborn, its being covered by the obscurations of latent tendencies is cleared away. 
Do not be self-inflated or evaluate, rest within the unborn essence. 
Appearances are self-appearances, so let mental phenomena exhaust themselves. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Let the polluted waters of mental activities clear.
Do not seek to stop projections, but let them come to rest of themselves.
If there is no rejection or accepting, then you are liberated in the mahamudra.
The unborn alaya is without habits and veils.
Rest mind in the unborn essence; make no distinctions between meditation and post-meditation.
When projections exhaust the dharma of mind,
One attains the king of views, free from all limitations. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Let the polluted pool of mental activity clear itself.
Merely watch the flow, just as it is.
Do not engage with appearances as they arise,
for Mahamudra is beyond acceptance and rejection.
Since the fundamental ground (alaya) is unborn,
it can neither be obscured nor defiled.
Just rest in the unborn state, neither meditating nor not-meditating, letting appearances resolve back into Ultimate Reality (dharmata). (Dharma Fellowship)

Leave the polluted water of conceptual thoughts in its [natural] clarity.
Without affirming or denying appearances, leave them as they are.
When there is neither acceptance nor rejection,
[mind] is liberated into mahāmudra.
The uncreated ground of all is clear of the obscuring veil of propensities.
Do not engage meditation and post-meditation, [but] rest in the uncreated essence.
[Thus, outer] appearances, [inner] perceptions and intellectual faculties are exhausted. (Ari Kiev)

One should thus break away
From all distinctions and remain at ease.
One should not give or take
But remain natural,
For Mahamudra is beyond
All acceptance and rejection.
Since the Alaya is not born,
No one can obstruct or soil it;
Staying in the "Unborn" realm
All appearance will dissolve
Into the Dharmata, all self-will
And pride will vanish into nought. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 24

མུ་མཐའ་ཡོངས་གྲོལ་ལྟ་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མཆོག །
མུ་མེད་གཏིང་ཡངས་སྒོམ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མཆོག །
མཐའ་ཆོད་ཕྱོགས་བྲལ་སྤྱོད་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མཆོག །
རེ་མེད་རང་གྲོལ་འབྲས་བུའི་མཆོག་ཡིན་ནོ། ༈

The most majestic of outlooks is free of all reference.
The most majestic of practices is vast and deep without limit.
The most majestic of behaviors is open-minded and impartial.
The most majestic of fruitions is natural being, free of concern. (Ken McLeod)

Complete liberation from extremes is the supreme king of views.
Boundless deep spaciousness is the supreme king of meditation.
Freedom from bias and setting limits is the supreme king of conduct.
Remaining without hopes is the supreme king of results. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

The highest vision opens every gate;
The highest meditation plumbs the infinite depths;
The highest activity is ungoverned yet decisive;
And the highest goal is ordinary being devoid of hope and fear. (Keith Dowman)

Complete release from extremes is the supreme king of views. 
Boundless spacious depth is the supreme king of meditation. 
Freedom from the bias of decision making is the supreme king of conduct. 
Self-abiding with no hopes is the supreme fruition. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Boundless and deep is the supreme king of meditations.
Effortless self-existence is the supreme king of actions.
Hopeless self-existence is the supreme king of the fruition. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

In being free of the extremes, one attains the King of Views.
Entering the vast and deep, one attains the King of Meditations.
Not making an effort, one attains the King of Conduct.
In non-seeking awareness, one attains the King of Results. (Dharma Fellowship)

The complete release of limits is the supreme king of views.
Boundlessness, deep and vast, is the supreme king of meditations.
Freedom from action, abiding in its own state, is the supreme king of conduct.
Freedom from expectation, abiding in its own state, is the supreme king of fruitions. (Ari Kiev)

The supreme Understanding transcends
All this and that. The supreme Action
Embraces great resourcefulness
Without attachment. The supreme
Accomplishment is to realize
Immanence without hope. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 25

ལས་ནི་དང་པོ་གཅོང་རོང་ཆུ་དང་འདྲ། །
བར་དུ་ཆུ་བོ་གངྒཱ་དལ་ཞིང་གཡོ། །
ཐ་མ་ཆུ་རྣམས་མ་བུ་འཕྲད་པ་འདྲ།

At first, practice is a river rushing through a gorge.
In the middle, it’s the river Ganges, smooth and flowing.
In the end, it’s where all rivers meet, mother and child. (Ken McLeod)

Like water in a gorge in the beginning,
Flowing slowly like the Ganges in the middle,
In the end, the waters meet like mother and child. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

At first your karma is like a river falling through a gorge;
In mid-course it flows like a gently meandering River Ganga;
And finally, as a river becomes one with the ocean,
It ends in consummation like the meeting of mother and son. (Keith Dowman)

In beginners, this is similar to water [gushing down] a gorge. 
In between, it is the gentle flow to the river Ganga. 
Finally, all waters meet like a mother and her child. (Karl Brunnholzl)

In the beginning mind is like a turbulent river.
In the middle it is like the River Ganges, flowing slowly.
In the end it is like the confluence of all rivers, like the meeting of mother and son. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

At first the yogi feels his mind to be turbulent,
like the upper course of a rushing mountain torrent.
Then it becomes smooth like the broad river Ganges.
In the end it is like entering the ocean, a child returning to the mother. (Dharma Fellowship)

To a beginner, [mind] is like a waterfall.
In the middle, it flows gently, [like] the River Ganges.
At the end, it is like the confluence of a stream [with the ocean] –
like the meeting of mother and child. (Ari Kiev)

At first a yogi feels his mind
Is tumbling like a waterfall;
In mid-course, like the Ganges
It flows on slow and gentle;
In the end, it is a great
Vast ocean, where the Lights
Of Son and Mother merge in one. (Garma C.C. Chang)

Verse 26

བློ་དམན་སྐྱེས་བུའི་ངང་ལ་མི་གནས་ན། །
རླུང་གི་གནད་བཟུང་རིག་པ་བཅུད་ལ་བོར། །
ལྟ་སྟངས་སེམས་འཛིན་ཡན་ལག་དུ་མ་ཡིས། །
རིག་པ་དང་ལ་མི་གནས་བར་དུ་གཅུན།

When your mind is less acute and does not truly rest,
Work the essentials of energy and bring out the vitality of awareness.
Using gazes and techniques to take hold of mind
Train awareness until it does truly rest. (Ken McLeod)

If people with lesser minds cannot rest in the nature,
Hold the points of the winds; let awareness go.
With multiple gazes and techniques for holding the mind,
Direct awareness till it rests within the nature. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

If the mind is dull and you are unable to practice these instructions,
Retaining essential breath and expelling the sap of awareness,
Practising fixed gazes - methods of focussing the mind,
Discipline yourself until the state of total awareness abides. (Keith Dowman)

If persons with inferior minds cannot dwell in the natural state, 
They should seize the essential points of prajna and strip awareness bare. 
Through many branches of gazing techniques and holding the mind, 
They should be disciplined until awareness dwells in its natural state. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Men of lesser intelligence who cannot grasp this,
Concentrate your awareness and focus on the breath.
Through different eye-gazes and concentration practices,
Discipline your mind until it rests naturally. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

One who wishes to attain this level of meditation
should first begin by practicing remembrance of the breath.
Through control of the gaze and such exercises,
the mind will be disciplined until it abides in its own state. (Dharma Fellowship)

If people of inferior intelligence [can] not abide in the ultimate meaning,
they [should] hold the vital point of wind energies and give up exerting [themselves] in awareness.
Until you abide in the ongoing state of awareness by means of myriad gazes and [modes of] focused attention, make effort! (Ari Kiev)

Verse 27

ལས་རྒྱ་བསྟེན་ན་བདེ་སྟོང་ཡེ་ཤེས་འཆར། །
ཐབས་དང་ཤེས་རབ་བྱིན་རླབས་སྙོམས་པར་འཇུག །
དལ་བར་དབབ་ཅིང་བསྐྱིལ་བཟློག་དྲངས་པ་དང༌། །
གནས་སུ་བསྐྱལ་དང་ལུས་ལ་ཁྱབ་པར་བྱ། །
དེ་ལ་ཆགས་ཞེན་མེད་ན་བདེ་སྟོང་ཡེ་ཤེས་འཆར། ༈

When you practice with a sexual partner, empty bliss awareness arises.
The balancing of method and wisdom transforms energy.
Let it descend gently, collect it, draw it back up,
Return it to its place, and let it saturate your body.
When you are free from longing and desire, empty bliss awareness arises. (Ken McLeod)

When you practice with a karmamudra,
The wisdom of bliss and emptiness will appear.
Be absorbed in the blessings of means and wisdom.
Bring it down slowly, retain, reverse, and spread it.
Guide it to its place, and saturate the body.
If there is no lust or attachment, the wisdom of bliss and emptiness will arise. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

When serving a karmamudra, the pure awareness 
of bliss and emptiness will arise:
Composed in a blessed union of insight and means,
Slowly send down, retain and draw back up the bodhichitta,
And conducting it to the source, saturate the entire body.
But only if lust and attachment are absent will that awareness arise. (Keith Dowman)

If you rely on a karmamudra, blissful-empty wisdom dawns. 
By blessing means and prajna, enter into union. 
Let it descend slowly, retain it, pull it back up, 
Guide it to its place, and let it pervade the body.
If there is no attachment, blissful-empty wisdom dawns.  (Karl Brunnholzl)

If you seek a karma mudra, then the wisdom of the joy of union and emptiness will arise.
The union of skillful means and knowledge brings blessings.
Bring it down and give rise to the mandala.
Deliver it to the places and distribute it throughout the body.
If there is no desire involved, then the union of joy and emptiness will arise. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Now concerning the practice of Karmamudra,
the union of Wisdom (prajna) and Means (upaya):
draw down and blend, then raise it up to the source.
Finally cause it to saturate the entire body.
If this is performed free of lust, then Bliss-Emptiness is attained. (Dharma Fellowship)

If you rely on the action mudra, the wisdom of bliss and emptiness will arise.
[Thus], unite the blessings of method and wisdom!
The [seed essence] should slowly descend, stop, reverse and spread.
It should be brought to its innate abode and pervade the body.
When there is no fixation to that, the wisdom of empty bliss arises and, (Ari Kiev)

Verse 28

ཚེ་རིང་སྐྲ་དཀར་མེད་ཅིང་ཟླ་ལྟར་རྒྱས་པར་འགྱུར། །
བཀྲག་མདངས་གསལ་ལ་སྟོབས་ཀྱང་སེང་གེ་འདྲ། །
ཐུན་མོང་དངོས་གྲུབ་མྱུར་ཐོང་མཆོག་ལ་གཞོལ་བར་འགྱུར། ༈ །

You will have a long life, you will not gray, and you will shine like the moon.
You will radiate health and well-being and be as strong as a lion.
You will quickly attain the ordinary abilities and open to the supreme one. (Ken McLeod)

You will live long with no white hair, waxing like the moon.
You will be clear and radiant and as strong as a lion.
Swiftly gaining the ordinary siddhis, you will dwell in the supreme. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Then gaining long-life and eternal youth, waxing like the moon,
Radiant and clear, with the strength of a lion,
You will quickly gain mundane power and supreme enlightenment. (Keith Dowman)

You will be of long life, without white hairs, and flourish like the moon.
Your complexion will be radiant and you will be powerful like a lion. 
You will swiftly attain the common siddhis and blend with the most supreme. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Gain long life, without white hairs, and you will wax like the moon.
Become radiant, and your strength will be perfect.
Having speedily achieved the relative siddhis, one should seek the absolute siddhis. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

Glowing inwardly, blessed with renewed vigour and vitality,
thy life-power shall expand like the waxing moon.
Radiant and healthy, with the composure of a lion,
thou shalt attain Accomplishment (siddhi), both mundane and supreme. (Dharma Fellowship)

flourishing like the waxing moon, one [attains] longevity without greying hair.
One becomes lustrous and radiant, with power like that of a lion.
The common attainments will be swiftly accomplished, leading to the supreme [attainment]. (Ari Kiev)

Verse 29

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་གནད་ཀྱི་མན་ངག་འདི། །
འགྲོ་བ་སྐལ་ལྡན་སྙིང་ལ་གནས་པར་ཤོག

May these pith instructions, the essentials of mahamudra,
Abide in the hearts of all worthy beings. (Ken McLeod)

May these instructions on the pith of mahamudra
Remain in the hearts of fortunate beings. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

May this pith instruction in Mahamudra
Remain in the hearts of fortunate beings. (Keith Dowman)

May this pith instruction on the essential points of Mahamudra 
Dwell in the hearts of fortunate beings! (Karl Brunnholzl)

May this pointed instruction in mahamudra remain in the hearts of fortunate beings. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

By virtue of entering this practice, may all obstacles to the realization of Mahamudra dissolve away.
May the Clear Light of Mahamudra dawn in the minds of the practitioners.
May this Pith Instruction on Mahamudra come to abide in the hearts of those disciples fortunate to connect with it. (Dharma Fellowship)

May fortunate wayfaring beings take to heart this essential advice on mahāmudra. (Ari Kiev)

Colophon

ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་གྲུབ་པའི་དཔལ་ཏཻ་ལོ་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་མཛད་པ་ཁ་ཆེའི་པཎྜི་ཏ་མཁས་ལ་གྲུབ་པའི་ནཱ་རོ་པས་དཀའ་བ་བཅུ་གཉིས་མཛད་པའི་རྟིང་ལ་ཆུ་བོ་གངྒཱའི་འགྲམ་དུ་ཏཻ་ལོ་པས་གསུངས་པ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཚིག་རྐང་ཉི་ཤུ་རྩ་དགུ་པ་རྫོགས་སོ།། །ནཱ་རོ་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་དང༌། །བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་ཆེན་པོ་སྒྲ་བསྒྱུར་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་ཀྱིས། །བྱང་ཕུལླ་ཧ་རིར་བསྒྱུར་ཅིང་ཞུས་ཏེ་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། །། །དགེའོ། །

These are the great Tilopa’s oral instructions. On the completion of the twelve hardships, Tilopa taught these on the banks of the river Ganges to the Kashmiri pandit, the wise and learned Naropa. Naropa taught The Twenty-Eight Vajra Verses to the great interpreter, the king of translators, Marpa Chökyi Lodrö. Marpa finalized his translation at Pulahari in the north of India. (Ken McLeod)

This completes the twenty-nine vajra verses of mahamudra composed by the master who had accomplished mahamudra, the glorious Telopa. Telopa taught them on the banks of the river Ganges to the learned and accomplished Naropa, the Kashmiri pandita, after he had completed the twelve trials. The great Tibetan translator Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, translated, edited, and finalized this at Phullahari in the north in the presence of the great Naropa. (Khenpo David Karma Choephel)

Tilopa’s Mahamudra Instruction to Naropa in Twenty Eight Verses was transmitted by the Great Guru and Mahasiddha Tilopa to the Kashmiri Pandit, Sage and Siddha, Naropa, near the banks of the River Ganga upon the completion of his Twelve Austerities. Naropa transmitted the teaching in Sanskrit in the form of twenty eight verses to the great Tibetan translator Mar pa Chos kyi blos gros, who made a free translation of it at his village of Pulahari on the Tibet - Bhutan border. (Keith Dowman)

This completes the twenty vajra-verses on Mahamudra that glorious Tilopa, who was accomplished in Mahamudra, spoke to the Kashmiri pandita Naropa on the banks of the Gangea after having put him trhough the twelve kinds of hardship.It was translated and finally edited in this form by this pandita himself and the great Tibetan translator Marpa Chokyi at Pushpahari in the north [of India]. (Karl Brunnholzl)

Oral instructions on mahamudra given by Sri Tilopa to Naropa at the banks of the Ganges River.
Translated from the Sanskrit into Tibetan by Chokyi Lodro Marpa the Translator. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

This pith-instruction on Mahamudra in 28 Verses was given by Sri Tilopa to Mahapandita Nadapada on the banks of the Ganges River. (Dharma Fellowship)

On the banks of the River Ganges, this was taught to Nāropa by Lord Tilopa. May it be virtuous! (Ari Kiev)

Remarks

Ken McLeod translated this into English in Los Angeles in the southwest of the United States, working from the efforts of previous translators and various commentaries. (Ken McLeod)

This text is contained in the collection of Mahamudra instruction called the Do ha mdzod brgyad ces bya ba Phyag rgya chen po’i man ngag gsal bar ston pa’i gzhung, which is printed at the Gyalwa Karmapa’s monastery at Rumtek, Sikkim. The Tibetan title is Phyag rgya chen po’i man ngag, or Phyag rgya chen po rdo rje’i tsig rkang nyi shu rtsa brgyad pa.This translation into English has been done by Kunzang Tenzin [Keith Dowman] in 1977, after transmission of the oral teaching by Khamtrul Rinpoche in Tashi Jong, Kangra Valley, India. http://keithdowman.net/mahamudra/tilopa.htm (Keith Dowman)

English translation by Karl Brunnholzl, along with a commentary by the Fifth Shamarpa Goncho Yenla (1525-1583), both published in: The Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions (Snow Lion Publications, 2007). (Karl Brunnholzl)

English translation by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in The Myth of Freedom. (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche)

It was translated into Tibetan from the Sanskrit by Marpa Cho-kyi-lodro, and is now presented in English by the Dharma Fellowship. The origial text may be found in the Do.ha. mdzod. brgyad. ces.bya.ba. phyag. rgya. chen. po'i. man.ngag. gsal.bar. ston.pa'i. gzhung., printed at the Rumtek monastery of His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa, in Sikkhim. (Dharma Fellowship)

Translation by Ari Kiev. Copyright © The Gar Chöding Trust, 2005. (Ari Kiev)

Translation by Garma C.C. Chang published in Teachings of Tibetan Yoga
(republished as Six Yogas of Naropa and Teachings on Mahamudra). (Garma C.C. Chang)