Vajra-Music of Honest Reportage and Literal Truth: 
In praise of the supreme lord of the mandala Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo

Part 1

By Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1902)

To the lotus feet of the glorious Lama,
Peerless wisdom, love and ability,
With an immaculate mind of faith I pay homage,
And play this music of honest reportage.

Your qualities are a precious treasure;
How could one describe them in full?
Having seen them with limited perception,
Here I describe them just a little.

In this forest thicket of degeneration,
When devious analysts, like monkeys,
Actually catch sight of you, from whatever point of view,
They congregate at your feet.

Following after incredible reports of knowledge and accomplishments
Heard from afar, they follow up on them.
Even observing you from up close for a long time,
You are all the more difficult to fathom.

However much one brings an intellectual view to bear,
You are seen to be faultless and full of qualities;
So how much more amazing your benefit when seen
By those who follow you, free of concepts and faithfully!

Nowadays in this sanctum of snow mountains
Though renowned as accomplished, they are devoid of learning and nobility,
Or though learned, it is hard to see anyone with accomplishment.
It is hard to find someone with a full measure of qualities--
Learned, noble and accomplished, all three--
Which increase in you, as if in competition.

To see such a wealth of qualities is rare,
And even if amazing, few would recognize them.
If it is hard to compete with any one of these individually,
Then how could anyone compete with your liberated life,
Whose excellence combines them all,
As if totally filling all of space?

Though not established through ones' own rigpa-awareness
Following after mere reports,
Those who recite like books like echoes,
Many such would fight like pugilists (?ba la dza).

Those inflated with false intellectual pride
Fail to find the secret pith of intellect;
Like water in a narrow gorge,
They go foaming at the mouth in assemblies of fools.

You, on the other hand, live the life of an autodidact,
Studying a vast array of commentarial traditions.
You hold the great tradition of the secret essence of definitude,
Which is not narrow, like Mount Sumeru.

If one were to bring to your attention
All the great texts one could carry, at great expense of effort,
Containing the compositions composed by a hundred geniuses,
Under the lofty white umbrella of learning,
Like gold extracted by a smelting process,
To remove all of their faults of impurity,
You quickly and easily master them all.

As profound as the definitive secret essence
Of sutra and tantra may be,
To that extent you are even more the master
Of the prodigies of learning.

Already encompassing
All of the outer and inner sciences,
Your intelligence is like space.
You are a dharma-treasure, and dharma-treasury.

Though many are renowned as learned
Someone free of the darkness of doubt
Having the light rays of the sun of timeless awareness
With immaculate knowledge such as yours, is rare.

Your eloquent speech unravels in an instant
A hundred difficult points of profound texts.
Like pointing a weapon at space,
There is no occasion for dispute. Amazing!

All the words and meanings of your writing
Are profound, clear and beautiful,
Ablaze with a hundred perfections of poesy;
In terms of eloquence, yours is by far the most sublime.

Though your confidence in the view has reached lofty heights
Thinking of the teachings as your own immaculate measure,
You maintain a holy lifestyle.
This is the tradition of sublime holders of the teachings.

Nevertheless, here at the foot of the teachings,
There are many who would bring disrepute upon the two-phased path,
With various forms of bad behavior,
Thus disrupting the Victor's teachings.

Devoid of conduct that is beyond reproach,
Such that wins over the perceptions of others,
With Dharma and modes of conduct they violate the Tantras,
Spreading them amongst the faithless.

Such badly behaved leaders of outcastes
Are in abundance on the surface of this earth.
Demons emanate in order to bring doubts
Even towards authentic mantra practitioners.

You, with the two profound stages,
Full like an overbrimming vase
In order to protect lowly beings,
Have pure conduct like a lotus.

With beautiful lama's robes of saffron,
Like the light of the moon at dawn,
Your body beautifully wrapped
Emits a wonderful scent of discipline.

With a perfectly pure life lived,
Straining the mind-oceans of all persons everywhere,
You make them all into extraordinary
Precious holy persons and patrons.

In the midst of zodiacs of constellations of vow-holders,
Bearing the light of pure Vinaya vows,
With discipline pleasing to sublime beings,
Your excellent light is like the moon.

Those who arrogantly presume to be expert in the meaning
Of partisan textual traditions of the various sciences,
Or those using subtle disiciplines related to
Recitation, austerity and samadhi to
Obtain trivial fruits of accomplishment,
Who sell those for the sake of fame in this life,
Create the basis for dispute amongst evil retinues,
Similar to an unbearable horde of demons.

But nowadays, when it comes to the proper way to benefit
With the excellent methods of the three wheels
Of study, renunciation and activity,
Who ever thinks about that?