Sunday May 16
*
A glimpse
to the leading light of my long day
swiftly making her way
slight gentle beautiful determined bright one
firmly alone firmly herself
to quietly remind me
that not so far away
for she I we two
our warm and bright
future day
and to her then to say to tell
of a steep climb
from the Nangsel Zampa bridge
high up through fields of barley
Not yet tsampa has their grain become
the stone ground barley meal
to be mixed with yak butter tea
to sustain the weary traveller
or torma ritual cakes stained brightly
with their colored dyes
in sacred ceremony
the forests about are bright green
beneath the mountain sky
Once Jatson Nyingpo Terton treasure finder
climbed here as we do now
seeking the tranquility of this place
from here came the wondrous terma texts
which he returned from obscurity lost
painstakingly written by his own hand
from the vision
granted to his mind
Look beautiful one
there are towers there
a temple poised to the sky against walls of rocks
that look out across Nyang chu valley
in vast expanse below.
Within it’s outer chambers
three illustrious images stand
Padmasambhava Guru Drakpo Simhavaktra
they known in the Terton’s sacred terma texts
as the Union of all Rare and Precious things
so profound that which they gave
unto his shamanic mind
Beside them an image of the Terton himself
with the dadar longevity arrow
that said to be his own
Then to the inner chamber where
in flickering yak butter candle’s glow
1000 figures of Padmasambhava stand
small but how strongly they command the mind
To return to the Nangsel Zampa
where the Drak Chu meets the Nyang chu
thence past Len village with it’s alien towers
with corners twelve tapering into the sky
built they say by demonic hand
at the bidding of Dud Achung Gyelpo
enemy of Ling Gesar
legendary hero of Tibetan past
then beyond yet another artifact strange
from modern times
telecommunication remote tracking
hewn into the mountain stone
by those who were not toward Tibet benign
still there these places mutely testify
to the struggle of Tibetan existence
Thence on to a brighter place
Lake Draksum Tso glimmering in the light
jade green jewel beneath steep mountain slopes
lavishly adorned with trees
and Tsodzong island at its very center
a pearl beneath the mountain sky
once seven hundred years ago
the sound of powerful strokes
and rumbling growl
broke the stillness as a tigress
swam with Terton Sangye Lingpa upon her back
carrying the precious sculpted image
of the face of Guru Drakpo
these two beings of fierce reverence
to step upon the shore of Tsodzong
her paw prints still are there
amongst the island rocks
One of these among the island
and it’s temples treasures
a rock white from whence
perhaps gazing out at them
stood the mistress of this sacred lake
the Goddess Tsomen Gyelmo
before going on with her sacred tasks
All this not so wonderful
to my straining eyes
as your determined beauty
and uplifted gentle dignity
that endures with patient grace
this that I see in you
beneath the open sky
on this early morn
of our spring of working and waiting
Lotus blossoms rest
upon the window sill
and so we wait
two as one
we our effort
real and lasting
slight gentle
beautiful one
May 11
* courtesy of A Luminous Diamond (Bright) Crystal Show productions.
reference material for the poem is courtesy of the Footprint Tibet handbook by Gyurme Dorje.