From book
Glenn H. Mullin - The fourteen Dalai Lamas a sacred legacy of reincarnation
Gendun Drubpa composed a poem on his experience. Known in Tibetan as Shar Gang Rima, or “Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains” (a title derived from the words in the opening line), it has remained one of his most popular and enduring verse works. In it he advised his followers to restrain themselves from responding to the violence with more violence, and instead to practice compassion and patience.
Above the peaks of the eastern snow mountains White clouds float high in the sky.
There comes to me a vision of my teachers.
Again and again am I reminded of their kindness,
Again and again am I moved by faith.
To the east of the drifting white clouds
Lies the illustrious Ganden Monastery, Hermitage of Joy.
There dwelled three precious ones difficult to describe—
My spiritual father Lobzang Drakpa, and his two chief disciples.
Vast are your teachings on the profound Dharma,
On the yogas of the path’s two stages.
To fortunate practitioners in this Land of Snows,
Your kindness, O masters, transcends thought.
That I, Gendun Drubpa, who tends to be lazy,
Now have a mind somewhat propelled by Dharma,
Is due solely to the great kindness of this holy teacher and his chief disciples.
O perfect masters, your compassion is indeed unsurpassed.
0 three incomparable spiritual teachers,
From now until the essence of illumination
1 need seek no other refuge.
Pull me to enlightenment’s shores On the hooks of your great compassion.
Although your kindness can never be repaid,
O masters, still I pray to preserve your lineages At all times and with all my strength,
Never letting my thoughts fall prey To either attachment or aversion.
These days in our remote snow mountains There are many people who uphold their own lineages
While looking down upon other doctrine
holders Verily as their deepest enemies.
Watching how they think and act,
My heart fills with sadness.
They boast that the lineage they are following Is a high and superior path,
Yet their motives are only to harm other traditions And their minds are chained in hopes of fame.
If we analyze them closely,
Are they not mere causes of shame?
Finding themselves in their old age Lost on barren paths far from truth,
Their spirits rage with bitter jealousy Toward those who purely practice true Dharma.
Have not demons entered into their hearts?
For them to feel guilt over evils done Yet not to apply the methods which counteract their cause the enemy Delusion,
Is of as little value as placing a ghost trap at the western door,
When in fact the ghost resides near the eastern door.
The true spiritual masters, who understand this point, Look upon all living beings with thoughts of love.
They regard other teachers with a deserved respect And seek to harm only the enemy within themselves, the enemy Delusion.
O friends who would follow my tradition:
Do not permit your minds to wander aimlessly. Constantly be mindful of your thoughts And try by every means to remain On the direct path to enlightenment.
Should any living beings ever heed this small advice, May they gain the mind of great
compassion And the insight which perceives ultimate reality, Thus quickly attaining to the sublime glory Of supreme, peerless enlightenment.
May there rain forth the glory of spiritual masters, Their bodies ablaze with the marks of perfection, Their speech richly adorned with the sixty qualities, And their minds a treasure of profound knowledge and vast compassion.
~~
Gedun Drupa[1] (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ།, Wylie: dge 'dun grub pa; 1391–1474)
