CONCLUSION This text is not some confection of invented phrases, A cleverly painted rainbow of fanciful words By some erudite expert superficially versed in complex texts, Having nothing to with the words of my kind teacher Of this my vajra-brothers can still bear witness, For not yet in the distant past is that good age, A blessed time for Tibet and for the worldThe lifetime of that Buddha in reality, my peerless teacher It was that noble being's activity that inspired me To compile a collection of his authentic words This imprint of my devotion and good intention Should merit great rejoicing by my brothers, and even by the gods Fortunate beings living in future times, too: Please feel the same devotion when you read this text As you would on meeting my enlightened teacher in person, For I believe it faithfully conveys the essence of his words Whatever merit might accrue from this work I dedicate to all beings, my mothers of the past, That they may be sustained by a perfect spiritual friend, Put his perfect words into practice, and see the excellent fruit Especially, may all those nourished on this nectar From the lips of my peerless teacher, that perfect Buddha, Together attain perfect Buddhahood; May I see them setting out and guiding beings May the supreme regents of my most kind teacher, Those who have drunk the nectar of his perfect words And captivate the fortunate with the intoxicating song of his instructions, Long keep their lotus feet firmly upon the vajra throne • Henceforth, may I in all my future lives Be a servant to my perfect teacher and all who follow him; Pleasing them by fulfilling whatever they might ask May I be guided as his disciple • A poetic expression often employed to wish long life and good health to spiritual teachers 372 CONCLUSION Until saritsiira ceases, for every single being, May I pile up my bodies, my belongings and my merit; May I serve my old mothers steeped in their afflictions, And then may they too all take up the perfect Buddha's Dharma Meanwhile may the blessings of this precious lineage Dawn within their hearts like the perfect rising sun Having devoted their lives to practice in seclusion, May they be ever in the presence of the peerless teacher This general outer and inner guide to The Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse is faithful to the words of my peerless teacher It arose from the persistent requests of Dronma Tsering, a diligent and highly disciplined fellow disciple, who gave into my keeping some notes in which he had written down everything he could remember He insisted that I write an explanatory text on the basis of those notes, faithfully recording the teachings of our master Moreover, KunzangThekchok Dorje, a precious tulku and representative of the precious and noble teacher and holder of the teaching which brings to maturity and liberates, subsequently repeated the same request two or three times-even providing me with sheets of paper Later Kushab Rinpoche Shenpen Thaye Ozer-129-Dharma-sovereign of all doctrines, foremost of all the spiritual sons who hold the lineage of my sublime lord teacher's oral tradition-in turn encouraged me by saying that I must definitely write down the words of our revered teacher in the style in which he taught them, for that would help us all to remember him and revitalize our devotion I was also encouraged and inspired by a number of my loving vajra brothers and sisters, who are as dear to me as my own eyes and who will surely stay as close to me as a flame and its wick, until we all attain the very heart of enlightenment These, then, were the origins of this work, which was written by one to whom Rigdzin Changchub Dorje,330 that crown ornament of hundreds of incomparable siddhas, gave the name Orgyen Jigme Cbokyi Wangpobut who, behind the embellishment of such a name, is really just Ragged Abu, 331 rough-mannered and burning with the fires of the five poisons 373 CONCLUSION The text was duly completed at the retreat place, even more remote than the remote Rudam Orgyen Samten Choling• to which it belongs, known as Yamantaka's Terrifying Palace-a place splendidly adorned with all the qualities of solitude, where trees bathe their foliage in the warm essence of the rays of the sun while their roots imbibe cool drops of nectar; where vines, thickets, undergrowth, branches and leaves, flowers and fruits of every kind spread forth in filigrees and garlands, filtering the ambrosia of the radiant smile of the Daughter of the Azure Heavens , as it flows down to utterly satisfy the heart By the merit of the auspicious completion of this work, may all infinite beings follow this supreme path and be totally liberated into the ground expanse of the primordial Buddha! • Dzogchen Monastery •• The sun The elaborate style here, borrowed from the Indian poetic tradition, is traditional for a colophon 374 The valley looking towards Dzogchen Monastery Patrul Rinpoche used to sit on a large flat rock near this spot while he was writing The Words of My Perfect Teacher Post{ace by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye Om Swasti Siddham This treasure of Samantabhadra's wisdom, with its six ways of liberation, Has been unfolded by the mudra of Sky Yoga of the Vast Expanse • Renowned as the Essence of the Vast Expanse, glorious with the two accomplishments, Its great blessings have the power to grant all wishes Just to hear the teachings on its preliminary practices explained Has the power to suddenly transform the minds of living beings Following the oral transmission of Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu, Of everything that Orgyen Chokyi Wangpo taught, this is the essence To make available this gift of Dharma, free of all concepts of subject, object and action, Perna Lekdrup, who has both perfect faith and wealth, Spiritually and temporally noble secretary of Derge with its four sections and ten virtues, Has through this work brought down a rain of inexhaustible Dharma By these merits, may this summit teaching of adamantine clear light Spread and extend throughout the three worlds and remain for a long time May all beings connected with it swiftly enjoy the great primordial kingdom And spontaneously accomplish the welfare of themselves and others On the completion of the first corrected draft of the text, this postface was written by Lodro Thaye, who has pure perception of all masters without any sectarian bias May virtue increase! • klong chen nam mkha'i mal 'byor, i.e Jigme Lingpa 376 ... May I pile up my bodies, my belongings and my merit; May I serve my old mothers steeped in their afflictions, And then may they too all take up the perfect Buddha's Dharma Meanwhile may the blessings... to The Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse is faithful to the words of my peerless teacher It arose from the persistent requests of Dronma Tsering, a diligent and highly disciplined fellow disciple,... blessings of this precious lineage Dawn within their hearts like the perfect rising sun Having devoted their lives to practice in seclusion, May they be ever in the presence of the peerless teacher