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Definitive Metaphors and Meanings
Definitive Metaphors and Meanings
by Longchen Rabjam
1
Attendants are like a worker hired for a day:
They are around for now, but quickly depart.
Now, it is best to be carried to the place of resolution
Of enlightened attitude in unchanging dharmakaya.
2
Wanting more is like having wealth:
However much you gain, you are never satisfied.
Now, it is best to let go of illusory possessions
Without clinging or fixation.
3
Samsara and nirvana are like good and bad dreams:
Self-appearing, groundless and empty forms.
Now, it is best to hold the very ground of awareness
Without adopting or discarding anything.
The eight worldly dharmas are like the pillow of a sick person:
Whatever you do they afford no comfort.
Now, it is best to give up this life
And let the aggregates of name and form be destroyed.
This vajra song of definitive metaphors and meanings was composed by Longchen
Rabjam, yogin of the supreme vehicle, in the isolated place of Lhundrup Ling for the
sake of those with faith. May virtue abound!
Bibliography
Tibetan Editions
klong chen rab 'byams. “dpe don nges don rdo rjeʼi mgur.” Ingsung thor bu dri med
ʼod zer (sde dge par ma). Paro, Bhutan: Lama Ngodrup and Sherab Drimey, 1982. Vol.
2: 289–292
dri med 'od zer. gsung 'bum/_dri med 'od zer/ dpal brtsegs/ mes po'i shul bzhag. 26
vols. Beijing: krung go'i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang, 2009. (BDRC W1KG4884). Vol.
24: 220–224
4
Secondary Sources
Bartha, Benedek. Metaphor in Dzogchen and Cognitive Science: Synchronicity of
Source and Target. MPhil thesis. University of Oxford, 2022
Version: 1.1-20221015
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