[Stacey Lee Thompson]

The four-line homage to Prajanaparamita is traditionally chanted in Tibetan immediately before chanting the Heart Sutra.  Many of the monks believe it is part of the sutra.  Until they get to Shedra, where they debate about Prajnaparamita for one year…

[Stacey Lee Thompson]

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[Stacey Lee Thompson]

I appeciate Patricia’s posts too.

The aspect of the ultimate that we can talk about (or at least try) even has a name (according to the Yogacara-Svatantrika view): “Nam drang pay dun dam” རྣམ་གྲངས་པའི་དོན་དམ , the catergorized ultimate. Mipham the Great defends this view against the hard-edge Prasangikas in his commentary “Words to Delight My Teacher Manjugosha”, as it’s more compatible with Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice.

Apparently,

-The Pandita’s Parrot

(PS, I heard that the Vajra Vidya group in Maine might be thinking about studying Mipham’s commentary  online. I’ve read it a few times now and each time I seem to get a better understanding of what I don’t actually understand!)

[Stacey Lee Thompson]

It is the knowing aspect.

Lots of energy.  Could even harm, so best keep quiet.

[Stacey Lee Thompson]

Oh, sorry Lama.  Just talking to myself again.

I have found that, while attempting to memorize in either English or Tibetan, the parts that stick with me are the parts that I (seemingly) best understand. If it’s vague in my memory or if I can’t really translate it, then I probably don’t understand it.

First one line (or part of a line) is there.  Notice that and reflect on that. The remainder appears gradually through repetitive practice.

 

[Stacey Lee Thompson]

General advice:

Rhythm and repetition are a memorizer’s best friends.  Say the verse again and again.  Out loud.  One could use a mala and count 108 reps (0r 100,000 reps!).  Memorization is a practice in and of itself, a shamatha, highly valued among some folks and at certain times.  The object of memorization becomes the object of mediation.  Return attention to the verse upon any recognition of wandering.

Eventually the meaning unfolds, naturally, without effort.  Committed to heart.

Verses that have been memorized are easier to say on one’s deathbed, one could imagine…

 

Specific comments:

(1)

A
Wisdom gone beyond is non-verbal.
Non-thinking, unceasing, its nature like the sky.
It is only receivable through discriminating wisdom.
Homage to the mother of the Buddhas.

This (1) captures a spontaneous transmission, given to a (one) particular student at a particular place and time.  Powerful, personal, and yet provisional.  The last line diverges too much from the Tibetan for my taste.  So does the “only receivable through”.

****

(2)

A
Prajnaparamita, inexpressible by speech or thought,
Unborn, unceasing, with a nature like sky,
Only experienced by discriminating awareness wisdom,
Mother of the victorious ones of the three times, we pay homage.

Better, in that Prajnaparamita is specifically referenced here (2).  Readers are relatively familiar with the Skt.  The second line is good.  But I would change sky to space.  Space is vaster than sky.  Just as Prajnaparamita is vaster than discriminating awareness wisdom.  And ditch the “with” because “with” implies that space-like nature is somehow an accountrement of Prajnaparamita, or something PP possesses, an extra thing or a subsidiary aspect.

Unborn, unceasing, its nature like space.

 

****************

(3)

To the inexpressible, inconceivable, indescribable prajnaparamita,

Unborn, unceasing, the very nature of space,

The sphere of one’s own awareness wisdom,

The mother of the victorious ones of the three times, we prostrate.

I’m definitely biased, because this (3) is the English translation that I first encountered.  And I have definitely said this version the most frequently.  The first line best captures the way it comes across in Tibetan (the “in-” negation-repetition for the triply-referenced “med”).  However!  Try memorizing it.  And even if you do memorize it, you’re left wondering what the heck it means.  I find myself going back to the Tibetan.  Line 1 is a tongue-twister for rhythmic chanting.

The “very” in line 2 is an extra.  Cut.  Sounds like the translator(s) is trying too hard to sound confident that they understand what they are talking about; it rings of pretense.

What about “essence of space”?  “Nature” touches the “Feminine = Mother Nature” trope (inspirational reference for some, including some women, but definitely tiring for others).  Do we believe that only the masculine has an “essence”? <= provocative question for thought

Not sure about line 3.  “Sphere” implies something “round”, like a halo.  The domain of inherent awareness-wisdom?  Too clunky and conceptual. The realm of natural intelligence?  The experience of one’s own insight? Is it “experienced through”?  Or is it inseparable from the direct experience itself?  It is definitely “communicated through”, if we try to communicate about it at all. As in VCTR’s teaching (paraphrasing wildly and inappropriately): The underworld cannot be communicated to the overworld. Once it touches the overworld, it’s automatically overworld, not underword (although the underworld may permeates all).  This is *why* it cannot be expressed, conceived, or described.  This is why Masters like VCTR can teach this only using vague atmospheric terms.  And then we take the words too seriously and repeat them verbatim!

དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཡུམ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།

Mom of the 3-time winners, I prostrate!

 

(Lol, this line is an homage to my own dear Lama. Lama, I love you and I miss you.  Please forgive my unceasing ignorance and disrespect. Please let me come back.  I promise to stop talking to myself)

 

[Stacey Lee Thompson]

Mark La, I will memorize it in Tibetan.

Easiest.

…cannot be captured, cannot be put into a corner, cannot be cornered.

 

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