The Great Awakened Elephant

Many years ago, I heard a rendition of what is called a "spontaneous vajra song." In the Tibetan Buddhist traditioni, vagja songs are improvisational teaching poems that expresses a realization occurring in that moment by the yogi who is reciting it. The first vajra song I heard was from the Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche: 

Happiness can not be found
through great effort and willpower,
but is already present,
in open relaxation and letting go.

Don't strain yourself,
there is nothing to do or undo.
Whatever momentarily arises
in the body-mind
has no real importance at all,
has little reality whatsoever.
Why identify with,
and become attached to it,
passing judgment upon it and ourselves?

Far better to simply
let the entire game happen on its own,
springing up and falling back like waves
without changing or manipulating anything
and notice how everything vanishes and reappears, magically,
again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness
prevents us from seeing it.
It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue
without ever catching,
or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness
do not exist as an actual thing or place,
it is always available
and accompanies you every instant.

Don't believe in the reality of good and bad experiences;
they are like today's ephemeral weather,
like rainbows in the sky.

Wanting to grasp the ungraspable,
you exhaust yourself in vain.
As soon as you open and relax
this tight fist of grasping,
infinite space is there -
open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness,
this freedom and natural ease.
Don't search any further
looking for the great awakened elephant,
who is already resting quietly at home
in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,
nothing to force,
nothing to want,
and nothing missing -

Emaho!(*) Marvelous!
Everything happens by itself.

(* Emaho is a Tibetan expression of joy, awe, and wonder. I can only imagine that Gendun was really caught up in these truly marvelous realizations at this point!)

To me, this vajra song models and embodies the length and breadth of Buddhadharma (the teachings of the Buddha). It honors the simple and powerful teaching of opening the tight fist of grasping. It gives a nod to Wise Effort on the Noble Eightfold Path. It stresses the importance of not looking beyond this moment for insight or enlightenment. It recognizes the Three Characteristics of Existence -- impermanence (anicca), dissatisfaction (dukkha), and emptiness of self (anatta), and the holographic nature of the dharma (one dharma contains all other dharmas). And on and on it goes... Emaho, indeed!

One of the aspects of the vajra song tradition is the direct transmission to students from teachers leading to their own insights and practice. The aim of Gendun, or any other teacher who presents a vajra song, is to pass on their experiences of enlightenment and insight and provoke practice based on their words. In our meditation sangha I break Gendun's song into small pieces and we take them one at a time, using each stanza as a stepping off place for practice. His song can be broken down even more -- every line contains direct transmission of wisdom, and perhaps every word. Gendun's vajra song can be a richly textured template for practice over a month or more. It's really all here. 

As for Gendun's "great awakened elephant," it's still asleep over there by your bookcase.



The Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche
(1918-1997)



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