“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
“At first, a smiling, divine man,
In the middle, a black-faced demon,
At the end, a bull ready to beat you.
Thinking thus, melancholy arises.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Be a companion of vajra-sibling friends!”
–excerpt from Saley O’s song to Milarepa
“..not only are the Buddhist past and Western scholarship on Buddhism thoroughly androcentric; contemporary Buddhism itself, both Asian and Western, is unrelenting in its ongoing androcentrism.”
–Rita M. Gross in Buddhism After Patriarchy (1995)
Introduction
For the anniversary of the Mahasiddha yogi, Jetsun Milarepa, today March 6th, as well as this month being Women’s History Month in the USA [1], here is an article giving a brief overview of the main female disciples of Milarepa [2], and life and songs of one of these women, Saley O (Sa-le-‘od, which literally means ‘Brilliant Light’). who from the age of sixteen years old told Milarepa she wanted to abandon household life, and then spent the rest of her life in solitary mountain retreats.
Another story and song, Fifteen Realisations by another female disciple, Rechungma, I translated and published before here. Considering the times in which these women lived, the songs reveal how Milarepa actively welcomed and guided female students, with the requisite dedication and faith, in the same way as his male students. He was a feminist and a vegetarian well before his time! In this article, I consider the following:
- ‘Male-centred’ Buddhism and the lack of women’s ‘herstories’ and voices
- Milarepa’s main female students
- Life-story of Saley O and her connection to Milarepa
- A translated excerpt of one of Saley O’s songs
Today, all the Karma Kagyu nunneries in India, Nepal and Bhutan are also commemorating this Milarepa event live online, with a Milarepa Guru Yoga led by HH 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (19.00 IST) to commence the annual Arya Kshema (nun’s debate) event from March 6th to April 8th 2023, taking place at Thrangu Rinpoche’s Vajra Vidya Institute in Sarnath, India. For a video of the 17th Karmapa speaking in 2014 about the first Arya Kshema event, see here, in which he explains why he founded and named the event after the nun, Kshema whom Shakyamuni Buddha said was the most confident, and ‘wisest of the wise’ female disciple.
This month Treasury of Lives (TOL) also announced that only 4% of their published biographies were about women’s lives and their new Women Initiative project aims at re-balancing that ‘shockingly low’ number with 100 new female biographies being translated and published. None of the women mentioned in this article have biographies on TOL. Such projects are good news but sadly a ‘long time coming’. For more of my own research and translations on women in Buddhism, see here.
It is with similar intentions to these that I wrote this short piece and translation on the realised female yogini, Saley O, not only to commemorate her remarkable teacher, Milarepa but also to promote her ‘forgotten’ songs, as the first in a series of posts that women’s lives, experiences and voices are not only a valuable part of a spiritual and religious ‘her-story’ but a human one too. As the saying goes: ‘‘Those in power write the history, while those who suffer sing the songs.’ So, to know the full history of a people is to know their songs.
Music? Milarepa’s Song of Impermanence by Lama Karma Drodhul. For the androcentric bias, PJ Harvey’s ironic Man-Size. For Saley O’s fiery response to Milarepa, No Man’s Woman by Sinead O’Connor.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 6th March 2023.
‘Male-centred’ Buddhism and the lack of women’s ‘herstories’ and voices
While doing some research on Milarepa Songs and looking the first published translation in English of Milarepa’s Songs (see bibliography), I discovered there was a whole chapter entitled ‘Women’s Role in Dharma’ and also one entitled ‘Saley O and her Understanding’ (a title not in the Tibetan text but coined by the male translator) as well as other songs by and for females. Reading the songs, it is clear that these girls and women were realised and sang songs of great profundity and spiritual depth and yet unlike the often discussed and studied male disciples of Milarepa, such as Je Gampopa and Rechungpa, these women are rarely, if at all, known, depicted or spoke about. The only image/painting I have seen in my life of Milarepa with his female students and teachers, is a recent one on the walls of the DGL Nunnery temple, commissioned by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (see photo above).
So it is reasonable to ask why women’s stories not so well-researched or well-known in Tibetan Buddhism? As is common in ‘his’-stories of famous men (not just spiritual ones), women are often left out, briefly mentioned in relation to men, or their stories/voices hijacked by male voices/commentators (see here) [3].
The renowned scholar Rita M, Gross in her book, Buddhism After Patriarchy (1995), identified androcentrism, male-centred consciousness, a “one-sex model of humanity” where “the male norm and the human norm are collapsed and become identical.” as a major issue. Applied to Buddhism, Gross explains why it is difficult for a Buddhist feminist scholar to find an ‘accurate and usable’ past due to four levels of male-centredness:
“On the first level, when Buddhists chose which documents to keep and whose experience to preserve in their historical records, they usually operated with an androcentric consciousness and set of values. Stories about men and men’s statements were far more likely to be recorded than were stories about women or what women said….
At the second level, even when Buddhists did preserve significant records by or about women, later Buddhist traditions tend to ignore those stories in favor of stories about male heroes. The Therigatha were recorded and preserved, but many Buddhists throughout most Buddhist history believed that women needed to be reborn as men before they could attain enlightenment.
Third, most Western scholarship on Buddhism is quite androcentric and often agrees with the biases of Buddhist records, to the point of further ignoring the few records about women or even ridiculing the women in them.
Finally, not only are the Buddhist past and Western scholarship on Buddhism thoroughly androcentric; contemporary Buddhism itself, both Asian and Western, is unrelenting in its ongoing androcentrism.” (1995:18).
As an example of the androcentric ‘western’ male scholarship on women’s stories, see my review of Michael Sheehy’s treatment of Kunga Trinley Wangmo’s life story, here. Another example of this, is how women’s lives, texts, histories are often side-lined as being ‘women’s issues’ [4]. As Dan Martin (2006) in his article ‘The Woman Illusion’ in Women of Tibet, states:
If there was, and I believe this was so, a reluctance in those and later times to recognize, and therefore record for posterity, the accomplishments of women, it becomes justifiable and even necessary to magnify what evidence we do have (and this holds regardless of their potential value as models for contemporary emulation[5]).
Interestingly, there is a project in Canada, named after Saley O, which was founded after the yogi-meditator, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche told a female disciple, that:
“Women need to start a strong lineage of meditators. It would be good for you to find the cave of Saley O. I don’t know if it still exists, but if it does, you should sit there, even just an hour, that would be very good.”
Milarepa’s Songs – Tibetan and English Sources
For more information about the main Tibetan sources for Milarepa’s Liberation-Stories and Songs, see my article on the 3rd Karmapa’s Black Treasury (Dzo Nag). The 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje is said to have compiled The Black Treasury using as a source, the earliest biographical work of Milarepa called the Twelve Great Disciples (Bu chen bcu gnyis), written by Ngen Dzong Tonpa (Ngan rdzong ston pa Byang chub rgyal po (b. late 11th century) and other disciples of Milarepa.
The two English translations of Milarepa’s songs I have referred to in this piece, as well as to guide my own translation of Saley O’s song, are those of Chang (1962) and Stagg (2017). I have included the original Tibetan in my translation (which is not available in the above translations).
The female ‘Nya-ma’ disciples of Milarepa: five that ‘entered the sky-life’ and four ‘sisters’
According to Dan Martin (2006), Sangye Dharpo’s sixteenth century history text lists five women: Beta his sister, Dze-Se (Mdzes-se) his childhood fiancee, Drichama (‘Gri-lcam-ma), Saley O (Sa-le-‘od) and Peldar Bum (Dpal-dar-‘bum) as among Milarepa’s disciples that ‘entered the sky life’ without leaving physical bodies behind. It also separately lists a similar group of disciples, termed the ‘four sisters’ as:
- Rechungma of Tsonga – she doubted Milarepa’s realization upon their first meeting, but she later gained complete faith in him. Milarepa imparted to Rechungma all the pith-instructions without reserve. She practiced in complete silence for eight years and attained enlightenment through the practice of Inner Heat/Tummo. At the time of her passing, she had become a leading exponent of Milarepa’s teachings.
- Saley O of Nyanang – she rebuked Milarepa when first meeting him but afterwards meditated in solitude for many years, achieving enlightenment. She later taught the Dharma to many disciples throughout Tibet.
- Paldar Bum of Cung – similarly achieved complete enlightenment in a single lifetime. After first scorning and belittling Milarepa upon their encounter, she was converted to the Dharma by his beautiful songs. Paldar bum succeeded in being able to enter into higher dimensions while in her human body. Playing a drum for all to hear, at the time of her death she is said to have bodily vanished, ascending into the pure realm of the Dakinis.
- Chamo Beta (his real sister Beta)
There is also history by Nyang-ral (1988: 493) that mentions, unfortunately without listing the individual names, a group of nine women disciples of Milarepa who were siddhās (grub-thob-ma).
Tseringma, was also said to be tamed by Jetsun Milarepa, and became a tenth-level Bodhisattva and is now frequently prayed to as a holy protector of the Dharma.
Martin (2006) mentions that:
“Most of the women disciples of Milarepa tend to be referred to with the rather unusual term nya-ma, an obsolete word, still remembered but difficult to define or etymologize.”
The word nya-ma is often translated as ‘woman’ or ‘maiden’ or even ‘vagina’. It seems women were also seen as walking vaginas, much like today!
A disillusioned yet dedicated teenager: Saley O’s meeting and Milarepa’s ‘patronising’ refusal/test
Saley O was one of the four main female disciples of Milarepa who became a fully enlightened mahasiddha, under his guidance. She was said to be around sixteen years old and physically pretty when she meets Milarepa when he comes down from his meditation cave and goes to Nyanong where she lives, and she scolds and rebukes his begging for food. That same night she has an auspicious dream and believes it must be due to him. Saley O sees Milarepa the following day and asks him who he is, and about the dream:
“I dreamt that the sun and moon were inside of me, but they had no light. Then another sun and moon dawned in the east, and the light from those lit up the sun and moon within. The sun and moon went out of my body, and then mixed with the light of the sun and moon of the east. With that, I could see the entire universe become completely illuminated. If I follow and attend the Jetsun, will the dharma dawn for me?”
When Milarepa tells Saley O he is a beggar, and then confirms that he is Milarepa and that the dream may have been caused by him, she is filled with devotion and requests him to be her guru, offering some gold. When Milarepa, testing her depth of renunciation, responds: “I do not want your gold. It is very seldom that the rich can practice the Dharma, though they may have great ability in other things. Since you are still very young, I think it is better for you not to renounce the world completely. Now, listen to my song”:
“By the kindness of the father Jetsun,
All appearances are made of gold;
I have no need for your little treasures.
This song with five examples and their meaning, making six,
I have sung for a faithful student.
But your faith right now is merely passing,
And it is difficult for it to become constant and unchanging.
Therefore, young girl, it is best that you go.
In the future, you can focus one-pointedly on dharma.
Care for your spouse as though he were divine.
Care for your children to whom you’re karmically indebted.
Restore the ruins of the fortress on high.
Work vigorously in the fields and cultivate them fully.
Care for your livestock just like your own child.
Above, make offerings to the three jewels and the guru.
Below, care with kindness for the suffering and poor.
In between, have respect for your parents-in-law.
Be friendly with the neighbors in your own land,
And make supplications to this old man.
Aspire to meet the dharma in the future.
I aspire that your life be auspicious and long.” (tr. Stagg: 2017)
Saley O’s brilliant, heartfelt lament rebuking Milarepa’s ‘test’
Considering her young age (in numbers), Saley O’s song reply (see full song below*) to Milarepa’s deliberately ‘patronising’ test and refusal to be her guru, is an extraordinary (and spiritually mature) lament about the sadness and suffering of female’s life, from birth, to being a child, a lover, leaving her parents, a mother and more. She soulfully responds to each of Milarepa’s points using the same metaphors of spouse/companion, children, fortress, crops, livestock and so on, as sources of sorrow and suffering, something many women can relate to!:
“Great Repa, please listen!
I offer with devotion this sincere request,
You will know if the words are true or not!
I myself have such huge despair
And contemplated what can be done.
Remembering deeply impermanence and death,
Since my mother birthed me, until now,
I have seen many die, old and young.
Life is impermanent, like dew on the grass.
Days and hours pass without feeling,
Life is impermanent like a dewdrop on grass.
Wherever it is there is no place
Where a person does not die, I understand.
Knowing for sure, I have to die,
Having no choice or power where I will go.
When thinking of suffering in the lower realms,
I am extremely fearful of the suffering found there.
Considering the other ways of samsara,
Engaging in miserable householder life,
When using the utensils of samsara
One’s kind parents are cast behind.
Yoked and carted off to an unkind man
Laying the foundation for the lower realms,
Chopping down the tree of higher realms and liberation.
Carrying the load of my parents’ wealth,
To a meaningless life as a servant.
The companion who plunges your neck into the yoke,
At first, a smiling, divine man,
In the middle, a black-faced demon,
At the end, a bull ready to beat you.
Thinking thus, melancholy arises.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Be a companion of vajra-sibling friends!
Then, of the children bodily borne,
Those possessing merit are few,
It is possible that some have good karma,
Yet most are chasing payment of karmic debts.
At first, they rob the body’s radiance,
In the middle, they rob food from the mouth,
At the end, they rob wealth from the hands.
Thinking thus, I feel melancholy.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Nourish the small child of awareness!
As for temples, hotels and so on,
Few were constructed with real meaning.
Those ‘fortress’ dungeons of samsara,
At first, invite mental suffering,
In the middle, hang you up with torment,
At the end, leave you in rubble ruins.
Thinking thus, I feel melancholy.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Erect a fortress of indestructible ‘concentration’!
Other than forms and teachings of the Tatagatha, and
the virtuous stream of the faithful,
Farm and field work are meaningless.
At first, fighting over empty land,
In the middle, fighting over sources of water,
At the end, fighting with angry-faced people.
Thinking thus, I feel melancholy.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Tame the field of wild mind!
If one seizes the mind of bodhicitta intention,
It is possible for merit to come.
If not, then focusing on gathering wealth, by
Caring for livestock is negative work.
At first, the envious mind of desire is present,
In the middle, arrogance and jealousy flourish;
At the end, it signals enemies to come.
Thinking thus, I feel melancholy.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Compassionately care for the ‘livestock’ six classes of beings!
Not taking hold of one’s own faults,
Always seeing faults in others,
How can one be in harmonious with all?
Even our flawless ‘friend’
the omniscient teacher, Buddha,
By those full of negativity and non-virtue,
Was seen to have heaps of faults.
Thus, there is no harmony with all, and
One can never take hold of human minds.
Thinking thus, I feel melancholy.
So, this girl shall practice divine Dharma, and
Look at the face of my own mind!
For you, an emanation of the Buddha,
All appearances dawn as gold.
Even when not dawning, there is no existence or nonexistence.
This, my worldly heart-held stuff [gold]
I offer, in order to abandon craving.
“Abandon things for which there is great craving.”
The Victorious Ones have said.
“If one uses illusion-like food and wealth for virtue
It will become meritorious.” The buddhas have said,
Such I heard with my ears.
Thus, I offer this to you,
Having accepted this sign of devotion,
Please kindly teach the divine dharma.” (tr. Tomlin, 2023)
After singing it, she pleads with Milarepa to teach her and take her as his student, which he does- giving her the name Saley O and advising her to meditate in the mountains in solitude:
“O faithful meditator, Saley O,
Wipe the dirt from the mirror of mind
And look into the space of the stainless sky.
With the blessings of all the previous siddhas,
Go meditate in the mountains, in solitary places.
The reason for wandering in mountain retreats
Is to gain mastery; look at mind’s nature.
Now I’ll explain the way to look:
Listen without distraction, Saley O!” (Stagg, 2017)
The story ends by saying that:
“Accordingly, Saley O remained inseparable from mountain retreats and meditated. Through this, she became a self-liberated dakini who benefited the teachings and sentient beings. This is one of the stories of the four primary female disciples of the Jetsun that were written down by Ngendzong Tonpa Jangchung Gyalpo, who has the dharani of perfect memory.”
*Song of Saley O, translated by Adele Tomlin (2023). The Tibetan text I used for this translation is in The Biography and Thousand Songs of Jetsun Milarepa[3]. The chapter about Sa-le-‘od was composed by Ngendzong Tonpa (Ngan-rdzong Ston-pa), himself a disciple of Milarepa.
Bibliography/Sources
English Language Sources
Gross, Rita M.1993. Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis and Reconstruction of Buddhism, State University of New York Press (Albany).
Gross, Rita M. 2009. A Garland of Feminist Reflections. Forty Years of Religious Explanation. University of California Press
Garma CC Chang. 1962. The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa. Shambhala Publications.
Martin, Dan. 2006. The Woman Illusion? Research into the Lives of Spiritually Accomplished Women Leaders in Tibet of the 11th and 12th Centuries in Women in Tibet, Hanna Havnevik and Janet Gyatso, eds., Hurst & Company (London 2005), pp. 49-82.
Shaw, Miranda. 1994. Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism, Princeton University Press (Princeton).
Quintman, Andrew. 2010. The Life of Milarepa, Penguin Classics.
Stagg, Christopher. 2017. Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa: A New Translation. Shambhala Publications.
Trungpa, Chogyam. 2017. Milarepa: Lessons from the Songs and Life of Tibet’s Great Yogi. Shambhala Publications.
Tomlin, Adele (2020-22):
Milarepa’s Song on the Ten Pāramitās , ‘Empty words are of trivial value’
Hermit-Yogi Caves and Fortresses (Part I): Jetsun Milarepa’s Twenty Sacred Places
Milarepa’s Song on the Suffering of Animals in the Evil ‘Tradition’ of Meat-eating
Milarepa’s Female Disciples: Rechungma’s Song of ‘Fifteen Realisations‘
NEW PUBLICATION: Milarepa’s Songs to the Hunter and Animals, the Khyira Kagyu lineage
Milarepa’s ‘Song to the Hunter’; and the living ‘ear-whispered’ lineage of Khyira Kagyu in Nepal
Willis, Janice D. Tibetan Buddhist Women Practitioners, Past and Present: A Garland to Delight Those Wishing Inspiration, contained in: Karma Lekshe Tsomo, ed., Buddhist Women across Cultures, State University of New York Press (Albany), pp. 145-58.
Tibetan Language Sources
Tsangnyon Heruka – bTsang smyon he ruka. 1999. rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug chen po mi la ras pa’i rnam mgur. Xining: mTsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang.
Ngendzong Tonpa Jangchub Gyalpo’s Twelve Great Disciples – Bu chen bcu gnyis. Ngan rdzong ston pa byang chub rgyal po, et al. Rje bstun chen po mid la ras pa’i rnam thar zab mo. N.p., n.d. Dbu can manuscript in the collection of the Newark Museum, microfilm master negative No. 0001, Tibetan Book Collection, Folio 36.280, Biography of Milarepa, IIB R 16.
3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, Black Treasury – Rang byung rdo rje. 2006. Karma pa rang byung rdo rje’i gsung ’bum. Vol. 3: rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug mi la bzhad pa rdo rje’i gsung mgur mdzod nag ma zhes pa karma pa rang byung rdo rjes phyogs gcig tu bkod pa. [mTshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis].
———. 2008. mDzod nag ma. rNal ’byor gyi dbang phyug mi la bzhad pa rdo rje’i gsung mgur mdzod nag ma. Sichuan: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang.
Endnotes
[1] Women’s History Month is a dedicated month to reflect on the often-overlooked contributions of women to United States history. From Abigail Adams to Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth to Rosa Parks, the timeline of women’s history milestones stretches back to the founding of the United States.
[2] I first published some of this material in these two previous articles: A Girl’s Lament: Songs of Saley O to Milarepa (https://dakinitranslations.com/a-girls-lament-songs-of-saley-o-to-milarepa/) (June 2020, Dakini Publications) and Milarepa’s Female Disciples: Rechungma’s Song of Fifteen Realisations (https://dakinitranslations.com/2020/06/15/milarepas-female-disciples-rechungmas-song-of-fifteen-realisations/).
[3] For more on the 17th Karmapa’s outstanding activities and projects for empowering and improving the status of female practitioners and nuns, see here.
[4] As Miranda Shaw observed in her book Passionate Enlightenment (2004):
“Well-known male figures, such as Saraha, Tilopa and so on, recur in the sectarian annals, religious biographies, and historical works of India and Tibet as the founders of Vajrayana (or Secret Mantra) Buddhism, while the names of equally glorious foremothers and lineage founders ‘do not shine with the same lustre as those of their male counterparts and in some cases have nearly been forgotten altogether-save for sufficient evidence for a historian to rediscover them.”
[5] For example, I recently spoke about the female roots of Vajrayana in Bhutan, and whether or not tantric union practice is allowed for monks (a topic of interest to both men and women), the paper was placed on a ‘Women in Vajrayana’ panel (as titled by the male organisers). I did query this (as there would never be a panel named ‘Men in Vajrayana’ at such a conference), but my concerns were not listened to and we were all bundled together as a niche group topic.
[6] rje btsun mi la ras pa’i rnam thar dang mgur ‘bum, TBRC W1KG4276:2:620
Tibetan Text of Saley O’s song
རྗེ་རས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་སྙན་གསོན་དང་། ། བདག་མོས་པའི་ཞུ་བ་འབུལ་བ་འདི།།
རྫུན་ཁ་ཚིག་ཡིན་མིན་ཐུགས་ཀྱིས་མཁྱེན། ། རང་ལ་རང་ཉིད་ཡི་མུག་ཆེ། །
ཅི་དྲག་སེམས་ཀྱི་བསམ་མནོ་ལ། ། མི་རྟག་འཆི་བ་གཏིང་ནས་དྲན། །
རང་མ་ལ་སྐྱེས་ནས་ད་བར་ལ། ། རྒན་གཞོན་མང་པོ་ཤི་བ་མཐོང་། །
ཚེ་མི་རྟག་རྩྭ་ཁའི་ཟིལ་པ་འདྲ། ། དེ་ཞག་དང་ཟ་མས་མ་ཚོར་འཛད། །
གང་དུ་གནས་ཀྱང་མི་འཆི་བའི། ། ས་ཕྱོགས་གང་ནའང་མེད་པར་གོ། །
བདག་ལ་ངེས་པར་འཆི་དགོས་ཤིང་། ས་ནས་གར་སྐྱེ་རང་དབང་མེད། །
ངན་སེང་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསམས་ཙ་ན། ། སྡུག་བསྔལ་རྙེད་སྙམ་ཤིན་ཏུ་འཇིགས། །
འཁོར་བ་གཞན་གྱི་ཚུལ་ལ་བསམས། ། ལས་ངན་ཁྱིམ་ཐབ་བྱེད་དོ་ཞེས། །
འཁོར་བའི་གཡོས་སྦྱོར་བྱས་ཙ་ན། ། ཕ་མ་དྲིན་ཙོ་རྒྱབ་ཏུ་བོར། །
རང་གཉའ་དྲིན་མེད་མི་ལ་བསྐྱལ། ། ངན་སོང་གསུམ་གྱི་འགྲམ་གཞི་བཏིང་། །
མཐོ་རི་གོ་ཐར་པའི་སྡོང་པོ་སྒྱེལ། ། ཕ་མའི་ཟས་ནོར་ཁུར་ནས་སུ། །
དོན་མེད་མི་ཡི་གཡོག་ལ་གའ། ། གསོར་བར་མཆོང་བའི་གཉའ་གྲོགས་དེ།
དང་པོ་ལྷ་བུ་འཛུམ་བག་༅། ། བར་དུ་བདུད་པོ་ངོ་ནག་པོ། །
ཐ་མར་གླང་བུ་བརྡུང་སྙིང་༅། ། བསམས་ཤིང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། །
དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད། ། གྲོགས་སུ་རྡོ་རྗེ་སྤུན་དང་འགྲོགས། །
དེ་ནས་ལུས་ལ་སྐྱེས་པའི་བུ། ། བསོད་ནམས་ལྡན་པ་རེ་རེ་ལ། །
ལས་ཅན་རེ་ཙམ་བྱུང་བའང་སྲིད། ། ཕལ་ཆེར་ལན་ཆགས་འདེད་མཁན་དེ། །
དང་པོར་ལུས་ཀྱི་མདངས་འཕྲོག་པོ། ། བར་དུ་ཁ་ཡི་ཟས་འཕྲོག་པོ། །
ཐ་མར་ལག་གི་ནོར་འཕྱོག་པོ། ། བསམས་ཤིང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། །
དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད། ། སྲས་བུ་རིག་པའི་ཁྱེའུ་ཆུང་གསོ། །
གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་དང་མགྲོན་ཁང་སོགས། ། བརྩིགས་པ་དོན་ར་ཡོད་རེ་རེ་ཙམ། །
འཁོར་བའི་བཙོན་དོང་ས་མཁར་དེ། ། དང་པོ་སེམས་ལ་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བསྐུར། །
བར་དུ་ལུས་ལ་ངལ་དུབ་བསྐར། ། ཐ་མར་ཞིག་རཔ་་ཕུང་ལ་བཏང་། །
བསམས་ཤིང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། ། དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད།།
འཇིག་མེད་བསམ་གཏན་མཁར་བུ་རྩིག །
བདེ་གཤེགས་གསུང་རབ་སྐོ་གཟུགས་དང་། ། དད་ལྡན་དགེ་རྒྱུན་མ་གཏོགས་པའི། །
བཞོས་ཞིང་ལས་རྣམས་དོན་མེད་ཡིན། ། དང་པོར་ཐང་སྟོང་ས་ལ་འཛིང་། །
བར་དུ་འབྱུང་བ་ཆུ་ལ་འཛིང་། ། ཐ་མར་མགཽ་ནག་མི་ལ་འཛིང་། །
བསམས་༣ང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། ། དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད། །
ཞིང་དུ་རང་རྒྱུད་ཐ་རྒོད་འདུལ། །
གལ་ཏེ་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་བསམ་པ་ཡིས། ། ཟིན་ན་བསོད་ནམས་འོང་བའང་སྲིད། །
མ་ཟིན་ནོར་གྱི་འདུ་ཤེས་ཀྱིས། ། ཕྱུགས་ལུག་བསྐྱང་བ་སྡིག་པའི་ལས། །
དང་པོར་བརྣབ་སེམས་འདོད་པས་ཕྲལ། ། བར་དུ་ང་རྒྱལ་ཕྲག་དོག་འཕེལ། །
ཐ་མར་དགྲ་བོའི་གཡབ་མོ་བྱས། ། བསམས་ཤིང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། །
དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད། ། ཕྱུགས་ལུགས་རིགས་དྲུག་སྙིང་རྗེས་སྐྱོང་། །
རང་སྐྱོན་རང་གིས་མི་ཟིན་པར། ། མི་ཡི་སྐྱེད་ལ་རྒྱུན་དུ་ལྟ། །
ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་པ་ག་ལ་འབྱུང་། ། ཉེས་པའི་དྲི་མ་དང་བྲལ་བའི། །
ཀུན་མཁྱེན་སྟོནི་པ་སངས་རྒྱས་ལའང་། ། སྡིག་ཅན་ལ་སེརྫོགས་ནག་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱིས། །
སྐྱོནེ་གྱི་ཕུང་པོ་དགཏུ་མཐོང་། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་ཀུན་དང་མི་མཐུན་ཞིང་། །
མི་སེམས་བཟུང་བས་ཟིན་དུས་མེད། ། བསམས་ཤིང་སྐྱོ་བ་ནང་ནས་སྐྱེས། །
དེས་ན་བུ་མོ་ལྷ་ཆོས་བྱེད། ། ད་ནི་སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་ཞལ་ལྟ།
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 