‘SONG OF THE DZOGCHEN VIEW: MUSIC OF SWEET SOUNDS’ by Ju Mipham Gyatso. Based on teaching by 9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

“However, those with little habituation to the abiding reality,
Might not realize the secret point of the profound.
I am not being disrespectful to you;
So, if this strikes a nerve, please be patient.”

–Ju Mipham Rinpoche in Music of Sweet Sounds

“I feel that it is fair to say that I have a strong lineage of blessings to teach this song. Prior to my birth, Mipham Rinpoche stayed for five years in the mountain retreat above Thrangu Monastery in Tibet. He practiced and wrote books there, including the Gateway to Knowledge. When he left the monastery, he made aspirations and prayers for his blessings to remain.“ 

“These songs that we’re talking here are songs of the view, about the wonderful view and how to really realize this profound view. Sometimes you think about something that’s really profound and deep, you study it you contemplate it, you can’t understand it what is this, then you rest and think “oh that’s what it is!” and then it’s like really wonderful.”

–9^th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche on Ju Mipham’s Music of Sweet Sounds

Introduction

For Dakini Day today, and as part of an offering for the recent passing of the 9th Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (over the forty-nine day period from his parinirvana on 4th June 2023) here is an introduction to a teaching given by Rinpoche in 2009 at Crestone, Colorado, USA, on a song by the great Dzogchen and Nyingma master, Ju Mipham Gyatso Rinpoche called ‘Song of the Dzogchen View: Music of the Sweet Sounds’ (Dzogpa Chenpo Tawai Nyam Gur Dranyen gi Rolmo). In the colophon of the ‘Music of Sweet Sounds’ song text, Mipham Gyatso explains the circumstances of its composition at Dzongsar Tashi Latse Monastery, in Derge Tibet. The 8-part video of Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching is still available on Youtube here . The teaching has been transcribed and edited for a recent book publication called ‘A Harmony of Views‘ (Snow Lion Publications, 2020).

As the Tibetan original text is surprisingly not referred to or included in the notes or bibliography of ‘A Harmony of Views‘ book, I fortunately found an edition of it and did my own English translation, which is now compiled together with the Tibetan and extensive endnotes from Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching on it (based on the commentary of his renowned Nyingma teacher, Khenpo Gangshar). It can be freely downloaded as a pdf file: Song of Dzogchen View Mipham Rinpoche – English translation with Tibetan. 

In this short review/introduction I give some background research on Ju Mipham Rinpoche, his connection to Manjushri, Thrangu Rinpoche and Thrangu monastery in Tibet. Then I give an overview of the original Tibetan text, its composition, contents and Thrangu Rinpoche’s teaching on it. The outline/contents of the song is as follows:

• Homage
• Pledge to Compose.
• The preliminaries: gaining certainty through the instructions that destroy the little hut of the mind

1. 1. Getting Directly to Meditation.
   2. Distinguishing the Appearances of the natural energy of awareness.
   3. How Meditation and Distinguishing are Not Contradictory.

• The Actual Practice: Seeing Self-Arisen Awareness Directly.
• Developing Confidence in Spontaneous Presence that has no nature. 
• How the profound unified conduct free of assumption is obscured.
• How to unmistakenly realize the meaning of the union of awareness and emptiness after entering the view.

1. 1. Mistakes and Deviations
   2. How to realise the union of awareness and emptiness

• How the Dzogchen [or Mahamudra] View Fits with Other Paths/Schools
• How Dzogchen is Compatible with Other Tibetan Schools
• How the Assertions are not Contradictory
• Dispelling Apparent Contradictions
• The Sun of Mental Ease Shining from Within

1. 1.  The mental ease of contemplating the pure scriptures, the condition for developing profound realization
   2. The mental ease of considering the essence of realization itself
   3. The Mental Ease of Contemplating the Kind Root and Lineage Lamas
   4. The Mental Ease of Helping Our Mothers, All Beings

• Joyful Delight Conclusion
• Colophon

Ju Mipham’s song is a brilliant, lucid exposition of the ultimate view of Dzogchen, nature of mind, Buddha-Nature or Mahamudra. He poetically describes how all the Indian and Tibetan schools can ‘be joyfully delighted’ at the harmony and lack of contradiction in their views, and how knowing one can lead to liberating all.  Thrangu Rinpoche expertly and clearly explains the profound points of the song and view, leading us through the main different tenets/schools of including the Middle Way schools, and two types of Empty-of-Other view (Zhentong) – expanse Zhentong and wisdom Zhentong). In particular, Thrangu Rinpoche distils his years of studies, ( culminating in the award of the Geshe Lharampa) and understanding of the four main Tibetan Buddhist lineage views mentioned in the song, with pithy yet easy to understand instructions of the subtle differences between them, but also how Mipham reconciles them all into one harmonious whole and shows how the positions of the Indian philosophical schools and the traditions of Tibet are not at odds with Dzogchen. As Thrangu Rinpoche says: 

“When we look at the mind essence without altering it and rest in equipoise, we see co-emergent wisdom. This is just another name for the Dzogchen view….We do not need to say that Mahamudra is higher and Dzogchen is lower, or that Dzogchen is higher and Mahamudra is lower. When we really get to the bottom of it, we see that it is all the unaltered co-emergent wisdom—it is just the nature of the mind.”

This teaching by Thrangu Rinpoche is an excellent example (of which there are many) of his profound and vast knowledge, experience and ability to distil that into pith, accessible instructions for a general audience. In that respect, we can hear and see how Thrangu Rinpoche’s profound knowledge, experience and humility while alive and yet continual body, speech and mind Dharma activities internationally despite being forced into exile, make him worthy of the name ‘Lion’s Speech’. Like Mipham Rinpoche, he was a Manjushri of our times and one who will be greatly missed.  May it be of benefit in realising the harmony of the views, and the ultimate dzogchen view! May Thrangu Rinpoche make a swift return to this realm!

Music? Manjushri mantra, singin’ the blues Solitude by Billie Holiday, song of amazement Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

Written, compiled and translated by Adele Tomlin, 13 June 2023. 

Ju Mipham Rinpoche – Manjushri, Kālacakra and Dzogchen mastery and works

Ju Mipham Rinpoche (འཇུ་མི་ཕམ་) or Jamgon Mipham Gyatso (འཇམ་མགོན་མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་) (1846-1912) was a great Nyingma master and writer of the last century, a student of Jamgon Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Patrul Rinpoche. His chief disciple was Shechen Gyaltsab Pema Namgyal.

Mipham Rinpoche was born in the region of Derge in eastern Tibet. When he was fifteen or sixteen, after studying the very difficult Mindrolling system of chanting for only a few days and praying to Manjushri, he is said to have completely mastered it. In an 18-month retreat he accomplished the form of Manjushri known as ‘Lion of Philosophers’ (Maway Senge, which is also 9^th Thrangu Rinpoche’s name), using a liturgy composed by the fifteenth Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje.

He made many medicinal pills blessed with Manjushri’s mantra, and many miraculous signs were said to have been manifest. After this, it was said that he could accomplish any sutra or tantra without any effort, and no text was unknown to him. He went to many lamas to obtain the necessary lungs (oral transmissions), but he needed no study or teachings for any texts. He later confided to some of his students that from then on he had always been able to understand any text he read.

Mipham showed particular interest in the Kālacakra and the kingdom of Shambhala, and one of his last and most extensive of his esoteric works are his two volumes of commentary, initiation and sadhana related to the Kālacakra Tantra. Before he died in 1912, he said to his students that now he was going to Shambhala. For more about Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Mipham Gyatso on Kālackara, see my previous article here. The article also includes a short provisional catalogue of Mipham’s Tibetan extant texts on Kālacakra.

Mipham Rinpoche also had an enormous impact in re-awakening a deep reverence and interest in the Nyingma and Dzogchen teachings. His contribution to the Rimé movement is inestimable[i].  His root gurus were Dza Patrul Rinpoche, from whom he received instruction on Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara and Dzogchen and the renowned master Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, from whom he received transmission of the orally transmitted Kama and revealed Terma lineages, and many other teachings. Together with Rongzompa and Longchenpa, Mipham is considered to be one of the three “omniscient” writers of the Nyingma tradition.

Thrangu Rinpoche says in his teaching on Mipham’s Song that:

“Among the great scholars and meditation masters, Mipham Rinpoche was much talked about. For instance, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo said that Mipham Rinpoche was at first stubborn and easily angered. But after he studied and became learned in the view of the sutras, he turned into a gentle, peaceful person, became a great scholar and practitioner, and wrote many treatises. If one writes treatises, other scholars will refute them, pointing out errors in reasoning and other mistakes, but Mipham Rinpoche was able to respond to those who tried to refute his treatises. As a result of his clear explanations, others thought well of him and his treatises.”

There are several editions of his Collected Works (over 30 volumes) on the BDRC website here, from Bhutan and Tibet[ii]. His Collected Works can also be read in the original Tibetan on the Adarsha website, here.

Sadly, the current tulku of Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche has done nothing like the extensive activities and works of his predecessor, and instead was subject to numerous allegations of physical and sexual assault and misconduct against many female students, and had to step down from his leadership role with Shambala after an independent investigation.

Mipham Rinpoche’s connection to Thrangu Monastery and his gift of a Manjushri statue

In his teaching, Rinpoche first explains the remarkable qualities of Mipham Rinpoche and his strong connection to Thrangu Monastery and a Manjushri statue he donated with his relics:

“I feel that it is fair to say that I have a strong lineage of blessings to teach this song. Prior to my birth, Mipham Rinpoche stayed for five years in the mountain retreat above Thrangu Monastery in Tibet. He practiced and wrote books there, including the Gateway to Knowledge. When he left the monastery, he made aspirations and prayers for his blessings to remain. When I was young, Shechen Kongtrul Rinpoche visited the monastery. This was long after Mipham Rinpoche had passed away. Nonetheless, Shechen Kongtrul Rinpoche said that it was a place where Mipham Rinpoche’s blessings remained. When Mipham Rinpoche was about to pass into nirvana, he wrote a last testament with instructions to have statues of Manjushri containing his own relics given to all of his monastic seats. After he passed away, his attendant Osel carried out these instructions, and one of the Manjushri statues with relics was given to Thrangu Monastery. This is a sign of how Mipham Rinpoche cared for the monastery with his great compassion.

Maybe it is just my thought, but it still feels like he is taking care of us. When I had to leave Tibet in 1959, I lost everything. But the one thing I was able to take with me was this statue, and it remains in my monastery to this day. I feel that this is a sign of Mipham Rinpoche continuing to care for us.  By teaching this song, I think his lineage of blessings will come through it. “

I have been unable to find a photo of this Manjushri statue, so if anyone has one, please do send it to me!

For more on Manjushri and the Lion’s Speech Form as practised by Ju Mipham Rinpoche, see my previous research and translation article ‘Gushing Flood of Melodious, Laughing Praise: Explanation of the Root Mantra of Lion of Speech, Mañjuśrī’ by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo here.

Song of the Dzogchen View: Music of Sweet Sounds  – the original Tibetan text

In The Harmony of Views book, surprisingly there is no reference or bibliography that refers to the actual Tibetan title, publication or source of the Tibetan original text. So I found an edition of it myself online in Mipham’s Collected Works[iii].

The title in Tibetan is Dzogpa Chenpo Tawai Nyam Gur Dranyen gi Rolmo (rDzogs pa chen poʼi lta baʼi nyams mgur sgra snyan gyi rol mo) which translates as Song of the Dzogchen View: Music of Sweet Sounds. It is 4 folios long (pecha woodblock format and has some stunning illustrations of Garab Dorje and Vajrasattva.

In the colophon of the Music of Sweet Sounds song text, Mipham Rinpoche explains the circumstances of its composition:

“This Song of Recognizing Awareness: The Music of Sweet Sounds/Lute was composed when Khyapdak Jampayang Kunkhyen Dorje Ziji said, “Write a song of the Nyingma view similar to Changkya’s song of the view,” I, Mipham Lodré Drime, feeling special devotion for the supreme vehicle, offered the scriptures to the crown of my head and composed this at Dzongsar Tashi Lhatse. Mangalam.”

Here Ju Mipham Rinpoche refers to another Song of the Middle Way View composed by Gelug scholar, Changkya Rolpé Dorje ( ལྕང་སྐྱ་རོལ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་) (1717-1786) was an important Gelugpa scholar from Amdo, who oversaw the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon into Mongolian and Manchurian. Thrangu Rinpoche teaches about this song in Part II of the book The Harmony of Views.

As for the place where it was composed, Dzongsar Tashi Lhatse (see photo), is a Sakya Monastery founded in 1253 by Drogon Chogyel Phajpa, although there appear to have been older Nyingma and Kadampa establishments on the same site. Dzongsar became one of the most vital and active colleges in the whole of Tibet during the 19th and 20th centuries, with 23 far-flung branches. However, the entire complex was razed to the ground in 1959 (during the Chinese Cultural revolution).

Commentary on Mipham’s Song of the Dzogchen View by renowned Nyingma and Dzogchen master, Khenpo Gangshar

Thrangu Rinpoche explains his connection to the Song and a commentary by Khenpo Gangshar Rinpoche:

“A commentary on the Song of the Dzogchen View was written by Khenpo Gangshar Rinpoche, whom I met in 1957 when he came to our monastery. I had the opportunity to receive his instructions, which have great blessings. There are exceptional blessings in both the root verses by Mipham Rinpoche and the commentary by Khenpo Gangshar, and I feel I can share these with you. I have hope and confidence that partaking in these blessings will help your meditation practice and your understanding of the nature of dharma.”  

Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo (b. 1925-?) was a highly respected lama and one of the primary teachers of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and the 9th Thrangu Rinpoche. He was trained in Shechen Monastery and part of the Mindroling lineage within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Songs of Renunication (the Blues) and Songs of Amazement: why are songs important for developing a stable view?

In the Introduction to his teaching, Rinpoche speaks about the importance of having a stable view, which can be developed in two ways, either through inference or direct perception but that what is really important is that we develop real strong certainty with them ourselves:

“Fundamentally, we need instructions on the view, meditation, and conduct. To develop meditation and conduct, we first need a stable view. A stable view can be developed through both inference and perception. By sometimes using inference, and sometimes using perception, we can develop certainty in the view. When our certainty is stable, we can develop strong realization. For this reason, we need to fully comprehend the view. If one takes inference as the path in the context of the Foundation vehicle, studying the sutras is emphasized. In the Secret Mantra Vajrayana of Tibet, we consider the sutras important but often hold the treatises to be even more important because they help us to understand how the sutras were taught. Through their logic, we can develop strong certainty in the view. This is the reason the treatises were written, but the treatises can be very long. Even more profound are the songs, which are both pleasant to listen to and bring about an understanding of the view.”

Rinpoche then explains the two types of song, songs of renunciation, like the blues, and songs of amazement and wonder:

“There are many different types of songs. Some are about renunciation and world-weariness. These songs make us think about impermanence and suffering, and through them our minds become sad. There is a Tibetan saying, “When people are happy, they don’t sing much.” But if you get really unhappy and think about suffering and problems, and what you are going to do, you are singing the blues. From contemplating the situation of sentient beings, great scholars and practitioners develop worldweariness and sing songs of sadness, renunciation and the ‘blues’. This is one type of song, but it’s not the type that we are looking at here.”

Another type is songs of amazement, which express wonder. For example, Milarepa sang songs praising the places he traveled, such as isolated mountaintops. He sang about natural beauty: mountain cliffs surrounded by forests; babbling brooks; great plains covered with flowers, where deer frolicked and eagles and vultures soared in the sky; and pristine settings where clouds gathered and rain fell. Some people might not have found these places so beautiful, but Milarepa did. So that is like a song of amazement. These songs that we’re talking here are songs of the view, about the wonderful view and how to really realize this profound view. Sometimes you think about something that’s really profound and deep, you study it you contemplate it, you can’t understand it what is this, then you rest and think “oh that’s what it is!” and then it’s like really wonderful…..

Meditating on the nature of the mind may seem difficult, and at first, we may not understand. Then, by continuing to look, we realize what we need to do and develop certainty. And through certainty we are able to attain realization. These songs show us what we need to do and the problems that can prevent us from developing realization. Since gaining certainty brings about joy, these songs express delight. But the songs are not just about experiencing joy. They are more beneficial than that.” 

Being Playfully At Ease – Music of Sweet Sounds Song title

Rinpoche then teaches about the title of the Song and its connection to becoming genuinely liberated and ‘at ease’.

“The Song of the Dzogchen View begins with an introduction that has three sections: teaching the title, the homage, and the pledge to compose. First is teaching the title. The full title of this song is Experiential Song of the Dzogchen View Called “The Music of Sweet Sounds.”

In general, the song teaches the dzogchen view. Generally, the dzogchen view is a view of perception that we experience and recognize in meditation. But we need to comprehend well what it is like by experiencing and realizing it, and for that we first need to understand the view, which is the purpose of the song. Mipham Rinpoche himself experienced this meaning and wanted to share his experience with us through this song and help us. It is therefore called an “experiential song of the view.”

Music of Sweet Sounds means that the words are pleasing or lovely to hear. Not only that, the song is meaningful and beautiful. The word for music is the Tibetan word rolmo, which refers to large cymbals used in ritual music, but the etymology of the word is that the first syllable, ro/, means “play”— the mind being joyful and happy and the body being at ease. When Mipham Rinpoche felt such great joy and delight, he called this song ro/mo (“music”) when he wrote it. Why is the mind so happy? Although we need to free ourselves from the ocean of suffering in samsara, sometimes we think about it and sometimes we do not. Whether we are thinking about it or not, whether we are happy or not, whether we are suffering or feel well—whatever our situation in samsara—we remain in a cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. These are all types of suffering, and we need a way to free ourselves from them. If we can free ourselves, we will experience ease in our minds and bodies.”

Music of Sweet Sounds – New English Translation with Tibetan original

Thrangu Rinpoche’s clear and easily accessible teaching on this song is based on the commentary by his teacher, Khenpo Gangshar Rinpoche.  I have done a new translation of the song, based on his instructions and combined it with the Tibetan text, as this is not provided in the Harmony of Views book. It can be freely downloaded as a .pdf file (with this Introduction) here. 

Outline of the Song

• Homage
• Pledge to Compose.
• The preliminaries: gaining certainty through the instructions that destroy the little hut of the mind

1. 1. Getting Directly to Meditation.
   2. Distinguishing the Appearances of the natural energy of awareness.
   3. How Meditation and Distinguishing are Not Contradictory.

• The Actual Practice: Seeing Self-Arisen Awareness Directly.
• Developing Confidence in Spontaneous Presence that has no nature. 
• How the profound unified conduct free of assumption is obscured.
• How to unmistakenly realize the meaning of the union of awareness and emptiness after entering the view.

1. 1. Mistakes and Deviations
   2. How to realise the union of awareness and emptiness

• How the Dzogchen [or Mahamudra] View Fits with Other Paths/Schools
• How Dzogchen is Compatible with Other Tibetan Schools
• How the Assertions are not Contradictory
• Dispelling Apparent Contradictions
• The Sun of Mental Ease Shining from Within

1. 1.  The mental ease of contemplating the pure scriptures, the condition for developing profound realization
   2. The mental ease of considering the essence of realization itself
   3. The Mental Ease of Contemplating the Kind Root and Lineage Lamas
   4. The Mental Ease of Helping Our Mothers, All Beings

• Joyful Delight Conclusion
• Colophon

Mipham Rinpoche’s song is a brilliant, lucid exposition of the ultimate view of Dzogchen, nature of mind, Buddha-Nature or Mahamudra. He poetically describes how all the Indian and Tibetan schools can ‘be joyfully delighted’ at the harmony and lack of contradiction in their views, and how knowing one can lead to liberating all. Thrangu Rinpoche expertly and clearly explains the profound points of the song and view, leading us through the main different tenets/schools of including the Middle Way schools, and two types of Empty-of-Other view (Zhentong) – expanse Zhentong and wisdom Zhentong). In particular, Thrangu Rinpoche’s understanding of the four main Tibetan Buddhist lineage views mentioned in the song, expertly leads us into an understanding of the subtle differences between them, but also how Mipham reconciles them all into one harmonious whole.

 Thrangu Rinpoche even gives a brief, yet profound teaching on the purpose and importance of the different preliminary practices as:

“Several lamas have shared their opinions with me, saying that I speak only about mahamudra and that I don’t teach the preliminaries enough. That really struck home, so I thought it was important to stress how critical the preliminaries are.”

Thrangu Rinpoche’s video of his 8 part teaching on Mipham’s Song of the Dzogchen View is here:

 

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Endnotes

[i] Shortly before he passed away, he told his attendant Lama Ösel: “Nowadays, if you speak the truth, there is nobody to listen; if you speak lies everyone thinks it is true. I have never said this before: I am not an ordinary person; I am a bodhisattva who has taken rebirth through aspiration. The suffering experienced in this body is just the residue of karma; but from now on I will never again have to experience karmic obscuration. … Now, in this final age, the barbarians beyond the frontier are close to undermining the teaching. [So] there is no point whatsoever in my taking rebirth here…I have no reason to take birth in impure realms ever again.”

[ii] ʼJu mi pham ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. gSung ʼbum ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW3CN21303.

ʼJu mi pham ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. gSung ʼbum mi pham rgya mtsho. [Gangs Can Rig Gzhung Dpe Rnying Myur Skyobs Lhan Tshogs], 2007. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW2DB16631.

  ʼJu mi pham ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. gSung ʼbum mi pham ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. 2019 par gzhi dang po 2021par thengs gsum pa, Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2019. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW3CN27471.

  ʼJu mi pham ʼjam dbyangs rnam rgyal rgya mtsho. gSung ʼbum mi pham rgya mtsho. Lama Ngodrup And Sherab Drimey, 1984–1993. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW23468.

[iii] “rDzogs pa chen poʼi lta baʼi nyams mgur sgra snyan gyi rol mo.” gSung ʼbum mi pham rgya mtsho, vol. 32, [Gangs Can Rig Gzhung Dpe Rnying Myur Skyobs Lhan Tshogs], 2007, pp. 361–68. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW2DB16631_138689.

There is also an edition in downloadable Tibetan script on Adarsha: https://adarsha.dharma-treasure.org/kdbs/mipam?pbId=1511035