གླུ་ཨ་ལ་ཐ་ལ་རེད༎ lu ala thala ré
ཨ་ལ་གླུ་ཡི་ལེན་ལུགས་རེད༎ ala lu yi len luk ré
ཐ་ལ་ཚིག་གི་བརྗོད་ལུགས་རེད༎ thala tsik gi jö luk ré
As my fourth and final offering for the 43rd Parinirvana of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje (1924-1981), I saw that Nalandabodhi shared a song by the 16th Karmapa, called A-la-tha-la (originally translated over twenty years ago by an American follower, Michele Martin [1]).
I had always wanted to read this song in the original Tibetan, and do a new translation of it together with the Tibetan words, as it has only ever been published before in English. There are several other songs and poems that have yet to be translated into English, which I would happily do, but without the dedicated and active support of a Karma Kagyu lama or teacher/native Tibetan speaker, it is not so easy for me to accomplish.
However, undeterred by present conditions, here below is my new translation of the song, published with the Tibetan text (discovered in the Collected Works of the 16th Karmapa) [2] and phonetics (for the those who like to hear the melody and rhythm, so important for songs and poems). It is downloadable as a pdf file for free here: Alathala Song by 16th Karmapa Prediction and Praise to Tai Situpa.
Before that, I give a brief introduction to its prophetic content about Tibetans leaving Tibet for India (It was written when the 16th Karmapa was 17 years old in 1941), the ‘opening lines’ connection to the King Gesar song epic tradition and his aspiration to meet his beloved teacher, the 11th Tai Situpa again.
I had recently been listening to a lovely Tibetan song ‘Long Distance’ by GTashi, whose lyrics begin with A-la-al-la-lamo. I had wondered what that meant, and asked a native Tibetan speaker who did not know the meaning either, so it seemed to be a poetic melodic tool. But it actually does have its origin in ancient Tibetan epic song history, so there you go! I got the answer spontaneously after doing some research on this song.
Music? Long Distance by Tibetan rapper and musician, GTashi..”A-la A-la-Lamo” .
An ode to Palpung, Tai Situpa and Gesar song epic
After doing a little research, I discovered that the A-La-Tha-la lu len lug words at the beginning of the 16th Karmapa’s song (which was not investigated in Martin’s translation) are a direct reference to the oral song tradition of the King Gesar epic. As the scholar Houston (1980) points out in Gesar: A Note on Current Scholarship [3]:
“Another characteristic common to the [Gesar] epic is the prefacing of the song with an imitation of its melody, where there are no actual words. Several instances are found in almost all of the above mentioned versions; A-la-la , A-la la-mo- A-la and Tha-la la-tha-la left. It is worth noting that these ancient oral formulas are modified in some versions into A-la la-mo, A-la red and Tha-la glu len lugs red.”
This is almost exactly the same line as the beginning of the 16th Karmapa’s song. The 16th Karmapa also refers to himself being a descendant from Tsazhang Denma, who was one of the chief ministers of Gesar of Ling.
Prediction of the Tibetans leaving Tibet for east India and Praise to Palpung and Tai Situpa
I have re-titled the song as well, because it is actually a prediction of the Tibetans ‘knowing’ to leave Tibet and go to India. The 16th Karmapa speaks of how both the ‘cuckoo’ and the ‘vulture’ know they have to go. It was written when the 16th Karmapa was 17 years old in 1941.
It is also a song of praise to Palpung Monastery and the 11th Tai Situpa, which the 16th Karmapa composed when 17 years old and lived in Tibet. Considering that the 12th Tai Situpa (who the 16th Karmapa recognised as the incarnation of his previous teacher [3]) was also the person that the 16th Karmapa gave his handwritten letter of prediction on his next incarnation, which led directly to the place and parents of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the poem is even more prophetic and bittersweet. This song indicates the 16th Karmapa’s longing that he never be separated from Tai Situpa, and makes the aspiration they ‘our faces meet again.’
For more on the letter, and its acceptance by ALL the three major Kagyu heart-sons, Tai Situpa, Jamgon Kongtrul 3rd and Gyaltsab Rinpoche, as well as the prediction by the 19th Century treasure-revealer, Chogyur Lingpa that the 17th Karmapa would be one mind with the Tai Situpa, see here.
For original research, translations and transcripts connected to the 16th Karmapa, see here.
A-LA-THA-LA SONG BY 16th KARMAPA: A Prediction and Song of Praise to Palpung Monastery and Tai Situ Rinpoche in the A-la tradition of the Gesar Epic Song
by H.H. the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924 – 1981)
གླུ་ཨ་ལ་ཐ་ལ་རེད༎
lu ala thala ré
ཨ་ལ་གླུ་ཡི་ལེན་ལུགས་རེད༎
ala lu yi len luk ré
ཐ་ལ་ཚིག་གི་བརྗོད་ལུགས་རེད༎
thala tsik gi jö luk ré
The song is Ala thala
Ala is the tradition of taking up the song
Thala is the tradition of expressing the words
གནས་གྱུ་ལོ་བཀོད་ལའི་ཞིང་ཁམས་ནས༎
né gyu lo kö lé zhing kham né
དུང་ལོ་འབར་བའི་ཁྲི་སྟེང་ན༎
dung lo barwé tri teng na
མ་རྗེ་བཙུན་སྒྲོལ་མ་ཚེ་ཡི་ལྷ༎
ma jé tsün dröl ma tsé yi lha
བདག་གསོལ་བ་སྙིང་གི་དཀྱིལ་ནས་འདེབས༎
dak sölwa nying gi kyil né dep
ཚེ་ལ་བར་ཆད་མེད་པར་ཤོག༎
tsé lawar ché mé par shok
In a pure land, rich with turquoise leaves,
On a blazing conch throne is
Mother Noble Tara, goddess of long-life,
I supplicate her from the heart mandala
May there be no obstacles to long life.
ས་འདི་ས་ངོ་མ་ཤེས་ན༎
sa di sa ngo ma shé na
ས་འདི་དཔལ་སྤུངས་སྒྲུབ་གླིང་རེད༎
sa di pelpung drub ling ré
མི་འདྲ་ང་ངོ་མ་ཤེས་ན༎
mi dra nga ngo ma shé na
འདན་ཤུག་ར་སྐྱིས་ཀྱི་ཡར་ནང་ནས༎
den shukra kyi kyi yar nang né
ཤུག་ར་སྐྱིད་ཀྱི་མར་ནང་ནས༎
shukra kyi kyi mar nang né
ཤུག་ར་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བར་མཚམས་ན༎
shukra nyi kyi bar tsam na
ཚ་ཞང་འདན་མའི་བུ་བརྒྱུད་ལ༎
tsha zhang den mé bu gyü la
མིང་འབོད་ན་ཐུབ་བསྟན་དགེ་ལེགས་ཟེར༎
ming bö na thubten gélek zer
This place, if you do not recognize it,
This place is the practice land of Palpung.
If you do not recognize a person like me,
From the upper valley of joyful Shukra
And from the lower valley of joyful Shukra;
In the boundary between the two Shukras
Is a child from the lineage of Tsha-zhang Denma
When called by name, he is Thubten Gelek [childhood name of 16th Karmapa].
སང་ཕར་ནང་ད་མིན་ད་ཚོད་ལ༎
sang par nang da min da tsö la
བྱ་རྒོད་པོ་ངེད་གཉིས་ག་འགྲོ་ཤེས༎
jagö po ngé nyi ga dro shé
བྱ་རྒོད་པོ་ནམ་མཁའཱི་དབྱིངས་ལ་ལྡིང༎
jagö po nam khai ying la ding
མི་ང་ཚོ་མི་སྡོས་རྒྱ་གར་འགྲོ༎
mi nga tso mi dö gya gar dro
In the far-off tomorrow, not now, it will be decided.
The vulture and I both know where to go.
The vulture soars into the sky’s expanse
Our people do not stay, but go to India.
བྱ་ཁུ་བྱུག་དཔྱིད་དུས་མགྲོན་གྱིས་བོས༎
jakhu juk chi dü drön gyi bö
སྟོན་རྩི་ཐོག་འཁྲུངས་དུས་གར་འགྲོ་ཤེས༎
tön tsi thok thrung dü gar dro shé
ཤར་རྒྱ་གར་མ་གཏོགས་འགྲོ་བསམ་མེད༎
shar gyagar ma tok dro sam mé
In the springtime, a cuckoo calls as a guest,
In autumn’s ripening harvest, it knows where to go:
Its only thought is travel to east India.
བོད་སྒངས་པའི་མི་སེར་མཆོག་དམན་དང༎
bö gangpé mi ser chok men dang
ཁྱད་པར་དུ་སྤྱི་བོའི་རིགས་བདག་མཆོག༎
khyépardu chiwö rik dak chok
རྗེ་བྱམས་མགོན་ཏ་ཡི་སི་ཏུ་ཁྱེད༎
jé jamgön tayi situ khyé
སྐུ་མཛད་ཕྲིན་ནམ་མཁའི་ཉི་ཟླ་ལྟར༎
ku dze trin nam khé nyi da tar
དུས་རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པར་བརྟན་པར་ཞུ༎
dü gyün ché mé par ten par zhu
ཞལ་ཡང་མཇལ་བའི་སྨོན་ལམ་འདེབས༎
zhel yang jelwé mön lam deb
The Tibetans in the lofty land, high and low,
Especially you, Tai Situ, the Lord and Protector Maitreya,
May your activities, like the sun and moon in space,
Remain continuous, without hindrance and stable.
and may our faces meet again.
ལྷ་རྩ་གསུམ་ཡི་དམ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་རྣམས༎
lha tsa sum yidam khandro nam
རྐྱེན་བར་ཆད་མེད་པའི་སྲུང་སྐྱོབས་མཛོད༎
kyen barché mé pai sung kyop dzö
དོན་འདིར་བཞུགས་ཐུགས་ལ་དེ་ལྟར་ཞོག༎
dön dir zhuk thuk la détar zhok
May the three roots–the lamas, yidams, and dakinis–
Protect us from negative conditions and obstacles.
May this meaning here be kept in your heart.
ཅེས་པ་འདི་རབ་བྱུང་བཅུ་དྲུག་པའཱི་ནང་ཚན་ལྕགས་འབྲུག་ལོར་དཔལ་ཀརྨ་པའི་སྐྱེས་རབ་འཛིན་པ་བཅུ་དྲུག་པ་རང་བྱུང་རིག་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེར་འབོད་པ་ནས་དགཡང་བྱ་བཅུ་བདུན་པར་དཔལ་སྤུངས་ཆོས་འཁོར་གླིང་དུ་སྦྱར་བའོ༎ བཀྲ་ཤིས༎
In the sixteenth rabjung’s [sixty year cycle’s] year of the iron dragon, the sixteenth incarnation of the Karmapas, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, composed this song when he was seventeen years old at Palpung Chökhor Ling. Auspiciousness!
Translated, edited and compiled with the original Tibetan by Adele Tomlin, 13th November 2024.
Endnotes
[1] Michele Martin has had a few translations published and also a book on the biography of the 17th Karmapa. Frankly, as is sadly rather typical of the people who the Karma Kagyu teachers and followers publicly and privately support, she is not a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, and so her translations/accuracy leave a lot to be desired in terms of accuracy and thoroughness. Although, it is admirable she has supported the Karma Kagyu (more specifically Thrangu Rinpoche) with her time and work, the fact that the Karma Kagyu teachers and followers at the same time ignore and even dismiss the work of qualified scholar-translators in terms of academic standards, makes it harder to fathom.
I love the Karma Kagyu very much, but when they support and promote unqualified (in terms of Buddhist practice and expertise) women for being ‘young and pretty’ (as they did for the three MCs at the 2018 Kagyu Monlam music pop concert), or publish and promote the work of people that is lacking accuracy, thoroughness, and even lineage/transmission, then something deeper is at work. As the 12th Tai Situpa himself has remarked, although it is great that the early English language translators helped to get some of these texts into the public domain, many of them need to be re-translated.
Martin was also said to have been the English language translator of the 14th Zhamarpa’s letter of June 17th 1992 indicating he accepted the 16th Karmapa’s letter as genuine, together with all the other Kagyu heart Rinpoches, and thus Ogyen Trinley Dorje (discovered in Tibet on the basis of the letter). However, the 14th Zhamarpa (and his followers) then retracted the statement claiming it had not been translated accurately, put forward another translation, and then went on to put forward their own candidate, Thaye Dorje who was never accepted by the vast majority of Karma Kagyu in Tibet or outside Tibet.
[2] 16th Karmapa , Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. “gLu a la tha la.” Karma pa sku phreng rim byon gyi gsung ʼbum phyogs bsgrigs, vol. 108, dPal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib ʼjug khang, 2013, pp. 604–05. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW3PD1288_A23032.
[3] G. W. Houston, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302261 The Tibet Journal, Vol. 5, No. 4 (Winter 1980), pp. 3-8
[4] “When His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa was in Beijing to discuss the affairs of historic Tibet, he had a vision of Mahakala concerning Kenting Tai Situpa’s rebirth. There, the Gyalwa Karmapa wrote the prediction letter for the discovery of His Holiness the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa Pema Donyo Nyinje Wangpo. The Gyalwa Karmapa accurately foretold the signs surrounding Kenting Tai Situpa’s birth and dwelling. Likewise, the 11th Kenting Tai Situpa Pema Wangchog described the circumstances of his next incarnation before passing away. A search party discovered the 12th Kenting Tai Situpa quickly.” See https://www.palpung.org/english/taisitupa/biography.asp
Beauty Bhadri,
It was the Late great Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso who most compassionately put me at ease when i was raising similar concerns. Granted i was but a newbie under the tutelage of the marpa institute, when a deep realization came over me with a conviction that “all the translations are wrong”. True but, He responded with kindness and firmly put me in my place noting my inexperience and lack of scholarly background.
As my great passion would not relent, Guruji set out to remind me how it had taken hundreds of years of Trials & tribulations to get the translation from India to Tibetan in a acceptable working form.
So as it is, Compassion and forbearance comes into play in understanding the infinitisimal consciousnesses at work in preparing the ground for A Bodhi Being to emerge and complete the authentic, integrated enlightened Form-ula la. La
with all respect to the illusion of our present technological age ..
Hail aha Lotsawa!
namgyal Dorje.
Beauty Bhadri,
It was the Late great Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso who most compassionately put me at ease when i was raising similar concerns. Granted i was but a newbie under the tutelage of the marpa institute, when a deep realization came over me with a conviction that “all the translations are wrong”. True but, He responded with kindness and firmly put me in my place noting my inexperience and lack of scholarly background.
As my great passion would not relent, Guruji set out to remind me how it had taken hundreds of years of Trials & tribulations to get the translation from India to Tibetan in a acceptable working form.
So as it is, Compassion and forbearance comes into play in understanding the infinitisimal consciousnesses at work in preparing the ground for A Bodhi Being to emerge and complete the authentic, integrated enlightened Form-ula la. La
with all respect to the illusion of our present technological age ..keep it coming
Hail Maha Lotsawa!
namgyal Dorje.