The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa: Volume One (64 page)

Or that of Sarasvati.

This poem is the discovery

Of love in courage and freedom

Glory be to the subject—

Poetry.

Newcastle General Hospital

Spring 1969

The Perfect Love Poem

There is a beautiful snow-peaked mountain

With peaceful clouds wrapped round her shoulders.

The surrounding air is filled with love and peace.

What is going to be is what is,

That is love.

There is no fear of leaping into the immeasurable space of love.

Fall in love?

Or, are you in love?

Such questions cannot be answered,

Because in this peace of an all-pervading presence,

No one is in and no one is falling in.

No one is possessed by another.

I see a beautiful playground

Which some may call heaven,

Others may regard it as a trap of hell.

But, I, Chögyam, don’t care.

In the playground beautiful dakinis are holding hand drums, flutes, and bells.

Some of them, who are dancing, hold naked flames, water, a nightingale,

Or the whole globe of earth with the galaxies around it.

These dakinis may perform their dance of death or birth or sickness,

I am still completely intoxicated, in love.

And with this love, I watch them circle.

This performance is all-pervading and universal,

So the sonorous sound of mantra is heard

As a beautiful song from the dakinis.

Among them, there is one dakini with a single eye,

And turquoise hair blown gently by the wind.

She sends a song of love and the song goes like this:

H
UM HUM HUM

If there is no joy of mahamudra in the form,

If there is no joy of mahamudra in the speech,

If there is no joy of mahamudra in the mind,

How would you understand

That we dakinis are the mother, sister, maid, and wife.

And she shouts with such penetrating voice, saying

Come, come, come

H
UM HUM HUM

Join the
EH
and
VAM
circle.

Then I knew I must surrender to the dance

And join the circle of dakinis.

Like the confluence of two rivers,

E
H
the feminine and
VAM
the male,

Meeting in the circle of the dance.

Unexpectedly, as I opened myself to love, I was accepted.

So there is no questioning, no hesitation,

I am completely immersed in the all-powerful, the joyous dakini mandala.

And here I found unwavering conviction that love is universal.

Five chakras of one’s body filled with love,

Love without question, love without possessions.

This loving is the pattern of mahamudra, universal love.

So I dance with the eighty siddhas and two thousand aspects of dakinis,

And I will dance bearing the burden of the cross.

No one has forsaken me.

It is such a joyous love dance, my partner and I united.

So the clear, peaceful mountain air,

Gently blows the clouds,

A beautiful silk scarf wrapped round.

The Himalayas with their high snow peaks are dancing,

Joining my rhythm in the dance,

Joining with the stillness, the most dignified movement of them all.

August 6, 1969

Past and present
.

If you are a king of an empty field

There is no need for a queen.

If you are a madman in desolate mountains

There is no need for a city.

When I met you yesterday

You wore red clothes

When I talked to you today,

You would be better unmasked.

I was born naked.

My beloved parents

Kindly gave me a name.

When I reached twenty

I thought “a name is a chain,

I want to abandon it.”

Whoever I question

No one answers me.

When I hear the wind in the pines

I get an answer.

August 9, 1969

Early Outward

Get up today!

The sun is shining brightly.

Listen—you are the essence of my heart;

the goodness of life.

I invite you—Get up today.

Today’s gone very quickly—

tomorrow will come.

Please do not give up your hope

that we will have time to taste

happiness and

sorrow.

If you are the moon in heaven

show me your face as full moon.

If this is the season of summer

show me the rhododendron flowers.

On the mirror of the mind

many reflections could have occurred.

However, the face of the beloved one

cannot be changed.

If the heart has any pattern,

there can be no change.

Will the sun rise tomorrow?

—It is useless to ask such silly questions.

Whether the sun arises or not,

I don’t make any distinctions.

My care is only for you—

that in your heart the genuine sun should rise.

If she is my dearly beloved one

she should be called “One who has stolen my heart.”

The dance of apparent phenomena—mirage.

Is this performed by you?

When I meditate in the cave

rock becomes transparent.

When I met the right consort

my thought became transparent:

Dearly beloved,

to whom my karma is linked,

I could not find anyone but you.

The wind of karma is a force

beyond my control.

This good aspiration and karma

is impossible to change.

Turbulence, waterfall of Kong Me—

no one can prevent it.

When my mind recalls the dearly beloved

there is no shyness or fear;

majestic dakini as you are—

this must be my good karma.

1969

I have no hope or expectation

yet a wish has been fulfilled,

just like snowflakes in winter

form into eight-petaled flowers.

You are the Queen.

You produce

Famine, war, disease

And also happiness.

I salute you.

The Queen must be subdued

As she has been in the past.

I see you peering through the clouds

With your single eye.

You pretend to hide your name

But I know your name is

Ekajati.

Come, accept my feast offering.

Take part in the dance along with the other dakinis.

Whether you manifest yourself

As harmful demon

Or protectress

You have but one form all the time.

Why, why do you have to show such reaction?

I know because you are a red bitch

Who clings to one thing.

Do you remember the message of Padmasambhava?

At that very moment he put his vajra on your head,

He plunged you in the boiling lake

And showed your true form,

A naked skeleton.

I am the descendant of Padmakara

As you very well know.

Time has very little to do with it.

Don’t please confuse in the wire wool,

Don’t please confuse in this passionate flame.

Remember your vow.

In the end,

You and I become one,

Yet that is no threat for your existence.

Come, come Ekajati.

Bow to me,

Bow to my wisdom.

November 2, 1969

You disguise in the darkness

You disguise in the brilliance of sunlight.

Your single eye appears

As the sun’s eclipse.

You bring along with you

All your retinue;

The harmful demons

The seductive girl.

Some ride on reindeers

Holding their vajra scepters

Heart and corpse.

Some ride on garudas.

Some ride on swans

Making a rain of flowers.

You carry sacks of poison

That could destroy the whole universe