Mishigiin Tsedendorj (1932-1982)

You and I are sailing towards the sun
You and I are sleeping on a cloud
You and I are sailing towards the sun
You and I pass over rivers and streams
You and I pass over gazing horses and animals
You and I pass over vast steppes and noble mountains
You and I pass over a wide road stretching into distance
You and I pass over singing of love songs
You and I are carried on a cloud and sailing towards the sun

You and I are falling to Earth as rain
You and I make flowers with our juices
You and I are vaporizing, rising again into the sky



What’s Impossible in this World


What’s impossible in this world?
A little rabbit can beat a lion.
A sworn lover,
Bored by his betrothed,
Can switch his loving thoughts elsewhere.
Yes, yes, everything is possible.
What’s impossible in this world?

What’s not happening in this world?
People are living on the moon.
We’re worshipping morons.
My god’s becoming my enemy.
Yes, yes, it’s all happening.
What’s not happening in this world?

What’s not imaginable in this world?
Teachers are being betrayed.
Relatives are being killed.
They want to take the very air we breathe.
Where is the good will to fight this evil?
Yes, yes, they’re thinking all these things.
What’s not imaginable in this world?

But, having nourished my body into this wild world,
I would never hold my mother’s milk for poison.
And, having been lulled to sleep in its arms,
I would never believe the Mongolian language lacking.
I would never betray my language or my mother,
The very soul of my Motherland.


Translated and edited by Tsog Shagdarsuren and Simon Wickham-Smith

B. Rinchin (1905-1977)

The Moon


The mottled yellow moon, the old crone,
Slipped on her deel of perforated clouds and,
Leaning on her walking-stick of white rays,
Drove out her flock of her calves, the stars.
Her little cousin, meanwhile, the wind, whistled his way
Through her ragged deel of clouds.


In the Wilds in Autumn


Tiring the eyes, the wild steppe ripples,
Yellowish and soundless.
Grasshoppers, the world’s voice, keep silent.
In the sky above only the storks are calling.
From the withered, yellow sphere of the sky
Comes a lovely and intriguing scent.
From the foreheads of the stone men in the cemeteries,
The hoarfrost melts into pearls of sweat.


Translated and edited by Tsog Shagdarsuren and Simon Wickham- Smith

Dulduit Danzanravjaa (1803-1856)

YOUR PERFECT QUALITIES

Your perfect qualities,
Are like colors reflected in a mirror.
I see your shining face, my dear,
And truly you have captured
My entire mind and body.
Like the cuckoo’s song,
You relieve the stress in my mind.
Your kind words are gentle, my dear,
With such kindness you sit
And offer comfort.
Your elegant body ,
Borne upon the breeze,
Is beyond words, my dear.
Like the scent of red sandalwood,
You more and more entrance my thoughts.
Like the taste of honey
Flowing from the heart of the lotus,
Joy in you, my dear,
Makes me ever happier,
Happier beyond belief.
In this human age,
To do what you wish
Is to wish for the things of heaven.
Afloat upon the ocean of deep enjoyment,
Let us be joyful together.

SHAME, SHAME

And oh, the old get older without collecting merit - what a shame!
And oh, the young get dressed up without straightening their minds - what a shame!
And oh, the wise don’t put their Dharma minds together - what a shame!
And oh, the princes are showy when they serve - what a shame!
And oh, the girls support their men, but not their father - what a shame!
And oh, the ministers quarrel together over the state - what a shame!
And oh, the pandits learn various things, but not the Dharma - what a shame!
And oh, the yogis scream phat! when they’re meditating - what a shame!
And oh, the sangha study in the monastery by day and wander round the camp at night
- what a shame!
And oh, the students pray openly and stuff themselves in secret - what a shame!
And oh, the doctors consider cost and not a helpful attitude - what a shame!
And oh, the cautious expose the faults of others, and don’t look at their own faults -
what a shame!
And oh, the girls’ eyes watch his face, but their minds are on the way his ass moves -
what a shame!
And oh, the scholars teach others by day and slack off at night - what a shame!
And oh, the men come visiting, lambasting their wives - what a shame!
And oh, their wives make friends with others, without addressing what their husbands
say - what a shame!
And oh, if I have these faults myself, then I am first amongst equals - what a shame!
And oh, which of the others, old or young, does not? What a shame! What a shame!
Please don’t stop. Oh, you poor things!

GENTLY

With gentle, gentle steps
My creamwhite horse with black eyes
Stays well away from
The mass of geldings.
That one, my bright one,
Just standing amidst the crowd,
Just standing there, alert,
Its temperament so lovely.
The nightingale on the glacial lake
Sings in vain its strange songs.
Why did the child of the man
Love in vain and too much?
What is this thing called love?
It’s a lovely, ancient benediction.
Let us take the short cut by the southern slope
And reach the distant land.
It’s a pleasure to go meet
The one you desire -
You’ll need the riches of Dharma.
Let's enter Abhidharma and enjoy eternity.

OF VARIOUS THINGS

Namo guru Padmasambhavaya!
Despite my laziness,
This is what I’ve written today
In my drunkenness -
My song, made up of various things.
For sure, if you think to understand your mind,
They say Mahakala’s kindness is not far, it’s really quite close.
Once the struggle’s over,
A light arises, shining from within.
Oh, my poor one!
You find this human body, in a single lifetime -
You use it pointlessly.
Thinking of Mahakala, whose blessing is profound,
You walk through the world of creatures on an even keel.
Zee ayakhai!
You have no need of pleasure, my holy lama Mahakala.
And, if we place a true prayer at the center of our heart,
Please grant pleasure, with equanimity,
To the creatures of the Gobi - and specially to me.
All these things I offer in sacrifice.
Zee zui zee kho zee.
May you look with love upon the kindness of all beings.
When in my life may I trust you from the center of my heart?
The protection of all beings is in your power,
May it seep out through the narrow defiles of the world.
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
I think of my kind mother, even though I’m old;
Compassionate like my father, I make firm friends.
Tired of the dangers of the hidden world,
When in my life shall I think of my protecting lama?
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
The isolated mind is hard like a demon.
Our life in the world is like a night-time dream.
When I speak with care about the Triple Jewel,
May my mind grasp the oath with purity.
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
What is this disreputable drunk
Saying to you as he makes his escape?
I speak with pure commitment,
Please listen closely to these various things.
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
I go back to my ger and my cattle,
But I’m in two minds.
The way through the slanderous world doesn’t matter, does it?
We’ll meet in the mandala, where everyone is camped.
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
You won’t find anyone who’ll not end up dead.
In this life, as we move away from what’s disruptive,
May we find the path of the liberated Aryas.
My glorious lama, please give your advice.
Zee zui zee khoo zee.
Oh, oh, this is all a game.
The gifts are good and good fortune is tranquil.
Complete happiness, a wonderful experience!

DUALITY

Wisdom and ignorance is duality, and
Hitting the mark and getting it wrong is duality.
Disturbed and attentive is duality, and
Goodness and badness is duality.
Virtue and sin is duality, and
Help and hindrance is duality.
White and black is duality, and
Receiving and rejecting is duality.
Samsara and Nirvana is duality, and
Bad and good is duality.
The state and the clergy is duality, and
This life and the next is duality.
Heaven and earth is duality, and
Tall and short is duality.
Self and other is duality, and
Inside and outside is duality.
Winter and summer is duality, and
Cold and heat is duality.
Sun and moon is duality, and
Fire and water is duality.
Birth and death is duality, and
Combining and breaking is duality.
It is and it is not is duality, and
Easy and difficult is duality.
Father and mother is duality, and
Wisdom and skilful means is duality.
Buddhas and demons is duality, and
Superior and inferior is duality.
Happiness and suffering is duality, and
Desires and frustrations is duality.
Body and mind is duality, and
Healthy and sickly is duality.
Before and after is duality, and
What has come and what is coming is duality.
Firm and fragile is duality, and
Slow and fast is duality.
Circular and triangular is duality, and
Defective and faultless is duality.
To come together and to depart is duality, and
To be seen and to disappear is duality.
Happiness and fear is duality, and
Explicit and hidden is duality.
Faith and doubt is duality, and
Trust and support is duality.
Wisdom and error is duality, and
What is and what is not is duality.
Alchemy and dream is duality, and
Created and uncreated is duality.
Word and fact is duality, and
Sign and thought is duality.
Drunk on the one taste of pairness
In the sky of nonduality,
My friends, may we accomplish
Our prayer of disappearance.


Gobi Noyon Khutugtu Danzanravjaa was a religious philosopher, educator, talented painter, composer, drama writer and poet. He wrote more than 1500 works both in Tibetan and Mongolian.

Translated by Simon Wickham Smith

G. Zanabazar (1635-1723)

A PRAYER FOR PEACE
G. Zanabazar (1635-1723)

To the root and lineage lamas who bestow the highest blessings,
To the yidam and the peaceful and wrathful gods, who fall in a rain of siddhi,
And to the dakini and Dharma protectors who eliminate all obstacles,
I prostrate with great respect of body, speech and mind.

I make an offering of concrete things and those created in the mind,
Spreading out through space, as far as it endures.
I admit my faults and errors, built up throughout eternity, and
I rejoice at goodness done by Holy Ones.

I pray you turn the wheel of profound Dharma,
To remain firm until samsara ends.
I pray that, in this ocean of suffering, all the virtue be increased,
Of the Buddhas and their descendents in the three times.

To purify our darkness and our ignorance, and
To spread the light of wise omniscience,
Protect us in these sinful times with your compassion,
We who have met with great wickedness and ignorance.

By pacifying the great fire of suffering,
In which the seeds of evil ripen,
May our minds be loving and, without anger for each other,
May our happiness spread.

Save us, save us, undeceiving Lord!
Watch us, watch us, you boundless source of love!
Do not forget, do not forget, you ancient Dharmapalas!
Think of us, think of us, and quickly save us.

May the sunlight of the Buddha’s teachings spread throughout the ten directions,
May the glorious happiness of all last eternally, and
May we quickly reach that omniscient state,
Where all defilements are purified.

Through the blessing of the lama and the triple jewel and
The undeceiving power of the changeless Dharmadhatu,
Through the activity of the Dharmapalas
May we attain the endless height of Sumeru.

Through the blessing of the lama protectors,
May all present and transcendent troubles be pacified.
May we enjoy the self-arising, universal glory
Of samsara and nirvana.
Sarva mangalam

The First Bogdo Zanabazar, son of Tusheet Khan Gombojavof the Chinggis lineag, was the head of Mongolian Buddism, a uiniquely talented sculptor, educator. His Janlav Tsogzol is a unique and magic poem.
Translated by Simon Wickham-Smith