Reflections on Ground Mahamudra – Jamgon Kongtrul – Vajra Song

Since no essence exists anywhere,

Its expression is completely unobstructed and manifests everything.

Pervading all of samsara and nirvana like space,

It is the ground of all confusion and liberation,

With its self-luminous consciousness

And its alaya-vijnana.

As for the cognitive aspect of this neutral state,

Its essence is empty and its nature is luminous.

These two are inseperable and are the quintessence of insight.

It is space, ungraspable as a thing.

It is a spotless precious clear crystal.

It is the glow of the lamp of self-luminous mind.

It is inexpressible, the experience of a mute.

It is unobscured, transparent wisdom,

The luminous dharmakaya, sugatagarbha,

Primordially pure and spontaneous.

It cannot be shown through analogy by anyone,

And it cannot be expressed in words.

It is the dharmadhatu, which overwhelms mind’s inspection.

From the Vajra Song of the First Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche
The First Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche - Lodro Thaye
The First Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche – Lodro Thaye

Will I ever tire of reading these types of songs, and allowing them to speak deeply to my being?

Each time I come across another song by a realised master, trying to express the inexpressible, another ray of light illuminates my heart, and opens my mind, just a little.

A glimpse … an opening … a sudden loosening of concepts, and the arising of openness and let-go-ness – expansive luminous openness:

It is the dharmadhatu, which overwhelms mind’s inspection.

These words go deep into the heart, and cut like a knife through my ‘must-know’ mind, allowing a spaciousness of mind to arise, and devotion to fill the heart. How blessed indeed we are, us of fortunate karma, to meet with these excellent teachings, so ever-potent across illusory time and space!

How ‘ever-present’ the gurus, their words endlessly echoing, always there, always being, always resonating. Never not having been, always there. The illusion of arising, seemingly just heard, yet always known, always close, always waiting to be revealed, the thin veil effortlessly lifted.

May these moments of illumination fill all beings mindstreams, and remain endlessly present, until even the word ‘samsara’ is no more heard!

1 thought on “Reflections on Ground Mahamudra – Jamgon Kongtrul – Vajra Song”

  1. Hi Al, not conscious has in ‘deliberate’ or planned.

    Just expressing what I feel, I guess.

    I was studying ‘Precious Human Life’ chapter of Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation recently, so guess I’m accutely aware of how rare and precious this opportunity is to practice Dharma …..

    and feeling a lot of pain looking at the world, and seeing suffering everywhere ….

    hope all is well with you my friend 🙂

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