Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche - The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

A more succinct and beautiful expression of the Buddhist path, or a more haunting exhortation to practice, youre not likely to find. Keep this slim volume nearby and read it often.

Shambhala Sun

A soul-stretching collection of essential teachings on what matters most in this tradition.... For centuries the Tibetans have explored a path of wisdom that illuminates every corner of life. The material in this volume opens doors to that spiritual perspective on everyday life.

Spirituality & Health

An extraordinary treasure: a moving and deeply transforming teaching by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the greatest masters of our time.

Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Were we to take these verses to heart, our relationships would be transformed, our minds would be at ease, and we would no longer be afraid of death; our lives would be seamlessly devoted to our own freedom and to the well-being of others.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Faith

These sublime teachings of the great twelfth-century Indian master Padampa, educated by Khyentse Rinpoche, are among the greatest Eastern treasures ever to appear in the West.

Tulku Thondup, author of The Healing Power of Mind

In this simple, elegant book, in the eloquent speech of everyday life, the veils of illusion are torn away, revealing pain and pleasure, life and death, as unceasing displays of wisdom and continual opportunities for our own liberation.

Reginald A. Ray, author of Indestructible Truth

ABOUT THE BOOK

This commentary on Padampa Sangyes classic verses of advice to Tibetan villagers of Tingriby renowned and beloved meditation master Dilgo Khyentseoffers guidance for people trying to lead a dharmic life in the workaday world. These hundred verses, studied for centuries by Tibetans and students of Buddhism, contain a complete survey of the Tibetan Buddhist path. Dilgo Khyentses lively explication of each stanza brings to light subtleties and amplifies the richness of the words and their pertinence to our lives. These two venerable teachers advise us in relating to everyday difficulties such as loneliness, craving, family squabbles, competition in business, disagreements with neighbors, and betrayal by friendsas challenging to us as they have been to meditators for centuries.

DILGO KHYENTSE RINPOCHE (19101991) was a highly accomplished meditation master, scholar, and poet, and a principal holder of the Nyingma lineage. His extraordinary depth of realization enabled him to be, for all who met him, a foundation of loving-kindness, wisdom, and compassion. A dedicated exponent of the nonsectarian Rime movement, Khyentse Rinpoche was respected by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and taught many eminent teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He tirelessly worked to uphold the Dharma through the publication of texts, the building of monasteries and stupas, and by offering instruction to thousands of people throughout the world. His writings in Tibetan fill twenty-five volumes.

PADAMPA SANGYE was an eleventh-century Indian yogi and spiritual master (known also as Kamalashila) who traveled widely throughout his life and brought Indian Buddhist teachings to China and Tibet.

THE PADMAKARA TRANSLATION GROUP, based in France, has a distinguished reputation for all its translations of Tibetan texts and teachings. Its work has been published in several languages and is renowned for its clear and accurate literary style.

Sign up to learn more about our books and receive special offers from Shambhala Publications.

Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The HUNDRED VERSES of ADVICE

Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

DILGO KHYENTSE

PADAMPA SANGYE

Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group

S HAMBHALA

Boston & London 2012

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

2002 by Shechen Publications

Cover photo of Dilgo Khyentse Matthieu Ricard;

Herders on Tingri Plain 1998 Tom Joyce

Photographs by Matthieu Ricard. Used with permission.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The Library of Congress catalogues the previous edition of this book as follows:

Rab-gsal-zla-ba, Dis-mgo Mkhyen-brtse, 1910

The hundred verses of advice: Tibetan buddhist teachings on what matters most / Dilgo Khyentse, Padampa Sangye; translated by the Padmakara Translation Group.1st Shambhala ed.

p. cm.

Based on: Padampa Sangyes renowned and inspiring poem was explained in 1987 by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche at Shechen Monastery in Nepal. Initially, Khyentse Rinpoche was reading Padampa Sangyes verses from the Tingri edition of the root text. Later, he sent for and switched to the Gdams ngag mdzod edition, which he considered to be more reliable. These two editions are: 1. Rje btsun dam pa sangs rgyas kyis ding ri par zhal chems su stsal pa ding ri brgya rtsa ma, in one hundred verses: xylographic print in twelve folios from Tingri Langkhor, in western Tibet. 2. Rgya gar gyi grub thob chen po dam pa rgya gar ram dam pa sangs rgyas zhes pai gsung mgur zhal gdams ding ri brgyad cu pa, in eighty verses, pp. 3136, vol. 13 of the Gdams ngag mdzod, collected and edited by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (published by Lama Ngodrup and Sherap Drimey, Paro, 1979, reprinted by Shechen Publications, Delhi, 2000). Includes bibliographical references.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2434-8

ISBN 978-1-59030-154-8 (hardcover: alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-59030-341-2 (paperback)

1. Dam-pa-sas-rgyas, d. 1117? Zal gdams Di-ri bryga rtsa ma. 2. Mahayana BuddhismDoctrines. 3. Spiritual lifeBuddhismDoctrines. I. Dam-pa-sas-rgyas, d. 1117? Zal gdams Di-ri bryga rtsa ma. II. Title.

BQ7400.D353R25 2005

294.342042dc22

2004016054

CONTENTS

Trulshik Rinpoche

BY T RULSHIK R INPOCHE

OM SVASTI

Lion of the Word, who in the Holy Land and other places

Assumed a human form and lived, for as long

As six hundred years, his wondrous life of liberation

To him, Sublime One, Long Life Vidyadhara, I respectfully bow down.

To the people of Tingri in Tibet, the very words he spoke,

The Hundred Verses, profoundest of profound,

Exquisitely adorning speech heard everywhere, and everywhere renowned,

Are in this excellent book well clarified and truly well explained

By he who was the intentional reincarnate display

Of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, second Buddha of Tibet;

To him, Omniscient Unchanging Holder of the Supreme Vehicle Teachings

Whose adamantine tongue pronounced these words, I pay my heartfelt homage.

By way of an introduction to this book, following these opening verses, I would like to say a few words about the master known in the Holy Land of India as Acharya Kamalashila, and in Tibet as Padampa Sangye.