Celebrating my late teacher CHOGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU's Birthday on the 8th December...
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH A VIDEO & JOIN ME WALKING AROUND THE GREAT STUPA AT MERIGAR WITHIN WHICH CHOGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU’S REMAINS ARE AT REST & READ A POEM I WROTE IN HOMAGE TO HIM IN PARIS IN 1980...
The Dzogchen Master CHOGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU and myself at a retreat in Attica, New York, where I was translating for him…
Click on the image above to watch the video & join me as I pay homage to Chogyal Namkhai Norbu by walking in silence around the Great Stupa. - within which his mortal remains lie at rest - at Merigar, the seat of the Dzogchen Community on Monte Amiata in Tuscany, Italy…
An excerpt from my long-form poem sequence -
‘FISH JUMP IN PARIS’
Below you will find part of a long-form poem that I wrote for Chogyal Namkhai Norbu in response to the teachings I received from him at retreat that I attended in Paris, France, in 1980, two years after I first met him in London.
The Three Series of the Dzogchen Teachings
There are three series of the Dzogchen teachings: The Semde, the Longde, and the Menagde, or Upadesa series.
The Semde Series
At the retreat where I wrote ‘FISH JUMP IN PARIS’, Norbu Rinpoche taught from the Semde Series of the Dzogchen teachings, the Series of Mind, as he did at most of his retreats for a few years at the time, and at those Semde retreats, Rinpoche used the analogy of the mind in meditation becoming like a clear lake and the thoughts arising in the mind being like fish jumping from the clear water of the lake.
It is in reference to that analogy that I gave the title ‘FISH JUMP IN PARIS’ to the series of poems I wrote in which I wrote down the thoughts that were arising in my mind during the days of that retreat in the city of Paris.
A NOTE ON THE MEANING OF NORBU RINPOCHE’S PERSONAL NAME:
When translated into English, ‘Namkhai Norbu’ means ‘Jewel of Space’, or ‘Jewel of the Heavens’. I prefer the former version, and that is what I used in the poem below.
‘Norbu’ is Rinpoche’s first name, while ‘Namkhai’ is his family name,
In the early days of his teaching, when the number of his students was still very small and the ethos of his relationship with this small group of students was completely informal, Norbu Rinpoche insisted that his students should use his first name, ‘Norbu’, when we addressed or referred to him, and that is why I address him that way in this poem.
Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, at that time, did not even want us to use the Tibetan term ‘Rinpoche’ when addressing him, which is the respectful form of address customarily made use of when speaking to - or about - all Lamas who are considered to be highly realised reincarnations of previous Masters, and which means ‘precious one’.
Please also note that in ‘Dzogchen’ - a name which has been translated as ‘Total Completion’, or ‘Total Perfection’, ‘The Great Perfection’, or ‘The Self-Perfected State’ - students are encouraged to see their Dzogchen Master - whom they consider to be an embodiment of the Teachings - as ‘Perfect’, and this explains the way in which I address Rinpoche at the start of the poem.
I was still a relatively new student of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu in 1980 when I wrote the long-form poem sequence ‘FISH JUMP IN PARIS’, two years after first meeting him, and the poem reflects how deeply I felt connected to him and how strongly I wished to deepen my understanding of his teachings.
I hope to publish the full text of the poem in future, but this excerpt from the poem is the first time any part of ‘FISH JUMP IN PARIS’ has been published, and I am including here today in honour of Norbu Rinpoche’s birthday and in gratitude to him for his great kindness and his sublime generosity to me - and to so many others - during his lifetime.
( Audio of JS reading the poem wil be added later )
- an excerpt from the long-form poem sequence -
“FISH JUMP IN PARIS”
John Shane
Fish jump in Paris -
they leap from
calm lake
leaping from
calm state
they come into
vision
of
mind
mind into time
water into wine
- no separation
- no limitation
Perfect Master
- Jewel of Space -
please come here quickly
to this place..!!
Perfect Master
- Jewel of Space -
grant me the blessing
of seeing your face..!!
Help me to know
the essential nature
of my own mind
as brilliant, empty
luminous
- all-radiating -
space..!!
Homage and Invocation
to the calm state
to the meditative mind
that’s like a calm, still lake…!!
Homage to the thoughts
that arise naturally
in the mind
- just like
a lake’s waves
- or like
a mirror’s reflections..!!
Homage to the whirlpool
of causal connections..!!
Homage to the crystal cortex
Homage to the void at the vortex..!!
This is the thunderbolt chant
of No-Distraction
- the song of no-deception
of the truth
beyond conceptions
Norbu -
- I beat the drum
of my heart
in response
to your teachings..!!
Norbu -
hear me..!!
I fill the cup of my skull
with your words
and drink it down
May their meaning nourish me
may I go beyond duality
and follow the way
that is neither within
nor without
that you have shown me..!!
Norbu -
- my obstacles seem many
my good points few -
I see both my truths
and imperfections
clearly mirrored by you
You do not judge
you do not condemn
Like the crystal
in your Teachings
you reflect all things
equally to all men
Norbu -
- now I call you
with this, my song..!!
Norbu -
- you who have gone
beyond both right and wrong
Norbu -
- hear me
hear my song..!!-
I am wandering in confusion
I am trapped in my illusion
passions rage, fear and doubt
In my darkness, I cry out
Norbu -
- hear me
hear my shout..!!
Flesh and blood
and skin and bone,
this body, and all I own
- this I offer
- this I give
that I may realise
the Teachings
and in me, they may live..!!
Earth, Water, Fire, and Air
nails and teeth and
skin and hair
- these I offer, without a care..!!
Perfect Master
- Jewel of Space -
please come here quickly
to this place..!!
Perfect Master
- Jewel of Space -
grant me the blessing
of seeing your face..!!
Help me to know
the essential nature
of my own mind
as brilliant, empty
luminous
- all-radiating -
space..!!
May publishing here this part of my poor poem prove to be useful to others..!!
May it be auspicious..!!
A poem full of life and positivity !
Loved the guru devotion mahamudra poetic; thanks!
robert thibodeau of mayflower