THE VICTORIA MEMORIALIn the garden of lusts craving burgeons,
The darkness of sin lies thick on the crumbling field:
The flames of the age of darkness flare in the place of terror
And Chögyam only is left.
Drops of blood cover the bamboo leaf
And a terrible wind from the graveyard scatters the name of the dead.
The accents of the land echo even in heaven;
Now my world is only a name.
The wind howls in the dark wood
And the wheeling birds have nowhere to settle;
whom can I tell,
when the beautiful pine tree
Cracks with her cones and comes splintering down.
Death leers up from under the earth;
Remembering the love of the only beloved
I fall to the ground,
and my cries fill every direction.
And O, the white child,
and his mother With her bracelets of turquoise,
Appears in a moment,
and "welcome, we come" cries.
(Ask still the same question concerning the stain on the mirror.)
Here in this alien place the orphan stands naked,
Preparing to find and to found a new fatherland,
Licking the honey that flows from the glistening hives.
So fair, and yet not the moon,
So bright, and yet not the sun,
More perfectly set than the stars in the heaven,
I saw in her beauty the whole of the universe,
And you I took as a friend,
with love.
If it is the moon in the sky
quite enough to show your smiling gesture.
If it is the moon in your mind...
HOW then to show your smiling gesture?
I have no pride in being a unicorn...
if you consider this carefully you might be able to relax your struggle.
Even if he is the prince of a kingdom, trust him and ask him some questions.
Since he is a human being,
You'll be able to get some answers.
If one recollects suffering of arrow piercing into the heart
one should remember the beloved one
and compare the feelings.
If you have a sharp sword
learn to cut
Off the life
Of your enemy
If you have doubt in your mind...
who's going to cut that uncertainty?
Whatever comes out of the mind, regard not that as poetry.
When the true poetry comes, no such question exists.
Yesterday I returned from the battlefield
Since then I'm able to rest
Please do not hope
that today I'll be able to defeat more enemies.
The moon rises,
the sun has set
planets rotate in their orbit
Yet the heavens will not change
This we discover in each other.
Do not hope for too much—
results might bring painful disappointment
If you remain without any doubts...
That is the wish-fulfilling gem.
I have no name...
... but others call me "the nameless one."
How can one escape imprisonment,
and burst the chains of concept?
- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
