The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume Five Read Free Page B

trials on the path to realization. Marpa was the chief disciple of the Indian guru Naropa, whose search for enlightenment is the subject of Illusion’s Game. Marpa was born and lived in southeastern Tibet. He made three journeys to India, filled with obstacles and difficult tests of his understanding and devotion. In India, Marpa obtained the teachings that form the core of the Kagyü tradition, and he translated many of these Indian teachings into the Tibetan language. Marpa’s lifestyle has some parallels to those of modern students, in that he was a married householder with a number of children. He owned and operated a farm and outwardly led a rather ordinary and quite secular life. Superficially, at least, it may be easier to connect with Marpa’s approach than with the more austere lifestyles of some of the other lineage holders. Nevertheless, his understanding of and dedication to the dharma were anything but ordinary.
    In his preface and colophon to The Life of Marpa, Trungpa Rinpoche pays homage to Marpa as the founder of the Kagyü lineage in Tibet. Rinpoche also talks about the process of translating this book and the kinship that he feels with Marpa as one translator to another. Indeed, the translation process that Chögyam Trungpa organized and which continues to this day, more than fifteen years after his death, has proven very successful in furthering the translation of many Tibetan texts into English. The Nālandā Translation Committee, the group of Rinpoche’s students who collaborated with him on the translation of The Life of Marpa the Translator , as well as on The Rain of Wisdom, is to be congratulated for its excellent work on these and many other projects.
    The Nālandā Translation Committee’s first major project for general publication was The Rain of Wisdom , a translation of the Kagyü Gurtso , songs of the forefathers and lineage holders of the Karma Kagyü lineage. Chögyam Trungpa very much wanted to bring these wonderful songs of devotion and spiritual liberation into the English language. First compiled and edited in the sixteenth century by the eighth Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, the Kagyü Gurtso (literally “The Ocean of Songs of the Kagyü”) was intended to be “the liturgy for a chanting service that would invoke the blessings of the entire Karma Kagyü lineage. With the same aim in mind, successive editions of the Kagyü Gurtso have added songs by holders of the Karma Kagyü lineage born after the time of Mikyö Dorje.” 6 (In keeping with tradition, the English edition of The Rain of Wisdom includes songs by a current lineage holder, Chögyam Trungpa himself.)
    In the foreword, Rinpoche talks about how he read the kagyü Gurtso as a child and how it made him weep with longing and devotion. This magnificent collection of poetry, with many accompanying stories, still has the power to evoke joy and sadness and the inspiration to practice the heart teachings of the buddhadharma. Trungpa Rinpoche advises readers of this book to “reflect on the value and wisdom which exist in these songs of the lineage in the following ways. First there are the life examples of our forefathers to inspire our devotion. There are songs which help us understand the cause and effect of karma and so illuminate the path to liberation. There are songs which give instruction in relative bodhichitta, so that we can realize the immediacy of our connection to the dharma. Some are songs of mahamudra and transmit how we can actually join together bliss and emptiness through the profound methods of coemergence, melting, and bliss. Other songs show the realization of Buddha in the palm of our hand. . . . Reading these songs or even glancing at a paragraph of this literature always brings timely messages of how to conduct oneself, how to discipline oneself” (Foreword).
    Once again, the stories and wisdom of past teachers are not just of historical interest but are presented to inspire our own journey on the path. The