Song of Pa Mu

The following is a humble attempt to put to verse, the essence of Dorje Pa Mu’s book, Dharma That Every Buddha Must Follow, that I composed as an offering to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and Female Dharma King Dorje Pa Mu. Since we have been studying this book at our Saturday ZOOM sessions, I thought I would share it as it does attempt to summarize what I learned from studying this great work.

Song of Pa Mu.

O Dharma King and Pa Mu,
Teachers of the Dharma true.
Kindness and generosity,
Given with humility.

We bow to you with hearts of praise
And vow to end our evil ways.
These are words we’ve waited for
To guide us to the Other Shore.

Obtaining liberation
Means having cultivation.
One must have a pure heart,
Before one can begin to start.

One must know where one is wrong
And repent with verse and song.
This requires a true Master
To guide and empower.

How does one know who is true?
One checks what the Masters do.
They must very skillful be 
In art, song, and other three.

Science of logic, and the heart,
And the healing arts to start.
They must keep the precepts true
Being Buddha in all they do.

Exoteric and secret
Dharmas they must not forget.
Nectar from the realms above,
They can call and give with love.

True Masters are hard to find,
Rare jewels in space and time.
Cherished and loved by disciples true,
Fortunate ones who carry through.

One can-not use one’s Master
As a Dharma Treasure.
One cannot continue to
Break the precepts and the rule.

One cannot think all is well,
When they are on the way to hell.
Reciting sutras without belief
Will not alleviate one’s grief.

One must have great compassion
When helping mother and son.
Donating when miserly
Is a superficiality.

One must all the precepts keep
To practice Vajrayana deep.
Whether monk or nun or lay,
One must all the rules obey.

One cannot just study.
One must practice daily.
To practice the Dharma so,
One must the essentials know.

One cannot teach others what,
When one does not do as one ought.
One cannot instruct someone,
When one’s talk and walk aren’t one.

To those achieving levels high,
Defilements and the truth comply.
Living in the world is not
Different from the goal sought

Of a spiritual path to walk,
Where one’s actions, thoughts, and talk
Of one’s three karmas must be,
Like the Master’s, pure and free.

The extremes of nihilism
Its opposite eternalism
Are not what the Buddha taught.
Following them leads to naught.

Nothingness and somethingness
Are but forms of emptiness.
True emptiness is the same
As existence by another name.

This is what it means to say,
“Following the Middle Way.”
There is no distinction,
Between holy and mundane.

Prajna must be understood,
By meditating and the word.
In order to achieve the
Ultimate Reality.

Always endure insults by chance,
With patience and tolerance.
It’s not enough to understand,
Cause and effect theories grand.

One must truly believe
In karmic results or see
Retribution or effect
What one does in retrospect.

True respect one always shows
For all whom one meets or knows.
Treat one’s Master on a par,
with Shakyamuni Buddha.

One cannot arouse bodhi,
When harming sentient beings free.
Listening to the Dharma part
Is futile if not to the heart.

Likewise, doing a good deed,
If stopping evil one doesn’t heed.
It is a waste of time to
Cultivate, when one’s not through,

Moving with winds four plus four,
Gain, loss, disgrace, and honor;
Praise, also ridicule,
Suffering and pleasure.

These produce the basic eight:
Greed, joy anger, craving, hate;
Ignorance, sorrow, and fun,
All rise from these winds that run.

You can see that four are sought,
While the other four are not.
All eight cause one’s heart to stir,
Keeping the fire wheel awhirl.

This is what the Buddha found:
Do not be fire wheel bound.
Be unmoved by these eight winds
And reincarnation end.

No more to the six realms go,
Unless to save beings from woe.
Greed’s often at the root of this,
Keeping us from our true bliss.

But know that the others sent,
Keep us from accomplishment.
We must never join the dance
Of external circumstance

One cultivates to concentrate.
But first one must know the state
Of one’s original nature
Which only is pristine and pure.

Receiving mantras is of no use,
If one does not put them to use.
Reading books is only wise,
If one practices and tries.

What does Buddha-dharma mean?
Cause and effect, pure and clean.
How to end cause and effect?
Cultivation with respect.

O, how should one cultivate?
With correct Dharma, do not wait.
What is the correct Dharma?
That found in Tripitaka.

Besides having a pure heart,
How does Vajrayana start?
Preliminary practices,
That teach respect, refuge gives.

Learning what Buddhas said and did,
Provides model by which to live.
Prostrations and chanting now,
Helps one keep one’s sacred vow.

Is the Vajrayana true?
Tibetan tantra’s the deepest hue.
Inner tantra initiations
Shine like many brilliant suns.

Miracles appear when done,
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas come.
True nectar may be received,
So one cannot be deceived.

One’s first goal is enlightenment,
To help save beings sentient.
One must first become sacred
And not misguide with untrue word.

One cannot disciples take,
Until one has become awake.
Trying to save others first,
Only results in death and worse.

Special punishment awaits
Those who interfere with fate.
Destroying opportunities
For others to be set free.

What is the most important thing,
Into cultivation bring?
One must keep one’s three karmas
Matching the Master’s Dharmas.

One must never talk about
Our fellow beings or cause doubt.
Gossiping is one sure way
To cause karma for which to pay.

One must not fuss over things,
Attachment it only brings.
In all matters, one must be
Practicing equanimity.

One must never cause great strife,
By criticizing the Master’s wife.
Of course, one must slander not
One’s Master where truth is sought.

One must trust the Master’s way,
Not second guess his reasons, say.
One can’t hide things grand or small
If one wants freedom at all.

Rebelling against the Teachings,
Only causes more suffering.
Freedom one will never get,
If false speech one does not abet.

In one wants powers from on high,
Never to the Master lie.
Likewise, good fortune won’t come,
If untrue words to Master’s done.

One must stop all evil ways,
Or find oneself as a ghost stays,
In the lower realms living
Where life is most unforgiving.

Help spread correct Dharma wide
Blessings and wisdom will abide.
Those so very fortunate
Will merit accumulate.

Conditions often mature
While one is on the path pure.
Even Buddha cannot erase
The negative karma of our case.

Every sentence spoken by
One whose understanding’s high,
Will help them to cultivate.
Wisdom and perfection state.

Each word given will relate,
To walking the path, so great,
To liberation, so true.
This in every thing they do.

The great taboo don’t violate,
To change the basis of one’s fate.
Do not be eager for success.
It takes time to undo one’s mess.

Four Limitless States of Mind
In all actions one must find.
Loving kindness everywhere.
And co-passion to spare.

Add in sympathetic joy,
Equanimity employed.
The Paramitas, true and great,
The Great Ones used to cultivate.

Generosity it’s true,
Morality in all we do.
Patience has it’s own reward,
Effort, it takes working hard.

To concentrate takes peace of mind.
With practice one will wisdom find.
Six Paramitas, we see,
Are the key to set us free.

We must treat beings big or small
Like our mother, with love all.
All beings must be saved, for sure,
As if your closest friend they were.

One can’t be rude or arrogant,
Treating others with contempt.
One must kindly treat all those
With whom one deals, far or close.

Do not en-gage in conjecture.
Wasteful activity, for sure.
Doubt is also of no help
In disciplining the self.

A Master can cut away
Poisonous deposits say,
From our past wicked karma
Using the correct Dharma.

True Masters use many ploy
To teach us how to enjoy
The fruits of liberation.
Remember Marpa’s action.

Milarepa he did beat
And caused him to repeat
The towers on the mountain high
Built to reach up to the sky.

Even Marpa’s dearest wife
Could not grasp this intense strife.
Dagmema’s anger at hand
Over what she didn’t understand,

Interfered with Marpa’s pain
To help his dearest son gain
Freedom from his wickedness
And gain lasting happiness.

Following the wishes set
By family and friends, forget,
If not in Dharma accord
It is not loving adored.

One’s demons are all around,
In self and others, they abound.
Obstructions of this very kind,
Stop cultivation of the mind.

One must not slander or state
That other Dharmas are second rate.
Biases of this temperament
Can stop one’s enlightenment.

True Vajra Masters under-stand
Sutras, Zen and Pure Land.
They can easily reveal
Teachings from turns of the wheel.

Vajrayana, system whole,
Is exoteric and tantra.
Pure and simple, it is what
All of the Buddhas taught. 

From outward signs, one can’t tell,
Who will and will not go to hell.
Precious jewels one may wear,
Be holy with or without hair.

Appearances can be false signs
Of training level of the mind.
Bodhisattvas them-selves adorn
With dignity they are not shorn.

Sambhogakaya is a state
To which most cannot relate.
To the realms of Buddhas high,
Enlightened ones can surely fly.

Dharmakaya is beyond form,
Not clean, not foul, not un-born,
Not born, not coming or going hence
Beyond what’s known as light or dense.

Nirmanakaya we see
Many forms of expediency.
All these states are recognized
In Vajrayana as wise.

One must learn from and respect
All whose Dharma is correct.
All that Bodhisattvas do
Is to help beings, its true.

Near one’s Master, one should be,
To receive blessings and see
How to conduct one’s life perfect
In every matter and aspect.

Super normal Dharma power
Comes to all those who flower,
In the Dharma quite correct,
Showing love and deep respect.

One must always humble be,
Never falsely stating what you see.
One’s level’s secret, not a hint,
About one’s accomplishment.

The Dharma is wonderful,
Glorious and quite total.
Even so, it is only
Useful if practiced freely.

May Pa Mu’s words resonate,
To bring all beings to a state,
Where our true nature is known
And great liberation shown.

The merit of these words so wise,
We give to help all realize.
True happiness and total bliss.
May all beings find this.

This was composed in Pasadena, California, the summer of 2001 by Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinpoche.

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