starting with "Drukpa Kunley's Word's" below this is a reprint from my blog from 2010. I read this today again and realized just how powerful and timely and necessary his thoughts are for any serious student of spirit no matter what religion or philosophy one has.
When I first heard of Drukpa Kunley it was from a Tibetan Monk who had given up his robes to financially support his parents in old age by becoming a Himalayan Mountain Guide. I met Thubten in Dharamshala, India because he was a student of Geshe Lobsang Gyatso (Tibetan Lama Geshe) that I and my wife eventually brought to the U.S. from India(he has passed away now).
However, when the Thubten told me Drukpa Kunley stories (which are incredibly funny) I laughed until I cried from the hysterically funny stories. However, at the time I thought Drukpa Kunley was mythological and used to endear people to Tibetan Buddhist Dharma. Imagine my surprise over 20 years later to find out that Drukpa Kunley was an actual Bhutanese Saint? This was a revelation to me to find out that this actually was a real person who lived from 1455 to 1529 in Bhutan.
Drukpa Kunley's Words
The first passages describe what comes next in Drukpa Kunley's words translated into English:
Begin quote from The Divine Madman translated to English by MR Bowman starting on page 29 and onto 30. Drukpa Kunley is a historical Tibetan Buddhist figure born in 1455 in Bhutan and lived until 1529:
"---Upon this understanding he offered his robes to the image of the Buddha, and as a mendicant wandering wherever he would, he abandoned systematic yoga and meditation. He summarized his understanding in these verses:
"Failing to catch the spirit of the Buddhas,
What use is it to follow the letter of the law?
Without an apprenticeship to a competent Master,
What use is great talent and intelligence?
Unable to love all beings as your sons,
What use is solemn prayer and ritual?
Ignorant of the sole point of the three vows,
What is gained by breaking each in turn?
Failing to realize that Buddha is within,
What reality can be found outside?
Incapable of a natural stream of meditation,
What can be gained by violating thought?
Unable to regulate life according to the seasons
and the time of day,
Who are you but a muddled, indiscriminate fool?
If an enlightened perspective is not intuitively grasped,
What can be gained by a systematic search?
Living on borrowed time and energy, wasting your life,
Who will repay your debts in the future?
Wearing coarse and scanty clothing in great discomfort,
What can the ascetic gain by suffering the cold hells in this life?
The aspirant striving without specific instruction,
Like an ant climbing a sand hill, accomplishes nothing.
Gathering instruction, but ignoring the meditation on the nature
of mind,
Is like starving oneself when the larder is full.
The sage who refuses to teach or write,
Is as useless as the jewel in the King Snake's head.
The fool who knows nothing but prattles constantly,
Merely proclaims his ignorance to all.
Understanding the essence of the Teaching, practice it!"
end quote.
No matter what practice or religion or philosophy you are studying presently, there is something here for everyone in understanding what spiritual practice is actually all about. As I read these statements I sort of felt like wincing at some of them. I think you might feel the same. However, when one hears the truth it is quite powerful.
begin quote bottom of page 30:
"By the age of twenty-five, Kunga Legpa(Drukpa Kunley) had gained mastery of both mundane and spiritual arts. He was accomplished in the arts of prescience, shape-shifting, and magical display."
end quote:
This isn't the sort of thing that one generally learns in college at today's universities.
Begin quote from The Divine Madman translated to English by MR Bowman starting on page 29 and onto 30. Drukpa Kunley is a historical Tibetan Buddhist figure born in 1455 in Bhutan and lived until 1529:
"---Upon this understanding he offered his robes to the image of the Buddha, and as a mendicant wandering wherever he would, he abandoned systematic yoga and meditation. He summarized his understanding in these verses:
"Failing to catch the spirit of the Buddhas,
What use is it to follow the letter of the law?
Without an apprenticeship to a competent Master,
What use is great talent and intelligence?
Unable to love all beings as your sons,
What use is solemn prayer and ritual?
Ignorant of the sole point of the three vows,
What is gained by breaking each in turn?
Failing to realize that Buddha is within,
What reality can be found outside?
Incapable of a natural stream of meditation,
What can be gained by violating thought?
Unable to regulate life according to the seasons
and the time of day,
Who are you but a muddled, indiscriminate fool?
If an enlightened perspective is not intuitively grasped,
What can be gained by a systematic search?
Living on borrowed time and energy, wasting your life,
Who will repay your debts in the future?
Wearing coarse and scanty clothing in great discomfort,
What can the ascetic gain by suffering the cold hells in this life?
The aspirant striving without specific instruction,
Like an ant climbing a sand hill, accomplishes nothing.
Gathering instruction, but ignoring the meditation on the nature
of mind,
Is like starving oneself when the larder is full.
The sage who refuses to teach or write,
Is as useless as the jewel in the King Snake's head.
The fool who knows nothing but prattles constantly,
Merely proclaims his ignorance to all.
Understanding the essence of the Teaching, practice it!"
end quote.
No matter what practice or religion or philosophy you are studying presently, there is something here for everyone in understanding what spiritual practice is actually all about. As I read these statements I sort of felt like wincing at some of them. I think you might feel the same. However, when one hears the truth it is quite powerful.
begin quote bottom of page 30:
"By the age of twenty-five, Kunga Legpa(Drukpa Kunley) had gained mastery of both mundane and spiritual arts. He was accomplished in the arts of prescience, shape-shifting, and magical display."
end quote:
This isn't the sort of thing that one generally learns in college at today's universities.
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