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SOl1SS
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THE EROTIC VERSE OF THE
SIXTH DALAI LAMA

Translated from the Tibetan, with an introductory

essay and notes for appreciation by

Paul Williams

LONDON·NEWYORK
 Acknowledgements Vll

Published in 2004 by LB.Tauris & Co. Ltd

6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU Introduction
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 Who or what is a Dalai Lama? 2
WWw.ibtauris.com The life and times of the Sixth Dalai Lama 24
The sexy Dalai Lama? 40
In the United States of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan,
How to read the verses of the Sixth Dalai Lama 50
a division of St Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
The present translation 52
Copyright © 2004 Paul Williams Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness 59
Notes for Appreciation 127
The right of Paul Williams to be identified as the author of this work has been Appendix: The Mind of a Dalai Lama 155
asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
Notes 160
AlI rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part Bibliography 17 1
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, Line Index: Tibetan 175
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- Line Index: English 180
Copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
Name and Subject Index 18 5
publisher.

ISBN: I 850434794
EAN: 978 I 850434795

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress catalog card: available

Typeset in Junius Modern by A. & D. Worthington, Newmarket, Suffolk

Printed and bound in Great Britain by el] International Ltd, Pads tow, Cornwall

v
F or Sharon, Myrddin, Tiernan and Tara

- my lovely family, forever.

iS translation could not have been undertaken without the

ll first critical edition of the Tibetan text, prepared by Per

Sorensen. The text reproduced here is taken from his book,
Divinity Secularized: An Inquiry into the Nature and Form of the Songs
Ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama (Vienna, 1990). I am in total debt to
Sorensen's devoted work, which includes extensive notes based on a
formidable understanding of this sort of Indo-Tibetan literature.
Anyone intending a proper study of the Sixth Dalai Lama's verses
needs must have constant recourse to this comprehensive contribu-
tion, if only to disagree with it.
It is all the more astonishing, therefore, to find that other
translations of the Sixth Dalai Lama's verses, even those undertaken
since 1990, show no sign at all of ever having heard of Sorensen's
work.

VI Vll
 veryone who studies closely the Sixth Dalai Lama (r683-r706)

E becomes obsessed by him. His ghost - or a 'manifested body'

- is said to have frequented the audiences of the Seventh and
the Thirteenth Dalai Lamas.! In his poetry he advances towards us -
but then he shrinks, as if to say 'Leave me to myself Go away. I have
had enough of your demands on me. I didn't ask for it. What right
do you have to make me your Dalai Lama? What right have you to
endeavour to make me a eunuch, while still leaving my body and my
passions intact?' Other Dalai Lamas have been great scholars,
powerful politicians or simply Buddhist monks that died young
before they could make much impact. Perhaps the current Four-
teenth Dalai Lama is a saint. But only the Sixth refused to take full
monastic vows, returned the vows he had taken already, and loved
women, alcohol and archery (maybe like modern computer or role-
playing games) with a passion that shows perhaps a vague premoni-
tion of his early death at the age of 24. That is, if he really did die
then. One tradition has it that he survived in relative obscurity for a
further 40 years. He also wrote love poetry, poetry that has survived
in a Tibetan world where secular verse generally d,les not, precisely
because he was the Dalai Lama.
But surely (some say) it must all have a deeper meaning than
simply love of lovely young women? He was, after all, the Dalai
Lama. Surely it must all be tantric sexual yoga or radical political
protest. Or both. But in this poetry we see the real heart of a young
man thrust into the central political position of a theocracy that was
not of his making and that he scarcely understood. That is, of
course, if the poetry is really by him.
 INTRODUCTION
2 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

(sa"uara), spiritual immaturity. I~ we .do conclude that neverth.eless a

You see - he advances towards us and then he retreats. His is the .
Dalai Lama is in some sense a ~mg, It shoul~ at least be on hiS own
saddest story in Tibetan history prior to the modern era - when
terms, which are the terms of Tibetan Buddhism.
(alas) the whole of Tibet has become one involuntary tragedy.
So hoW is a Dalai Lama seen from the inside, from within the
Who or wl1at is a Dalai 1.ama7 tradition of Tibetan Buddhism? I shall begin by trying to convey
how the present Dalai Lama, the Fourteenth, is seen by other
Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama, was intended to be head .
Tibetans and how he sees himself. This is to start where a contem-
of the Tibetan state and a celibate Buddhist monk. He disappeared
porary Tibetan teacher - indeed the Dalai Lama himself - would
in 1706 while under Mongol military escort. It was given out that he
had died of illness, but he was thought by some to have been want to start.
One's religion, as it relates to the individual, is for the Tibetan
murdered. As we have seen, one story has the Sixth Dalai Lama
Buddhist tradition a matt~r of motivation. Its purpose in the final
living incognito and devoutly for a further 40 years. At the time of
analysis in one way or another is seen as the achievement of com-
his disappearance he was still in his early 20S.
plete, supreme happiness. Thus in the Tibetan vision Buddhism is
Tsangyang Gyatso left behind him a racy reputation with the
thought to be a very direct practical matter of working on the present
young women of Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, and a small
state of who we are, pre-eminently our minds. This is in order to
collection of unique love poetry. bring about a transformation away from what Buddhism calls the
In this Introduction I want to try to help readers new to the love
'three root poisons' of greed, hatred and delusion towards their
poems of the Sixth Dalai Lama to appreciate how extraordinary they
opposites, altruism, loving kindness and wisdom. Which strategies
are. And I would like to do this first by trying to give you an idea of
are most suitable to bring about this transformation depend on the
how a Dalai Lama is seen from the inside, within the tradition of
present situation of the individuals concerned just as, Buddhists say,
Tibetan Buddhism. But for readers who are reasonably familiar with
which medicine is suitable to bring about physical health depends
Buddhism, or those who just want to know my conclusions, I
upon the illness and its present modality.
suggest you turn to the summary at the end of this section and read
It was the Indian missionary Atisa who, in the eleventh century,
on from there. when asked by his Tibetan hosts for a direct and down-to-earth
It is common of course for the Dalai Lama of Tibet to be
practical teaching, provided the framework into which so many later
referred to in popular parlance as a 'god-king'. This is, however, very
generations of Tibetan scholars and holy men have sought to fit the
misleading. Buddhism believes in any number of 'gods' (deva-s). To
spiritual path. It is this framework that lies in the background of the
be a 'god' (or a 'goddess') is not Buddhist enlightenment. It is a type ~resent Dalai Lama's own vision of himself, his role and message. It
of rebirth. In infinite cycles of rebirths we have all been gods many IS a framework familiar to most Tibetans, since lamas - teachers,
times. Gods are beings who in general have a pleasant enough life if gurus - repeat it at the commencement of just about all their
one admires the hedonistic indulgences of Hollywood film stars. A tea~hings. This framework is that of the 'three types of person'
'god' lives the spiritually vacuous life of a playboy or playgirl in some (Tibetan: skyes bu gsum). It is based on what a Buddhist sees as the
other rather pleasant world called a 'heaven'. But Buddhism denies th~ee types of ruling motivation. These are motivations that a person
altogether the existence of a loving creator God, a Necessary Being, might have not only in the spiritual life but also in all life's activities.
as understood in the great theistic world religions such as Christian- The person of lowest motivation, Atisa says, is one whose
ity or Islam. Such a God could not possibly actually exist.~ concern in life is with personal gain. This is 'one who strives for his
To be a 'king', on the other hand, is in Buddhism a secular lay or her own benefit, concerned only with the pleasures of the realm of
occupation seen very much as part of the realm of unenlightenment
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION
4

u~enlightenment (sar(lsara)'. In other words, if we were honest, this b dhisattva - is held properly not to be a matter of doctrines, rituals
mIght be thought to be most of us. The concern here is with o~ vestments, but fundamentally a matter of motivation. Truly to
personal worldly pleasure, whether of a crass sort or the more refined have this motivation, to have what is called the compassionate
pleasu~es of fame, pride in a job well done or aesthetic relish. Seeking 'awakening mind' or 'mind of enlightenment' (bodhicitta) possessed
to. attam heaven wo~ld also be seen by our Buddhists as belonging to by the bodhisattva is ~or Ma~ayana Buddhism. p.er~aps aki~ to the
thIs catego~. ~ hIgher mot.ivation is that usually associated by conversion experience m certam forms of ChnstlaOlty, albeIt much
Westerners, If maccurately, wIth Buddhist monks and nuns, 'those rarer. It is held to be a complete transformation, a complete revolu-
who have turned their backs on the pleasures of unenlightenment tion away from egoistic preoccupation to altruism. The Indian
turne~ away d~finitively from wrong actions, and strive taking as ~ Santideva, the great poet of altruism, wrote in the eighth century of
goal SImply theIr own peace'. That is, they aim for nirva~a, liberation this awakening mind in his Bodhicaryavatara ('A Guide to the
or enlightenment, the end for themselves of all suffering and rebirth. Buddhist Path to Awakening'), probably the work that has had the
This is the middle motivation. It integrates a deep sense of right and most influence on the present Dalai Lama:
wrong, which might be found even among those of the lowest That jewel, the Mind, which is the seed of pure happiness in the
motivation, with an even deeper and radical renunciation of the world and the remedy for the suffering of the world, how at all
world a~d indeed a~l worlds of rebirth (including that of the 'gods' can its merit be measured?4
and theIr heavens) m favour of enlightenment. But noble and rare
Thus the concern of a real bodhisattva is thought finally to be solely
t~ough th~s motiva~ion is, Tibetans will all say there is something
hIgher. It IS somethmg that like the previous motivations is open to with the benefit of others. He or she wishes for Buddhahood only
because Buddhahood offers the completion of that transformation
all sentient beings and not just human beings. It is something that
into a being not only perfectly altruistic but also with perfect power,
many aspire to but few really achieve in this life. Atisa continues:
perfect ability, to help others. That being is called a Buddha. It is the
'Someone who wishes by all means truly to bring an end to all the
sufferings of others ... that person is Supreme.'3 fulfilment of intention and act. For the bodhisattva there is held to
be no personal (in some way still selfish) gain in the attainment of
In its fullest expression Tibetan Buddhism holds that all the
Buddhahood. Any personal gain no matter how refined reaches its
actions of the supreme person are motivated by pure altruism. Such a
fulfilment in the second motivation. Indeed the bodhisattva does not
person, who makes no ultimate distinction between his or her own
even shun rebirth. The bodhisattva welcomes rebirth if it can be
sufferings, his or her own happiness, and those of others, but who
used to benefit others. Perhaps the current Dalai Lama's favourite
strives no matter what it may cost to eliminate the suffering of
verse in all the thousands of Buddhist scriptures, the one he quotes
everyone is called a bodhisattva. The goal of the bodhisattva is no
most often and holds most perfectly to articulate his own spiritual
ordinary enlightenment, no nirvana as it is understood by those of
the middling motivation. Rather it is said to be full, perfect Buddha- aspirations, is also from Santideva:
hood. This is the state of those who have attained what is for As long as space abides and as long as the world abides, so long
Buddhism the fullest expansion consciousness is capable of, expressed may I abide, destroying the sufferings of the world.)
as the ~omplete perfection of wisdom and (and this is crucial)
This, the Dalai Lama would hold, expresses one dimension - he
compassIOn.
would say the most important dimension - of what he really is. He is
This is known as Mahayana Buddhism, and it is the form of
Buddh~sm that Tibetans ultimately aspire to. Thus Mahayana
a bodhisattva.
BuddhIsm - the Great (maha) Way (or Vehicle: yana) of the
6 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 7

This bodhicitta, the so-called 'awakening mind' of a bodhisattva, he had genuinely developed that awakening mind. He is therefore
is not something that just happens. The Tibetan traditions prescribe not of the Supreme Motivation, even if he is an 'incarnate lama'.9
a set series of meditations, each to be adopted at the appropriate Perhaps it was Tendzin Chogyal who made the comment attributed
stage in the spiritual path, which will eventually issue in this inner simply to 'one of the Dalai Lama's close relations' that 'for Him [the
6
revolution. These meditations, and this revolution, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama] everything is easy. He has resolved all the paradoxes,
Dalai Lama says he knows he has undergone in many previous lives. because He is a bodhisattva. For the rest of us, it is a different
Although, he points out, generally spiritual practitioners do not 1'10
story.
speak publicly about their inner experiences, still he states after So the Dalai Lama considers himself, and is considered by other
quoting the verse from Santideva above: 'I have that wish in this Tibetans, to be a bodhisattva. And the bodhisattva is held to be
lifetime, and I know that I had that wish in past lifetimes.'7 This willing to be reborn any number of times in order to fulfil his vow of
wish, he states elsewhere, 'we should have ... from the depths of our helping others. Eventually he will attain perfect Buddhahood and
heart, as if nailed there'. And it 'is not merely concerned with a few then be able perfectly to help others. But the Dalai Lama is also
sentient beings such as friends and relatives, but extends up to the what Tibetans call a 'trulku', and to be a trulku, an incarnate or
limits of the cosmos, in all directions and towards all beings reincarnate lama, is more than just this. It is to occupy a very
throughout space.'8 particular place and role in the Tibetan religious vision. It is a vision
It is normal among Tibetan Buddhists to consider that the Dalai that also embraces the Tibetan picture of society and even politics.
Lama has truly actualized this awakening mind. He is thought really It is often said that a trulku, an incarnate lama, is a lama who has
to be a developed bodhisattva. Thus the Dalai Lama strives to act for been discovered, usually as a young child, to be the reincarnation of a
the benefit of others in the light of vows he has taken as a devout specific named lama who had previously died. The trulku is taken
Mahayana practitioner. It may not be easy. The current Dalai back to his (or 'her' - but with few exceptions always 'his') monastery
Lama's younger brother, Tendzin Chogyal, who, like the Dalai or home base and trained to re-adopt his old religious position.
Lama, is held to be the reincarnation of a great teacher, left the Broadly speaking this picture is correct. But in Buddhism very little
monastic order and married. At one time he was in the Indian Army. is ever simple. What we are interested in here is the Tibetans' own
From the point of view of Buddhist doctrine none of this need picture of what a trulku is, and what is involved in being a trulku,
necessarily be incompatible with being the reincarnation of a great with particular reference to the central figure of the whole system,
Buddhist teacher, a bodhisattva acting for the benefit of others in the Dalai Lama.
ways that may not be obvious to those of us with lesser insight. First, something about the Tibetan words involved. There is
Nevertheless Tendzin ChOgyal has been very critical of the institu- little problem regarding the etymology and origin of the Tibetan
tion of incarnate lamas (sprul sku, pronounced 'trulku') which has for expression sprul sku (trulku). It is made up of two words: sprul, which
centuries been an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism. While aspiring is connected with transforming or transformation, or actively
to help others - the bodhisattva ideal is so strong in Tibet that all or changing, even 'bringing about in an apparently miraculous way, and
most Tibetans say they aspire to help others - Tendzin Chogyal has sku, which is the Tibetan honorific form of the word for body."
observed in an interview that personally he is not a Mahayanist. This Thus etymologically and literally the sprul sku is a 'transformation
will appear a paradoxical statement to those who think that all body' which, with the honorific, indicates its connection with
Tibetan Buddhism is Mahayanist. But from the Tibetan perspective, honoured beings, Buddhas and sometimes very spiritually advanced
while most Tibetans aspire to be true Mahayana bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas. It corresponds to the Sanskrit word nirma1)akaya,
Tendzin Chogyal was perhaps just being honest. He did not feel that which is a well-known expression of Indian Mahayana Buddhology
 8 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 9

referring to the various emanated forms sent out by what may be and special connection with the Dalai Lamas. What the nature of
called the Buddha's 'glorified form'. This second type of body is a that connection is remains to be seen. But first, back to the trulkus.
glorified form (sarrtbhogakaya, or sarrtbhogikakaya - 'Enjoyment Body') We have seen that the primary and original meaning of sprul sku
that unlike the transformation bodies appears not in this world is an emanation from a Buddha for the practical purposes of compas-
among beings like us, but in a Pure Land. The Pure Land is a sion. The late Song Rinpoche, himself a distinguished sprul sku lama
transcendent abode - a 'Buddha Land' - where a Mahayana Buddha of the Dalai Lama's dGe lugs (pronounced 'Geluk') school, has
(for it is held that there are very many of them) sits in glory teaching commented that properly speaking this is the correct use of the word
the Mahayana. Such a Land can be visited by bodhisattvas of trulku. But clearly all the many thousands of trulkus, 'incarnate
sufficient meditative power to reach through their spiritual develop- lamas', of Tibetan Buddhism cannot all be emanations from supra-
ment to such an exalted space. The myriad emanated forms occur mundane, transcendent Buddhas or bodhisattvas. Those who go by
out of the compassion of the Buddhas. They exist in order to bring the name of sprul sku-s in contemporary Tibetan Buddhism, Song
about the benefit of those who are to be helped spiritually and Rinpoche observed, should really be called yang srid (pronounced
materially an~ who are not sufficiently advanced to benefit directly 'yangsi'), which is to say simply 'again becomings' (Sanskrit: pu-
from the glonfied body of a Buddha, a Buddha's supreme and extra- narbhava). That is, they are literally 'reincarnations', 'born agains'.14
terrestrial physical form. There are various classifications of trans- But they are by no means necessarily thought to be emanations of a
formation bodies, but essentially they are emanations of a Buddha Buddha or an advanced bodhisattva.
occurring without partiality or exception in whatever form is appro- In fact, in practice, in everyday contemporary Tibetan, the term
priate in order to help sentient beings. 12 Advanced bodhisattvas, to a sprul sku (trulku) is ambiguous. It has come to have two uses. It is
lesser degree, are also held to have this ability of emanation. One listed as such in the encyclopaedic 'Great Tibetan-Chinese Diction-
Mahayana scripture typically speaks of very many bodhisattvas, ary', the Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo. Along with the sense of (i) an
including the renowned Avalokitdvara. He is one of a number of emanation of a Buddha or a bodhisattva, this second meaning of sprul
named bodhisattvas who are considered so advanced, so possessed of sku, a separate though related meaning, is given as a derived expres-
miraculous abilities that can be cultivated by one on the spiritual sion for simply the yang srid. It is (ii) simply any reincarnation of a
path in order to help others, that they have become in effect supra- high-ranking lama. 15 In order to preserve some distinction the
mundane helpers. Avalokitesvara is held to be the veritable essence of specific sense of a Buddha or bodhisattva emanation is sometimes
compassion, working tirelessly for the benefit of others. In the captured by another expression, the term sprul pa (pronounced
scripture he declares that: 'trulba').16 So we find that the great rJe Tsong kha pa, the late
fourteenth-century founder of the Dalai Lama's dGe lugs school, is
I appear in the midst of the activities of all sentient beings with-
held to have attained such an elevated state that although he has no
out leaving the presence of all buddhas, and take care of them ... .
reincarnation lineage (i.e. any yang srid-s), he still has emanations.
I also develop sentient beings by appearing in various forms ... by
He is thought to be still emanating as a Buddha in order to help
magically producing various forms ... by appearing to them as
others. His failure to reincarnate is not thought of as indicating a
members of their own various races and conditions, and by living
together with them. 13 deficiency in compassion. It is rather merely an alternative response
to the sufferings of sentient beings.
It is Avalokitdvara, often held by Tibetans to be already a Buddha There is no doubt that in his mind and the minds of most
rather than an advanced bodhisattva, who is said to have a very close Tibetans the Dalai Lama is a yang srid, a reincarnation. In a sense,
for Buddhism we are all reincarnations. But a yang srid like the Dalai
 10 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION II

Lama i.s different, for he is also a trulku in the more general and and very advanced bodhisattvas. Second, Doboom Tulku comments,
colloqUlal sense of the term (the second sense given above). The are those 'who have accumulated good karma, due to which they are
present Dalai Lama has explained that there are four types of birth: very helpful to other sentient beings in preaching ... and so on'. And
finally we come across those 'who have just gained the merit of
(A) The first is the ordinary rebirth of those with no relevant
obtaining the title Tulku. Just by force of merit'. Both these latter
spiritual mastery. Such beings - most of us, I suppose - have no
two types of trulku must have great merit (the result of good deeds
power to deter~ine their rebirths. They are influenced solely by
in previous lives), since being recognized as a trulku is usually highly
the force of prevIOUS deeds, previous karman.
advantageous in material terms. Put frankly, trulkus in Tibetan
(B) There is, however, another type of rebirth, that 'of one who Buddhism are usually relatively wealthy and socially privileged. Such
due to past spiritual attainment, can choose, or at least influence, advantages are seen in Buddhism as flowing precisely from merit, the
the place and situation of rebirth'.!7 results of one's good deeds in previous lives. But, Doboom Tulku
continues, the difference between these two categories is that while
I want to dwell for a moment on the distinction between these
those of the third class have accrued sufficient merit to be recognized
two types of birth. I shall return to the third and fourth types later.
as trulkus, they may not have the power actually to control the
In t?e second case reincarnation can become in its clearest exempli-
fication a matter of conscious decision and control. In the case of a process of rebirth at all. It is to this third category that Doboom
bodhisattva, of course, this is a conscious decision to return in order Tulku considers he himself belongs, although he adds that because
of merit he has obtained the title of 'trulku' and so can use the
to benefit other~ i~ accorda~ce with his or her bodhisattva aspiration.
opportunities this affords him in order to help others. Interestingly
There are medltatton practices that are held to make this possible,
Doboom Tulku also observes that he could scarcely claim to be an
actually to be able to control one's process of rebirth. Moreover from
emanation of a Buddha or a bodhisattva, since he knows who he is.
perhaps the end of the thirteenth century in Tibet the idea evolved
The implication of this is that if one were to be such an emanation,
that if a bodhisattva had sufficient spiritual mastery to control his or
0r:e would know it.w We shall see, however, that this specifically
her rebirth, it ought also to be possible to identifY that child who is
the reincarnation.!8 Thus is becomes possible to train the child to re- contradicts comments made by other Tibetan teachers regarding the
possibility of not knowing that one is an emanation.
adopt his or her old. place in the religious system; hence the phe-
One corollary of Doboom Tulku's observations is that the trulku
nomenon of trulkus m the more general and colloquial sense of the
term (sense (ii) above). These are 'incarnate lamas' of which the of the third category could still be considered by Buddhists a genuine
D~lai Lama has said, there were probably a few thousand i~ old reincarnation, although the teacher who reincarnated obviously had
not managed to gain control of his rebirths and therefore was
Tibet before the Chinese occupation, and even now there are still a
few hundred.!9 perhaps not as advanced in meditative ability as some considered him
to be. But nevertheless this third category may contain within it
. Those ~ho can determine their rebirths are certainly trulkus in
those whose previous merit had gained the title 'trulku' but who are
thiS colloqUlal sense. But in spite of what is often thought by
not, even for Buddhists, actually or genuinely the reincarnations of
Westerners and Tibetans alike, not all trulkus are held to be able to
determine their rebirths. A contemporary Tibetan lama Doboom those they are said to be. In other words, in the issue of discovering a
Tulku (i.e. 'trulku'), has commented that there are differe~t rypes of correct reincarnation there had been a mistake. The Dalai Lama
trulkus. First there are trulkus of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. He recognizes that mistakes do occur. He has estimated that it is quite
possible that as many as 50 per cent were mistaken identifications.
~resumably refers here to 'trulkus' in the proper, primary sense (sense
(1) above) - emanations, or transformation bodies, of the Buddhas He adds that he may be quite presumptuous in saying this, but he
 12 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS
INTRODUCTION 13

bases his estimate partly on whether the correct tests were carried out
Tulku, has claimed that real trulkus should always be able to
(such as correctly selecting unmarked objects belonging to the
remember some past lives. 24 Many, including the Dalai Lama~ would
previous incarnation, or saying something that indicated intimate
not agree. Rakra Tulku frankly admits that he does not like the
knowledge of the previous incarnation's life). Also, it depends on
trulku system. He refers to a case where the reincarnation of a
whether the putative trulku genuinely serves humanity or not ('by
teacher was supposedly discovered among the Tibetan refugee
their fruits ye shall know them').'-!
community in India, only to find subsequently that the teacher was
One should note, however, that from the Tibetan point of view
still alive in Tibet. Tibetan 'Buddhalogians', like their brothers the
the ability to control the rebirth process is a technique gained
theologians, are quite capable of explaining away such awkward
through meditation and does not in itself entail a measure of what we
data. '-5
in the West might call 'spirituality', or 'righteousness'. Thus it is
Some find the problem of memory more acute than others do.
held to be quite possible as a result of developed meditative ability in
The traditional Tibetan view is that there certainly are meditation
previous lives to control the rebirth process. One might thus be
practices which, if carried out ~stem~ticall~, can lead anyo~e (not
recognized as a genuine trulku, and yet still (pace the Dalai Lama's
just a Buddhist) to recollect their prevIOus lives. These practICes are
pious hopes) fritter away one's life and be of no benefit to anyone.
commonly said to be rather insignificant, in themselves not of great
This can occur even if in the previous life the trulku was a righteous
benefit to others, but they are available for the curious (or those who
person who benefited others immensely. It might be lamentable from
can otherwise think of a use for such an ability). Gonsar Tulku has
the Dalai Lama's point of view, but it is still considered possible.
expressed a rather more optimistic view on the absence of memory.
Indeed Song Rinpoche has observed that there are those who are
He says that he cannot claim to be anyone very great, but others have
reborn and recognized as trulkus who can genuinely control their
given him the position of Gonsar Tulku and he has no partic~lar
rebirths, although they took rebirth not in order to help others but
reason to doubt their estimate. By now it has become part of him.
out of attachment to their status, property and so on. Not to
The role has become the actuality.'-6 Anyway, for Tibetans, as
mention the deceit and pretence that Song Rinpoche holds has
another trulku, Dakpo Tulku, has pointed out, one cannot tell from
sometimes taken place with ordinary children who cannot control
the outside who is genuine and who is not.'-? Really, without carrying
their rebirths but are manipulated into a spurious 'recognition' as a
out the appropriate practices one cannot tell from the inside either.:U!
result of the riches, possessions and status involved. ""
Once declared and accepted, all putative trulkus tend to be treated
Modesty will frequently incline those who are acclaimed as
as genuine, for it would be rather unwise to treat as false something
trulkus to assert that they are actually of this last category. This is
that is as a matter of fact true. And from a Buddhist point of view
particularly so as they invariably say (as does the Dalai Lama) that
even the trulku's behaviour may be no guide to authenticity. One
they cannot remember their past lives. On the other hand they will
with the far-seeing eyes of a trulku could discern what might seem to
often add that they must have had great merit to be declared trulkus,
be wrong, from the spiritually backward point of view of an ordinary
and they can use the opportunities thus given to them in order to
person, as correct and proper.
help others.'-) Of course this, from the Dalai Lama's perspective,
The Dalai Lama is held to be the reincarnation of the previous
suggests that they might be genuine trulkus after all.
Dalai Lama, taking on rebirth out of compassion for others, particu-
It is noticeable reading interviews with contemporary trulkus
larly the Tibetan people. There have to date been 14 Dalai Lamas,
that, faced perhaps with the doubts of the modern world, their
that is, recognized trulkus in the Dalai Lama series. The first was a
inability to remember their previous lives does seem to give some
pupil of the great founder of the Dalai Lama's dGe lugs pa tradition
trulkus very real uncertainty. One particularly critical lama, Rakra
in the fifteenth century, although the first actually to be called 'Dalai
 SONGS OF LOVE. POEMS OF SADNESS

INTRODUCTION
Lama' was the third, bSod nams rgya mtsho (pronounced 'Sir nam I)

gya tso' (r5"43-88».2.9 Dalai means ocean, and is the Mongolian

~~ d h u · monk's vows and preferred to get. drunk with his
equivalent of the Tibetan rgya mtsho that has normally been part of
fr d have sex with Lhasa women and take part III archery compe-
the names of the Dalai Lamas. When the Third Dalai Lama
o

len s, ld h
.. I the light of the suggested strategy, one cou say t at
converted the Mongolian Altan Khan to his own brand of Bud- tlt1ons. n ., . , fA al ki .
while the Sixth Dalai Lama was a genullle emanation 0 v 0 tes-
dhism, the Mongolian-Tibetan hybrid title 'Dalai Lama' was t
vara ac I'ng !(cor the benefit (in some way) of • • others, he was
bestowed by the Mongolian upon bSod nams rgya mtsho, who then
nevertheless not the reincarnation of the politICally strong and
in turn bestowed it retrospectively on his two previous recognized
incarnations. forceful Fifth Dalai Lama. The 'Great Fifth' (r6r7-82) was. the first
Dalai Lama to rule Tibet, and the one who is said to have discovered
In the case of the Dalai Lama, however, the situation appears to
~t:svara.32
h t the Dalai Lama series is also a series of 'emanations' of Avalo-
be complicated. Normally, from a Buddhist point of view, a reborn
The present Dalai Lama has claimed of the Sixth that
being involves a stage of the same consciousness continuum as the
'he was spiritually pre-eminent, but politically, he was weak an.d
person who died, but properly speaking is emphatically not thought
disinterested. He could not follow the Fifth Dalai Lama's path. ThiS
to be the same person. There is no unchanging substratum _ no Self
was a great failure.'3l But elsewhere the Dalai Lama ~eems t~ have
or soul in that sense. Rather, if we imagine the flow of conscious- said categorically that the Sixth was indeed the true relllcarnanon of
ness, 'experiences', as like a river, the reincarnation is a later stage in . 34
the Fifth as the State Oracle asserte d at t he time.
the overall flow of the river. The later stage depends on the former
stage - there is a continuum present - but it is not the same stage.
al~ernative
An interpretation of the Dalai Lamas not forming one
consciousness continuum might involve the phenomenon of 'split
That stage has passed. So when Dakpo Tulku says in an interview
incarnations'. Tibetans tend to agree that very advanced bodhisattvas
that he doubts he is the same consciousness (continuum) as the
are capable of reincarnating in more than one form at the same
previous Dakpo Tulku,J° he would normally be taken by educated l
time. ) The Dalai Lama has stated that there are indications that the
Buddhists as saying that he doubts he is the genuine reincarnation of
Second Dalai Lama (b. r475") had hundreds of reincarnations: 'Of
the previous Dakpo Tulku. Thus the consciousnesses of all the
these there was one outstanding one, who took the name Dalai
Dalai Lamas should form parts of one consciousness continuum.
Lama' the rest went out into the world to be benevolent.'3 6 If, for
Unfortunately the present Dalai Lama has said in another context
that '[t]his does not mean that all the previous Dalai Lamas have had
exam~le, the Fourth Dalai Lama (d. r6r6), who was a Mongolian
and not an ethnic Tibetan, was actually the reincarnation of one of
one continuous consciousness'.3! I confess that short of asking the
those others he would be a genuine reincarnation of the Second
Dalai Lama what he means here, it is difficult to know how to take
Dalai Lama, inasmuch as he would have the same consciousness
it. In COntext he is speaking of the Dalai Lamas also being recog-
continuum as the Second Dalai Lama. But he need not have the
nized as 'emanations' (sprul pa-s) of the very advanced bodhisattva
same consciousness continuum as the Third Dalai Lama, who would
(or, commonly for Tibetans, already a Buddha) AvalokiteSvara. The
in turn also be a genuine reincarnation of the Second and have the
easiest way to take what he is saying is that while all the Dalai Lamas
same consciousness continuum as him. This is pure speculation, of
have been in some sense 'emanations' of AvalokiteSvara, in spite of
course, and it would still not make the Fourth Dalai Lama in this
what is usually thought they have not in fact formed a single reincar-
natiOn series. example a reincarnation of the Third in any straightforward sense.
But then, nothing here seems very straightforward. ,. ,
It is in this Context that the Controversial figure of the Sixth We have looked so far at what might be called the honzontal
Dalai Lama may be relevant. As we shall see, the Sixth Dalai Lama
dimension of the Dalai Lama's being. That is, we have examined his
position as part of a trulku series with the previous Dalai Lamas. As
 16 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 17

a trulku the Dalai Lama is simply the most eminent member of a manifestations or emanations seem to take on a quasi-independent
not infrequent Tibetan religious institution. But he also has a reality. Song Rinpoche talks of 200 or more emanations (sprul
'vertical' relationship to the bodhisattva (or Buddha) AvalokiteSvara. paltrulba) of a particular gre~t teache~, but even the. emanator
The Dalai Lama is held to be a sprul pa ('trulba'), and this is usually himself might not know all hIS emanatIOns. Even to dIscover the
seen as an 'emanation'. Such an emanation is a much rarer phenome- 200, we are told, took this particular teacher some time. He did not
non in Tibetan Buddhism. It is this trulba status that is behind the have immediate awareness. Moreover at least some of the emanations
confused claim that the Dalai Lama is a 'god on earth', But can we did not know about their status as emanations. 39 The implication is
gain a more precise idea of what is considered to be his actual clearly that emanations here can have self-consciousness and are not
relationship with Avalokitesvara? in any significant sense less real than the emanator.
The traditional Tibetan view of the Dalai Lama has been clearly This appears to contrast rather with the idea we get from the
expressed by Jigdal Sakya Rinpoche, a trulku of another Tibetan Indian yogic tradition. Nevertheless it does seem that the emanator
tradition, that of the Sa skya. He states that while the Dalai Lama is responsible in some sense for their existence, and is emanating
appears to be merely a simple monk, a person with 'clear vision' can them for a particular purpose. The present Dalai Lama has spoken of
see that he or she is in the presence of AvalokiteSvara himselp7 In emanations that do have a sense of 'I' and those that do not. For
the view of Jigdal Sakya Rinpoche, therefore, the Dalai Lama's example, a bodhisattva like Avalokitesvara could emanate himself in
r~lationship to AvalokiteSvara seems to be one of identity. The some form or another. That emanation would be a person, with a
d~fference between the Dalai Lama and AvalokiteSvara is simply a sense of 'I'. The emanation might then emanate further emanations.
dIfference seen from the side of the perceiver. These further emanations could appear to be persons and perform all
The current Dalai Lama has stated that while he is held to be the functions of persons, he says, but actually there would be only
the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lamas, and believed to be a one person - the emanator. He confesses this all sounds a bit like
manifestation of AvalokiteSvara, it is not easy to say whether he truly science fiction. 40 The Dalai Lama himself is very fond of describing
believes this: himself as 'just an ordinary Buddhist monk'. Or, as he puts it at one
point, '[w]hatever other people ... may think of me ... from my own
But as a fifty-six year old, when I consider my experiences during
point of view I am only a drifter along the way, and I still have a lot
this present life, and given my Buddhist beliefs, I have no diffi-
to do.'4!
culty accepting that I am spiritually connected both to the
thirteen previous Dalai Lamas, to Chenrezig [the Tibetan name Clearly, any concept of an emanation that allows the emanation
for AvalokiteSvara] and to the Buddha himselp8 to have an independent reality, independence of action, self-
consciousness and, in the case of the Dalai Lamas, to reincarnate in a
A 'spiritual connection' seems a rather weaker claim than one of reincarnation lineage is not what we normally think of as an emana-
emanation or manifestation, let alone one of identity. tion. On the other hand there are cases where Tibetans are willing
I confess to finding the notion of an 'emanation' vague in the to refer to someone as a 'manifestation of a Buddha' because his
extreme. In the Indian origins of the notion there is often a close actions resemble those of an incarnation of a Buddha. 4> So it seems
connection between the idea of emanation and that of a created that to be considered a manifestation of a Buddha does not necessar-
similitude or illusory being manifested for some purpose or another ily entail that one actually is a Buddha or, for example, an 'occult
by one with great magical ('yogic') power. This idea is conveyed both eject' from a Buddha.
by the original Sanskrit nirmal)akaya and the literal meaning of the What we want is a clearer idea of what exactly is meant by
Tibetan expression sprul sku ('trulku'). Yet in the Tibetan context referring to the Dalai Lamas as 'emanations'. Fortunately the present
 18
SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

INTRODUCTION
Dalai Lama has occasionally made reference to what seems to me to 19
44
be a much more satisfactory and realistic idea of what is being A 10kiteSvara. In a meditation practice written at the age of 19 for
claimed in saying that the Dalai Lama is an 'emanation' of Avalo-
kiteSvara. ot:r Tibetans, the Dalai Lama subscribes to the ~raditional view of
himself as AvalokiteSvara in the form of one :veanng the robes ~f a
I mentioned earlier that the Dalai Lama has spoken of four types m~. k But by the time of his first autobIOgraphy he . descnbes
of rebirth or incarnation. The first is ordinary uncontrolled rebirth. himself in the context of the possibility of being killed by the
The second is that of trulkus who are capable of controlling in some Chinese as 'only a mortal being and the instrument of the never-
way their rebirths. The Dalai Lama goes on to speak of: dying spirit of my Master'.4) If the Dal.ai ~ama were simply identical
(C) '[A]n entirely enlightened Buddha, who simply manifests a with AvalokiteSvara, or even an emanation III any normal sense of the
physical form to help others. In this case it is clear that the per- word 'emanation', it would not be possible to kill him. 46 Emanations
son is a Buddha'. are simply withdrawn by their emanator, not killed.
This idea of the Dalai Lama as a representative, or even a servant,
While it seems certain that this is indeed how Tibetans see the of AvalokiteSvara fits in with the fourth type of incarnation, a blessed
Dalai Lama, it is difficult to square this with his also being part of a manifestation, a person blessed by Avalokitesvara due to that person's
horizontal series of reincarnations. Such a manifested physical form is previous vows of great compassion. Elsewhere the Dalai Lama has
not the reincarnation of anyone. It is a manifestation of a physical spoken directly of his own incarnation as blessed by AvalokiteSvara.
form. It is also difficult to square it with those who do not clearly see He also speaks of having 'received the blessing', and being sent to
him as a Buddha. Moreover there are the Dalai Lama's own claims earth as the representative of Avalokitesvara. But he adds that he
that previous Dalai Lamas made mistakes, and that while Tibetans prefers to think of himself as just a monk. 47 Thus my suggestion is
consider him to be a Buddha, even omniscient, he is just an ordinary that the balance of possibility indicates that in Buddhist terms the
monk with still far to go on the path - presumably the path to full Dalai Lamas are what is known as 'blessed manifestations' rather
Buddhahood.
than direct emanations or manifestations of AvalokiteSvara in the
But there is another alternative. The Dalai Lama has also spoken sense in which emanations (nirmd1)akiiya-s) are normally referred to
of a fourth type of incarnation:
in Indian Buddhism. And I also suggest that the present Dalai Lama
(D) '[That is] a blessed manifestation. In this the person is himself veers towards this interpretation. Moreover I do not think
blessed beyond his normal capacity to perform helpful functions, this is a new way of seeing the Dalai Lamas. I would imagine that
such as teaching religion. For this last type of birth, the person's apart from feelings of great reverence and devotion by ordinary
wishes in previous lives to help others must have been very Tibetans, who would be inclined to see the Dalai Lama as simply
strong. They then obtain such empowerment.'43 and literally a Buddha, doctrinally, inasmuch as there has been
reflection on the subject, the Dalai Lamas have always been thought
The Dalai Lama has observed that it is not clear which type of of as blessed manifestations. They are human beings blessed beyond
incarnation he is, although some seem more likely than others. I am
their normal capacities by AvalokiteSvara. This blessing is granted to
inclined to think that he must favour this fourth option, and even them through their cultivation over many lifetimes of immense
within Buddhist doctrinal terms this seems a more realistic possibil- compassIOn.
ity. More recently he has observed that 'we' (presumably Tibetans) I have referred already to the problematic case of the Sixth Dalai
believe that the Dalai Lamas 'were specially blessed by Avalokites- Lama. I shall return in the next section to the life and times of the
vara' and are therefore regarded as the reincarnations of Sixth. But it seems difficult to avoid the view that this Dalai Lama's
own disinclination to be involved with either the Tibetan ecclesias-
 INTRODUCTION 2.1
2.0 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

tical or political structures of his day contributed to Tibet falling h Goodies) tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This is a tradition
victim both to rival Mongolian clans and also to the machinations of ~a:sociated with yellow hats) that makes a virtue of Virtue. The
the Manchu Chinese emperor. When the Sixth Dalai Lama was Dalai Lama may also be a learned monk. He is at least expected or
captured by an occupying force of the Mongolian Lha bzang Khan, ed to be· spiritually reasonably adept. Thus the unexpected
hop d .. h'
an attempt was made to have him deposed by his own people. A behaviour of the Sixth Dalai Lama, and his eClSlOn to return IS
group of abbots was eventually persuaded under Mongolian pressure monastic vows, faced his fellow Buddhists with an unexpected
to announce that the byang chub (pronounced 'jang chup') of Avalo- challenge and threat. In defence of the Sixth Dalai Lama, ho~ever,
kiteSvara had left the Dalai Lama. 48 It is clear from this that the while monks dominate Tibetan Buddhism, there also eXist lay
Dalai Lama was not even then seen as literally being AvalokiteSvara. spiritual teachers. In particular tantric practices ,:i~hin Ti~etan
Rather, he is one on whom something of AvalokiteSvara had Buddhism, which involve at advanced levels the practitioner tak~n? a
descended. Byang chub is the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit consort for ritual practice, might provide a model for neutralIzmg
bodhi, enlightenment. It comes from the same Sanskrit root as the criticism of the sexual involvement of the Sixth. This lay model is,
word Buddha. But the abbots could not have been intending to say however, associated mainly with other non-dGe lugs traditions of
that enlightenment, even the enlightenment of AvalokiteSvara, had Tibetan Buddhism. It would have found little sympathy among most
left the Dalai Lama. Enlightenment, once possessed, cannot be lost in the dGe lugs hierarchy.
and the enlightenment of one being cannot be transferred to
another. Thus, I suggest, byang chub here means not enlightenment 2. From the seventeenth century the Dalai Lamas have also been, at
at all. It is rather a typical Tibetan shortening of either byang chub least in theory and providing they reached their majority, heads of
serns dpa' (pronounced 'jang chup sem pa', i.e. bodhisattva), or byang the Tibetan state. Therefore the behaviour of the Sixth Dalai Lama,
chub serns (pronounced 'jang chup sem', i.e. bodhicitta, the awakening coming so soon after the establishment of the Dalai Lamas as ~e~ds
mind). Thus what the abbots were trying to say was that either the of state at the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, was a matter of political
bodhisattva, AvalokiteSvara, had left the Sixth Dalai Lama - which is as well as religious importance. Tantric practice or not, many would
to' say that AvalokiteSvara had withdrawn his blessing - or that the have considered the Sixth needed to remain an orthodox dGe lugs
awakening mind had been lost. The awakening mind must in this monk-practitioner in order to encourage stability and not to rock the
context mean the great compassion that had led to AvalokiteSvara's boat of state.
supreme blessing. The Sixth Dalai Lama had shown by his behav-
iour that he no longer had that great compassion for others. Either 3. The Dalai Lamas are also held to be advanced Mahayana bodhi-
way the Dalai Lama no longer had the blessing of AvalokiteSvara. If sattvas. Thus they are thought to be well on the way to
the Dalai Lama was seen simply as AvalokiteSvara in a monk's guise, Buddhahood, developing perfection in wisdom and compassion for
or an 'emanation' in the normal sense of the word, it would not be the benefit of all sentient beings. It is this bodhisattva status of the
possible for the Dalai Lama to remain in existence having lost his Dalai Lama that justifies doctrinally his willingness to engage in the
connection with AvalokiteSvara. dirty life of politics in order to help others. On the other hand sin~e
I want now to summarize what I have said in this lengthy section. an advanced bodhisattva is considered to be working to help others m
Who or what is the Dalai Lama? ways that might not be immediately obvious to 'ordinary mo.rtals',
this status of the Sixth Dalai Lama should have helped to ameliorate
1. In worldly terms, a Dalai Lama is a Buddhist monk. He is a monk any unrestrained criticism by others of his conduct.
- indeed usually an abbot - of the dGe lugs pa (the 'Virtuous Ones',
 INTRODUCTION
LL SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

empowerment, it therefore becomes possible to argue that the

4. A Dalai Lama is also a sprul sku (trulku). We have seen that in its
recipient needs by his or her acts to justify continued possession of
Indian Buddhist origins this term refers to an emanation - or a
the blessing. In the case of the Sixth Dalai Lama, it could be
'tra~sformatio~' - bo~y manifeste~ by a Buddha in order to help
claimed, his conduct meant or entailed that Avalokitesvara could
ordInary sentient beIngs. In Tibetan Buddhism, however, the
withdraw his blessing. Thus a Dalai Lama could lose his status as a
expression has come to be used to refer to a person who is considered
trulba. The claim by a group of abbots (albeit apparently under
to be a reincarnation of an identified previous teacher. The normal
Mongolian pressure) that AvalokiteSvara had indeed withdrawn his
implication is that the previous teacher developed the ability through
blessing from the Sixth Dalai Lama failed. I suggest it failed precisely
spiritual cultivation to control his or her rebirths in order to return
because most Tibetans had in practice come to see the Dalai Lama
to continue (it is hoped) the bodhisattva path of helping others.
as actually being Avalokitesvara in person. This exalted status
Thus it happens that a child is identified as the reincarnation and
(compare the 'divine right of kings' in Western political theory) was
trained to re-adopt his or her previous position and status. The
clearly in the interests of a strong Dalai Lama like the Fifth in
trulkus form an important institution in the Tibetan Buddhist
securing his control over the Tibetan state. Once a Dalai Lama is
hi.er~chy, pr~~iding in particular a degree of 'hereditary' continuity
seen as actually being Avalokitesvara, the Dalai Lama's status as an
withIn a pohtlcal system that came to be dominated by celibate
advanced compassionate bodhisattva beyond criticism by ordinary
monks. On the other hand we have also seen that Tibetans do not
mortals becomes enhanced. Thus can criticism and control by others
necessarily hold that just because someone is a trulku they will
behave virtuously. Behaviour in this life for good or evil is still an be offset.
open question. Thus among those who would criticize the Sixth
6. We should also note here two things a Dalai Lama is not. First he
Dalai Lama, his trulku status would not as such entail a limit to
is not in any simple sense a 'god-king'. He may be a sort of king, but
criticism. There have been a number of other cases in Tibetan
he is not for Buddhism a god. Second, in spite of what is often said,
Buddhism where trulkus have been subject to severe censure.
the Dalai Lama is not 'the Head (or 'Pope') of Tibetan Buddhism',
let alone of Buddhism as a whole. There are many traditions of
). Finally, the Dalai Lama is also a sprul pa (trulba). This is a much
Buddhism. Some have nominated 'Heads', some do not. Within
rarer phenomenon in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetans normally speak
Tibet too there are a number of traditions. Because of his political
of a trulba as an emanation of an important named 'transcendental'
significance, and also often his spiritual distinction, the Dalai Lama
bodhisattva. Thus since the seventeenth century the Dalai Lamas
will usually be given enormous respect. But he is not the Head of all,
have been considered to be trulbas of the bodhisattva of compassion,
or each of, the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Indeed he is not even
AvalokiteSvara. We have seen that this trulba status can entail seeing
Head of his own dGe lugs tradition. The Head of the dGe lugs is
the Dalai Lama as literally Avalokitesvara in person, in the form of a
whoever is abbot of dGa' ldan (pronounced 'Ganden') monastery, in
human monk. However, I have argued that the present Dalai Lama
succession to Tsong kha pa, the dGe lugs founder. In recent
would incline towards a less exalted estimation of his status, and
centuries this has not been the Dalai Lama.
there is evidence in Tibetan doctrinal history to support this. Thus
the Dalai Lama as a trulba is someone who has been blessed by
The attempt by the abbots to depose the Sixth Dalai Lama, to
Avalokitesvara as the result of the former's strong vows of compas-
ruin Tibetan faith in their Dalai Lama, failed. But to see why let us
sion in previous lives. A Dalai Lama is thereby enabled to act
now turn to the life and times of this extraordinary and extraordinar-
compassionately beyond his normal human capacity. Since to be a
trulba involves being the recipient of a particular blessing or ily tragic figure.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION

Th~ lif~ aHb tim~s of tl1~ Sixtl1 Dalai lama China. With the collapse of Mongol control in China (known there
As we have seen, the Dalai Lamas are institutionally members of the as the Yuan dynasty) and the accession of the indigenous Han
dGe lugs pa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sixth Dalai Lama, Chinese empire of the Ming (1368-1644), Sa skya dominance of
however, was born in 1683 into a family with hereditary associations Tibet also waned. But in Tibet the model and ideal of rule by
with another Tibetan tradition, that known as 'The Ancient Ones' monasteries continued. Moreover, even though the Mongols no
(or 'The Old Translation School'), the rNying ma pa (pronounced longer controlled China and Mongol power had fragmented into a
'Nyingmapa'). This was not unusual. The Fifth Dalai Lama too had number of rival warring clans, the Mongols were still militarily a
associations with the rNying ma pa by birth and by inclination in his powerful force in Central Asia. The need to control them and ideally
personal meditation practice. Nevertheless, while this might show a keep the Mongols disunited was a major foreign policy concern of
broad measure of doctrinal tolerance within Tibetan Buddhism at successive Chinese Ming emperors. And the Mongols, with their
that time, politically Tibet then was far from tolerant. In the words Khans, were for many centuries to come still among the principal
of Sir Charles Bell, who knew Tibet well from first-hand experience, powerbrokers in Tibet.
'There was no tolerance at that time [the seventeenth century] j The dGe lugs tradition emerged right at the beginning of the
battles were fought and monasteries were pillaged.'49 The monaster- fifteenth century in partial reaction against the inevitable corruption
ies, and thus their traditions of Buddhism, were closely involved in that went with the political involvement of monks and monasteries.
political rivalry. They had been so since at least the time of the great The very name dGe lugs pa means 'the Goodies', the Virtuous Ones.
Mongol expansion in the thirteenth century. Faced in Tibet with In fact the dGe lugs pas were so good, both in virtue and in learning,
large powerful monasteries, but by this time a weak secular rulership, that the dGe lugs tradition proved extremely attractive, and it
the Mongol Khan chose to control Tibet by simply giving Tibet to prospered. By 1560, when the Third Dalai Lama (d. 1588) stepped in
the most respected Tibetan lama of the day, and backing him up if to bring to an end fighting in Lhasa between rival enthusiasts for the
necessary with fierce and ruthless Mongol armies. This was formal- bKa' brgyud (pronounced 'Kagyer') tradition and for the dGe lugs,
ized and consolidated when the Mongols under Kublai Khan (d. the dGe lugs was already becoming itself a major player in Tibetan
1295) completed their conquest of China. The gift was understood politics. The Third was the first to be called 'Dalai Lama', and was
by Tibetans (in accordance with an old Indian model of the rela- responsible for finally converting many of the Mongol tribes to his
tionship between a king and his chief priest) to be a recognition on dGe lugs brand of Tibetan Buddhism. With widespread and
the part of the Khan that the lama stands in an ultimately superior powerful Mongol allegiance to the dGe lugs cause from that time on,
position to the Khan. The lama is his spiritual teacher (his guru). dGe lugs secular power was set to increase. Eventually, under the
Hence he is the superior partner just as the spiritual realm is superior Fifth Dalai Lama, it led to the whole of Tibet resting in dGe lugs
to the world. The Khan was in effect the lay patron, the lama his hands.
royal priest, and Tibet the offering made by the disciple to his We can see then that the Tibetan Buddhist traditions showed a
teacher. political intolerance that belied their broad (but by no means total)
The first school of Tibetan Buddhism to control Tibet politi- doctrinal tolerance. Thus (to take just one example) in 1618 the chief
cally was the Sa skya school, led by the revered Sa skya PaIJ.4ita of Tsang (gTsang) , the large province in southern Tibet, attacked
(II82-1251). This school was named after its principal monastery of the great dGe lugs pa monasteries of Drepung (,Bras spungs) and
Sa skya (pronounced 'Sagya' - 'Grey Earth') in southern Tibet. Sera. The Tsang chief was allied to another tradition of Tibetan
Under the Mongols the Sa skya school of Tibetan Buddhism also Buddhism, the Karma sub-school of the bKa' brgyud, that had
had enormous influence at the very centres of imperial power in become very powerful throughout Tibet but particularly in the
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 27

south. The dGe lugs monasteries (together with a third, Ganden attendant who pushed him into a corner where the only course was
(dCa' [dan)) dominated the Lhasa region. The Tsang chief attacked to sanction the complete destruction of the then ruling 'Regent' of
them after meeting armed resistance from the dGe lugs monks to a Tsang and his Karma bKa' brgyud religious allies. It happened like
raid he was making on Lhasa. Many monks were killed. Some small
this.
dGe lugs monasteries were forcibly converted to bKa' brgyud. The Faced with an alliance between Tsang, some Mongol supporters
chief of Tsang also founded a monastery of his own called Trashi and a king from Eastern Tibet, aimed as far as he could tell at
Zilnon (bKra shis zil non), the 'Suppressor of Trashi', referring to the completely destroying the dGe lugs school once and for all, the Fifth
great dGe lugs pa monastery of Trashi Hlunbo (bKra shis lhun po) in Dalai Lama appealed for military support from his Mongol devotees
southern Tibet, which it overlooked. In building this monastery, under the powerful Gushri Khan. According to his own account, the
stones were rolled down from the mountain side on to the dGe lugs Dalai Lama would have been happy with the defeat of the eastern
monks below, killing several of them. The aggression was not all one king, and he did not ask for Gushri Khan to destroy Tsang as well.
way. The reason for the chief of Tsang to attack at this time was But orally the Dalai Lama's chief attendant suggested to the Khan
what was felt to be insulting and disparaging treatment of him by the that, having defeated the former, Gushri Khan should complete the
attendants of the Fourth Dalai Lama (d. 1617). Even earlier, at the task and remove the Regent of Tsang too. 50 This eventu<illy hap-
turn of the seventeenth century, Mongol horsemen attached to the pened. Even the Dalai Lama came to agree that matters had gone
Fourth Dalai Lama, who was himself ethnically a Mongol, attacked too far for them to step back from this final confrontation. Gushri
Karma bKa' brgyud housing and stables. This in turn led to what Khan defeated and captured the Regent of Tsang. With the com-
had been an earlier raid on Lhasa by the soldiers from Tsang (1605} plete defeat of the main rivals to dGe lugs power, Gushri Khan
Perhaps much of the aggression between Tsang, dominated by the himself was now nominally King of Tibet. But, on the model
bKa' brgyud schools, and the central province (dEus, pronounced '0') supplied by the great earlier Mongol Khans, in 1642 Gushri Khan
around Lhasa, under the control of the dGe lugs and their allies, gave control of Tibet over to the Fifth Dalai Lama. With a subse-
reflected age-old rivalries. This was between central Tibet with its quent bKa' brgyud revolt crushed, Gushri Khan had the Tsang
capital of Lhasa, and the prosperous south of the country, on the Regent executed. The Dalai Lama, backed if necessary by powerful
borders of India and Nepal. Lhasa was the old capital of the almost Mongol forces, now for the first time controlled all of Tibet.
legendary Tibetan emperors of the seventh to ninth centuries. And The sheer importance of the Dalai Lama in Tibet and Mongol-
in spite of frequent rivalry and fighting between monasteries, monks dominated Central Asia was underlined by an invitation for him to
and their lay partisans, great lamas sometimes stepped in to mediate visit the Chinese emperor. In 1644 the Chinese Ming empire finally
and defuse aggression between armies. collapsed. It was overthrown by the Manchus, from north-eastern
I do not want to dwell at length on how the 'Great Fifth' Dalai China. The Manchus founded the Ch'ing Dynasty that was to
Lama eventually came to rule the whole of Tibet. It is sometimes remain the imperial dynasty in China until 1911. Similar in ethnic and
said that his takeover was motivated by a wisdom and compassion cultural origin to the Mongols, the Manchus knew only too well the
that realized Tibet would never be at peace until ruled by one man, danger that could be posed by Mongols and in particular Mongol
himself. But in his own autobiographical account he states that he unity. Accordingly they valued Tibet under a strong Dalai Lama
did not initiate the move towards political dominance and power. As who had direct control over the Mongol clans. For Chinese foreign
a Buddhist monk, the Dalai Lama wanted to avoid bloodshed - or at policy the Dalai Lama himself - the actual person of the Dalai Lama
least being thought responsible for more bloodshed than was strictly with the spiritual significance and prestige that went with it - was
necessary under the circumstances. It was the Dalai Lama's chief central to their plans for controlling and defusing Mongol military
 SONGS OF LOVE. POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION

strength. Through his religious significance for the Mongols, the politically, the fifth Dalai Lama was very successful in unifYing
Dalai Lama was to be the means by which the emperor in Beijing the country. Previously, there had been constant struggle for
could control if necessary, or divide and rule if need be, the danger- ower between different religious sects, ruling families, and pow-
ous Mongol warlords. 51 This is important if we are to understand the ~rful chiefs. The Dalai Lama succeeded in winning the allegiance
political disaster for Mongols and Chinese (not to mention for of the chieftains within Tibet as well as those on the border.
Tibetans) of the Sixth Dalai Lama's lack of interest in his role as Taxation was just and no exemptions were made. Although he
Dalai Lama. was sympathetic in dealing with his subjects, he could be ruthless
The Fifth Dalai Lama was a tireless, energetic and by all ac- in stampmg. out re beII'Ion. 54
counts relatively tolerant ruler. The period of his rule is often
thought of as being a golden age for Tibet. He strictly controlled As we saw previously, it was the Fifth Dalai Lama who discerned
those traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, such as the Karma bKa' that as well as a 'horizontal' relationship of rebirth to the previous
brgyud, that had provided focuses of opposition to the establishment Dalai Lamas, the Dalai Lama also possesses a 'vertical' relationship, a
of dGe lugs rule. Some monasteries were forcibly converted to the special relationship, to the bodhisattva AvalokiteSvara. And it was no
dGe lugs, and one tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the Jo nang pa, doubt in accordance with this relationship that he commenced the
was suppressed. But otherwise the Great Fifth let traditions be building of the vast palace, the Potala, towering over the city of
traditions, and employed in government service lamas from traditions Lhasa. The name 'Potala' comes from the supposed home of
other than dGe lugs. He himself rather favoured the rNying ma pa AvalokiteSvara, said to be somewhere in southern India. The actual
teachings, and among the many works he wrote on Buddhist mountain in Lhasa where the Potala was built was the site of the
ruins of the palace of the ancient Tibetan kings. By the time of the
doctrine, history, poetry and goodness knows what else, there were
Fifth it was already thought that the first of the great Tibetan
works written within the rNying ma rather than the dGe lugs
emperors, Srong btsan sgam po (pronounced 'Songtsen Gambo'; d.
religious ethos. The Fifth toured Tibet, and together with a series
649) was a direct manifestation of Avalokitesvara. Avalokitesvara was
of regents he established the political system that largely remained
a bodhisattva who, while compassionate for all, had a particular care
until the 1950S. As a ruler, albeit a Buddhist monk, he certainly had
and concern for Tibet and Tibetans. Now he was (as it were) to live
no problem with the necessities of judicial execution and war. He
there in the Potala, in Lhasa, the centre of the Tibetan world, in the
himself commented in one of his works that 'no pity should be
middle of the mandala, in the person of the Dalai Lama himself
wasted on a man who had to be executed for his crimes'. 52 Waging
Gushri Khan died in 1655. The Fifth Dalai Lama himself died in
aggressive war was by no means beyond him if he felt it was neces-
1682, aged 68. He died well before the completion of the Potala
sary. A number of times during his rule Tibetan armies invaded the
Palace. As a Buddhist monk and scholar, as well as a ruler, he had
little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and each time they were
been ably served by a series of chief ministers. These ministers were
defeated. The Great Fifth was not always successful in his enter-
known as 'regents' (sde srid; pronounced 'desi'). The most important
prises. To the present day Bhutan remains under the dominance of a
of them, and the one in power at the time of the Dalai Lama's death,
bKa' brgyud sub-school. Johannes Grueber, an Austrian Jesuit who
was Desi Sangyay Gyatso (Tibetan: sDe srid Sangs rgyas rgya
visited Lhasa at the time, spoke of the Fifth Dalai Lama as the
mtsho). Because of the importance of this man to our story, I shall
'devilish God-the-Father who puts to death such as refuse to adore
refer to him from now on simply as 'the Regent'.
him'.il But it has to be said that Grueber was hardly an objective
Like the Dalai Lama himself, the Regent was a formidable
judge. Shakabpa, a former Tibetan civil servant, comments in his
scholar and a skilled politician who could also be ruthless when he
political history of Tibet that:
thought it necessary. It has even been suggested that the Regent was
30 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 3'

actually the illegitimate son of the Fifth Dalai Lama, although of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama, wished to retain political
Shakabpa points out that the Fifth himself forced the resignation of control for as long as possible. But there is nothing to say that he
a previous regent precisely for breaking his vow of celibacy. So, he could not have remained in power during the minority of the Sixth
argues, it is not very likely that the Dalai Lama did so himselp5 Dalai Lama anyway. Loss of power would be no more likely under a
Among the Regent's writings are some of the most important minority than under the ever possible risk of discovery. 59 A more
Tibetan works on medicine and astrology, as well as history. The charitable judgement is that the Regent genuinely considered that
Regent himself remained throughout his life a layman, and Aris Tibet was too unstable for the death of the Dalai Lama to be
speaks of him as 'the most accomplished lay scholar Tibet ever announced. Sources refer frequently to the Regent consulting forms
6
produced'J He attributes much of this accomplishment to the of divination such as the Tibetan State Oracle, a monk who, in
influence of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The Fifth had brought up trance, is possessed by a protector god of Tibet that speaks through
Sangyay Gyatso from childhood with the intention that eventually he him. The Regent no doubt did this in order to determine what to
would become Regent of Tibet. do and whether the time was right to divulge the secret. Often the
The Regent was also an enthusiast for (inter alia) archery, poetry, Oracle expressed concerns, and it would be wrong to think that the
music and folksong. These are pursuits that will reappear in his great Regent did not genuinely accept and heed the words of oracles. Even
discovery, the Sixth Dalai Lama, as will their shared enthusiasm for the present Fourteenth Dalai Lama does. To let it be known at the
sex. Along with his rwo official wives, it is said of the Regent that 'of wrong time that the Great Fifth Dalai Lama was dead could be
the noble ladies of Lhasa and those who came there from the disastrous. It was the Dalai Lama who held control over the Mongol
provinces, there was not a single one whom the regent did not take clans, not anyone else - least of all a regent who initially had been in
[to bedJ',P power for only three years. In particular, it is said that the Regent
With the death of the Dalai Lama and the Potala only half thought that if the death of the Dalai Lama was known there would
completed, the expected next move was for the Regent to commence no longer be the control and impetus needed to ensure the comple-
a search for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He could then ti?n of the vast Potala Palace. According to the Regent himself, the
begin the long process of education before the Sixth, at a suitable Fifth Dalai Lama made this point as he lay dying. It was confirmed
age, could resume full rule of Tibet again. But the Regent did not subsequently by consulting the oracles. The symbol of the Potala was
do this. Instead he announced to the Tibetans that the Dalai Lama central to the Tibetan vision of the Dalai Lamas as Avalokitdvara
was entering religious retreat. No mention was made that the Fifth present in Lhasa. It was to be the central symbol of the new, stable,
had actually died. With this explanation the Regent continued to benevolent regime, and to manifest the actuality of Avalokitesvara's
rule the state in the name of the Fifth Dalai Lama, using all the concern for Tibet in the person of the Dalai Lamas.
official seals of the Dalai Lama, for some 15 years after the Fifth's It would be wrong to think that the Regent did not hold dearly
death (1682-1697). When distinguished visiting dignitaries had to be to the truth of all this. Nevertheless it is not clear that the Fifth
granted an audience with the Dalai Lama, a monk bearing some expected or advised secrecy for 15 years. The problems experienced
resemblance to the Fifth impersonated him, apparently very unwill- with the Sixth Dalai Lama may well reflect the length of time in
ingly. At least one case is recorded where the secret leaked out. The which the reincarnation was effectively kept imprisoned before his
Regent had the rwo people who had discovered the truth murdered. discovery could be announced to the Tibetan people and his public
Why the Regent kept the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama secret training as Dalai Lama begin in earnest. This is a point that was
for so long is not clear.,8 Uncharitable assessment would have it that recognized by later Tibetan historians themselves. I shall return to it
the Regent, who had been in power for only three years at the time below.
32 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 33

Of course the Regent was perfectly aware that the Fifth Dalai those involved felt some doubt) that this child was indeed the
Lama was dead. Thus a search for his reincarnation had to take reincarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Still no one else was told th~t
place, but without arousing wide suspicions about whom it was they this was the case. Tsangyang Gyatso's parents did not know until
were seeking. We know of the early years of the Sixth Dalai Lama 1696 , his 13th year. The local officials in Tsona were tol~ in 1697.
from an account written by the Regent himself In good Tibetan But the moment the examiners and the Regent were convmced, the
fashion it is replete with divinatory dreams, oracular pronouncements little child was separated from his family, including his mother.
and 'clear signs' of the child selected being the true reincarnation of Living conditions were improved somewhat, but it is said that the
the Fifth Dalai Lama. The child eventually recognized as the Dalai Lama's parents remained deeply upset by the treatment they
reincarnation was born in 1683 in the region known as Mon (pro- had received. They nursed their grievances for a long time. But then
nounced 'Mern') in the far south of Tibet (see verse 46, and at that time they had little choice. Much later, in 1697 soon after the
comments). The Fifth Dalai Lama himself had incorporated this Sixth Dalai Lama had been formally announced, his father died just
region into Tibet proper recently. It is said that this remarkable when he was coming into the riches that go with being a parent of a
child's first words were, 'I'm not someone insignificant, but rather Dalai Lama. But before he died he himself dictated a list of griev-
Gyalwa Lobsang Gyamtso [i.e. the Fifth Dalai Lama], the Refuge of ances which the Dalai Lama's mother eventually presented to the
the Three W orlds.'6o Regent. The Regent was shocked at the behaviour over all those
The distinguished monks charged with searching for the reincar- years of the two governors of Tsona. They finally met their karmic
nation were told to let it be known that they were actually searching comeuppance. They were stripped of their offices, their wealth was
for the rebirth of another recently deceased lama. They could not be confiscated and they were reduced to the level of commoners. The
searching for the Dalai Lama. He was, of course, still alive in retreat Dalai Lama's parents - certainly his mother - were toughies.
in Lhasa. And so it remained, even after selecting the lad from Mon It is sometimes claimed that because of the plot to keep the death
as the true reincarnation. No one was told that he was actually the of the Fifth Dalai Lama secret, the Sixth cannot have been trained
reincarnation of the long dead Dalai Lama. At the age of two years properly for his future career as Dalai Lama and this might explain
and eight months the child and his parents were taken from their his subsequent behaviour. That is not strictly true. Although he was
home to a location two days' journey away. They were then trans- effectively under house arrest all those years, with very restricted
ferred to the district headquarters, another place known as 'Tsona' contact with others, Tsangyang Gyatso (as he was later to be known)
(mTsho sna). Tsona was described by travellers in the 1930S as 'filthy, was given something resembling a respectable education from the age
wind-swept Tsona', 'a filthy village of close on a hundred hovels of four. Indeed the nature of his education as described by the
hardly fit for human habitation,.61 There the family was effectively Regent in his writing suggested to Aris that the Regent hoped to
held under house arrest, mainly in one room, and probably in the mould the Sixth Dalai Lama into a little version of the Great Fifth.
local fortress. Initially food was poor. They were frequently insulted Since the Regent considered that the Sixth was the reincarnation of
by the two local governors for reasons that may have had something the Fifth, he doubtless thought that the Sixth would immediately
to do with rivalries within the child's extended family. The very early master ('recollect') the difficult writings of his predecessor and
childhood of the Sixth Dalai Lama was one of imprisonment, abuse, himself, the Regent. Tsangyang Gyatso was expected to be very, very
hunger, family bitterness and initially a very real fear that they were clever. He had everyone of any real significance in his very restricted
going to be killed. world looking at him, wanting and expecting signs of cleverness. As
This sense of restriction and imprisonment continued even after Aris puts it in what is by far the most important recent scholarly
the Regent was satisfied through repeated tests (at first, it is said, study of the Sixth Dalai Lama's life:
 INTRODUCTION 35
34 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

hing was as it should be. 'While having his hair washed

[I] t would appear from all this that the regent was trying to re- not eve ryt .
. b fore the ceremony of tonsure the boy broke down weepmg.
create something of the scholarly atmosphere he had known in Just e " . 1 d d '» 64
his own youth when he had sat at the feet of the Great Fifth, also "This auspice," said the regent, was dlfficu t to un erstan . .
later when they had together poured forth the most weighty and In 16 97, after his ordination, Tsangyang Gyatso was en~h~one~ m
Lhasa as the Sixth Dalai Lama. While day-to-day admmlstratlon
enduring works of scholarship. Because of the constraints im-
posed by secrecy and distance, the only way the clock could be was still in the hands of the Regent, the Dalai La~a's life was no~
turned back to those times was by imposing on the boy the one constant round of official duties and educatIOn. He was still
weight of dead letters. The mere recitation of these was supposed severely restricted by the personnel, ritual and protocol. of the ~~tala
to rekindle the spark of learning and wisdom. At no point are we and the Tibetan government. How he felt about usmg the lm.le
afforded a glimpse of what was really going on in the mind of the black seal' to stamp endless boring documents can be seen perhaps .m
verse 14. But Tsangyang Gyatso, like his mother, was also a toughIe.
young boy. However, it can perhaps be guessed that the efforts to
By early 170I we find the Regent declaring to some leading d~e lu~s
mould him into the form of his predecessor were felt to be just as
constraining as the walls of the fortress where he was confined. 6~ pa abbots that the Dalai Lama would listen to no one concernmg hIS
studies not even his mother. Aris suggests that a learned work
It was Manchu pressure that eventually led to the public announce- attribu~ed to the Sixth Dalai Lama and written at this time was
ment of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama and the formal discovery probably ghosted, and represents the last attempt by the Regent to
of the Sixth. By now the Chinese Manchu emperor was the powerful represent Tsangyang Gyatso as a worthy scholarly successor to the
K'ang-hsi (1661-1722), without doubt the greatest of all the Ch'ing Great Fifth.6 5 There is increasing evidence towards the end of the
emperors. He still had problems with the Mongols. Defeating in Regent's account that the Dalai Lama was going hi~ own ~ay. He
battle in 1696 one particularly difficult Mongol Khan, K'ang-hsi was refusing to do more than the bare minimum reqUIred of hIm. He
heard from prisoners rumours of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama. was becoming uncontrollable. In the modern West those who have
Investigating, he was less than happy to find that the Regent had had teenage children might be able to recognize the phenomenon.
concealed the death of the Fifth for so long even from him, the Son We are in nor. The Dalai Lama was in his 19th year. He would
of Heaven in Beijing. The Chinese liked to think that all surround- soon be expected to take full monk's ordination. B~t we ~ow from
ing nations were institutionally dependent on the Chinese emperor. letters initially between the Regent and the Dalal Lama s teacher,
For the Regent to hide a matter of central importance to the state the Panchen Lama, and subsequently between the Dalai Lama
was deeply worrying. The emperor did not forget it. himself and the Panchen, that matters were not proceeding accord-
So the secret was finally out. In his early teens the Sixth Dalai ing to plan. The Dalai Lama went to southern Tibet, to Trashi
Lama was finally declared and ordained as a novice monk. His Hlunbo Monastery, to visit the Panchen Lama in person. He stayed
teacher and ordination master was the Second Panchen Lama of not at the monastery but rather in a mansion house in the neigh-
Trashi Hlunbo Monastery. The first Panchen Lama had been the bouring town. In fact Tsangyang Gyatso refu~e~ to sit. on the high
teacher of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Traditionally whichever is the older monastic throne, and refused to do all the rehglOus thmgs expected
incarnation between the Panchen and the Dalai Lamas acts as the of him as the great lama, the Sixth Dalai Lama. Most i~portant ~f
teacher to the other. As far as the dGe lugs vision of the Tibetan all, in spite of entreaties by the Panchen Lama, the Dalal La~~ dId
state is concerned the Panchen Lama ranks next after the Dalai something that would still be most unexpected of any tradlt1on~1
Lama. It was only at this time, the time of his ordination, that the Tibetan let alone an incarnate lama. He rejected the requests of hIS
lad was given his official name of'Tsangyang Gyatso,.6 J But at the teacher, 'his guru. Not only would he not take full monastic vows but
time of his novice ordination even the Regent noticed that perhaps
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 37

he also returned even the novice vows he had taken already. From Dalai Laflla immediately set about finding the assassins, using the
now on the Dalai Lama would be a layman. And have fun. Like the State OraC:l e . He then had them executed. But no doubt he also
Regent. suspected \\rho had put them up to this murderous attack. From now
Other distinguished lamas too added their voices. Please, please on his relations with the Regent cooled still further.
could the Dalai Lama just behave in a way expected of a Dalai Lama? We ar~ reaching the end of OUr tragedy. In an atmosphere of
The answer was 'No'! After 17 days Tsangyang Gyatso returned to growing Utthappiness with the rule of the Sixth Dalai Lama in some
Lhasa. And even when begged not to dress like a layman, he refused. influential international circles, in 17 0 3 the Regent handed over
The Dalai Lama wanted to dress like a layman. One eyewitness power to his son. Nevertheless he retained control of the state from
describes Tsangyang Gyatso dressed in lay clothes of blue silk, behind th~ scenes. Meanwhile a new Mongol Khan had come to
wearing several rings, with long hair, carrying a bow, and devoting power. Lha bzang (Lajang) Khan murdered his elder brother to
scant time to official requests or petitions before rushing off to become l~ader of the Khoshuud Mongol clan. From his great-
66
archery with his attendants and friends. Another eyewitness grandfath~r, Gushri Khan, he also succeeded as the true 'king' of
describes Tsangyang Gyatso surrounded by several distinguished Tibet. Attd Lha bzang Khan wanted full influence and more power.
friends and attendants, including at least one incarnate lama. They The Reg~nt (Sangyay Gyatso) did not agree. First he tried to poison
were all completely drunk, except apparently the Dalai Lama himself, Lha bzang Khan, but the plot Was discovered. He tried another
who carried on as if unaffected. He 'gave counsels, wrote composi- similar m\J.rderous scheme, but the monks from the great monaster-
tions and sang songs without error, being not in the least bit altered ies rejected it. Eventually, to cut a long and murky story short, Lha
[by the effect of alcohol]'.67 But we know from accounts of the ~zang Khan (perhaps understandably and with Chinese agreement)
twentieth-century 'renegade dGe lugs pa monk' dGe 'dun chos phel lllvaded C:entral Tibet. The Tibetan defenders, fighting for the
(Gendun Cherpel) that the theme of a Tibetan religious hero Regent, \\rere completely defeated. The Regent was captured. It is
unaffected by vast amounts of alcohol is not uncommon. The not clear \\rhether Lha bzang Khan himself was responsible, or one of
implication is that if alcohol has no affect this is an indication of his fierce Mongol wives who was also a general in command of the
great siddhi, great 'yogic power'. It adds to the sense of otherworldli- Mongol forces. Either way the Regent was beheaded. In spite of his
ness in one's hero, a sense that 'there is more here than meets the skill in So many fields, it was all in the end too much for Desi
eye'. But it also suggests not alcoholism perhaps but at least a refined Sangyay. C;yatso. He had lost.
level of tolerance to alcohol that comes with considerable practice. So, Itt the long run, had Tsangyang Gyatso and the Tibetans.
Once more like so many parents of modern teenagers, the Regent Lha bzattg Khan still had to do something with the Sixth Dalai
surmised that perhaps the real problem was that Tsangyang Gyatso Lama, Who had been placed there by the Regent. However one
kept bad company. Clearly, even a reincarnation of a great lama may looked at it, the Sixth Dalai Lama was a rival to Lha bzang Khan. So
be affected by the influences he encounters in this life too. One he h~d to go. Clearly - and perhaps genuinely for the Khan - this
friend in particular was blamed for being a bad influence on the Dalai Dalal Lama could not be the real reincarnation of the Great Fifth.
Lama. So, true to form, in the interests of the state, the Regent But Lha bzang Khan had already accepted the suzerainty of the
arranged to have him murdered. Unfortunately the target, together K'ang-hsi Manchu Chinese emperor. Any attempt to depose the
with his servant and Tsangyang Gyatso, had all exchanged clothes Dalai Lama would require the emperor's agreement. The agreement
for fun while they were out for the night. Thus the servant was w~s not long in coming. The emperor needed a strong hand in
stabbed to death by mistake. When the assassins realized their error Tibet, for there were other Mongol clans that could interfere
they set upon the right target, injuring him too. For his part, the otherwis~, notably the powerful Dzungar Mongols who were
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS
INTRODUCTION 39

opposed to China. The current Dalai Lama was useless. It was at

that by now the Dalai Lamas had had enough of young women: the
this point that Lha bzang Khan put pressure on the abbots of the
Seventh spent his life as a learned scholar and a monk.
leading monasteries to declare Tsangyang Gyatso not the true Dalai
Lha bzang Khan was eventually defeated in battle by the Dzungar
Lama. Accordingly the abbots declared that his connection with
Mongols and went down fighting bravely. It is said he took II
Avalokitesvara, whatever that was, had been broken. The Dalai
Lama was deposed. Mongol soldiers with him. The Dzunga~s wreaked c~mplete havoc
on Lhasa and central Tibet, thereby losmg what Tibetan support
The Mongols led Tsangyang Gyatso away under arrest. The plan
they had initially enjoyed as opponents of Lh~ bzang. Khan. Eventu-
was apparently to take him to China or at least in the direction of
ally the Chinese, with Tibetan allies, stepped m to bnng the Seventh
China. But monks from Drepung monastery rescued him. When
Dalai Lama to Lhasa and (as far as the Chinese emperor was
asked, the State Oracle gave a somewhat ambiguous reply but seemed
concerned) to establish some sort of firm control over Tibet. The
to suggest that he was nevertheless the genuine reincarnation of the
rest, as they say, is history. .
Fifth Dalai Lama. And that was the view of the overwhelming
But not quite. There are also strange legends and rumours. Did
majority of Tibetans at that time and since. When the Mongols
Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama, really die in I706? There
under Lha bzang Khan began to attack, T sangyang Gyatso is said to
remains an account accepted even by some modern scholars (mclud-
have given himself up in order to prevent bloodshed. But perhaps
ing apparently the current Tibetan refugee authorities in India) that
there is some uncertainty about this too. It is reported that the Dalai
has him escaping his Mongol escort. According to this account, well
Lama's companions, who walked towards the Mongol army with
known among the Mongols, he lived anonymously, initially as a
him, perished to the last man. Were they fighting? One wonders
wandering pilgrim, for a further 40 years. He concealed his identity
whether the Dalai Lama could have surrendered without even this
but was occasionally recognized. He visited China and India, and
bloodshed.
eventually died an abbot in the far northeast, on the Chinese border.
It is even less clear what happened next. According to Chinese
There his body remains mummified.
and Mongol sources the Dalai Lama fell ill as he was being taken to
This post-mortem life of the Sixth Dalai Lama is one of a
China. He finally died in November I706 in the far northeast near
wandering holy man. It bears little resemblance to his life prior to his
Kokonor Lake. It is said that at the time of his death he was reciting
'death'. One might think that if Tsangyang Gyatso finally gained the
the mantra of Avalokitesvara. His body may have been cremated,
freedom he so craved he would have done something other than
although the K'ang-hsi emperor, who accepted that he was not the
become a pilgrim and eventually a dGe lugs pa abbot. It would also
genuine Dalai Lama, asked that the body simply be discarded. The
follow, of course, that at the time he was 'reincarnated' as the
Sixth Dalai Lama is the only Dalai Lama whose body is not pre-
Seventh Dalai Lama, the Sixth Dalai Lama was still alive and well,
served in Lhasa. Needless to say, there remains to the present day
living incognito. Nevertheless the historian Michael Ari~, .i~ his
some suspicion that he may have been murdered. After all, he was no
careful study, has argued that while it seems to stretch credlblltty to
longer accepted as the true Dalai Lama by either Lha bzang Khan or
think that this story really applies to Tsangyang Gyatso, there is
the Chinese emperor. It would be best if he were out of the way.
enough evidence to suggest something, or rather someone, behind it
In the meantime Lha bzang Khan had announced that a young
all. After all, the earliest account is found in a source that comes
monk that he had discovered was the true reincarnation of the Great
from a pupil of the man himself. This story, at least the part that
Fifth Dalai Lama. This was not widely accepted. Twenty-two
refers to him in Mongolia and dying an abbot in the northeast,
months after the reported death of Tsangyang Gyatso a child later
apparently is not mere fiction but refers to an actual person. ~nd it
recognized as the true Seventh Dalai Lama was born. But it seems
seems that that person occasionally let it out to favoured pupils that
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION

really he was Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama. The upshot was not approved by the 'Great Thirteenth', there is no evidence that
of Aris's study is quite simply that there was an imposter. His real it caused Mongolians and Tibetans to doubt the man, the incarna-
name, Aris shows, was Ngag dbang chos grags rgya mtsho (pro- tion or his Buddhism. The general view, apparently, was that he
nounced 'Ngawang Cherdrak Gyatso'). And he is presumably still behaved in this way perhaps as a means of testing or strengthening
68
there, mummified, in Tibet. Or Mongolia. Or China. the faith of his Buddhist followers.
Or is it, after all, the body of the repentant Sixth Dalai Lama? So doctrinally, as far as Tibetan Buddhism is concerned, and also
socially among Tibetans, the sexual behaviour of Tsangyang Gyatso
The seXli Dalai lama? need not have been in itself a cause for undue concern. It is thus not
The thing that often strikes Western readers coming to the story of necessary to defend, as do Norbu and Turnbull, or Hoffmann/ 9 the
the Sixth Dalai Lama for the first time is the fact - and there is no sexuality of Tsangyang Gyatso by recourse to the possibility that he
question that it is a fact - that he had sex with young women. This may really have been practising advanced tantric sexual techniques. In
is a matter that seems to concern some people, and a matter that the case of Norbu and Turnbull one detects a certain concern to
requires some sort of special explanation. It may also have concerned defend the Sixth Dalai Lama against the attacks of Chinese Com-
the Manchu Chinese emperor then, and it seems to interest Chinese munist propagandists. Norbu, as an abbot and the elder brother of
Communist propagandists to the present day, concerned to blacken the current Dalai Lama, had himself barely escaped from Chinese-
the institution of the Dalai Lamas and the Tibetan system whereby occupied Tibet. There is also some hint that for Western readers
monks are involved in ruling the state. Tantra might be a more acceptable explanation of the Dalai Lama's
But we need to be clear that in Tibet at the time it was unlikely behaviour than simple sex. But that is our problem, not (tradition-
that his sexual interests were what caused the scandal of the Sixth ally) one for Tibetans.
Dalai Lama. He was the Dalai Lama, considered an 'emanation' of Evidence that the Sixth Dalai Lama's affairs were related to the
Avalokitesvara. And all agree that a great bodhisattva, in always advanced tantric practice of sexual yoga is all but lacking from the
aC.ting for the benefit of others, might behave in a manner not verses themselves. A verse is sometimes cited: 'Never have I slept
0
expected by those of us who are less enlightened. As we have seen, without a girl / Never have I lost a single drop of sperm.>7 If this
there is a Tibetan tradition that the Great Fifth Dalai Lama had sex were true, and the verse genuinely by Tsangyang Gyatso, it would
with women and even fathered a son - the Regent himself. Moreo- suggest a very advanced practice of sexual Tantra indeed (or impo-
ver it did not concern Tibetans, or indeed anyone else, when the tence). An ability to reverse the flow of normal male orgasm and use
government of the Fifth Dalai Lama, undoubtedly with his approval, the great bliss generated for psycho-physical sexual yoga is on all
executed criminals or political enemies. Killing is no less acceptable counts accepted by Tibetans as supremely advanced and (not
for a good Buddhist monk than is sex. Of course, a bodhisattva surprisingly) difficult to master. But this verse consists of just two
acting for the benefit of all sentient beings can kill with impunity. lines; it is in a nine-syllable metre rather than the six syllables of all
But then, he or she can also have sex. We know, for example, that in the other verses and it is not included in any of the extant old
19 0 4, at the time of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, the highest dGe Tibetan versions of the collected songs of Tsangyang Gyatso. There
lugs pa lama in Mongolia, the rJe btsun dam pa ofUrga (pronounced is clearly no reason to accept its authenticity. The only verse that
'Jetsun Dampa'), while supposedly a celibate monk was openly does suggest directly the possibility of some form of tantric practice
married. He also drank very heavily and smoked even in the presence is verse 20. Interestingly this is not obviously related to Tsangyang
of the Dalai Lama himself. This lama was ranked third in the dGe Gyatso's relationships with women at all. Its only relevance here is in
lugs religious hierarchy of the Tibetan state. While his behaviour its suggestion of a tantric alchemical potion for avoiding hell. For a
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 43

direct tantric explanation of Tsangyang Gyatso's sexual involvement In the last analysis we have to rely on the witness of the verses,
this verse is of marginal significance (for further comments, see my ~~ving established to the best of our ability which verses are likely to
notes on this verse), be authentic. Those verses can give us as close an insight as we are
We sometimes find a suggestion that the Dalai Lama's teachers ever likely to get into the actual mind of the Sixth Dalai Lama.
recognizing his interest in sex, would naturally have channelled i; Several verses (such as I, 17, 18 and 19) suggest that Tsangyang
towards sexual yoga?! I find this unconvincing as an explanation for Gyatso's attachment to his lover was such as to interfere with even
his behaviour: basic Buddhist spiritual, particularly meditational, practice. In this he
was, as we might perhaps expect, a beginner. The ability in concen-
1. The dGe lugs tradition has always favoured a strict control on the tration required for advanced tantric sexual yoga is phenomenal.
use of an actual consort (i.e. a real, live woman) in even advanced Tsangyang Gyatso himself declares that when his lover is absent he
tantric practice. They were, after all, 'the Virtuous Ones'. They were cannot concentrate at all. If his concentration is that weak, it is
founded on the basis of a strict adherence to monastic rule and other doubtful that he could do much better at the time of orgasm.
moral codes. The great Tsong kha pa himself, founder of the dGe
lugs tradition, is said to have reached a stage where he could employ ). There would have been no need to channel the Dalai Lama's
a physical consort, but declined to do so in order not to set a bad interest in sex towards sexual yoga. I am suggesting that discreet
example to his followers. I doubt that even in the case of a Dalai sexual relations by the Dalai Lama would not as such have been a
Lama his teachers would encourage the use of a consort simply as a great problem for Tibetans, or in Lhasa. There was no real problem
means of channelling sexual interest. in his sex being straightforward, ordinary sex. Even before he handed
back his monastic vows, the Dalai Lama was not a fully ordained
2. Moreover, if the Dalai Lama's teachers had chosen this option monk. Technically he was a novice. He did not take the full monk's
then they would probably have used as few young women as possible, vows. Of course an ordinary novice would still be expected to avoid
and the sexual yoga would have been performed deep within the sexual contact with women, but the Dalai Lama was not an ordinary
Potala Palace. Actually the exact opposite was the case. The Dalai novice. And after not taking the full vows of a monk, and renounc-
Lama met his partners - it seems clear there were many - outside ing his novice's vows, the Dalai Lama was a layman and as entitled to
the Potala, either in his own rooms that he had built for the purpose have sex with women as any other layman, including the Regent.
overlooking one of the lakes, or in brothels, or sometimes elsewhere There is even a verse to this effect:
in Tibet.
Do not tell me
"Tsangyang! You are dissolute,"
3· As far as dGe lugs understanding of Tantra is concerned, the use
Just as you desire pleasure
of an actual consort for physical sex is a supremely advanced prac-
I, too, desire pleasure and comfort?3
tice?2 It is unlikely that the Dalai Lama's dGe lugs teachers would
have encouraged him to use actual women at his age, particularly This verse is not included in the official collections of his poems,
when his religious education had hardly begun. As far as the dGe and is undoubtedly not by Tsangyang Gyatso. But no matter. It
lugs tradition was concerned he was nowhere near the level of shows how the Tibetan people considered his sexual activity. Put
learning and experience that would lead to much practical engage- frankly, as a layman Tsangyang Gyatso was just having fun. It would
ment with even relatively routine tantric practice. have been considered unnecessary to introduce him to the complexi-
ties of advanced tantric sexual techniques, particularly when it is
 INTRODUCTION 45
SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

doubtful that dGe lugs teachers themselves had more than a theo- improperly and disastrously in the public sphere. Thus the Thir-
retical understanding of their practice. teenth Dalai Lama commented:
He did not observe even the rules of a fully ordained priest. He
There is simply no substantial evidence from the verses of any drank wine habitually. And he used to have his body in several
interest in sexual yoga. I suggest that it never crossed the Dalai places at the same time, e.g. in Lhasa, in Kong-po (a province
Lama's mind to bother with the discipline of advanced tantric sexual seven days' journey east of Lhasa), and elsewhere. Even the place
yo~a. That was not what he wanted. To read the verses this way is where he retired to the Honourable Field (i.e. died) is uncertain;
to Impose upon them a model which is unnecessary and which loses one tomb of his [i.e. Aris's impostor] is in Alashar in Mongolia,
the simple pungency, the passion and the sadness of the verses while there is another in the Rice Heap [Drepung] monastery.
themselves. Moreover, in spite of a modern claim encountered Showing many bodies at the same time is disallowed in all the
sometimes that Tibetans incline to read the Sixth Dalai Lama's sects of our religion, because it causes confusion in the work. One
verses as indicating advanced tantric practice,74 even if true, I doubt of his bodies used to appear in the crowd in the Reception Hall
that th~s strategy is a traditional one. I strongly suspect that this way of the seventh Dalai Lama. One is said to appear also at my re-
of readmg the verses reflects precisely the changed (modern, West- ·, 76
ceptions, but I am unable to say wh et h er t h IS IS true or not.
ern) world of the Tibetan diaspora since the Chinese occupation in
the 1950S' If not a more puritanical world, this is at least a world that In support of the suggestion that many bodies might be the answer, a
has diff~rent expectations of religious practitioners. In support of my Tibetan friend of Sir Charles Bell commented that '[t]he Sixth
contentIOn here, we could cite Sir Charles Bell's experience (noted Dalai Lama had the power of assuming several forms. His own body
above) in Tibet prior to the Chinese takeover that the behaviour of used to be in the Potala Palace, while a secondary body used to roam
the rJe btsun dam pa of Urga was explained not as advanced tantric about, drink wine, and keep women.'77 It seems that a Dalai Lama
yoga but rather as testing the faith of his devotees. Similarly, later in can have his cake and eat it.
the twentieth century, during the minority of the present Fourteenth And the Fourteenth on the Sixth Dalai Lama:
Dalai Lama, the Regent, Reting (Rwa sgreng) Rinpoche, a monk, [H]e was spiritually pre-eminent, but politically, he was weak and
was known to have a penchant for both men and women?5 Yet it was disinterested. He could not follow the Vth Dalai Lama's path.
not that which in itself led to his downfall or indeed caused him This was a great failure?8
particular problems.
Moreover both the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth Dalai Lamas This, I suggest, is as close as they can come to condemning what we
have commented on the behaviour of the Sixth Dalai Lama. Both, of unenlightened beings see of the behaviour of Tsangyang Gyatso -
his refusal to adopt the traditional role of a Dalai Lama. This must
course, are Tibetan Buddhists and consider him to have been the
include the expected public vows of celibacy and sexual discretion. It
genuine reincarnation of the powerful Great Fifth Dalai Lama.
is noticeable that neither the Thirteenth nor the Fourteenth (nor
Therefore both consider the Sixth to have had at some level the
Bell's informant) considers that a tantric explanation will suffice for
powers and the abilities of the Fifth, as well as being an 'emanation'
the behaviour of the Sixth. We could also mention the verse cited
of AvalokiteSvara. Thus both the Thirteenth and the Fourteenth
above that does (I suggest) indicate how Tibetans really saw the
accept the spiritual distinction of the Sixth Dalai Lama, without
sexual behaviour of the Sixth Dalai Lama. He was entitled to have
recourse to a tantric explanation for his behaviour. Both, on the
other hand, consider the Sixth to have behaved (for some reason) pleasure and fun. The problem was how he chose to do it.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 47

Moreover, while we find material that explains the many re- onsibility for their upbringing. At least, Tsangyang Gyatso does
markable abilities of the Sixth Dalai Lama, abilities that all Tibetans res P . . . 82
not envisage the upbnngmg of a pnnce. .,
would expect of a genuine Dalai Lama, we do not find advanced Moreover, I doubt very much that an explanation m terms of
sexual yoga used in pre-modern sources as an explanation for the procreation will suffice for Tsangyang Gyatso's sexual ~ntcrests. For
Sixth Dalai Lama's involvement with women. Tsepon W.D. all the problems of rule by reincarnation, the. Dalal L.ama as a
Shakabpa, writing his history of Tibet soon after the modern hereditary institution would not have been an obVIOUS solutIOn to. the
Chinese occupation, based mainly on traditional Tibetan sources, roblems of Tibetan government at that time. Tibet had had kmgs
and himself a traditional Tibetan of the 'older generation', makes no ?
In
the past indeed in the not-too-distant past. Tibet already had a
, h d'
attempt whatsoever to explain or justifY Tsangyang Gyatso's liking secular ruler - the Mongol Khan. Any attempt to found a ere Itary
for young women. The Dalai Lama's renouncing of his monastic dynasty would fall foul of the great monasteries, the Mon??l Khan
vows is explained by the fact that he 'was of a different turn of mind'. and the powerful Manchu Chinese emperor. And by definltlon, any
The vows 'did not appeal to him'.79 It is striking that Shakabpa child of Tsangyang Gyatso would not be the Dalai Lama, since he
makes no mention whatsoever of any tantric involvement of the could not be the reincarnation of the Sixth Dalai Lama. There
Sixth Dalai Lama that might explain his sexual interests. One can be would thus be no basis for any claim to a significant relationship with
reasonably sure therefore that the traditional Tibetan sources Avalokitesvara - at least, not a significant relationship based on the
available to him also made no mention of it. 80 And this is not activities of previous Dalai Lamas. As we have seen, there was a view
surprising. To the extent that Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama as circulating in some circles that the Regent, Desi Sangyay Gyatso,
Avalokitesvara incarnate, and thus possessed of wonderful powers and was the illegitimate son of the Fifth Dalai Lama. ~ut ther~ was no
abilities, they consider him already a Buddha and beyond the need suggestion that this might replace the r:inc~rnatmg. Dalal .Lamas
for yoga (or conventional morality) of any kind, including sexual with a hereditary dynasty. One could not Imagme ordmary Tibetans
yoga. The highest tantric practices aim at enlightenment in one finding 'Son of Dalai' a satisfactory alternative to 'Dalai Himself (as a
lifetime, but the Dalai Lama is considered by ordinary Tibetans reincarnation).
already enlightened (but see his own verse I9). Anyway, one thing is clear. While some Tibetans felt t?ere mus~
Indeed, the pre cognizant powers of a Dalai Lama are employed in be some sort of explanation for the sexual interests of the Sixth Dalal
one other pre-modern explanation for his behaviour that circulated Lama other than his age and sex, prior to modern times there do~s
among some Tibetans. It is that he was actually trying to father a not seem to have been recourse to an explanation in terms of tantnc
child in order to found a dynasty. He knew in advance that if he sexual yoga. . .
could do so his dynasty would become powerful and change in some So I am suggesting that, contrary to what we might thmk, the
81
way the future of Tibet. If this were true, then clearly Tsangyang Sixth Dalai Lama's sexual behaviour would not in itself have caused
Gyatso's ability to tell the future was limited, since as far as we know 8
great problems in pre-modern Tibet. > This was not what generated
he did not succeed in having a son. The explanation of Sir Charles the real scandal. But then what did cause the scandal? For scandal
Bell's Tibetan friend for this failure is that had he succeeded, a there was a scandal that led eventually to the deaths of the Regent
powerful dynasty would have led inevitably to violence, and the and the Dalai Lama, and extended Chinese (Manchu) control in
Buddhist religion in Tibet would have declined. Thus it did not Tibet. This control has also provided in recent times, alas, an
happen. But actually the only verse of the Dalai Lama related to the effective basis for justifYing the twentieth-century Chinese takeover
possibil-ity of children (verse 28) rather suggests an attempt to shirk of Tibet, as forming 'an integral part of the motherland'.
 INTRODUCTION 49
SONGS OF LOVE. POEMS OF SADNESS

he could) and leave public appearances to the Regent. Nor was he

It seems to me that what really caused the scandal was the D I .
L ' fu
an:a s re sal to be discreet and his complete lack of interest in
a~ content to rule his people himself (or have it thought by the popu-
lace that he was doing so) as an orthodox dGe lugs pa monk Dalai
plaYIng the game. He refused to take the full vows of a monk. He
Lama. In fact Tsangyang Gyatso seemed in the end (even after a
returned to the lay state, and he dressed flamboyantly as a layman.
certain amount of inner searching) to be interested in only his own
He wo~l.d rather go off :-vith his friends and attendants to archery
pleasures. He was to all appearances completely lacking in concern
competitIOns. The Dalal Lama also built - or had built -
.. , I an for the wider world of Tibet and its neighbours. He was thus, at
exq~ls~te stat~ y pleasure dome' in the gardens of the Potala,
least to Tibetans directly involved in the murky politics of the time,
testifYIng to his aesthetic taste. He roamed the streets and brothels
apparently lacking in compassion. He was lacking in the very essence
drank alcohol publicly and enjoyed pranks with his friends. On~
of what he should be as an emanation (or whatever) of Avalokitd-
prank, as we have seen, even saved the life of a friend.
vara. And it was those, politically involved, Tibetans, Mongols and
Tsangyang Gyatso had little interest in his role as the Dalai
Chinese - not the ordinary politically naive Tibetans - who took the
Lama. He had no interest whatsoever in the murky world of con-
lead in trying to remove the Dalai Lama.
t~mporary Tibetan politics .. We need to remember that it was only
Tsangyang Gyatso found himself thrust into a role and a world
nIne years bern:een the offiCial declaration of his 'discovery', with his
he simply did not want. His response, his behaviour, was in many
release from virtual house arrest, and his (apparent) death. The
ways that of a typical adolescent, an adolescent now come into
scandal that occu~red was not in his personal tastes but in his public
unexpected wealth after years of rather horrible deprivation. In saying
p.erso~a. I~ was hl~ refusal to adopt his public role at a very sensitive
this, I am not intending to disparage him in any way. He behaved as
time In Tibetan history. We sometimes find modern books that aim
I suspect most of us would have done under the circumstances, at
to por:ray the ~ixth D.alai. Lama as 'The Rebel' - a 1960s-type
least at that age. He had so little say in his own future. He was
revolutIOnary agaInst pUritanical sexual restrictions and control by the
perhaps aware of what could happen to him and to Tibet, but he
older gener.ation o~ priestly power freaks. But in fact Tsangyang
probably did not think until the end that it would. At least, not to
Gyats~, :vh~le. refusIng to accept the role imposed on him, rebelled
him. In not really expecting the worst to happen Tsangyang Gyatso
only In InSisting on having his own way regardless of the conse-
was yet again like a modern adolescent. No normal healthy teenager
quences: We find several verses in which the Dalai Lama shows he is
really thinks they will ever die. Hence his complaint in verse )8 that
at. the time torn between a life of religion and his love affairs. But he
it had all been so unfair. In that we can just hear the voice of the 24-
fails. to offer, either in .h~s verses. or in his behaviour, a critique of a
year-old, dying long before his time and having been effectively
partlcu~ar brand of. relIgl~n or. Indeed a particular political system
imprisoned for half of those years. Tsangyang Gyatso's life was in the
except Inasmuch as It restricts hiS own behaviour. Rather he seems to
end not much fun. And we should not forget it.
a~cept :he ~rth~dox dGe lugs pa state and religion. That is what He was right - it was all so unfair. Therein lies his tragedy, and
gives him hiS dilemma. That is what makes his case so sad. In the
that is what makes his songs so sad as well as often rather beautiful.
end, verse 6) suggests, he simply decides to follow his heart in spite Those who would turn Tsangyang Gyatso into a hippie rebel, 'the
of what may happen.
Outsider', or a tantric holy man or a frustrated benevolent ruler of
It .is this, I think, that also prompted the abbots to acquiesce
his people destroy (I suggest) the sadness of his story and the beauty
(eve~ If under pressure) in the claim that Avalokitdvara's blessing, a
of his verses. Tsangyang Gyatso spent his time trying to tell everyone
bles~Ing b~sed on the Dalai Lama's immense vows of compassion in
that he was simply a normal ordinary human being who wanted to
prevIOus lives, had left Tsangyang Gyatso. For it seemed that the
live the life of a normal human being. If he couldn't get through to
young Dalai Lama was not content to take a backstage role (even if
 )1
INTRODUCTION
)0 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

them by his words, he could try and do it with h'iS actlons

. But figures like the Regent and Lha bzang Khan. The evidence for this
way or anoth er they wanted to make h'1m be more The. one approach to the Sixth Dalai Lama appears to lie in just such a 'deep'
d ld
estroy the person he was. And that is what the . ' y wou reading of the verses. I find this logic weak. It seems to presuppose
who would make him some kind of . y still try to do, those what it sets out to show. I also fmd such readings, while sometimes
Icon to more than J' t h'
personal tragedy. us IS own vaguely interesting, largely unconvincing. So I shall not consider
them further.
How to ,.~ab th~ V~,.s~s of th~ Sixth Dalai lam Still, my translation in the main leaves it quite open for the

~::~' ~~:d tat in mo" eo,,, th, att,mpt to tead th, V"'~r .of th,
al ama as statements of obscure T'b
reader if he or she wishes to choose to give the verses some religious
or political interpretation other than - or as well as - what appears to
tantric ~xuf:aly;ga, beyond their apparent surface ~:::7n;e ~~::s ~; be the straightforward erotic meaning. There are some that find the
Dalai Lama's interest in young women, or his apparent political
me to e ar- etched. There are also some that would' .
verses ineptitude, embarrassing. They are perfectly free, as far as possible
Th' for hidden references to the D aIal. L ama's po I"mcal mme po .. the
. IS approach appears to be particularly favoured by modern C~·t1on. within the limits of this translation, to superimpose upon the surface
r . perhaps reflecting the C ommUnlst
wnters, . regime's
. .
mtere mese
t . level of the text an additional, symbolic reading. I do not do so
po ItKS and the ec~nomic determinants of power. I also fi d ~. ~n myself. To me these verses say and mean what they say. That is all.
most cases unconvmcing. Sorensen too seems to' n, t. IS m They are mostly about the Sixth Dalai Lama's loves and his frustra-
political reference' much more credence than I wou~v;,~he ~Idden tions. To that extent the best way to read these verses is in the light
take one verse at random (44): . us, Just to of Tsangyang Gyatso's own personal story, as (in the main) very
tragic love poems.
tshes gsum zla ba dkar ba Until recently there has been no critical edition of the Sixth
dkar gos nang nas chod song Dalai Lama's verses. There is one now, produced with a great deal of
bco Inga'i nam dang mnyam pa'i h,!rd work by Per Sorensen (1990) and drawing on a wide acquain-
zhal bzhes cig kyang gnang zhu tance with the Indo-Tibetan tradition of written and oral poetry and
folksongs. Unfortunately this edition has been ignored by, for
The three-day moon is bright, example, the Fields and Cutillo translation of 1998 (The Turquoise
Completely clothed in white. Bee). As a result Fields and Cutillo comment that there is as yet no
Please, will you promise me definitive edition of the Songs(p 27). They therefore include every
Time just like the full-moon? verse they are acquainted with and attributed to Tsangyang Gyatso as
Here, Sorensen observes , being by him, including the verse quoted above on sperm. Inclusion
of this verse in particular as being by Tsangyang Gyatso can give a
:n
[W]t e aY "G' see the moon's phases as an illustration of the very decided tantric slant on how we interpret the Dalai Lama's
sages m t he od-k'mg' s attempt to appropriate power. Evident!
t~e yo~ng mode~~
affairs. Sorensen himself, on the other hand, expresses considerable
ruler could perhaps temporarily sett!e for a caution as to whether any of the verses attributed to him are actually
s . are 0 power, but his urgent quest for real rulership rom t d by Tsangyang Gyatso.S\ It seems to me that this caution should be
hIm to request for the 'full' access or the 'full' d'ISP Iay 0 f' power.
P Ps4e
borne in mind. The verses certainly reflect in metric and verse
!he assumption here is that Tsangyang Gyatso . d d structure, and frequently in flavour, a popular Tibetan tradition of
mt d' h' I' . was m ee very
ereste m IS po ltlcal role. He was bloc ked fr om fu lfillmg
. It
. by anonymous political song. Until the takeover of Tibet by China in
 )2 SON G S 0 FLO V E. POE M S 0 F SAD N E S S INTRODUCTION 53

the I95"0S such political songs often served as a means by which h llable has a separate meaning or use Within. the language.
public opinion could be gauged and disagreement with the state that eac sy . d of two syllables, a mam one and a
86 Many expresslOns are mbaa oe ma or po or bo, or mo. Thus, for
voiced. It is indeed quite possible that a number of the songs d·fi ften pa o r , r , ,
attributed to Tsangyang Gyatso originated this way. That is, they rno I er, 0 . h' fi d dag pa (purity). The effect of this on
Ie we mig t m db
express popular and anonymous songs that circulated in Lhasa as a ex~mp, d patterns is in terms of a stressed sound followe y an
Tibetan soun d f s a
criticism of the Dalai Lama or the Regent, and indicate not so much ed (--) This is known in the stu y 0 metres a
unstress one . . . . fi (--)) Thus the nature
the Dalai Lama's own sentiments as those of others, showing how he h· foot (contrasted With an IambiC oot . . .
and his acquaintances were seen. Verse 5"4 in particular could be an trO~h:ICTibetan language enables it naturally to fall mto. hnes ~f
example. Verse 39, if it is taken as being about Tsangyang Gyatso of. Th Sixth Dalai Lama's verses each consist of SIX
t ochalc metre. e hr· h
himself and not the Dalai Lama referring to the Regent, may be sryllables to a line, alternating heavy and light stress. Eac m~ IS th ~s
another. And the famous verse about his reincarnation in Lithang three troc h alC· Clee t . The metre can be known therefore as a troc alC
(verse )7) probably originated long after the event. Aris mentions trimetre':
that he has not found this verse mentioned anywhere in the Tibetan
literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 87 The first
blockprinted edition of the songs dates from perhaps the late
eighteenth century.
Nevertheless, while an anonymous folk origin of any of these
verses is always a decided possibility, I incline to a conservative Let us take as an example the famous verse )4:
approach here. Sorensen's edition includes 66 verses. Within this po ta la ru bzhugs dus
edition I accept a verse as probably by Tsangyang Gyatso unless I rig'dzin tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho
have particular reason to doubt its authenticity. In particular some of lha sa zhol du sdod dus
the verses, it seems to me, are sufficiently personal to stem from the 'chal po dwangs bzang dbang po
Dalai Lama himself Examples would be verses like 3I-3, that refer to
illness brought on by his situation. He ought to know about his own
In Potala dwelling-
illnesses. Scepticism can go only so far. Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso.
Lhasa and Zhol roaming-
So how are we to read these verses? I suggest, with pleasure in
Screwer Dangzang Wangbo!
whatever way (knowing the historical story) you gain your pleasure.
For that reason it has been of particular importance to me to T 1·b etan, a you can see looks unpronounceable. That rather
s, T·b Th··
translate the verses combining appropriate accuracy with something obscures the metre lor C
one wh0 does not. know
.
I etan. IS
.
IS
.
that also works well in English verse. The Notes for Appreciation because the spelling now bears little relationship to the way It IS
. C oses here
contains additional information that I think might enhance the pronounce d ·m Lhasa . An approximate version lOr ld bour purp
pleasure and understanding of these verses. of the pronunciation for an English speaker wou e:

The: p1"e:Se:l1t tf'al1s1atiOl1 po ta la ru zhuk du

rik dzin tsang yang gya tso
Like common Tibetan folk and political songs, these verses consist
hla sa zhol du derr du
mainly of four lines each. Three (verses 20, )0 and )6) are of six lines
88 chel bo dang zang wong bo
each. Tibetan is (or it is now) a monosyllabic language. This means
 INTRODUCTION 55
54 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

me features and difficulties of my transla-

It is now possible to see the six syllable format of these verses. If you '11 ate furt h er so .
To I ustr d ' h thers perhaps we can look at Just one
were to sing them, you would no doubt appreciate even more the . when compare Wit 0 ,
non
heavy-light stress structure. 89 The Tibetan does not have to use more verse (45):
rhyme (although we do have alternate rhyming ends in this particular
sa bcu'i dbyings su bzhugs pa'i
verse). It does use alliteration and puns. It is also able to make points
sa chui ying su zhuk pay. . ] f
through the use of, or the failure to use, honorifics. In Tibetan it is
stage ten-O f sp here-on dwelling [hononfic -0
common to use different words when the speaker refers to someone
considered superior. This can be employed to poetic effect. It is very dam can rdo rje chos skyong
uncommon to use an honorific for oneself But in the verse above dam chen dor jay cherr kyong
the author uses an honorific verb translated as 'dwelling', and a non- pledge-bearing Dorje dharma protector
honorific actually with the same meaning but here translated for mthu dang nus pa yod na
effect in English as 'roaming'. It seems to me that the result is to tu dang nerr ba yerr na
emphasize the respect given by people to the Dalai Lama in the power and ability exists if/when
Potala, and the common coarseness of the 'Screwer' - actually the
same (almost) Jekyll-and-Hyde character. bstan pa'i dgra bo sgroi dang
Central to this type of Tibetan verse, however, is its rhythm. For ten pay dra wo drol dang. .
this reason, although the Tibetan of many of Tsangyang Gyatso's teaching-of enemy liberate [Imperative]
verses is extremely compressed, nevertheless, in spite of the difficulty, o Dharma Protector,
it seems to me that the six-syllable structure of the original is worth Ten-stage-dwelling, pledge-bound,
trying to preserve in order to keep something like that distinctive Dorje - if strong, able -
rhythm. It brings to the fore the complex simplicity of these verses, Please free the Teaching's foes. . .
as well as their metric uniformity. Of course English does not
The second line of the Tibetan is the pronunciatio~. The third Ime
naturally fall into a trochaic metre, and iambic suits English much . f: 'ble a literal word-by-word translatIOn. You can see
better. But I have translated as far as possible preserving the six- IS as ar as POSSI , 1 r I'
tl~at my translation here, as it stands, is also reas.onabl b~tera given
syllable line, sometimes at the cost of strict literalness, and I have
En lish ntactical requirements. It keeps to the SIX-SY a e met~e ..
also used English alliteration and some English puns. English is a
particularly good medium for alliterative verse - it is central to the
~eve7rheless this is a particularly difficult verse to tra~slate wlthl~
the six-s lIable format. The verse has nothing to d.o with love,. an
very earliest English verse such as Beowulf. I have not tried to match y fr the Sixth Dalal Lama. It IS an
the Tibetan alliteration. But I have tried to use the resources of the quite possibly does not come om f h B ddha's teaching
. ,
mvocatlOn to one 0 f th e Protectors 0 t e u 1d t
English language that, combined with the Tibetan metrical struc-
(Dh ) These are wrathful in appearance, bound by p e ge 0
ture, can make something pleasant to read in English. I appear to
have been the first to venture to publish a complete translation of
uph:~::n'd protect Buddhism and its practitioners, and th.ey are ;~o
these verses keeping to the Tibetan six-syllable pattern. Bell rather the beings that commonly possess the Tibetan oracle-~ed1Ums. +e
, . ,
Tibetan dam can here could mean supenor, or. 0 y, -
'h 1 (- dam pa t
hints that it might be impossible. 90 I may be foolish. But it has been .h of the other translations. But III context I suspec
fun to do, and (I think) it is more fun to read. )
can as Wit some . h 1 h'
.It means ,p1edge- bou nd' , as in dam bca' can. At least It Th as a so t IS
. l'!Cation.
Imp . Th'ls also makes for a better English verse. e protec-
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS INTRODUCTION 57

tor here is just called 'Dorje' (rDo rje) - in Sanskrit, the Vajra - the are rather unpoetic and sometimes show evidence that he is not a
'Diamond' or 'Thunderbolt', a common name associated with native English speaker.
Tantric Buddhism. In context it could well be rDo rje grags ldan The translations here are in chronological order. The editions by
(pronounced 'Dorje Drakden'), the Dalai Lama's own protector. If Dhondup, Barks, and Fields and Cutillo are listed (on the Amazon
this verse is by the Sixth Dalai Lama, perhaps he wrote it when website) as still available. The Houston translation has been com-
consulting the oracle in order to find out who the murderers were pletely superseded. The Barks 'trans~ation' appears in ~act to be a
who killed his friend's servant. Any foes of the Dalai Lama would composite re-rendering of the translations of others, relymg (as here,
certainly be thought of as foes of Buddhism. The Protector is with a mispronunciation of the Tibetan skyong (kyong)) mainly on
described as dwelling in (the realm of) the ten stages. These are the the Dhondup translation. It has no comment on the Tibetan text or
ten stages of the career of a bodhisattva. It may mean that 'Dorje' on the meaning of the verses. It has not used Sorensen's critical
himself is a bodhisattva, or that he protects those on the bodhisattva edition, and taken as a whole is not at all reliable as a translation of
path. If one takes the Tibetan as referring to the tenth stage, rather the Sixth Dalai Lama's verses. I do not know whether the other
than ten stages, then it is possible to take this verse as suggesting translations are still available or not.
that the Protector resides in the final stage of the bodhisattva's
Holy vajra, dharma-protector,
career, almost himself a Buddha. 'Strong' translates mthu, which
Who abides in the tenth-stage realm;
really includes magical power as well. In verse 37, for poetic reasons If you have the strength and power,
in context, I have translated it as 'charms'. The reference to 'freeing'
Save the enemies of the teaching.
(or liberating) in the last line (Tibetan sgroD is literal, but it is an
expression commonly used in certain Tibetan tantric literature for
killing. Sorensen prefers a meaning of 'expelling', driving off. But The transcendent Dorje Choskyong
Tsangyang Gyatso certainly had executed those responsible for the The oracle of the Tenth Spiritual Stage
attack on him, his friend and the servant. In this very tantric context If you have supernatural powers
I do not see any grounds for thinking that it has any other meaning Destroy the foes of the dharma.
than 'kill'. In particular I do not think any sense of 'liberate', i.e.
enlightenment, can possibly be meant here. That is not what One with magical power
Dharma-protectors do. As Dam Chen Dorjay
For interest my translation can be compared with the following In the perfect sphere,
translations, each from relatively recent complete translations of the May destroy Dharma foes.
Sixth Dalai Lama's verses. Only that by Sorensen uses or even takes (Houston93 )
into consideration his critical edition and its extensive commentary.
Constant reference to Sorensen, it seems to me, is now necessary for Holy [Medium] rDo-rje [Grags-Idan]' Protector of the Law,
any attempt at translating these verses, and Sorensen's critical edition Who resides over the sphere of the ten stages,
is the one I have used for my translation and for the Tibetan If you possess magical power and potency
original. Once or twice I have differed from Sorensen in the Tibetan Pray, ward off the foes of the Buddhist teaching!
(Sorensen94 )
text I have used. These divergences are mentioned in my Notes for
Appreciation. Sorensen's translations, on the other hand, while literal Oracle of the Tenth Stage,
Dorje Choskyang, if you have power,
58 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

Destroy those who hate the natural law.

Holy oracle Lama Dorje

Who abides in the state
just before Buddhahood - SOl1SS of Lov~"
If you have the power and ability l'o~ms of Sabl1~ss
Liberate even the enemies of Dharma.

I do not want to comment further on these translations. Com-

parisons, as they say, are odious. Clearly, while some of these seem to
me grammatically, semantically and poetically rather better than
others, there is room for differences of translation and interpretation.
Proper critical study of a translation, for those who do not know the
original language, should always employ more than one translated
version. On this particular verse most of the translations do not differ
radically. That is by no means always the case. Partly, how much
liberty one has in translating verse depends on how much space there
is for explanation in notes. Sorensen alone gives a proper detailed
commentary. In fixing the meaning of the verses within a Tibetan
cultural context Sorensen's notes are indispensable. I do not think it
would be possible to translate throughout the verses using a six-
syllable format without fairly extensive annotations. But then,
Tibetans too would need to rely either on their prior knowledge or
on a commentary. It is obvious that we cannot expect to appropriate
such literature without some sort of explanation. Nevertheless I
think this verse shows that it is possible to translate (with notes)
reasonably accurately and also in the same rhythm, and with the
same complex simplicity, as the Tibetan.
 1

shar phyogs ri bo'i rtse nas

dkar gsal zla ba shar byung
rna skyes a rna'i zhal ras
yid la 'khor 'khor byas byung

Above eastern mountains

Shone forth the moon, bright white.
Unbornmother - her face,
Circled before my mind.
 2 3

rang sems song ba'i mi de

na ning btab pa'i ljang gzhon
gtan gyi mdun mar byung na
da 10 sog ma'i phon lcog
rgya mtsho'i gting nas nor bu
pho gzhon rgas pa'i Ius po
Ion pa de dang mnyam byung
rwa co'i gzhu las gyong ba

Green shoots planted last year

If she who stole my heart
Were to become my wife;
Today are stacked as straw.
Like landing a jewel
Young man}s body, growing,
Drawn from the ocean}s depths.
Firmer than a horn bow.
 5

,gro zhor lam bu'i snying thub mi chen dpon po'i sras mo
Ius dri zhim pa'i bu mo khams 'bras mtshar la bltas na
g.yu chung gru dkar brnyed nas kham sdong mthon po'i rtse nas
skyur ba de dang' dra byung 'bras bu smin pa 'dra byung

A love met in passing, Lady, a Lord's daughter -

Girl with the fragrant limbs; When I saw such a peach,
Like finding rare turquoise - She was like a ripe fruit,
And throwing it away. In the topmost branches.
 6 7

serns pa phar la shor nas me tog narn zla yal song

rntshan rno'i gnyid thebs gcog gi g.yu sbrang serns pa rna skyo
nyin rno lag tu rna Ion byarns pa'i las 'phro zad par
yid thang chad rogs yin pa nga ni skyo rgyu rni 'dug

Flowering's time has fled -

So out of mind with love,
The turquoise bee grieves not.
I lose my sleep at night.
Finished fortune of love -
Can't touch her while it's day -
I too shall not lament.
Frustration's my sale friend.

66
 rtsi thog ba mo'i kha la ngang pa 'dam la chags nas
skya ser dung gi pho nya re zhig sdod dgos bsams kyang
me tog sbrang bu gnyis kyi mtsho mo dar kha 'grigs nas
'bral mtshams byed mkhan los yin rang sems kho thag chod song

Hoarfrost sugars the grass; Wild goose, pining for fens,

Messenger of the grey Hoped to remain awhile.
yellow storm that truly On the lake mere ice sheets.
Parts the bloom from her bee. Hope too flew far away.

68
 10 11

gru shan sems pa med kyang nga dang tshong 'dus bu mo'i
rta mgos phyi mig bltas byung tshig gsum dam bca'i mdud pa
khrel gzhung med pa'i byams pas khra bo'i sbrulla rna brgyab
nga Ia phyi mig mi Ita rang rang sa la grol song

The ferry lacks feeling; With me, the market girl

But its horse-head looked back. Twined three words in a pledge.
My lover - so brazen - Alone they soon unwind.
Throws me never a glance. Might as well knot a snake!

71
 12 13

chung'dris byarns pa'i rlung bskyed bris pa'i yi ge nag chung

lcang rna'i logs la btsugs yod chu dang thig pas 'jig song
lcang srung a jo zhal ngos rna bris serns kyi ri rno
rdo ka rgyag pa rna gnang bsubs kyang zub rgyu rni 'dug

For my love from childhood, Small black letters, written,

Prayer flags on a willow. Vanish with water drops.
Guardian of 'Willows, Mind pictures, unwritten,
Sir, please do not throw stones! Though effaced, will not fade.

73
 14 15

brgyab pa'i nag chung the 'us stong Idan ha lo'i me tog
gsung skad 'byon ni mi shes mchod pa'i rdzas la phebs na
khrel dang gzhung gi the 'u g.yu sbrang gzhon nu nga yang
so so'i sems la skyon dang Iha khang nang la khrid dang

The small black seal, when stamped, Gorgeous hollyhock blooms,

Still, knows not how to speak. If given in worship,
Rather, should we impress 1, too - young turquoise bee -
Concern's seal on our hearts. Take me to the temple!

74 75
 16
17

sems song bu mo mi bzhugs

mtshaJ\ ldan bla ma'i drung du
dam pa'i chos la phebs na
sems 'lthrid zhu bar phyin pas
pho gzhon nga yang mi sdod
sems pa 'gor kyang mi thub
ri khrod 'grim la thaI 'gro
byams pa'i phyogs la shor song

If my sweetheart won't stay-

She's embraced relig£on - ~efore a great lama,
1, too, am not staying. .t asked for holy help.
No gooci - though thoughts delayed,
I'm straight off on retreat!
They slipped back to my love.

77
 18 19

sgorn pa'i bla rna zhal ras serns pa 'di Ia 'gro 'gro
yid la 'char rgyu rni 'dug dam pa'i chos Ia phyin na
rna sgorn byarns pa'i zhal ras tshe gcig Ius gcig nyid Ia
yid la va Ie va Ie sangs rgyas thob pa'i 'dug go

Meditating - in mind, With thoughts on religion

No lama's face appears. That were ever for her,
Unbidden, lover's face One lifetime, one body -
In mind, so clearly clear. I become a Buddha!

79
 20 21

dag pa shel ri gangs chu dung rta yar 'gro'i dus la

kIu bdud rdo rje'i zil pa dung bskyed dar lcog btsugs pas
bdud rtsi srnan gyi phab rgyun rndzangs rna rna bzang bu rno'i
chang rna ye shes rnkha' 'gro rngron po la ni bos byung
dam tshig gtsang mas btung na
ngan song rnyong dgos rni 'dug

At a time ofgood luck,

"With my prayer flags flapping,
Dakpashelri water, I was invited home
Luderdorje dewdrops, By a charming bright girl.
Yeast that is elixir,
"Wisdom -t;liikin 'i serves.
Drunk with pure commitments -
You need not taste of hell.

80
 22 23

so dkar lpags pa'i 'dzum mdangs ha cang sems la song nas

bzhugs gral spyi la bltas na 'grogs'dris e yong dris pas
mig zur khra mo'i sgril mtshams 'chi bral byed na min na
gzhon pa'i gdong la bltas byung gson bral mi byed gsungs byung

Taking in the whole row - We're so madly in love.

Laughing smiles, with white teeth. 'Together - forever?'
Sidelong glance from bright eyes, 'Until death do us part',
Thrown at my youthful face. She whispered, 'I'll be there'.
 24 25

mdzangs ma'i thugs dang bstun na sbrang bu rgya la bcug 'dra

tshe 'di'i chos skal chad'gro kong phrug gzhon pa'i blo sna
dben pa'i ri khrod 'grims na zhag gsum nyal rogs byas pas
bu mo'i thugs dang' gal' gro phugs yullha chos dran byung

Suiting my bright one's heart, He'd bedded her three days.

I lose life's religion. Like a bee in a web,
Headingforth, a hermit, The Gongbo youth's fancies
I belie my gz'rl's heart. Remembered relig£on.
 26 27

gtan grogs khyod Ia bsams pa'i 'dzum dang so dkar ston phyogs
khrel dang ngo tsha med na gzhon pa'i blo khrid yin' dug
mgo Ia rgyab pa'i gtsug gyus snying nas sha tsha yod med
skad cha smras ni mi shes dbu mna' bzhes rogs gnang dang

Eternal friend, ifyou You smile, pretty white teeth -

Are shameless in your thoughts, Leading on the youth's mind.
The turquoise on your head, Swear to me, please: Do I
Would not know how to tell. Truly tempt you or not?

86
 28 29

snying thub bya rdo lam 'phrad snying gtam pha mar rna bshad
a rna chang mas sbyar byung chung'dris byams par bshad pas
Ian chags bu Ion byung na byams pa shwa pho mang nas
'tsho skyong khyod ras gnang zhu gsang gtam dgra bos go song

As a bird meets a stone, Heart-talk's not for parents,

The madam joined lovers. It's for an old friend. But-
If there should be issue, My love has many stags.
Please madam, will you pay! Foes have learned my secrets.

88
 30 31

snying thub yid 'phrog Iha rno nor bu rang la yod dus
rngon pa rang gis zin kyang nor bu'i nor nyarns rna chod
dbang chen rni yi dpon po nor bu rni la shor dus
nor bzang rgyal bus 'phrogs song snying dung stod la tshangs byung

Yidtrok Hlamo - lover - When I had the jewel,

Though I - the hunter - caught, I prized it not a jot.
Mighty Lord, Prince Norzang, When lost to another,
Seduced my love away. Depression broke my health.
 32 33

rang la dga' ba'i byams pa snying thub rku la shor song

gzhan la mdun mar blangs song mo phywa rtsis 'bul ran song
khong nang sems pa'i gcong gis bu mo gdung sems can rna
Ius po'i sha yang bskams song rmi lam nang la 'khor song

My love, who admired me, My love was lost through theft -

Has married another. Time to consult the cards.
Misery gnaws the heart - For that passionate girl
My flesh too has dried up. Roams round within my dreams.

93
 34 35

bu mar' chi ba med na bu rna a mar rna skyes

chang la 'dzad pa mi 'dug kham bu'i shing la skyes sam
gzhon pa'i gtan gyi skyabs gnas a gsar zad pa kham bu'i
'di la bcol bas los chog me tog de las mgyogs pa

If the girl doesn't die The girl is not human.

The beer will never stop. Perhaps from a peach tree?
Indeed, I can name her She is ever turning,
A young man's safe haven. Faster than peach flowers.

94 95
 36 37

bu mo chung'dris byams pa
rta rgod ri la rgyab pa
spyang ki'i rigs rgyud min nam
rnyi dang zhags pas zin gyis
sha 'dris lpags 'dris byung yang
byams pa ngo log rgyab pa
ri la yar grabs mdzad kyis
mthu ngo zin pa mi 'dug

That gz'rl, love from childhood.

A wild horse roaming peaks
Does she not springfrom wolves?
Can be snared or lassoed.
She sucks my flesh, my skin -
A lover, rebelling,
Yet ever plans for peaks.
Even charms will not hold.

97
 38 39

brag dang dung po bsdebs nas sprin pa kha ser gting nag
rgod po'i sgro la gzan byung sad dang se ra'i gzhi rna
g.yo can rdzu bag can gyis ban de skya min ser min
nga la gzan po byas byung sangs rgyas bstan pa'i dgra bo

, I

Crag and storm united, Yellow skin, black within,

To ravage vulture's plumes. The cloud yields frost and hail.
I feel just devoured Sage not grey, nor saffron -
By those who plot and plan. Such is Buddhism's foe.

99
 41

sa de kha zhu gting 'khyags tshes chen bco Inga'i zla ba

rta pho gtong sa rna red yin pa 'dra ba 'dug ste
gsar 'grogs byarns pa'i phyogs su zla ba'i dkyil gyi ri bong
snying gtarn bshad sa rna red tshe zad tshar nas 'dug go

Frozen ground, surface slips- What a wonderfol time!

No place to send a horse. It seems like the full moon.
A lover newly caught But the man in the moon -
Is no plac~ for heart-talk. He is going to die.

100 101
 42 43

zla ba 'di nas phar 'gro dbus kyi ri rgyallhun po

rting rna'i zla ba tshur yong rna 'gyur brtan par bzhugs dang
bkra shis zla ba dkar po'i nyi rna zla ba'i bskor phyogs
zla stod phyogs la rnjal yong nor yong bsarn pa rni 'dug

This month has departed, Meru, king of mountains-

The next month comes hither. Centre - don't change, stay firm!
We meet in the bright part, Unthinkable is fault
Of the lucky white moon. In sun and moon's orbit.

102. 103
 44 45

tshes gsum zia ba dkar ba sa bcu'i dbyings su bzhugs pa'i

dkar gos nang nas chod song dam can rdo rje chos skyong
bco Inga'i nam dang mnyam pa'i mthu dang nus pa yod na
zhal bzhes cig kyang gnang zhu bstan pa'i dgra bo sgroI dang

The three-day moon is bright, o Dharma Protector,

Completely clothed in white. Ten -stage-dwelling, pledge-bound,
Please, will you promise me Dorje - if strong, able -
Time just like the foll-moon? Please free the Teaching's foes.
 46 47

khu byug mon nas yong bas skye 'gro mi rtag 'chi ba
gnam Io'i sa bcud 'phel song snying nas rna dran zer na
nga dang byams pa phrad nas spyang grung 'dzoms mdog kha yang
Ius sems Ihod por Iangs song don la Ikugs pa 'dra byung

The cuckoo comes from Mern, If you say you don}t heed
The year}s sap increases. Change, or death (and mean it),
I and my love have met, You may seem smart and wise,
Body and mind relax. But - strewth! - are like a fool.

106
 48 49

khyi de stag khyi gzig khyi sha 'jam Ius po 'dris kyang
ldag kha ster nas 'dris song byams pa'i gdeng tshod mi Ion
nang gi stag rna ral 'dzoms sa la ri rna bris pas
'dris nas mthu ru langs song nam mkha'i skar tshod thig byung

Tiger-dogj leopard -dog - Drawing plans on the earth,

A dog - with meat, is tamed. I can surmise the stars.
Long-maned indoor-tigress - Though I know her soft flesh,
Once known, became more fierce. I can't measure her mood.

108
 50 51

nga dang byarns pa'i sdebs sa lha sa rni tshogs rnthug la

lho rong ljon pa'i nags gseb 'phyongs rgyas rni spus dag pa
srnra rnkhan ne tso rna gtogs nga la yod pa'i chung'dris
su dang gang gis rni shes 'phyongs rgyas gzhung la yod do
srnra rnkhan ne tso 0 shes
gsang kha rndo la rna gnang

Lhasa is crowded. Still,

Chongyay has nice people.
TIe scene of our meeting TIat girl, mine from childhood,
Is a southern forest. Is from zts very midst.
It is known by no one,
Save a talking parrot.
Please, 0 Talking Parrot,
Do not tell my secret.

no III
 52

khyi rgan rgya bo zer ba srod la byarns pa btsal bas

rnarn shes rni las spyang ba tho rangs kha ba bab byung
srod la langs song rna zer gsang dang rna gsang rni 'dug
tho rangs log byung rna zer zhabs rjes gangs la bzhag yod

Old dog - 'Whiskers~ he's called - I sought my love at duskj

More sly than a human. Snow had fallen at dawn.
Don't call: 'He left at dusk'. Why bother with secrets?
Don't call: 'He's back at dawn'. - Footprints left in the snow!

112. 113
 54 55

po ta la ru bzhugs dus sha 'jam mal sa nang gi

rig'dzin tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho snying thub gdung sems can rna
lha sa zhol du sdod dus o lo'i rgyu nor 'phrog pa'i
'chal po dwangs bzang dbang po g.yo sgyu bshad pa min' gro

In Potala dwelling- With soft flesh waits in bed

Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso. My passionate lover.
Lhasa and Zhol roaming- But maybe she deceives
Screwer Dangzang Wangbo! The young lad of his wealth?
 56 57

dbu zhwa dbu la bzhes sang bya de khrung khrung dkar rna
dbu lcang rgyab la dbyugs sang nga la gshag rtsal gyar dang
ga ler phebs shig byas pas thag ring rgyang la rni 'gra
ga ler bzhugs shig gsung gis Ii thang bskar nas slebs yang
thugs serns skya yang byas pas
rngyags pa 'phrad yang gsungs byung

o bird there - white crane - come,

Lend the strength of your wings.
The hat was on her head; I'll not go far. Circling
The pigtail down her back. Lithang, I shall return.
'Farewell', he said to her,
'Goodbye', was her response.
'I'll miss you~ he told her,
'We'll meet soon', she replied.

116 117
 58 59

shi de dmyal ba'i yul gyi mda' rna 'ben la phog song
chos rgyallas kyi me long mde'u sa la 'dzul song
'di na khrig khrig mi 'dug chung 'dris byams pa 'phrad byung
de nas khrig khrig gnang zhu sems nyid rjes la 'brangs song

Dead - the mirror of deeds, The arrow was spot-on,

Held by the King of Hell. Its head was in the ground.
Here, it's just not been right; Met my love from childhood-
Once there, please make it so. And my heart followed on.

lIS
II9
 60 61

rgya gar shar gyi rma bya mi tshos nga la lab pa

kong yul mthil gyi ne tso dgongs su dag pa khag theg
'khrungs sa 'khrungs yul mi gcig o lo'i gom gsum phra mo
'dzoms sa chos 'khor lha sa gnas mo'i nang la thaI song

A peacock from Bengal; Folk gossip about me.

Parrot from far Gongbo. Sorry - yes, 1'm to blame!
True, their roots differ; but A lad's three tiptoe steps -
Holy Lhasa they meet. Oh - 1've reached the brothel!

12.0 12.1
 62 63

lcang rna byi 'ur sems shor da 1ta'i tshe thung 'di 1a
byi 'u lcang mar sems shor de kha tsam zhig zhus nas
sems shor mthun pa byung na rting rna byis pa'i 10 1a
skya khra hor pas mi thub mja1 'dzom e yong b1ta'0

The willow loves birdling, In this short present life,

The birdling loves willow. We have had just so much.
When love is mutual, Let's see whether we meet
The grey hawk has no chance. In our next childhood's years.

12.2. 12.3
 64 65

bya de srnra rnkhan ne tso rgyab kyi kIu bdud btsan po

kha rog bzhugs rags rndzod dang 'jigs dang rni 'jigs rni 'dug
leang gling a lee 'jol rno rndun gyi ka ra ku shu
gsung snyan skyur dgos byas byung 'thogs su dgos pa byas song

Bird, 0 Talking Parrot - Mighty serpent-demon -

Please help, do be silent! He's behind. But who cares!
Your sister, Willow Thrush- The sweet apple's in front.
Assents to sing sweet songs. Yes, I think I shall pluck.

124
 Not~s for Al'l'r~ciatiol1
66

dang po rna rnthong chog pa

serns pa shot don rni 'dug 1
gnyis pa rna 'dris chog pa The disc of the full-moon is a common Image In Indo-Tibetan
serns gcong yong don rni 'dug literature for the woman and her face (see especially verse 41, but also
42 and 44). But there is a problem with the expression 'unborn-
mother' (rna skyes a rna) here. What does it refer to? Sorensen, in his
commentary on this verse observes that a rna (mother) is also a pet-
name in Tibetan for a young woman.' That does not explain the
'unborn' (rna skyes) though. He notes in passing that there may be a
connection here with the Buddhist philosophy of Madhyamaka that
holds that all things are lacking in intrinsic existence and are thus,
from the point of view of true existence, unreal and therefore
First, better not to see - unborn. I want to expand on this point, to provide a possible reading.
Falling in love's senseless. Let us speak of level (i) as the level of straightforwardly erotic
meaning. Level (ii) is the level of philosophical understanding.
Second, better not know -
Then, at level (i) the expression 'unborn mother' refers to the young
Misery's senseless too.
woman, perhaps as mother of future unborn children. But at level
(ii), I suggest, it is possible that 'unborn mother' refers to the
goddess Prajnaparamita ('Perfection of Wisdom'). This goddess is
frequently referred to in Mahayana Buddhism as the 'mother of all
the Buddhas'.2 She is the personification both of wisdom (prajfid)
itself, and also of that which is seen by the mind of wisdom. This is
the ultimate nature of things, emptiness (Hmyatd) , the complete
absence of true, intrinsic existence. Thus Prajftaparamita is the
mother of the unborn, or the mother that indicates the unborn
nature of things. All these references to Madhyamaka philosophy
would have been well known to the Dalai Lama, since it is the

12.6
 12,8 SONGS OF LOVE. POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION

official philosophy of his own dGe lugs pa schooI.3 But there is more reading of Iho gzhu de las gyong ba - 'firmer than a southern bow'. I
to support this reading. In Tantric Buddhism, also familiar to him have also translated rgas pa'i Ius po, literally 'body with age', or 'body
from his wider context, prajfiti is sometimes related to the symbol of which has aged', as 'body, growing'. This is a bit loose, but I wanted
the moon. One can see this, for example, in commentaries on the to capture the erotic sense of the young man's body growing firmer,
Guhyasamtija Tantra, a key text in dGe lugs practice. 4 Finally, the also linked at this point to the colloquial English sense of 'horn'.
greatest Indian commentator on Madhyamaka philosophy is also However, note that in a Buddhist context there is a sense here also
lunar, CandrakIrti (literally, 'Renown of the Moon', in Tibetan Zla of the young man getting older and therefore heading towards
ba grags pa, pronounced 'Dawa Drakpa'). Thus, it seems to me, it is inevitable old age and death. 'Old age' in the Buddhist context is
plausible that the reference to 'unborn mother' on level (ii) is to given in Tibetan as well using rgalrgas. The expression gyong ba
wisdom (prajiiti). But why is Tsangyang Gyatso including this (which I have translated as 'firmer') can also carry with it here a sense
reference here? I do not hold the view that his other verses all of ' stiffer', as well as 'harder', 'stronger' and 'tougher'.
contain hidden references to Buddhist ideas, beyond their level (i)
interpretations. Perhaps the Dalai Lama included the reference here
just for the fun of it, to show he could compose a verse of this sort.
In Indo-Tibetan culture the ocean is often thought of as a repository
It would not require an extensive intellectual understanding of
of fabulous jewels and other riches, protected by ntigas, serpents.
Madhyamaka, and the level of practical experience could be nil. Or
perhaps the Dalai Lama included this verse at the beginning of his
collection precisely to give his critics who may read the verses
something to think about. It would suggest to those who bothered The 'love met in passing' is met on the path. But this need not be
to look that really his verses were about Madhyamaka and Tantra, taken as necessarily a casual affair. She is, after all, a 'lover' (snying
not about maidens and trysts. Or maybe this verse is not by Tsan- thub). Tibetans are very fond of turquoises, and there are elaborate
. gyang Gyatso at all, but by someone else and has been placed here classifications of them. Most previous translators have taken it that
later - again, perhaps to persuade the reader of symbolic rather than the turquoise referred to here is of an inferior type. Sorensen argues
sexual readings of these 'scandalous' verses. Who knows? at length and convincingly that actually the reverse is the case. If so,
Finally, note the use of 'circled' with reference to the face of the this reinforces the contention that there is no implication here of a
young woman. The Tibetan here ('khor ... ), repeated twice in the casual, promiscuous sort of affair.
original, perhaps carries a hint of threat. It relates to the expression
used in Tibetan for sarrtstira, 'cyclic existence' ('khor ba), the round of
death and rebirth. The Dalai Lama knows perfectly well that from a
The object of the Dalai Lama's affections here is not just the girl (bu
Buddhist point of view sex is threatening.
mo) of the previous poem, met in passing on the path. It is a 'Lady',
the daughter of a socially distinguished family. The use of the
1
English 'Lord' here is intended as an approximate equivalent. Her
Here I have deliberately adopted a variant reading rwa co'i gzhu las social status is indicated by his bestowal on her of a Tibetan honor-
gyong ba - 'firmer than a horn bow'. Sorensen considers this reading ific expression (sras mo).
to be equally plausible. The Dalai Lama is reputed to have enjoyed The peach is a rare and exciting luxury in Tibet. It has an
archery with his friends, and a bow made of yak's horn provides a unblemished soft, smooth, downy fair skin. At least, this one does. It
more vivid image of strength and tautness than the more common is beautifully curved with exciting and suggestive indentations. This
[3 0 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION [3[

peach has sweet and sensuous juices. She is firm yet yielding, ripe I wonder if this is really what Tsangyang Gyatso thinks? Or is hi~
and meet for plucking. But she is a peach just out of reach. ready recourse to a very Buddhist image the natural way for a Dalal
Or perhaps not, if you are a Dalai Lama. Lama to come to terms with a broken heart?
Actually, the only lover of the Sixth Dalai Lama of whom we
know the details was indeed such an aristocratic peach. She was a
daughter of the Regent of Tibet himself. We do not know if this A difficult verse to translate. The Tibetan syntax has the grass on
poem refers to her. But if so, then her apparent unavailability was the hoarfrost rather than the other way round, and it requires some
social and political rather than personaJ.5 Perhaps it was religious too. jiggling to get at the meaning. The use of 's~gars' in. the ~rst. line is
The Dalai Lama, at least when a monk, was normally supposed to be oetic licence on my part. But what the Dalal Lama IS saymg IS clear
a celibate. But from what we know it seems the young woman ~nough. The pivot of the verse, and its cleverness, lies in its refer-
herself (honorific or not) needed little encouragement in their ence to the 'grey yellow storm'. This is the yellow dusty northern
relationship. wind (rlung) of the Tibetan winter. 6 But the Tibetan expression skya
ser, translated as 'grey yellow' is also used to refer to the Tibetan
6 government, a collaboration of the laity (traditionally thought of as
Is this the aristocratic Lady of the previous verse? Since he loses all grey (skya po) robed) and the saffron or yello~ {ser mo! robes of the
sleep at night it is implied that he cannot have her at night either. monastic hierarchy. Thus just as the cold wmds of wmter are what
Or does he? Perhaps this is why he loses all sleep. really part the flower and the bee, so the Tibetan political system,
the government and the Dalai Lama's place within it, is what truly
7 keeps Tsangyang Gyatso apart from his lover. It is pos.sible also that
in using skya ser here the Dalai Lama is thinking particularly of the
The Dalai Lama appears to consider that falling both in and out of
Regent himself, the layman who rules a monasti~ally dominated
love is as natural and inevitable as the change of the seasons. 'Flow-
regime and is thus, as it were, grey and yellow (or neither). Compare
ering's time' is essentially the spring, the season par excellence for love
with verse 39.
in Indo-Tibetan literature. Likewise the relationship between the
If this verse is taken with the previous three verses, perhaps
bee and a flower is also a common image of lovers, boy and girl
Tsangyang Gyatso's amour here is indeed the daughter of the
respectively. It looks like the Dalai Lama holds that a bee takes what
Regent. The powerful Regent is the one who for needs of state truly
he needs from the flower. He then leaves it. It is his nature. And the
parts the Dalai Lama from his aristocratic lover. If so, then my
bee is not sad when spring inevitably ends and flowers die. There
suggestion that the resignation of the previous verse represents. a
will be more flowers next year. That is the nature of Nature. The
Buddhist response to a broken heart gains strength. For clearly m
'fortune of love' in the original suggests the karmic connection that
the present verse the Dalai Lama is not so much thinking of t~e
brought the lovers together.
natural ending of all relationships of love because they have run their
A vivid awareness of impermanence, with its inevitable death, is a
course. Rather what really parts the two lovers are the cold and
central facet of Buddhism. The death of love, as the death of lovers,
unwelcome winter storms of public position, aristocratic and monas-
is nothing to lament. That is just how it is. When karmic causes
tic opinion and state power.
cease, the results cease too. Seeing it this way is part of 'seeing things
the way they really are', an important concept in Buddhist thought.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 133

9 not just by itself but also when the lovers h.ave go~e their different
In Indo-Tibetan poetry the wild goose is the epitome of faithfulness m, Ys gone home. Each is now alone. There IS nothmg to keep .them h
to their vows. It was never meant. How could it be, when one IS t e
in love. Here, pining for the fens or marshes that are his natural
Dalai Lama and the other a promiscuous market girl?
complement, he wants to stay awhile. But now winter has come. All
Sorensen takes seriously the suggestion by a Chinese writer that
he sees is a sheet of surface ice ('mere ice sheets'). There is nowhere
the 'market girl' here is an allusion to the Regent. The poem thus
to rest. Tsangyang Gyatso's lover now is cold, oh so cold. She rejects
him. makes a veiled political allusion. I find that weird. The same could
be said of many similar cases where Sorensen searches for political
In Tibetan the last line of this poem suggests a state close to
allusions in his commentary.
despair. The play on the English verb 'to flyaway' in this line is not
explicit in the Tibetan.
12

10 Lhasa has many willow trees, and like the parks of modern Wester~
cities they are good places for lovers to meet. Perhaps partly for thiS
As the wooden ferry boat backs away from its mooring it turns to
reason the willow tree also becomes a Tibetan symbol of love. On to
face the current. The horse's head at the prow nods to Tsangyang
Gyatso, standing on the shore? Which (it seems) is more than can such a tree Tsangyang Gyatso has installed prayer flags.
be said for his brazen (or 'shameless') lover who throws him not a Prayer flags have religious formulae (e.g. mantras! ~n the~. ~hey
are flown ostensibly in order to remind people of religIOUS aspiratIOns
glance as they part. Is this the same aristocratic young woman grown
like compassion, and to purifY spiritually the environment. Flyi~g
cold of his previous verses? If so, it appears that even if their parting
such flags creates religious merit. A good followe: of M~hayana w~ll
is in response to a Tibetan political system that had come to dis-
offer the merit accrued for the benefit of all sentient bemgs. But m
courage such a liaison, she shows him no regrets. But what is not
shown is not necessarily unfelt. practice one can offer the merit to, for example, one's la~y friend.
Effectively therefore, flying prayer flags can be used to bring good
fortune (through transference of merit) to a named individual.
11
These prayer flags are there in order to b~ing good fortun~ to
Enough of his aristocratic Lady! It is all too risky, and the pain is too Tsangyang Gyatso's lover. This young woman IS not one he has Just
great. Here the Dalai Lama pledges the vows of young lovers with a met. She is a woman he has known from when they were small.
market girl. There is no use of the Tibetan honorific here. She is a Perhaps they grew up together. But among Lhasa officials is a
mere bu mo. Market girls are rather coarse, low-class creatures with a Guardian of Willows. The Dalai Lama politely begs him to keep
promiscuous reputation. quiet about it all, and not to throw stones at their prayer flag.
What three-word pledge might they twine? Why not 'I love you',
'We shall marry', 'True love forever', 'We shall elope'? No use! None 13
of it is meant. Like a coiled striped snake (khra bo'i sbrun that cannot
Letters written on paper can be washed off. Experiences, memories,
actually be knotted (mdud pa ... rna brgyab), the pledge unravels all
the images conjured by the mind, can never be lost even if one tries
by itself and slithers off into the dirty undergrowth. The Tibetan
to hide from them. They are now part of the person one has
rang rang sa fa - all by itself - I have translated as 'alone'. This is a
become. They are always there.
bit imprecise and ambiguous as a translation of the Tibetan, but it is
intentionally so. I like the idea that a pledge made together unravels
 134 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 135

I wonder if the Dalai Lama here weeps at the sight of old love 16
letters?
It seems that Tsangyang Gyatso's present beloved is indeed keen on
14 her Buddhism. It looks as if she has decided to become a nun (the
Tibetan literally says 'going to the Superior Doctrine', i.e. Bud-
In the first line I have preferred the reading brgyab - past tense dhism, but in context it must mean something like becoming a nun).
'stamped' - to Sorensen's rgyab. Sorensen himself considers the past- That is perhaps an appropriate response to becoming the object of
tense reading possibly a preferable one. Both words are pronounced the Dalai Lama's affections. After all he was supposed to be a monk.
the same in Tibetan. I have rendered the negation of the Tibetan Note here that the sweetheart is given the Tibetan honorific verb
expression for 'concern' here (i.e. lack of concern) as 'heartless' in (bzhugs). The 'young man' is given the equivalent non-honorific verb
translating verse ro. The Tibetan affirmative covers a range of (sdod). Thus the young man here, as elsewhere in the poems, is the
meanings - consideration for others, modesty, decency or sense of author himself.
shame.
The Tibetan actually states that he, her 'young man' (pho gzhon),
Perhaps, as Sorensen suggests, in this verse the Dalai Lama will head immediately for a mountain hermitage. Quite how becom-
shows frustration with his official duties, rubber-stamping state ing a mountain hermit will help him is not clear. Perhaps he is
documents. In reality the stamp is just plain stupid. There are more throwing back at her what she is doing to him. Or perhaps he is
important things for intelligent lovers to be stamping than all this genuinely torn between his lust and his religious aspirations and
paperwork, such as, for example, a sense of care and concern for each status. If he cannot have her, then that settles it. He will have
other. religion.
I wonder if this poem was written before or after poem ro? Alas Note, incidentally, that the state of a monk or nun in Buddhism
for Tsangyang Gyatso, as far as he is concerned the young woman in is theoretically reversible. Nevertheless reverting to lay life has always
that verse showed that the stamp had apparently failed to make much been rather frowned upon in Tibet. It is opting for the lesser state of
imprint. life rather than the greater.

1S' 17
The bee once more seeks the flower. The 'gorgeous hollyhocks' here Verses like this are lovely. They indicate the very human nature of
have in the Tibetan a thousand wonderful petals (stong Idan ha lo'i this Dalai Lama. He goes for spiritual guidance ('holy help' is a loose
me tog). But Sorensen suggests that the hollyhock had a reputation translation for an expression that is more precise in the Tibetan
in Tibet for being a bit 'common' (perhaps in England at springtime, Buddhist context) to a famous lama, with all the proper qualifications
daffodils might be an equivalent). These hollyhocks are to be expected of an effective teacher and spiritual guide. All Dalai Lamas
employed as ritual offerings in the main temple. have their own gurus. This verse quite possibly refers to approaching
But what is the Dalai Lama thinking? Does he really want to be his teacher, the Second Panchen Lama. But Tsangyang Gyatso
led to the temple in order to buzz round the gorgeous flowers that simply cannot concentrate. He cannot meditate. He can hardly begin
are being offered there? To pounce on beautiful nuns, or young to apply even the basic teachings of Buddhist mental cultivation.
women at their devotions? Rather than rapture, he is rapt. Wrapped up in thoughts of his
Still, no doubt a bee will do what a bee must do. And it is the beloved.
hollyhock's fault for looking so gorgeous.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 137

Verses like these, which show a great Tibetan religious figure comments that 'this song is purely tantric and partially reveals
who admits to failure in basic Buddhist practice (here because of his Tsangyang Gyatso's mastery over tantra? Sorensen has shown that
love (or lust) for a young woman), are, I think, unique. They have the references here are primarily to the teachings of the 'Brug pa
been preserved precisely because Tsangyang Gyatso was the Dalai bKa' brgyud (pronounced 'Drukpa Kagyer') tradition and a particular
Lama. geographical area of south-eastern Tibet, rather than the Dalai
Lama's dGe lugs. The verse refers to the use of alchemical magic.
18 First, supposing that this verse is genuinely by the Sixth Dalai
Lite~ally the Tibetan speaks of the face of the lama that is being Lama, what does it show? Well, it might show that the poet Dalai
meditated on, and contrasts it with the face of the beloved that is not Lama can write what appears to be a 'hymn of tantric experience',
the object of meditation. In Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice like other Tibetan poets such as Mi la ras pa (pronounced 'Milar-
one often visualizes one's own teacher in the form of a Buddha. epa'). This is a particular speciality of the bKa' brgyud schools and
Visualization must be precise and accurate, as if seeing the Bud- goes back to the Indian tantric dohas of figures like Saraha and
dha/Guru directly in front of oneself. One need not think (as does Naropa. It would show that the Dalai Lama can operate with tantric
8
Tatz in his note on this verse ) that attempting this indicates a categories in composing verses. What it would not show (pace some
particularly advanced familiarity with tantric practice on the part of other Tibetan and modern Western scholars) is that all Tsangyang
the Dalai Lama. And unfortunately Tsangyang Gyatso cannot see Gyatso's affairs with women were not what they appeared to be -
his teacher's face at all. But he has no problem, sitting there in affairs with women that (as we have seen in previous verses) caused
silence on his meditation cushion, in seeing quite clearly the face of him some emotional turmoil. Verse 20 does not show that really
his beloved young woman. Tsangyang Gyatso's sexual behaviour was part of tantric spiritual
It is strange how when one is asked to visualize a Buddha in practices, rather than simply love affairs. There is no suggestion in
meditation it is usually so difficult. Yet it seems so easy to visualize the verses that this is actually the case. To try, on the strength of
that to which one's mind is strongly attracted. Alas, this is invariably verse 20, to interpret most of the other verses as having a secret
the wrong thing. tantric significance would be to stretch credulity.
We should note the last two lines. Like so many of Tsangyang
19 Gyatso's verses, the direction of this verse, its whole momentum, is
contained at the end. With this marvellous drink those deeds that
To become a Buddha in one lifetime (naturally therefore with one Buddhists usually hold lead to unfavourable rebirths will no longer
body) is the hope and boast of the highest level of tantric practice. do so. My translation refers to hell, as having greater impact in
Tsangyang Gyatso is here expressing his level of devotion to his love, English. The Tibetan, on the other hand, speaks of 'bad destinies',
but he also clearly sees her as the wrong object if he wishes to attain the three classes of negative rebirth as an animal, a hungry ghost or
the tantric goal. in hell. What is interesting about this verse, therefore, is that the
Dalai Lama is clinging to a recipe that will save him from the
20 horrible rebirths that would seem to be contingent upon the sort of
This is the poem that is always taken to show Tsangyang Gyatso's behaviour in which he likes to indulge. In particular here it may be
familiarity with advanced tantric practices, practices that involved drinking alcohol. Or it could be love of women. Either way, in spite
engaging in physical sexuality for the purpose of inner spiritual of an initial difference, verse 20 is in keeping with the other verses.
cultivation. Sorensen calls it 'a poem of baffling intricacy'. Dhondup In the most recent verses the Dalai Lama has turned to religion, but
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 139

because of his love for his girlfriend he is finding it difficult to from bad rebirths." There is a work attributed to the Sixth Dalai
practise even basic Buddhist meditation techniques. Had he been Lama that mentions medicinal elixirs of the type referred to in this
able to do so he could have become a Buddha by now. Of course one verse. In tantric writing a rJakini is a female demi-goddess (Sorensen:
can become a Buddha in one lifetime by high tantric practice, but 'enchantress') particularly associated with aiding advanced tantric
Tsangyang Gyatso has realized that his more immediate concern is practitioners. They can also appear as 'ordinary' human women. Here
how to escape unfavourable rebirths. And apparently that requires the wisdom-t}akini serves as a cbang rna, a 'beer-girl', one of the
keeping commitments, with perhaps some alchemical help. 'Com- beautiful females well known at Lhasa parties. It looks like with the
mitments' here could be tantric commitments, but could also be use of this marvellous herbal medicine the beer-girl at the party or in
simply trust between partners. Sorensen refers to a popular Tibetan the tavern is held to be in fact (or becomes) a r;lakini.
use of the last line as a toast when drinking alcohol. 10 Alcohol The upshot of all of this is that 'it is evident that we are here
consumption is very much frowned upon by strict Buddhists. dealing with a sacred-occult tradition where ... this herbal plant
In recent years enormous advances have been made in coming to [Luderdorje] becomes a constituent part, in a medicinal-therapheutic
appreciate the direction of this verse, if not all its details. Sorensen [sic] and alchemical context, of a sacred item which eventually
(relying in part on the work of others) writes a lengthy essay on its secures the partaker supernatural powers."" Note, however, that
interpretation. Essentially this is the bare bones of a medicinal recipe, while verse 20 shows a familiarity with this product it does not in
the product of which is a substance that (it is claimed) leads to itself give evidence for any great familiarity on the part of the Dalai
supernormal powers. Important here is the power of avoiding bad Lama with the actual procedure and techniques involved in its
rebirths. At the time the Sixth Dalai Lama was writing there seems manufacture or even its use. Thus, granted the meaning of this
to have been considerable interest in such magical alchemical verse, it cannot be taken as showing an advanced knowledge on the
products in certain influential Tibetan circles. It may be that the part of Tsangyang Gyatso of the alchemical tradition involved. All it
alchemical substance referred to here could be added to alcohol in shows is that he knew of it, and presumably sampled its products in
order to make it spiritually potent or to neutralize the spiritual the hope of avoiding nasty rebirths.
negativity of alcohol consumption. 'Dakpashelri water' is glacier
water from Dakpashel ('Pure Crystal') Mountain, an identifiable site 21
in south-eastern Tibet. It is an important area replete with 'mystical
This young woman is described as bright and charming. She invited
topography' for tantric practice, close to where Tsangyang Gyatso
the Dalai Lama to her house as a guest. The suggestion is that such
was born. It is also a significant region for the practice of Tibetan
herbal medicine. 'Luderdorje' ('Serpent-demon Diamond') is an good luck befell Tsangyang Gyatso because he had recently set up
new prayer flags with the intention of improving his luck. 'With my
identifiable botanical herb used in Tibetan medicine. The root is
prayer flags flapping' is a little bit of a loose translation, but the
apparently related to ginseng. In Chinese (but not Tibetan) medicine
it is reputed to be an aphrodisiac. This herb is also associated with meaning of the Tibetan is caught.
potions that (it is said) convey remarkable magical powers (siddbt) ,
such as the ability to fly through the air. Tibetan sources refer to the 22
great blessings that come even from drinking the dewdrops that fall In spite of a translation by Sorensen of the first two lines using the
from it. Significantly, one Mongolian source (quoted by Sorensen) first-person singular, the Tibetan does not say specifically that these
explains that simply going to the place at Dakpashelri where the herb lines refer to Tsangyang Gyatso looking at a row of young women
can be found liberates one from the round of transmigration and (at, say, a party). I have chosen to preserve here the ambiguity of the
 SONGS OF LOVE. POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION

original. It could be (as Dhondup translates, albeit otherwise very 26

loosely) that it is the young woman rather than the Dalai Lama who
is taking in a whole row with general social smiles, while casting It is common III Tibet for a lover to give his young woman a
side-long glances oflove at Tsangyang Gyatso. turquoise for her head dress. It may even be given as a sign of
betrothal. But how is one to know that one's girlfriend's thoughts are
23 faithful?
My interpretation of this verse differs rather from that of Soren-
The translation is a little less than strictly literal, but it gets the sen. For comparison, he translates it:
meaning pretty well and I like it.
Should you, my eternal friend,
24 On whom my thoughts have lingered,
Prove just brazen and unfaithful,
The expression mdzangs ma, a charming, bright, clever young The turquoise I have inserted in my hairdress
woman, suggests that Tsangyang Gyatso is still thinking of the girl Would not know how to divulge it to me.
of verse 21. The expression chos skal refers to the possibilities he has
in this life for practising Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is caught in a I assume Sorensen must think it is the young woman who is speaking
dilemma. One interesting dimension of this dilemma is the tension in this verse (although he seems to contradict this on p 15"7 of his
between following the wishes of another and going along with one's edition and commentary). He also takes 'the thoughts' as referring to
own wishes and hopes. Of course, in this Buddhist context 'one's the speaker's relationship to the beloved. I do not.
own wishes and hopes' refers to one's spiritual growth towards
Buddhahood eventually for the benefit of all sentient beings. The Dalai 27
Lama is quite clear that opposed to the life of sex, partying, fun and Rather nicely, the Dalai Lama youth here asks very politely of his
perhaps eventually marriage is the isolated way of a religious hermit lover with the sparkling teeth whether she has 'truly' - from the
in the mountains, acting for the benefit of all sentient beings. heart (snying nas) - hot flesh (sha tsha) for him or not! The second
It is hard not to feel that the Dalai Lama has brought this acute line in the Tibetan rather hints that she is instructing (with 'guid-
dilemma on himself. Still, we need to remember his youth and his ance for his mind', blo khrid) as well as seducing him.
unenviable position.
28
The first line here is a common Tibetan image for a chance or casual
Gongbo (Kong po) is a district not far from Lhasa. Presumably the meeting. A bird meets a stone quite adventitiously. It alights on a
Dalai Lama is thinking of himself and his dilemma in this guise. stone apparently randomly, and a thrown stone just happening to hit
According to Sorensen, three days is commonly thought of in Tibet a bird would also be quite accidental. The madam here (in the
to be as long as a casual relationship can last before it becomes Tibetan) is a lady who dispenses beer. But she also plays a role in
something more serious. The 'web' here can also be translated as bringing casual lovers together, perhaps as an inn-cum-brothel
'net'. Either way, the bee feels caught and struggles to escape. For keeper. The Tibetan implies the possibility of unwanted results
the Dalai Lama where could one escape to, but to the serious through karman from deeds misdone, as well as punning on 'debt'
practice of religion, Buddhism? and 'acquiring a child' (bu Ion). Hence the translation's 'issue'.
Presumably, if this applies to himself, the Dalai Lama is suggesting
'42, SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION '43

that if his liaison has issue and his partner becomes pregnant it is the developments in his love life. He set out to rescue Yidtrok Hlamo,
madam who should pay for the upkeep of the child and not him. It is found her again, and they all lived happily ever after.
after all quite literally her business. One should also remember that Clearly Tsangyang Gyatso has changed the story somewhat. He
apart from anything else, the Dalai Lama presumably does not wish is the hunter and has successfully trapped his prey. But instead of
his liaisons to become common knowledge. giving this wonderful female to Prince Norzang, the latter - a
However, with its pun I would see this verse as a joke rather than horrible, powerful aristocrat - has stolen her from him. In the
a genuine attempt to avoid responsibility. After all, as a Buddhist the Tibetan there is an interesting repetition of 'phrog (pronounced
Dalai Lama knows perfectly well that karmic results can be experi- 'trok') in the name ofYidtrok Hlamo and in the verb in the last line
enced only by the one who did the deed. Likewise financial (and that I have translated as 'seduced'. The name Yidtrok Hlamo literally
moral) responsibility for illegitimate births is unlikely to be avoided means 'Mind-captivating Goddess' (as it is aptly translated by
by those who engendered the 'issue'. Sorensen). The 'phrog is the 'captivating' part. Just as she is a
goddess who, through her beauty, captivates the mind, so in the
29 Dalai Lama's version she has been stolen ('captured') by Prince
The 'old friend' here is in Tibetan a 'love from childhood' (see verse Norzang. Yet human beings are not inanimate possessions, property.
12). I have used 'friend' for alliterative affect. Even a Dalai Lama - In that sense they cannot simply be 'stolen' (at least, not in love).
especially a Dalai Lama - cannot know whom he can trust. As all They must in some sense give themselves. Thus I have used
spies are aware, secrets told on pillows can travel far. This Dalai 'seduced' instead, a word that also has a much better impact here.
Lama has enemies, and they now know what he is up to. An alternative translation, playing on the names of the protago-
nists, might be fun. Yidtrok Hlamo, as a name, essentially means that
}O the goddess is very beautiful (with a beauty that has a certain
otherworldly magical enticing power). In English we might call her
This verse requires a bit of explanation. The allusion is to a Bud- 'Divine'. Norzang means literally in Tibetan 'good wealth'. In effect
dhist story originating in India that is well known in Tibet and he is Prince Jolly Rich. So let us try:
became the subject of a Tibetan folk-opera. It is outlined by Soren-
sen in his commentary on this verse. There was a king who ruled She - 'Divine' - my lover -
righteously because of the advice given him by a naga (a serpent- Though I - the hunter - caught,
deity). His neighbouring king, on the other hand, was wicked. The Strong Lord, Prince Jolly Rich,
wicked king sent a magician to abduct the naga. The plot was foiled Seduced my love away.
by a hunter. Out of gratitude, the naga gave the hunter a magic lasso, This does perhaps get some of the additional sense that Tsangyang
quite a useful thing for a hunter. With this lasso the hunter caught a Gyatso is trying to convey with this verse - the young woman's
beautiful goddess, Yidtrok Hlamo. He gave the goddess to his beauty and also (in the way he has twisted the story) his attitude to
prince, Prince Norzang. They lived happily, but Prince Norzang's the aristocratic seducer. I wonder who these two were? One would
other consorts, out of jealousy, persuaded the king, Norzang's father, imagine the 'Mighty Lord, Prince Norzang' must be the Regent,
to execute Yidtrok Hlamo and to send the prince off to war. The who also enjoyed ladies and could claim reasons of statecraft for his
queen rescued Yidtrok Hlamo, who flew back to the heaven from seduction.
where she came. Prince Norzang was victorious in battle but upset by
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 145

31 the Doctrine (Dharma) and the community of practitioners

(Sarrtgha ). This is the basic practice expressing Buddhist adherence.
On this verse see the Appendix, The Mind of a Dalai Lama.
Thus the Dalai Lama is here taking refuge not in Buddha, Dharma
and Sarpgha, but in a beer-girl. In a way it is a wicked - even
blasphemous - joke. But it is tinged with sadness and Buddhist
The Tibetan in the first line literally says 'love who took joy in me'. truth. We know that in fact the beer-girl will die. She is not in
The illness referred to in Tibetan in the third line is described as a reality a safe refuge. The young man Tsangyang Gyatso might love
chronic disease of the mind that is located or emerges from deep women and beer, but he knows that all will pass away, and its passing
within. In the Appendix below I note the association in Tibetan (as Buddhism constantly stresses) is misery.
medicine of bodily wasting with the particular psychophysical illness
that, it seems to me, was experienced by the Sixth Dalai Lama.
Tatz's translation, '[t]he flesh of my body is dry' makes it sound like
Literally, the first line states that perhaps she was not born from a
Tsangyang Gyatso suffered from flaky skin or eczema. That misses
mother. Peach blossom is beautiful but very temporary. In Japan the
it.
reference would be to cherry blossom, although for Japanese to
compare a lover to cherry blossom would be a positive feature even if
tinged with the sadness of mortality. Here, perhaps the Dalai Lama
Where is she? Does he still have a chance? Are their futures linked wants to emphasize his lover's fickleness or changeability rather more
in the stars? In losing her Tsangyang Gyatso has become obsessed than her beauty. This is particularly the case if we take this verse
with this young woman. In my discussion in the Appendix it will be with those that follow.
noted that insomnia is also one of the symptoms listed for disorders
of what Tibetan medicine calls 'the pervasive wind'. The verse 36
actually refers to divination and astrology. I have used 'cards' as a
The Tibetan verb does not translate literally as 'sucks', but this
common Western equivalent. In Tibet there are many forms of
translation gets the dual meaning of what a wolf and a young woman
divination that are a constant accompaniment of everyday living for may each do to Tsangyang Gyatso, given half a chance. A nearer
everyone from the Dalai Lama down. I}
translation would be 'knew' with its erotic Biblical sense included. It
seems Tsangyang Gyatso's lover is a loner, unwilling to make a
34 commitment. He is devoured, but she is always planning to go off
An interesting verse, since it rather skilfully plays on Buddhist alone to the mountains. She sounds in many ways like Tsangyang
themes. The young woman here is presumably a beer-girl, although Gyatso himself. I wonder if this is the same young woman who
she may also be his lover. Buddhism of course stresses impermanence intended to become a nun?
and consequential suffering. What the Dalai Lama wants to say is
that if the beer-girl never dies, there will be beer forever. He is the 37
Dalai Lama. He permits himself to appoint her the 'safe haven'
Tsangyang Gyatso is the Dalai Lama. The reference to rebellion in
(actually in Tibetan, 'firm' or 'constant refuge'; gtan gyi skyabs gnas) this verse is a potent one. The Tibetan mthu ('charms') expresses
of the young man (or 'young men'). The Tibetan expression skyabs here magical power. Nothing can hold back a lover who bids for
gnas is precisely the term used when 'taking refuge' in the Buddha,
freedom.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 147

38 And so it is in this verse too. The Tibetan actually reads 'But the
hare on the moon's disc is going to die'. On the colloquial future
Even a soaring mountain vulture (we might prefer the image of an
sense of the last line, see Sorensen. Of course, as the moon wanes
eagle) can be ground down by the weather and by the jagged crags of
('perishes') the man, or the hare, too will perish. Again we see a
the Himalayas. And the Dalai Lama feels devoured by the secret
particular streak of pessimism in the Dalai Lama, especially regarding
whisperings, the secret schemings, with which he is surrounded.
uncertainty and impermanence, which perhaps reflects his Buddhism.
But we have also seen that some of this pessimism is justified. The
39 Dalai Lama's anxiety perhaps reflects his upbringing and early
A complicated poem to interpret. The reference in the third line is experiences (see the Appendix).
to a learned scholar (ban de) who is neither a layman wearing grey And all love ends in death. So maybe this is not pessimism but
robes nor a monk in saffron-yellow. The Dalai Lama's poem here is realism. The Dalai Lama is concerned (or perhaps recognizes) that
perhaps directed at the Regent of Tibet (see my comments on verse his love is doomed to perish. But does he also see himself in the
8 above), who was a very learned layman occupying the position of a hare? Can one see Tsangyang Gyatso's premonition of his destiny?
ruler who should have been a monk, the Dalai Lama himself. Or is
the Dalai Lama (or someone) here referring with regret to the Dalai 42
Lama himself, suspended between his monastic status and his lay
The Tibetan in this verse is able to pun on 'moon' and 'month', for
preferences ?14
in Tibetan they are the same word (zla ba). The time of the waxing
moon is known as the bright part, or bright half, and it is harbinger
of the auspicious white moon. The time of the waxing moon is just
One had better not talk intimately or tell secrets to a new girlfriend. the time for lovers to meet. And that, the verse says, is indeed when
We saw in verse 29 that even an old love known for many years can they shall meet. As Sorensen points out, compared with the previous
betray such confidences. A new girlfriend is like ground that is frozen verse this has an optimistic note. But all waxing moons eventually
underneath and slippery on the surface. It is very dangerous. No wane. Remembering that the moon is a symbol of love and the lover,
place to send one's horse. If the horse falls on the hazardous surface all growing love eventually perishes (as does the lover). Or, to change
or one is unseated, on the exposed steppes one can freeze to death at to another image favoured by Tsangyang Gyatso, the turquoise bee
night. The Tibetan indicates that the horse here is a stallion (rta moves on to other flowers (see verse 7).
pho). The suggestion is that to speak confidences to a new girlfriend
would be a highly risky business. Who is there that can be trusted?
In Indo-Tibetan cosmology Mount Meru is the central cosmic
41
mountain of the universe (a 'world-sphere'). The rotation of the sun
What a wonderful verse! The Tibetan refers to the 'moon of the I,
and the moon takes place around it. The Dalai Lama is clearly
fifteenth day', that is, the full moon. A full moon is a common image exhorting someone, or something, to remember its status as the firm
in Indo-Tibetan arts for love (or sometimes the young woman or her centre of all. It is unthinkable that there would be deviation in the
face; see verse I). Also common here is the 'man in the moon'. But rotation of others around him/her/it. Their orbit is their very nature.
with a difference. In India and Tibet it is not a man who is seen in Apart from that, who knows what this verse is about? Sorensen
the shadows on the moon's disc. It is a much loved hare (n' bong). suggests various possibilities. I rather doubt any particular allusion to
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 149

tantric yoga here, even though these cosmic symbols are used there This is a lovely, sensuous verse, written very much in the style of
too. Mount Meru in this verse could be Tsangyang Gyatso's lover, a Sanskrit love poem but (it seems) with greater directness in the last
around whom he dances. Or the other way round. Or perhaps the line. One can almost feel Tsangyang Gyatso's relaxation of tension.
reference here is not to his lover, but to political figures such as the Of course, winter will certainly come again.
Regent. The Dalai Lama is, after all, the Dalai Lama and thus
supposedly the firm centre of Tibet. But then, who is dancing ,*,7
around whom? Anyway, someone or something should stay firm and
A very Buddhist sentiment. Actually this verse has much of the
unmoving.
flavour of the Indian poet Bhartr;hari's Vairagyasataka ('Hundred
Verses on Renunciation'), particularly as Bhartr;hari too was torn
'*''*' between the sensuous life of love and the religious life of asceticism
The three-day moon is that of the third day of the waxing half. We and meditation. I6 Nevertheless one has to admit that this poem
are still far from the full moon. As Sorensen points out, there is a seems rather out of keeping with most of the others. I wonder
pun at the end of this verse. The Tibetan zhal in the last line - whether it is really by Tsangyang Gyatso? It is not included in some
related here to an expression for promising - is also a term for the of the other recensions.
face. Thus (remembering the association of the moon with love, and
also the lover's face), Tsangyang Gyatso is asking that she show to ,*,8
him her full face, as at the time of the full moon. The time for the
Literally, the last line says that she became even stronger. 'Tiger-
third day of the waxing moon is fun, but full-moon time is even
dogs' and 'leopard-dogs' are just horribly fierce dogs. But not as
better.
dangerous as long-haired domestic tigresses. The Tibetan verb is the
same in the second and fourth lines. I have chosen 'known' in the
last line intentionally, with the implications it has of its erotic usage
See my comments on this verse in 'The present translation' section for 'carnal knowledge' in the King James Bible.
of the Introduction.
'*'9
'*'6 Translation lines alb and dd are reversed in the original Tibetan
A cuckoo is a harbinger or a symbol of spring, and in Indian and (i.e. the reference to the young woman comes first), which does not
Tibetan literature that is the season for lovers. Thus to mention a seem poetically as effective. The translation of 'mood' for gdeng is a
cuckoo is to contribute to the mood (Sanskrit: rasa) of amorous bit imprecise. The Tibetan conveys the sense of 'confidence' or
enjoyment. The cuckoo returns to Lhasa from its winter migration , ,
assurance.
to the southern regions of Mern (Mon) in the sub-Himalayas. The
sap (literally, the 'earth-essence'; Sorensen: 'fertility') is rising. The 50
Tibetan suggests that it is because the cuckoo has arrived that all this
The talking parrot is associated with the south of Tibet, on the
is happening. Sorensen cites another Tibetan verse (not by the Sixth
borders with India. The region is known as Hlorong (Lho rong),
Dalai Lama) that explains that this is due to the cuckoo's beautiful
song. and the Tibetan describes the meeting deep in a forest in a Hlorong
valley. Sorensen suggests that this verse might be aimed at someone
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION

in the Dalai Lama's entourage who had come to hear of his master's The Dalai Lama's name as a libertine is Dangzang Wangbo. 'Dang-
secret liaison. zang' (dwangs hang) when used colloquially, as it is here, is a term
which when applied to a male means 'handsome'. 'Wangbo' (dbang
po) normally means 'powerful', but here Sorensen suggests that it
Chongyay CPhyongs rgyas) is south of Lhasa and close to the valley should be translated as 'potent'. Thus the Dalai Lama is known in
from where the ancient Tibetan kings emerged in the seventh the red-light district as 'The Screwer, Handsome and Potent'.
Sorensen also points out that the verb in the first line ('dwelling')
century to conquer briefly much of Central Asia and China. The
is an honorific. That in the third line, which I translate here as
Tibetan expression (with its double .. . La yod construction) rather
suggests that 'this girl is mine, yet she lives elsewhere'. 'roaming', is not. Since it is not normal to uSe an honorific for
oneself, Sorensen suggests that while this verse may sum up the
career of the Sixth Dalai Lama, it is probably not actually by him. I
am not convinced. In the Introduction I suggest another reason why
Is this an actual guard dog, or a member of the Dalai Lama's the Dalai Lama might have used these two versions of the verb for
household? poetic effect.

55
This verse is, I think, self-explanatory. It is a masterpiece, with all The Tibetan expression 'wealth' (rgyu nor) here has a variant dge nor,
the crispness of a zen haiku. 'precious virtue'. Adopting this variant, the last line would read' The
young lad of his virtue'. That would give an interesting alternative.
54
The Potala is the Dalai Lama's great palace that towers over Lhasa. 56
Zhol is the area at the foot of the Potala that contains (inter alia) the This is not an easy verse to translate because of the infrequent use of
red-light district. The Dalai Lama's name, Tsangyang Gyatso, has a personal pronouns in literary Tibetan. Thus we cannot be sure who
number of translations. It could mean 'The Ocean, Purity and is speaking to whom. All we can tell is that the third line is ad-
Harmony', or 'The Ocean, Perfection and Harmony', or 'The dressed to the person leaving, and the fourth line to the one
Ocean, Pure Harmony', or 'The Ocean, Perfect Harmony', or 'The remaining. Tibetan uses a different expression when speaking to
Ocean, Harmony [or 'Melody'] of the god Brahm::i'. Whichever, the each. Moreover, since the Sixth Dalai Lama on renouncing his
Dalai Lama's name is replete with intimations of perfection, good- monastic vows grew his hair long, we do not know whether the
ness and beauty. The title Rigdzin is used to refer to one who is a second line refers to him or to his girlfriend. I have translated it one
tantric master. However, Sorensen argues that the bestowal of this way, but others are possible. My translation relies on the assumption
title on the Sixth Dalai Lama need not be taken to mean that he was that the one leaving is the young woman. This is based on the one
thought to be an accomplished practitioner of esoteric Tantra. In leaving wearing the hat, and the use of an honorific for the hat
fact it was also applied to the father ofTsangyang Gyatso,'7 who was wearer in the first line. The Dalai Lama is the poet, and he would
not reputed for his tantric accomplishments as far as I know. not be expected to use an honorific for himself. Sorensen, while
The Tibetan 'ehaL po, which I have translated as 'Screwer', means recognizing the possibility of translating the verse the way I favour,
literally an adulterer or someone who is exceptionally promiscuous. differs. He wants the last line to be the Dalai Lama speaking, in
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES FOR APPRECIATION 1)3

order to link it with the next verse. I see no need to do so. Either 59
way, the poem is a lovely evocation of parting lovers which gains by
its simplicity. Tsangyang Gyatso was by all accounts an accomplished archer
My use of 'I'll miss you' in the fifth line is a little loose. The himself.19 The arrow here is said to have hit the target Cben fa phog
Tibetan simply says that there will be sorrow, or weariness. song). Important here is that arrows are also used in Tibet as a form
20
of divination.

60
This is a well-known and popular verse, mainly because it is taken to
be a prediction of the Dalai Lama's reincarnation. Its authenticity The peacock is said here to come from eastern India (rgya gar shar).
can be doubted. The white crane is a symbol of longevity and Since our peacock is in Lhasa, it is more likely to come from north-
fidelity. Lithang is in the far east of Tibet, on the Chinese border. eastern India, i.e. Bengal. For Gongbo see verse 2). Lhasa is de-
The Seventh Dalai Lama was born in that region in 1708. scribed here as chos 'khor, the Dharmacakra, Dharma-circle or
Dharma-wheel. This refers to a place particularly holy for Bud-
58 dhism. Two creatures - symbols of lovers - from quite different
origins meet here, at a third place, the enchanted city of Lhasa.
The king of hell is the ancient Indian god Yama. He is described in
the Tibetan as Chos rgyaf, Sanskrit Dharmariija, the King of 61
Dharma. Dharma in this context in Buddhism combines the two
notions of the way things really are, and the way they ought to be in The gnas mo ('landlady') of this verse is probably like the a ma chang
one's behaviour if one is to correspond (as one should) to the way ma of verse 28. She is the keeper of an inn-cum-brothel, a madam.
18 This verse takes us to her place. I do not see any reason to think that
things actually are. It might best be thought of here as something
akin to 'righteousness'. In Buddhism Yama holds up a mirror in the lady herself is the Dalai Lama's mistress (as Sorensen suggests).
which one can see exactly one's deeds and their consequences. Thus
properly speaking Yama does not judge the dead person. That person
62
is judged with perfect fairness and justice by the inevitable results of 'The birdling' is in the Tibetan a 'little bird' (byi 'u). It may be the
the deeds he has committed. This vision of moral truth takes place small willow sparrow. So long as it nestles deep within the willow
not strictly in hell but in a sort of antechamber. There is no impli- branches it might be safe. The Tibetan sems shor literally means 'lost
cation that in looking into the mirror of deeds one will inevitably its mind/heart [to]'. Sorensen suggests that the 'grey hawk' (skya khra
proceed to hell. But if one does, in Buddhism there are many hells. hor pa) is perhaps a sparrowhawk or falcon. Etymologically, Tibetans
They are all jolly unpleasant. Still, hell is not for all eternity. It is a associate it with Mongolia (hor yu0.
kind of rebirth, where one exhausts the results of one's wicked deeds.
Then there is rebirth elsewhere. When further wicked deeds are 63
committed, hell may result again. And so on, forever - unless one
A verse that manages to combine a certain depression with hope for
becomes enlightened and puts a stop to the whole cyclic treadmill.
the future, if only in a future incarnation. There is an issue in
According to Sorensen this verse often ends recensions of the
Buddhist philosophy as to how far my reincarnation can be said to be
Sixth Dalai Lama's poems. In the previous verse he predicted his
'me'. But no doubt such philosophical niceties are far from the Dalai
reincarnation. Now he speaks of his after-death quest for justice.
Lama's mind.
154 SON G S 0 FLO V E, POE M S 0 F SAD N E S S

64 APPENDIX
The parrot should shut up. The sister thrush in the willow grove
could be either Tsangyang Gyatso's lover, or a female helper or a go- The Mil1~ of a Dalai lama
between.

6;
Serpent-demons bring various unpleasant illnesses. Plucking fruit in
Indo-Tibetan love poetry, as perhaps in English, also connotes
sexual intercourse (what is sometimes called 'making love', although
all too often nowadays love doesn't seem to enter into it). Here, hat I want to do here is something very speculative. For
wonderfully for a Buddhist writer, Tsangyang Gyatso indicates that
he is willing to go for the short-term pleasure regardless of the
dangers in the longer term. Compare with verse 47. But maybe the
W some it might even be considered a sort of blasphemy. I
want to speculate more precisely on what the Sixth
Dalai Lama's psychological problem was. There are those who
serpent-demon is coming. consider that as the Dalai Lama he could not have had a psycho-
logical problem, and the appearance of inner problems is merely
66 because, as a manifestation of Avalokitesvara, he is beyond our
ordinary understanding. In this vein we might cite a Tibetan verse:
One rather doubts that this verse is by Tsangyang Gyatso! It is a nice
Buddhist moralistic verse to put at the end of the collection. It Who can rightly fathom the full extent
recalls an old Buddhist story. The Buddha's disciple Ananda is said of the appearance in all directions
to have asked the Buddha what a monk should do if a woman comes Of the illusory body ofPadmapillJ.i [AvalokiteSvara] in
along. 'Don't look', was the reply. But what if it is already too late? manifestations fitting
'Don't speak'. But what if they should speak? 'Then watch your To the diverse sight, pure and impure,
mind carefully, Ananda!'21 But for poor Tsangyang Gyatso it was of beings
already far too late. In the Land of Snow, the field of emanation
of the Exalted One [Avalokitesvaraf
But however we look at it, even for the most pious Buddhist the
Sixth Dalai Lama was a human being as well, with a human physiol-
ogy and influenced by and influencing his historical circumstances.
One can take it that physiologically his brain worked the same way as
that of the rest of us. He should thus be open to the normal tools of
the scholar, and the justification for scholarly investigation lies in the
extent to which it enables us to understand the phenomena available
to it. It seems clear (and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dalai
Lamas confirm this) that the Sixth Dalai Lama was politically a
disaster. Also he does not appear from his verses to have been a very

155
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS APPENDIX 157

happy man. That, it seems to me, means that (like all of us) he had ailments and making him thoroughly ill. In Tibetan medicine
problems. And some of those problems appear to have been inner. disorder of the pervasive wind can be brought on by (among other
They were in part, I think, psychological or psycho-pharmacological. things):
I have suggested that the behaviour of Tsangyang Gyatso was in
shock, fright, depression, or phobic behavior. Symptoms include
many ways that of a typical adolescent. But I think there is more that
general wasting, insomnia, and decreased mental functioning as
might explain the particular form his behaviour took under the
evidenced by prolonged staring and gaping, fainting, excessive
circumstances. But what I have to say is highly speculative. That is
verbal activity, and unsubstantiated fears.4
why I have put it into an Appendix.
We do have some indication from the verses themselves what the Judging by the verses, this looks close to the experience of the Dalai
Sixth Dalai Lama's problems might have been. I want to refer to Lama. But recent scientific research into phenomena like anxiety,
verse 31: depression, phobias and compulsive addictions (including addictions
to alcohol, gambling and sex) have linked them closely and convinc-
nor bu rang la yod dus
ingly with depletion of the brain chemical serotonin. This is a
nor bu'i nor nyams ma chod
chemical the presence of which is associated with, and responsible
nor bu mi la shor dus
for, feelings of ease and relaxation. Serotonin depletion commonly
snying rlung stod la tshangs byung
occurs as a result of long-term anxiety-inducing pressures. The early
When I had the jewel, experiences of Tsangyang Gyatso are now recognized as precisely the
I prized it not a jot. sort of phenomena that might induce severe serotonin depletion in
When lost to another, even the strongest of individuals. These include long-term house
Depression broke my health. arrest, deprivation of his family, enormous pressure, constant
expectations of cleverness, saintliness and learning, fears of assassina-
The Tibetan snying rlung stod la tshangs byung in the last line is a
tion, death of his father, a tough mother, a demanding relationship
technical expr.ession of Tibetan medicine. It refers to illness brought
with the fearsome Regent. They include all the other hundred and
o~ by a ~art1c~lar malfunction of the 'heart-wind'. Wind (r/ung)
one things that we have seen in the life of the Sixth Dalai Lama.
dlsor~ers. m Tibetan medicine cover a range of illnesses including
Interestingly fasting, starvation and an insufficient diet also lower
psychlatnc and psychosomatic problems.' When this and verses 32-3
serotonin levels. Moreover extensive research has shown that a
are taken together, I would hazard a guess that the Dalai Lama was
situation where one is constantly being compared unfavourably with
troubled by what is known in Tibetan medicine as a disorder of the
others, or compares oneself unfavourably to others, is a particular
'pervasive ,:i.nd'. This. wind is located mainly in the heart according
factor in lowering serotonin levels in certain people.) This is exactly
to the traditIOns of Tibetan medicine based on the Old Translations
the situation of Tsangyang Gyatso. Not only was he verbally and
(rNying m~; p~onounced 'Nying ma'). Others, such as the dGe lugs,
physically abused by the two local governors, but was subjected
wo~ld be mchned to locate it mainly in the head. 3 But given the
constantly to expectations that he would be as clever and as domi-
family. backgroun~ .of the Sixth Dalai Lama it is not surprising to
nant as the Fifth Dalai Lama - the great hero of the Regent, who
find him on medlcme following the Old Translations the 'Ancient
was himself a terribly clever man. At least some of those acquainted
Ones'. Ostensibly the Dalai Lama has lost a particula; lovely young
with him - but most of all the formidable Regent - were looking to
woman to another person. He now blames himself. He did not value
see the return of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. All were looking to
such a jewel enough. It looks as if guilt, anger and so on have
brought on depression, in turn leading to other psychosomatic
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS APPENDIX 159

see something special in a young lad identified as a reincarnation of a 6. I am thus suggesting that it is plausible that Tsangyang Gyatso
distinguished previous teacher. had particularly low levels of serotonin. This would have led to forms
So what I am suggesting is that we can be more precise than of depression, possibly associated with addictions to alcohol, sex and
simply saying that the sort of upbringing Tsangyang Gyatso had gambling. Thus rather than depression being brought on by losing
explains his subsequent behaviour. I am suggesting that as a result of his girlfriend, the Dalai Lama's interest in girls may have been a
serotonin depletion the Sixth Dalai Lama suffered from symptoms of symptom of his depression.
depression and quite possibly severe anxiety. This perhaps manifested
itself in particular forms of compulsive or neurotic behaviour. He 7. I am also suggesting that if he did suffer from low levels of
probably had little patience, and was possibly anxious about routine serotonin, he might have experienced other phenomena that com-
and ceremony. He may well have had panic attacks in crowds or in monly go with it, such as acute anxiety, panic attacks, aggressIOn,
circumstances where he felt hemmed-in. He was also quite possibly feelings of inadequacy, inability to cope, and so on.
actually addicted to sex, alcohol and gambling (at archery). He might
have had a high level of aggression, although it might not have Of course, we can never know. But that does not mean that we
manifested directly as aggression. These are all related to serotonin cannot speculate, and the speculation may help us to understand
depletion. more fully this most tragic of Dalai Lamas as a human being like the
Let me summarize here the structure of my argument in this rest of us. In seeing Tsangyang Gyatso as suffering from the psycho-
speculative section. I want to argue the following: physical results of serotonin depletion we can not only understand
and sympathize with him better. By looking at the various forms in
1. We know from some of the Sixth Dalai Lama's verses that he which serotonin depletion manifests itself, such as social phobia or
suffered medical disturbances which he, using the terminology of panic attacks, it may enable us to suggest, in the absence of further
Tibetan medicine, associated with malfunction of the 'heart-wind'. evidence, hypotheses and hypothetical behaviour that would explain
events in the life of the Sixth Dalai Lama. And I suggest that this is
2. I have suggested that this corresponds in Tibetan medicine to a very much a job for the historian.
disorder of the 'pervasive wind'.

3· Disorder of the pervasive wind is brought on by (inter alia)

depression and fright. It manifests itself in depressive behaviour.

4. Extensive modern scientific research has shown a correlation

between depression and low levels of the brain chemical serotonin.

). Among the factors that can lead in some individuals to a lowering

of serotonin are a poor diet and long-term anxiety-inducing pressure,
particularly in early life. A particularly potent form of this anxiety-
inducing pressure is negative comparison. These (and others) are
exactly the pressures the Sixth Dalai Lama experienced in early life.
 NOTES

8 See Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth, Arya.sura's Aspira-

tion and a Meditation on Compassion, trans. Brian Beresford et al
(Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979), p III.
Notes For an extensive discussion of the bodhisattva in Mahayana Bud-
dhism see Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, ch. 9.
9 See the interview with Tendzin Chogyal in Daniel Barlocher,

Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus: A Research among Reincarnate

Buddhist Masters in Exile (Rikon: Tibet-Institut, Opuscula Ti-
betana, 1982), vol I, p 215. This two-volume work of interviews with
contemporary trulkus, almost exclusively of the Dalai Lama's dGe
lugs school, is still by far the most important source on the subject .
•?1tToblfctiOl1 10 Claude B. Levenson, The Dalai Lama: A Biography, trans.
1 Sir Charles Bell, Portrait of the Dalai Lama (London: Collins, Stephen Cox (London, Sydney, Wellington: Unwin Hyman, 1988),
1946 ), p 37· p 13 0 .
2 For more on this see Paul Williams and Anthony Tribe, Buddhist Il Tibetan, like many Asian languages, uses honorific words when
Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition (London referring to people or things considered in some way superior to the
and New York: Routledge, 2000), pp 4-6. For those unfamiliar with speaker.
the field, this book could serve as an introduction to the whole 12 For a discussion of the 'Bodies of the Buddhas' see Williams,
Indian Buddhist background to the Sixth Dalai Lama's verses. Mahayana Buddhism, ch. 8. For a shorter treatment see Williams and
3 Translated from the Tibetan. For an alternative translation of the Tribe, Buddhist Thought, ch. 6.
w~ole of Atisa's work, with a commentary attributed to him, see 13 From the Chinese version of the Ga1)t/avyuha Sutra, trans. Tho-

Ansa, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary, trans. Richard Sher- mas Cleary in The Flower Ornament Scripture, vol 3 (Boston:
burne S.J, (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983). This material Shambhala, 1987), P 152.
can be found on P 5. '4 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, pp 68 3-5.

4 Translated from the Sanskrit version by Kate Crosby and Andrew 15 Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo (Beijing: Nationalities Publishing

Skilton, in Santideva: The Bodhicaryavatara (Oxford and New York: House, 1985), vol 2: bla ma che gras kyi yang srid la btags pa'i mingo
Oxford University Press, 1995), 1:26. 'Mind' here means the Awak- 16 See, for example, the definition of sprul pa in the Great Dictionary,

ening Mind. which makes it clear that the term refers to what is normally thought
5 Ibid., 10:55. of as the nirma1)akayas (i.e. sprul sku-s) of the Buddhas: nang chos nas
6 For details see Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal 'byung ba'i sangs rgyas kyi sku'i rnam 'phrul te / mchog gi sprul sku / skye
Foundations (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), pp 197-20 4. ba sprul sku / bzo sprul sku / sna tshogs sprul sku Ita bu I. For more on
7 John F. Avedon, Interview with the Dalai Lama (New York: some of these types of Buddha emanations see Williams, Mahayana
Littlebird, 1980), p 23. On not speaking about inner realizations, see Buddhism, pp 178-9, 182.
p 21. 17 Avedon, Interview with the Dalai Lama, p 23.

160
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES

18 This phenomenon, of looking for the reincarnation of a teacher, 2B Of course, I am ignoring throughout the philosophical issues that
finding the child, and bringing the child back to his or her spiritual arise out of the whole idea of reincarnation and the verification of
home, is found only in Tibetan Buddhism (including the Buddhism purported cases of reincarnation. There is a major issue of what it
influenced by Tibet, like that of Mongolia). Why it developed here, would be to verifY a reincarnation claim, and whether meditative
alone in the Buddhist world, is an interesting question, but not for experience could do such a thing. I am also not going to discuss here
now. the interesting and complex issue of what 'reincarnation' means in
'9 Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth, Freedom in Exile: The Buddhism, a religion that denies the existence of an unchanging,
Autobiography of the Dalai Lama of Tibet (London, Sydney, Auck- really existent referent for the concept'!', what is usually called the
land, Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990), p 236. 'Self (and perhaps by some, the 'Sou!'). For a philosophically and
20 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, pp 286-7.
Buddhologically aware discussion of some of these issues see Steven
21 Avedon, Interview with the Dalai Lama, p 59. Collins, Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism
22 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, pp 682-3. (Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne,
23 Note the interesting discussion (Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1982). Another topic is the
Tulkus, vol I, pp 255 ft) with Dakpo Tulku, another trulku who has various 'tests' that are used in Tibetan Buddhism to discover a
given up the monastic life and now lives in Paris. Dakpo Tulku says genuine reincarnation. For a discussion of this see the present Dalai
quite categorically that he doubts he is of the same consciousness- Lama's autobiographies.
stream as the great teacher of which he is supposed to be the 29 Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, pp 19 2 -3.
reincarnation. He doubts this even though he was supposedly JO Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, p 252.
correctly identified and confirmed by the Dalai Lama. He is rather JI Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth, Tibet, China and the
unhappy with the suggestion that he is therefore doubting the World: A Compilation of Interviews (Dharamsala: Narthang Publica-
judgement of the Dalai Lama. He feels that the latter could not have tions, 1989), p I.
made a mistake, but perhaps he had a perfectly justifiable reason for J2 One might think that the Fifth Dalai Lama in fact declared his
selecting him as Dakpo Tulku even though he is not literally the 'Avalokitesvara status' purely for political reasons, as a form of the
reincarnation of the previous Dakpo Tulku. divine right of kings. This would, I think, be too cynical. A book by
24 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, p 646. Samten Karmay (Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama (London:
25 See, for example, the attempt by the Mongolian lama Dharmatala Serindia Publications, 1988)), based on a recently discovered work by
to explain away another possible case in the early eighteenth century, the Fifth Dalai Lama, shows that he was throughout his life subject
relating to the Sixth and Seventh Dalai Lamas themselves, in Piotr to the most extraordinary series of visions. In 1663, we are told, the
Klafkowski trans., The Secret Deliverance of the Sixth Dalai Lama, as Fifth Dalai Lama received 'prophetic instructions on how to main-
Narrated by Dharmatala (Vienna: Arbeitskreis fur Tibetische und tain the stability of the theocratic government'. In the evening of the
Buddhistische Studien Universitat Wien, Wiener Studien zur same day, he felt his body transforming into that of a mansion
Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde Heft 3, 1979), P 46. Avalokitd- containing Avalokitdvara (pp 57-8). It would be quite wrong to
vara can manifest in numerous forms at the same time. suppose that the political advantages of discovering that he was
26 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, p 351. closely connected with Avalokitesvara meant that the Dalai Lama
27 Ibid., P 251.
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES 16,

did not really believe it and made up the 'revelation'. Quite the byang chub in the same context as the 'spirit of enlightenment'; see
reverse. Sir Charles Bell, The Religion of Tibet (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
33 Dalai Lama, Tibet, China and the World, p 31. 1931; reprinted Oxford University Press, 1968, 1970), P 140. But
34 Levenson, The Dalai Lama, p 24; Michael Harris Goodman, The technically that is a poor translation.
Last Dalai Lama: A Biography (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 49 Bell, The Religion of Tibet, p 126.

19 86 ), p 337· 50 It was common in Tibetan diplomacy to add in an oral message

35 Thus in fact splitting the consciousness continuum in a way often something that enhanced or supplemented any written text. In not
speculated about purely hypothetically in contemporary Western writing it down it would not run the risk of falling into enemy
philosophy of mind. hands, or in some other way compromising its source. We cannot be
6
3 Goodman, The Last Dalai Lama, p 337. sure that this oral supplement did not in fact originate with the Fifth
37 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, p 663. Dalai Lama himself.
8
3 Dalai Lama, Freedom in Exile, p 12. 5' Thus when the Manchu Chinese emperor invited the Fifth Dalai

39 Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, pp 686-7. Lama to visit him in China, it seems that the emperor himself -
0
4 Avedon, Interview with the Dalai Lama, pp 5'8-9' quite contrary to proper Chinese protocol - advanced to meet him.
41 Levenson, The Dalai Lama, p 182. They related effectively on equal terms of mutual respect. At least,
4' Barlocher, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, p 45'2. that is how the Tibetans (unlike the Chinese) have always seen and
43 Avedon, Interview with the Dalai Lama, p 23. portrayed it.
44 Dalai Lama, Tibet, China and the World, p I, my italics. 5' Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History (New York:

45 For the meditation practice see Dalai Lama, Aryasura's Aspiration, Potala Publications, 1984), p 123.
pp 92-3. The first autobiography reference is to Dalai Lama, My 53 Quoted in Bell, Portrait of the Dalai Lama, p 34.

Land and My People (New York: Potala Corporation, 1977), p 195'. 54 Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History, p 123.
6
4 The Dalai Lama speaks of Avalokitdvara as his 'Master' perhaps 55 Ibid., P 125'. See also T,J. Norbu and Colin Turnbull, Tibet: Its

as his brother Tendzin Chogyal speaks rather jokingly of the Buddha History, Religion and People (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972),
as 'the boss' by whom he as a trulku has been sent (Barlocher, p 286.
Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus, vol I, p 2II). 56 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 123.

47 Goodman, The Last Dalai Lama, pp 325',337. 57 Quoted in ibid., p 123.

8
4 See Michael Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives: A Study of 58 In the course of his researches on Bhutanese history, Michael Aris

Pemalingpa (I4fo-1fZI) and the Sixth Dalai Lama (I68,YI706) discovered that the death of the Zhabs drung of Bhutan (d. c.I65'I)
(Delhi, Varanasi, Patna, Bangalore, Madras: Motilal Banarsidass, was kept secret in a similar way and at about the same time for over
Indian Institute of Advanced Study (Shimla), 1988), p 164. See also 5'0 years. Perhaps the Tibetan Regent knew of this precedent. See
Helmut Hoffmann, The Religions of Tibet, trans. Edward Fitzgerald Aris, Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom (Warmin-
(London: George Allen and Unwin, 1961), p 180, where he speaks of ster: Aris and Philips, 1979), pt 3.
the 'spirit of Avalokitdvara' leaving the body of the Dalai Lama. 59 In fact, one of the great problems with the Tibetan system of 'rule

This is a rather interpretive and faintly un-Buddhist notion. Perhaps by reincarnation' is the power it gives to any regent during the
Hoffmann was influenced here by Sir Charles Bell's translation of inevitably long period of a ruler's minority.
[66 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES

60 Quoted in Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 129. (including sexual practices) to Tsangyang Gyatso. I agree with Aris
61 Ibid., P 134. (Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 160) in being extremely
6. Ibid., P 139. sceptical of the veracity of this report. It is likely to have been a
63 On its translation, see my comments on verse 54. justification for the Dalai Lama's removal. Either way, it is difficult
64 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 147. to see how a Manchu general writing to a Chinese emperor can give
65 Ibid., P 154. us much information on the Dalai Lama's supposedly 'secret'
66 Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History, p 13 0 . activities, and it is unlikely that we would find material in a report of
67 Quoted in Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 159. this sort that is lacking in all other sources including those of the
68 Bell, Portrait of the Dalai Lama, p 66. Tibetans themselves. Aris comments that 'Tsangyang Gyamtso's
69 Norbu and Turnbull, Tibet: Its History, Religion and People; [sic] love for the ladies was all too human. He appears to have been a
Helmut Hoffinann, 'Historical introduction' to G.W. Houston bold and honest rebel who would surely have laughed at such
(trans.), WIng> of the White Crane: Poems of Tshang> dbyangs rgya attempts to explain his behaviour, whether aimed at discrediting him
mtsho (I68J-I706) (Delhi, Varanasi, Patna: Motilal Banarsidass, or doing him honour.' I doubt that he can seriously be portrayed as 'a
1982). rebel', but I also doubt that Tsangyang Gyatso was anything other
7
0
gong re nang mo med pa nyal ma myong / thig Ie gnyung dkar tsam than an ordinary adolescent lover of young women.
zhig gtong ma myong. 81 See Bell, The Religion of Tibet, pp 141-2, quoting a Tibetan friend.
1
7 Norbu and Turnbull, Tibet: Its History, Religion and People, pp 8. This verse, incidentally, also suggests that the strange verse quoted

291-2. above concerning 'never loosing a single drop of sperm' could not be
7· On the dGe lugs interpretation of the highest levels of tantric by the same author. Any explanation of the conduct of the Sixth
practice (i.e. the so-called anuttarayogatantra) see Daniel Cozort, Dalai Lama that would have recourse to advanced tantric practice
Highest Yoga Tantra (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1986). On the use of a that entails reversing the flow of orgasm, and thence semen, must
consort see especially p 88. contradict any explanation in terms of engendering a child.
73 Translated in K. Dhondup, Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama 83 Compare with Communist China, and hence modern Tibet,

(Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1981), p 32. which seems to have all the old puritanism of Marx's Europe.
74 Ibid., pp 38-9, 83. 84 Per Sorensen, Divinity Secularized: An Inquiry into the Nature and

75 Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet 19IJ-I9)I: The Form of the Song> Ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama (Vienna: Ar-
Demise of the Lamaist State (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: beitskreis fur Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universitat
University of California Press, 1989), p 330. Wien, Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde Heft
6
7 Quoted in Bell, Portrait of the Dalai Lama, p 37. 25, 1990), P 216.
77 Bell, The Religion of Tibet, p 141.
85 !b'd
I ., P 32.
8
7 Dalai Lama, Tibet, China and the World, p 31. 86 Melvyn C. Goldstein, 'Lhasa street songs: Political and social

79 Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History, p 129. satire in traditional Tibet', The Tibet Journal, 711+2
80 Hoffmann, 'Historical introduction', pp xvi ff, makes a great deal (Spring/Summer, 1982).
of a report sent back to the Chinese emperor by a Manchu general, 87 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 242.

Funingga, that attributes all kind of 'heretical' religious practices

168 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NOTES

88 A point sometimes missed in the translations by Houston (and at 4 See, for example, the Pailcakrama in Alex Wayman, The Yoga of
least one case in Barks, presumably following Houston). This has the Guhysamajatantra: The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses (Delhi:
laughable results, when lines five and six of one verse have sometimes Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), p 227.
been tagged on to lines one and two of the following verse, with 5 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 1)6.
knock-on consequences for some of the subsequent verses. The 6 Bell, The Religion of Tibet, p 128.
upshot is complete incoherence. 7 For a picture of such a boat see David Snellgrove and Hugh
89 For more on Tibetan metres see Stephan V. Beyer, The Classical
Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet (London: Weidenfeld and
Tibetan Language (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, Nicolson, 1968), p 168. Sorensen claims that the actual boat can be
1992), pp 408-23; Thupten Jinpa and Jas Elsner, Songs of Spiritual seen in the photograph in Bell, The Religion of Tibet, opposite p 138.
Experience: Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight and Awakening (Boston This claim is based on it being the horse-headed boat in the lake by
and London: Shambhala, 2000), pp 13-14. the naga palace that the Sixth Dalai Lama had built in the gardens
0
9 Bell, The Religion of Tibet, p 138. near the Potala. I do not know how it is possible to claim that this is
1
9 Mark Tatz, 'Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama', The Tibet Journal, the actual boat itself, after all these years. But I suppose it may be so.
6/4 (Winter 1981). 8 Tatz, 'Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama'.
2
9 K. Dhondup, Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama; italics original. 9 Dhondup, Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama, p 83.
93 G.W. Houston (trans.), WIngs of the White Crane: Poems of IO Sorensen, Divinity Secularized, p 139.

Tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho (168]-" J706) (Delhi, Varanasi, Patna: II Ibid., P 126.

Motilal Banarsidass, 1982). 12 Ibid., P 13 2 .

94 Per Sorensen, Divinity Secularized. 13 See, for example, Robert B. Ekvall, Religious Observances in Tibet:
95 Coleman Barks, Stallion on .a Frozen Lake: Love Songs of the Sixth Patterns and Function (Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Dalai Lama, trans. Coleman Barks (Athens, GA: Maypop Books, Press, 1964), ch. 9.
199 2 ). 14 See Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 1)7.
6
9 Rick Fields and Brian Cutillo (trans.), The Turquoise Bee: The 15 For more on Buddhist and Tibetan cosmology see Rupert Gethin,
Lovesongs of the Sixth Dalai Lama (New York and San Francisco: The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford and New York: Oxford
HarperCollins, 1998). University Press, 1998), ch. ), and Martin Brauen, The Mandala:
Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism, trans. Martin Wilson (Boston:
'Notes fOl' AJ'l'Yeciatiot1 Shambhala, 1998).
1 Per Sorensen, Divinity Secularized, p 47. All references to Sorensen 16 See Barbara Stoler Miller (trans.), Bhartrihari: Poems (New York
are to this 1990 book and his commentary on the relevant verse. and London: Columbia University Press, 1967).
2 See Williams, Mahayana Buddhism, p 237; Williams and Tribe,
17 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 1)3.
Buddhist Thought, p 189. 18 For more on this see Williams and Tribe, Buddhist Thought, ch. 1.
l For more on PrajfHiparamita and Madhyamaka, see Williams, 19 Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 1)6.
Mahayana Buddhism, chs. 2-3; Williams and Tribe, Buddhist 20 Ekvall, Religious Observances in Tibet, ch. 9.

Thought, pp 131-)2. 2I See the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, ch. ), sect. 9.

'7 0 SON G S 0 FLO V E, POE M S 0 F SAD N E S S

AppeHbix: The Mi"b of a Dalai lama

I Translated in Aris, Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives, p 212. BiblioSf' apl1\j
2 For an indication of the sort of phenomena included under wind

disorders see Mark Epstein and Lobsang Rapgay, 'Mind and mental
disorders in Tibetan Medicine', gSo-Rig: Tibetan Medicine, series
no. , (1982).
3 See Yeshi Donden, Health Through Balance: An Introduction to

Tibetan Medicine (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1986), p 4 6.

4 Epstein and Rapgay, 'Mind and mental disorders in Tibetan Aris, Michael, Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom
Medicine', p 78. (Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1979)
) I rely for my account of serotonin depletion and its effects on Oliver - , Hidden Treasures and Secret Lives: A Study of Pemalingpa (14)0-
James, Britain on the Couch: Treating a Low Serotonin Society 1)21} and the Sixth Dalai Lama {168J J706} (Delhi, Varanasi,
(London: Arrow Books, 1998). This work makes constant reference Patna, Bangalore, Madras: Motilal Banarsidass, Indian Institute
to the results of recent research. On the importance of negative of Advanced Study (Shimla), 1988)
comparison in inducing serotonin depletion, see in particular chapter AtIsa, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary, trans. Richard Sher-
2. Because comparison is a relative matter, the effect of negative burne S.J. (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983)
comparison is that even people who are relatively well off and Avedon, John F., Interview with the Dalai Lama (New York:
privileged can suffer from low serotonin and the experiences that go Littlebird, 1980)
with it. In the case of Tsangyang Gyatso, his discovery as the Barks, Coleman, Stallion on a Frozen Lake: Love Songs of the Sixth
reincarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama (even when it was known to Dalai Lama, trans. Coleman Barks (Athens, GA: Maypop
only a few) would have increased almost immeasurably the pressures Books, 1992)
of negative comparison. On the association of low serotonin with Barlocher, Daniel, Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus: A Research among
addictive behaviour, including addition to alcohol, gambling and sex, Reincarnate Buddhist Masters in Exile, 2 volumes (Rikon: Ti-
see James's appendix 2. bet-Institut, Opuscula Tibetana, 1982)
Bell, Sir Charles, The Religion of Tibet (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1931; reprinted Oxford University Press, 1968, 1970)
- , Portrait of the Dalai Lama (London: Collins, 1946)
Beyer, Stephan V., The Classical Tibetan Language (Albany, NY:
State University of New York Press, 1992)
Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo, Zhang Yi-sun (chief editor) (Beijing:
Nationalities Publishing House, 198,). Three volumes. English
of volume I: An Encyclopaedic Tibetan-English Dictionary (Ka-
Nya) , trans. Gyurme Dorje and Tudeng Nima (Bei-
jing/London: Nationalities Publishing House/School of

'7'
'I
17 2 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS BIBLIOGRAPHY 173

Oriental and African Studies, 2001). Further volumes In Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford and New
preparation. York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Brauen, Martin, The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism , Goldstein, Melvyn c., 'Lhasa street songs: Political and social satire
trans. Martin Wilson (Boston: Shambhala, 1998) in traditional Tibet', The Tibet Journal, 7h+2
Collins, Steven, Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada (Spring/Summer, 1982)
Buddhism (Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, - , A History of Modern Tibet I9IJ-19)1: The Demise of the Lamaist
Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1982) State (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California
Cozort, Daniel, Highest Yoga Tantra (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1986) Press, 1989)
Crosby, Kate, and Andrew Skilton (trans.), Santideva: The Bodhi- Goodman, Michael Harris, The Last Dalai Lama: A Biography
caryavatara (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1986)
Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Fourteenth, My Land and My People Hoffmann, Helmut, The Religions of Tibet, trans. Edward Fitzgerald
(New York: Potala Corp., 1977; first published by McGraw- (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1961)
Hill,1962) - , 'Historical introduction' to G.W. Houston (trans.), Wings of the
- , Aryasura's Aspiration and a Meditation on Compassion, trans. White Crane: Poems of Tshangs dbyangs rgya mtsho {I68:JIJ06}
Brian Beresford et al (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works Houston, G.W. (trans.), Wz·ngs of the White Crane: Poems of Tshangs
and Archives, 1979) dbyangs rgya mtsho {I68:JIJ06} (Delhi, Varanasi, Patna: Motilal
- , Tibet, China and the World: A Compilation of Interviews Banarsidass, 1982)
(Dharamsala: Narthang Publications, 1989) James, Oliver, Britain on the Couch: Treating a Low Serotonin Society
- , Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama of Tibet (London: Arrow Books, 1998)
(London, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto: Hodder and Stough- Jinpa, Thupten, and Jas Elsner, Songs of Spiritual Experience:
ton, 1990) Tibetan Buddhist Poems of Insight and Awakening (Boston and
Dhondup, K., Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama (Dharamsala: Library of London: Shambhala, 2000)
Tibetan Works and Archives, 1981) Karmay, Samten Gyaltsen, Secret Vi·sions of the Fifth Dalai Lama
Donden, Yeshi, Health Through Balance: An Introduction to Tibetan (London: Serindia Publications, 1988)
Medicine (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1986) Klafkowski, Piotr (trans.), The Secret Deliverance of the Sixth Dalai
Ekvall, Robert B., Religious Observances in Tibet: Patterns and Lama, as Narrated by Dharmatala (Vienna: Arbeitskreis fur
Function (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universitat Wien,
19 6 4) Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde Heft
Epstein, Mark, and Lobsang Rapgay, 'Mind and mental disorders in 3, 1979)
Tibetan medicine', gSo-Rig: Tibetan Medicine, series no. 5 Levenson, Claude B. The Dalai Lama: A Biography, trans. Stephen
(1982) Cox (London, Sydney, Wellington: Unwin Hyman, 1988)
Fields, Rick, and Brian Cutillo (trans.), The Turquoise Bee: The Norbu, Thubten Jigme, and Colin Turnbull, Tibet: Its History,
Lovesongs of the Sixth Dalai Lama (New York and San Fran- Religion and People (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972)
cisco: HarperCollins, 1998) Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D., Tibet: A Political History (New York:
Ga1:u;lavyuha Sutra, Chinese version translated in Thomas Cleary, Potala Publications, 1984; first edition by Yale University Press,
The Flower Ornament Scripture, vol 3 (Boston: Shambhala, 19 67)
19 87)

;
I •

1'1
, I
174 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS

Snellgrove, David, and Hugh Richardson, A Cultural History of

Tibet (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 19 68 )
Sorensen, Per, Divinity Secularized: An Inquiry into the Nature and
Form of the Songs Ascribed to the Sixth Dalai Lama (Vienna:
Arbeitskreis fur Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Uni-
versitat Wien, Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und
Buddhismuskunde Heft 2), 1990)
Stoler Miller, Barbara (trans.), Bhartrihari: Poems (New York and
London: Columbia University Press, 1967)
Tatz, Mark, 'Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama', The Tibet Journal, 6/4
(Winter 1981) kong phrug gzhon pa'i blo sna: 2)b ga ler bzhugs shig gsung gis: )6d
Wayman, Alex, The Yoga of the Guhysamajatantra: The Arcane Lore kong yul mthil gyi ne tso: 60b gru shan sems pa med kyang: loa
of Forty Verses (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980; first edition klu bdud rdo rje'i zil pa: 20b dgongs su dag pa khag theg: 61b
dkar gos nang nas chod song: 44b mgo la rgyab pa'i gtsug gyus: 26c
by Samuel Weiser, New York, 1977)
dkar gsal zla ba shar byung: Ib mgyogs po 'phrad yong gsungs
Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations bkra shis zla ba dkar po'i: 42C byung: )6f
(London and New York: Routledge, 1989) skad cha smras ni mi shes: 26d mgron po la ni bos byung: 21d
Williams, Paul, with Anthony Tribe, Buddhist Thought: A Complete skya khra hor pas mi thub: 62d 'gro zhor lam bu'i snying thub: 4a
Introduction to the Indian Tradition (London and New York: skya ser rlung gi pho nya: 8b 'grogs 'dris e yong dris pas: 23b
Routledge, 2000) skyur ba de dang 'dra byung: 4d rgod po'i sgro la gzan byung: 38b
skye 'gro mi rtag 'chi ba: 47a rgya gar shar gyi rma bya: 60a
rgya mtsho'i gting nas nor bu: 3C
kha rog bzhugs rogs mdzod dang: rgyab kyi klu bdud btsan po: 6)a
64 b sgom pa'i bla rna zhal ras: 18a
kham sdong mthon po'i rtse nas: brgyab pa'i nag chung the 'us: 14a
)c
kham bu'i shing la skyes sam: 3)b nga dang byams pa phrad nas: 46c
khams 'bras mtshar la bltas na: )b nga dang byams pa'i sdebs sa: ,oa
khu byug mon nas yong bas: 46a nga dang tshong 'dus bu mo'i: lIa
khong nang sems pa'i gcong gis: nga ni skye rgyu mi 'dug: 7d
32C nga la phyi mig mi Ita: IOd
khyi rgan rgya bo zer ba: )2a nga la gzan po byas byung: 38d
khyi de stag khyi gzig khyi: 48a nga la yod pa'i chung 'dris: )lC
khra bo'i sbrulla rna brgyab: IIC nga la gshog rtsal gyar dang: )7b
khrel dang ngo tsha med na: 26b ngang pa 'dam la chags nas: 9a
khrel dang gzhung gi the 'u: 14C ngan song myong dgos mi 'dug:
khrel gzhung med pa'i byams pas: 20f
IOC rngon pa rang gis zin kyang: 30b
'khrungs sa 'khrungs yul mi gcig:
60c bco Inga'i nam dang mnyam pa'i:
44 C
ga Ier phebs shig byas pas: )6c Icang rna byi 'ur sems shor: 62a

175
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS LINE INDEX: TIBETAN 177

Icang ma'i logs la btsugs yod: I2b thag ring rgyang la mi 'gro: pc sbrang bu rgya la bcug 'dra: 2)a
po ta la ru bzhugs dus: 54a
Icang gling a Ice 'jol mo: 64C thugs sems skyo yong byas pas: 56e spyang ki'i rigs rgyud min nam:
Icang srung a jo zhal ngos: I2C tho rangs kha ba bab byung: 53b
36b rna skyes a ma'i zhal ras: IC
tho rangs log byung rna zer: 5w spyang grung 'dzoms mdog kha rna 'gyur brtan par bzhugs dang:
chang rna ye shes mkha' 'gro: 20d mthu ngo zin pa mi 'dug: 37d yang: 47C 43 b
chang la 'dzad pa mi 'dug: 34b mthu dang nus pa yod na: 45 C sprin pa kha ser gting nag: 39a rna sgom byams pa'i zhal ras: I8c
chu dang thig pas 'jig song: I3b 'thogs su dgos pa byas song: 65d rna bris sems kyi ri rna: 13C
chung 'dris byams pa'i rlung mi chen dpon po'i sras mo: )a
phugs yullha chos dran byung; 25d
bskyed: I2.a da Ita'i tshe thung 'di la: 63 a pho gzhon rgas pa'i Ius po: 2C mi tshos nga la lab pa: 6Ia
chung 'dris byams par bshad pas: da 10 sog ma'i phon Icog: 2b pho gzhon nga yang mi sdod: I6c mig zur khra mo'i sgril mtshams:
29 b dag pa she! ri gangs chu: 20a 'phyongs rgyas mi spus dag pa: 5Ib 22C
chung 'dris byams pa 'phrad byung: dang po rna mthong chog pa: 66a 'phyongs rgyas gzhung la yod do: me tog de las mgyogs pa: 35d
59 C dam can rdo rje chos skyong: 45 b me tog nam zla yal song: 7a
5Id
chos rgyallas kyi me long: 58b dam tshig gtsang mas btung na: me tog sbrang bu gnyis kyi: 8c
mchod pa'i rdzas la phebs na: 15b 20e ban de skya min ser min: 39C mo phywa rtsis 'bul ran song: 33b
'chal po dwangs bzang dbang po: dam pa'i chos la phebs na: I6b bu mo chung 'dris byams pa: 36a rmi lam nang la 'khor song: 33d
54d dam pa'i chos la phyin na: I9b bu mo gdung sems can rna: 33C smra mkhan ne tso rna grogs: 50C
'chi bral byed na min na: 23C de kha tsam zhig zhus nas: 63 b bu mo a mar rna skyes: 35a smra mkhan ne tso 0 shes: 50e
de nas khrig khrig gnang zhu: 58d bu mo'i thugs dang 'gal 'gro: 24d
mjal 'dzom e yong blta'o: 63d don la lkugs pa 'dra byung: 47d rtsi thog ba mo'i kha la: 8a
bu mor 'chi ba med na: 34a
'jigs dang mi 'jigs mi 'dug: 65b bdud rtsi sman gyi phab rgyun: 20C bya de khrung khrung dkar rna:
mda' mo 'ben la phog song: 59a 57 a tshig gsum dam bca'i mdud pa: IIb
nyi rna zla ba'i bskor phyogs: 43C mdun gyi ka ra ku shu: 65c bya de smra mkhan ne tso: 64a tshe gcig Ius gcig nyid la: I9C
nyin mo lag tu rna Ion: 6c mde'u sa la 'dzul song: 59b tshe 'di'i chos skal chad 'gro: 24b
byams pa ngo log rgyab pa: 37C
gnyis pa rna 'dris chog pa: 66c 'di na khrig khrig mi 'dug: 58c byams pa shwa pho mang nas: 29C tshe zad tshar nas 'dug go: 4Id
rnyi dang zhags pas zin gyis: 37b 'di la bcol bas los chog: 34d byams pa'i gdeng tshod mi Ion: tshes chen bco lnga'i zla ba: 4Ia
snying gtam pha mar rna bshad: 'dris nas mthu ru langs song: 48d 49 b tshes gsum zla ba dkar ba: 44a
29 a rdo ka rgyag pa rna gnang: IW byams pa'iphyogs la shor song: I7d mtshan ldan bla ma'i drung du: I7a
snying gtam bshad sa rna red: 40d ldag kha ster nas 'dris song: 48b byams pa'i las 'phro zad par: 7c mtshan mo'i gnyid thebs gcog gi:
snying nas rna dran zer na: 47b byi 'u Icang mar sems shor: 62b 6b
snying nas sha tsha yod med: 27C na ning btab pa'i ljang gzhon: 2.a mtsho mo dar kha 'grigs nas: 9C
brag dang rlung po bsdebs nas: 38a
snying rlung stod la tshangs byung: nang gi stag mo ral 'dzoms: 48c 'tsho skyong khyod ras gnang zhu:
bris pa'i yi ge nag chung: I3a
31d nam mkha'i skar tshod thig byung: dbang chen mi yi dpon po: 30C 28d
49 d dbu Icang rgyab la dbyugs song:
gtan gyi mdun mar byung na: 3b nor bu mi la shor dus: 3IC mdzangs rna rna bzang bu rno'i: 2IC
56b
gtan grogs khyod la bsams pa'i: 26a nor bu rang la yod dus: 3Ia dbu mna' bzhes rags gnang dang: rndzangs rna'i thugs dang bstun na:
rta mgos phyi mig bltas byung: lOb nor bu'i nor nyams rna chod: 3Ib 27d 24a
rta rgod ri la rgyab pa: 37a nor bzang rgyal bus 'phrogs song: dbu zhwa dbu la bzhes song: 56a 'dzurn dang so dkar stan phyogs:
rta pho gtong sa rna red: 40b 30d dbus kyi ri rgyallhun po: 43a 27 a
rting rna byis pa'i lola: 63C nor yong bsam pa mi 'dug: 43d dben pa'i ri khrod 'grims na: 24C 'dzorns sa chos 'khor Iha sa: 60d
rting ma'i zla ba tshur yong: 42b gnam lo'i sa bcud 'phd song: 46b 'bral mtshams byed mkhan los yin:
stong Idan ha lo'i me tog: I5a gnas mo'i nang la thaI song: 6Id 8d zhag gsurn nyal rogs byas pas: 25C
bstan pa'i dgra bo sgroi dang: 45d rnam shes mi las spyang ba: 52b 'bras bu smin pa 'dra byung: 5d zhabs rjes gangs la bzhag yod: 53d
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS LINE INDEX: TIBETAN '79

zhal bzhes cig kyang gnang zhu: Ius sems Ihod por langs song: 46c Iha khang nang la khrid dang: I5d a rna chang mas sbyar byung: 28b
44d Ion pa de dang mnyam byung: 3d Iha sa mi tshogs mthug la: 5Ia a gsar zad pa kham bu'i: 35C
gzhan la mdun mar blangs song: Iha sa zhol du sdod dus: 54C o lo'i gom gsum phra m~: 6IC
32b sha 'jam mal sa nang gi: ))a Iho rong Ijon pa'i nags gseb: 50b o lo'i rgyu nor 'phrog pa'i: 55C
gzhon pa'i gtan gyi skyabs gnas: 34C sha 'jam Ius po 'dris kyang: 49a
gzhon pa'i gdong la bltas byung: sha 'dris Ipags 'dris byung yang: 36c
2W shar phyogs ri bo'i rtse nas: Ia
gzhon pa'i blo khrid yin 'dug: 27b shi de dmyal ba'i yul gyi: )8a
bzhugs gral spyi la bltas na: 22b
sa bcu'i dbyings su bzhugs pa'i: 4)a
zla stod phyogs la mjal yong: 4W sa de kha zhu gting 'khyags: 40a
zla ba 'di nas phar 'gro: 42a sa la ri mo bris pas: 49C
zla ba'i dkyil gyi ri bong: 4IC sangs rgyas bstan pa'i dgra bo: 39d
sangs rgyas thob pa'i 'dug go: I9d
yid thang chad rogs yin pa: 6d sad dang se ra'i gzhi rna: 39b
yid la 'khor 'khor byas byung: Id su dang gang gis mi shes: )od
yid la 'char rgyu mi 'dug: I8b sems 'khrid zhu bar phyin pas: I7b
yid la va Ie va Ie: I8d sems gcong yong don mi 'dug: 66d
yin pa 'dra ba 'dug ste: 4Ib sems nyid rjes la 'brangs song: 59d
g.yu chung gru dkar brnyed nas: 4C sems pa 'gor kyang mi thub: I7C
g.yu sbrang gzhon nu nga yang: I)C sems pa 'di la 'gro 'gro: I9a
g.yu sbrang sems pa rna skyo: 7b sems pa phar la shor nas: 6a
g.yo sgyu bshad pa min 'gro: ))d sems pa shor don mi 'dug: 66b
g.yo can rdzu bag can gyis: 38c sems shor mthun pa byung na: 62C
sems song bu mo mi bzhugs: I6a
rwa co'i gzhu las gyong ba: W so dkar Ipags pa'i 'dzum mdangs:
rang rang sa la grol song: lId 2M
rang la dga' ba'i byams pa: 3M so so'i sems la skyon dang: I4d
rang sems kho thag chod song: 9d srod la byams pa btsal bas: 53a
rang sems song ba'i mi de: 3a srod la langs song rna zer: 52C
ri khrod 'grim la thai 'gro: I6d gsang kha mdo la rna gnang: 50f
ri la yar grabs mdzad kyis: 36d gsang gtam dgra bos go song: 29d
rig 'dzin tshangs dbyangs rgya gsang dang rna gsang mi 'dug: 53C
mtsho: )4b gsar 'grogs byams pa'i phyogs su:
re zhig sdod dgos bsams kyang: 9b 40C
rlung rta yar 'gro'i dus la: 2Ia gsung skad 'byon ni mi shes: I4b
rlung bskyed dar !cog btsugs pas: gsung snyan skyur dgos byas
2Ib byung: 64d
gson bral mi byed gsungs byung:
Ian chags bu Ion byung na: 28c 23 d
Ii thang bskor nas slebs yong: )7d bsubs kyang zub rgyu mi 'dug: I3d
Ius dri zhim pa'i bu mo: 4b
Ius po'i sha yang bskams song: 3W ha cang sems la song nas: 23a
 LINE INDEX: ENGLISH

First, better not to see: 66a I was invited home: 2-IC

Flowering's time has fled: 7a If given in worship: I5 b
Foes have learned my secrets: 29 d If my sweetheart won't stay: I6a
Folk gossip about me: 6Ia If she who stole my heart: 3a
Footprints left in the snow: )3 d If the girl doesn't die: 34a
For my love from childhood: I2a If there should be issue: 28c
For that passionate girl: 33C If you say you don't heed: 47a
Frozen ground, surface slips: 40a 'I'll miss you', he told her: )6e
Frustration's my sole friend: 6d I'll not go far. Circling: 57c
I'm straight off on retreat: I6d
Girl with the fragrant limbs: 4b In mind, so clearly clear: I8d
'Goodbye', was her response: )6d In our next childhood's years: 63 d
A dog - with meat, is tamed: 48b Centre - don't change, stay firm: Gorgeous hollyhock blooms: I5 a In Potala dwelling: 54a
A lad's three tiptoe steps: 6IC 43 b Green shoots planted last year: 2a In sun and moon's orbit: 43d
A love met in passing: 4a Change, or death (and mean it): Guardian of Willows: I2C In the topmost branches: 5d
A lover newly caught: 40C 47 b In this short present life: 63 a
A lover, rebelling: 37C Chongyay has nice people: )Ib Has married another: 32b Indeed, I can name her: 34C
A peacock from Bengal: 60a Circled before my mind: Id He is going to die: 4Id Is a southern forest: 50b
A wild horse roaming peaks: 37a Completely clothed in white: 44b Heading forth, a hermit: 24C Is from its very midst: 5Id
A young man's safe haven: 34d Concern's seal on our hearts: I4d Heart-talk's not for parents: 29a Is no place for heart-talk: 40d
Above eastern mountains: Ia Crag and storm united: 38a He'd bedded her three days: 25a It is known by no one: 50C
Alone they soon unwind: IIC Held by the King of Hell: 58b It seems like the full moon: 4 Ib
And my heart followed on: )9d Dakpashelri water: 20a Here, it's just not been right: 58c It's for an old friend. But: 29 b
And throwing it away: 4d Dead - the mirror of deeds: )8a He's behind. But who cares: 65b Its head was in the ground: 59 b
Are shameless in your thoughts: Depression broke my health: 3Id Hoarfrost sugars the grass: 8a
.26b Do not tell my secret: )of Holy Lhasa they meet: 60d Lady, a Lord's daughter: 5a
As a bird meets a stone: 28a Does she not spring from wolves: Hope too flew far away: 9d Laughing smiles, with white teeth:
Assents to sing sweet songs 64d 36b Hoped to remain awhile: 9b 22-b
At a time of good luck: 2Ia Don't call: 'He left at dusk': )2C Leading on the youth's mind: 2-7 b
Don't call: 'He's back at dawn': )2d I and my love have met: 46c Lend the strength of your wings:
Before a great lama: I7a Dorje - if strong, able: 4)C I asked for holy help: I7b 57 b
Bird, 0 Talking Parrot: 64a Drawing plans on the earth: 49a I become a Buddha: I9 d Let's see whether we meet: 63C
Body and mind relax: 46d Drawn from the ocean's depths: 3d I belie my girl's heart: 24d Lhasa and Zhol roaming: 54C
But - strewth! - are like a fool: Drunk with pure commitments: I can surmise the stars: 49 b Lhasa is crowded. Still: 5Ia
47d 20e I can't measure her mood: 49 d Like a bee in a web: 2-5b
But its horse-head looked back: I feel just devoured: 38c Like finding rare turquoise: 4C
lOb Eternal friend, if you: 26a I lose life's religion: 24b Like landing a jewel: 3C
But maybe she deceives: ))c Even charms will not hold: 37d I lose my sleep at night: 6b Lithang, I shall return 57d
But the man in the moon: 4IC I prized it not a jot: 3Ib Long-maned indoor-tigress: 48c
Bya charming bright girl: 2Id Falling in love's senseless: 66b I sought my love at dusk: )3 a Luderdorje dewdrops: 2-ob
By those who plot and plan: 38d 'Farewell', he said to her: )6c I, too, am not staying: I6c
Faster than peach flowers: 3)d I too shall not lament: 7d Meditating - in mind: I8a
Can be snared or lassoed: 37b Finished fortune oflove: 7C I, too - young turquoise bee: I)C Meru, king of mountains: 43 a
Can't touch her while it's day: 6c Firmer than a horn bow: 2d

180
 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS LINE INDEX: ENGLISH

The beer will never stop: 34b Twined three words in a pledge:
Messenger of the grey: Sb Prayer flags on a willow: 12b
The birdling loves willow: 62b lib
Met my love from childhood: 59C
Might as well knot a snake: lid Rather, should we impress: 14C The cloud yields frost and hail:
Unbidden, lover's face: ISC
Mighty Lord, Prince Norzang: 30C Remembered religion: 25d 39 b
The cuckoo comes from Mern: Unborn mother - her face: IC
Mighty serpent-demon: 65a Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso: 54b
Unthinkable is fault: 43C
Mind pictures, unwritten: 13C Roams round within my dreams: 46a
The ferty lacks feeling: lOa Until death do us part: 23 C
Misery gnaws the heart: 32C 33d
Misery's senseless too: 66d The girl is not human: 3P
The Gongbo youth's fancies: 25 C Vanish with water drops: 13 b
More sly than a human: 52b Sage not grey, nor saffron: 39C
My flesh too has dried up: 3M Save a talking parrot: 50d The grey hawk has no chance: 62d
The hat was on her head: 56a We have had just so much: 63 b
My love has many stags: 29C Screwer Dangzang Wangbo: 54d
The madam joined lovers: 2Sb We meet in the bright part: 42C
My love was lost through theft: 33a Second, better not know: 66c
The next month comes hither: 'We'll meet soon', she replied: 56f
My love, who admired me: 32a Seduced my love away: 30d
We're so madly in love: 23 a
My lover - so brazen: IOC She sucks my flesh, my skin: 36c 42b
The pigtail down her back: 56b Were to become my wife: 3b
My passionate lover: 55b She was like a ripe fruit: 5C
The scene of our meeting: 50a What a wonderful time: 41a
She whispered, 'I'll be there': 23d
The small black seal, when When I had the jewel: 31a
No good - though thoughts She is ever turning: 35C
When I saw such a peach: 5b
delayed: 17C She's embraced religion: 16b stamped: 14a
The sweet apple's in front: 65 c When lost to another: 31C
No lama's face appears: Isb Shone forth the moon, bright
The three-day moon is bright: 44a When love is mutual: 62C
No place to send a horse: 40b white: Ib
The turquoise bee grieves not: 7b Why bother with secrets: 53 C
Sidelong glance from bright eyes:
Wild goose, pining for fens: 9a
o bird there - white crane - come: 22C The turquoise on your head: 26c
Wisdom-pakinf serves: 20d
Sir, please do not throw stones: The willow loves birdling: 62a
57a With me, the market girl: lIa
o Dharma Protector: 45a 1M The year's sap increases: 46b
The young lad of his wealth: 55 d With my prayer flags flapping: 21b
Of the lucky white moon: 42d Small black letters, written: 13a
They slipped back to my love: 17d With soft flesh waits in bed: 55a
Oh - I've reached the brothel: 61d Snow had fallen at dawn: 53b
This month has departed: 42a With thoughts on religion: 19a
Old dog - 'Whiskers', he's called: So out of mind with love: 6a
Though effaced, will not fade: 13d Would not know how to tell: 26d
52a Sorry - yes, I'm to blame: 61b
On the lake mere ice sheets: 9C Still, knows not how to speak: 14b Though I - the hunter - caught:
Yeast that is elixir: wc
Once known, became more fierce: Such is Buddhism's foe: 39d 30b
Though I know her soft flesh: 49 C Yellow skin, black within: 39 a
4Sd Suiting my bright one's heart: 24a
Thrown at my youthful face: 2M Yellow storm that truly: Sc
Once there, please make it so: 5Sd Swear to me, please: Do I: 27C
Throws me never a glance: JOd Yes, I think I shall pluck: 65d
One lifetime, one body: 19C
Tiger-dog; leopard-dog: 4Sa Yet ever plans for peaks: 36d
Take me to the temple: 15d
Time just like the full-moon: 44d Yidtrok Hlamo - lover: 30a
Parrot from far Gongbo: 60b Taking in the whole row: 22a
Time to consult the cards: 33 b You may seem smart and wise: 47 C
Parts the bloom from her bee: Sd Ten-stage-dwelling, pledge-
To ravage vulture's plumes: 3Sb You need not taste of hell: wf
Perhaps from a peach tree: 35b bound: 45b
Today are stacked as straw: 2b You smile, pretty white teeth: 27a
Please ftee the Teaching's foes: That girl, love from childhood:
'Together - forever: 23 b Young man's body, growing: 2C
45d 36a Your sister, Willow Thrush: 64 C
Please help, do be silent: 64b That girl, mine from childhood: True, their roots differ; but: 60c
Please madam, will you pay: 2Sd 51C Truly tempt you or not: 27 d
Please, 0 Talking Parrot: 50e That were ever for her: 19b
Please, will you promise me: 44C The arrow was spot-on: 59a
Note: Tibetan words are indexed under their pronounced rather than transliter-
ated form.

Ananda, the Buddha's attendant, ('Hundred Verses on

1)4 Renunciation'), 149
Aris, Michael Bhutan, 28, 16)
on Bhutan, 165 Bod rgya tshig rndzod chen rna, the
on Sixth Dalai Lama's character, 'Great Tibetan-Chinese Dic-
167 tionary', 9, 161
on Sixth Dalai Lama's death, bodhisattva, 4-11, I), 21
39-40 Buddha, ), 136, 1)4
on Sixth Dalai Lama's poetry, 52 Buddhahood, 5, 140
on the Regent, 30, 33-4, 3) Buddhism
Atisa, Indian missionary to Tibet and god-kings, 2-3
(982- 10 )4), 3-4 and impermanence, 130
AvalokiteSvara, bodhisattva of Madhyamaka, 127-8
compassion, 8-9, 17, 29, 155 Mahayana, 4-), 6
relation to Dalai Lamas, 14, 16, meditation, 136
18-19, 20, 23 and motivations, 3-5
reincarnation, 4, )-15, 22
Barks, Coleman, )7-8, 168 on self, 163
Barlocher, Daniel, 161, 162
Bell, Sir Charles, 24, 44, 45, )4, Candrakirti (c. 600-50), Indian
16 4-5, 16 9 Buddhist teacher of the Mad-
Bengal, 153 hyamaka school, 128
Beowulf, most important surviving China
Anglo-Saxon poem, 54 and Fifth Dalai Lama, 27-8,34,
Bhartrhari (possibly identical with 16 5
the )th-century Indian Han dynasty, 25
philosopher and grammarian), modern Communist propa-
Sanskrit poet, author of inter ganda, 40, 41, 47
alia the Vairagyasataka Mongol conquest, 24
.86 SON G S 0 FLO V E, POE M S 0 F SAD N E S S NAME AND SUBJECT INDEX

and Seventh Dalai Lama, 39 Dalai Lama, Seventh (1708-57), I, Dorje (Tibetan rDo rje) 'thunder- 'Great Tibetan-Chinese Diction-
and Sixth Dalai Lama, 20, 37-8, 38-9, 152, 162 bolt', or 'diamond', a common ary' see Bod rgya tsbig mdzod eben
40, 166-7 Dalai Lama, Thirteenth (1875- term in Tantric contexts, mo
Ch'ing, Manchu dynasty of China, 1933), I, 41, 44-5 sometimes also used for personal Grueber, Johannes, Austrian
27,34 Dalai Lama, Fourteenth (b. 1935) names, 56 Jesuit, 28
Chogyal, Tendzin, brother of on birth and rebirth, 6, 10, 11- Dorje Drakden (Tibetan rDo rje Cubyasamaja Tantra, a T antric
Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 6-7 12,13,18 grags ldan), the Dalai Lama's scripture, 128
Chongyay (Tibetan 'Pbyongs rgyas), on emanations, 17, 18 protector-deity, 56 Gushri Khan, (d. 1655), Khoshuud
an area of Tibet to the south of and oracles, 31 Drepung (Tibetan 'Bras spungs), (Qoshot) Mongol leader and
Lhasa, 150 on own nature, 3, 5, 16, 17, 18-19 Gelukba (dCe lugs po) monas- supporter of the Fifth Dalai
Cutillo, B., 51, 57-8 saintliness of, I tery, 25, 38 Lama, 27, 29
on the Second Dalai Lama, 15 Dzungars, Mongol clan in rivalry Gyatso, Tsangyang, Sixth Dalai
Dakpashel (Tibetan Dag po sbel, on the Sixth Dalai Lama, 15, to the Khoshuud (Qoshot) Lama (Tibetan Tsbangs dbyangs
'Pure Crystal') Mountain, in 44-5 Mongols, 37-8, 39 rgya mtsbo) see Dalai Lama,
south-eastern Tibet, 138 Dalai Lamas Sixth
Dakpo Tulku, 13, 14, 162 nature of, 3-23 Epstein, M., 170
Dalai Lama, First, 13 origin of title, 14 Hlorong (Tibetan Lbo rong),
Dalai Lama, Second (b. 1475), 15 political importance, 21 Fields, R., 51, 57-8 region in the south of Tibet, on
Dalai Lama, Third (1543-88), 14, Dangzang Wangbo (Tibetan Funingga, Manchu general, 166-7 the borders with India, 149
25 Dwangs bzang dbang po), name Hoffmann, H., 41, 164-5, 166-7
Dalai Lama, Fourth (d. 1617), 15, by which the Sixth Dalai Lama Ganden (Tibetan dCa' ldan), Houston, G. W., 57, 168
26 passed on his nightly jaunts into Geluk (dCe lugs) monastery, 23,
Dalai Lama, Great Fifth (1617-82) the less salubrious parts of 26 India, 39, 153
power, 15, 23, 25 Lhasa, 151 Geluk (Tibetan dCe lugs), school
religious affiliations, 24 Desi Sangyay Gyatso (Tibetan sDe of Tibetan Buddhism James, Oliver, 170
rule and death, 26-9, 30-2 srid Sangs rgyas rgya mtsbo, 1679- foundation, 9 Japanese poetry, 145
Dalai Lama, Sixth (1683-1706), 1-2 1703), the Regent of Tibet in history, 25-6, 27, 28 Jetsun Dampa ofUrga (Tibetan
character of, 49-50 the reigns of the late Fifth and leadership of, 23 rJe btsun dam po), the leading
contemporaries' view of, 19-20, Sixth Dalai Lamas (not to be medical traditions, 156 dGe lugs teacher in Mongolia,
21,48-9 confused with the Regent of moral code, 42 40- 1,44
deposition and death, 37-8, 39- Tsang), 29-35, 36-7, 51, 130, 157 philosophy of, 128 Jigdal Sakya Rinpoche, 16
40 in Sixth Dalai Lama's poetry, and virtue, 20-1 Jo nang pa, school of Tibetan
life, 2, 14, 31-40 13 1, 133, 143, 14 6 Gendun Cherpel (Tibetan dCe Buddhism apparently suppressed
name translated, 150 Dbarma, a multifaceted term in 'dun cbos pbel, d. 1951), twenti- by the Fifth Dalai Lama, 28
political importance, 21 Buddhism, here probably best eth-century dGe lugs pa with a
and procreation, 46-7 understood as 'the [Buddha's] reputation for 'freethinking' and Kagyer (Tibetan bKa' brgyud),
and reincarnation, 14-15 Teaching', 145, 1)2 iconoclastic behaviour, 36 school of Tibetan Buddhism
and sex, 40-7 Dbarmacakra, 'Dharma-circle', or Gongbo (Tibetan Kong po, or Karma sub-school, 25-6, 27, 28
state of mind, 144, 147, 155-9 'Dharma-wheel', 153 Kong yuf), a district near Lhasa, Drukpa (Tibetan 'Brug po) sub-
status, 21-3 Dharmatala, Mongolian lama, 162 140 school,137
translators compared, 57-8 Dhondup, K., 57, 136-7, 140 Gonsar Tulku, 13 K'ang-hsi (1661-1722), Ch'ing
verse form, 52-4 Doboom Tulku, 10-11 Chinese emperor, 34
Karmay, Samten, 163
188 SONGS OF LOVE, POEMS OF SADNESS NAME AND SUBJECT INDEX

Kokonor Lake, apparent vicinity of N aropa (last quarter of tenth, first reincarnation, 4, 5-15, 22 on verse 15, 134
the death of the Sixth Dalai quarter of eleventh centuries), split incarnations, 15 on verse 20, 136, 137, 13 8, 139
Lama, 38 Tantric yogin and wonder- Reting (Tibetan Rwa sgreng) on verse 25, 140
Kublai Khan (d. 1295), Mongol worker (siddba), 137 Rinpoche (d. 1947),44 on verse 26, 141
Khan and YUan emperor of Ngawang Cherdrak Gyatso Rigdzin (Tibetan rig'dzin), on verse 30, 142
China, 24 (Tibetan Ngag dbang cbos grags 'knowledge-holder', a common on verse 41, 147
rgya mtsbo), according to Aris term used for a respected Mas- on verse 42, 147
Lha bzang (Lajang) Khan (d. 1717), (1988), the man who imperson- ter, usually with implications of on verse 43, 147-8
Khoshuud (Qoshot) Mongol ated the Sixth Dalai Lama, 4 0 Tantric mastery, 150 on verse 44, 148
leader, 20, 37, 38, 39, 51 nirmal).akaya, 'emanations', 7-8, 16, on verse 46, 148
Lhasa, capital city of Tibet, 25, 26, 19 Sa skya Pal).<!ita (II82-1251), leading on verse 50, 149-5 0
133, 153 nirval).a, 'liberation' or 'enlighten- figure in the Sagya (Tibetan Sa on verse 54, [50, 151
Lithang (Tibetan Li tbang) in the ment',4 skya) school of Tibetan on verse 56, [51-2
far east of Tibet, on the Chinese Norbu, Thubten Jigme, 41 Buddhism, 24 on verse 58, 152
border, 152 Norzang (Tibetan Nor bzang, Sagya (Tibetan Sa skya), school of on verse 61, [53
Luderdorje (Tibetan klu bdud rdo 'Prince Jolly Rich'), figure in an Tibetan Buddhism, 24-5 on verse 62, [53
rje 'Serpent-demon Diamond'), a Indo-Tibetan story, and Ti- salI}.bhogakaya, or salI}.bhogikakaya,
botanical herb used in Tibetan betan folk-opera, 142-3 'Enjoyment Body', 8 Tantra, and sexual yoga, 41-6, [28,
medicine, 138-9 Nyingmapa (Tibetan rNying ma Santideva (c. 685-763), Indian 136-9, [47-8, [50
pa), 'The Ancient Ones', or Buddhist teacher Tatz, Mark, 136, 144
Madhyamaka, school of Buddhist 'The Old Translation School', a his Bodbicarytivattira, 5 Trashi Hlunbo (Tibet"n bKra ,his
thought, 127-8 school of Tibetan Buddhism, Saraha (date unknown, unlikely to lbun po), important Gelukba
Manchu, dynasty of China 24,28,156 be earlier than ninth century), (dGe lugs pa) monastery in
foundation, 27 Tantric yogin and wonder- southern Tibet, 26, 34, 35
and Tibet, 20, 34, 37, 40, 165, Oracle, Tibetan State, 31, 37, 38 worker (siddba), 137 Trashi Zilnon (Tibetan bKra shis
166-7 Sera, Gelukba (dGe lugs pa) zil non), the 'Suppressor of
Meru, central cosmic mountain in Paficakrama, Tantric commentary, monastery, 25 Trashi', a Karma Kagyer (bKa'
Indian and Tibetan cosmology, 16 9 serotonin depletion, 157-9 brgyud) monastery, 26
147-8 Panchen Lama, Second (1663- Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D., 28-9, Tribe, A., [60
Milarepa (Tibetan Mi la ras pa), 1737), teacher (bla ma, trulba (Tibetan sprul pa), 9, 16,
30 ,46
Tibetan poet, 137 pronounced 'lama') of the Sixth Song Rinpoche, twentieth-century 22-3
Ming (1368-1644), dynasty of Dalai Lama, 34, 35, 135 dGe lugs 'incarnate lama', 9, 12, trulku (Tibetan sprul sku), 6, 7- 16 ,
China, 25, 27 Potala, Dalai Lama's palace in 17 22
Mon (pronounced 'Mern'), region Tibet, 29, 31, 150 Songtsen Gambo (Tibetan Srong Tsang (Tibetan gTsang), southern
in the far south of Tibet, 32 Prajfitiptiramitti, the 'Perfection of btsan sgam po, d. 649), first great province of Tibet, 25-7
Mongols Wisdom', 127 Tibetan emperor, 29 Tsona (Tibetan mTsbo sna),
conversion to Buddhism, 14 Sorensen, Per, 50-I, 56- 8 village in which the young Six,h
influence in Central Asia, 24-5, Rakra Tulku, 12-13 on verse I, 127 Dalai Lama was kept under
27-8,34 Rapgay, L., 170 on verse 2, 128 virtual house arrest, 32-3
influence in Tibet, 27 Regent of Tsang, not to be on verse 4, 129 Tsong kha pa, rJe (1357- 1419),
occupation of Tibet, 20, 37-8, confused with tbe Regent, of on verse 10, 169 founder of the Geluk (dGe lugs)
39 Tibet, Desi Sangyay Gyatso, 25- on verse II, 133 tradition, 9, 23, 42
7 on verse 14, 134 Turnbull, c., 41
190 SON G S 0 FLO V E. POE M S 0 F 5 A D N E 5 5

o (Tibetan dBus), central province yangsi (Tibetan yang srid), 9

of Tibet around the capital city Yidtrok Hlamo (Tibetan Yid
of Lhasa, 26 'phrog lha mo, 'Mind-captivating
Goddess'), figure in an Indo-
Williams, Paul, 160 Tibetan story, and Tibetan
folk-opera, 142-3
Yama, the ancient Indian god who
is king of hell, described in the Zhol (pronounced like 'sho!'), part
Tibetan as Chos rgyal, Sanskrit of Lhasa at the foot of the
Dharmaraja, the king of Potala Palace, apparently con-
Dharma, 152 taining a red-light district, 150
The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsanavana Gyatso
(1683-1706) refused to take lUll monastic
vows, returned the vows that he had
already taken, and loved alcohol, archery
and women with a passion that ~haps
suggests he had a premonition of his early
death at the age of24. He also wrote a
remarkable collection of love poetry, ~
that has survived in a Tlbetari worla where
secular verse generaDy does not, precisely
because he was the Dalai Lama.
In his comprehensive introduction and
notes PaulWilliams aims to make this
extraordinary Dalai Lama and his verses
accessible to those with no background in Paul Williams was descn'bed in
the study of Buddhism or Tibet. Williams American review of his work as
~ves readers an idea of how a Dalai Lama
among the half-dozen most
IS seen from the inside, within the tradition living interpreters of 6!";~~~~J
of Tibetan Buddhism, and introduces us to He is the author of five
the turbulent and bloody times in which the is Professor of Indian
Sixth Dalai Lama lived. Why was this Dalai Philosophy at the University of
Lama making love to the women of Lhasa,
and why did-he alone amongst Dalai
Lamas choose the life of a playboy or
charismatic adventurer over the
responsibilities of a revered spiritual and
political leader? Was this the reason why he
was eventually murdered if that is truly
what happened to him?
Paul Williams also offers a completely new
translation of the extant erotic poems
attributed to the Sixth Da1ai Lalna. This is
the first translation into readable English
verse to be published that is based on the
recent criticitl edition and that also aims to
convey the simplicity and beauty of the
verse through ~eeping to the reguIar
syllabic rhythm of the original Tibetan. The
translation is accompanieCi by hints on how
to read the verses, as well as explanations of
obscure points or allusions, and includes the
Tibetan text and both English and Tibetan
verse-indexes.
The picture that emerges is that of a
complex personality, Cursed by fate and the
duty of high office to fulfil a role to which
he (elt in every way unsuited, and turning
poignantly to the language of love for
solace. From this rich and moving testament
we gain insight not only into the conflicting
emotions within one man but also into an
entire religious culture that continues to be
characteriSed by ambivalence and forced TIbetan thangka ~ting of Buddha
political compromise. Samantabhadra and his female consort.
© Archivo lconografico, S.A./CORBIS
,---~-<c
Ja=ck
=et
-,--design: www.stylorouge.co.uk
 SONGS OF LOVE
POEMS OF SADNE
In this new book Paul Williams employs his legendary sk" ' of
critical analysis and powerful articulation to an aspect of Tibetan
Buddhist culture and history that so far has remained obscure to the
general reader in the West. Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness is not just
another study of the life and songs of the famous (or the notori us)
Sixth Dalai Lama. It is in fact a critical introduction to the very
institution of the Dalai Lama itself and the concept of reincarnation
that is its basis. Written in a most lucid style, Williams book
presents a haunting picture of the tragedy that became the life f
this young Dalai Lama in seventeenth-century Tibet. In the auth r s
treatment we truly appreciate the Sixth s famous songs for what
they really are, that is the yearnings and frustrations of
a restless yet deeply human heart.
Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness is a veritable gem for those who
continue to find Tibetan Buddhism, and in particular the figure f
the Dalai Lama, a source of fascination.

Thupten Jinpa, principal English-language translator to

H. H. the Dalai Lama and author of
Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy.

ISBN 1- 85043 - 4 7 9 -4
THE EROTIC VERSE OF
THE SIXTH DALAI LAMA
9 7 8 18 50 434795 PAUL WILLIAMS
I. B . T ,\ L' R I S