The Liberation of Scholar Prince, Earnest Priest

Scholar Prince Earnest Priest was born manifest in ཞོ་སྤངས། Zhopang, an area of golden plains in རེབ་ཀོང་། Rebkong, མདོ་སྨད། Lower Amdo, Tibet. He was second-born in 1904, Year Wood Snake, which is the fifteenth year of our common, sixty-year astrological cycle. His father was a highness named King Alag and his mother's name was Padma. [Editor's note: Priest's birth name was Magus Victor so we'll refer to him as Victor until his ordination below.] King Alag was a renowned yogi steeped in Heart-Drop Expanse of Old School spells.

Early Education and Ordination

At four years of age Victor was trained in reading and writing. Learning the written language came naturally, as the boy had an ear for grammar. His father passed away at the age of seven. Then, as the moon had reached its peak, the Amban of ཟི་ལིང་། Ziling had invited Precious Merit King the Revelator to come and take his seat. 

When Victor's mother offered a gift to Precious Merit King's presence Victory was summoned as if he were foremost in the crowd. The Revelator took both the boy's hands into his own and, clasping them tenderly, began to inquire into all the circumstances of his life. Then both mother and child were summoned with the command: "Tomorrow morning I shall bestow upon the two of you the long-life empowerment." So, going there, the Assembly of Long-Life Awareness Holders of Heart-drop Expanse was granted through the contents of the vase of essential ambrosia. Gifts for protection and the silken scarf were offered accordingly. 

Though Merit King the Revelator was not so tall in stature, his countenance was illustrious. He had tall jawbones that conveyed experience. The locks on his head were rolled and tied with red silk. His speech was pressing and insistent. Truly, this was my own direct experience.

Victor's knowledge only became all the greater. By his ninth year he had proven his prowess within the intermediate lessons of poetry with examples pleasing to the ear. At the age of thirteen he had composed two resplendent examples of the "all-good wheel." ¹ 

Such were the circumstances that led to a meeting with Precious མདོ། Do² who was the successor of Buddha-child Sword in the lineage of Mister Lovely Gnostic Scepter. The boy was unable to contain his utter surprise and with both hands steady at his crown he wept for quite some time until, finally, all his tears had cleared away. Precious Do had an ivory rosary adorned with coral which was wound around his wrist. He untied it and, bestowing it on the boy, said, "Now I am stricken with sadness to hear that you are going to become a Reformer, because I think you might be the reincarnation of Mister Lovely Gnostic Scepter!" Thus, Victory's reply: 

Who can tell? I really don't mind one way or the other.

And so Victory went to རྡི་ཚ། Ditsa; a suitable place for a Reformer. There the chief abbot transmitted the meaningful words thereby ordaining the boy as Earnest Priest. At that time, though he was still just a boy, he became foremost by performing Old School liturgies of Heart-Drop Expanse just like his father used to. It's not that Priest was really the greatest of them all; it's just that there were no others quite like him. He is said to have made a clear impression of maturity each time he performed his recitations: Undefeated's Torma Entreaty: Meteoric Iron Arrows,³ and Entreatment of Female Guards,⁴ &c. were conducted with such awesome speech his head would shudder! 

Higher Education

Within two years he was at the top of his class at the monastery and so was transferred to Maitreya Center of 100,000 Buddhas ⁵ where, according to the abbot of Ditsa, all were able to behold his peerless expression of knowledge. When an examination of the higher modes of reasoning was administered to the early bloomer at Maitreya Center his unequivocal performance caused such great surprise to all the learned scholars that, upon apprehension of his inexpressible yogic discipline, the head, reincarnate master of the newly established House of Many Doors came to visit—yet had he not sent a silken scarf to the prodigy he would have left the compound having made no impression at all! 

As for me: this prodigy seemed a comrade akin to a spiritual hero. I even think that the scope of his thought might have been limited by such examinations of the higher modes of reasoning at the former center of 100,000 Buddhas; nevertheless, his vision was posited in such a way that he was to take the highest seat and so, having risen to the utmost position, Priest become first in his class. But it was said that he simply could not stay nor rise to the seat of tenure for, at the age of twenty-five, he ended up in དབུས། Ü and enrolled in House of Many Doors at Rice Heap.

Generally speaking Priest's entrance into the monastic compound was methodical: he was a subordinate in the system just the same as the greater and lesser reincarnate high princes themselves. However each is placed with a tutor in accord with their respective views and Gnostic Ocean, Doctor of Philosophy,⁶ was charged to tutor Earnest Priest who said: 

Gnostic himself gave books to me, alone, as if I were in some kind of classroom full of students. And he was constantly hovering over me. As for the pertinence of the explanations he gave: I would refute them, which of course would only lapse into more argument. He called me "Crazy". Whether or not it's true, it became my name.

He abode at Rice Heap for a long time, but hardly paid any heed to books. He made a little bit of money here and there for food, &c. by executing a variety of modernized and realistic drawings and paintings.

Later that year, during the winter teachings, the community of monks arrived in accord with their commitments to Infinite Knowledge, Doctorate of Philosophy: they had all gathered 'round to dwell at Center of Bright Minds. The principle scholar at Bright Minds was called Captain Minyag. He gave such clear signals and rose so amazingly to the occasion that he halted any bit of malicious intent that was apart from the standardized sets of answers and refutations. Thus the debate was established and any cheating whatsoever was nullified. Any explanations that did not pass, standing straight on their own, were laughed upon – "haha!" – while Scripture of Buddha, along with all of the essential points of the commentarial tradition, was rightly reasserted. At this time Priest argued that neither accepting nor rejecting makes "Doctorate of Philosophy" an empty term; so any claim whatsoever about it is but a fancy thought. The commitment of Infinite Knowledge, he argued, is bunk! He was gone from Rice Heap within a year's time... anyone wonder why?

Traveling Days

By way of Inconceivable, Earnest Priest encountered the sacred places of ལྷོ་ཁ། Lokha and, just like Inconceivable, many of the places he encountered were built according to classical proportions and were worthy of homage. In particular the village of གྲ་ནང་། Dranang featured a holy image of the Great Pandit of Kashmir, Śākya Śrī, made from potter's clay. Such a form as this is exceedingly rare. Priest said of it: 

At the moment of recognition pure wonder is born.

Gradually, through the realm of གཙང་། Tsang, Earnest Priest arrived at ས་སྐྱ། Sakya and, thereupon, House of Happiness. He made his way as an artist painting certain depictions of Great Compassion. By way of Sakya he was able to dwell in སྒང་ཏོག Gangtog and རྡོ་རྗེ་གླིང་། Darjeeling for quite some time. 

Incidentally, an elderly, Christian lady not only taught him English but also offered both food and clothing. Even in his later days Priest would say of her:

That elderly mother of mine was so very kind. 

In the meantime a foreign country requested to place this matron under their protection so both mother and child went to Kulu where they collaborated on a translation of Root Verses of Valid Cognition ⁷ to English.

Earnest Priest spent thirteen years altogether abroad in India, including a stay in Sinhala that lasted a year and four months. All the while he was spontaneous and carefree and did not stay in a single place for more than a day. He said:

During that time I carried with me a great burden through those hills and mountains: it was the great hope I had cultivated that my travels would provide at least a little bit of benefit for the people of Tibet. 

On some occasions he would have only one or two coins to his name. Then again he would meet with like-minded persons, English scholars, whose resources gave him cause to look after three or four hundred coins within the fold of his lower garment. Whichever the case his desire was to learn and be happy. He cut through the root of hope and fear with regard to the habits of obtaining money and things. He said that, after death, the name of Earnest is all that remains: it should remain pure in and of itself. 

Earnest Priest composed treatises during these times, even some translations: so many great books in all! Some were written on scraps of paper he kept in his black, metal box. Included in his writings are the traditions and characteristics of the country of India: her food and drink, clothing and style, the varieties of her fruit trees, and trees in general, medicines, flowers, and peoples, her holy waters, forests, temples, and stone pillar inscriptions. The compositions are all of great quality, arranged and enumerated so that there are, more or less, one-hundred twenty-five all inter-related and reasonably explained. One person said that the best, most excellently arranged book—relating the flavors of types of medicine and food—was copied and sent to Amdo so that it would not be lost or forgotten.⁸

The people in Sinhala were surprised when Priest as monk arrived! Given their longstanding tradition regarding the monastic undergarments and upper robes, along with the corresponding outer garment and sash, Priest explained without a single falsehood how his simple, maroon-colored robes were indeed traditionally permissible.⁹

Since the time Priest first arrived on the island the people there found him so interesting that they would not leave him alone. His spectacle had garnered such great audiences that he had a pretty difficult time just getting around. Eventually, though, the locals got used to him, and everywhere he went there was a person to help him along. However, he had by this time abandoned his unrelenting fascination with Tibetan history and had begun to speak exclusively in Sanskrit—even while eating and drinking!

Earnest Priest followed the way of the monks who would go out seeking alms on a daily basis, standing at the doors of homes of elder folk and reciting "Essence of Correlative Arising" as many times as it would take to get breakfast and lunch. Since the circumstance was such that householders were not far away such petitions for alms were accepted again and again—offerings hot and steamy! The monks proceeded on their rounds so very similarly as to the way of Elder Light Protector the Great and the Superiors, themselves, Priest related: 

It seems I am the only Tibetan who has seen what the actual adherence to the deeds of our compassionate Teacher looks like. For a short time, through being obscured by my own tears, a great need arose within me to remain at this level of practice. But contemplating how the young monks only follow the way of Udayin and the infamous Group of Six only makes me laugh and shrug it off.

On one occasion Priest had the opportunity to make conversation with a very old Sinhalese monk who related how powerful a practitioner was Cotton Clad of Tibet. Though the monk did not ask Priest went on to explain the particular signs and symbols of Cotton Clad's tantric accomplishment which prompted the old monk to get up and leave! Priest could only laugh after having asserted his own supreme views. 

Sometimes he would go to the seashore where fishermen would catch white crabs and himself bore holes into their bellies, suck out their innards, and continually pick at their legs and skull-like fragments. He related how such activities are greatly desired by the locals.

Contemporary Writings

He stayed in Sinhala for a year and four months, going from house to house, and from mountain to seashore: he saw it all! He translated Verses of Dharma,¹⁰ a Scripture of the Elders. He wrote an extensive history of the region, made drawings of the styles and shapely countenances of the folk and of the monks, and wrote a collection on the four types of behavior.¹¹ Once Earnest Priest had written extensively on the monastic community and the manners of full ordination he left for India. Then based on his own heart's calling he went all the way back to Tibet, though I am unsure of the exact date.

On his way through India he finished Verses of Dharma, and translated "Act One" of Śakuntalā,¹² Bhagavad Gītā,¹³ extensive Vedic legends, "Chapter Three" of Mirror of Poetry,¹⁴ and the wisdom chapter of Entering the Way ¹⁵ all cross-referenced with existing Sanskṛt manuscripts. Up until now the written accounts of Vedic legends that have been explained by the wise folk of Tibet have only been based on hearsay and much of it is completely out of accord with the translations of Earnest Priest who had gleaned his examples from the masters of Sanskṛt themselves. Thus there are many outstanding qualities with regard to the works of Earnest Priest. 

With the original manuscript of Mirror of Poetry Priest went on to rewrite Tai Situ's seminal text ¹⁶ in a new script. Since both versions were, in effect, like water in water even greater faith was placed in the name of Tai Situ, Lord Highness and Great Pandit as well as his historical law. Moreover, since Priest had been suspect of New Translation tantras for quite some time—as some of them have simply seemed to pop up occasionally, here and there—he translated two chapters of The Origin of Cakrasaṃvara Tantra.¹⁷ These were originally composed in India and found within a presentation of Mind-Only tenets in a large, single volume. Priest was keen on expressing what an amazing progression of logic is represented within those 150 folios.

Earnest Priest is associated with texts on the extensive history of India and Sinhala, Treatise on Passion,¹⁸ and the only extensive presentation on the systems of non-Buddhists. Furthermore a collection of his articles reveals a clear presentation on the non-Buddhists' divergent views as written from their own perspectives. And anyone who reads his travelogue consisting of phrases and verses written in the local vernaculars between ལྷ་ས། Lhasa and Darjeeling will laugh and burst into tears! ¹⁹

For example, the difference between the early and later periods of Tibet is particularly beyond the range of comprehension. Encountering one or two manuscripts of translation by Vairochana, Stacked Glorious Pillar, and Chogro Naga Standard—grammarians of the early period—reveals an utterly amazing and vast divide. For instance, the line of verse, "Here, some elementals happened to arrive," when viewed according to the original Sanskrit manuscript says the elemental spirits were expelled! I guess if they were expelled in India, they would have had to arrive in Tibet? When I think about it I laugh then join my palms in prayer. 

There are certain literary offerings expressed in the sūtra tradition ²⁰ that have become definitive but Priest was not happy with them either and, for whatever purpose, would exchange 'Jewels' for 'Gems' in jest. Why is it necessary to always conflate precious gems with Law? Priest would say that these tendencies are just like a leaping rabbit; that they are all just based on sentimentalism.

Back to Tibet

From India, Earnest Priest traveled toward Tibet via མཚོ་ན། Tsona. The conditions surrounding his return, quite frankly, make my head spin—I just don't understand. I've tried to understand the nature of this exchange, yet being unfamiliar with the local official who set the whole process in motion I can only surmise that an undercover agent employed in Tsona duped Priest into a form of detainment, though the agent was not actually a person of Tsona himself. But that's just what I think: what about you? ²¹

In the year Water Horse I had the opportunity to go on pilgrimage to India. While I was in Sarnath I encountered a book, Pilgrim's Guide to India,²² which was published under the name Earnest Priest of མདོ་སྨད་པ། Lower Amdo. I searched for anyone by that name but could not find him. Apart from a single encounter we once shared in which Earnest Priest had proven himself exceedingly ravishing I had not been privy to the fact that he had been having experiences here, there, and practically everywhere! 

After a few years had passed I heard that he returned, all of a sudden, to Lhasa—according to him, it was the year Wood Snake when we had last dwelt together in the newly established House of Many Doors. By now he had thought that his extensive travels and many years abroad would have endowed him with a sense of great fortune, elegance, and magnificence, but that was not the case. His countenance seemed disheartened (except when he smiled with all thirty-two of his white shining teeth). He wore a lower garment of maroon, Indian cotton. He didn't have anything but his big black metal box, a hearth, a small pot, and some bedding. From that time forward there was no way to avoid a sense of interconnectedness and familiarity between him and I. And if I weren't there for him in that very moment there would have been no way for our love and friendship to develop. 

That great big black metal box of his was a great tome in its own right. Priest said: 

There is nothing in this box that I have shown to anyone. Please do not show anyone else. If you have any question at all the answer is to be found by rummaging through its contents.

By all means: Scripture and Spells, sciences, answers to all manner of questions can be found in that box; and by reading five or six lines above and below a particular fragment will put it all in context. Just the same—though it seems odd—a few words recited from memory are enough to make sense of it all. And yet a single word cannot come close to describing it!

In general, regarding Scripture, Spells, and sciences the display of one's mind is the main point being communicated to the reader. People say that no one else could possibly imitate his style that races along in the same vernacular tone he uses within his own living room—so very impossible to keep up with! But if one were to ask a question regarding a crucial point and receive a significant reply accompanied by additional key points—then one would have finally leveled up.  

On one occasion I experienced a heart attack and I nearly died. Now I live so that every day is just like that. It's been a long time since then and my health had been improving when Priest was traveling nearby one day and came to visit. He presented his little 'Great Elephant' ²³ notebook and it was then that I realized how all of us make a definitive decision with regard to everything we encounter. It's for you to associate; to make heads or tails.

What's valid and conventional come dismay...

Priest showed me all the verses he had written up to that point and also bestowed the supremely beneficial advice: 

Sleep is not cessation.

A copy of the manuscript had made its way to the Precious One, Great Scholar of Free Aspiration Island, who conferred his pleasure at having received it. He gave the blessing of his great compassion in the form of a handwritten letter expressing how sorry he was for not having had the opportunity to meet for so long a time. Before long the letter arrived in Lhasa with an accompanying note from the monk, Lotus Holder, which clearly stated: "The little book of offering you sent came yesterday. Now all the precious ones hold it fast in their assembly. An image of you was carved and placed in a nook so people can see. The Master of Ceremonies has let go of his drum, saying 'nothing of consequence comes from swinging it.' Some days the Great Scholar himself gets up and goes, all of a sudden, to humble himself by putting his head to your feet, which leads to our request to have an audience with you in your home."

Thereupon Earnest Priest replied:

Come on over! I'll meet you on your way! 

And then he went. 

I was staying in ང་ཕོད། Ngapod at the time, visiting someone else, when Earnest Priest arrived and requested I come with him. And no sooner than he asked we roused ourselves and left having placed our hands at the three places and prostrated, and offered white silken scarves. Thus we lived together making exceedingly ample conversation late into the night. Later the next day Priest said: 

Ever since I returned to Tibet I haven't received a single salutation aside from yours. Now the fine prince of Free Aspiration lets fly three at a time! The Law of our ancestors was passed down through such ancestral lines as his. That must be why!

Priest Teaches Poetry

It wasn't long until the supreme emanation, Goodmoon, arrived and humbly proceeded to offer the three-fold salute and ceremonial scarf, and without interruption he proceeded to offer five piles of precious metals while Priest was himself cloaked by intoxication and lying asleep until finally, starting with a "ha!" he rose to meet the supreme emanation then clothed himself with the very same ceremonial scarf that was offered! Attempting to cover up his excitement at having seen the sheer sum of silver offered him he said that the twenty-five pieces would suffice and the assembly delighted in hearing that all was good and auspicious. He kept on repeating himself in this way until finally he awarded Goodmoon with a teaching on poetry. "You must listen to me," Priest said: 

Whether or not you have had the leisure to have heard it all, you at least have been privy to the extraordinary benefit that comes from reading the teachings on 'form' and 'ornamentation' of Chapter One.²⁴

Indeed, Goodmoon was listening! 

Now, at this particular point and time, they all moved to the monastic household of ཀུན་གླིང་། Kunling which offered free room and board in a room of Blazing Dominance that was partitioned and vacant in the front. Priest said: 

Let me arrange some of the things lying around: regular cushions, padded cushions, finely-woven cushions, and tables. Here's some butter and tea, wheat and barley. That's it. So now I shall offer the teaching on poetry to Goodmoon.

This teaching of his was duly noted. I have witnessed and understood it, and have heard Priest express similar examples through speech and writing else (though I haven't the leisure to have heard it all).

Thereupon Priest conferred a detailed commentary on "Śakuntala," the likes of the lines of dramatic verse of which had never been heard before. Now I wondered whether or not it was necessary to listen to it all—as the teaching went on like this for fifteen days—until after that long while, Priest said:

This is very auspicious. Let's have a party!

And then proceeded to make a mound of meat dumplings.

The drama of "Śakuntalā" was masterfully composed by the foreigner, Kālidāsa, who went on to influence Daṇḍin so that the latter's interpretations became our sole source in Tibetan translation—yet not even a single Sanskrit manuscript in our collection contains a single citation of Daṇḍin! So now that Priest is gone I must say I am relieved to have received his teaching. The poetics of these two Indians have provided such a great influence throughout our history that practically all of us are bound by their synonymies. And yet we have never even heard their words! 

As a whole their works are relatively easy, albeit necessary, to study as portals of highly condensed meaning. Though indeed it is said that in their time they were the most excellent composers most people apply the rank of "most excellently composed" to "Born to Pray in Bliss" ²⁵ which just so happens to confer each and every one of their conventions according to reason and classical style. 

Priest Teaches Middle Way Metaphysics

Then Earnest Priest gave a commentary on Middle Way metaphysics to Goodmoon who wrote in a letter: "If this little notebook replete with extra drawings and notes had not been bestowed to me and, later, had I not received it according to the conventions of oral instruction, then who else is there to explain the resultant views of his system of logic?" 

What follows is an excellent progression or oral explanations that over time were carved into the mind of Goodmoon and later became the basis for today's debate. Priest said:

I will die but I won't be finished. I will not be able to personally debate but that's okay. You will take care even if I'm not around to explain the essential points.²⁶

Furthermore:

Nobody on earth ever put the truth in my hand: I've been compelled to seek it out for myself. The case for Tibet has permeated my mindstream and I find it necessary to impart the Law as I see it, particularly the two topics of Middle Way metaphysics and Valid Cognition. Today, though, in order to comply with circumstance, splitting hairs down the Middle Way would have surely sufficed!

One day in the bazaar I found a copy of Indigo's Differentiating the View ²⁷ and, since it was offered, I brought it back from Amdo. Whether or not it is appropriate to do so I wept for such great a work. As the meaning of its words is simply inexpressible it is timely indeed that someone has come to show its utmost meaning. Such a person is a supreme being. Sweet Melody Joyful Smarts studied the work and was astonished. Joyful Smarts of Zhang was petitioned in a private discussion which itself was a debate on Indigo who, in his eyes, was insurmountable. But within the broad scope of the view a sharp, irreverent and engaging acumen is the best according to Eastern thought: it's one big joke! Now, just as one would hock a loogie, what's said is done: so much has been said in these pages thus far, while the most awesome and amazing is yet to come! 

Truly there has not been a single valid response with regard to Indigo's views. He is said to have been born in the area of གོ་འཇོ། Gojo in Year Rat in a newly established house and plot of land. In this way he lived as a householder and eventually became head of house in every way. His artifacts act as spiritual supports for Omniscient Monastery and other satellite monasteries. One day the history of Highnesses like Indigo should be propagated. But at this time I asked Priest for his opinion on Onion Valleyant in relation to Lord of Law, Undefeated:

The reason I can't stop talking about these two being emanations of Buddha Mind is based on the views of each being blessed by Mañjuśrī. But if they were both alive today, and engaged in debate: due to Precious Lord Onion Valleyant's extensive coursework of monastic training our Learned Lord Undefeated would not be up to the task, or so I think. But on the other hand Undefeated's asset was in his style of teaching the sheer power of awareness and basic mind that, though it terrified others and didn't make any sense, seems to be the way of authentic transmission after all.

All the Highnesses of New and Old Schools alike who are endowed with inconceivable faith know this argument within their hearts, while the rest are charlatans and therefore unable to teach. Again, Priest says:

I don't know a thing about faith. But if that which is referred to as faith has a single cause it would be joy which is itself produced simultaneously with attachment. But being two things at once reminds me of the story of the bat who, during the time of the chicken tax, claimed that he was a mouse. Then when the time came round for the government to collect on their mouse tax the bat said, "Look at my wings, I am a bird," which was an argument that of course may have sufficed for a time... 

One day we should come to understand that these are well-spoken words. Again:

A personal joy sustains me.

What else could it be? It is said that, once, Priest was to lead a prayer ceremony in Trehor (tre hor/ tre bo) but fled the day before. He was a man who, like a child, was always asking when it's time to go. But all I understand are the words on the page.

Being a Doctorate-In-Name-Only is of no use whatsoever.

Imprisonment

The causes and conditions of Priest's incarceration first arose in India. I am not sure whether they are substantiated or not. I've come to understand, though, that in fact it was envy over the honor of religious robes that instigated the reasons for so many poisonous arrows to be flung.

Priest was incarcerated at Prison of Peak Experience, Fun and Games, where he was whipped many times over and tortured—the suffering he endured was unimaginable—and went on to abide imprisoned for a total of two years and four months. 

The circumstances were such that the "evil spirits," i.e. "prisoners" abode on a hill so as to touch the hearts of Tibetan clergy and laity alike. When the authorities said it was okay to leave offerings of leftovers Lucky Splendor was there. But many times it turned out to be a joke and no one was allowed to enter. Such nasty intentions prohibited Priest from seeing anyone or even receiving anything for quite some time. 

One day I received a letter from the prison, it was handwritten on a very tall strip of paper. Hatter was thought to be very close to Tiger Rock, so the request was made that he apply some political pressure in order to have Priest released; as there was no one else who could withstand Tiger Rock. Then all of a sudden I decided to consult Lotus Expanse, Highness of Rahor and, since he was an extremely respected and elder diviner, I saluted him and requested a divination. But this was not actually necessary as the divination was already under way—I didn't even have to pay! 

"If within fifteen days he is not released," said Lotus Expanse, "these divining stones will be sinful burdens and I shall never take them up again."

Hatter met with Priest and spoke on a variety of uplifting topics. But for Priest the sun had set regarding sage teachings and the notion of liberation. Priest related that it felt as if he could not go on any longer, nevertheless he looked forward to being free within seven or eight days' time. 

Our pioneer of the East was tainted and unraveling at the seams. Seeing Priest with his provisions was akin to entering the cave of Milarepa. When he ate it was as if he was eating for the very first time. All of his books, along with the black metal trunk, had vanished. The times being as they were our Easterner could only wish that he had been residing in America.²⁸

Release and Final Days

When Priest was finally released from jail his dreaded hair was doubling as a scarf and his clothes were tattered and filthy. He had become skin and bones and looked as if he would faint at any moment. If he had the ability to speak he had nothing at all to say. The dark brown flannel robe that was offered him was much too large and he couldn't put it on without assistance. But he said he would be fine and in the span of two half-moons would be self-sufficient again. He asked, moreover, that the whole turn of events be left behind at the moment he shaved his dreaded hair.

Priest transitioned without shame. He was visited by aristocrats, doctors of philosophy, government officials, heads of monastic centers and their satellite divisions—so many came to offer their support. The greatest and most beneficial support came from a division of the upper college of སེ་ར་བྱེས། Sera which might have been དེ་ཧ། Deha, but I forget. This support consisted of two bodyguards who stayed with him for a long time in Priest's new house on a ridge outside of Zhol. These bodyguards made offerings of such goods as butter tea and roasted barley flour, and would appear in shifts in service geared toward his total emancipation. 

There was a northern nomad who was imprisoned in the course of pilgrimage from the area of Virtue's Expanse who had a daughter. He and the daughter, like Priest, were innocent. Over the course of a year Priest offered them instructions and support with a mutual feeling of sadness at how young they all were. The girl knew practically nothing, being a relatively ignorant bumpkin. Priest said to them:

It's been two months, now it's time for you both to go home.

This encounter had been greatly meritorious and influential, a necessary transmission to the lady. Priest said to the father: 

Your girl has brought my mind back down to earth.

A sum of 1,750 units of silver had been granted to me and, in the spirit of equality, I decided to pay for whatever the lady said she needed. 

I don't believe that all of Priest's behaviors since his emancipation from jail had been entirely reliable. The smallest acts of kindness toward him would have such unlikely effects like producing emotions of resentment rather than joy. He drank limitless quantities of spirits and, worst of all, smoked. It came to pass that he could not even look after his own money and possessions in the slightest. One day he said to me:

Are you going to rebuke me or not?

There was no intervention. However when I asked if taking just a slight bit better care with regard to his conduct might make him too unhappy, he replied:

Don't even try to change me! In this world even the most precious vase of lapis lazuli will be smashed to bits and turn to dust. How are you going to make me happy now? Just let me be the way I am.

This is when he cut his long dreaded hair. 

Priest revealed a unique drawing of a Buddha-body, a unique form of Liberatrix who was executed so that the hair on her head was situated with a metal ring in the likeness of an orb, while her heart center featured a circular mirror so the sight of it suggested a sage. He said that, whatever it meant, it served as a reminder.  

One day a group of four Rice Heap scholars arrived to give some instructions with Captain Minyag in the lead. When they had finally entered the room the Captain asked, "Do you know who I am?" Since he had been abiding as Captain at the college of Higher Tantras he was accustomed to going around to the chant-leaders and bossing them around. Priest replied:

You look familiar. You are the good Captain. Please come in, take a little break, and have a smoke with me.

In that way the request was made for the Captain to enter and to talk about anything but the Teachings. Then without any explanation whatsoever, and extremely casually, since there just so happened to be a precious icon of alloyed metal of the Teacher right there, Priest blew a cloud of cigarette smoke all over its face. Thereupon, every guest in the Captain's assembly proceeded to snap the fingers on their left hands while the Captain himself, taken aback, exclaimed, "Don't do that!" But it was just a means for Priest to argue the lofty view of how feelings such as happy and sad, for Buddha, quite frankly, do not exist. Nevertheless the five of them in the room ganged up against Priest by chanting the seed-syllable "HŪNG", and even more with "PhAṬ". Some people assailed him high and low but the denigration was such that the five in the room could only recite Liberatrix without knowing how else to respond, which, tit for tat, severed the dispute.

The whole conversation was so ridiculous that some were compelled to leave, to be done with it altogether, and never enter Priest's house ever again for any reason whatsoever. This was confirmed by Priest who said with a smile:

They will never be back again.

The day after that I met a man of White Beauty named Long Life Neigh in the market. As I approached him he wondered how a Doctorate of Philosophy such as myself could associate with Earnest Priest after what had transpired the day before. "As it turns out," I told him, "even the least of Priest's arguments are indeed correct and, besides, he is like a nephew to me." Then it seemed that I had reached this man, that I had driven the point into his skull, and he let out a deep sigh. Then, because he asked how Priest was doing, I related that Priest hadn't so much as looked at a Tibetan book in twenty years, much less recited a religious text, and that his awareness of the texts is no longer. I left the man with a sense of melancholy for, today, Priest has yet to take the pledge of Infinite Knowledge, Ph.D.

Now, with the circumstances being the way they were, with the Tibetan government and council of ministers awarding Priest three bushels of grain every month, with equivalencies in butter and tea, and some bits of silver for pocket money he had every reason to stay on the dole. Don't get me wrong: since this is all within the Eastern field of the liberating Buddhist ideology the request for support was granted and, in my opinion, appropriate. A lady from ཆབ་མདོ། Chabdo, who presented herself as a noblewoman, also arrived with a genuine concern and ended up staying with Priest. Her name was Turquoise Lamp and she was previously the attendant of a princess.

Day and night Priest was continually drunk on spirits. And though the government had granted him such things as grain and silver he never really took care of these things as his own. Nobody came to visit him anymore. It was as if he was in retreat except that his hue was drunken and his demeanor was mad. What's worse, if someone were to ask why he was wretched and vomiting, he wouldn't even be able to reply. 

One day, when there were English chants of military maneuvers coming from the base Priest provided some help in translating them into Tibetan. But when he was presented with the great Tibetan texts for which he had no faith: those were only translated begrudgingly if at all. So for the time being only the military personnel's cadence mattered. It was nothing but: 

Left... Left... Left, right, left...

Priest donned some dilapidated boots, tall and brown, but couldn't reach the verticality necessary to get his shirt on, so in turn revealed his bare, red chest to Turquoise Lamp. Upon receiving her assistance, Priest said:

I am doomed to the dust. I'm an old man who can only drink his bread anymore. 

And thereupon he was gone. Just like that, what little health he had became misery. He experienced many pangs in his side and to make matters worse he drank all the more aggressively. Any suggestion that he drink even a tiny bit less, moreover, was useless. He only drank more which became the cause for advanced stages of dropsy and sclerosis. Fortunately Priest abode on the southern side of the market square with a pastoral view; a place where he was a little more able to cope with living out his days.

A High Doctor administered medicine as best he could, yet still no benefit came. I too had some medicine that I made myself in the traditional way: "Deathless Moon Crystals," an excellent diuretic. Priest said he thought it helped, and accepted the medicine many times. However his consumption of liquor hadn't abated in the least. Just like that Priest spent about fifteen days this way with his body swelling and becoming so bloated that in order for him to rest it was necessary we provide physical assistance in repositioning his body to the left and right. I stayed with him around the clock. 

One day Priest asked if Precious Fortune would come and recite "Praise Correlative Emergence" ²⁹ from memory. If it wasn't memorized then reciting from the text would be fine, he said, also hoping that he might bring hither Undefeated's Aspiration to Gentle Glory's Great Completion: The Ground, Path, and Result.³⁰ Accordingly Priest accepted the words of Scripture as they were recited in full by heart. Then he said:

I, Crazy Earnest Priest, have seen the entire spectacle of the whole wide world. Today the least I can say is that I was famed for having an ear for language. Now that I am going, I wonder: what will I see next?

And:

Now it's all gone dark. All of you are gone. Tomorrow shall be another sight to see. 

And then his consciousness made its transference out the body.

The next morning the sun failed to rise due to what had come to pass. And though I was just about done for myself, I roused to report on Priest's passing. The year was 1951, an Iron Year, in the second month, Hare. It was 11:13pm. Priest was forty-seven years old. He had nothing whatsoever. His corpse and personal effects were requested by the Gojo Highnesses Moon and Certain Truth.

The Son of House of Hor had previously composed a duplicate of White Annals which was very neatly written. During the time that Priest was imprisoned, and since he was released from Fun and Games, the Son of House of Hor received regular conferrals of the composition, Tibet's Lineage of Kings,³¹ with dictations perfectly spoken and transcribed. He bestowed butter, tea, roasted barley flour and other necessities to Priest. Meanwhile the woman of circumstance was Turquoise Lamp, the subject of Treatise on Passion.  

The Highness of Gojo spoke the funeral rites and, as a chaplain of Heart-Drop Expanse, he applied powder and rouge to the body and made all the appropriate offerings. As he was recipient of the four empowerments, &c., the service was very nicely done. In three days he was invited to the seat of The Horse's Mouth where the secretary of the prison, Steadfast, had become the son of a new house with the utmost power. Highness Moon and Certain Truth departed together. The secretary had accepted the crown. I didn't enjoy hearing anything of it—we just didn't connect. 

The Onrnament to Nagarjuna's Thought and Treatise on Passion are both accessible at the present time in India: this is due to the kindness of Precious Foe Destroyer. And though it exhausted my merit I wrote out Priest's translation of the drama, "Śakuntala".

Since I was unable to connect with a Highness Doctor I moved to ཟི་ལིང་། Ziling in the year Water Snake. There the elderly lady དགུ་རོང་། Gurong and Precious Expansive Line kept spare provisions and were at ease. I said I would write everything I knew based on the encouragement of His Excellence Reverend Good Smarts. In this way, in privacy and without concern of being superior or inferior, and with a quivering hand I wrote this in the third month of Water Rat, 1972.

Good fortune!

This is the hagiography of Earnest Priest
Either its meaning is profound, or not in the least
Whatever I know I tell you is true
And though my hands be trembling its writ through and through

Just take the thoughts of others if you've none of your own
Like Reverend Good Smarts who aspires to the crown
I'm just a fogey named Gnostic Ocean, me
Who's good at three things: to eat, sleep and void

Scholarly Notes

1. A Tibetan poetic form known more colloquially in English as the "grid poem". Of these two examples (and any more that Earnest Priest may have composed later in life) only one is to be found in Scholar Prince's Collected Works (2: 527). One classical ode containing an extensive grid poem is "All-Good Wheel of Offering to the Throneholder of Mindrolling."
2. The great-grandson of Mister Lovely. Accordingly, Mister Lovely had a princess, Space Liberatrix, and a prince, Buddha-Child Sword. The reincarnation of the former, and the son of the latter, joined to create King Somang, who is Do: a stand-in for one of eighteen hereditary fiefdoms of Eastern Tibet in the area currently known as Sezchuan Province.
3. འཇིགས་མེད་གླིང་པ། Fearless Islander. gtor bskul gnam lcags thog mda'. Collected Works. 28: 235-242. A supplemental liturgical text for the entreatment of Protectors: this particular class of deities is entreated under the banner of King Gesar. 
4. Fearless Islander. ma mgon gyi bskul pa. Collected Works. 8: 483-494. A ritual from Heart-Drop Expanse including entreatment, recitation and visualization, offerings, and the letters of fulfillment. 
5. Interlinear note by the Tibetan editor: "This statement was first written as Lucky Hub of Labrang but was later edited to Maitreya Center. In fact, Maitreya Center of 100,000 Buddhas is inaccurate based on all the other biographies and annotations."‍
6. The tutor is not to be conflated with the liberation-story's author of the same name.
7. Dharmakīrti. Pramāṇavārttikakārika. Indian Treatise. 174: 188-303. A verse epistemology on valid cognition, following Dignāga's seminal text, Pramāṇasamuccaya. Ibid. 174: 1-26. Unfortuantely, this translation of mother and child has yet to surface.
8. Ironically, this text may have been lost or forgotten. The closest resemblance in Priest's Collected Works seems to be Chapter Seven (1:181-197) of his travelogue, Golden Plain (gser gyi thang ma), called "How to Correctly Identify Trees and Flowers, &c. (shing dang me tog sogs kyi ngos 'dzin dang ngos ji ltar 'phrod tshul)."
9. The Sinhalese monks have been wearing yellow and saffron-colored robes since the beginning times of Buddhist ordination. So they were surprised to see Priest, a so-called Buddhist, wearing maroon! Fortunately Priest was able to explain to the monks that Buddha had no specific color requirement for robes and that since maroon was a color not expressly forbidden (as were white and black, along with fabrics featuring paisley-like designs and motifs) then it was okay for him to wear it and still be considered a Law-abiding monk. If one were to wonder why the Tibetans were wearing different colored robes in the first place, this is probably because of the darker color's ability to absorb greater amounts of solar radiance in the frigid climate of their country.
10. Translated by Earnest Priest. The Noble Elders' Condensation of the Basket of Scriptures: The Minor Second, Verses of Dharma. Collected Works. 2: 1-59.  Commonly known by its Pali name, Dhammapada. Though an alternate arrangement of verses from the Sanskrit found its way into the canon of Buddha Word as Udānavarga (72: 419-507), the collection was largely overlooked in the Tibetan tradition. Thus Priest was the first Tibetan to present a translation from the Pali, a text utilized around the world up to the present day. A fine, bilingual edition of Priest's translation (Tibetan-English) is Dhammapada, by Dharma Publishing.
11. Standing, walking, sitting, and lying down. There is more to these four types of behavior than one may think. Contrarywise, there is nothing apart from these. The point is to join them with mindfulness.
12. Kālidāsa. Abhijñānaśākuntala. The dramatization of an episode from Mahābhārata in which a girl is raised by birds. King Duśyanta discovers her and gives her a ring, an identifying token to gain his audience in the palace. Lost and found again is this token of King Duśyanta's luck.
13. The 700-verse Hindu Scripture that is a section of Mahābhārata. Four chapters are translated into the Tibetan as "Song of The Glorious One, His Excellence Black (Kṛṣṇa)." Collected Works. 2: 429-470.
14. Daṇḍin. Kāvyādarśa. The earliest systematic treatment of poetics in Sanskrit and the basis for the Tibetan study of classical poetry. From it the Tibetans coined the term snyan ngag, literally "beautiful speech," which herein is referred to as the "Classical Ode."
15. Śāntideva. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. Indian Treatise. 105: 1-80. Entrance to the Way of the Spiritual Hero. Also known as A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, and The Way of the Bodhisattva. A treatment in ten chapters on the Great Conveyance's path to enlightenment, a seminal commentary in verse on Six Transcendences, and the inspiration of many a practitioner/scholar up to the present day. 
16. Tai Situ, Source of Law. Mirror of Poetry (snyan ngag me long). ‍
17. The Scripture's colophon states:
    The Glorious Bloodguzzler (Chakrasaṃvara) candidly expressed three hundred thousand great tantras. Our realization has been co-emergent upon the collecting of them all! Just reading the secrets of all the yoginis brings accomplishment! The Glorious King of Tantras on The Arising of Vows is now complete. Even for an inferior intellect the little bit of clarity that comes from reading this text should rouse unwavering trust. What good would come from translating this according to personal benefit? The Noble and Learned Ones have stood up to the task. The infinite altruism of the preceptors of India as well as the familiarity of the translator monks of Tibet with the renown of their prayers have finally culminated in the translation of this text. The matter is settled. (Buddha Word. 78: 528.)
    Apparently, Priest thought that the matter was not so settled. Unfortunately, his translation of the two chapters seems to be lost.
18. Based on Kāmasūtra, &c, it's a treatise on sexual pleasure. Translated into English by Jeffrey Hopkins as Tibetan Arts of Love. Though the subject was rather taboo in Tibet there is a longstanding history of such work. There is one example in Indian Treatise (53: 558-554) by a writer who goes by Master Good Looking and another in the Collected Works of Undefeated (1: 51-80) as Treatise on Passion: The Joy and Treasure of the Entire World.
19.  Interlinear note by the Tibetan Editor: Priest's Pilgrim's Guide to India has become the definitive sourcebook for Tibetans as of late.
20. Interlinear note by the Tibetan Editor: Subhāśita Ratna Koṣa.
21. This hagiography has just completely glossed Priest's activities in Kalimpong, particularly with respect to the Tibetan Revolutionary Party. Their antics drew the attention of Hugh Richardson, a Tibetophile with a healthy fascination for stone pillar lawforms who also happened to be a representative of the British-Indian government in Tibet. Due to Priest's activities, and his involvement with high-profile Tibetans who had previously been banished from the capitol, Richardson's professional duty deemed it necessary to share some of their revolutionary materials with the Tibetan parliament in Lhasa. Thus, regarding the notion of 'detainment' in the text above, the Tibetan government likely had a plan to lure Priest back to Lhasa, and ultimately detain him, in order to prevent any possible revolution from sparking outside of their centralized mechanisms of control.
22. A bilingual edition of this book has been translated by Toni Huber as The Guide to India: A Tibetan Account by Amdo Gendun Chöphel. Library of Tibetan Works and Archives: Dharamsala, 2000.
23. At the time that this hagiography was composed there may not have been a standardized title to the book. So at this point the book is rather referred to by the Indian brand of notebook featuring the "Great Elephant" logo in which it was composed. The work that fit within this notebook comprises the first third of Ornament to Nagarjuna's Thought, a commentary on the Tibetan tradition of pramāṇa, or 'valid cognition', and Middle Way metaphysics. The first section was written in India while the latter two thirds of the book as we know it were written in Tibet through Priest's dictations to Goodmoon as related in the hagiography below. Collected Works. 2: 61-146.
24. Daṇḍin. Kāvyādarśa. Traditionally this text was taught in the order of the first and third chapters first, emphasizing the teachings on "Form," or the object of expression, and "Ornamentation," or poetic tropes. The second chapter, "Clarification of Faults," was rarely taught, and was most likely the subject of the teaching given to Goodmoon on this occasion. Translated into Tibetan by Paṇḍita Lakṣmīkara as Treatise on Word Ornamentation: Mirror of Poetry. Misc.
25. The poem is likely Onion Valleyant's. Here are it's opening lines so as to provide an example of the perfect use of metaphor according to the Tibetan esteem of Indian poetics:
    SUCCESS!
    The best of beings take best of births, their oceanic deeds
    Arise upon the fourfold terrace to attract the fine
    And fortunate to majesty atop a mountain of gold –
    Salutations to that mass of Infinite Light!
    From Collected Works. "bde ba can du skye ba'i smon lam." 2: 235-236.
26. The notebook combined with Priest's oral explanations on Middle Way metaphysics, transcribed by Goodmoon, have been combined in the title, Explanations on the Middle Way: The Ornament to Nagārjuna's Thought (dbu ma'i rnam bshad klu sgrub dgongs rgyan).
27. A seminal and polemical text of the Sakya tradition that argues for the Middle Way metaphysic, "Unelaborated." The text is infamous in its claim that the Highness of Renunciates, Onion Valleyant, rather than conversing with Mañjuśrī, was actually having conversations with the devil! (bsod nams seng ge. lta ba'i shan 'byed. In Collected Works. 5: 755 - 858.)
28. According to The White Lama, Priest, during his time in India, was indeed invited by Theos Bernard to be Abbot of Tibetan-style university in California... though due to complications of wartime his travel visa to the United States was never approved.
29. Onion Valleyant. "sangs rgyas bcom ldan 'das ston pa bla na med pa la zab mo rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba gsung ba'i sgo nas bstod pa legs bshad snying po." Read the PDF, Excellent Praise from the Scriptural Threshold of Correlative Arising, at the top of the page linked.
30. Undefeated. "'jam dpal rdzogs p chen po gzhi lam 'bras bu dbyer med pa'i don la smon pa rig stong rdo rje'i rang gdangs zhes bya ba." In Collected Works. 24: 471-475.
31. An extensive work-in-progress on the lineage and history of Tibetan kings popularly known as White Annals of the Lineage of Kings (rgyal rabs deb ther dkar po) in Collected Works (2:307-379). Also The Eminent Historical Sourcebook of the Tibetan Lineage of Kings (rgya'i lo rgyus las byung ba'i bod kyi rgyal rabs skor), Collected Works (2: 213-306).

Tibetan Sources

Canonical: Buddha Word

bka' 'gyur (sde dge par phud): 103 Volumes: the sde-dge mtshal-par bka'-'gyur : a facsimile edition of the 18th century redaction of si-tu chos-kyi-'byun-gnas prepared under the direction of h.h. the 16th rgyal-dban karma-pa: Dege Kangyur. Facsimile of the parpud or 'first fruit' printing of the 1733 blocks, meaning it was pressed before later changes were made to the blocks. Produced under the patronage of the Dege King Tenpa Tsering. Chief editor was Palpung Tai Situ Chokyi Jungne in 1733. One of the first editions of the Tibetan canon to be widely distributed, and is almost universally praised for its clarity. Editors in India made numerous changes in preparation for this edition, printed 1976-1979.

Canonical: Indian Treatise

bstan 'gyur (sde dge): 213 Volumes: Dege Tengyur. Produced in 1737-1744 under the patronage of the Dege King Tenpa Tsering. Edited by Shuchen Tsultrim Rinchen. Facsimile was published in India in 1982-1985 as a part of Karmapa 16 Rangchung Rikpai Dorje's (1924-1981) memorial ceremonies.

Collected Works

dge 'dun chos 'phel. gsung 'bum/_dge 'dun chos 'phel. [khreng tu'u]: si khron dpe skrun tshogs pa; si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang , 2009.

thub ldan shesrab rgya mtsho. mkhas dbang dge 'dun chos 'phel gyi rnam thar. Collected Works. 202-235.

blo bzang grags pa'i dpal. gsung 'bum/_tsong kha pa (zhol). new delhi, india: mongolian lama guru deva, 1978-1979. 2: 231 - 237.

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