Homage to the Guru, Vajra Youth

The Story Behind Our Most Recent Publication

This month of Wood Ox (remember we are following the lunar calendar here) a longstanding wish of mine has just come true!

After years in the making I've just published the tantric liturgy Vajra Youth: King of Wrath.

Now, I admit this type of book is not for everyone. You will even find on its homepage a series of checks to merely download the PDF. (Even though it's in English, it's almost impossible to read without the guidance of explaining it's many technical terms and symbology.) Nevertheless, for those of us out there who are committed to accomplishing Vajrakumāra, Vajra Youth (also knows as Vajrakīla, Adamant Stake), I have offered this extraordinary resource for free.

In 2019, Earth Pig, I crowdfunded so as to complete my translation and offer an edited version to the public domain. While I did complete the task and issue a few copies: in reality, I don't believe the work has spread very far. And in the meantime I've actually used the manual and made a few more edits and adjustments, improving the edition even more.

Now it's 2023, Water Rabbit, and this niche edition of Vajrayana Buddhist provenance is finally published for good. I stand by my vision to offer sacred texts such as these for free to the public domain. Indeed, more are on the way!

I'm considering different modes of sponsorship to help release more free Scripture and sacred texts to the public domain. For instance, "Riwo Sangcho: The Mountain Immolation" is currently transcreated in some very potent English and is practically ready to be released.

Please reach out if you'd like to sponsor this or other sacred texts for the benefit of the public domain.

Transcreator's Homage

I had resolved to arrange this ritual text while in spiritual retreat during 2018, Earth Dog. The culmination of my retreat experience was in the presence of His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche at Garchen Buddhist Institute, Chino Valley, Arizona.

The guru is the source of all scripture and realization, thus all homage goes to the "lama", or highness, who has taken us in as refugees and epitomized the path.

I've offered this verse to the guru, and also placed it at the head of Vajra Youth in the tradition of translators' homages of yore.

Light is his donning of saffron robes for one's own ease and benefit
But burdensome their nature, the fresh and heavy hide of elephant
Some see spring and crocuses; others, Blazing Secret Charnel Ground
Homage to the guru who unites the threefold vow!

This time our transcreation is not a literary translation at all (usually we begin with the classical Tibetan for source material in transcreation). Although this particular verse is original in English I am still inclined to call it a transcreation. Why?

It's the fuller cultural context: in this case, the Lamaism or guru devotion of traditional Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. The guru is the source of all of scriptural transmission and realization of the lineage. All devotion thus goes to one's highness. Without this context such an original verse such as this would not have been possible at all.

These four lines of verse are complete and meaningful in the Dharma. They are also exquisite in the standard of "kāvya" poetics. I'll explain a little more about a couple of the poetic devices present within this classical ode.

Metaphor and Metonymy in "Transcreator's Homage"

According to traditional Sanskṛt "kāvya" poetics there should only be one metaphor per couplet or quatrain of verse. Each metaphor should be fully fleshed out so as to illuminate more profoundly the actual subject matter.

The main metaphor here is that of the three-fold vow being characterized as the garments the guru wears.

The three-fold vow:

1. the vow of individual liberation
2. the vow of spiritual heroism
3. the sacred pledge of mantra

The garments the guru wears:

• saffron robes of a monk
• fresh and heavy elephant hide

The vow of individual liberation is represented by the saffron-colored robes of a monk (the clothes that Rinpoche actually wears).

The people who see the guru as peaceful, loving and kind, and all spring and smiles is like seeing flowers such as crocuses. "Spring and crocuses" is metonymy because the anther of the crocus is saffron, the emblematic color of Buddhist monks' robes.

The vow of spiritual heroism is imagined as an elephant hide on a fully awakened buddha in the nature of the rising body of complete resource.

For those who see the guru as most compassionately wrathful, frowning with weapons, and blazing with fire: in this particular vision the elephant hide is shockingly apparent. It's metaphorical of the heavy weight of caring for all beings in this place none other than the deity's pure realm, Blazing Secret Charnel Ground.

In the secret nature of the sacred mantra pledge the guru could be wearing anything; everyone sees him differently. His ability to connect with disciples of all persuasions depends on his unification of all the vows and pledges.

In the context of Vajra Youth this was very fortunately apparent to me, so I spontaneously composed the quatrain of homage above and placed it atop the practice manual he so perfectly teaches.

We could even elaborate on other vivid details of the divine qualities of the guru, but that would require an infinite amount of verses and a much, much longer email.

Suffice it to say: the devotee who sees the guru's true garment is fortunate indeed!