By Alex Swanson

In October 2010 I traveled to India with my wife Lindy (Star) to attend a Samantabhadra Aspirations Monlam prayer festival at Bodhgaya being held by Dzongzar Khyentse RInpoche. We stayed on in Bodhgaya after it finished, for another ten days before traveling to Varanasi.

On the day before leaving for Varanasi I went with a friend on pilgrimage to Vulture Peak, the place where the Buddha taught the Prajna Paramita Sutras as I wished to recite the Heart Sutra there. On our way home we also visited Nalanda University and finally returned to Bodhgaya in time to eat our evening meal at the Shechen Monastery restaurant, (the spinach and cheese pastries are highly recommended). While sitting at the restaurant a friend mentioned they were going for a walk with a young Rinpoche and asked if a few of us would like to join. I eagerly took the opportunity and went with them.  First we walked up to the Mahabodhi stupa and then made circumambulation (kora) together with Dudjom Yangsi Rinpoche.

It turned out that Rinpoche and I were both there to complete 100,000 prostrations, and so I asked if I may join him. He was very supportive and encouraging and from the next day we began prostrating next to one another.  Later after Star and I had completed our pilgrimage to Varanasi, she went returned to Australia, and I went back to Bodhgaya and started prostrating.

The sessions consisted of one from 4 to 9am and another from 3 to 6 pm. During the morning session I would sit and drink tea with Rinpoche, his teacher and two attendants. We would sit and chat and exchange English and Tibetan lessons.

One day Rinpoche suggested we should write a rap song together about prostrating. We played around with a few ideas over the next two weeks but did not think much of it.

One day Rinpoche mentioned it again and while I walked home I started to compose a song, and wrote down the lyrics over breakfast porridge when I arrived home after the morning session. This resulted in more than half of the song’s lyrics. Two days later we got together and recorded the first part of the song.  It was a fun productive time.

A week later I dreamt of Rinpoche, where he told me we would finish the rap in two days time. The next day I related to him the dream?

The following day we were rained off the prostration boards and so together wrote the rest of the lyrics and recorded and finished the whole rap song. I was amazed? that within 30 mins of completing the rap I started to feel quite sick, becoming bed ridden for about 5 days with a gastric bug.

Anyway, the result is an audio recording of the song attached here, along with the lyrics. We both hoped it would inspire others in their practice, specifically in their prostrations. The song is funny? and light hearted. I hope you enjoy it.

I would particularly like to thank Rinpoche for his inspiration, collaboration and especially his Blessing!

Dudjom Rinpoche & Alex photo: Alex Swanson

Click here to hear the O Guru Rap

and follow the lyrics!

O Guru Rap Lyrics

As I wake up in the morning

Exhaustion exposes me

To my insanity and insecurities

I do not know where I am going or what I need to do

All I know is that I’ll do my best to follow my Guru

So I get out of my bed

I use my hands they’re sore

I try to bend my knees but the skin on them’s too raw

The muscles in my arms are aching even more

And those in my legs are so sore it’s a chore

To even walk out of my room let alone down those stairs

That will lead me to the path that will get me there

I get up and leave my house

The dogs are chasing me

I walk swiftly down the path

To the Maha Bodhi

Lying down on my board

I slide forward in prayer

With all other sentient beings

We prostrate with great care

The refuge tree is here

And the guardians too

I think deeply of you and I pray to you too

O Guru O Guru

Enlighten me and all sentient beings too

O Guru O Guru

I do not want samsara or nirvana, unite the two

O Guru O Guru

I offer myself and my obstacles too

O Guru O Guru

I pray to you now until my face is blue

Being blessed with this life

Being healthy and strong

Yet understanding that this life

is not destined to last long

My past actions are flaws

And they result in the cause

Of unbelievable pain

As all phenomena change

I read in my text that I am going to hell

I’ll be reborn as a pig or my belly will swell

My neck will be too small to eat anything

And all there’ll be to do is more suffering

And so whatever it takes

Or even if my back breaks

Or my limbs no longer bend

I’ll put my faith in a friend

To take me beyond all words

With mind pervading all worlds

Manifesting wherever

Any dualism occurs

O Guru O Guru

Enlighten me and all sentient beings too

O Guru O Guru

I do not want samsara or nirvana, unite the two

O Guru O Guru

I offer myself and my obstacles too

O Guru O Guru

I pray to you now until my face is blue

One day of prostrations later

I’m feeling healthy and strong

I’ve purified some obstacles

Including smoking the bong

My mind is moving in time

It is beginning to shine

And this allows me to see

The truth of insanity

It is full of delusion

Manifesting illusion

But now I have a solution

Providing deep realization

Buddha’s infinite wisdom

And all pervading compassion

Enlightenment beyond suffering

Is the source of all things

O Guru O Guru

Enlighten me and all sentient beings too

O Guru O Guru

I do not want samsara or nirvana, unite the two

O Guru O Guru

I offer myself and my obstacles too

O Guru O Guru

I pray to you now until my face is blue

May the great revolutionary banner

May the great revolutionary banner

Blow in the wind of peace,

May it blow in the wind of karma.

May it blow in the wind of fearlessness.

One’s own mind is revolutionized:

There is no need to conquer others.

Like the warriors of ancient times

Going to war by imperial command,

Like seasoned masters of the martial arts,

We will destroy the fortress of erroneous thinking.

We will no longer tolerate the confused way of life

Controlled by the imperial forces of materialism,

Since these forces may snatch away

The freedom of human dignity.

One must first give up the ego

And enter the war with one’s mind.

That is the first step to freedom.

But we will never be free

By following the voice of desire.

Liberation is only gained

By treading the path of what is.

September 1968

Bhutan

Message from Taksang photo Pawo Choyning Dorji

By Zeljka Jovanovic

The oldest one within me is the little girl
covered with layers of life
now already a bit wrinkled

The outer, visible skin
although the last one that appeared
is the newest, the freshest.
I am repeatedly surprised to see her in the mirror

I see them all
They all become beautiful through love

The Sleeping Beauty

awaits a wake up call
meanwhile
sitting quietly, doing nothing.

Oh, I thought I stopped writing poems
Oh I thought the well had dried up!
But one little message from “Gentle Voice Dateless and Desperate”
gently reminded me
saying
“Next issue of GV… if you wish… short amusing bio…”
and so words were formed:

Sonam Palden

Varanasi

After passing a procession of dead bodies in bustling traffic at the market , a friend and I entered the ghat in Varanasi, and were thronged by people selling lamps and flowers for offering, caged birds and fish for releasing. Everything seemed to happen all at once and in no time, we were sitting on a wobbly boat on the river Ganges with the vendors carrying buckets of fish and pigeons still wrung by their neck. The Ganges stood still, almost colourless in the afternoon light and the dipping sound of the oars in the water seemed to hark of another existence, much more raw and agile, and so the title “Breathing Ganges”.

Breathing Ganges photo Sonam Palden

Infinite diamond of wisdom
Your faces are as infinite as facets
Illusory as moons, reflected across an ocean of love.

Words only reveal a fraction of you
Broken fractals, which when complete
No one can draw or speak.

You always share
Yet there’s never a missing piece
The puzzle’s always complete.

Yvonne Gold, July 2010