9. A Treatise on Wind362
Kyilsur Losang Jinpa
Oṃ! May happiness and well-being prevail!
1 I praise the wind of faith that stirs
the wish-granting tree—the Buddha—
whose loving compassion provides cool shade
equally and always to all embodied beings in the world.
2 To accomplish the two goals, I will let loose
the winds of the ethics of the two norms,
the means by which the two buddha bodies are actualized,
the state where the two accumulations are perfected.
3 Wise sayings perfectly phrased with good intent
are parables that appeal to others’ minds.
Similarly, a breeze wafting over lotus groves
diffuses sweet scents that satisfy the olfactory sense.
4 Cultivate perceiving the positive and be a good friend
in order to be in harmony with all beings.
The moisture-laden chariot of the wind
is a pleasure the world over.
5 Whatever occurs—joy or sorrow, good or bad—
is the result of previously accumulated karma.
Mountains and surrounding lands gradually form
from amid water churned by the wind.
6 A great goal that is ultimately beneficial
can be achieved by patience and perseverance.
A wind blowing for thousands of years
makes the earth into a wind mandala.
7 It is better to shun negative actions
that do not benefit yourself or others.
During the snowstorms of winter
there is no point in planting seeds. [352]
8 No matter what activity you plan to engage in,
analyze whether success is possible or not.
When you plan to separate wheat from chaff,
do so after determining whether it will be windy.
9 If you supplicate and venerate the Three Jewels,
whatever you undertake will turn out as you wish.
The wind in autumn separates wheat from chaff,
accomplishing the goal desired by farmers.
10 Even though words have no weapons
they can slice a man’s heart into pieces.
Even though the wind has no wings
our elders say that it flies through the sky.
11 Therefore renounce harsh words
and speak gentle words with a smile.
Please everyone—high, low, and in between—
but do not reveal your thoughts.
12 Do not disparage others, thinking,
“I doubt that they will hear this.”
Those who care about us tell us,
“Talk is like a feather carried by the wind.”
13 Talking about the faults of others
is the cause for your own ruin.
You can see that you will burn your face
by blowing outward across a fire.
14 Under the sway of these degenerate times
gentle, disciplined folk live among the coarse.
You can see that an evil wind carries off
soft cotton fluff amid clouds of dust.
15 The wicked crowd in and bring disaster
in the middle of those who act ethically.
After an evil wind enters through cracks in a wall
you can see how camphor is ruined.
16 When the low rely on noble people,
they are conveyed wherever they wish.
Similarly, scents carried on a fine breeze
spread to places far away. [353]
17 When an evil person obtains wealth
he displays various manners to others.
The honking of cranes is a bad omen
signaling the rise of a terrible wind.
18 No matter how much a noble person is praised
he does not develop the slightest degree of pride.
No matter how much the wind blows
the great ocean never vacillates.
19 A bad person’s pride rises higher than Mount Meru
from the slightest bit of praise.
You can see that wind blowing over a desert plain
swirls up more dust there than elsewhere.
20 Even if the wise are brought low
can they ever cast off their true nature?
The color of a gold nugget will not change
even if it is melted in a fire pumped with air.
21 A minor criticism makes unintelligent people
suffer much more than others.
A candle placed out on an open plain
will be extinguished by a slight breeze.
22 Those with faith proclaim the good qualities
of noble beings among the masses.
The aromatic scent of white sandalwood
is spread near and far by the wind.
23 Most people in these degenerate times
are very hostile toward spiritual practitioners.
It is said that winds blowing from every direction
are inimical to white prayer flags.
24 Those who are studious and absorbed in practice
are wise and live in peace and moderation.
A pleasant breeze that is always cool
eases the misery of heat.
25 Those with intellectual ambition but no learning
have mental continuums even harder than a horn.
Everyone says that the wind from a cloudless sky
is more piercing than an arrow. [354]
26 Not studying when you are a student
but wanting expertise later is laughable.
There is no point in hoping for seasonal rain
from rain clouds dispersed by the winds.
27 What is the point if, no matter how much you study,
there is no improvement to your mind?
The wind always flutters a cloth curtain,
but you see that it never goes anywhere.
28 Even if you seek only happiness and wealth in this life,
if you practice the Dharma you will get them straightaway.
Similarly, wind that brings forth the rains
fulfills the farmer’s wishes.
29 Even if you try, it is difficult to attain perfection
through a variety of meaningless actions.
Similarly, the wind pushes water into ripples,
forming and breaking them up over and over again.
30 Wealth and majesty adorn rulers;
teaching and composition adorn scholars;
strength, weapons, and armor adorn heroes;
wind and rain clouds are cooling adornments.
31 Just as most people refer to a last will and testament
as an example of something set forth on the wind,
I write this with purest intentions
to benefit those with clear minds.
32 Having finished a brief explication of advice
regarding the norms of worldly conduct,
now I will write a little about the system
that comes from the divine holy Dharma.
33 By engaging in proper, well-bred behavior,
you may obtain wealth and happiness in this life,
but seeing that their nature is unstable as the wind,
apply yourself to study, contemplation, and meditation.
34 The vehicles borne by the wind come from the activities
of the three secrets of the guru363 who reveals the path.
He teaches so that others may obtain the ultimate harvest,
but there are many who perceive it as faulty. [355]
35 The noble ones transform others’ minds with skillful means
when they exhort them to practice the Dharma.
When driven by the wind even inanimate trees
make various movements of dance.
36 The devout will speak publicly amid crowds
about their teacher’s good qualities.
The sweet fragrance of lovely trees
is spread in ten directions by the wind.
37 It is said that a human life is as difficult to obtain
as it is for a tortoise to put its neck
through the hole of a yoke tossed about on the ocean
by winds that come from every direction.364
38 Therefore using this boat—a human life of leisure and fortune
adorned by the white banner of practice
and propelled by the wind of perseverance—
you should cross over the ocean of cyclic existence.
39 The supreme ārya Nāgārjuna said that
this fortunate life, a platform found just once,
is just like a butter lamp in a gale,
in that it is very easily destroyed.365
40 Like banks of clouds torn apart by the wind,
when we die we will leave behind
all our wealth, possessions, vehicles, and so on.
Then nothing but the holy Dharma can truly help.
41 Once you die you have no control
over where you will be born and where you will go.
You are carried by the winds of karma
to upper or lower realms: it is the same either way.
42 If you are born in the lower realms,
the suffering is having your body carved up into bits
by different types of blazing hot weapons and so forth.
It is like being a parrot overwhelmed by a gale.
43 To become free from that grave danger
you must seek refuge in the Three Jewels.
When a huge forest is engulfed in flames
stoppage of the wind is needed for help. [356]
44 Whatever pleasure and misery there may be
arises from having engaged in good or bad actions.
The wind mandala of the hard and solid earth
comes from the collective karma of living beings.
45 Because even a small virtue or nonvirtue
will yield a result of great joy or sorrow,
the powerful wind of devoted faith
rouses us to avoid evil and practice virtue.
46 The blazing flames of four powers366
whipped up by the winds of perseverance
burn the entire forest of downfalls and sins
accumulated from beginningless time until now.
47 Even if your riches in this life
rival the treasures of Vaiśravaṇa,
they have absolutely nothing at their core;
they are like the wind’s victory banners.
48 The wise say sensual objects are poison
and the realms of cyclic existence
are like a pit of poisonous snakes
who eat the wind for food.
49 In the sky of the conceptual mind
dense clouds of desire and craving abound.
If a corrective wind does not destroy them
there is no way to freedom from samsara’s fortress.
50 Therefore enter the grove of liberation
where wish-fulfilling trees are heavily laden
with the fruit of the three trainings
and are unshaken by the winds of desire for fame.
51 Firmly establish the root of the great vehicle
by having compassion for all mother sentient beings.
The stirring of gentle breezes
forms the wind mandala that supports the world.
52 Then, after casting away selfishness,
whatever you do will be for the sake of others.
The song of the Dharma is proclaimed
by breezes stirring the trees. [357]
53 Be courageous and lift to your shoulders
the huge load of bodhisattva practices.
Hundreds of millions of samsaric realms
are supported by one great wind mandala.
54 When joined with Mahayana aspiration,
your roots of virtue will increase limitlessly.
All the winds of space, on earth, and in between
increase without having any intention at all.
55 Generosity can attract all people:
the high, the low, and those in between.
The fame of someone constantly striving to be generous
spreads in all ten directions like the wind.
56 If you were to summarize all the bodhisattva practices
they would fall into the three precious ethical disciplines.367
Whatever has the nature of lightness and movement
is categorized as the element of air.
57 All the beings of the three realms may arise as your enemies,
but they will become friendly if you cultivate patience.
When the winds rise up to battle against a fire,
all the gusts come to be in aid of the fire.
58 When the great fire of perseverance blazes
owing to the strong wind of constant application,
the spreading light of perfect wisdom
consumes every bit of the fuel of laziness.
59 Clear and stable concentration will be achieved
when you are undisturbed by the winds of laxity and excitement.
Similarly, the moon is reflected on a clear lake
that is unruffled by winds from any direction.
60 You will continue to experience suffering in samsara
for as long as you do not stop self-grasping.
Similarly, your life force continues
until you stop breathing.
61 The sharp blade of the realization of selflessness
severs the roots of hundreds of faults.
It is like the fierce gales at the end of an eon
that destroy everything in this world. [358]
62 Then, if after entering the door of secret mantra
you hold as fundamental the protection of your vows,
with a pace as fast as the wind
you will quickly attain the state of union.
63 In order to purify grasping at ordinary appearances,
cultivate the pure appearance of divine pride
in the mandalas of inhabitants and their abodes
that are as beautiful as the wind’s victory banners.
64 Through the power of meditation
the wind enters, abides, and dissolves in the central channel.
In the end the extremely subtle wind and mind
arise as the dharmakāya and rūpakāya.
65 Thus this composition of words
exemplifying the characteristics of wind
was produced as a result of seeing
Gungthang’s Treatise on Water.
66 By churning the great ocean of that treatise of most learned
Könchok Tenpai Drönmé with the winds of critical intelligence,
and through the power of my past merits, I have found this treatise,
which sets forth every stage from the civilized worldly conduct to union.
67 From the power of the merit of endeavoring in this way,
may the advice on the two norms be proclaimed
throughout the entire world, spreading it like the wind,
and may everyone be able to follow these norms.
Having seen with my own eyes the Treatise on Water composed by Gungthang Könchok Tenpai Drönmé, and having heard that there are treatises on earth and fire composed by the precious teacher Namgyal Söpa,368 I thought that if there were to be a treatise on wind in addition to these there would be a treatise on each of the four elements. For this reason I, the monk Losang Jinpa, the abbot of Kyilkhang College of Tashilhunpo Monastery, was motivated to write this Treatise on Wind: Wise Sayings That Flutter the Flag of the Two Norms, with the hope that it might give pleasure to those with intelligence and increase their desire to engage in practice by means of studying and contemplating these treatises. For whatever mistakes and errors may exist in this work, I seek the forbearance of the learned masters.