Verses VI & VII

gzur gnas rig par ldan pa des
gzhan gyi yon tan len par byed
spang ljongs gtsang ma'i dal 'gro ma
lhung lhung zer zhing me tog 'thu

ngan pas phyogs mtha' bskor na yang
skyon gyi rigs rnams sdud par byed
ngam grog sa ral can gyi chus
'dam gyi snyigs ma 'dren dang mtshungs

The clean meadow river Deldroma says lhung lhung while gathering flowers, just as those endowed with wisdom, seeking nothing in any direction, receive the virtues of others.

Like water pulling muddy impurities of torn earth from the gorge, so one who is evil collects all kinds of imperfections when seeking the limit in all directions.

Textual Notes:

I have these two verses together because the terms and imagery mirror one another almost perfectly.  Keep in mind that the first verse is passive and the second verse is active.

         Verse VI                               Verse VII
        gzur gnas                       phyogs mtha' bskor
(phyogs res med pa)

These two require some examination.  First, some literal translations: gzur gnas is "abiding at the end," phyogs res med pa (included in a note) is "nothing in any direction," and phyogs mtha' bskor is "wandering to the limits of all directions." 

The note makes clear that the two phyogs are being compared - one which abides, gnas (passive) and one which wanders, bskor (active).  Instead of using two different verbs, I decided to use a positive and negative statement and one verb (to seek) in order to make the juxtaposition more clear in English. 

        Verse VI                    Verse VII
rig par ldan pa des            ngan pas

These are the subjects in both verses.  rig par ldan pa des is literally "by those endowed with wisdom" and ngan pas is "by the one who is evil."  As usual with Tibetan to English translations the subject, implied in Tibetan, needs to be made explicit in English.

       Verse VI                        Verse VII
gzhan gyi yon tan         skyon gyi rigs rnams
virtues of others             all kinds of imperfections

   Verse VI                         Verse VII
len par byed                  sdud par byed

The verbs selected are very telling - len means "to study, receive, accept."  In other words, it has a very passive connotation.  sdud, on the other hand, is much more active and means "to collect, assemble, steal away."  This reflects the not seeking/seeking paradigm already established in the first line: one who is seeking nothing receives the virtues of others, while the one who is seeking the limits collects all kinds of imperfections.

   Verse VI                         Verse VII
spang ljongs                    ngam grog

Now begins the simile and we have two settings: a meadow and a gorge respectively.

Verse VI                      Verse VII
gtsang ma                   sa ral can

The adjectives: just as the subject in the first two lines was first wise then evil, so the subjects in the next two are first clean (gtsang ma) and then imbued with torn earth (sa ral can).

  Verse VI                 Verse VII    
del ‘gro ma                  chus

These are the subjects described by the previous adjectives.  The first is the name of a river and the second is water.  The absence of an agentive sa at the end of del ‘gro ma is very important to the passive/active juxtaposition between the two verses.  When I discuss the verbs below I will point this out again.

Verse VI                          Verse VII
  me tog                      ‘dam gyi snyigs

Flowers, or me tog, symbolize the virtues of others while muddy impurities, or ‘dam gyi snyigs, symbolize all kinds of imperfections.  

Verse VI                 Verse VII
   ‘thu                         ‘dren

Finally the verbs – just as len was a more passive version of sdud, here ‘thu is meant to be a more passive version of ‘dren.  In keeping with this I translate ‘thu as “to gather” instead of “to pick.”  Remember that del ‘gro ma does not have an agentive – that’s because in Tibetan ‘thu is an intransitive verb.  That means it doesn’t need to have an agent.  The sense is that flowers are gathering in the river, NOT that the river is picking flowers. This is an intricacy hard to convey with English; is there a way to integrate that sense gracefully?  I’m open to suggestions.  And ‘dren, like the active sdud, I translate as “to pull.”  Again, “pick” and “pull” would be too synonymous, whereas “gather” hints at that passive interaction which eludes my translating skills at the moment.

Cultural Notes:

In Tibetan, lhung lhung (pronounced “lhoong lhoong”) is an onomatopoeia for the sound of a babbling brook. 

Signing off in Chengdu, Miss A.