rgyun chags brtson pa ma btang bar
bags kyis bsgrubs na ci yang 'grub
chu bo dal gyis 'bab pa yis
yangs pa'i sa chen bskor nas 'gro
What can be accomplished if in gradual practice continuous effort is not applied? Just so, the slowly flowing river proceeds having covered vast, great grounds.
Textual Notes:
chu bo dal kyis 'bab pa is the Tibetan name for the river Ganges, and it literally means "flowing slowly." I translate it directly because the descriptive quality of the name is what gives it meaning in the metaphor.
sa chen has both a literal and a symbolic meaning. It is literally great ground, and together with yangs pa - vast - it is illustrative of long distances. In religious contexts, sa chen means "high level of spirituality," and this is the symbolic meaning which is nearly lost in translation. Using the word "ground" in English is suggestive of the spiritual grounds which one can achieve through meditation, but this particular terminology is not as obvious a play on words as it is in Tibetan.
Cultural Notes:
Spiritual grounds are the levels reached through mediation and practice. In Sanskrit, these are referred to as bhumis. Traditionally there are 10 bhumis, but in different schools of Tibetan Buddhism there can be many more. To listen to a lecture series by Gyume Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin about grounds and paths, visit this website: http://www.thubtenchodron.org/OtherArticlesAudio/paths_and_grounds_of_the_bodhisattva.htm
Signing off in San Francisco, Miss A.
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