Heartspoon ~Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
A wonderful prayer to do daily to help us remember reality. Anything by Kyabje Pabongka would be tremendously beneficial. He never existed for himself but only for others..How fortunate we are to even hear his holy name… MAY GOODNESS AND VIRTUE FLOURISH!
Tsem Rinpoche
HEARTSPOON
Ah, the hurt!
Kind Lama, look to this pitiful one—
How I behave and how I’ve cheated myself my entire life.
Please, look upon this mindless one with compassion.
The essential advice to give yourself—Heart-Spoon—
Keep it deep within your heart.
Don’t be distracted; don’t be distracted!
Reflect upon the state of your life from the essential drop at your heart.
Since beginningless cyclic existence, which hasn’t ended up to now,
Though you’ve experienced countless cycles of rebirths—
Just so many variations on happiness and pain—
You’ve achieved not the slightest of benefit from them.
And though at present you’ve attained leisure and fortune so difficult to find,
Always till now, they’ve finished and been lost, have been empty and without meaning.
Now, if you care about yourself,
The time has come to practice the essence of future happiness— virtuous actions.
You appear so capable, smart, and clever, but you’re a fool
As long as you cling to the child’s play of the appearances of this life.
Suddenly you’re overwhelmed by the fearful Lord of Death
And, without hope or means to endure, there’s nothing you can do.
— This is going to happen to you!
Because you think, “I’m not going to die for some time, I’m not going to die for some time,”
While you’re distracted by the never-ending activities of this life,
Suddenly the fearful Lord of Death arrives,
Announcing, “Now it’s time to die.”
— This is going to happen to you!
Though you make arrangements, saying “tomorrow” and “tomorrow,”
Just then, suddenly, you have to go.
— This is going to happen to you!
And without choice, leaving behind in disarray
Your left-off work, left food and drink, you have to depart.
— This is going to happen to you!
There’s no time other than today to spread [your bedding] and go off to sleep;
Upon your last bed you fall like an old tree,
And others, unable to turn you with their [lily]-soft hands,
Tug at your clothes and blanket.
— This is going to happen to you!
Even if you completely wrap [your body] in last under and outer clothes,
Still you have no freedom to wear them other than just today,
And when [that body] becomes as rigid as earth and stone,
You behold for the first time your own corpse.
— This is going to happen to you!
Though you struggle to speak your last words,
Your will and expressions of sorrow,
Pitifully your tongue dries up, and you can’t make yourself clear—
An intense sadness overwhelms you.
— This is going to happen to you!
Though others put your final food, holy substances, and relics
With a trickle of water into your mouth,
You’re unable to swallow even a single drop,
And it overflows from the corpse’s mouth.
— This is going to happen to you!
Though surrounded by a circle of close relatives, heart-friends, and those near to your heart,
And even though they’re loving and distressed at the ending of your being together,
While crying and clinging,
Just then, you have to separate forever.
— This is going to happen to you!
Though you [experience] horrific hallucinations like a turbulence of waves
And are overcome by unbearable, excruciating pain,
Pitiful though you may be, there’s nothing to be done;
The appearances of this life are setting [like the sun].
— This is going to happen to you!
Though with unbearable compassion your lama and vajra-friends
Plead in your ear for a critical virtuous thought to arise,
And even though they do so with loving minds,
There’s no hope; it’s unthinkable.
— This is going to happen to you!
With an [expelled rasping] sound, “sor…sor…,” [at the time of death]
The movement of your breath builds faster and faster,
Then breaks like the string of a violin
And the end of your life has come to its close.
—This is going to happen to you!
There’ll come a time when your cherished and sadly lost lovely body
Is called “corpse”—disgusting and rotten,
And a time when your body, which can’t bear even rough bedding and mattress,
Is laid out on bare ground.
— This is going to happen to you!
There’ll come a time when your body, which can’t bear even a thorn,
Is chopped to pieces and [from the bone] its flesh is torn,
And a time when your body, which can’t stand even fleas and lice,
Is devoured by birds and dogs till nothing’s left.
— This is going to happen to you!
Though you [go to so much trouble blowing] “pur…pur…,” in dressing your body in the finest of clothes,
There’ll come a time when that body is placed within a burning house,
And your body, which can’t tolerate even the fire of [a glowing stick of] incense,
Must be burned in the midst of a fiery conflagration.
— This is going to happen to you!
There’ll come a time when, entering into roaring flames, all your flesh and bones are burned
And [reduced to] a pile of ash;
Or a time when your body, which can’t bear even heavy cloth,
Is wedged tight in a hole in the ground.
— This is going to happen to you!
There’ll come a time of the announcing, “the deceased, _______, him- or herself,”
At the beginning and end of your sweet name.
— This is going to happen to you!
And a time when the area is filled with the sobbing sounds
Of your affectionate, close companions and circle of servants.
— This is going to happen to you!
There’ll come a time when your clothes, hats, possessions, and livestock will be divided up
With nothing left in the four directions and corners,
And there’ll come a time when, in total despair, alone,
You reach the passage to the intermediate state.
— This is going to happen to you!
The terrors of the four fearful enemies descending upon you are going to come:
The appearance of being trapped under a mountain of packed rock and rubble,
And buried beneath a furious avalanche of earth— what to do?
The appearance of being set adrift on the surface of a vast sea
And carried away by violent, swirling waves—what to do?
The experience of your heart and ears being split open
By the sizzling and crackling sounds of a fiery conflagration— what to do?
The fearful experience of being enveloped and swept away
By the swirling dark winds of the end of an eon— what to do?
When you’re driven by the powerful red winds of karma
And swallowed up by a terrifying darkness—what to do?
When you’re bound with a lasso by the messengers of Yama
And, in total despair, are led away—what to do?
When you’re tortured in so many detestable ways
By ox- and scorpion-headed karmic agents—what to do?
When you’re before the Yama king, the Lord of Death,
As he weighs up the whites and blacks—your virtuous and non-virtuous actions—what to do?
When Yama exposes your lie of having spent
Your human life in attachment, hatred, and deceit— what to do?
When at Yama’s court the punishment that is the ripening effect
Of your negative actions [is meted out]—what to do?
When your naked body is stretched out on the glowing red-hot iron
ground in the fires of hell—what to do?
Though your body is cut to pieces by a rain of weapons,
Still you must experience it without dying—what to do?
Though you’re cooked in molten iron until your flesh falls away and your bones disintegrate,
Still you must experience it without dying—what to do?
Though your body and fire burn inseparably,
Sti
ll you must experience it without dying—what to do?
When your body is pierced by a freezing cold wind
And cracks into a hundred thousand pieces—what to do?
Having fallen into the miserable state of a hungry ghost with its hunger and thirst,
You have to starve for many years—what to do?
When you’ve become one of those stupid, dumb, unfortunate animals
That eat each other alive—what to do?
When the unbearable sufferings of the evil-gone realms
Have actually befallen you—what to do?
Now! Don’t be distracted! [With the sounds of hurrying] “la…ur…la…ur…,”
Right this moment is the time to steel your will.
It’s not only time—it’s almost too late.
Right now! Right now! “La…ur…la…ur…,” [apply yourself with] great force!
Holy precept of the lama, kind father;
Heart of the authoritative scriptures of the Victorious Losang;
Practice of the pure path of complete sutra and tantra;
It’s time to place real experience upon your mindstream.
Who’s the faster:
Yama, the Lord of Death,
Or you in your practice of realizing the essence of your eternal dream—
The welfare of both yourself and others—as much as you can each day?
Unifying the three doors [of your body, speech, and mind,
Put the whole of your effort into your practice.
COLOPHON
In response to a request in the past from Ngawang Nyandrag, who singlepointedly dedicated his life to practice, and a recent request from the manager of the Potala, Pelshi Kunngo Sönam Kunga, I was persuaded [to compose] for myself and all others “Heart-Spoon: Encouragement through Recollecting Impermanence”. I, with the incarnation name of Pabongka, wrote this text at Tashi Dechen Monastery at Drula in the district of Kong.
[It was translated into English from Tibetan by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Gelong Jampa Gendun at Chenrezig Institute on the auspicious occasion of its twentieth anniversary, September 1994.
Whatever merit may have been accumulated through the translation of these profound holy vajra-words of Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo—Heruka in human form—may they immediately and completely fulfill all his vast and profound wishes. And may anyone who touches this text, sees, hears, recalls, or practices it receive the blessings of holy Pabongka upon their mindstream and may they and all other sentient beings have the realization of impermanence in terms of death—the basis of the Lesser, Perfection, and Vajra Vehicles—and, quickly actualizing bodhicitta, may they all swiftly reach buddhahood.]
There is a famous story of how Heruka actually appeared to Pabongka when he visited Cimburi in Tibet, where there is an image of Heruka. This is where the Blood drinker’s mountains are and this name refers to Heruka – Drinker of Blood. Apparently, Pabongka went to this place three times during his lifetime. When he first went there, this image spoke to him, opened its mouth and a tremendous amount of nectar came out. Pabongka collected the nectar from the mouth of Heruka while in the presence of sixty or seventy people. This nectar was then made into nectar pills. The Gelugpa’s current nectar pills originate from there. It is also stated that this very same cave in Cimburi where Pabongka received the nectar from the Heruka image was the place where Heruka promised him the following: “From now on, for the next seven generations, whoever practices my teaching, I will protect and help.”
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A wonderful prayer by H H Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche to help us remember reality . Just to read and hear the Holy name of this great Master is a blessing. We are indeed fortunate even hearing his holy name , all thanks to our Lama sharing articles of a great Master. Kyabje Pabongka was a Gelug lama of the modern era of Tibetan Buddhism who brought Dharma to the West.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing this timely advice to make use our time wisely in learning and practicing Dharma.
Heartspoon sounds something like the famous book Chicken Soup for the Soul. Very inspiring, nourishing and profound. Love this very meaningful poetry below. What i aim to do since day one i came to Kechara is to be an online entrepreneur . Make lots of money and be Rinpoche’s main sponsor for Kechara. And I’m still setting my goal on this. Hope to be able to achieve it in 1-2 years time. Hope my wish will come true to do this virtuous deed.
“And though at present you’ve attained leisure and fortune so difficult to find,
Always till now, they’ve finished and been lost, have been empty and without meaning.
Now, if you care about yourself,
The time has come to practice the essence of future happiness— virtuous actions.”
Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for this profound sharing from Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche 🙏😍👍
Beautiful poem of reality and at the moment of death by Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche. Cherished the wonderful moments , meaningful hours working towards Dharma and for others. Life is short and impermanent, we only live once and nothing is permanent. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing of birth and death. Everything is changeable, everything appears and disappears. There is no blissful peace until one passes beyond the agony of life and death. Sometimes later becomes never, start now its never been late if we put in much effort. Good things never come from comfort zones we have to work it up. Always think what is not done and not what was done, working to benefit other will be great joy.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing …….meaningful beautiful poem for us to keep reminding
ourselves. You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth becomes a matter of life and death to you. Death is uncertain for sure and is the destination we all share, no one has ever escaped it.
A poem that pierce through the heart of truth. ?
Having the thought of “Tomorrow” and not meditating on how we are going to die, the process and the transmigration of our mind to another unfortunate realms are the cause for our misery. My misery …
This is a beautiful poem of reality and death. I especially love “Who’s the faster -Yama, the Lord of Death, Or you in your practice of realizing the essence of your eternal dream”. No matter the religion you may be in, many will always think they have time to practice. This such deeply rooted false sense of comfort lulls us into remaining in our comfort zone. The stark reality is Lord Yama is always there, waiting and once your karma ripens, he is ever ready to bring you to his realm. With the conditions of today’s world, one never has enough time to practice as we will never be able to match the intensity as practiced by practitioners of the pass. Too much distractions and karma playing happily to create more. When we think we are ready, its probably time to go as karma knows your time is up and releases it’s hold.
Rinpoche always compassionately pushes us to practice knowing how little time we have and yet why are we still strongly bonded to our comfort zones? I shudder and despair at how deeply my ignorance/attachment is when I think of how far I am still, even with a Guru of such enlightened state of Wisdom and Compassion reaching out desperately to pull me away from Samsara. Time is extremely short and as our Guru said “Love yourself a little”. In realisation it is the true love for yourself and most of all for others. Thank you Rinpoche _()_
you have to get in islam if you want to get life after death
We have endless things to do everyday. We always plan for the future, assuming that we will live for many more years. Yet, death will come at anytime.
This is so scary. Death can arrive at anytime to us. Whatever that is imaginable for us now will come true, it is just a matter of time. We will be determined by our own karma.
Thank you Rinpche for composing and sharing this poem with us. This will strike us hard and remind us constantly and powerfully the value of dharma practices.
Death comes anytime, it does not have to make an appointment with us. Live life to the fullest, not for ourselves only, but for others.
Shattering. If I only were good enough in my Dharmic practice to inspire everyone around me to start practicing Dharma themselves early enough and you to have a very long life dearest precious friend so you can go on doing your wonderful work for long. Love.
I love it. I love it. I love it. I have made it a daily sadhana – to recite the poem on daily basis in front of a picture of Vajrayogini in my laptop.
Our death is only one breath away. As soon as we stop breathing, we die. As soon as our heart stop beating, we die.
How ready are we in facing death and after death? Only good and bad karma follows us after death. Nothing more, nothing less.
This has undoubtedly become my all time favourite poem!
It isn’t just a poem with pretty words and metaphors – it is deeply profound, rich in meaning and is a teaching in itself. How else can we come to understand and value life when we do not understand death?
Now I know that I definitely did not understand life or death because I have taken so much for granted and thought that I could get away with it all. I had no regard for Karma because I thought it will all end at death. How foolish I was! Yes, I was a fool to think that I could get waste myself away and not face the consequences.
I no longer wish to waste one life after another. I truly would like to retain everything that I have the good fortune to learn, and take it with me to my next life. I would like to begin my next life with a ‘head-start’. No more time and energy wasted in getting lost and then finding myself. This is the reason I want to go all the way. Hopefully at some point, I will begin to be less of a burden, and more of a benefit to everyone around me – including myself.
Heartspoon is beautiful, moving and precious. It is indeed the spoon that scoops the prized jewel from the heart for us to ‘digest’. As Pabongka wrote it with his heart to benefit others, Rinpoche has shared this from his heart to benefit us all.
We are truly well loved by so many great Masters. It is time to act and practice with all our might and heart. Thank you so deeply, Rinpoche.
BTW – Thank you so much, Wai Meng, for finding the meaning of Heart Spoon! You have relieved me so much. I have been searching the depths of my mind to recall the meaning. I know I read it somewhere before, but I just could not remember where and how. Now, you have given me that piece of info and I am so happy to know that it was as I remembered it to be. THANK YOU.
It is going to happen to me!!! Ego and self-cherishing have made me believe that I am invincible. I witness bad things happen to others and say “poor them”. I ignorantly and arrogantly forget that the same or worst could happen to me. When it does happen, there is nothing to do about it but bear the consequence of karma acceptingly to avoid creating more negative karma through negative reactions of body, speech and mind.
Each paragraph describes the sensation of death so vividly it is frightening. It is so frightening because it IS going to happen to me. However, whether I read Heartspoon by Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche or not, death will arrive and consume the being that I am this life. Therefore, reading each fear-provoking sentence is actually a blessing to return to the path I and all human beings are meant to choose: virtuous action.
After receiving so much from the Dharma, Tsem Rinpoche, Kechara House and this blog, I would like to contribute this thought: There are so many distractions that are becoming increasingly more aggressive and persuasive. Being near Kechara House and Dharma sisters & brothers is a great blessing, which can be easily taken for granted. Please never stray and always be grateful because you are with a great Master and friends who bring you closer to the Dharma and a better rebirth!
Dark, vivid, scary. I have read this 3 times and each time, the images criss cross in my mind. Death is certain, whats uncertain is time of death. Life is finite, and we can die anytime. If we are not prepared, does it matter if its sudden death or death from illness? We come into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing (leaving our affairs in disarray?”) so no amount of planning can help us. Even our kind Lama and Dharma friends cannot help us if we have not practiced. The only thing thing that can help us is if we practice sincerely and are prepared for death so that we can bring the positive imprints with us (“Since beginningless cyclic existence, which hasn’t ended up to now,Though you’ve experienced countless cycles of rebirths, Always till now, they’ve finished and been lost, have been empty and without meaning. Now, if you care about yourself, The time has come to practice the essence of future happiness— virtuous actions”) For no amount of smartness achieved in this life can win over Lord Yama. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this with us and for your infinite kindess.
Thankyou Rinpoche…i have got to keep reminding myself of this..its so easy to be very complacent..thankyou very much! Much respect and gratitude, andrew
It would be difficult not to be impacted by Pabongka’s reflections here.Every word of it.
I find his contemplation on death a wake up call for anybody,it ignites the fear in us to want to do something about it.The warning is that real.
The message is that if we are in the lower realms,we will continue to suffer excruciating pain WITHOUT DYING.Its not about just dying one time as an end all.
Then comes the question Pabongka took out of our mouth – What to do? We really don’t know right now, like sheep heading for slaughter.So this is basis for us to seek Refuge in the 3 jewels , because only they can help us.
Another warning is that we should act now , learn Buddha’s methods now because its almost too late. That’s another powerful wake up call.Kyabje Pabongka truly lives the dharma and karma.
I found this explanation online
‘What is a heart-spoon? When you’re eating, you use a small spoon to extract the very best portion of the food in front of you. Similarly, this teaching on impermanence and death by Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo helps you extract the most precious essence from this human life: the ability to secure the happiness of all future lives, liberation from cyclic existence, and enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings’
How many of us actually believe that tomorrow we will not see the sunrise ever again?
Very poetic, moving and powerful reminder that we are not immortal, we will one day feel the blade of Lord Yama severing us from all that we hold dear in this life, our body, possessions and our loved ones etc.
However good we have it now, it can all change, everything changes in one breath. Once the breath ceases we are again subject to the winds of karma, blown to wherever our karma carries us to, lost in the cauldron of suffering. The scenes from the 6 realms are depicted here are extracted from the holy Lam Rim. We can believe it as these were spoken by Buddha Shakyamuni, and why would a Buddha deceive us?
Thank you Rinpoche for reminding us yet again on the impermanance of this life. One of the drawbacks of this life is that we get so caught up in our day to day activities that we forget that we are still in samsara. When the company of friends are good, when the food is good , when the environment is comfortable it’s so easy to forget the sufferings of samsara and the impermanence of the moment. I shall read the poem daily and update all my friends on the effects of doing so a year from now. 🙂
Deeply profound, stark reality, heartfelt advice, scary…these are some words to describe this great poem.
How incredibly befitting of H.H. Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche to compose this in relation to the first chapter of Lamrim: Death.
I am very scared of death, not death itself but where do I go next?
A being in the recess of the ocean deep?
A microbe in a volcano’s centre?
A formless being with narrow throat and big belly
A lion with big mane?
I have no answer hence I trust, believe and follow my Guru’s, H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, advice and instruction to the best of my ability.
The Buddha in the picture looks very similar to the one i have, except mine doesn’t have such a deep base. I got it from a small new-age style shop in Scotland when i was on holiday. I like Scotland, i like the hills, i always feel at home when surrounded by hills and mountains.
The lady in the shop was past retirement age but couldn’t afford to retire, she would work till she dropped. We had a short chat, this was the first Dharma thing i had bought, and she was interested in my motives for buying it.
I guess i don’t want to end up like the lady in the shop, just working till i drop, spending my life as if it was a journey to get over and done, and not the destination that it is.
Heart-spoon poem is an awakening message to me. It reminds me of the impermenance of life and to comtemplate on death. I have been tied down with so many committents to fulfill each day. What and how to face death once Lord Yama calls my name? I pray that I have the conducive conditions to practise dharma in every moment in this life. I don’t want to die unprepared.
How very direct, how vivid this poem is! Eventhough written many years ago, it still strikes a cord in me in a powerful way, it makes me refelct on my own death, but also it makes me reflect on the death of my love ones, of my parents, of the children that I know, of my neighbourgs, even of those people that I don’t necessarily like that much.
Death is a certainty we all share, and all ignore to some degree.
We ignore it so that we can go about our silly, dead-end ways, how silly, how absurd, what a waste for us and all the others we could help if we acted in wise ways…
When I think of all the years that have passed and the many rebirths that I have had, I ask myself why am I still in Samsara, but yet thankful that in this life I am in the human form.
So as asked by Pabongka Rinpoche in this Heart Spoon poem “What to do?” is a great awakening and it is never too late to do something substantial for others and to practise the teachings of the Great Masters.
Practising Buddhist ways is not that hard if we make the choice to do so, especially for me when I am so fortunate to have such a big Dharma family in Kechara to support me. From some I learn what not to do and from some what I need to do.
Death is inevitable, and we must be ready for it. Death is not the end, but rather a beginning and if fortunate enough to come back in a form to once again practise Buddhist ways and eventually to achieve enlightenment.
Live in contribution to make the world a better place of peace and harmony and die with peace.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing with us this great poem from Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche. It is truly amazing and each sentence makes so much sense showing us how impermanent our lives are. Many of us are not aware the cause and effect of karma which follows us like our shadow as it will play a part of how our lives will be in future.
Many do not believe in that reality thus causing them to blame it here and there. But if they realise about the whole cycle, it will truly be something enlightening in their mind.
I myself is slowly inputting this reality into my mind and slowly changing my own mind set to walk a better path. Once one could relate themselves to karma cycle, then they will automatically avoid negative causes because they could understand the cause and effects. If we do learn all this, we will not be fearful towards death even, because we know we are just stopping by in our impermanent body and if we are creating positive karma, we will be going towards a better place and not stuck in this samsara.
Thank you so much Rinpoche. Love this poem a lot. 🙂
Truth be told, as Rinpoche said often enough! This is the truth and yet many will read and think about it, feels the heat for a while and soon forget it and being totally absorbed into the eight worldly pursuits once again. I am no different. Whether it be lack of merits or just being lazy, I really do not wish to have karma biting me on my back-side before it is too late. I think this is also a lack of daily contemplation on the subject. If I am not mistaken, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama meditates many times daily on death and so it is a real shame that I cannot even do 1 a day! It is said by His Holiness:
“When you forget death, there is very little chance of your being inclined toward practice. Without awareness of death, your practice will become slack and ineffective. You will be predominantly occupied with the affairs of this life. There are people who receive vows and recite their prayers daily. But because their awareness of death is weak, they behave like ordinary people in times of crisis, becoming excessively angry, attached, or jealous.
There is a saying in Tibetan: “When you are well fed and enjoying the sunshine, you look like a practitioner. But when faced with a crisis you reveal your true nature.” Everyday experience tells us that most of us are like this.
Without awareness of death, you have the affairs of this life at the center of your heart. And because you are obsessed with wealth, status, and fame, you barely flinch when committing negative actions.
A person who is not concerned about death naturally has no interest in the lives beyond it. Such an individual has no great regard for spiritual values and readily cultivates deluded thoughts and actions. Consequently, such a person is a source of harm to himself and others.
If you forget that you will die, you will think mainly about how to lead a prosperous life. Your most important concern will be to get a good place to stay, good clothes to wear, and good food to eat. You will not hesitate to deceive and threaten others if you get the chance. What is more, you might judge such negative activities as the marks of an efficient and capable person. This is a clear indication that you are not farsighted enough to think about the long future ahead.
We all have many lives to come, which are completely dark to us and about which we have no idea. When you forget these circumstances, you will be inclined to pursue destructive activities.”
“Heartspoon” is clearly a poem on the meditation of “death”. Tsem Rinpoche shared with us the process of imagining how we are going to die in our final moments of life”. We are to do this daily as part of our prayers. We need to think, meditate and contemplate on the process of dying to come to a realization that when we die, nothing physical in this world, including our body matters anymore.
Tsem Rinpoche’s description of the process of dying was so vivid in my mind when he described it. Holding on to grudges with others does not matter anymore when we die. In this age we do need $$ to get us by but do be attached to them. Leisure and possession will have served their purpose for temporary measure but they certainly do not make us happy 24/7 or forever.
Heartspoon ~ a beautiful poem by Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche and a profound teachings on death and impermanence!!!!! that we should meditate and apply in our daily lives. Time is short and death waits for no man and cannot be bribed!!!
“There is no spoon.” –the Matrix
“You perceive the Force, as little as a spoon perceives the taste of food.” –Star Wars
Okay, I’ll bite. Why a spoon? Because this is what Yama will eat us with?
Heart spoon – Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche
I have known Kechara through a very special person that I have came across when I was passing by Damansara Utama, on my way for a presentation. Actually it was “Maria Galland” that caught my attention, as I have been a loyal fan to this product. I pressed the doorbell and a pretty, elegant lady came out and greeted me and that’s how we have became friends until now.
This special friend has introduced and shared with me some of your teachings whenever I was having my “facial moment” or coffee time with her. To be very honest, I am not the typed who is very easy in believing in people, especially when someone wants to talk to me, of all the things… Buddhism!!
I must admit that the sincerity in her, the example showed in her and character in her makes me want to know more about what a true Buddhist is?? And somehow it does change my perceptions on what Buddhism is all about. It is all about the changes within you…
She sometimes even shared with me some of the quotes and short messages from her guru and since then I have been reading some of your books, DVDs, wed site and now your bogs. It is really fascinating when I logged on to your website and blogs as every time I will find something new to learn, sometimes that I feel as though these messages are directly pointing at me as though the Buddha knows exactly how’s I am feeling at that moment. It does somehow makes me slow down a bit and starts to contemplate and reflects on what exactly I have achieved in my last forty years. And what are things that I might have lost or missed or maybe the time that I have wasted.
“Your appear so capable, smart and clever, but you are a fool… That’s exactly how I feel about myself right now. Thank you for sharing this prayer and it will always serves as a constant reminder to myself and I am looking forward to seeing more and more postings from your blog… Thank you very much
JO
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for this beautiful, powerful and evocative poem by Pabongkha Rinpoche.It’s the Lamrim – Liberation in the Palm of your Hand – all over again. Its clarion call to act now to practice the Dharma and gain control of our rebirth is stronger than ever as death can come anytime anywhere.It presents a powerfully graphic and grim picture of what awaits us if we tarry here lured by the pull of samsara, as like a’fool’ we ‘cling to the child’s play of the appearances of this life’.
If we meditate on this poem consistently, the powerful presentation of Death and Yama and the suffering of the three lower realms here must surely propel us to practice and transform.
The sense of helpless regret that the repeated question ‘what to do?’ conjures up is powerful enough to make us want to avoid creating the negative causes for suffering the terrible fate of falling into the three lower realms and motivate us to right action and effort.
‘Heartspoon’ and its lovely lyrical and meaningful words should be committed to memory to serve as a base for daily meaningful meditation.
Thank you, O most compassionate Pabongkha for composing it. Thank you once again, my most precious and kind Lama for presenting it to us here.
Lim Han Nee
Dear Rinpoche, now i know why i name myself – ash. It is a reminder that one day i will become a pile of ash at the end of my life. Whatever worldly achievements, relationships, wealth, status, fame, disappointment, hatred, anger, loneliness etc etc all these will eventually come to an end when i took my last breathe leaving behind everything that i thought i ‘own’ but infact they (worldly achievements, relationships, wealth, status, fame etc) were only temporary T loan to me. I came to this world with NOTHING and like what Rinpoche mentioned, i will have to leave everything behind except black and white karma.
All the disappointment, hatred, anger, loneliness etc etc comes from chasing after samsara existence again and again and will eventually come to an end, it is just it’s nature.
When i read The Heartspoon ~ Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, composed by You, it struck me deep. This is a teaching found in Lamrim – death and impermanence. Rinpoche, thanks for composing this powerful prayers for us, it has lead ash to contemplate more and more. Thanks for Your blessings and sincere prayers for us. Tenzin Thokpa will keep this powerful prayers in my daily sadhana.
With folded hands
Tenzin Thokpa
This is amazingly powerful for the mind. It’s like, from reading this text by Pabongka Rinpoche, I am inspired through and through with renunciation for worldly concerns… It is so wonderful to be able to even read this with my own eyes and be shaken awake by its profound message.
A lot of times it seems like I do things that are bad without taking consequences or karma to heart before taking action. Even if one is not Buddhist, one can STILL benefit from studying and contemplating this urgent message from such an attained master: Sometimes I have felt in my life as though I have suffered through different “hells” as an immediate, direct result of my action.
Thank you Rinpoche. For me, its the firt time i have come across this poem and it is also very timely to be reminded of the Truth therein. In particular the following words are loud wake-up calls:
“And though at present you’ve attained leisure and fortune so difficult to find,
Always till now, they’ve finished and been lost, have been empty and without meaning.
Now, if you care about yourself,
The time has come to practice the essence of future happiness— virtuous actions….You appear so capable, smart, and clever, but you’re a fool. As long as you cling to the child’s play of the appearances of this life…
The welfare of both yourself and others—as much as you can each day?
Unifying the three doors [of your body, speech, and mind,
Put the whole of your effort into your practice…”
I understand now why we need to cultivate real committment and develop a culture of urgency in our learning and practice of Dharma, and in all Kechara’s actvities.
Again, Thank You for your precious teachings.
Dear Rinponche, another beautiful poem heart wrenching / mind piercing teaching. Heartspoon is a vivid reminder for one to stop / pause and lift our head up from our indulgence of daily samsaric activities such as sleep, eat, defecate, search for money, more money and fornicate (think / lust for fornicating more)We should take the time and contemplate on the bigger picture, the macro view… not the micro view (my late pet guinea pig “koopie” can do what we do that everyday…. he’s now fertilizer in my garden)Why are we here? Trapped? Rendered impotent by our animalistic and weak mind. What I think Pabongka Rinpoche’s trying to tell us in Heartspoon is don’t LINGER and START now, no matter how little or small our Dharma practice may be. If we do not start living virtuesly, DEATH may and will eventually take us without a warning whatsoever with a blink of an eye…. we are no more….we are nothing…. just fertilizer. Don’t be discourage, we still can do something about it… and if Death comes and embrace us before we are ready…. at least we have tried and manage to add a some merit that will balance the scales a bit… a very, very good read…
Pabongka Rinpoche’s Heatspoon urge us not to procrastinate or make excuses to Dharma practice for death is just around the corner and may come anytime. When it comes it is too late to do anything. Death waits for no man and is certain. It reminds me to be vigilant and go all the way. How beautiful the poem is!
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for posting Pabongka Rinpoche’s Heartspoon. It is a reminder of the impermanence(Midakpa)of all phenomena and not to waste our precious human life. It is good advice for all of us. Reading this, I realise how important it is to renounce, to let go of all attachments for they will not help us at the time of death. The last verse is particularly poignant. Who is faster? Yama or me in my practice to realise the essence of my eternal dream? This is really scary. The time has come to practice “the essence of future happiness – virtuous actions” and not be distracted anymore.
Last night i dreamt of H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche giving a public teaching IN PENANG – this morning as i read this PRECIOUS teaching, i am so thankful to Rinpoche for offering it in the blog. ‘Kam-siah Che-che’ Rinpochela! Truly H.E. Tsem Tulku, i would liken to a Great Cloud[“mega” in Sanscrit(?)] of Blessing; a cloud, from afar(yet) could shower its goodness on all below it. May Rinpoche ever more enjoy good health and longevity; among all the sparkling ‘GEMS’ of Kechara Family, IN perfect HARMONY; ever showering his “MEGA” BLESSINGS!