A Garland of Advice Urging a Friend Toward the Dharma
Oh, alas! O Dharma-endowed friend of my heart, look out upon this world for a moment and see: Externally, the four elements and the weather are in turmoil; internally, epidemics, famine, and warfare have arisen; and secretly, the terrifying specter of nuclear weapons has stirred. We have reached the very end of this degenerate age, O Ananda.
Now turn your gaze back upon this human life and consider it: In youth, there is the great hardship of study, training, striving, and exertion. In the prime of life, there is the great exhaustion of subduing enemies and caring for loved ones. In old age, there is the great misery of medical treatment and religious rites. At death, there is the great distress of having no certainty whatsoever where one will go. Reflect carefully upon all this, O Ananda.
The population of this world is around seven or eight billion. From the perspective of mere appearance, obtaining a human body may seem easy. Yet a body endowed with the eight freedoms and ten endowments is difficult to obtain when considered through its causes, examples, and numbers. This can also be understood by considering the world's Buddhist population. Take the essence of this freedom and endowment, O Ananda.
Even the achievements of science that reach toward the heavens, and the countless highly skilled physicians of modern medicine, have been unable to discover medicines that can prolong life indefinitely. Thus, no one has escaped the path of death. Since we do not know when this life will end, when death will come, do not make preparations as though you were going to remain here for a long time, O Ananda.
Wherever beings are born among the six classes of existence, the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death never ceases. And once one has been born in the lower realms, there is no doubt that one proceeds from darkness into darkness. Now, while you possess this opportunity conducive to Dharma, reflect upon the defects of samsara, O Ananda.
Beyond this samsara, on the far shore, there are cities of liberation and pure realms. There, there are no epidemics, wars, or famines, nor is there the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death. There are also countless other qualities of abundance that cannot be fully described. Generate the wish to go there, O Ananda.
Although you should rely upon a genuine follower of the Buddha as your own spiritual teacher, now, at this very extreme point of the five degenerations, meeting a truly qualified master endowed with the proper signs is exceedingly difficult. Do not blindly place your faith in those with great names. Rely instead upon a lama free from elaboration, O Ananda.
Kagyu, Nyingma, Sakya, Gelug, and so forth, all four Dharma lineages or schools are teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha. Mahamudra, Dzogchen, Madhyamaka, emptiness, and the teachings they explain are simply different ways of upholding the transmitted teachings of scripture. At this time, when we must accomplish our enduring aim, there is no time to waste. Unite around what is essential, O Ananda.
When you encounter Dharma teachers who speak arrogantly and boastfully, and those who appear learned in scriptural authority and reasoning, first examine whether their conduct is peaceful and disciplined. Then examine whether afflictions remain within their minds. Honor above your head those who are peaceful, disciplined, and free of afflictions. As for the others, abandon them, O Ananda.
With unwavering faith in the Dharma and the lama, and through ethical discipline that puts the Dharma into practice properly, even upon hearing each individual Dharma phrase, tame your own mind. Train in giving according to the Dharma, and in shame and moral conscience. By increasing your discernment in the direction of Dharma, accomplish the seven noble treasures, O Ananda.
Beginning with the merit of the lower perfections, such as generosity, ethical discipline, and patience, without allowing the mind that strives toward awakening to become distracted, if everything you do is brought under the seal of the three supreme principles, the great accumulations of merit and wisdom will swiftly be completed. Apply yourself earnestly and with diligence, O Ananda.
High positions, power, prestige and splendor, magnificent houses, cars, dollars, and so forth, all the wealth that appears to make one rich in the moment cannot be taken with you at death. Therefore, spend whatever you can in the direction of Dharma and virtue. Abandon attachment to wealth, O Ananda.
Phones, electronic devices, accumulating possessions and miscellaneous things; being distracted by reading breaking news and watching entertainment; politics, business dealings, arguments and debates concerning Dharma, and so forth: these are demonic magical displays that steal away your Dharma practice. Although they may appear pleasurable on the surface, they are suffering. Strive solely in the Dharma of liberation, O Ananda.
Since the root of Dharma lies in the mind, when the nature of mind shines forth, that itself is Dharma. Otherwise, even if one's body has entered through the gate of Dharma, putting the Dharma properly into practice is extremely difficult. Therefore, rather than selling your freedom to others, tame your own mind, alone, O Ananda.
The nature of mind is primordially the expanse of luminosity and thigle, the display and dynamic power of the conceptual-free primordial wisdom of Samantabhadra. When examined, it is the basis upon which samsara and nirvana are differentiated. When seen, it is the manifestation of the unobstructed expanse. When recognized, through that very recognition one arrives at the primordial state. Otherwise, you will wander aimlessly through samsara, O Ananda.
Meditate inseparably upon, and pray to, Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa, Rahor Chodrak, the supreme Khenpo Namkar Dondrup, and others, holding them upon the crown of your head. There is no doubt that the supreme and ordinary siddhis will arise. Do not let the six-syllable mantra, the essence of the Dharma, become exhausted or neglected. Be supremely kind to yourself, O Ananda.
That we have met together for even a brief moment in this life is due to the kindness of the gurus of the lineage. As for meeting again in a pure realm in the next life, there are blessings free from uncertainty and doubt. The Dharma, the pith instructions, and dependent origination are unfailing. Generate devotion and confidence in them, O Ananda.
I have not achieved higher education from renowned institutions, yet I am audacious enough to presume to explain things properly to you. I have not been able to arrange elegant words, profound meanings, and beautiful literary ornamentation. Nevertheless, I am a vidyadhara who has received the subsequent empowerment. Therefore, take each and every line of advice I have shared and cherish it within your heart, O Ananda.
Thus, although this garland of advice that I have given you may lack the ornaments that immediately captivate the mind, it is like the dog's tooth given to a devout old woman: there is an auspicious interdependent connection through which blessings enter at the end. By the virtue of this, may all who see, hear, remember, or come into contact with it be reborn in the realm of Mount Grdhrakuta, the pure land of Avalokiteshvara.
Thus, it was composed in the year 2022, at a time when the whole of the world was pervaded by the dangers of epidemics and famine, when wars had erupted in various regions, and when fear over economic decline was blazing like fire from the mouth of a wild mare with a horse's face.
For the purpose of simultaneously encouraging courage in the mind of the faithful friend Dr. Ananda and urging him toward the Dharma, this advice was penned by the Vidyadhara Gyukar Wangpo, aka Rigdzin Karma.
Updated on September 26, 2026