Tsangyang Gyatso > Quotes

“I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”
― Dalai Lama VI

“If I could meditate upon the dharma
As intensely as I muse on my beloved
I would certainly attain enlightenment
Surely, in this one lifetime”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“White crane!
Lend me your wings
I will not fly far
From Lithang, I shall return”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Over the eastern hills rises
The smiling face of the moon;
In my mind forms
The smiling face of my beloved”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“In the short walk of this life
We have had our share of joy.
Let us hope to meet again
In the youth of our next life”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“To the wings of this eagle
The wind and the rocks have been cruel.
The sly and scheming ones
Have harassed me, always without ceasing”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Yama, the mirror of my karma
Residing in the realm of death,
You must judge and grant justice.
Here, while alive, I had no justice”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness: The Erotic Verse of the Sixth Dalai Lama

“Even the stars in the sky
Can be measured by astrology.
Her body can be caressed,
But not so fathomed
Her deep inner longing”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“In the short walk of this life,
We have had our share of joy.
In the youth of our next life.
Let us hope to meet again.”
― Tsangyang Gyatso

“Peacocks from eastern India,
Parrot from the depths of Kongpo,
Though born in separate countries
Finally come together
In the holy land of Lhasa”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“She smells sweet of body
My sweetheart, the highway queen;
Like the worthless white turquoise
She was found, to be thrown away”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Yesterday's young sprouting shoots
Are withered straws today,
Like the ageing body of a youth
Stiff bent as a southern bow”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“When my luck was good
I hoisted auspicious prayer-flags
And the young lady of noble birth
Hosted me at her home”
― Tsangyang Gyatso

“The moon tonight seems
To be the full moon,
But the hare* inside the moon
Does not seem to be alive'

* Refers to a Tibetan belief that a giant hare resides in the moon”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Love Songs of Tsangyang Gyatso

“Frost gathers on the glistering flowers
And then the cold north wind blows.
The frost and the wind must have come
To drive the bees away from the flowers”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“People gossip about me.
I am sorry for what I have done;
I have taken three thin steps
And landed myself in the tavern of my mistress”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“If the maiden will live forever
The wine will flow evermore.
The tavern is my haven;
With wine I am content”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Like the rising moon of the third day
My beloved is dressed is pure and white,
But on the full moon of the fifteenth day
Take an oath of meeting as pure and bright”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“My sweetheart who truly loved me
Has been stolen to wed another.
I am sick with longing sorrow
And frustration emaciates my frail body”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Drawing diagrams I measured
Movements of the stars;
Though her tender flesh is near
Her mind I cannot measure.”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Sleepless I am
Because I am in love;
Fatigue and frustration overwhelm
When day brings not my beloved to me”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Even if meditated upon,
The face of my lama comes not to me,
But again and again comes to me
The smiling face of my beloved”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Longing for the landlord's daughter
Blossoming in youthful beauty
Is like pining for peaches
Ripening on the high peach trees”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Spring flowers fade in the fall;
It is not for the turquoise bees to mourn.
I and my sweetheart are fated to part;
It is not for us to cry”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“When the gem was mine
I cared not, and ignored its value.
Now that the gem is lost to others,
Melancholy overwhelms me
As its pure worth dawns on me”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“If only I could wed
The one whom I love,
Joys of gaining the choicest gem
From the ocean's deepest bed would be mine”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“I have hoisted prayer-flags
For the good luck of my beloved.
Forest keeper, Ajo Shelngo,
Do not trample her good luck flags”
― Tsangyang Gyatso

“My beloved from childhood
Seems to be of the wolf's race;
Even after many nights together
She tries to escape,
Like the wolves, to the hills”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama

“Never have I slept without a sweetheart
Nor have I spent a single drop of sperm”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of Love, Poems of Sadness: The Erotic Verse of the Sixth Dalai Lama

“The garrulous parrot
Please stay with your mouth shut.
The thrush in the willow grove
Has promised to sing a song for me”
― Tsangyang Gyatso, Songs of the 6th Dalai Lama