Inspired by the upcoming visit of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, we offer this poem by Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin.

I Miss the Karmapa

I miss the Karmapa
I miss unobstructed confidence
I miss opening a door without hesitation
I miss proclaiming dharma without politics.

I miss the Black Crown of Avalokiteshvara
I miss the shock of realization
I miss the Cadillac
I miss the fact of richness.

I miss the best possible world we ever, ever had
I miss the king of dharmas
I miss everything that ever was and ever will be.

I miss the gold shoes
I miss a gold watch
I miss gold teeth, gold eyes, gold ears, gold smile
I miss a couple of gold birds
I miss the fact that nothing happens.

I am a wind sweeper of eyelashes
I am the last person through the metal detector
I am saying goodbye to the Karmapa continually
This goodbye remains as Mahakala in my mind.

The kindness of the Karmapa is awakened mind
If it is possible to attain enlightenment
It is only through the grace of the Lord Karmapa
By chance, a small drop of awakened mind fell on my head.

The truth of the matter is
What cannot be said is not known
What is said is spontaneously known
From guru Saraha to the present day
The mahamudra is expressed as unobstructed, luminous
mind with little to be said for itself
There is nothing accumulated
Whatever goes next is what has happened before.

This spontaneous song, hard to hear, hard to say,
is open-heart surgery
Having said this, I retire into what is obviously real
This is the end of the rambling of a real poet
No kidding.

Remembering the Karmapa, who would occasionally grab my cheek and say, “Ösel Dorje Gyurme Tendzin,” I, his student, wrote this with one-pointed devotion. I dedicate this to the Practice Lineage, which expands unceasingly through its own purity. Written on this third day of December, 1987, at the glorious palace of the vajra guru known as Bhumipali Bhavan, at the dharma place of the Karma Kagyü, Karmê Chöling.