The Drinking Song of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje

The Drinking Song of Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje is now available for purchase in 25 languages including Tibetan and Sanskrit. It is available as an ebook or paperback.

Almost every European language is included. The publication includes an introduction by Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen and mudra illustrations by Khandro Déchen. The Drinking Song is practiced every evening on Aro gTér teaching retreats and the language changes according to which nationalities are present.

The Drinking Song of Kyabjé Düd ’jom Rinpoche Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje

༄Because some drinking companions requested it; I—the drinker—Jig’drèl Yeshé Dorje, sang this spontaneously:
༄Within the supreme self-existing skull cup of happiness, are swirling oceans of shining essence thig-lés.
༄Above, the five seed syllables appear – and become the yab-yum Buddhas of the five elements. A flood of blessings flows from their ecstatic union: they move in great joy—melt in light—and, dissolve into the spatial essence.

Om A’a: Hung: ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿ ཧཱུྂཿ
The three syllables rain from the dimension of space – and the precipitation manifests as düdtsi: a treasury of desirable qualities whose colour, taste, and fragrance are powerful.

Om A’a: Hung: Ha: Ho: Hri:
ཨོཾ་ཨཱཿ ཧཱུྂཿ ཧཿ ཧོཿ ཧྲཱིཿ
Offerings multiply. Happiness arises on perceiving the wondrous unsurpassed düdtsi of the heroes and heroines of the world.
I offer this to:
the pervading masters – my most kind Lamas;
the Holders of the Six Lineages;
the Three Jewels;
the Three Spheres of Being;
Peaceful, Joyous and Wrathful yidams;
Mamos and Dakinis;
Protectors of the Inner Tantras; gTérma Protectors;
Protectors of the Treasuries of Phenomena;
Protectors of the Ground of Being;
The Sang-gyé Kyil’khor of my body;
duality and nonduality –
and, to the infinite purity of the phenomenal world.
A: Ho: ཨཿ ཧོཿ Wonderful. In this way – nobody becomes unhappy, when drinking.

A: La: La: Ho:
ཨཿ ལཿ ལཿ ཧོཿ
Marvellous.
Shèg su sol: Please drink.

The rTsa-sum and Buddhas drink in the space of existence.
Chö-kyong and Srungma drink with awareness.
Lamas drink on their thrones.
Dharma friends drink sitting in rows.
Monastics drink secretly.
The gö kar chang lo’i dé drink openly.
Old men drink proudly.
Old ladies drink smilingly.
Men drink noisily.
Women drink swayingly.
Youths drink playfully.
Girls drink laughingly.

I—the tantrika—drink happily.

We drink happily – without reference-points-to-cause-dissatisfaction.
Because this apparitional banquet—free of referentiality—is offered to the illusory body, what we drink is a sacred feast.
Anxiety is therefore unnecessary – and we remain relaxed.
Because appearances are infinitely pure: discrimination is unnecessary – and we remain serene.
Because self-existent wisdom is total: effort is unnecessary – and we rest with cheerful minds.

The path of happiness we follow arises due to the kindness of the Lamas.

A: La: La: Ho:
Kèlpa Zang:

The following was written in Bhutan
Our tradition of offering Tsog Chang is just too beautiful. It signifies solidarity, expression of respects, emotional bonding and mutual affections.
Social drinking takes place on a specific occasion with friends / family members either to celebrate good times or to comfort bad times.
In our society, Chang/Ara has been a central substance during social, cultural and traditional gatherings. How interesting it is that, Chang/Ara is known by a different name depending on the occasion it is served. For example:
❶̂ Dong Chang or Pheb Chang – Welcome Drink. Served as a welcoming gesture by the host to their guest,
❷̂ Tsog Chang – Greetings Drink. Offered to a guest as a gesture of solidarity, expression of respects, emotional bonding and mutual affections,
❸̂ Tse Chang – Longevity Drink to prolong one’s life. Served during the longevity rituals,
❹̂ Yang Chang – Affluence Drink served during rituals to enhance prosperity,
❺̂ Tshong Chang – Trading Drink, served amongst the Traders at the time of negotiating their deal,
❻̂ Tashi Chang – Auspicious Drink. It is usually served towards the end of the ceremony to foster auspiciousness,
❼̂ Zim Chang – Bed time Drink. Served just before one retires for the day to have a sound sleep.
❽̂ Shakpa Chang – Forgiving Drink. Offered to beg pardon.
❾̂ Jön Chang – Departure Drink. Served by a host at the time of departure to wish their guest a safe journey. It is at this time, the guest leaves a token of gratitude for the host, it can be either in cash or kind, or even both.
❿̂ Lam Chang – Journey Drink. It is offered in a closed container by the host to be consumed by guest during the course of journey and many more.

Don’t just forbid yourself from accepting our traditional offerings, appreciate what is there in our tradition. The point to remember is, to be aware whilst drinking.