A poem by the Mongolian scholar Zava Damdin (b. 1976).
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“THINK WELL” IN FIVE STANZAS
(English Translation)
Think well on where you may draw your inspiration to live.
Think well on how to nurture your own wisdom and intelligence.
Think well on how, within this palm-sized heart, true love and compassion may flow like water from a spring.
Think well on how to be ready when death and impermanence arrive one day.
Think well on how to approach whatever arises without confusion, with an enquiring mind.
Think well on what lasting work or creation you may leave behind.
Think well on how, within this brief span, to recognise great things, and how to understand beginnings and endings.
Think well on how to be free of selfish views and find peace.
Think well on forming one good intention, whether travelling far or near.
Think well on bringing the noble steed alive within your mind, and becoming full of khiimor and vitality.1argamag khüleg (аргамаг хүлэг), noble steed, a fine, spirited horse of strength and beauty. This is a deeply Mongolian conception, where the horse is not only an animal image, but an inner image of vitality and direction: something awakened within the mind so that one may move through life with greater steadiness, courage, and khiimor’ (хийморь). 2khiimor’ (хийморь) is commonly translated as “windhorse”, but here it may be understood as uplifted life-energy, vitality, confidence, and good fortune. In Mongolian usage it can suggest the strength and brightness of a person’s inner condition: the capacity to rise well, move well, and meet life with steadiness and vigour.
Think well on repaying kindness: think well of your father, mother, and the land that holds you.
Think well, in the centre of your heart, of your teachers, guides of caring and highest learning.
Think well on how rare and precious a human birth is in this golden world.3altan delkhii (алтан дэлхий), golden world, is a warm Mongolian way of speaking of this precious human world. Here “golden” does not simply mean wealthy or shining; it suggests the rarity, beauty, and fortunate conditions of a human birth.
Think well on how the enemy lies within the mind’s afflictions, taking fearsome and obstructive forms.4Ad chötgör (ад чөтгөр) is rendered here as “fearsome and obstructive forms”. In this line, I understand the phrase as pointing less to beings outside oneself, and more to the possibly frightening shapes taken by the mind’s own afflictions: anger, envy, craving, pride, and confusion. In Mongolian Buddhist visual culture, fierce or wrathful forms may appear as ways of confronting, containing, or ritually transforming troubling currents rather than simply fearing them (cf. Charleux 2022).
Think well on purifying a narrow mind, just as air and water ought to be pure and clear.
Think well on what established enduring “fame” and “reputation”.
Think well on spreading peace and well-being to others.
Think well on how the golden sun, the diamond moon, and the flickering stars and planets exist in interdependence.
Think well on how useful it would be if the discerning wisdom to know what to take up and what to leave aside arose in you.
Think well on relying on a living, wise teacher, if the wish to proceed in a wholesome direction has not yet arisen in you. 5These translator’s notes are not simply glosses, but small openings into Mongolian ways of seeing, feeling, and valuing the world. A gloss gives a brief explanation of a word or phrase. 6Translated by C.Pleteshner. English interpretation 18.01.2025 from the original Mongolian 16.12.2024. Translation is always an interpretation into another language and culture. Any errors in this regard are entirely my own, and for these I humbly apologise.
Zava Damdin Rinpoche
New York, Metropolitan Museum 7Zava Damdin Rinpoche accompanied the original 16.12.2024 doha, “САЙН БОД” ХЭМЭЭХ ТАВАН БАДАГ, with this note of thanks, here translated into English, identifying the people and circumstances that made the visit to New York’s Metropolitan Museum possible: “I am sincerely grateful to all those who brought together the favourable conditions for this visit: the golden bond of the Mongolian state; Ambassador Batbayar Ulziidelger, who guided me to pay respects before the precious devotional object of Tugh Temür Khan of the Yuan dynasty, his elder brother Khüsleng, Khan of Karakorum, and their great queens, the city-mandala of Yamāntaka; and my elder sister Minjin Bolortsetseg, the great scholar of dinosaur studies known throughout the world.” [Accessed: 16 December 2024].
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“САЙН БОД” ХЭМЭЭХ ТАВАН БАДАГ
(Original Mongolian)
Амьдрах урам зоригийг хаанаас олж авах буй сайн бод.
Арвис ухаанаа ягахижу төлжүүлэх буй сайн бод.
Атгахан зүрхэн дороон чин хайр энэрэл ундруулахуйг сайн бод.
Аль нэгэн цаг дор үхэл мөнх бус ирэхүй дор бэлэн буй үгүйгээ сайн бод.
Аливаад шинжлэхүй оюунаар ягахижу торол үгүй орох буй сайн бод.
Ашид орших үйл бүтээл ягахижу үлдээх буй хэмээн сайн бод.
Ахархан хугацаан дор агуу зүйлсийг таниж мэдэх ба үүсгэл төгсгөлийг сайн бод.
Аминчхан үзлээс ангижирч амар амгаланг ягахижу олох буй сайн бод.
Алс болон ойр одохуй дор нэгэн сайн зоригдол үүсгэж байхуйг сайн бод.
Аргамаг хүлгийг сэтгэл дороон амилуулан хийморь золбоо төгөлдөр болохуйг сайн бод.
Ачийг ану хариулмуй хэмээн аав ээж эх орноо сайн бод.
Ачлал дээд их эрдмийн залуурч багш нараа зүрхэн төв дороон сайн бод.
Алтан дэлхийн хүмүүн төрөл ямархан ховор нандин үнэт зүйл буй хэмээхүйг сайн бод.
Атаат дайсан ану сэтгэлийн нисванис дор ад чөтгөр болон оршиж буйг сайн бод.
Агаар ус ариун тунгалаг ану хэрэг бүхүй адил атгаг сэтгэлээ ариусгахуйг сайн бод.
Алдар нэр хэмээх инү ягунаар бэхжин байдаг учрыг сайн бод.
Амар амгалан сайн сайхныг бусад дор түгээхүйг сайн бод.
Алтан наран алман саран анивчих од эрхэс ягахин шүтэн барилдаж буйг сайн бод.
Авах гээхүйн ухааны билиг төрвөөс ямархан хэрэгтэйг сайн бод.
Аль ч сайваар одох сэтгэл төрөх үгүй бөгөөс аху мэргэн багшийг шүтэхүйг сайн бод.
Зава Дамдин ринбүчи
16.12.2024
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NOTES
- 1argamag khüleg (аргамаг хүлэг), noble steed, a fine, spirited horse of strength and beauty. This is a deeply Mongolian conception, where the horse is not only an animal image, but an inner image of vitality and direction: something awakened within the mind so that one may move through life with greater steadiness, courage, and khiimor’ (хийморь). ↩︎
- 2khiimor’ (хийморь) is commonly translated as “windhorse”, but here it may be understood as uplifted life-energy, vitality, confidence, and good fortune. In Mongolian usage it can suggest the strength and brightness of a person’s inner condition: the capacity to rise well, move well, and meet life with steadiness and vigour. ↩︎
- 3altan delkhii (алтан дэлхий), golden world, is a warm Mongolian way of speaking of this precious human world. Here “golden” does not simply mean wealthy or shining; it suggests the rarity, beauty, and fortunate conditions of a human birth. ↩︎
- 4Ad chötgör (ад чөтгөр) is rendered here as “fearsome and obstructive forms”. In this line, I understand the phrase as pointing less to beings outside oneself, and more to the possibly frightening shapes taken by the mind’s own afflictions: anger, envy, craving, pride, and confusion. In Mongolian Buddhist visual culture, fierce or wrathful forms may appear as ways of confronting, containing, or ritually transforming troubling currents rather than simply fearing them (cf. Charleux 2022). ↩︎
- 5These translator’s notes are not simply glosses, but small openings into Mongolian ways of seeing, feeling, and valuing the world. A gloss gives a brief explanation of a word or phrase. ↩︎
- 6Translated by C.Pleteshner. English interpretation 18.01.2025 from the original Mongolian 16.12.2024. Translation is always an interpretation into another language and culture. Any errors in this regard are entirely my own, and for these I humbly apologise. ↩︎
- 7Zava Damdin Rinpoche accompanied the original 16.12.2024 doha, “САЙН БОД” ХЭМЭЭХ ТАВАН БАДАГ, with this note of thanks, here translated into English, identifying the people and circumstances that made the visit to New York’s Metropolitan Museum possible: “I am sincerely grateful to all those who brought together the favourable conditions for this visit: the golden bond of the Mongolian state; Ambassador Batbayar Ulziidelger, who guided me to pay respects before the precious devotional object of Tugh Temür Khan of the Yuan dynasty, his elder brother Khüsleng, Khan of Karakorum, and their great queens, the city-mandala of Yamāntaka; and my elder sister Minjin Bolortsetseg, the great scholar of dinosaur studies known throughout the world.” [Accessed: 16 December 2024]. ↩︎
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FURTHER READING
Mongolian Poetry 23: Do Not Give Up
Mongolian Poetry 61: Put Yourself in Another’s Place
Charleux, Isabelle. “On Several Thangkas Depicting Mongol Mountain Deities.” In Qingzhu Qiao Ji xiansheng 75 huayan jinian wenji 庆祝乔吉先生75华诞纪念文集 [Essays in Celebration of Professor Qiao Ji’s 75th Birthday], 2022. Article in English. [Relevant to the interpretation of this poem for its discussion of Mongolian Buddhist visual culture, especially how fierce or ambivalent forms can appear in relation to place, ritual, and the transformation of difficult conditions.]
End of transcript.
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