I. Reflection
Naught but void at inception
Of primordial being’s conception.
Then father’s light and mother’s rays,
Thus brightness inlaid
What darkness portrayed.
Hoar frost formed of a cold wind
And with pure dew did blend.
There did a lake appear,
Mirror-like, pure, and clear.
II. Dichotomy
By crystalline shore formed an egg round,
Whose membrane two small birds did surround,
One black one white, when no more bound
One shined bright providing white light,
The other pervaded darkness and fright.
Thence where light and darkness coalesced
Three eggs of stark color were impressed.
A divine rock from the outer shell, which was white,
From mid membrane the “Throne-Division’s Realm” of light,
And hybrid yak-cow from inner fluid of egg conch-white.
III. Senses
Three beings from the inner shell diverged,
Thus world god, all wise defender, and master emerged,
And whence the black egg cracked
“Proud Man” and “Heap of color Black.”
From speckled egg shining “Wish Requesting Man:”
Bearing no hand nor arm to stretch and span;
Without an eye
With which to visualize;
Without an ear
With which to hear;
No nose with which to smell;
No tongue with which to taste.
Without senses to quell,
Nor foot on which to walk the waste.
Naught but spirit with thought
That served the same as senses wrought.
IV. Himālaya
To his left the world god placed turquoise and gold
And a wishing prayer there he told.
Whereupon a golden mountain ascended
And a turquoise valley descended.
The entirety of the Ch’a race originate from that place.
Deposited then he a conch and a carnelian to his right,
There a conch mountain and a carnelian mountain were sighted.
The entirety of the Mu race originate from that place.
In front he laid a crystal and a stone which contained ore,
And spoke a wishing prayer, whereupon a crystal cliff and light-lake of lore.
In this way, the Tzug race originated from that place.
From the Mu would arise the enlightened B’ön-po,
Arising from the Ch’a men with hair color of crow.
The entire Tzug race became the animals low.
V. བོད (Bod)
Then the Mu-son, Tr’ül-bu wang-dän, and the woman Nyän,
From the carnelian valley and the conch mountain,
United the kings of Nepal, Tr’om, Tag-zig, and Khotan.
They morphed into horses and joined to bring forth
The white-footed pony and wild white yak of the north.
Then transformed they into sheep to bear the lamb
That would transcend to be the fair and majestic ram.
That the genesis of the whole Mu-race of man.
VI. Thirty-seven
When the Ch’a-son, Chi-tzug gyäl-wa,
took the conch-woman Rung-mo,
Tag-tsa wäl-wöl from the Ch’a race arose.
When Tag-tea wäl-wöl took the Tsam J’a-khyung-ma
The four brothers from the Ch’a race awoke.
When Ch’a-la dr’än-shing swore falsely this genealogy broke.
The divine host of the land from Wö-de descended,
Ch’a lord Yab-lha dal-dr’ug united with Goddess T’ang transcended,
From them were born nine spirit sons.
When he the love of Srin demon had won,
From them would be born nine spirit sons.
The child Lhang-lhang was born when he seduced a Nyän demon.
Then coupled he with demon of Mu to sire twelve Mu grandchildren.
VII. Auspicious
Ting-tr’i tzän-war lha, the youngest in the fifth generation,
Bore eighteen beautiful body marks of veneration.
For atop his head was a golden stupa, like a full moon, span-high.
To the left something like a rising sun above his right eye.
To the right a white moon as if in moonlight above his left eye.
A small black dot where the two brows nigh.
To the left, over the right shoulder was a likeness of the B’ön temple K’o-ma ru-ring.
To the right, above the left shoulder, a crystal-like stupa of nine rings.
A tiger crouching upon the soil he bore above the upper part of his chest below his neck.
To the left above the right ribs was a white hair fleck.
And to the right above the left ribs a black hair fleck.
On the bottom part of his right leg appeared a serpent which coiled downwards.
On the sole’s arch of the left foot something which resembled a frog jumping upwards.
On the back of the left leg and furnished with eyes was an iron bee.
The venerable species of earth masters would descended from he.
VIII. United
The youngest of the thirty-seven,
The world god, Ne-tr’om la-tr’a, thus breven,
Set forth from his father’s mansion
To propagate the human race’s expansion.
Thirteen celestial rungs he traversed,
The nine rungs of the spirit’s ladder he came down.
And in the spring month, Sa-g’ahe, came to the earth
To arrive upon the mountain Mog-p’o’s crown.
The earth he wandered and on many a site he pondered,
A woman weaving he saw whilst in reflection,
Approaching she, distinguished by a milky imperfection,
Before her loom he sat in rest.
Therein the woman asked in quest,
“From whence have you come when sun below,
And wherefore go whilst the Sun sets low?”
“I am Ne-tr’om la-to’a, the youngest of the thirty-seven.
Sent was I from my father’s, Yab-lha däl-dr’ug, house in heaven
In order to propagate the human race.”
With ill intent a Srin demon appeared on seeing his face.
The woman in an instant produced a monkey in his place,
And in fabric upon the loom hid her guest without trace.
“Where to did the man before the loom disappear?”
“Intent thus, I saw nothing but the monkey here.”
The demon seized the monkey and there abandon,
But his demon hound would not go in spite his command.
With that which fastened the fabric on to loom in hand,
The hound’s teeth she shattered when mighty blow she did land,
And demon dog’s eyes she gouged out beside.
Then did the peg of the instrument fall aside,
“I as a woman must be very grateful to man,
And you as a man must be very grateful to woman.
What wrong wrong and right right.
The magical flesh of both of us should unite.”
IX. Earth Born
When their magical flesh had joined, consummation done,
Their union brought forth into the world three sons.
But T’ing-to through water would meet his demise,
And T’ing-mig by fire death would realize.
T’ing-g’e took the Ch’a princess for wife, they Bö-dzom la-tr’om would bear.
Then he joined with the Mu-consort and Tr’i-ma became their care.
Having joined with Tr’i-mo, the Tr’i children named Hor came to be.
He united with Yig- na-ma, to beget three, Bö, Jang and Li.
With a Nyän demon, brought forth they a monkey, an ox, a badger and a bear.
These the four non-humans, but human siblings of the world they share.
A lyricization iteration of “The Ancient Tibetan Cosmology” by Helmut Hoffman and G.W. Houston