Ultimate bodhicitta · Verse 23 of 37
Verse 23: Attractive things: summer rainbows
Verse 23 of The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, the fourteenth-century Tibetan poem by Gyalse Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). It belongs to the section on ultimate bodhicitta.
When you come across things that attract you—like beautiful rainbows in summertime—do not regard them as real and abandon clinging attachment. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to let go of grasping
When encountering things one finds pleasant or attractive,
Considering them to be like rainbows in the summer skies—
Beautiful in appearance, yet in truth devoid of any substance.
When you come across something you enjoy,
Though beautiful to experience, like a summer rainbow,
Don't take it as real.
Let go of attachment — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
A facilitator's reading across the commentaries
The shared surprise — this verse permits enjoyment. KTGR, KS, and KM all land on appreciation-without-grasping rather than avoidance; AB adds the technical guardrail (like-an-illusion, not illusion); HHDL explains why this antidote outclasses the old asceticism. The deep answer to verse 21's provisional one.
GR Garchen Rinpoche · HHDL H.H. the Dalai Lama · AB Dr. Alexander Berzin · KTGR Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · KS Khenpo Sodargye · TC Ven. Thubten Chodron · KM Ken McLeod
What the teachers say
Garchen Rinpoche Drikung Kagyu
(Brief.) The good-looking bodies of the young turn ugly with age though the person is the same; foods judged delicious or foul "all turn out to be the same" after eating — judgments of the senses are untrustworthy. Strong attachment to pleasant feelings means equally strong loss when they vanish.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
H.H. the Dalai Lama Gelug
The realization's purpose: not to reject appearances but to stop ignorance's exaggeration of objects, which breeds attachment and hatred — "attachment is always backed by ignorance." Cites Aryadeva; distinguishes the old antidote (seeing the object as impure — temporary suppression) from the new (seeing it as unreal — eradication), and advises practicing both.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
Dr. Alexander Berzin Gelug
Nothing establishes beauty from the object's own side — like a rainbow, gorgeous at a distance, nothing findable up close. Precision: things are like an illusion, not literally illusions — "it's not saying that everything is an illusion" — a distinction with karmic teeth (killing an illusory horse ≠ killing a real one). Even after realizing voidness, automatic attachment persists; repeat the meditation.
Full commentary: studybuddhism.com
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Karma Kagyu
All five sense objects are appearance-emptiness inseparable; understood as empty they "can be enjoyed without attachment, without suffering" — experience becomes relaxed, spacious, affliction-free. Quote: "All forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile objects have no self-nature."
Full commentary: dharmaebooks.org (Free ebook, trans. Suzanne Schefczyk.)
Khenpo Sodargye Nyingma, Larung Gar
Mastery of mind, not avoidance of the world: one who has mastered mind wanders undistracted in a crowd; one who hasn't churns thoughts "like ripples on water" even in retreat. Quote: "It is not what you perceive that binds you, and it is your clinging to it that binds you. Cut through your clinging, Naropa!" (Tilopa).
Full commentary: khenposodargye.org (Free ebook PDF.)
Ven. Thubten Chodron Sravasti Abbey, Gelug
Winter Retreat vv22–24 talk.
Full commentary: thubtenchodron.org
Ken McLeod Shambhala / independent
Talk 9: grasping pleasant experience is like trying to hold a rainbow — open appreciation instead. Tricycle v23: are you able to open up to not-holding?
Full commentary: unfetteredmind.org (Tricycle's per-verse written commentary is behind a subscriber paywall.)
Further reading: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.