“At the three times, the Tatagatas, who dwell in the world realms of the ten directions, prostrate to vajra masters who have received the supreme empowerment.”
“Son of noble family, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who dwell and live and reside in the worlds of the ten directions, no matter how many there, come to that qualified vajra master in the three times, (morning, midday, and evening) and they offer to the vajra master. After they had made the offerings then they each return to their own Buddha realm. Once they’ve returned there they say they are the fathers of all tathagatas, the mothers of all the Buddhas, and the teachers of all Tathagatas.”
“When we talk about a guru, the guru that we should consider to be so important, it is not just anyone who’s given the name lama/teacher. It is not someone who is well-known around the world as being a great lama. It’s something you have to look with your own intelligence. You have to get some knowledge about them, to see if are they good or not. You need to really hone your understanding and get to an appropriate level of understanding. That is what we mean as a guru, you should not just follow anyone who is called a lama.”
—17th Gyalwang Karmapa (Day Four, Fifty Verses on the Guru)
On the fourth Day of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s teachings on the Fifty Verses on the Guru, the Karmapa’s main topic was what a vajra master is, and why Buddhas and Bodhisattvas prostrate to them, even when they are ordinary beings. This involved explaining the homage and pledge to compose stanzas word-by-word, in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English, as well as beginning the actual main part of the text. In this teaching, the Karmapa mainly referred to the Tibetan commentaries by Jetusn Dragpa Gyaltsen and Je Tsongkhapa and their citations from important tantras for guidance. These commentaries also explain why all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas prostrate three times per day to vajra masters who are qualified even if ordinary beings, because they are carrying out the work of benefiting beings with the Dharma and lifting the workload off them slightly.
The main point being anyone who is a qualified vajra master, even though they are an ordinary person (not a Buddha or Bodhisattva on the bhumis) is worthy and is prostrated to by all the Enlightened Ones for various reasons given in the tantras.
The 17th Karmapa then went on to explain that not anyone is a qualified guru or vajra master though, even if they are well-known and have lots of followers. Just being given a name or title does not make them qualified. A student has to examine a teacher well and have a good and solid understanding as to whether they are qualified or not, and on what basis they are qualified. Here is a short video clip (Tibetan original with English captions) I made of this part of the teaching.
The teaching ended with a lovely anecdote the Karmapa shared of Shakyamuni Buddha telling Ananda that if a Bodhisattva is riding a chariot and needs a driver to go somewhere, if they cannot find a driver, the Buddha himself will put the carriage on top of their head and drive them there.
On that sweet and precious ending note, for music? Drive by the Cars and Passenger by Iggy Pop.
Written and transcribed by Adele Tomlin, 22nd February 2024.
Fifty Verses on the Guru (Day Four) teaching by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa
Transcript
Today, is the fourth day of our Arya Kshema spring teachings. There are many of you listening over the web but the main students are the nuns who are attending the Arya Kshema spring teachings. There are also many monastic and lay people listening over the internet and I’d like to offer you my warm greetings to all of you. I would like to continue teaching on the Fifty Verses on the Guru.
Now here the outline has become a little bit mixed up, I wasn’t really able to decide which to use, the other day I used primarily used Drogon Chogyal’s concise meaning commentary because it was easy.
In that he divides it into three main topics: the introductory section, the main text and the concluding session. So here we’re speaking about it in those terms. The first is the introductory section that is related to the composition and this has two parts: the homage and the pledge to compose.
1) The homage – according to the Tibetan commentaries
First is the homage and this reads:
“I bow down as is proper at the Lotus feet of the guru who is the cause of reaching the state of Glorious Vajrasattva.”
Now when we describe the meaning of the homage, the other day I spoke about it according to the Sanskrit commentary, as I mentioned there is a Sanskrit commentary. So I have already explained the words according to how it’s described in that commentary. Today I would like to describe these two words as they’re explained in the commentaries of the Tibetan tradition on the Fifty Verses and in particular, the oldest ones.
Glorious means non-dual wisdom – Explanation of the verse by Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan
One of the oldest Tibetan commentaries is by Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen. So I will take that explanation as the basis, I think there are some profound points in it that are different than in any other commentary. To explain it according to this, here when we say ‘glorious: palden’ what that means is that they possess glory because they have non-dual wisdom, that is what Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen says. Glorious means that they possess glory because they have non-dual wisdom.
If one asks what is meant by non-dual wisdom? It means the inseparability of the vajra and sattva, vajra means emptiness and sattva means non-referential great compassion. The indivisible emptiness and great compassion, the yeshe (awareness) of inseparable emptiness and compassion, the vajra-like samādhi. So this is the vajra-like samadhi and the state is the level where this vajra-like samadhi has become manifest it is a level where it is manifest. The cause for achieving this awareness of the inseparablity of emptiness and compassion is primarily serving the exalted Guru, receiving the instructions from them, and then practicing the path. And by doing this then we can manifest the vajra-like samadhi, which primarily comes from serving/relying on the guru and following their instructions. So achieving that unexcelled state of the vajra depends upon the guru. So you pay homage to the lowest part of the guru’s body which are their feet. One prostrates at the lotus feet of the guru.
Now here it says “I bow down as is proper/correct”, we prostrate to the guru who is worthy of prostration. So an individual such as Babila who is worthy of paying homage. The way that you prostrate means respectfully with your body, speech and mind. That is the explanation by Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen.
Explanation by Je Tsongkhapa
Following that we have the most well-known commentary on the Fifty Verses in the Tibetan is Je Tsongkhapa’s commentary. To explain this according to that commentary, when he says “I bow down as is proper at the Lotus feet of the guru who is the cause of reaching the state of Glorious Vajrasattva.”
First, it asks who are we bowing to? What are we prostrating to? It is the lotus feet of the guru that we are prostrating to. The guru’s feet themselves are compared to a lotus or like the metaphor the lotus. As I explained before the guru’s feet are the lowest part of their body so the person who’s paying the homage, the author of the text Master Bhabila is putting the highest part of his body his head, down to the lowest part of the guru’s body, which is with the top of his head. So because he’s bowing down like this it is showing that he has extreme extremely deep respect, it’s a very respectful prostration.
Then how do we prostrate? it says ‘as is proper’. So bowing down ‘as is proper’ here means bowing respect to the guru with the body with the three gates, with your body, speech and mind not just in words but actually using your body, speech and mind all together to the guru. The way that you prostrate is as described in these scriptures. There are the ways to pay respect to the guru and to show your respect Guru that are described in the tantras and the text. This is in accord with that, in accord with the scriptures. This is the way that he bowing down to the guru.
So how do we know who is the guru that is worthy of these prostrations? In order to know that, the words that tell us what the guru is like, it says who is the cause of reaching the state of Glorious Vajrasattva, this is the guru. What it says in the seventh chapter of the first of the two books of the Hevajra Tantra, is that ‘glorious’ is non-dual yeshe (primordial awareness). In any case the Tibetan word Pel is the Sanskrit word Sri. Glorious means Sri, and this is the root cause of achieving the state or level of Guru who possesses the glory of non-dual awareness. The main cause, the root cause of achieving the state of level of Vajrasattva that we need to achieve is the guru and that’s whom we prostrate to.
Then, how should we understand the words Vajrasattva (Dorje Sempa)? This is described in the sixteen beings of the Vajra Pinnacle Tantra, which says why are they Vajrasattva:
“he is the wisdom of supreme Enlightenment, he is called vajra as he arises from the awareness body he is called Vajrasattva.”
So this says the vajra awareness that is the dharmakāya that dwells inseparably from suchness is the vajra, and the form kāya arises as Vajrasattva. So vajra means the dharmakāya and sattva refers to the two form kāyas. So in this way this is the Vajrasattva has the two kāyas, the Dharma and form kāyas inseparably. So this is the state, the primary cause that is indispensable for achieving this level, the thing that one has to have to do it, if you don’t have it you cannot do it, this primary cause is the glorious Guru. So for that reason, the main cause for achieving the state of Vajrasattva, the state of achieving the unification of the two kāyas, the state of Vajrasattva, is relying on the guru. So this teaches the homage.
Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English translations
Here are the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English showing each of these words. We can look at each of them in the set but it will take a lot of time to go through this so I don’t need to explain that.
2) The pledge to compose and it source of many stainless tantras
Next is the pledge to compose:
“Relying on [the guru] been taught in many stainless tantras. I’ll summarize it in brief, listen respectfully.”
Below the Tibetan there is the translation by the Sung Dynasty translator Ravikirti, then after that is a translation from the Ming from the time of the Guming Tang. This is a translation that’s translated from the Tibetan into Chinese. The reason for this is that we’re primarily speaking according to the Tibetan, if we explain that in the Ravikirti version translated from the Sanskrit, it is difficult to go through all the explanation according to that Chinese translation. But in the case of the Tangshang Ming that was translated from Tibetan into Chinese, so that’s the primary Chinese translation that we will use because the main explanation that we’re giving is now according to the Tibetan. For this reason I’m presenting the two Chinese translations here. Then below that is an English translation. Here is the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English:
As I said before, there is the Sanskrit commentary on the Difficult points of the Fifty Verses on the Guru and it says:
“After prostrating at the guru’s lotus feet during the homage, what should I do?”
It says: after bowing to the lowest part of the guru, the lotus feet of the guru, then what do you do? What is the work that you’re doing, what is the task you’re going to do after prostrating? As it says:
“Serving/Relying on them has been taught in many stainless tantras, I will summarize it in brief. Listen respectfully.”
[Transcriber’s Note: here I am using my own translation of the Tibetan verses here, such as for ‘bsten pa’, which has more the sense of serving/relying on, than ‘following’.]
The meaning of the word “stainless”
“Stainless” (dri-mey) here means pure and faultless. There are two ways of explaining stainless and this is one of them, which means utterly clean and pure and without flaws. So that’s one meaning. Another explanation in this context is stainless, which means they have no stains of non-virtue. that is how we should understand it here. In this case, when we say stainless, the reason why we have to say this is because this context, we have to say that the author of the Fifty Verses on the Guru himself when he was writing it, did he just write down everything he thought of and just make it up? Did he write it down from other sources as they were or is it something that he made up? No it is not. It says that it is taught in many great tantras and he took the main points and essential points from these and compiled them. For this reason, it says “as taught in many stainless tantras” . So this is saying that the author of these Fifty Verses did not write it by making it up himself. Instead it’s what was taught by the teacher Vajradhara in the tantras, and he extracted the essence of what was taught and compiled it all here.
The meaning of the word ‘tantras’
Then there is the word tantra (gyu in Tibetan), in Sanskrit it is Tantragītā. The word Tantra here is a word that we need to explain. According to the Indian commentary, Tantra means continuous. Here in this context they are classified in three, the causal Tantra, the resultant Tantra and the Tantra of means. So in terms of the Indian commentary, it says it’s taught in terms of these three different ways. In this context, tantra means continuous and there are the causal tantra, the resultant tantra and the tantra of means. So in this way there are three different types of tantra.
When we talk about the causal tantra, we say the different types of families that are within the continuum of all sentient beings. Likewise, because of the result of these causal tantras, there are the resultant tantras of the classifications of great Vajradhara that come from the differences in families. Then in order that the cause produce the result, there are the conditions such as mantra, mudra and mandalas. So these are the Tantra of means.
So in general with the Tantra we mainly talk about them in terms of Kriya tantra, Charya tantra, Yoga Unexcelled Highest Yoga tantra, there are these many different types of tantras. Here the main point that’s explained in these Tantras`of secret mantra, when we say many stainless tantras, and we talk about the secret mantra we say there are different ways of serving the guru that are described in the many different tantras. The words tell us what are the correct ways and incorrect ways of serving the guru. As it is taught and explained in these ways, it says it is taught in many stainless tantras.
Why there is a ‘concise’ explanation of the many tantras and Jowo Atisha’s dream with Tara
Now here, a doubt that might arise: ” If as you’re saying that the Bhagavan taught all of these tantras, if he said all of this already, so then for you to repeat him and write this all again, there’s no point to that. if the teacher Vajradhara has already taught them just show us the text that he taught. There’s no point for you to write it again.” In order to dispel this doubt, what the commentary says this to explain he says “I’ll summarize in brief in order to dispel that doubt.” This is what this phrase comes from.
The reason is that in general, the teacher Vajradhara taught the unmistaken and mistaken way on how to rely on the guru in many different ways but there’s so many different tantras. If you have to read all of them, you can’t. So people get afraid of it as they are unable to read them all. So many people just don’t have the time to read it and it’s difficult for them to read it.
For that reason, we often explain the story, or history of when Jowo Atisha was made the Abbot of Vikramaśīla. At that time, Vikramaśīla was like the source of the Vajrayāna in India. Many of the teachings on Vajrayāna were transmitted through the Masters who studied at Vikramaśīla.
So within this monastery of Vikramaśīla, there are many texts on the secret mantra Vajrayāna. There are so many different tantric texts in their Library. So Jowo Atisha thought to himself that there’s probably no secret mantra tantra that he hadn’t read and he had this sort of a pride that this was so. he had this pride that he’d read them all. Yet once in his dream he saw Tārā who said: “Have you ever read these this are that Tantra?” she asked. He said “forget about reading the text, I’d probably never even heard of the text.”. So when you have the pride of thinking that there’s no tantric text that you haven’t read” she said “but you don’t know them all right? When I mentioned this and that Tantra to you, I just told you the titles of a few Tantras, right? You said that you haven’t even read them, forget about reading them you haven’t even heard of them.” So by saying this to him, it decreased his pride quite a bit. This is the story.
Likewise later, when Jowo Atisha went to Tibet at that time there was a Samye Monastery. He first went to Tod and then he went down to U-Tsang. When he got to U-Tsang he went to Samye, which was the most famous monastery in in that region. There is a large library there that dates back to the time of the Tibetan Emperors and there are many Sanskrit manuscripts about the secret mantra. There are quite a few texts on the secret mantra vajrayana. When he’s reading these texts on the tantras of secret mantra, he thought:
“There must be no end at all to the tantras of the secret mantra. I thought that I’d seen all the texts that there were in India, I’ve seen so many different Sanskrit texts, yet there are so many texts here that I’ve never seen before.”
So, he re-copied some of the Sanskrit manuscripts and sent some of them back to India. For that reason, if Jowo Atisha himself, such a great scholar of the secret mantra vajrayana and that’s a time when the teachings were there to a fair extent in India, who came from Vikramaśīla, there were so many tantric texts there and he had the opportunity to read all of these texts, he had the time and opportunity to read them. So if someone like him, who had that opportunity and there were so many that he hadn’t read, then what it’s like for us? In this way, it’s far more difficult for us to read all the secret mantra tantras. So in order to benefit ordinary beings, there are some that are taught only partially in one Tantra but not complete and in others. There are some that are missing extras. For that reason, he read all of the tantras and took the actual essence of all these and combined them all in one to teach this. He is saying this in order to address the doubt that this text is redundant and unnecessary.
{Transcriber’s note, for more on Atisha’s dream and Tārā scolding his for his pride, see here.]
“Listen with respect”
At the end of the verse it says:
” Listen respectfully.”
When he says listen respectfully, it means if all the sentient beings who have the fortune, it says at this point: “I am going to explain this. I’ve read these different stainless Tantras. I’ve taken the points and I’ve summarized the main points on relying on the guru without mistake. So I’m teaching them all here so all you fortunate students listen with respect”.
The main point here is when we think about the three faults of the vessel. When listening to the Dharma we talk about the three faults of the vessel. The Sanskrit commentary the Difficult points of Relying on the Guru described here clearly these are the three faults of the Vessel being upside down, or unclean or leaky. So it’s saying listen without these faults and listen respectfully. There are the three faults of a vessel that we always speak about right? When we teach the Dharma many speak about the three faults of a vessel and that we need to listen in a way that is free of these six faults. So if you need to give the source for talking about three faults, they are mentioned in this “Commentary on the Difficult Points of serving the Guru” . So that is the explanation taking the Sanskrit commentary as the basis.
Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen’s commentary on the tantric sources for Fifty Verses on the Guru
Next to explain the verse according to Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen’s commentary. So serving/relying on them here, it says:
“Relying on them has been described in many stainless tantras.”
There are two different ways of describing this. So ‘relying on them’ means tha because of following one guru in in this way because of this I learned what the many stainless tantras say about the proper way to follow the Guru, that’s one of explaining them. Another way is that the methods for serving them appear in many different tantras that’s another way to explain this.
If we ask which tantras they come from the ‘stainless’ ones. They are not the tantras by the non- Buddhists, these are tantras taught by the teacher Vajradhara. So in this way these are the stainless words of the Buddha Vajradhara. They are not the projections and denials of us ordinary sentient beings, but they are taught by the perfect Buddha Vajradhara, so they are stainless.
It says in ‘many Tantras’, they’re taught in all tantras of course, but primarily there are five different tantras mentioned by Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsen, as I described yesterday when talking about the source of the tantras. When I was describing the five general points, he said there were five main tantras. So within the commentary it says that there are five, but when you count them actually there are six tantras. There are the Vairocana, then the Vajra shisha, the Yamantaka, Pelchog Dangpo, there is Guhyasamāja and the sixth is the Vajra Panjara tantra.
So the ways to rely on the guru are taught in many different tantras, but he says he will summarize the meanings from all of these and among them primarily the five or six tantras that I mentioned before. I will take the main points and essence of all these without any redundancies. So it is like the idea that maybe it’s unnecessary to teach what has been taught in many tantras as of course it’s said in the different tantras but these are all scatter about and so one has to gather all of them and summarize them in brief. So this is described only Fifty Verses that that contains all the essential points. so Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan described it this way. By saying it is basically the same as a having bad what should we do it explain the way to follow the guru this is not words, you should listen with great respect as this encourages listener. Regarding this topic of how to serve the guru, the author himself it’s not just something he made up, it’s not where he just put down everything he could think of. He didn’t write down his every thought in order to show that this is something we can have confidence it says that it has been described in many stainless tantras. So it’s saying that he’s summarizing this if you ask what tantras it comes from? These are taught below.
Je Tsongkhapa’s explanation of the tantric sources
Basically in his commentary on every stanza, Je Tsongkhapa himself writes down which Tantra it comes from. He takes each stanza of these and he read searched through all the tantras, and he gave the sources for each of these different tantras, so in this way his commentary is actually quite special very different than any other.
So if it’s said in many different tantras you might think and if you read those tantras themselves it will be fine so there’s no reason for you to write this. Of course it is taught in many different tantras but for one they’re very long, or the order is mixed up, or they’re scattered throughout the tantras. So I’ve just compiled them brief and I rearranged the order so that they’re in the proper order and I’ll explain them. So it’s not that it’s pointless or useless. So that teaches the pledge to compose.
3) The actual part of the text
Following this is the actual part of the text. I think it’s best to use the topics according to Je Tsongkhapa. The other day when I taught in Chinese, I used these topics according to Tsongkhapa, so I think it’s probably best for me to just teach according to those.
So what it says in Drogon Chogyal’s outline it talks about the introductory points related to the composition, the actual main part of the composition, and the concluding parts of the composition. So here if we combine this with Tsongkhapa’s, then this is presenting the actual explanation of the text itself, and it’s talking about the way to present the guru, the time to explain the guru and how to follow the guru.
Why we need to venerate and consider the guru so important
When it comes to the actual part way to rely on the guru, we have an overview of how to follow the guru and a detailed explanation. The has what is logical to venerate the guru, why we need to venerate the guru. Why so we need to consider the guru so important? And it has how to show respect. The second one is how to show the respect the ways that we should the respect. The third one is examining the one to be respected and the one who respects them. So what are the characteristics or qualifications that a guru should have, and so forth. So today what we’ll speak about is why it is logical to venerate the guru? what are the reasons why we should venerate the guru?
I don’t need to read the Sanskrit here. I’ll read the Tibetan.
“In the three times, the Tathagatas, who dwell in world realms in the ten directions. Prostrate to vajra masters who have received the supreme empowerment.”
The reason why we consider the guru so important and significant is taught here. We talk about the greatness of the guru, the greatness of the master, the reason why the master is important this is taught here.
First, to explain this according to the Sanskrit commentary in the Tengyur on the Difficult Points of Serving the Guru. It is not so important to read every word of the Sanskrit commentary but will give you the main points and the meaning.
The meaning of the words ‘ supreme empowerment’
It teaches that the word abhisheka/wangkur/empowerment means cleansing/washing, because the empowerment washes away the external stains of the body. When sayingsupreme (chog), what that means is the foremost. In terms of being the cause of reaching the supreme result, it is the foremost of the Supreme so it is Supreme means foremost because it is the cause of reaching the Supreme result.
So when you put these two together to make supreme empowerment (wangkur chog), it means it is the cause for achieving the unexcelled result. There are two explanations for this, one of these explanations is that you can understand this is all empowerments. So abhisheka refers to all empowerments because they all achieve the supreme result. So it can refer to all the empowerments of the secret mantra Vajrayāna.
Another explanation is that it is supreme among empowerments. So there are many different empowerments, the secret, prajñā and wisdom but the supreme, or the pinnacle of them is the fourth empowerment, the word empowerment. So it should be understood as the fourth empowerment, the precious word empowerment. So when talking about the supreme empowerment this could be understand either as all the empowerments of Secret Mantra, or it can be referred to as the fourth empowerment, the precious word empowerment.
The meaning of the word ‘receive/attain’
The word ‘receive’ (thob) means that these vajrayana masters of the secret mantra who were qualified have received the supreme empowerment, they have already received it and they have those qualities because they have received/attained the supreme empowerment.
The meaning of the words ‘vajra master’
In the Sanskrit commentary, there are two different explanations for the term Vajrācarya (Dorje Lopon), which means the vajra master. The first is when vajra means the conduct (tul-zhug) of Vajradhara, it’s like the conduct of vajra because they’re engaging in that conduct then they are a vajra Master because they’re dwelling within the conduct and discipline of the vajra, so they’re the vajra master. So that’s one explanation.
Alternatively, the vajra means the non-dual wisdom awareness, the inseparable wisdom and compassion. It is this non-dual primordial awareness (yeshe) that cannot be split or broken by any other thing. So it is similar to a vajra and because of this it is called a vajra.
As they introduce and lead students to that path of non-dual awareness and make them engage in the path for it, they are vajra masters. So this is another way explaining the vajra master, which says that the non-dual awareness means the vajra, and master means they guide the students who are appropriate vessels down this path, they bring them and make them engage in it. Therefore, they are vajra masters. These are two different explanations of the vajra master.
The meaning of the words ‘tathagatas’
As for the word Tathagatas (Dezhin Shegpa), we use this word all the time and there are two different ways to explain the word Tathagata, according to the Sanskrit commentary. One is that in all times in all ways and everything, they know everything knowable, and they know this correctly. They know all phenomena in all times in all ways, like a piece of fruit in the palm of their hand, they know how you should proceed down the path and they have gone down that path. Therefore they have gone down the path and so we need to follow that path down to Enlightenment they followed this path to enlightenment and they understand this and they have gone down it. That’s one explanation of the words Tagata.
Another way of explaining it is that they speak exactly as appropriate according to the intentions of these students, or they know what their family and what their time and so on, they know what Dharma they can teach to those, the Dharma that is appropriate to them. Because they know this, they can teach according to their own individuals’ inclinations, capacities and their interests. Since they teach the Dharma according to that and from that respect they’re called the Tathagata. In any case, Tathagata is another word for Buddha, so these are two different explanations of the word Tathagata.
The meaning of the words ‘ten directions’ and ‘dwell in the world realms’
When you say in the ten directions (chog chu), it means the four of east, south, west, and north. In addition to that you have the northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast, these are the four intermediate directions. In addition you have the above and below so there are ten directions.
So then it says ‘the world realms’ (jigten/lokā), this should be understood as the pure realms of all the Buddhas, such as Sukhavati. When it says “who dwell in the world Realms”and the impure ones such as this world. There are all the pure and impure Rrealms and he is saying “who dwell in the world realms” and this means the Buddhas who dwell in the world realms and the ten directions. So you’ve got all the world realms in the ten directions and the four directions, the eight intermediate, the above and below, all the buddhas who dwell in all these world realms.
The meaning of ‘in the three times’ and ‘actually prostrate’
Then it says’ in three times’ (du sum) and this means here in this context it does not mean the three times of past present and future, instead here it means morning, in the midday, and in the afternoon. So there are those three times. It means that the Buddhas come and prostrate here in these three times the Buddhas of the ten directions actually come and they prostrate. So for that reason we say that they prostrate, or actually prostrate.
So the main point here is that all the gurus all the Buddhas of the ten directions come in the morning and at midday and the afternoon, in the three times to the Vajra master and so even the Buddhas of the ten directions and prostrate to them. But then there’s a doubt that comes up here. Generally if you think about it normally is the guru, the vajra master, whoever it is that they really should be prostrating to the Buddhas. So why would the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions, why do they prostrate to the guru? The Buddhas are someone whom we should prostrate to, it’s not that they should prostrate to us. So what is the reason for that?
The Indian commentary gives two reasons. Here we are talking about a guru or the master of the secret Vajrayana, a qualified Guru we’re not talking about just any vajra master but a qualified master as the basis. So why do all the Buddhist and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions prostrate to such a master? There are two reasons. The first is that the guru is the body of Vajradhara, the qualified Guru is inseparable from Vajradhara, so for this reason they prostrate him.
The second reason is that the Vajradhara is the nature of all the Tathagatas. So Vajradhara is inseparable from the nature of all the Tahatgatas/Buddhas and the ten directions, in that respect and they prostrate to the guru.
This topic is described more in the 22nd stanza of this text, it says the students should not consider the Masters different from Vajradhara. So this is described in detail in that passage, which I won’t speak about it now.
In any case when talking about viewing the guru as a Buddha, when we think of the guru as being an actual Buddha and one has the idea that the guru is an actual Buddha and having the faith, when we say that it’s important to have the faith and devotion the guru as being the actual Buddha, this is taught in many Tantras, not just one or two but it’s taught in many different ways.
How do Buddhas and Bodhisattvas view a qualified vajra master? Inseparable from the Bodhicitta Vajra
To give an example of this from the Guhyasamāja Tantra in the 17th chapter, I don’t need to read all the words, it says the Bodhisattva Noble Manjushri went to prostrate to all the Tagatas and he asked a question, “Bhagavan, so how do all the Tagatas and all the Buddhas view a vajra master who has given empowerments of the Guhyasamāja, how do all the Tathagatas and Bodhisattvas how do they view such a master? Then all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and all the Tagatas in the ten Directions said “Son of noble family all Tathagatas and all Bodhisattvas, view them as being the bodhicitta vajra itself (Jangchub Sem Dorje Nyi)”.
So the guru who is empowered and gives empowerments as Guru Guhyasamāja, a qualified Guru who gives the empowerment of Guhyasamāja, is seen by all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas seen as the bodhicitta vajra itself. This is how you should view them. The term bodhicitta vajra, I will explain that meaning later. The point is you have to see them as being the bodhicitta vajra, you shouldn’t see them as an ordinary being. The reason for this is that vajra and the master are not two and cannot be divided into two. The reason is that the qualified secret mantra Guru is inseparable you can’t separate them. They are in inseparable, indivisible in essence. So for this reason that’s why they pay respect them.
“Son of noble family, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who dwell and live and reside in the worlds of the ten directions, no matter how many there, come to that Vajra master in the three times, (morning, midday, and evening) and they offer to the vajra master. After they had made the offerings then they each return to their own Buddha realm. Once they’ve returned there they say they are the fathers of all tathagatas, the mothers of all the Buddhas, and the teachers of all Tathagatas.”
So they say this Guru, the Vajra Master is the father of all Tathagatas, they are the mother of all Tathagatas, they are the teacher of all Tathagatas. They praise the guru in this way and recite these words celebrating the guru.
At this point, Je Tsongkhapa recites and explains this here, by citing the 70th chapter of the Guhyasamāja tantra, the person who’s giving the empowerment of Guhyasamāja. However, it does not have to be the empowerment of Guhyasamāja, the same can also be said for other Tantras, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the one who gives you Guhyasamāja, it means a qualified secret mantra guru who gives empowerment from any tantra who has those qualities.
As for the words ‘bodhicitta vajra’, this is talking about the vajra master who has received the supreme empowerment, the root text of the Guhyasamāja tantra teaches it in this way. That it means one must view the guru as inseparable from Vajradhara.
Even ordinary vajra masters are prostrated to by the Tathagatas – Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan’s commentary
In Jetsun Dragpa Gyeltsan’s commentary it explains why we should view the guru as very precious and important. They are not ordinary beings, as we do not need to prostrate to ordinary beings. Even when the master is an ordinary being, the tathagatas prostrate to them. As they prostrate to such an ordinary being, we should also do so. He explains this according to the four different tantras, four different ways of explaining according to the four different tantras. The first is talking about the Kriya Tantra, the Vajra Shisha Tantra.
According to that: “the vajra masters have received the supreme empowerment” means the Buddha Dīpaṃkara[1]. We should understand the supreme empowerment, as meaning the vajra-like samadhi, because they’ve achieved the vajra-like samadhi. This should be understood then as the Buddha Dīpaṃkara who has achieved that vajra-like samadhi, or the state of Buddhahood.
By pleasing this Buddha Dīpaṃkara, one achieves the supreme empowerment. Actually this Vajra Master Dīpaṃkara is the teacher of all the Buddhas in this fortunate eon. When Shakyamuni was the King Surrodhata and the King Gunovad, the Tathagata Dīpaṃkara was the Bodhisattva Shutantara. He was the master who gave Shakyamuni the bodhisattva vows, this is when Shakyamuni first aroused Bodhicitta. Later when he attained full awakening, he was a teacher for Shakyamuni and all the other Buddhas of the fortunate eon.
So all the Tathagatas of this fortunate eon who have appeared, who will appear such as Shakyamuni and all the others in all the worlds and in the ten directions, prostrate to this Dīpaṃkara and they’ll come to him in the three times morning, noon, and night and prostrate to him. So what need to mention the future students or ordinary individuals who should do so? The future students should follow the example of the masters of the past. So all the Buddhas of the past, and all the other Masters, just as all the Buddhas of the past paid homage to the Buddha Dīpaṃkara, then it’s not necessary to mention that in the future all those who are ordinary individuals should also pay homage. So this is according to the Kriya Tantra, Vajra Shisha Tantra.
The second explanation is according to the Mayasamvara Tantra. So according to the Mayasamvara Tantra, the ‘supreme empowerment’ means someone who’s achieved the vajra master empowerment. So here when we say the vajra master empowerment, we talk about the empowerment according to the Mayasamvara Tantra, and the supreme empowerment is the complete vajra master empowerment.
Receiving that empowerment as an ordinary student from an ordinary master. So the master is an ordinary individual, the student is an ordinary sentient being. That Master who’s an ordinary individual gives the students who are individuals the initiation such as the vajra master. Once he’s given them, the master makes sure that the student then knows the ten suchnesses and so forth. Then they become able to pay benefit beings by teaching the Dharma and so forth. So then they become the vajra master. So we talk about the vajra master who has an ordinary individual who has all the qualifications of a vajra master and the Tagatas paying homage means that Bodhisattvas prostrate to them.
So the Tagatas paying homage means that they prostrate to bodhicitta. Tathagatas prostrate to them say the way that they prostrate is that the bodhisattvas prostrate to this Vajra master who is an ordinary individual. So this is the same as the Tathagatas paying homage, and the reason for this is that the bodhisattvas have on their heads, the five tathagatas, the five families and so forth as their Lord of their families. Most of them have as their Crown ornaments the Tathagatas of the five families. So when the Bodhisattvas prostrate then the Tathagatas who are in the crowns of the also are prostrating.
In brief, the bodhisattvas dwelling in the worldly realms of the ten directions whose heads are adorned with the five families, actually prostrate to the Masters or ordinary individuals, then they say you’re a great being “Oh excellent, excellent. We Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, our activity is to benefit sentient beings and you’re doing that activity that we Buddhas are supposed to do. So this is excellent.” They say and prostrate to them.
So this is the explanation according to the Mahayamsavara Tantra. So it’s kind of the similar as before. So the bodhisattvas are prostrating, it’s fine for them to prostrate to an ordinary individual vajra master it is okay. Actually, Vajrasattva really should prostrate to a great Bodhisattva, it’s not like a Bodhisattva should prostrate to a vajra master, as an ordinary being. So in order to do this the explanation that is given is that the bodhisattvas prostrate because they are pleased. The beginning of their prostration is when they are pleased, they are thinking that they want to bring all sentient beings to Buddhahood. So they’re pleased and they begin to prostrate for that reason. The bodhisattvas prostrate because the sentient beings have roused bodhicitta and once they’ve roused bodhicitta, they need to benefit sentient beings. If one says: “I’m just going to benefit beings and just leave it as an aspiration”, that’s not enough, you need to actually engage in the activity of benefiting sentient beings, you should not just have aspirational bodhicitta you also should have engaged bodhicitta. You have to rouse engaged bodhicitta and train in the trainings of engaged bodhicitta.
So the vajra master themselves is giving them ripening empowerments. They’re teaching Dharma and giving consecrations and so forth, they’re benefiting so many sentient beings right? Because they’re benefiting so many sentient beings, they’re reducing the burden of benefiting sentient beings that the bodhisattvas have to carry. It’s really difficult for the bodhisattvas who have a really heavy burden of benefiting sentient beings, it is like this huge burden they’re carrying, benefiting all sentient beings. So it’s like there’s a big load on their back. When that load is made a little bit lighter by these vajra masters or ordinary individuals, they do whatever they can to benefit beings. Because of doing this they’re decreasing the Bodhisattvas’ load just a little bit. Because it’s decreased, then they’re like the helpers and perform the activity of bodhisattvas. Because they’re so helpful and beneficial. For that reason the bodhisattvas prostrate to them.
For example, if there’s a family where they have two parents, they have a lot of children when you have so many different children, like 10 or 20 children and they can’t raise all the children of their own. So they give some to their relatives, to their brothers and sisters and say “I can’t take care of this child.” I can’t take this one so you please help us, and they give each of their relatives a different child and send them to their relatives to be with them. Then the family members raise them with love and when they’ve grown up, then they return the children to their parents. Then the parents say we’ve raised your children; they have grown up and so now we’re giving them back to you they say when they give them back then the two parents are delighted. The parents say to their relatives, “It is just so kind to help our raise our children and so because of that they’ve been able to be raised and you have reduced the burden of my own difficulties, this is really kind of you to do this. So they’re just like from the depths of the heart they are remembering them and say thank you and give them presents and thanks.
Similarly, when the master is an ordinary sentient being, however they do whatever they can according to their capacities to benefit sentient beings and so the bodhisattvas’ workload is decreased, the burden is decreased an they’ve done a great thing to help sentient beings and so the bodhisattvas come and say thank you very much. This is wonderful that’s why you say thank you, they say they’re worthy of joining palms and worthy of respect.
In any case, this is their understanding of prostrating to Vajra Masters who are ordinary individuals. Sometimes we don’t understand this properly it can be kind of uncomfortable. So this is saying why is it why ordinary sentient beings who are Vajra Masters are worthy of prostration from bodhisattvas. Therefore if the tenth level bodhisattvas prostrateto qualified vajra masters who are ordinary individuals, what need is there to mention that ordinary students should prostrate of course they should. This is what it is teaching here. This comes from the explanation according to the Mayasamvara Tantra.
Explanation from the Guhyasamāja and the Vajra Panjara tantras: students return to repay the kindness of their ‘lazy’ guru
Then Jetsun Dragpa teaches the explanation from the Guhyasamāja and the Vajra Panjara tantras together. Jetsun Dragpa describes them together, he describes the third and the fourth tantras together. The way he describes them is that the Guhyasamāja and Vajrapanjara tantras, Vajrapanjara is the explanatory Tantra for the Hevajra Tantra and it says when we talk about the Supreme empowerment this is the complete four empowerments.
The vajra master means this is an ordinary individual who is kind of lazy, ordinary individual but they are a vajra master of course, but they’re a little bit lazy. So the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas who dwell in the world realms of the ten directions, of the three times, when they first went to their master and from the very beginning they achieved the empowerment from their Master, once they received that they practiced with extreme diligence, so that student awoke to the Buddhahood first. Before the master awoke the students these are the tathagatas of the ten directions. They were really diligent and so they received the empowerment to that, then as they practiced with extreme diligence they awake to Buddhahood first.
As explained in the First Council, Ananda had memorized all the sutras but hadn’t reached empowerment and there were some students that he taught that became Arhats before the guru achieved it, the students did. In the same way, if one has a guru who’s a little bit lazy, they are unable to achieve Buddhahood but if you have a qualified student then because of receiving the empowerment from that vajra master and they practice diligently, then the students can awaken to Buddhahood first. As the Vajra master has less diligence they haven’t yet awoken to Buddhahood. But the students who have achieved Buddhahood, in order to repay the guru’s kindness, they come from the ten directions and Buddha realms and they actually prostrate to them.
The Buddhist masters of the past, the Buddhist masters of the present so the reason this is why they said “we are like the father, the mother of the guru and so the reason for prostrating is to repay their kindness once they’ve achieved Buddhahood.” There’s really no particular reason to prostrate but in the past because they achieved the empowerment from the guru and because of achieving that empowerment they practiced the path and because of practicing the path they achieved Buddhahood in order to repay the kindness of previously having received the empowerment, they prostrate to the guru. This is the explanation of the commentary on the Fifty Verses.
According to Je Tsongkhapa’s commentary, in general, in relation to the word ’empowerment’, there is the causal ripening empowerment, liberating path empowerment, the liberating the result empowerment but here it means the first the causal ripening empowerment. So the guru who has received this causal empowerment of ripening, the reason for this is we’re talking about the student paying respect and homage to the master who has received causal empowerment that ripens.
Supreme here means that it’s pure, an empowerment that was given exactly as was taught in the tantras and because of that then this is like a pure ritual and because according to the practices taught in the Tantras and that is why it’s called pure.
There is also a commentary on the Sambodhi Tantra by Jigme Chonye Bepa that talks about the meaning of ‘vajra master’. This is from the Heads of the Grain Pith Instructions. There are forty different instructions and this is the fifth one. It says:
“Vajra means Bodhicitta and the one who displays worldly and transcendent conduct because of having that nature is the vajra master, the guru.”
Vajra should be understood as bodhicitta and the one who displays and taught the worldly and transcendent paths with bodhicitta, is the vajra master, or Guru. So the tathagatas dwelling in the ten directions come to such a master in the three periods of the morning, the midday, in the afternoon during these three times to prostrate to them. If the Buddhas prostrate to the vajra master with such respect, what need is there to mention that other students who are ordinary individuals should pay great respect also.
At this point, he quotes from the seventeenth chapter from the Guhyasamāja that we mentioned before. He also explains it according to the tenth chapter of the Net of Illusion Tantra and also according to Chandrakirti, Chilupa, Shantipa and Vimalagupta. He says that this is literally the explanation that they give. So he’s following the intent of these and says I’m following them.” So the quotation in the tantras is basically the same as the explanation of Chandrakirti, Chilupa, Shantipa and Vimalagupta.
‘Supreme’ means ‘unchanging bliss of mahamudra: Explanation in the Stainless Light Kalacakra commentary
However, there’s a different explanation of this in the Stainless Light Kalacakra, which gives two interpretations according to the definitive and the interpretive (expedient) meanings. So there are two different explanations of this text. This is talking about an ordinary being who’s a student who needs to pay respect to a Vajra master and why they need to prostrate. So it is saying that if you combine this with some other explanation then it’s not right for the context. There are many different ways of explaining each of the words of the tantra so I don’t think there’s any contrary.
In any case when you talk about the Supreme, basically Tsongkhapa is saying that there the two explanation interpretations: definitive and expedient given in the Stainless Light commentary on the Kalachakra. The reason is that the Supreme empowerment means the Supreme vajra Master is the Buddha Vajrasattva who received the Manifest the Supreme of the four empowerments, the unchanging bliss of mahamudra.
So the Vajra master who has achieved this supreme of the four empowerments, the enchanting bliss of mahamudra is Buddha Shakyamuni. So Buddha Shakyamuni is the Supreme master and so the Bodhisattvas of the ten directions prostrate to them at the three times. At that time the bodhisattvas of the three times prostrate to them and when they’re prostrating the three times now this becomes the Tathagatas prostrating it’s because the aggregates of the bodhisattvas are called the tathagatas. The five aggregates become the five tagatas. There is this way of explaining that each of the five aggregates by one of the five tagatas, or because the tagatas sit on their head crowns as the Lords of their families when the bodhisattvas prostrate to the Buddha Shakyamuni, then the tathagata on the crowns of their heads as well as the five aggregates also are prostrating to the Buddhas and so for this reason, it can be explained in this fashion.
The Tathagata is prostrating to the master who achieved supreme empowerment. In any case this expedient meaning is that is that the supreme empowerment is supreme for achieving the unchanging Bliss of mahamudra. This is achieving this actual high empowerment now in order it explains according to the expedient meaning the students body is called the world realms of the 10 directions and likewise the five and also there their five aggregates are called by the names of the five tagatas. So this is to show that the students prostrate to the guru who gives them the supreme empowerment.
So this verse can be talked about in terms of the definitive meaning and the expedient meaning. the definitive meaning means that the guru has achieved the actual fourth empowerment, the unchanging bliss of mahamudra. The expedient meaning is talking about the vajra master who achieved the supreme empowerment, the vajra master.
Mipham Rinpoche’s Commentary on Kalacakra
In Mipham Rinpoche’ws great commentary on the Kālacakra, there is something he said which is a really important point, that there are people who, forget about actually receiving an empowerment, they don’t even have the transmission of it. They’re really greedy for the samaya substances and they have a lot of attachment to and greed for material things. They think that if they give the empowerment, they will get a lot of patrons. So they say they are like a vajra master and they pretend to be a vajra master and they pour the water from the vase onto people’s heads. There is no certainty that anyone who can pour water on someone’s head is an actual Buddha. The basic point is that putting the vase on somebody’s head is not what makes you a guru and there’s no certainty that you achieve the prostration from the Buddhas when you do that, and that the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas are going to give prostrations. When you talk about who is going to receive the prostrations, you need a qualified Vajra Master, one who has the qualifications as taught in the tantras. So if you have a qualified guru with all those qualifications then that is someone who is considered worthy of receiving the prostrations from all the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas of the three times. It is not just anyone who can say that they’re a vajra master and place a vase on everyone’s head.
Another thing that Mipham Rinpoche says, “in this time of thick delusions, there are many fake gurus, many charlatans. They don’t think about sentient beings, they don’t think about teachings, and they try to deceive many sentient beings. They deceive foolish students who are not that clever they don’t really know what’s going on, they want to fool many of these students. There are a lot of these charlatans who are deceitful.
Because of this, at the beginning you have to determine whether the guru is qualified or not. When you’ve been introduced to whether the guru is qualified and you have recognized them as such and then you follow them. It is not that anyone who is a guru and say it’s not something that you don’t listen to everything that anyone says, If you believe that anyone who says they are a guru that thinks their words are the words of the buddha then you get to see, you must be very careful about that. So this guru is so important, but later when we look at it, when we talk about a guru, the guru that we should consider to be so important it’s not just anyone who’s given the name lama. It is not someone who is known around the world as being a great lama. It’s something you have to look with your own intelligence. You have to get some knowledge about them to see if are they good or not. You need to really hone your understanding and get to an appropriate level of understanding. That is what we mean as a guru, you should not just follow anyone. It’s not like that with everyone who you should call guru, and it’s not you should follow anyone who calls themselves a guru.
“Bodhisattvas in need of a driver will be driven by the Buddha”
Next, Je Tsongkhapa gives a quotation from the Sri ParamantaSarva Tantra. There’s also a companion to it, this is not connected with the Vajrayana, which is a text that compiles the texts from Atisha’s companion to the sutras. It gathers quotations from many sutras and it is called Atisha’s Compendium of the Sutras. In this there’s a quote from the Sutra the Heap of Jewels in which the Buddha says to Ananda that: if there is a bodhisattva, riding in a carriage and enjoying and delighting in five sensory pleasures, the way they look they are sitting in a carriage and enjoying all these different sensory pleasures of form, sound, scent, taste and touch and so forth. They are enjoying themselves, eating nice food and wearing beautiful clothes and surrounded by many beautiful people, and enjoying these five senses. The way it looks is that they’re enjoying the five sensory pleasures but in actuality they’re bodhisattvas. They’re going in this carriage and need a driver for the carriage right? If there’s no driver the carriage is not going to go. So the Buddha said: “If there’s no other driver for the carriage then Ananda listen, the Tathagathas will place that Bodhisattva’s Carriage on their head and drive it. If you understand what is meant by that bodhisattva’s carriage, when you don’t find any other driver, then the Buddha themselves will be the driver of the carriage.”
What this is showing us is that you have an actual bodhisattva who benefits sentient beings, their image might look like an ordinary sentient being, but in actuality if they’re a bodhisattva, then if they don’t have a driver for the carriage, the Buddha will actually come and drive it for them. This is basically what it’s saying. It’s the same logic or the same reasoning according to Tsongkhapa’s commentary.
[1] Buddha Dipankara is one of the Buddhas of the past. He is said to have lived on Earth four asankheyyas and one hundred thousand kappas ago. According to some Buddhist or folk traditions, Dipankara was a previous Buddha who attained Enlightenment eons prior to Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha.