OFFERING “EVERYTHING ONE OWNS” (AND THE “UNGIVEABLE”) TO A QUALIFIED VAJRAYANA GURU:Making offerings, the first of the eight ways to serve a guru, including offering one’s spouse, children, possessions and life, the importance of being a qualified, receptive student, and rejecting an unqualified guru (17th Karmapa, Fifty Verses on the Guru, Day 6, 2025)

“Son of noble family, in order to achieve the omniscient wisdom, a bodhisattva absolutely must receive realization from an authentic spiritual friend. In seeking a spiritual friend, never become weary/depressed. Never be satisfied with how much you see/look at a spiritual friend. Hold respectfully the teachings of the spiritual friend. Never be hostile/angry toward the spiritual friend’s skilful conduct.”—Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra (སྡོང་པོ་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ)

“In brief, when the Fifty Verses on the Guru says that we need to make offerings and not be disrespectful and do whatever they tell us, it is speaking about an authentic guru, about a Guru that has the essential characteristics. It does not apply to everyone who has been given the name guru/lama. We need to understand this clearly.”

“If they [the guru] are proud, overpowered by anger, voracious for things, and devoid of learning. They are intent on deceiving their students, their minds have fallen from their vows, they have not received the empowerment. If they are completely attached to enjoyments, careless, harsh in spirit and words, and desirous of sensory pleasures, students should reject them as a cause of perfect awakening, just as they would reject hell.”

“When you have an authentic guru, there also has to be an authentic student. It is not just talking about the qualifications for the guru. The student cannot just be anyone who goes to the guru. Just as a guru must have a lot of qualities, then the student also has to have a lot of different qualities. The student has to have a wish for liberation from samsara, faith in the dharma, devotion for the guru, and only think about achieving liberation and omniscience and have no thought for accomplishing the aims of this life. That is what the student should be like. If you have that type of guru and student, if they are both authentic and they come/meet together, there is no need to tell the student that they have to give everything to the guru, they are just going to naturally want to give that to them.” –17th Karmapa (Day 6, 2025)

Introduction

In Day 6 of the Fifty Verses on the Guru, the 17^th Karmapa continued with his explanation of how to serve and be respectful to a qualified guru, focusing on the first way, out of eight: making offerings.

First, the 17th  Karmapa emphasised that many people might think a guru is only essential in secret mantra Vajrayana. However, the Mahayana Sutras also talk about the importance of a teacher. However, even though a teacher is also important in the other Buddhist paths, in secret mantra Vajrayana, without serving a guru there is really no point to listening to the teachings, and doing the secret mantra rituals and practices. Some people may think having an actual guru is not relevant these days, but it is still absolutely essential.

The Karmapa then spoke about how most of the focus goes on finding a qualified guru, yet not so much is spoken about the qualities and suitability of the student. But a student cannot just be anyone either. The reasons there are very few genuine master-student relationships is because there are also no suitable students who do not have the essential qualities of a receptive student, and who do not know how to make a proper connection with a guru. That it is more like a connection of a teacher and follower, or sponsor, or as  biased faction or group who likes that particular guru.

Also, the 17^th Karmapa referred to how people easily say they offer body, speech, and mind to a guru in mandala offering, but they do not really do that, and cannot give up their possessions, or every part of themselves to the guru such as their children, spouse, body and so on. Again, the Karmapa emphasised that offering is only for a guru who has the qualities required. He also cites the Kalacakra Tantra on the qualities a guru should not have at all, and if they do , one should abandon them as if one would reject hell! (Here is a video clip I made of that particular teaching, with English subtitles).

There was also an interesting discussion of what samaya means in this context, how it is given and who it is with, and what it means to keep it: keeping Bodhicitta (love and compassion) and the vows of the five Buddha families.

However, when and authentic guru and student meet, there will be no force or pressure required or needed, the student will naturally want to give it all to the guru like that. He then related an example in Tibet of a student who wanted to get the Kālacakra teachings, who as well as offering gold,  literally put a leash around their neck like a dog, and offered himself to the guru like that. However, the Karmapa said that offering oneself or one’s most precious things, and the “ungiveable”, should never be done by force though, or pressure from a guru. If the student and guru are both authentic and qualified, the student will naturally hand over themselves and all they own and so on naturally. Here is a video clip I made of that section of the teaching.

The 17th Karmapa ended with some stories of how great practitioners in Tibet had mended broken samaya with offerings. Although he said there were few that had offered their spouses and children, other than the famous one of King Trisong Detsen offering Yeshe Tsogyel to Guru Padmasambhava.  He concluded with a final story about Marpa and Milarepa, and a letter that Milarepa had faked to get some teachings from one of Marpa’s greatest students, Lama Ngogpa. Also, how (despite having been offered huge material offerings) Marpa had insisted that Ngogpa also give him his old nanny goat, that was not much use to anyone, just to show Marpa he was willing to literally give everything he owned and appreciated the importance of these sacred Vajrayana teachings.

Personal Observations

This reminded me of how I also offered myself completely to the 17th Karmapa a few years ago, including those things and my life itself. It was not forced by him, but came naturally out of devotion, respect and wanting to serve. Since that time, I have done as best I can to offer and serve him with all my body, speech, and mind as much as time and capacity allows[i]. I may not have done so perfectly or without fault, but I have done so with a pure heart, of passion, devotion and love (and still do, despite how challenging it has been to keep  samaya with him for a variety of reasons) the love (which is the root of samaya, as is compassion) has kept it afloat and stopped it from becoming destroyed and lost, as has the vajra samaya power of the Karmapa himself.

It was also interesting to note that some of the verses  in the texts on the Fifty Verses, refer to the dangers of disrespecting and not offering to the guru as bringing on epidemics and calamities.  The time of COVID epidemic and lockdown came almost the same time as the 17^th Karmapa’s issues publicly came to a head, as we say. Is it possible that this horrific epidemic was caused by such a horrendous general disrespect to an authentic guru, some of which I detailed here before? Including from exile Gelugpa-biased Tibetans, the Thaye Dorje faction, and the Karmapa’s Karma Kagyu close associates who never followed his advice of abandoning eating slaughtered animals?

As I finished this transcript, the music of a classic track Everything I Own by Bread (that my parents used to play when I was a child) entered my mind, “I would give everything I own just to have you back again…..” but then I thought, I already did give everything, and maybe the guru never ever left. With that bittersweet, lamenting note, I wept some tears and felt gratitude for never being separated deep in my heart from (or from the diamond “vajra leash” of) the guru at all times, regardless of time and circumstance. Then another track came into my mind, one of complete devotion and giving, “I Wanna Be Yours”, as I played it , the guru came to me and completely enraptured, used and accepted by body, speech and mind inseparably, until the emotion became unbearably blissfully one. An aching song for an aching heart.

Music? I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkey, Everything I Own by Bread, and  All of Me by John Legend.

Written and transcribed by Adele Tomlin, 11th April 2025.

 Fifty Verses on the Guru teaching by 17^th Karmapa Day 6 (2025)

Transcript

“The importance of a guru in secret mantra and other Buddhist paths

“When speaking about a guru many people think that this is an issue about secret mantra. They think it has to be something to do with secret mantra. That when we talk about following a spiritual friend it is only a matter for secret mantra. When we use the word guru, of course that may well be a term in secret mantra. But when we talk about following a guru, a spiritual friend, if we think about that term, it is not just the secret mantra. In Buddhism in general, it is extremely important to follow a guru or spiritual friend.  In particular, in the Mahayana Sutras the spiritual friend is extremely important and it is very important that we all understand this.

Also, there are some people these days who think that the ways taught in the Fifty Verses and other texts about following a guru is from some older, better time but that these days when we talk about the Fifty Verses, they think there is no point to studying the Fifty Verses and there is not much benefit to doing so.

There may be people who think that, but when you speak like that what we need to think is that in terms of the secret mantra, if we think there is no hope of having such a guru, then there is basically no hope for the secret mantra Vajrayana.  Similarly, if we hold pujas, meditate, and do retreat and there is no hope of finding a guru, there is no hope of being able to do those either. It is like there is no point. As long as there are secret mantra Vajrayana and Mahayana teachings, following a guru is extremely important. Also, we can say this is said in the Buddha’s words and the teachings of scholars and practitioners not just once, but over and over again, this is very clear.

The importance of a student being qualified and suitably receptive: renunciation, faith and devotion

Normally, a lot of us think about whether the guru has the characteristics or not, whether they are a good lama or not. Usually, we often talk about this. But we basically never think, or talk about whether we ourselves are authentic or good students. We are always looking outside at someone else and saying, “are they good or bad?” We are thinking about whether that guru is good or bad. But it is not good for us to think about that. We need to turn our attention inside and look to see whether we ourselves are authentic, receptive and  good students. We need to check ourselves to see whether we are. Before we can place our hopes in anyone else it is important to make our own selves as good as we can.

So, these days, when we think about the connections between many gurus and students if we really examine it, it is not really a connection between a guru and a student, it is like the connection between a master and servant, or it is like the connection between a guru and a sponsor, or it is like because of bias or personal like, because there is a bias or faction, we think this is a good guru, this is my guru who is precious, we say. But there is hardly anyone who has an actual connection between the guru as a student, many are like that. We do not really know how to make a connection with the master as disciples, I think that is happens quite often. So, first of all, it is important for us to find the guru, and once we find one, we need to know how to follow them properly. This is extremely important.

Many Kadampa masters said that whether or not the dharma becomes the path or not, depends on whether we have renunciation, when we have the desire to achieve liberation, when we want to free ourselves from samsara. That is when the dharma starts to become the path. This is what they say right? Many Kagyu gurus taught that whether the dharma becomes the path or not, depends primarily on when you develop faith in an authentic guru or not. That is what you have to look for.

If one has an  authentic faith or a certain level of faith or genuine devotion, then only then does the path dharma become the path, dharma on the path. This is not only in terms of a private individual’s dharma practice becoming the path, no matter who the guru and the disciple are. When it is authentic and the connection between master and student accords with the dharma, this is a really important factor in the Buddhist teachings flourishing and the teachings remaining really beneficial. This connection does not just help a few people here or there, it has a great benefit for the Buddhist teachings in general.  So, it is really something that we need to consider carefully.

The Mahayana Sutras on following a guru

So today, we will first discuss how the old Kadampas taught about the importance of the spiritual friend when discussing the Mahayana Sutras in the teachings on the stages of path. For example, in the Bodhisattva Pitaka (འཕགས་པ་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད་ཅེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེགས་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།),  it says this in brief:

“Attaining and perfecting all the conduct of the bodhisattvas. Likewise, attaining and perfecting the transcendences, levels, forbearances, Samadhis, clairvoyances, confidence, dedications, aspirations, and all the qualities of the Buddhas, depend on the guru. They are based on the guru; they arise from the guru. The guru is their origin and cause. They are produced by the guru, increased by the guru. They depend on the guru, the guru is their cause.”

So, in brief, when you think about all of the qualities of the paths and levels depend upon the guru. What they come down to is the guru. They arise from the guru, it says right? For that reason, when the Kadampa masters taught how to follow the spiritual friend, they taught that following the guru is like the basis of the path.

When they spoke about how to follow the guru, not only do they teach about the methods taught in the Bodhisattva Pitaka, they also talk about the Fifty Verses on the Guru. So, I thought that while we are speaking about Fifty Verses that we should not only speak about what is said in the Fifty Verses but also about what the Mahayana Sutras say. If we know a little about that it is a little beneficial.

So, we can see how you follow the guru in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra (སྡོང་པོ་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ) and the tantras, both of them, not just the secret mantra.  I think sometimes we think that the guru is only important for the mantra practitioners. If you are not practicing tantra, then you might think there is no need for the guru. it is not like that. Whether we are talking about the sutras or the tantras, whether talking about the foundation or great vehicle, the spiritual friend is incredibly important. This is something that we need to really understand clearly.  There is a quote from Potowa:

“There’s nothing more important for achieving liberation than the guru.”

So, if you want to achieve the level of freedom from samsara, there is nothing more important than guru.

“Even when you think about the work of this life, it does not work without a teacher.”

So, if we are going to do something in this life, you are thinking if you know how to do them right? But when you are doing such work, you need to look for some sort of a teacher. You need to find someone with experience and get instructions from them.

“Let us say someone who has come from the lower realms arrives in a place they have never seen before, how can they do it without a guru?”

If one needs to learn something for the work of this lifetime, since most of us in our previous lives were in the lower realms, most of us have come from there. Very few of us have come from the higher realms. Most of us have come from the lower realms. For that reason, forget about the level of liberation, we have not even really got to the level of higher realms. And so, if we want to achieve the higher realms of liberation, we need to have a guru who can teach us the path. If we do not have a guru, how are we going to go there?

The Mahayana Sutras: the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra

Next, I would like to speak about how to respect a guru in terms of the Mahayana sutras, as I mentioned the other day, there are two things I want to speak about today. There are two aspects of following the guru in the Sutras.

The first is the five ways that Manjushri taught the youthful Sudhana, how to follow the guru. This is taught in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra (སྡོང་པོ་བཀོད་པའི་མདོ). [Transcriber’s note: this is a Buddhist Mahayana Sutra of Indian origin dating roughly c. 200 to 300 CE.  The term Gaṇḍavyūha is obscure and has been translated variously as Stem Array, Supreme Array, Excellent Manifestation].

 It is in one section of the Kangyur, that is one set of sutras. And within this section, there are many different sutras, and one of them there is the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra. You can say it is a chapter of the Avatamkara sutra, or you can say that it is a Mahayana sutra but within it, this Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra is extremely important because among all the Mahayana scriptures, when we are talking about how to follow a guru, the source that is always used is this Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra.

The other day, I spoke about how the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra speaks about the twenty-one ways of following the guru in terms of attitude. The sutra itself teaches about twenty-one but when the Compendium of Trainings quotes the sutra, they teach nine attitudes for following a guru. I spoke about those the other day, right?  Today, I would like to speak about following the guru in terms of actions, as they are taught in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra. So how noble Manjushri taught them to the youthful Sudhana, the merchant’s son. What are these five ways one should follow the spiritual friend? This is the quote from the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra:

“Son of noble family, in order to achieve the omniscient wisdom, a bodhisattva absolutely must receive realization from an authentic spiritual friend. In seeking a spiritual friend, never become depressed. Never be satisfied with how much you see/look at a spiritual friend. Accept/hold respectfully the teachings of the spiritual friend. Never be hostile/angry toward the spiritual friend’s skilful conduct.” Manjushri’s advice to Sudhana

In the Chinese translation it says:

The Five Ways of Following a Guru by Kadampa Master, Ney-u Zurpa

As for the meaning of these, here it is made easy by the Kadampa master, Ney-u Zurpa (sne-u zur-pa), a master of Gampopa, who was a very well-known Kadampa. He took these five ways of finding the guru and changed the order, corrected the translation and edited the words a bit. He taught it in this in order:

1. “Child of noble family never be weary when seeking a spiritual master.
2. Child of noble family, follow the spiritual friend for a long time.
3. Do as the spiritual friend instructs.
4. Achieve the realization of the spiritual friend.
5. Never be angry about the spiritual friend’s skilful conduct.

So, these words are a way of saying the teachings from the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra in an easier to understand way:

1. never be weary/depressed when seeking a spiritual master

The first of these is child, never be weary when seeking a spiritual master, means that at the times you are seeking an authentic guru, then you should seek them without ever being discouraged by sufferings of heat, cold, and so forth. Whatever happens you need to search for the good, true guru without ever getting discouraged.

2. follow the guru for a long time

The second when you follow a guru because all the quantities will increase and develop because of following a guru, one needs to follow the guru for a long time. You should not be satisfied just following the guru for a short time but one must follow the guru for a long time. This is very important.

3. do whatever the guru instructs you to do

The third is that you should do whatever the guru instructs you to do. No matter what dharma teachings are given, you need to practice it as they teach it.  And actually do the meditation practice. Otherwise, you will not receive any blessings. So therefore, during the meditation practice you need to actually put it into practice.

4. realize the intentions of their instructions

The fourth is that you must realize the intentions of their instructions. because when the guru gives the instructions, the dharma that the spiritual friend gives, then you need to be able to gain an understanding of this and understand the main points of what they are saying.

5. Do not be angry towards a spiritual friend’s of conduct

And sometimes we talk about not being angry towards a when you see the spiritual friends of conduct.

So, if you see them behaving in seemingly contradictory ways from benefiting beings, because sometimes to benefit some you have to do various things. it might seem like some are just contradictory. Some might be peaceful. Some might be more wrathful. These various ways have to happen. So, there are many different or a variety of ways. And when you see this variety of ways you should not lose faith in them, but instead feel faith.

So, these are the five ways on following the guru in terms of conduct, that are taught in the Gaṇḍavyūha Sutra, in an easier to understand way by the Neu Zurpa.

Four Ways to Serve the Guru as taught in the Ornament of Sutras

Next, as I mentioned yesterday, there are the four ways to serve,  or please the guru taught in the Ornament of Mahayana Sutras. So, these are the general four ways to serve the guru:

These are the words from the Ornament of the Sutras that Manjushri said.  So, the basic teaching of the four ways to serve the guru, not the five are, with respect, gifts, service and practice. Some say that it teaches three ,but at this point we are talking about the four ways of serving, as this is more common among the Kadampa masters.

Also, we have eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje’s teacher, Karma Trinleypa in his Chariot of the Karma Kamtsang who says that they teach us four ways of following the guru.  So in accordance with their literal meaning of the words, what are the four ways of following the teacher?

Geshe Sharawa explained it in this way, he says following the guru with gifts or making offerings, and respect or spreading the merit, service or removing obstacles, and producing causes and conditions.  These are the four ways of following the guru according to Geshe Sharawa.  Another way it is explained in the Kadampa tradition, although the main meaning is basically the same,  it is a little bit different. The reason is it says giving material objects with flexibility, without stubbornness or arrogance, honesty free of deception, practice without backsliding. These four are the ways one should follow the guru. I think these are also related to Maitreya’s explanation in the Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras.

Dagpo Gampopa on the ten Kadampa ways of following a guru

Now, if we want even more of ways, there are Gampopa’s great dharma talks. What he says is that there are ten dharmas, or ten qualities one has to have according to the Kadampa tradition. If you are following the guru,  when he talks about the ten qualities, these four that I mentioned before,  flexibility stubbornness, honesty and so on, most of these are there. But the one that is not, is the practice without backsliding.  The rest are all there.

Now, I would like to show you what Gampopa taught in his great Dharma talks about the ten qualities of the Kadampa:

According to the Kadampa tradition for following the guru.

1. follow the spiritual friend with faith that never becomes sad or depressed.
2. follow the spiritual friend with material things free of stinginess
3. Follow the spiritual friend with a superior thinking free of stains.
4. Follow the spiritual friend with prajñā free of delusion.
5. Follow the guru with devotion free of pride.
6. Follow the spiritual friend with service without hesitation.
7. Follow the spiritual friend with honesty free of deception.
8. Follow the spiritual friend with flexibility without stubbornness or arrogance.
9. Follow the spiritual friend with patience free of anger.
10. Follow the spiritual friend with the body of the deity and not an ordinary one.

In brief, when the student is following the Guru, you have to these ten qualities, or ten features. So, this was listed in the Gampopa’s Great Dharma talks, the Kadampa ways of following the guru.

Nyingma Tantras

However, very similar to that among the Nyingma tantras, there several nigma tantras in secret mantra,  and among them there is one called the Sutra the Assembly of Knowledge (Kundu Rigpai Do), and within that there is something very similar.

 “With faith that never goes away; With flexibility free of stubbornness or arrogance.

 With material defence free of stinginess; with service free of apprehension.
 With honesty free of deception; with integrity free of flattery
 With prajñā free of delusion; with altruism free of stains
 offer these attitudes to the exalted one.”

So, these are mostly the Kadampa teachings all included there. What is different is the integrity free of flattery (khasag mepai) is different. In any case this Sutra of Assembly of Knowledge teaches eight, the Kadampa teaches ten. The number is different and “integrity free of flattery” is  not found in the Kadampa. This is the only difference other than they are basically they are very similar right?

 Fifty Verses on the Guru: the first point Making Offerings

• Making Offering

Next, we have talked about the way to follow guru according to the Sutras in brief. Now, I will speak about how it is taught in the Fifty Verses on the Guru. Before we get to that I would like to look at the outline.  We are at the point on how to be respectful to the guru, which has eight points. We are on the first of these making offerings, and this has four different points.

These four (subtopics) of making offerings are:

• making offerings to purify disrespect
• offering everything one owns
• why this is reasonable and
• how to continually keep the three samayas.

Now according to the Pegar Lotsawa, the student of the 8^th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje,  this means primarily serving the Guru with gifts he said. While according to Lord Tsongkhapa, the first point is making offerings has these four different subtopics. So, when you talk about the making offerings taught in the Fifty Verses it said is that sometimes you first must follow a guru. Then, sometimes, if you are not careful you might get a little disrespectful. Then, at that point, in order to dispel any violations of samaya, then you make offerings to them.

The source for Lord Tsongkhapa to say this is a great commentary ? of 450 stanzas that explain this as a way to restore the faults of scorning the guru.   However, when we talk about making offerings for the guru It is not only for the sake of amending violations of samaya. It is also generally and usually very important. For example, one has to have an offering initially to the guru. You have to give an offering when you request dharma from the guru. When you have received dharma then make and offering in thanksgiving. And even later after that, one needs to make offerings repeatedly in order to repay the guru’s kindness. These are offerings to please the guru, in order to help fulfil the guru’s needs.

In brief, there are many different ways for gathering the accumulations for oneself and purifying your obscurations. There are many reasons for making offerings or serving the guru with gifts. Those are very important.

In particular, at this point as Lord Tsongkhapa says, when you are following the guru. if you have some sort of mistake or fault in the way you follow the guru, if you are disrespectful, then, at that point in order to restore your samaya then you need to make an offering. If you make that offering and then the guru is pleased, then you are able to remove that mistaken samaya. And so, he says this is why the ways that please the guru through gifts are taught here.  So we are talking about serving the guru with gifts.

1) Making Offerings to Purify Disrespect

So, the first is making offerings to purify disrespect.

“By giving the guru with devotion
Offerings as appropriate,
Calamities like epidemics etc
 will not occur.”

And so here this is the comparison of the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Indian or Chinese, and English.

Now I cannot really talk about each single one of these. If we talk about it in in brief this is the understanding. If one explains the words, according to the seventh Karmapa’s commentary and annotations if you talk about the words it says: by first prostrating, and then giving or offering the guru with devotion, the three gates as offerings as they’ve explained that are good and are as appropriate for the guru’s wishes, not just any old, second rate offering,  but good things that will please the guru and that will fulfil their wishes.

So, you do not just give something without caring whether it is going to please the guru or not, you have to give something as an offering in order to please the guru. And by doing so you purify the offences of being disrespectful.  So it speaks about the problem that there would be many calamities like epidemics, right? These will all be purified and pacified and these harms will not occur again.

If one explains the words in brief, there is a Textual commentary in Sanskrit written by an Indian master. If we think about what it means in terms of the intent of that, it is a similar to the Indian commentary, which also explains that this is in order to make amends for the fault of criticizing the guru that you need to make offerings.

This accords with Lord Tsongkhapa’s explanation. So you make the make it in accordance with the resources you have. If you do not have anything, you cannot offer anything right? But you make offerings in accord with your resources. What it says is that you have to give a food, like a resplendent meal. There might have been a different manuscript that says one had to give food. In any case, it says you have to offer food, you have to give them basically a meal.

The offerings mentioned in the root text means the Fifty Verses means jewels, grain, cattle, buffaloes and so forth. Basically, the offerings this means your own wealth. Basically whatever you have you make that you offer them. You offer them in according with your ability. And if you offer in that way, the disasters or calamities of contagions and so forth mentioned above will also not occur. They will not happen again. So, this is what it says right?

In summary what it says from the Textual Explanation in the Fifty Verses, is if you have criticized the guru, you will have various sufferings in this and future lives. So, in order to pacify those, you should offer meals along with the offerings to the guru. So, if you criticize the guru if you are not careful and criticize them, in order to purify that offense and you should offer a meal along with offerings to the guru.

You need to please the guru, and if the guru is pleased then this will please all of the gurus. All of the Buddhas will be pleased. And when all the Buddhas are pleased all of your wishes, whatever wishes you have, will all be satisfied. Whatever you wish to do will be accomplished. In particular, whatever siddhis, supreme or common, you will be able to accomplish  them.

Stories about how making offerings repaired violations

Next, in the tantras and treatises about following the guru, there are also stories and life stories of a few gurus about how making offerings eliminated violations of samaya.

For example, there is a story in Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo’s life biography. We  all know him, right? He was one of Dagpo Gampopa’s main students. The three men from Kham (ཁམས་པ་མི་གསུམ་, khampa mi sum), right? One was Phagmo Drupa (1110-1170), another was Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193), the other was Saltong Shogom (གསལ་སྟོང་ཤྭོ་སྒོམ་, ) (b. 12th century). There are many wonderful stories about the three men from Kham, we do not need to speak about them all today.

In any case, Phagmo Drupa had a student called Nagsho Gyenjung. So, no matter how many teachings he gave to that student, no matter how he gave the teaching, the student never developed any experience or realization at all. So, Phagmo Drupa said to him: “you must have some sort of a breach of samaya with some previous master from the past. Otherwise, it’s impossible that there’d be someone who couldn’t develop experience and realization no matter what instructions I gave them.”

Then, Nagsho thought about the past how he might have a breached samaya. What he remembered is that that once there was a tantra practitioner who is not a well-known one, just a general one, and he requested a few sadhanas from that tantra practitioner. After he requested those, as an offering, he gave him the 18,000 Verses and he also gave him a field. Later, he and the tantric master had a disagreement and he took all of his offerings back. So, he said “Give me that the 18,000 and give me that field back.” So, he took back everything that he had previously offered. So now, he remembered doing that.

So Phagmo Drupa said “that was not right and not good” . He said “you have to make a confession” but the guru had passed away and the only people left was that practitioner’s wife and his daughter. So, there was his wife, his sister and her daughter. So, no one else left but the sister and his daughter Phagmo Drupa Dorje  said that you have to go right away, take this 18,000 Verses and then give it to the sister and her daughter. Give them back and you also have to give them the field back.  You have probably sold it to someone else right? The field that you gave and then you took back you sold someone else. You need to buy that field back from someone else for that other person and then give it give it back to them. Then make a good confession, make a real confession.

So Phagmo Drupa’s student did as he said and he went to the practitioner’s sister and gave them the text and the field and then made a confession. After doing that, then when Phagmo Drupa gave him instructions, then he developed the qualities as he should have, and eventually became an amazing great practitioner.

So, this is a really important point, right? If there is a breach of samaya between the guru and the disciple then the best thing is that the student makes a confession to the guru. Because it comes to that point, right? You have come to a crux where you could fall into a lower realm. So you cannot say:  “I am ashamed, I do not dare say anything.” You have to go and make a confession without any boasting of it. You have to make a confession. The student has to go to the guru and do that. If the guru is no longer living, then one has to go to  one of their descendants up to seven generations. Those are really important; one needs to go and make that confession.

2. Offering Everything One Owns including the “ungiveable”

The second of the four points on the first way of making offerings, is “offering everything one owns”. We have already spoken about this. So, when you talk offering everything one owns, the text says:

 “If the master of your samaya is to be served with the ungivable— your children, spouse, and your own life– what need to mention fleeting riches? “

This is the table of the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and English. No need to explain this.

Now, first of all, if we have an explanation of the text. So according to the seventh Karmapa, Chodrag Gyatso’s Commentary and annotations on the Fifty Verses, “the master of your samaya” here means the samaya of the deity’s body, speech, and mind. In order to do this, the person who gives you the samaya is the vajra master. The one who gives the samaya of the body, speech and mind gives that, and the mandala that is inseparable from the body, speech, and mind of all the Buddhas.

So, in order to get that, if you need to give your external things, wealth, and resources it is not necessary to mention them. You should also give them things you would be unable to give. The things you would not dare to give away, such as your children, your spouse need to get they are too precious. Even it comes down to your own life, you need to also give that. So, what need to mention fleeting riches? So, you need to give your children, spouse, your own life that you treasure. If you need to give them to the guru, then what to mention the various external transient possessions.  There is no point to mention that.

What is meant by Samaya? Keeping bodhicitta (love and compassion) and vows to the deity

Also, in the Sanskrit Textual Explanation of the Fifty Verses, in order to particularly teach about the functions of the student, it says that the samaya that is given from the guru’s kindness, means keeping bodhicitta mind and also keeping the samaya of the five families. This is what is understood.

For example, in the lower classes of tantra, there is a question/dispute about whether there are secret mantra vows or not. Some people say that there are vows in secret mantra, some say that there are not. But in any case, whether there are vows of the secret mantra not, keeping bodhicitta is extremely important in the lower tantras.  Likewise, if you think about in terms of the unexcelled tantra it means keeping the samaya of the five families.

Then we have the word “served” right? It probably means to serve the guru according to teachings. So as it says is to be served with the ungiveable that says if the master of your smile is better, I think it should be spelled with a differently in Tibetan. So, when we talk about serving, Acharya in Sanskrit s means serving this means to follow the guru assiduously keeping the samaya.

The way that you serve the guru is  serve them with your own life. Even it comes to your own life you should be able to consider the guru to be even more important and more significant than your life. Not only that, you should also serve them with your children and your spouse.

Also, in the Sanskrit manuscripts there is a phrase “and so forth”. In English it says “and so forth” but then last it says this should be understood as but this is not in the Tibetan text but there is this word in the Sanskrit. “And so forth” means in addition to your children, your spouse, your friends your retinue, all included. So, you have to be able to give them, to relinquish all of them. So, when you think about the impermanent wealth or things, if you are going to have to give your children and spouse and your friends and retinues all of them, of course you have to also be able to give away your permanent wealth or things.

In brief, the Sanskrit commentary says:

“give the ungivable, your wife your spouse or children and so forth.”

This is what it says. If you are unable to relinquish your children and so forth, then you are unable to serve the guru. If you are unable to do that then, unless you give your children and so forth, then you are unable to practice the dharma, so you should give them without hesitation. You need to be able to relinquish everything, whatever it might be. That is what should be understood.

So, Je Tsongkhapa’s understanding is basically the same, but he talks about your own samaya as meaning the samaya of the yidam deity. He links it to the deity. We do not need to explain that too much.

I think there are a few points that we need to understand here. The first is that it says that the guru student has to offer everything to the guru and if they do not, they are breaking samaya. But that is not what it means. It does not mean that the student needs to give everything to the guru or they will break the samaya.  If we only understand it as that is not correct. We need to understand the background issues clearly.

First of all, we are taking as a given that the guru has all the qualifications and so must have all the qualities, right? Even if they do not have all of them, they need to have the most important ones and these are: they have to be compassionate,  to be patient,  to know the 10 suchnesses and so on. They have some of the most significant characteristics of a guru.

Kālacakra Tantra “reject a guru with these faults, like you would reject hell”

There are also the faults that a guru absolutely must not have. For example, as it says in a short text on Kālacakra tantra:

“If they are proud, overpowered by anger, voracious for things, and devoid of learning. They are intent on deceiving their students, their minds have fallen from the state, they have not received the empowerment. If they are completely attached to enjoyments, careless, harsh in spirit, and desires for sensory pleasures, students should reject them as a cause of perfect awakening, just as they would reject hell.”

If the guru has these faults, there are a lot of them. It is not just if the student does not keep their samaya, the guru also has to keep samaya. Because in actuality the guru is another guru’s student. The guru themselves if they do not keep their samaya but also if they do not have any education, and they do not know the 10 suchnesses and all that. Also, if it someone who is going to deceive the students, or they are only thinking about wealth and things, if they are not patient and only speak terribly  or harshly, they are always scolding their students. They are only paying attention to pleasures and that they are unable to keep their discipline. So, these are not gurus to whom one would have to make offerings and have faith in. Instead, you should just reject them as you would reject hell.

Hell is not a place you are just going to jump right into, right? So, if you see a guru who has these faults, you should look them like one looks at the hells. You have to get as far away from them as you can. You should reject them. It does not say that you should serve them at all. It is really important.   We first have to know clearly what the guru is like.

Also, in a text called Approaching the Ultimate (Dondam Nyenpa)  by King Suchandra (Dawa Sangpo). What it says there is that:

“Someone who craves ordinary desire is not a glorious guru. Someone attached to fine possession and wealth is not a glorious guru. One who criticizes learned people is not a glorious guru. One who has rejected compassion for beings is not a glorious guru. One who discards students who have no riches is not a glorious guru.”

So, what this is saying that if it is a guru who craves name and fame, they are not a glorious guru. If they are a guru who is attached to wealth and possessions, they are not a glorious guru. If they criticize other learned, great beings out of jealousy, they are not a glorious guru. If they have no loving kindness and compassion for sentient beings, they are not a glorious guru. If they have receptive students, who even have faith and devotion but as they do not have any nice offerings to give, they do not accept them, nor give them any empowerments, nor teach them any instructions, that is also not an authentic or glorious guru. So, such gurus you should also reject, this is very clear.

In brief, when the Fifty Verses on the Guru says that we need to make offerings and not be disrespectful and do whatever they tell us, it is speaking about an authentic guru, about a Guru that has the essential characteristics. It is not just to everyone who has been given the name guru/lama. We need to understand this clearly.

 An authentic student will naturally give and giving the “ungiveable” will be done with a purpose

When you have an authentic guru, there also has to be an authentic student. It is not just talking about the qualifications for the guru. When we talk about the student who goes to the guru, it is not okay for them to be anything. It is, not like that.

Just as a guru must have a lot of qualities then the student also has to have a lot of different qualities. The student has to have a wish for liberation from samsara, faith in the dharma, devotion for the guru, and only think about achieving liberation and omniscience, and have no thought for accomplishing the aims of this life. That is what the student should be. If you have that type of guru and student, if they are both authentic and they come/meet together, there is no need to tell the student that they have to give everything to the guru, They’re just going to naturally give it. They do not have to talk or think about whether they give or should not give. It is like just naturally they are going to give. If they are receptive student, when they meet an authentic guru then one does not need to say they have to offer, they are just naturally going to offer it. So that is the main thing that is clearly what is intended.

In the tantras and treatises of secret mantra, the Fifty Verses, it is also said that in the life stories of many gurus from Indians and Tibetan students offering everything that they have to the guru.  Now among them, it is not saying that you should give your children, spouse and so forth according to the root text. It says that have to give your children and your spouse but there is nothing that you have you could say that you have to relinquish them, you need to forget about them, you need to be able to let go of them no matter what. But that also requires many different conditions.

For example, as I was just saying before, you should give your children, spouse and so forth. It is mainly talking about authentic guru. It is not just someone who borrow the words the mantra and wants to make a profit. It is not talking about that guru at all.

The second thing this assumes is that both the master and the disciple are householders, right? Otherwise, if you have a monastic guru, it would be strange for the disciple to give them a wife and children, right? Thirdly, if a student offers their children and spouse to the guru and if you instead of keeping them for themselves,  they have given them to the guru so they have to have a path forward to them. They need to have like some better way for them.

An example of this is when a King Trisong Detsen offered his queen, Yeshe Tsogyel. The king had many wives not only one, but he thought that by offering her it would be good for her in the future. A good path forward. It is not just saying that you need to give your children and spouse without any point.

The fourth is that when talking about offering children and spouse, one is not doing it forcefully because when you talk about the characteristics of a guru, the guru has to have compassion. And if you have to do it by force, then the guru would not have compassion right?

The fifth thing is that when we talk about children and spouses, this means the things that we treasure the most. So, the things that we are unable to relinquish or the main things we are attached to. So, for that reason, they say you have to offer them. It is just giving an example of giving the most things that you treasure most. It is not saying you absolutely must give those things.

For example, when we look at the life stories of the past there are not that many stories of them offering their spouses. There are few but really are not many at all. The main thing is that if you are thinking about it from the perspective of a worldly person, the most difficult thing to give away is your spouse and your children, your body, and your life because you are really attached to them, right?   So,  in order to practice the dharma if you need to relinquish your children and spouse, you should have the resolve, the courage to be able to relinquish one’s life too.

 Offering oneself: body, speech and mind

Not only that, we often talk about having to offer your body speech and mind, right? It is offering yourself and talk about offering yourself means offering your body, and possessions like offering a mandala, you do not really pay attention. We are always talking about our body and speech and possessions. We recite that but we actually never have the idea, we are just saying the words. But we never thinking about what it means. Otherwise, when making a mandala offering, we say we are offering our body, speech, and possessions but someone comes in to say they are going to sue us and you say you have already told me you have given away everything to me, and I am the owner. if someone says that I own you, it is a little difficult. You make an offering when we make a mandals offering, we always talk about offering our body and possessions. In particular, when we are taking an empowerment, “from now on, I offer to you as your student please use every single part of me,” so that is offering yourself, isn’t it?

Stories of offering body, speech, and mind: Marpa and Milarepa, and Kālacakra lineage master, offering himself like a dog with a leash

To give a story that is related to this was like when Milarepa met Marpa, he said: “I am offering my body, speech, and mind. Please also give me food, clothing, and dharma. Marpa replied:   “It is good for you to offer body, speech, and mind, but I cannot give you all three of clothing and dharma. So, either I give you dharma and you get the food and clothing on your own, or I will give you the food and clothing you look for the dharma elsewhere.”  So that is a story, right?

Tibetan Kālacakra lineage master offering himself to Drogmi Lotsawa on a leash to get the Kālacakra teachings

Also, in Tibet there’s a couple of different traditions of the Kālacakra. There is the Dro tradition and there is the Ra tradition. [Transcriber’s note: for more on the seventeen main Kālacakra lineages, see here].  The Dro tradition was translated by Dawa Gonpo from Kashmir. So, when we recite the Lineage prayers (Lama Gyupa) we say Dawo Gompo, he is an Indian master right? He came from Kashmir, right?  So, Dawo from Kashmir gave it to Drogmi Lotsawa who gave it to Gompo Konchog Sum, that is how it is listed right?

So, when Dawo Gompo went to Tibet, Gonpo Konchog Sum gathered everything that he had, and traded it for six or six ounces of gold. He went with these ounces of gold and put a scarf around his neck like a dog, like a leash. He then gave that leash along with a gold and said:

“From now on, I’m offering you my body, speech and mind, please give me the teaching on the commentaries on the tantra, and gave me the full pith instructions.”  

So, these are some stories of offering body, speech, and mind.

Likewise, there are other examples. We talk about Tilopa and Naropa in India, and in Tibet, Marpa and Milarepa. If we think about Marpa, he went through the 12 minor trials, and he gave up his life and everything to follow the guru, right?   I am talking about the stories of offering your wealth, and offering your body, speech, and mind which are quite frequent in Sanskrit literature, as well as in Tibet.

So, the reason people gave everything away in order to get the dharma, is because they had intense wish for liberation from samsara. It is unbearable. If they knew that the instructions for liberation and achieving enlightenment in this lifetime are only in the secret mantra, and nowhere else, that unless they follow a genuine guru, they would not get them. So, they decisively decided to relinquish everything for the sake of those.

How to give away everything? Milarepa’s fake letter by Marpa and his lack of realisations

So as for relinquishing or offering everything to the guru and how to do this? As an example of this, I thought to tell a story. These are in the life stories of biographies of Marpa and most of you know the story even if I tell it again.

Marpa would not give Milarepa the teachings and he asked for the dharma many times. He asked sometimes he never gave them. So, he beat him, until basically he was close to death It was really hard time. Finally, what happened is that because Marpa’s wife she had other way to do it without Marpa knowing, she studied Naropa’s bone ornaments and other things and gave them to Milarepa and he said they take go to Lama Ngogpa, one of Marpa’s greatest students, and go to them. So, they pretended and she wrote a letter saying that that Marpa had sent them. However, because Marpa had not given permission, even though Milarepa practiced on no matter how much he practiced he did he developed no experience or realization. So, at this point when Milarepa was going to Ngog Choku Dorje’s house at that time, he was teaching the Hevajra Tantra to many students. and in the Hevajra it says: “the teacher is me; the dharma is me; the listeners of accumulations are me and so forth.”  When he was saying this passage that Milarepa came. As Milarepa was coming from far away he was prostrating and when Ngog saw him prostrating he took off his uh he took off his hat, and he returned a greeting. He said “that person must be a student in the lineage of Marpa, look at the way he is prostrating, he must be a student of Marpa. We will leave the dharma teaching for there today at this point. This is very good: “The teacher is me. The dharma is me. It is a really good interdependent connection.”

So, they sent a monk to go off and see who it was. The monk went and said “What are you doing coming here?” And Milarepa said “Marpa sent me.” So, Lama Ngogpoa was just delighted to see this. It was not just because of Marpa, but Milarepa also had the really sacred objects of the Naropa’s ornaments and rosary.  So, he said “we are going to leave the dharma teachings” and then took these really sacred objects. They made like a golden procession and escorted them inside.

At the same time, there is also the fake letter from Marpa right? That the wife of Marpa, Dagmema had written. So, Milarepa showed them the letter, which said: “I am in a strict retreat. So, there is this Milarepa always called the great sorcerer, right? So, I do not have time to teach the great sorcerer but he really wants to dharma teaching. He is really in a rush to get them. So, I am sending you to request the dharma teaching. So, give him the empowerments and all the pith instructions. These are tokens and my permission to teach him giving the initiations, and the pith instruction sending up his ornaments and his rosary.”

So Ngog was delighted and thought this is the guru’s instruction, “of course, I will give you the empowerment and the pith instructions.”  He gave him the Hevajra empowerment and all the pith instructions. There is a retreat cave in sight of lama Gompa’s house and he had Milarepa stay there to meditate without any distraction. But because Milarepa did not have Marpa’s permission, he did not develop any experience or realization.

Once, Lama Ngogpa came to the retreat cave and he said “Okay great sorcerer, you’ve meditated for a long time. Have you had these and these signs?” Not even one of the signs that he asked about had developed. So Ngogpa said: “what are you saying? As long as there are no broken commitments in my lineage, the qualities, experience, and realisations develop quickly there should be no difficulty with that? You have faith in me, right? You cannot say you did not receive Mara’s permission because he sent you that letter, right? So, what is going on? In any case, you have to work hard and continue to meditate. When he said this, Milarepa thought because of fake letter because it is not true right, he knew that of course and he became paralyzed with fear. He was wondering should I tell him the whole story? But he did not dare at that point, so he continued to practice.

Now at that time, there was the nine-story tower that Milarepa had built and on the top of that and they had finished building the roof and they needed to make a roof for that. So, Marpa said to Ngog “you get me some tamaris cane for roofing the sun’s tower. And once you send all that then I will rinse the roof and the spire, and you should also come for the consecration. Also, there is a bad person with you, there is a bad person who belongs to me, so bring him too.”  So, Lama Ngogpa saw that, he went to the cave where Milarepa was staying and showed it to Milarepa and he said: “the lama sent me this letter and it says that you are a bad person, look at the way he is talking. I think you must not have the guru’s permission.” When he said that, Milarepa told him the real story “I do not actually have the guru’s permission. The mother Nairatma gave me the letter and the religious items that she sent me here.” So, then Ngog said: “Oh everything we have done has been pointless. If you did not receive the llama’s permission, of course you will not develop the qualities. There is nothing to do.” He said that you should come with these. So, are you going to go or are you not?”  And Milarepa said: “I will go along as your servant.”

So, Lama Ngogpa made this huge offering to Marpa and except for all the sacred objects he had received from Marpa, he took everything else gold, turquoise, silks and garments and everything that he had all of his wealth and possessions. But he had this old nanny goat who had a broken leg because the nanny goat’s leg was broken, she could not go along with the rest of the herd of all the sheep and goat. So other than that goat, he took all the livestock and mellow there and they went off to they got ready to go off to Guru. So, they are preparing and Ngogpa said “you have been very helpful to me, so you also cannot go with an empty hand you need something. So, he gave him a bolt of silk. And then there was Marpa’s wife, you cannot go without anything for her, and gave him  a bit of soft  cheese.

So, then Lama Ngogpa, Milarepa and retinue, They set out from them home and they got to the area Drolung, they got the bottom the valley. Then Lama Ngogpa, said “okay you go first and tell the lady that we are coming. We have a lot of offerings we have come a long way and so please ask her to send us send a little beer as a welcome.”

So Milarepa went on ahead first. When he first met the Marpa’s wife consort, he prostrated and offered her the bag of the soft cheese. Then he said: “Lama Ngogpa and his retinue are all coming So please make a welcome for them. So, the secret consort the wife was really delighted. She said that Milarepa was happy to see him. She said “Marpa was in his residence. So go request him yourself.”  Marpa was in meditation and had his back to Milarepa practicing meditation. So Milarepa was a little afraid to go since he was really bowing and he prostrated and offered the katag scarf. So, Marpa had been looking to the east but then he immediately turned around and looked to the west so that he would not see Milarepa. He then went to the west side and made the offering and prostrated three times and then once again Marpa turned his head. Then he turned back to the south. Then Milarepa thought that Marpa must be very annoyed with me. Please scold me If you are going to scold me, it is no problem for me. But if you are going to expect prostration that is fine. But Lama Ngog is coming with all the valuables he possesses and everything, he is going to offer it all to you And he is reached the road. Please send him. He asked me to ask you for some beer as a welcome.” Marpa was like just angry and he snapped his fingers. He said really angrily:

“When I returned from India, I brought with me like the inconceivable connections of Buddhist teachings, like the heart instruction, the experiential meaning, the four classes tantra. When I brought all these there was not anything other than a bird who came to meet me. Lama Nognpa is coming with a few animals and he says that I the great Lotsawa have to go greet him? No go away tell them to leave I cannot. They should go back they could go away.”  Milarepa did not know what to do. He went back to the consort, Dagmema and said the guru said “they should go away.”

So, Dagmema was a little bit annoyed: “Lama Ngopa is a great man. You know he is an important guru, right? So, we need to give him a greeting. So, you are the two of us you know the mother and son, Let us go.” So said does not expect to he does not expect the mother to go greet him but just to send some beer as well. That’s all he wants. So, it is fine for me to go but you do not need to go.”  But the Marpa’s wife Dagmema went along with him and they went to welcome him.

So, at that time there were many people who gathered in Lodrak. There was also the uh there is the celebration of coming to age and the consecration of the tower and they explained and we recite every day at the Kagyu Monlam, this is when Marpa recited it and so Marpa sang the song and then at that time, Lama Ngogpa made all the offerings that he brought the other day he made of everything. He said “precious guru and generally, the guru master of my three gates. I am bringing everything except for one old lame, nanny goat who has a broken leg who was unable to come but everything else I have brought here and I am offering it to you. So please look at me and grant me compassion and bestow all the most important pith instructions and particularly instructions, of the oral lineage.”  These are really important that he never had these instructions. So, he made this request and prostrated and Marpa was delighted and said and “that’s  wonderful. As you said the oral instructions they’re the short path of oral instructions by which one becomes a Buddha, not by waiting for innumerable eons,  but in this life. But there’s a really strict command seal on this, so even if that old nanny goat is old, or even her leg is broken you have given everything else except that one nanny goat, so you still must  bring that goat. Doesn’t matter that she’s old. Doesn’t matter that her leg is broken. If you don’t offer it, I won’t give you these instructions at all.”

And at that point everyone laughed but they  said you have to be careful around Marpa, right? They said if you do offer that old nanny goat, he will lift the command seal and grant me the instructions.

So, the next morning he returned back to his place carrying the nanny goat on his back and came back to Lord Marpa and offered her to Marpa. And at that time then Marpa was just totally pleased and said:

“A disciple of secret mantra who maintains their samaya must be someone like you. I really do not need to do like this but in order to emphasize the great value of the dharma, the secret mantra is sacred, and that it is significant, then I wanted to test you. So, you have the actual desire to request the actual dharma, you have the altruism, the wish. I wanted to see if you have the faith and devotion, I wanted to test you, and you have done what I wished.”

For that reason, at that point, he promised to give these instructions and gave him the empowerments and pith instructions, as he promised.

So these stories about Lama Marpa Lotsawa and Milarepa, are  really important to think about. The reason is that the Lama Marpa was a guru who had all the characteristics such as knowing the ten suchnesses and so forth. In the past, there had been times when Milarepa had done a lot of sorcery and had a lot of fights with people and so many of the people in the area of Lodrag didn’t have much faith in him,  but other such disciples no matter what the guru did. they never had any wrong views about it, they always saw him as an actual Buddha right?

Likewise, the way that Marpa and Milarepa followed a guru,  they offered everything they had to them. They did whatever the guru told them to do. Even it came to forgetting about their own life. They were  willing to forget about that. They had the fortitude and courage to be able to do this. So, in other words they served the guru exactly as is taught in the Fifty Verses on the Guru.

So, if we want to be authentic guru yogis of the secret mantra, then we need to be like Lama Marpa, when you read those life-stories, is it a really important point because it gives us a really good example. Someone we look up to an example for us. For that reason, it is important for us to read this.”

Endnotes

[i] When I was separated from the 17^th Karmapa physically from 2009 onwards, in 2018 (after a long absence from seeing the 17th Karmapa in person at teachings and events) I also offered my body speech and mind “naturally” to another Karma Kagyu Rinpoche (Sangye Nyenpa) , who immediately gave me some oral transmissions and one to one explanations, as I requested.

However, later I realised the guru lacked the essential qualities for a variety of reasons, including major dishonesty towards myself and other women, and so when I “called this out”, and the teacher’s community retaliated by quickly publishing a (non-scholar) man’s translation of the same text (done 10 years previously) who had never even met the teacher in person, never mind got a one to one transmission. How’s that for a suitable result?! Ha ha ha.  Moreover, the same community wrote to Khyentse Foundation and falsely accused me of never having had the transmission or permission from the teacher to translate those texts, even though I had several hours of recordings of him giving me them, and hundred of oral messages on Wechat about the translations I was doing with him. My major “crime” in all this? Wanting to practice, study and translate the Buddha Dharma texts with a “qualified guru”! Shock, horror, how dare she?!