“Owner/Master of Secrets, how should a student view the master? Just the same as they view the Bhagavan Buddha.” –the Empowerment of Vajrapani Tantra
“There was a Kadampa master in the past, whose student said to him: “please give me blessings.” The guru said: “Well first of all you have to give me faith. If you do not have faith in me, then I cannot give you blessings.” he said.
“Even if the guru is not an actual Buddha, they are the ones who give us the empowerments. They teach us the dharma. They show us the path and they guide us out of samsara. So, in terms of their activity, they are the same. They are like a Buddha. Likewise, for us to receive the activity of all the Buddhas we cannot receive it directly. As I said before, for the activity of all the Buddhas to enter us, it cannot do that directly. It is like the sun cannot directly light a fire. Only if you shine it through a magnifying glass is it going to light a fire.”
On Day 8 of the Fifty Verses on the Guru, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa continued with explaining how to properly serve a guru with offerings, respect, service, and practice. Having spent previous days on extensive explanation about the importance of checking that the Guru is qualified, and then the reasons for making offerings, the 17th Karmapa moved onto the second out of eight ways to serve a guru properly, “seeing the guru as the same as (or like) the Buddha”.
First, the Karmapa explained some of the textual sources from the Tantras Tsongkhapa cited for seeing the Guru as the Buddha, and why a qualified student should always see the guru as the same as Vajradhara. That even if we wanted to, we cannot actually meet the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so a qualified guru that instils a stable seed for the root of virtue to grow, is a root guru, and thus, is kinder than the Buddhas, because we can actually meet them.
The 17th Karmapa also cites the 8th Karmapa’s text on Mahamudra and Hundred Short Instructions, who says that there are four different levels/types of gurus, and that as long as the guru is qualified, it is alright for them to be an ordinary individual, even if they are not actually a Buddha. However, their kindness is a great, if not greater than a Buddha. The kindest guru can be compared to someone who gives hungry people food. As people get on the higher levels, their stomachs are not as empty and they do not need food so much. So, the ordinary individual gurus are sometimes considered kinder than even noble beings who are gurus.
Then the 17th Karmapa spoke about the importance of blessings entering “into one’s mindstream” in secret mantra, and how without the blessings of the guru and Buddhas entering us, there can be no realisations on the path. So, if there is broken samaya, or they have really depressed and disturbed their guru’s mind, they will not be able to get the blessings from them. When the guru gives empowerments or teachings, sometimes it is like the Buddhas or deities have entered into them, and taken possession of them. The Karmapa gives some examples of that.
The 17th Karmapa then shared a few historical stories of how as Je Gampopa said: “the greater a student’s faith and devotion is, the greater the blessings and realisations will enter them”. First, with the example of a famous and learned Trimkhang Translator, who went to Tsurphu Monastery to get teachings from a well-known student of the 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa, called Jamyang Chenpo. Even though Trimkhang Translator was treated by Jamyang Chenpo as his equal in physical conduct, he did not give the translator any teachings. When the Translator realised this and lost his pride, and realised he had a wrong perception of the guru as like an ordinary being and friend, not as being like the Buddha, Jamyang Chenpo then immediately taught him a commentary on the 3rd Karmapa’s Profound Inner Meaning, about which he took lots of notes, and wrote a great commentary himself on it, which people said was very superior to others. This example and others showed how important it was to see the guru as like Buddha, and not to see them in an ordinary, faulty way.
The Karmapa finished by giving an example of how faith and confidence in the guru, are sometimes even more improtant than actually having a qualified guru. He explained how an old lady in Tibet, given a fake stone she thought to be from a sacred site, by her belief in it and making offerings and so on, the stone then became a naturally-arisen Vajravarahi. [For more on a naturally-arisen Vajravarahi I saw in Lijiang last year, when visiting former temples and sacred sites of the 10th Karmapa and 8th Tai Situpa there, see here.]
The thing to remember, the Karmapa explained is even if the Buddha were right in front of us today, most of us would not be able to recognise it as the Buddha. They might seem ordinary and not that special to ordinary people. But we need to think about the reasons why it is taught in secret mantra to view a qualified guru as like a Buddha and what that actually means.
We get the guru we look for and so if we are seeking a good-looking one only, there is a danger that is all we will get. As the 17th Karmapa cautioned, “the guru is a mirror of the student.” So we need to be very careful what we are looking for in a guru and whether or not we have a pure motivation and interested to practice the Dharma and attain liberation from samsara.
Here are two video clips I made from the Day 8 teachings (original Tibetan, with speciallu created English subtitles) on why the guru does not have to be an actual Buddha here, and on the four types of guru, here.
Music? I’ll Be Your Mirror by Nico, Mirrors by Justin Timberlake, and Faith by George Michael .
Compiled and transcribed by Adele Tomlin, 20th April 2024.
Transcript: Day 8 Viewing the Guru as Buddha
So, we are talking about how to pay respect to the guru and among these, we have gone through the first, making offerings. We have come to the second way, which is viewing the guru as a Buddha.
Viewing them as a Buddha has two subtopics:
- The actual meaning and
- avoiding being disrespectful to their shadow and so on.
So, today I will speak about both of these about the actual point and avoiding being respectful to their shadow and so forth
Serving the Spiritual Friend with Respect
Now in the Mahayana Ornament of the Sutras, the protector Maitreya said:
“serve the spiritual friend with respect gifts service and practice.”
If we correlate it to the Fifty Verses on the Guru, we would say that yesterday we are speaking about the offering the gurus with gifts. This is during the passage on making offerings and now we are in the passage of serving the spiritual friend through respect. Now the actual root verse the Fifty Verses itself on viewing the Buddha, here it is:
“The students with qualities of compassion, generosity, discipline, and patience should not ever consider the master to be different from Vajradhara.”
There are a couple different ways the shlokas can be counted but this is the 22nd stanza. Here are the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese and the English translations.
The Sanskrit is the original, the Tibetan was translated by myself, the Chinese was translated during the Song dynasty, Master Nyima Dragpa, and the English translation has been translated by our translator Khenpo David Chophel.
Among these at the beginning “are the students with qualities of compassion and generosity.” So, this stanza the first two lines talk about the characteristics of these students. There are three different qualities. So, the students who naturally have great compassion and they have the altruism and the wish to help them. They have little attention to wealth and things; therefore, they are very generous. In brief, they are able to make offerings to the gurus. They are able to give to the poor and deprived In this way. They are very generous and so they are able to make great gifts and be very generous. They also have the Pratimoksha vows giving up. They have the Bodhisattva vow along with the basis of the bodhicitta of benefiting others. Also, they have the Vajrayana vows and protect them with discipline.
So, in brief it should be an individual with the wish to reach Buddhahood, and in particular to reach Buddhahood in this lifetime. So, an individual or a student who has these characteristics and qualities need to have these qualities. They have to have compassion; they have to be very generous. They have to keep their discipline. This is what they need to be. If the student has these qualities, then when they follow the guru, there is a great hope that it will be actually in accord with the dharma. Now the main thing that is necessary for it to be in accord with the Dharma is that they must always think of the guru and their master as not being different from the Buddha. It is like thinking the guru is the Buddha, the guru themselves is the deity. This is very important.
Now what it says about this in Tsongkhapa commentary is that the guru as a field for gathering merit, the guru is the same as all the Buddhas. For that reason, true students do not consider the vajra master to be separate from the Vajradhara. They do not see them that way and they have the resolve that the guru themselves is indeed Vajradhara. Authentic, great students have the compassionate mind which is the basis of the Mahayana. They have the generosity of discarding all self-interested attachment to their bodies, possessions, and virtues. They dedicate those to certain beings. They have the discipline of keeping the vows they have taken purely. So, they have discipline. Likewise, they also have the patience of not being discouraged by sentient beings’ wrong practice and austerities. So, Je Tsongkhapa teaches this way on viewing the guru as a Buddha. It is not just something that an ordinary regular person has said but is something that is taught in many different unexcelled highest yoga tantras.
Textual sources cited by Je Tsongkhapa
Je Tsongkhapa, in his commentary on the Fifty Verses cites several different Tantras, such as the 17th chapter of Guhyasamāja Tantra, the 15th chapter of the Vajra Tent Tantra [the Vajrapañjara Tantra, ḍākinī-vajra-pañjara-tantra; རྡོ་རྗེ་གུར་ ) or Indestructible Tent Tantra], the 14th chapter the Ornament of the Vajra Essence (Vajrahṛdayālaṃkāratantra, རྡོ་རྗེ་སྙིང་པོ་རྒྱན་གྱི་རྒྱུད། ), the 32nd Chapter of the Vajra Dakini Tantra. Likewise, he also cites the Four Seats (catuṣpīṭha). If we were going to cite all these quotations there is not enough time, so I will go through a couple of them, which I think is enough.
In general, at the time of Lord Tsongkhapa, most of the citations that he gave are primarily from the unexcelled highest yoga tantras only. There are also some others that is not included in that is the Tantra on the Empowerment of Vajrapani (ཕྱག་རྡོར་དབང་བསྐུར། vajrapāṇyabhiṣekamahātantra). In the lower classes of tantras this is in the Caryā Tantra. This is quoted in the Manifest Awakening of Vairocana, and also the Tantra Named Padma Vajra. So these two are considered the main tantras of the Caryā class of tantras.
Here is this quotation from the Great Tantra on the Empowerment of Vajrapani, which says:
“Owner/Master of Secrets, how should a student view the master? The same as they view the Bhagavan Buddha.”
The student should view the vajra master as being an actual Buddha, it says this very clearly. This is a Tantra not included in the unexcelled tantras but in the lower class of tantras. Most Tibetans say it is an important Tantra included in the Charya tantra. So, this is taught not only in the unexcelled tantras, but also taught in the lower tantras. This is just an example of how it is taught in the lower classes of tantras that you should view the guru as a Buddha.
Following that are some examples of citations given by Je Tsongkhapa in his commentary on the Fifty Verses. There are several, one is from the 17th chapter of the glorious Guhyasamāja Tantra:
“The Great Bodhisattva Mahasattva prostrated to all the Tathagatas and asked this: “Bhagavan, how do all the Tathagatas, and Bodhisattvas view the Vajra master who has given the empowerment of Guhyasamāja body, speech, and mind?”
The response was:
“All the Tathagatas said: “Child of noble family all the tathagatas, and bodhisattvas view them as the Vajra bodhicitta. Why is that? The master is the same as Vajrabodhicitta, they cannot be separated into two.”
So, this is what it says, right? At this point, when we talk about Vajra Bodhicitta (Jangchub Sem Dorje) it is another name for Vajradhara. It is just another way he can be called and labelled. When it says “they cannot be separated into two,” this means according to the Indian master, Tsilupa’s [1] commentary on the Guhyasamāja, it says:
“The Vajra Bodhicitta’s Dharmakāya arise as the Sambhogakāya. Because these emanated forms are not in our field of vision. It abides in their body and so it is inseparable from them.”
So, that nature is those who are unable to see the three kāyas of the Buddha as they are. So, the Buddhas then enters the Vajra master’s body in order to purify others’ karmic obscurations and so forth. In any case, those people who are unable to see it, for example, when we are ordinary individuals, we cannot actually see a Buddha, but at this time the Buddhas all enter the Vajra master’s body and then brings benefit to sentient beings. That is what it says Acharya Tsilupa’s commentary.
The reason for viewing the Buddha as being inseparable from the guru is so that you can have equal faith in Vajradhara and in the guru. One should have as much faith in the guru, as one does in Vajradhara. You should also stabilize the faith in their being and to gather the accumulations with few difficulties and swiftly. So, this is the purpose as I said, in Shantipa’s commentary on the Guhyasamāja. This is what Je Tsongkhapa says.
Not only that, there is the quote in a passage in the 15th chapter of the Vajra Tent Tantra, which says:
The words in the actual fifteenth chapter in the Vajra Tent Tantra in the Kangyur, are a little bit different than Je Tsongkhapa’s citation: “How one looks at Vajrasattva, like that you should behold the master. Aiming to look after sentient beings, they abide in an ordinary form.”
In the Kangyur version, it says: “The one who’s called Vajrasattva, takes the form of the master,
Aiming to benefit sentient beings, they abide in a normal form.”
So, the one in Je Tsongkhapa’s commentary and the Kangyur are basically the same. In brief, is that the vajra master himself takes the ordinary form in order to benefit sentient beings. He emanates as a master, takes the form of an ordinary guru in order to benefit sentient beings. That is the basic meaning.
The four different levels/types of gurus
Next, I would like to just share a few of my own thoughts. Generally, just merely being a qualified master does not necessarily mean that someone is a Buddha. For example, in the Treasury of Knowledge when it talks about the three different kinds of masters, these are: in general ordinary beings, Bodhisattvas, Sambhogakāya, and Buddhas according to one’s own four phases:
- When you are a beginner, you primarily follow guru as an ordinary individual.
- When your obscurations are a little purified, the master is a bodhisattva on the levels.
- When your karmic obscurations are mostly exhausted though, the master is a bodhisattva on a high level.
- When one is on the path of accumulation, one can follow the spiritual friend as a physical emanation (tul-ku) of the actual Buddha.
- When one is on the high levels then one can follow the spiritual guru as an actual Sambhogakaya (long-ku).
In this way, these are four different types of vajra master but this is not necessarily definite. Because even when your karma has not been purified it is possible that you may be cared for by an emanation of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. So, it is not necessarily the case that if you are an ordinary individual your spiritual friend will also be an ordinary individual.
So, when you talk about the division of the four types of spiritual friends, it is just a general or gross overview. When you think about the four types of Mahayana spiritual friends there are these four types that are like those in the Treasury of Knowledge. In the secret mantra, one can also divide the gurus into ordinary individuals and noble individuals who have attained the levels. The reason we can say that it is not the case that a guru of a secret mantra absolutely must be a Buddha. It is not the case that an ordinary individual may not give empowerments, or be a guru. This is not what the tantras say.
Likewise, the secret mantra talks about many characteristics of the guru, but it does not say that they must have achieved the Bodhisattva levels or that they must be a Buddha. Therefore, it is possible that the guru may be an ordinary individual. However, whether the guru in their own perspective is a Buddha or not, from the perspective of the student they must have unlimited faith in them and a great pure view of them. This is very important. So, if we think about it from the perspective of the student, because you have to have unlimited faith and great pure view of the guru, it is important to have faith in them as if they are an actual Buddha.
There are a few main points here. One point is that when we look outside, the way we see the gurus, we see them as being like ordinary beings, but in actuality they may be emanations of Bodhisattvas. There are many like that, for example, Marpa the translator, was known to be an emanation of Bodhisattva, Samanthabhadra.
Similarly, when we look at them, they seem like really ordinary beings, but in actuality they may be emanations of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This is quite possible. For example. when we go into a monastery, if we use Rumtek Monastery an example, can we categorically say that there are no emanations of Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Rumtek monastery? We cannot say that.
When we study and study the types of signs, we remember the reasons that are the non-observation of the imperceptible. We have to think about something like this. This is something we have to consider. For example, at Rumtek Monastery, we cannot point at someone and say that there is an emanation of the Buddha bodhisattva. We cannot categorically say that there are none.
Similarly, if we read the life-stories of many Indian siddhas there are many who had achieved the supreme siddhi, but in order to benefit sentient beings, they took the lowest of low forms. There are many such stories. For example, Tilopa [the 17th Karmapa says Saraha here, but I think he means Tilopa] was like the servant to a prostitute. He was a prostitute’s servant. He brought people in and out to see the prostitute. He did this right? Likewise, Tilopa would also catch live fish. There’s a story about this, right? So, for this reason, merely appearing in an ordinary form does not necessarily mean that they are not a Buddha. And so, we need to be very careful of this threat. This is an important point.
Becoming “possessed by Buddha”
Another important point, as many scholars of the past have said is for example, the author of a commentary on the Vinaya Sutra, Acharya Guṇaprabha (Lopon Yonten O). While he was writing it, there was a Buddha who entered his chest, it was like he had’ been possessed by the Buddha and received the blessings. However, later, when he wrote his auto-commentary on that, he did not receive the blessings of the Buddha. For that reason, the auto-commentary itself did not actually live up to the intent, or the meaning of the Vinaya sutras. Therefore, it is okay to say that the Vinaya Sutras are the words of the Buddha, according to some people it is sometimes said like that.
Even if the guru is not an actual Buddha, they give us the empowerments, and teach us the dharma, they show us the path and they guide us out of samsara. So, in terms of their activity, they are the same. They are like a Buddha. As I said before, for the activity of all the Buddhas to enter us, it cannot do that directly, It is like the sun that cannot directly light a fire. Only if you shine it through a magnifying glass is it going to light a fire. As I said the other day, if the Buddha’s activities and blessings are going to enter us, they have to enter into us through the guru. Even if the teacher is not an actual Buddha, it is just like Buddha or deity has possessed and is inside them. It is like they have received the blessings of the Buddhas. So, from our perspective they are like a Buddha.
The reason for that is because we have lesser fortune and so we cannot take empowerments and instructions from the Buddha oneself directly. We do not have the fortune, or the capacity to receive them. Perhaps if a Buddha even came in front of us, we would not be able to receive the empowerment. No matter even if a Buddha came carrying a vase or something we would not be able to take it, because we do not have that contact with them. We are not able to make that contact or connection with the Buddha. We have not got that ability yet. Even if a Buddha comes in front of us, we cannot see them, we cannot hear their words. For that reason, we do not have that ability/power.
So, for that reason, for people such as ourselves even if the Buddha could actually come, we cannot see them. we cannot see any Buddha that is greater than the guru. There is no one better than or other than the guru there is no other way or method. So looking at it like that, the person who shows us the Buddhist path, whether they are a good person or a bad person for us, a Buddha would have to be just like them, there is no one we could find better. We cannot find anyone else, there is no way we cannot find anyone different other than them.
8th Karmapa on the meaning of root guru in Conversations on Mahamudra
The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje wrote in his “Conversations on Mahāmudrā” (ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ་སྒྲོས་འབུམ། Chagya-chenpo Dro Bum*) what is the basis for considering someone the root guru? What is the reason we call them the root guru? How do we understand the root guru?
First, we have to understand that the root guru is the first, or the greatest guru, the most supreme, number one, the first-place teacher, the one who is the first among the teachers, the greatest of the gurus. There is no one above them. That is what we understand the root guru to be like that. And the way we say this is it is the first teacher who plants within your being the stable basis for the roots of virtue. That means like faith right? The first for whom we feel faith and plants the seed for a stable basis for the roots of virtue in us. Who is that? It is our guru.
If we think about it from our perspective as ordinary individuals, the guru among all the gurus of jewels abiding throughout space. Our guru actually has the greatest and highest love, wisdom love and power. There are the jewels throughout the space but they cannot directly benefit us. The one who can benefit us, is the one who has the perfect wisdom, love, and power is the guru.
From beginningless samsara until now, there have been many Buddhas and jewels who have come but we have not even been able to make a virtuous connection with them. However, because of the exalted guru we are able to make a virtuous connection. For that reason, compared to all the Buddhas who fill space this guru is far superior to them. The guru themselves, if they are an ordinary individual in terms of the qualities, you cannot compare them with the Buddha. But for us their capacity and their kindness are far greater. This is why we say “equal to all the Buddhas and qualities far superior to Buddhas” in their kindness. No other Buddhas at all have been able to bring us onto the path to liberation and we have wandered the path in samsara. So now we have been able to reach the beginning of the path and this is because of our guru vajra master, and our root guru’s kindness. So, they are extremely kind to us.
Ordinary individual Gurus are like people who give the hungry food
So, Kadampa masters of the past have said that: ordinary gurus are like people who give us food when we are very hungry. Whereas, the noble gurus, the gurus who dwell on the bodhisattva levels, are people who give us food when we are already quite full. They are only ones who finally start giving us food. So that is what the noble gurus on the noble levels are like. The person who feeds you when your stomach is hungry and empty, that one is better. Someone who gives you food when you are full is fine, it is good but it is not that kind. You do not really need it.
So, for that reason, the ordinary gurus are ordinary individuals who when our stomachs are empty, and we are about to die from hunger, the ones who give us food and give us clothes when we are about to die from cold. The gurus who dwell on the noble levels, by the time we get to that point, we have also become pretty good ourselves, and are doing all right and a pretty high level ourselves. So, for that reason the noble gurus are of course pretty good, but they are not quite as kind as the ordinary individuals.
Likewise, in the worldly tradition of upstanding people, it is said that the people like our parents and teachers and so forth and beneficent are like jewels and deities. There is a tradition of saying that. Likewise, the guru is able to bring us onto the path to Buddhahood in one lifetime, in one body even if they are not actually a Buddha themselves. It is like there is no way we can find a Buddha, if we went looking for another Buddha than them, we would not find them. And so, for this reason, we need to view the guru as a Buddha themselves.
With this point in mind 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje said in his text Instructions on Indivisible Mind and Wind says “even though the guru is an ordinary person, when performing activities such as benefiting and empowering students, all the Buddhas actually come.”
From one perspective, we visualize the guru as the Buddha, as the deity, we visualize it. All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and yidam deities, all the blessings of the Buddhas’ vajra body, speech and mind enter the guru. So, when the student takes the empowerment, naturally the blessings of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas enter them directly. So, for that reason, the guru at that time becomes an actual Buddha.
The reason is because the blessings and activity of the Buddha, in dependence on the guru we are able to get any benefit from them. Without a guru, power of the Buddha’s activity and deeds cannot enter us. So, because we have not come to that capability, or to that level yet, from our own perspective the guru is kinder than the Buddhas. After this, there are many different citations that Tsongkhapa gives from the Tantras and the Indian texts.
So, a qualified guru such as that, we see them as being an actual Buddha, being equal to the Buddha or even seeing them as greater, if we can view them in this way, this is excellent. There is nothing wrong with it. The reason for this is that, as Mikyo Dorje says in his Hundred Short Instructions as your devotion for the guru increases by supplication, you receive the blessings and are able to receive the supreme and ordinary siddhis, according to the level of your devotion and supplications.
In general, we say that supplicating alone is not that important. It is not enough to think that my guru is like this, but there must be some Buddha that is superior than that. There must be some Buddha that is superior than my guru. If you think that, if you do not think of the guru as being the greatest then, you are not going to receive that many blessings. But if you think that there is no Buddha who is superior to the guru, if you have that confidence, that certainty, that confidence within your mind, then you can supplicate them with every fibre of your being. With this joyful enthusiasm of body, speech, and mind unlike any other enthusiasm, then the blessings of the guru will be able to enter you. It is going to breathe.
In brief, even if the guru is themselves an ordinary being, whether they are an ordinary being or a Buddha or Nirmanakaya or not, the most important thing, is that the guru has all qualifications and that you yourself have faith. That you are someone who is able to develop the faith and able to develop the cause of the mind of bodhicitta. And if you receive the kindness of the empowerments, instructions, and transmissions, then if we think, like Je Gampopa, “at the time, it is actually Vajradhara,” if you have that kind of devotion, then the blessings will enter one’s mindstream. So, in this way, you will be able to receive all the blessings of the actual Buddha’s body, speech, and mind.
The reason is, as Mikyo Dorje says also from the Hundred Short Instructions is that some people think that when we say that the guru is not a Buddha, but we imagine to be Buddha, they are not Vajradhara, but we just imagine them to be like that, which is sort of sealing it. However, the guru is not free from the gross aging and sickness, they suffer from heat, cold, hunger and thirst. And if things do not happen the way they like, then they can cry out in pain. They can complain and they can worry right? It is just a human who does that.
If one has a guru like that an ordinary individual, how can they possibly be Vajradhara? It is possible that we might think this. Vajradhara is someone who has no feelings of pleasure or pain, someone who has no experience of hunger, cold, thirst and so forth. We think that is what Vajradhara is probably like. They do not need to experience hunger and thirst. They do not need to have birth, age, sickness, and death. They are not going to complain when things do not work out, we think there is no way, and that they cannot be Vajradhara.
But as we said before, the Buddha Bhagavan said himself: “in the final 500-year period I myself will appear in the form of a teacher, think this is me, and at that time generate respect for me”.
So, if we look at it like that, they may seem like an ordinary individual, but we can receive the blessings of the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind and the disciples can receive from them the blessings of Vajradhara and achieve common and uncommon siddhis. For this reason, there is no greater root of virtue than delighting the guru. So that is how it is, right?
The importance of examining the guru: like in a marriage where you have to stay together whole life
So, in brief, there are many things that are taught, and I do not need to say all of it, but in any case, to say the best is before you follow the guru, then you need to check whether the guru has all the characteristics or not, and you need to examine them. You should not just follow any guru. Once you have followed the guru, even if you see a few faults, you should not lose faith, or discard, or complain about or criticize them.
The Kadampa masters of the past said this, First you examine and follow the guru. This is kind of like getting married. These days, even getting married is not like it was in the past when you got married then you are forced to stay with them your whole life. Nowadays, one can get married one year, then break up and then go with someone else next year. No, it is not like that.
When you go to a guru and it is like that kind of getting married, you are with them for a little while and then think, “Oh there is a better one” and then you find another. That is not good because “if you disappoint one guru, it is like disappointing all gurus.” If a guru is excellent, then you have to view and respect them as an actual Buddha.
Even if they are a bad guru, you should still not disrespect them. Because if you disrespect them, then no matter how much respect you show an excellent guru later, their blessings will not be able to enter you. As I said before, if you have a breach of samaya, then later no matter what instructions or whatever practice you do, there is a danger that the blessings will not enter you, nor will you develop any experience and realization. So, for that reason, we must be very careful. The main thing here is about the blessings, these are extremely important. In particular, in the secret mantra primarily, taking blessings is the path.
As Je Gampopa, said in his Dharma Talks, the Sutras say that taking blessings is the path, but some say taking direct perception (ngon-sum) is the path. But Je Gampopa said that mantra/Tantra is taking blessings as the path, and mahamudra is taking direct perception as the path. So, in the secret mantra, blessings are extremely important. The origin of the blessings is the guru, the place where you receive the blessings from, is like the place where water descends from a tap, that is the place where the blessings come from the guru.
So, the place where blessings come down from the guru and we feel faith and devotion for the guru For that reason, the place where it comes from, the place where we ascend to that all comes down the guru. If there is no guru, it is possible some blessings could enter you without the guru. But if you have violated samaya, whether you have upset the guru, or have disrespected the guru, then it is basically impossible for you to receive the blessings, or extremely difficult to receive any of the blessings. For this reason, as I said before, no matter how many blessings you receive from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and deities and so forth, you have to receive them through the guru. First of all, it is important to have true and pure faith in that guru. If you do not have faith, then blessings cannot enter you, because the gateway for receiving blessings is the faith.
There was a Kadampa master in the past, he said the student said “please give me blessings.” The guru said: “well first of all you have to give me faith” and said “If I need to bless you, then first of all you have to have faith in me. If you do not have faith in me, then I cannot bless you.” he said.
Similarly, however great one’s faith, that is how great the blessings will be. As Je Gampopa said, these words are well-known in Kagyu traditions:
“The most excellent (rab) devotion has the most excellent blessings (rab). And the meditation will also be excellent.”
So, if you have excellent devotion, you will also have the greatest blessings and the greatest meditation. If you have medium devotion, then your meditation will also be medium level, and your blessings will also be medium. If you have the least devotion, then the blessings will be lower class and the meditation will also be lesser.
Stories about the importance of faith
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Trimkhang Lotsawa losing his pride to the Tsurphu Jamyang Chenpo
Here is an example of the importance of the students’ faith in a guru. It is a story about someone who was a great student of 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa (karma pa 05 de bzhin gshegs pa 1384-1415) called Tsurphu Jamyang Chenpo[1] . The 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje mentions him in The Four Sacred Ornaments of the Tibetan Teachings (?).
Also, in the biography of Tsurphu Jamyang Chenpo in [the historical text] Feast for Scholars it describes this story about him. Trimkhang Lotsāwa Sonam Gyatso (khrims khang lo tsA ba bsod nams rgya mtsho, 1424-1482)[2], was very well-known, he was the teacher of the 4th Zhamarpa, Chodrag Yeshe. He was going through Kham to make offerings. At that point, in Kham, the Karmapa and Karma Kamtsang had a lot of followers there. So, when he had to teach them, they understood that he needed to have the lineage of the Karma Kamtsang to do that. So, he probably went to see Tsurphu Jamyang Chenpo, at Tsurphu monastery.
When he arrived at Tsurphu, then Tsurphu Jamyang Chenpo immediately put Trimkhang the translator on top of a throne, but some meditators welcomed him and when they prostrated, they prostrated to each other right? So, when they prostrated together, the seats were then exactly on the same level, and they gave him good meals and so forth. However, Jamyang Chenpo did not teach him any dharma at all. He did not teach dharma itself. Of course, every day they would have conversations and discussions about the dharma. Jamyang Chenpo was extremely learned, right? He had such a vast knowledge. Trimkhang Lotsawa was also a great scholar and learned and also thought of himself as being really learned. At first, he had a lot of pride and thought he was very learned but then he lost all his pride. Trimkhang Lotsawa realized after he spent a month there, when he thought about it to himself that:
“He is really treating me very well, and giving me a lot of respect, but he is not teaching me any dharma. I am wondering why that is, why is he not teaching me?”
Later, he thought:
“It is because we need to listen the dharma properly. My pride and way of viewing myself is too big. I have been thinking of the dharma as like a thing. Thinking of asking for the dharma, like asking for a thing. Like thinking about asking for wealth, not thinking of the dharma as being dharma. This is not all right.”
So, he had not been able to develop faith in that really accorded with the dharma. Realizing that this was not proper, he realized that he had not developed the perception of him as a spiritual friend like a Buddha, but instead had thought of him like a friend or companion, like an ordinary being. So, for this reason, he realized that he was not a proper vessel for the dharma. This is why he has stopped me from getting the Dharma, he thought. So immediately he got very sad and shed many tears. This is a feeling that arose in him. When he had this feeling, then he saw that Jamyang Chenpo was actually the same as a Buddha. When he thought that, he supplicated intensely.
The next morning, extremely earlier than usual, then the Jamyang Chenpo came to invite him and so Trimkhang Lotsawa went. On that day, it was different than the other days. Jamyang Chenpo was seated on his throne and he just stayed. He did not stand up and prostrate, he did not do any of that. When he gave the blessings, he gave the blessings with his hands. So, in the past they had touched foreheads, and he did not do that. He gave it with his hand. In front there was a small carpet and he said “you please sit here.” He said: “One does not act like that when wanting the dharma. Someone who seeks the dharma should act like this.”
Then, immediately Jamyang Chenpo began teaching the 3rd Karmapa’s Profound Inner Meaning from the beginning through teaching it through the six limits, and the four modes, according to the tradition. And Trimkhang Lotsawa also made notes about this, which we can still see in his commentary is different than other commentaries. It is superior it is often said[3].
In any case, he got this commentary from Jamyang Chenpo and he received it as like instructions. For that reason, Trimkhang Lotsawa himself had really extraordinary faith in Jamyang Chenpo. So, this is the reason faith is so important.
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Phagmo Dorje Gyalpo and Lama Zhang’s meeting witb Je Gampopa: devotion more important than wealth
So, in terms of the greater our faith, the better the blessings, there is another story about that. The story is about Phagmo Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170). He had a student named Lama Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa (1123 – 1193). So, first of all Lama Zhang was a dharma friend, but later, he became a senior student of Phagmo Dorje Gyalpo. He was like the first student.
So, Je Gampopa was very well-known right? And because he was so well-known Phagmo Drupa wanted to meet him very badly at Daglha Gampo. So Geshe Zhang said: “if you go to Daglha Gampo, I also want to go and see Gampopa, and prostrate to him.” For that reason, the two of them went at that time, they were friends and went to together.
Geshe Zhang was very wealthy actually. So, when he went to Daglha Gampo he had many offerings and things he brought to offer Gampopa. When they got to Daglha Gampo, Je Gampopa was not feeling so well. He was having a bit of a health problem. So, they spent 40 days there before they met him. But during that time, the students were doing various services. They were building a stupa as a long life offering for Gampopa. And so Phagmo Drupa Gyalpo carried the earth for building the stupa and so forth. He spent some time helping out with this. When Gampopa recovered his health then immediately, they were called to see Je Gampopa.
So, they went together to see him but Phagmo Drupa thought that “he is not going to give me any dharma because I do not have anything to give him, I do not have any offerings. So, he is not going to give me any dharma.” So, he had this sort of thought this was a mistake. So, he asked Geshe Zhang and said “I have nothing to offer so if he does not give it to you because I do not have anything that is not good. So, we should go separately to receive the dharma teachings.” So, he said this to Geshe Zhang, “we should go separately because you have offerings that I don’t.”
Geshe Zhang did not say anything but he went to see Gampopa. He was very wealthy and had a huge turquoise. Some people say it was like the size of a pigeon. In any case it was this really huge turquoise and he offered it, and then after having given, he had everything else given saying this is pomapo offerings but he said this is for Phagmo Drupa that I am making this offering, and offered a lot of silks and brocades and so forth.
They had some conversations over tea. Je Gampopa thought that Phagmo Drupa was thinking that he would not give him any teachings. He was worried about it. So, Je Gampopa said “come tomorrow for breakfast and we will have breakfast tomorrow, and that time, together I can give the teachings together at the same time.
When they were giving the tea, the attendants served it from Je Gampopa’s cup for tea, and Phagmo Drupa thought “Wow, this is wonderful. The students are really very kind, and very nice. They are really compassionate to us to give some tea from Gampopa’s cup on this day.” So, when he was meeting Je Gampopa, he had this like extraordinary joy, like it was incredible.
When they bot came back then on the way from seeing Je Gampopa, Phagmo Drupa and Geshe Zhang spoke about it on the road back and Phagmo Drupa said “What did you see when you saw the guru Gampopa what did you think about him? How did you feel?” Geshe replied: “I saw him as being really be learned, virtuous and good individual. That is how I saw him.” Then Phagmo Drupa said, “Oh I did not see him like that. I thought it was like seeing an actual Buddha. That is what I thought.”
So, the next morning, Phagmo Drupa felt such a strong desire to see the guru, like he could not sleep. He was just thinking, when is the sun going to dawn, wondering when the sun would rise. He did not sleep well and extremely early in the morning because he had not slept at all, he got up really early in the morning and said “Okay we got to go now. Get up.”
So, the Geshe also got up. Phagmo Drupa said “the precious guru had said come early right so we have to go early right, as he said.” So Geshe Zhang said “these yogis have some issues and faults. These students do not understand, they do not know what is good or not. Because on that day the students gave the tea from Gampopa’s cup. So, he did not like it and he felt a bit disappointed and disgusted. He thought: These students do not really understand the way things should be done.”
The Phagmo Drupa said: “They gave us the food that Gampopa was supposed to eat, out of the wish to help and to be beneficial for us. They wished for us to receive the blessings. There is nothing to think about that. We should go.”
So only then they left. So, this story they went going together to see Je Gampopa. Because of interdependent connections, later Phagmo Drupa had activity that was equal to space. He was one among the group of students who had the greatest activity. However, Geshe Zhang, became a senior student of Phagmo Drupa, but other than that he did not have particularly vast activity.
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Je Milarepa and Je Gampopa
Another example of this is that if you only have only medium faith, when your activity increases your faith grows stronger and stronger. For example, there is this tradition where when you actually see the path and levels, you see the Buddha as the actual Buddha.
For example, Gampopa had incredible faith in Milarepa before he met him. Then when he met Milarepa, of course, he had great faith. But at that time, but when he was about to part from Milarepa he said to Gampopa: “In the future one day, you will have developed superior realization unlike what you have now. At that time, you will also have developed the certainty of seeing this old man, me, like a natural Buddha.”
He predicted this and later when Gampopa was practicing and other places he realized the nature of his mind. Then at that time, he had the faith of seeing his guru as being an actual Buddha. His previous faith was a great faith but that faith as he said before, in actuality the guru is an actual dharmakaya. In the past, I saw him as a great Drubthob/Mahasiddha but that was not okay. The guru is like the actual dharmakaya because when he received the dharmakaya he actually realized that the guru is also the dharma nature for the dharmakaya. So that is one story.
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Gotsangpa and Tsangpa Gyare: they are not a 10th level Bodhisattva, they are like Buddha
Likewise, when we look at the liberation story of Je Gotsangpa, there is another story. One day, Je Gostangpa said that he thought his guru, Tsangpa Gyare, is probably a 10th level bodhisattva. He thought that, then immediately he thought to himself is the prayer: the guru who points out my own mind who points out the actual nature of the dharma nature.” you think that is like that, but there is no one else who thinks of that, and he criticized himself. And from then on, he said he never lacked the idea of the Buddha.
So Jowo Je Atisha said to Dromtonpa thinking that the guru is a 10th level bodhisattva or something like that is great, we think that the guru is a 10th level bodhisattva if you think like that, this is not authentic devotion, but thinking that they are an actual Buddha is actual devotion.
Now for us, then forget about an actual bodhisattva, forget about a 10th level Bodhisattva as the guru, it is even difficult for us to think and have the belief the guru is an authentic guru. So, for us because the obscurations and our bad karma is so great. The fact that we can actually see the guru as a human is better. The fact that we are not seeing them as being like a dog or a donkey is actually pretty good. Forget about seeing the guru as an actual Buddha. Seeing the guru as someone an authentic guru as learned, venerable and good. Developing confidence in this is really difficult.
How should we think about what an actual Buddha in human form is like?
So, we need to view the guru as being a Buddha. But how do we think about them to see the guru as an actual Buddha, how can we develop the faith and pure devotion of seeing the guru is a natural Buddha? I have some ideas about that I would like to share with you.
In general, there was a time when Dromptonpa asked Atisha a question and he said: “There are many people in Tibet who practice meditation, but really there are not that many people who develop superior qualities. Why is that?” Je Atisha said: “On the Mahayana path whether the qualities developed are great or small, they all arise because of the guru. You Tibetans only think of the guru as an ordinary person. For that reason, how can you possibly develop extraordinary qualities?”
So, the gurus of the past have said if you lack devotion to the guru, you will not receive blessings. So, you have to have faith and devotion to the guru. Of course, not only do you have to have devotion to them, you also must think of the guru as being a Buddha. The reason for this is that if you think of the guru as a Buddha, then you will receive the blessing of a Buddha. If you think of the guru as a bodhisattva, you receive a bodhisattva’s blessing. If you think of the guru as being an ordinary person, you are not going to receive that many blessings at all.
So actually, there are many scriptural and logical proofs that teach us that the guru is the same as a Buddha, or is an actual Buddha. Yet, if you do not believe it, no matter how many thousands of proofs you are presented with, there is not much benefit.
So, I think first of all, when we are saying the guru and the Buddha are similar, and the same, we need to think about what that means. In general, each individual one of us, the best we think we have the idea what is the greatest person like, we think what is the best behaviour like for an individual who has exhausted all faults, and possesses all qualities, what is the level that person should be? So, each person has their own idea of what the level should be like and they are not all going to be the same. Some people hope for a kind of a very low level of person. Some people have really complicated needs and wants, and have a really high level and difficult to find.
Particularly, when we say the Buddha, we all think of is Buddha being like and incredible, superhuman being. They are like a god. That’s what we think right? When we talk about Buddha, we think it is like it is a myth. We do not think about it as a human history about people. We would never think about it as like that.
So, when we say we have to view him as “the same as a Buddha” It seems like it has to be like the Jowo statue has got up and come to us. Or we think like God that comes down from heaven. We think it has to be something like that. That is what we think. But the way things appear to us in general and common, is the Buddha was a historical personage who actually lived in India 2,500 years ago. He was a historical person right? He was not a god when he was born, he was born from his mother’s womb. Actually, they say he was not born from the womb, but he spent eight or nine months in his mother’s womb. That is the same as all of us, isn’t it? When he wanted to learn the alphabet, he had to be taught these from the very beginning. He had to eat food, go to the bathroom. And at night he had to sleep, and he could get sick too. He got old and he passed away, right? We do not say that he died right, if we do not say it respectfully. He had feelings of pleasure and pain. He was someone who had pleasure, feelings of pleasure and pain. So this when you look at him, he’s just a human right? What was different from him, from other people is that he had awakened to Buddhahood. He had achieved the level of Buddhahood. That is what is different between him and other people. Would you say that he’d awakened to Buddhahood then? That does not mean that he develops three heads and developed six arms and then it is like you become Buddha. That is not what is meant.
Sometimes we talk about the third eye, right? In the middle of the forehead, there is like an eye develops, a third eye. It is not talking about that. It is not saying one grows an extra eye when you awaken to Buddhahood. It means that you realize what the nature of reality is, when you understand what the path to achieving liberation and omniscience is. It is knowing how to teach that path to other people. It means you are someone who can teach this path unmistakably to others.
So, in brief, being a Buddha means that you have come to an extremely high level of experience and realization. For that reason, we call them the name Buddha. It is not like becoming some superhuman and becoming a god. So, when you say he is awakened to Buddha it is a huge improvement in his internal qualities. It does not mean that his external form as a human is changed at all.
So, I think if we if we only look at on the surface it would be difficult for us to distinguish between whether it is a Buddha or not. An example, in the future, if the scientists can invent a time machine, we could go back in time. Then if we go back to the time of the Buddha but few of us go back right and without anyone else telling us, there is no one telling us who through our own power if we have to find the Buddha, we would have to find them on our own right? If we need to do it on our own if we wanted to go look for the Buddha immediately after he achieved Buddhahood, would we find the Buddha or not? I think that we probably would not find the Buddha. I think it would not be easy to find the Buddha.
Even if we did find the Buddha, I think we could not recognize him as being a Buddha. And the reason for this is for one thing that there is none of us who actually ever actually met the Buddha. We never actually saw the actual Buddha, right? Even if we met the actual Buddha, we would not be able to determine that was the Buddha. That is one reason.
Another more important reason, is that the way we think about a Buddha is like, we do not think that he is like an actual ordinary person. We think that it must be some extraordinary being. That is what we think. So, when you go to the Bodhi tree and you see an ordinary person as a Buddha, we would not believe it. That cannot be a Buddha. It has got to be someone who is shining light, who has a halo. He has got to be huge. We would look all around to see if we could find him. We would not really take any interest in the person who is in front of us as being a Buddha.
In our minds when we say Buddha, there’s incredibly huge gap between the Buddha that we think there should be, and the actual Buddha who is sitting there. In particular, at that time in India there is so many meditators, spiritual practitioners who were sitting meditating there. Many great practitioners in India at that time and if you look on the outside there would be a lot who would look a lot like the Buddha like the whole country is filled with them. But who is the actual Buddha we would not know. So, I think it would be difficult for us.
For that reason, first of all we need to understand that the Buddha Shakyamuni was an individual who appeared in a human form. If we understand that, then we can understand how the guru can be a Buddha, that is one thing.
In general, when we are talking about a spiritual friend or guru, the external appearance of the spiritual friend of the guru the way we should understand that is it does not mean that external appearance of the human. That is not what we mean when we say a spiritual friend or guru. What it actually means is someone who teaches us the pure dharma and elevates our mind to a higher level.
Also, the word Buddha does not refer to the external form. It has to refer to the inner qualities. In particular, the main way we should understand the jewel of the Buddha is someone who teaches the students the unmistaken path. That is why we call that the main activity of the jewel of the Buddha is that. For this reason, we call the Shakyamuni Buddha our teacher because he is the one who teaches us the path. He is the first one who taught the path. So, we call them our teacher. Also, if the guru is an authentic guru they also teach the path without mistake, just like the Buddha. They are able to teach that for us individually the guru performs the activity of a Buddha. just as a Buddha they do the activity of a Buddha. In particular, if the guru has a lineage the dharma that they teach has been passed from the Buddha Shakyamuni from one guru to the next. Many of these great beings practiced it and invented in the end all the way down to our own root guru. So, the dharma that we receive from the root guru and the dharma that we receive from the Shakyamuni Buddha is no different. The dharma that they teach is the same. It is like there is no difference between them.
So, for this reason, we think about it in terms of these reasons it would not be presumptuous to say to that all the teachers who teach the students are the pure dharma are like the Buddhas. It is not it is actually not contradictory of reality. In fact, I think it actually matches how things truly are. So instead of taking the very person as an ordinary, but a modern example spiritual friend we need to take the person who teaches us the true dharma and helps us elevate our dharma to our mind to a higher level. That is what we should take as being a spiritual friend.
Not only that the teacher himself also said, as I said “before in a future time of degeneration, I will appear in the form of a master.” He said in this degenerate time the people who want dharma will not be able to meet me the teacher as Vajradhara and but they do not need to think that they cannot meet practice the dharma and they cannot receive the dharma because even though I have assumed to have passed away in all times in all times I am performing activity to pass by the dharma.
So, if you come in a time that no-one is predicted at that time, if you want to enter my teachings, I will become your teacher, and teach you the dharma that is appropriate for your devotion.
Another doubt that we can have is that thinking about the guru as a Buddha is something that is taught in the Vajrayana in the secret mantra, it is not like a Buddhist thing. It is not something that is accepted generally in Buddhism. But that is not true either.
The Sacred Account of Vinaya
To give an example of that of this is that we talk about the Sacred Account of Vinaya and speaking about the activity of associating with the teachers, is those who associate with them keep the conception of thinking of the Khenpo as the teacher.
“They should serve him, stand up quickly, walk quickly, be respectful and serve them.”
In the Vinaya, it says that you have to think of the khenpo as the teacher. Likewise, the Mahayana sutras, such as the Sutra on the Ten Dharmas:
“From the Ten Dharmas Sutra: They are thus free of depravity of body speech and mind. So, give rise to the conception of the Khenpo as the teacher.””
“From the Sacred Golden Light: “One should think of the Dharma they teach as medicine and think of the Khenpo as the guru.””
The Sacred Golden Light is also named the “Noble Mahayana Sutra called the Samadhi that Encompasses all Merit”, that is a different name. But what it says is that you should think of the dharma they teach as medicine and think of the abbot and master as the teacher.
In the Sutra of Narayana’s Questions also says:
So, for this reason in general, it is said that it is recognized in the sutras that you should view the guru as being like the Buddha. And in the Tantras, you should recognize the guru as the actual Buddha they do make that distinction.
The importance of faith and confidence: The old lady who prayed to an ordinary stone as sacred and self-arisen Vajravarahi
In any case, whether the Buddha is similar to, you need to visually see them in that way. For that reason, what we need is someone who is going to teach as a guru, what is as important as that is having belief and having confidence. If you do not have confidence/belief, even if the Buddha came in person, it would be difficult because one it has been the Buddha’s been like around 80 years, and during that time many people had faith and confidence in them. Many followed him and achieved liberation. There were a lot of people like that. But also, there were people who did not feel faith in him, who did not consider him valuable, or even who did not take much interest in him. There are many people, especially there are people like Devadatta. He was not just anyone, he was the Buddha’s own cousin but he felt jealous of the Buddha. He started to hate him. And in the end, he tried to kill the Buddha several times. There were even people like that.
So even with a perfect Buddha there were people who made good connections with him and people who made bad connections and there are people who made no connection at all. So, there are many different types of these people. It is not like the Buddha is just merely being there does not mean that everyone is going to feel faith in it. That is not necessarily going to happen. There is no not less certain that you are going to achieve liberation. The main point is from your own perspective having faith and confidence is as important. So, for that reason having faith and conviction in the guru and having a teacher is the same in importance. Sometimes, having confidence is even more important than having someone to teach you the path. There are times when it is more important.
There is a story about this. In the olden days, a long time ago there were two people who wanted to go to Tsa-ri, a sacred place right? It was a very sacred Kagyu site. Some people went to circumambulate and there was a neighbour in that region, an old lady and when she heard about these people, she went to them and asked: “Is it true that you two are going to Tsa-ri?” They replied “Yes, it’s true, we’re going.” The old woman was delighted and said “Okay then my wish will be fulfilled.” And she said “Tsa-ri is a long way, so you’ll need some provisions for the trip.” So she gave them a bag of puffed wheat and said “you can now go at the top and bring a like a small rock small stone as a support for me an old woman to pray over. The reason for that is that I’ve heard that is a is the mandala of Chakrasamvara, so if Ican do this, I can have the stone from that place.
They replied: “Of course we’ll do this” and they went off. They went they circumambulate and then they forgot to bring the rock and they did not remember even that they had forgotten as they are coming back to their homeland. When they got back to the homeland, the old woman knew that it was about the time they had come back. So, she went out to look out to see if they were coming and they saw her standing watching from a high place and immediately they remembered that they had forgotten to bring the rock. What are we going to do, what is the best thing for us to do? There is nothing we can do. We need to bring just like a black rock from there.”
And so, they went to a place where the old lady could not, they took a whole place They wrapped it in katag scarves. They pretended it was the stone, and put it inside their cloaks and went up over to see the old woman. When they got to the old woman, she asked them “How you doing did you have problems? You two must have brought my rock, right?” they said “Of course.” Oh, we paid so much attention to this, and were really very careful to do this they said. So, they took this this stone from right in front of the pure crystal mountain they said and they gave it to the old woman.
So, there are many of these gullible old women, right? Even these days, right? She said “Oh this black rock must really have come from Salu, and it must be the date itself deadly.” And so, she put it above her pillow. She made like the shelf above it and offered every day, water, and lamps and whatever she ate or drank, she made an offering to them morning and night. She prostrated to it hundred times each and he supplicated it. Eventually, from that stone itself naturally grew an image of Vajravarahi herself, and so the old woman’s faith increased greatly. Of course, one’s faith is going to grow right? She just supplicated like and then as she did so this the started to give off many relics. At the end, when the old woman passed away there were so many miraculous signs.
“The Guru is the Student’s mirror”
So this is a story about how important confidence is right? That belief and confidence has to be stainless, sincere and pure. If our faith and conviction is not pure then it is not good. So, a lot of people nowadays who enter the gate of dharma, they do not find an authentic guru, instead they meet a lot of fake gurus. In these black times this happs, and one factor in that is the student themselves does not have a pure motivation, they do not have a stable intention to practice genuine dharma. The Karmapa said “the student’s mirror is the guru.”
So, it is like the guru appears in the way according to your desire and wishes. If you are someone who is attached to that then basically when you look, it is possible to find a guru who when you look at them from the outside is handsome and goodlooking. That is what you are going to look for and that is what you are going to find. Some people think what they think is I should find a guru someone who someone who pays a lot of attention to you, who is like always welcoming to you, who does not think about others, and will see me more than anyone else. So, I think maybe that is what the guru is going to be like and because that is what they want, there is the danger that they are only going to find a guru like that.
We think of Milarepa for example and he practiced sorcery. He killed a lot of people and he thought when I die there is nowhere, I am going to go except for hell. He only had one help and that is if he could get a guru who could teach the instructions on awakening in this lifetime to Buddhahood. If he could meet them and get the instructions and achieve Buddhahood, then he could do that. Other than meeting that guru, there is nothing else he could think of that could do. There is only one thing that he needed. There was nothing else that he needed. Perhaps this is like too extreme of an example.
In any case, for us to practice the dharma it is important for us to have the motivation of wanting to practice dharma and the pure truth of motivation of wanting to follow guru as a real practitioner. If our motivation is pure and sincere, then our chance of meeting the guru becomes hundreds of times more likely if you do not have that example now and other teachers and like would we see them as being like a good guru, most of us probably would not see them as being like a good guru theses people who behave so badly.
Forget about us seeing them as a guru. We would probably have to call the police to arrest them, put them on trial, send them to prison, or maybe send them to a lunatic asylum. There is the danger that we would say that right? In particular, in Tibet forget about it, there is no freedom but if there was the freedom to sue the gurus, then people will say anything about the Guru. They have a lot of freedom to criticise. So now we are in a time like this. If Tilopa NAropa and Mara were alive today it would be difficult for us to consider them an authentic guru. So, for this reason, it is important to have a good guru. But from our perspective it is important to have good certainty and good conviction in them.”
Endnotes
[1] Tsilupa (sometimes spelled “Tsilu”) is the name of an Indian holy man credited with bringing the Kalachakra tantra, a central practice in the tradition, from Shambhala, a mythical land. This lineage is also linked to Tai Situpa, one of the oldest lineages of reincarnated lamas in the Kagyu school.
[2] Karma pa 08 mi bskyod rdo rje. “Phyag rgya chen po sgros ʼbum.” gSung ʼbum mi bskyod rdo rje, vol. 24, 2004, pp. 3–468. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW8039_4377AA.
[3] In a teaching about the 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa given in March 2021, the 17th Karmapa spoke about Jamyang Chenpo a little: “Jamyang Chenpo, a direct disciple of Dezhin Shegpa from Tsurphu, wrote a liberation-story, Lord of Dharma, which was unavailable before, but which we do have now. In it, he states that during the time that Dezhin Shegpa was in China, it was not only the high officials, such as the Ming Emperor, who came for an audience, but many people came, who spoke various different languages. Thus, Dezhin Shegpa would teach the Dharma surrounded by four or five translators. Many of the people who came for audience with the 5th Karmapa had travelled for many days, prostrating with each step they took, as was the old Chinese tradition. Doing a prostration for every three steps. Mainly, Dezhin Shegpa taught reciting the name mantras of the buddhas and bodhisattvas and making commitments, such as giving up killing and so forth. Thus, he encouraged the people to practice virtue as Jamyang Chenpo’s biography says.” See: https://dakinitranslations.com/2021/03/05/the-karmapa-who-said-no-to-power-5th-karmapas-refusal-to-take-control-of-tibet/
The 17th Karmapa also mentions that one of the most reliable biographies of the 5th Karmapa was composed by Jamyang Chenpo, see: https://dakinitranslations.com/2021/02/16/brave-kagyu-fox-the-meaning-and-origin-of-the-name-karmapa-the-midnight-blue-crown-and-karmapa-khyenno-mantra-good-deeds-of-8th-karmapa-by-17th-karmapa-day-one/
[4] “Trimkhang Lotsāwa Sonam Gyatso (khrims khang lo tsā ba bsod nams rgya mtsho), a man whose family controlled the Trimkhang Temple (khrims khang gling) at Samye (bsam yas), would serve as a translator during Vanaratna’s third journey, and composed a continuation of the biography. Both Go Lotsāwa and Trimkhang Lotsāwa collaborated on translations preserved in the Tengyur; the latter under the name Sonam Gyatso De or simply Gyatso De. After Vanaratna’s death Sonam Gyatso would have multiple visions of the master in sexual union with a consort.
According to Trimkhang Sonam Gyatso, the nobility of Nepal refused to allow Vanaratna to leave, and were only convinced after accepting the Tibetans’ gold and a promise that the master would return within two years. The journey began in 1453 and ended when Vanaratna returned to Nepal in 1454. During those two short years he not only ministered to the young Pakmodru ruler, but he visited numerous additional petty kingdoms, most of which were then actively separating themselves from Pakmodru control.” https://treasuryoflives.org/bo/biographies/view/Vanaratna/TBRC_P207
See also BDRC http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/P208.
[5] I looked up this commentary and it appears to be this one: Karma pa 03 rang byung rdo rje, and Khrims khang lo tsā ba bsod nams rgya mtsho. “Zab mo nang don gyi rnam bshad snying po gsal bar byed paʼi nyin byed.” gSung ʼbum rang byung rdo rje, vol. 14, [mTshur phu mkhan po lo yag bkra shis], 2006, pp. 5–558. Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC), purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW30541_F57138