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ОглавлениеRelying upon a Spiritual Guide
the actual meditation
The first meditation on the stages of the path is the meditation on relying upon our Spiritual Guide. This has two parts:
1 The qualifications of a Mahayana Spiritual Guide and a Mahayana disciple
2 The actual meditation on relying upon our Spiritual Guide
the qualifications of a mahayana spiritual guide and a mahayana disciple
Reliance upon a Spiritual Guide is called the ‘root of the path’ because all other spiritual realizations of Sutra and Tantra depend upon it. The many branches and fruits of our Dharma practice are sustained and nourished by the root of reliance upon our Spiritual Guide. Just as in our ordinary education we need to rely upon the help of well-qualified teachers to guide us from the level of nursery school to the completion of college or university training, so in the spiritual training that leads to full enlightenment we need to rely upon a well-qualified Spiritual Guide.
Such a deep root cannot be planted hastily. We need to become acquainted with someone who has all the qualifications of a Spiritual Guide, and gradually gain confidence through their teaching and example so that we can rely completely upon their guidance. Our relationship with our Spiritual Guide is the very source of all spiritual attainments, therefore we must be sure that he or she possesses all the necessary qualifications. It is not sufficient that he is famous for his knowledge of Buddhism or that he is an attractive or charismatic personality. Even if he is an unusually kind and sympathetic person, this alone is not a sufficient basis for our devoting ourself to him completely.
A fully qualified Mahayana Spiritual Guide is someone who possesses ten special qualities. According to Ornament for Mahayana Sutras these are:
(1) A mind that is controlled by the practice of moral discipline.
(2) A mind that has become peaceful and undistracted through the practice of concentration.
(3) Reduced self-grasping through the practice of wisdom.
(4) Greater knowledge than the disciple.
(5) Delight in teaching Dharma.
(6) A wealth of scriptural knowledge.
(7) A deep and stable realization of emptiness.
(8) Great skill in explaining Dharma.
(9) Compassion and love for his disciples.
(10) Enthusiasm for teaching Dharma, being free from discouragement or laziness.
If we are not so fortunate as to know someone who has all these qualities we can rely upon a Spiritual Guide who at least practises moral discipline, concentration and wisdom, who has compassion and love for his or her disciples, and who has gained a realization of emptiness.
To become a perfect Mahayana disciple we need to develop the following qualifications:
(1) A mind that is balanced, free from strong attachment to worldly enjoyments and strong aversion.
(2) The wisdom to discriminate pure Dharma teachings that will bring real benefit from teachings that are false. Without this wisdom a disciple is easily confused and led astray when listening to or reading mistaken teachings.
(3) A strong wish to practise Dharma.
(4) Great faith and respect for his or her Spiritual Guide and for Dharma.
(5) The ability to listen to or read Dharma without laziness or distraction.
It is said that when a fully qualified Mahayana disciple relies completely upon a fully qualified Mahayana Spiritual Guide the attainment of enlightenment is easy.
the actual meditation on relying upon our spiritual guide
The purpose of this meditation is to overcome any non-virtuous attitudes we may have towards our Spiritual Guide, such as feelings of dislike or thoughts of disrespect, and to cultivate the virtuous attitudes of faith and respect. When we succeed in cultivating these virtuous states of mind we continue to meditate to become more and more familiar with them, until they remain in our mind at all times.
The meditation has four parts:
1 The benefits of relying completely upon our Spiritual Guide
2 The dangers of breaking our commitment to our Spiritual Guide
3 How to rely upon our Spiritual Guide by developing faith and respect
4 How to rely upon our Spiritual Guide by engaging in actions of service and devotion
the benefits of relying completely upon our spiritual guide
To generate a strong determination to rely purely upon our Spiritual Guide we contemplate eight main benefits:
1 We progress towards enlightenment
2 We delight all the Buddhas
3 We are not harmed by demons and other evil influences
4 We easily overcome our faults and delusions
5 Our experiences and realizations of spiritual grounds and paths greatly increase
6 We never lack spiritual friends in all our future lives
7 We do not take rebirth in the lower realms
8 All our wishes, temporary and ultimate, are easily fulfilled
we progress towards enlightenment
We meditate:
If I rely completely upon my Spiritual Guide he or she will reveal what I have to practise to attain full enlightenment. By putting his advice into practice and receiving the merit and inspiration that come from dedicating myself completely to my Spiritual Guide I will accomplish my goal swiftly, in this very lifetime. Therefore I must rely purely upon my Spiritual Guide.
We can also meditate on the following quotation from the Tantras:
If we make offerings to even the tiniest hair pore of our Spiritual Guide we will receive greater merit than by making offerings to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions.
Sakya Pandita said that if we practise the six perfections, such as giving and so forth, for a thousand aeons, we can accumulate a great amount of merit; but if we rely completely upon our Spiritual Guide we can accumulate the same amount of merit in just one moment. Since the collection of merit is the main cause of a Buddha’s Form Body, the more quickly we accumulate merit, the more quickly we progress towards attaining a Buddha’s Form Body. Conversely, the more we develop delusions, the more quickly we accumulate non-virtue which takes us swiftly towards the lower realms.
In One Hundred Verses for the Tingri People Phadampa Sangye says that if we rely upon our Spiritual Guide he can lead us wherever we wish to go and so we should repay his kindness by offering faith and respect. If we wish to attain enlightenment our Spiritual Guide will lead us there, if we wish to gain the realization of the first spiritual ground he will lead us there, if we wish to attain liberation he will lead us there, and if we wish to be reborn in a Pure Land or a heavenly god realm he will lead us there. He will lead us to whatever virtuous destination we desire.
We can also meditate on examples, such as the story of the Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita mentioned in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines. Sadaprarudita could not make progress towards enlightenment even though he had many visions of Buddhas and received teachings from them directly. He asked the Buddhas ‘With which Spiritual Guide do I have a good karmic connection?’ and they directed him to Dharmodgata. To learn from this Teacher, Sadaprarudita had to exert great effort, and he even had to cut and sell his own flesh to obtain substances to offer. His wholehearted devotion was completely worthwhile because it was only by relying upon Dharmodgata that he could make swift progress to enlightenment.
Since we do not have the opportunity at present to meet actual Buddhas and receive instructions from them directly, we need to commit ourself to a Spiritual Guide with whom we can cultivate, right now, a relationship that is beneficial in terms of our spiritual development. We may find that we can easily and naturally develop a beneficial relationship with a particular Teacher as a result of our having performed virtuous actions towards that person in the past.
we delight all the buddhas
In Scriptures Received from the Mouth of Manjushri Vajradhara says:
When disciples make offerings to their Spiritual Guides, I myself and all the other Buddhas enter into the body of the Spiritual Guide and accept the offering.
We meditate:
All the Buddhas, including Buddha Vajradhara, have entered the body of my Spiritual Guide. Therefore, if I please my Spiritual Guide, I please all the Buddhas; if I make prostrations to my Spiritual Guide, I make prostrations to all the Buddhas; and if I accumulate merit through actions I perform towards my Spiritual Guide, the merit I accumulate is the same as the merit I would accumulate if I were to perform these actions towards all the Buddhas. Therefore I must rely purely upon my Spiritual Guide.
we are not harmed by demons and other evil influences
In Extensive Enjoyment Sutra Buddha says that anyone who has merit and good fortune will accomplish all their wishes. Such a person will be free from possession or hindrance by demons, evil spirits and so forth, and will be able to attain enlightenment swiftly. We meditate:
By relying completely upon my Spiritual Guide I will become strong in my practice and I will develop vast and powerful virtuous energy that will protect me against harm from demonic or other evil influences. Therefore I must rely purely upon my Spiritual Guide.
we easily overcome our faults and delusions
We meditate:
If I rely upon my Spiritual Guide, through his kindness he will show me how to abandon faults and delusions and so I will be able to avoid harmful actions and their results.
We can remember the example of Milarepa who, by relying wholeheartedly upon his Spiritual Guide Marpa, abandoned all evil actions and attained full enlightenment very quickly, even though he had committed murder and many other extremely destructive actions.
our experiences and realizations of spiritual grounds and paths greatly increase
The main obstacles to our gaining realizations are our negative actions and their imprints. By relying upon our Spiritual Guide we can purify these and gain realizations quickly and easily.
We can remember the example of Dromtonpa, who served Atisha so well that he had no time for meditation. Another disciple of Atisha’s, Amai Jangchub, meditated all the time. When Atisha let Dromtonpa and Amai Jangchub compete together to see who had the higher realizations, it was Dromtonpa who won the competition. He had gained higher realizations by completely devoting himself to Atisha and performing pure acts of service.
In a similar way, Geshe Jayulwa devoted himself to his Spiritual Guide, Geshe Chengawa, and had no time for meditation. One day, while he was cleaning Geshe Chengawa’s room, Geshe Jayulwa went outside to empty the rubbish bin. As he was coming back inside his mind naturally developed single-pointed concentration on emptiness and, without having to exert extra effort or engage in meditation, he gained a realization of emptiness. This came as a result of his complete dedication to his Spiritual Guide.
we never lack spiritual friends in all our future lives
We can meditate on the advice of Je Phabongkhapa:
Although our Spiritual Guide may at present appear to be ordinary, if we do not assent to this ordinary appearance but practise regarding him or her as a Buddha, we will create the cause to have actual Buddhas such as Manjushri or Maitreya as our Spiritual Guides in the future. Having actual Buddhas as our Teachers is an effect similar to the cause.
we do not take rebirth in the lower realms
We meditate:
If I rely completely upon my Spiritual Guide I will purify all the negative karma that causes rebirth in the three lower realms. If I maintain strong faith and respect, then even if my Spiritual Guide rebukes me or strikes me these actions will purify my negative karma.
We can remember the example of the Kadampa Teacher, Lha Tripa, who followed his Spiritual Guide, Geshe Tolungpa, with great devotion, although whenever Geshe Tolungpa met Lha Tripa he would reprimand him. Lha Tripa’s own disciples began to take exception to this and eventually one of them declared in front of Lha Tripa that Geshe Tolungpa was not a good Spiritual Guide because he was constantly critical of his disciple. Lha Tripa replied ‘You should not say so. Every time my Spiritual Guide criticizes me I receive the blessing of Heruka.’ Drogon Tsangpa Gyarepa said:
Whenever my Spiritual Guide beats me, to me this is an empowerment. Whenever my Spiritual Guide rebukes me, to me this is a wrathful mantra. These will remove all my obstacles.
all our wishes, temporary and ultimate, are easily fulfilled
Je Tsongkhapa said that the venerable Spiritual Guide is the foundation of all good qualities. We meditate:
If I rely upon my Spiritual Guide all my temporary wishes, such as the wish to enjoy human happiness, and all my ultimate wishes, such as the wish to attain liberation and full enlightenment for the sake of others, will be fulfilled without difficulty.
When we are meditating on these eight benefits of sincere reliance we are doing the analytical meditation that causes us to develop a strong determination to rely wholeheartedly upon our Spiritual Guide. This determination is a virtuous and unmistaken mind. When it arises clearly, we take it as our object of placement meditation and concentrate upon it, holding it without distraction so that we become more and more familiar with it. By closely acquainting ourself in this way with such a virtuous determination, we reduce non-virtuous attitudes such as distrust or disrespect for our Spiritual Guide and our mind becomes more and more pure.
the dangers of breaking our commitment to our spiritual guide
If we break our commitment to our Spiritual Guide we will wander further and further away from enlightenment. If we accept someone as our Spiritual Guide, and then become critical or angry and decide to abandon him or her, we will bring upon ourself many severe consequences. There are eight main ones:
1 Since our Spiritual Guide is an emanation of all the Buddhas, if we forsake or show contempt for him or her, this action will have the same effect as forsaking or showing contempt for all the Buddhas.
2 Every moment of anger that arises in our mind towards our Spiritual Guide destroys all the good karma that we can create in one aeon and causes us to take rebirth in hell for one aeon.
3 Even though we may practise Secret Mantra for aeons, if we have forsaken our Spiritual Guide it will be impossible to gain realizations.
4 With a critical or angry mind towards our Spiritual Guide our practice of Secret Mantra will become the cause of rebirth in hell.
5 It will be impossible to gain new realizations, and the realizations that we have already gained will degenerate.
6 We will be afflicted with misfortunes such as disease, fear and possession by evil spirits.
7 We will take rebirth in the lower realms repeatedly.
8 In many future lives we will not meet well-qualified Spiritual Guides and we will be without Dharma, and whenever we do meet Spiritual Guides we will continue to lack faith and respect for them.
By meditating on these dangers we will develop a strong determination never to break our commitment to our Spiritual Guide or to become distrustful or disrespectful towards him or her. When this determination arises clearly in our mind we do placement meditation.
how to rely upon our spiritual guide by developing faith and respect
This has two parts:
1 How to develop faith that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, which is the root of all attainments
2 How to develop respect for our Spiritual Guide by remembering his or her kindness
how to develop faith that our spiritual guide is a buddha, which is the root of all attainments
In general, faith is said to be a ‘root’ because all good qualities and realizations depend upon it and are nourished by it. In particular, our ability to rely completely upon our Spiritual Guide depends upon our having faith based on conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha.
In Lamp of the Jewel Sutra Buddha says:
Faith precedes all virtuous activities, like a mother.
It protects and increases all beneficial qualities.
In his Lamrim, Gyalwa Ensapa says that all experiences of realization, great and small, depend upon faith. Since faith is the root of all attainments it should be our main practice.
While Atisha was in Tibet a man once approached him asking for Dharma instructions. Atisha remained silent and so the man, thinking that he had not been heard, repeated his request very loudly. Atisha then replied ‘I have good hearing, but you need to have faith.’
If a disciple has strong faith, then even if the Spiritual Guide makes some mistake the disciple may still receive benefits. Once in India there was a famine in which many people died. One old woman went to see her Spiritual Guide and said ‘Please show me a way of saving my life.’ Her Spiritual Guide advised her to eat stones. The woman asked ‘But how can I make stones edible?’ Her Spiritual Guide replied ‘If you recite the mantra of the enlightened Goddess Tsunda you will be able to cook the stones.’ He taught her the mantra, but he made a slight mistake. He taught OM BALE BULE BUNDE SOHA, instead of OM TZALE TZULE TZUNDE SOHA. However, the old woman placed great faith in this mantra and, reciting it with concentration, she cooked stones and ate them.
This old woman’s son was a monk and he began to worry about his mother, and so he went home to see her. He was astonished to find her plump and well. He said ‘Mother, how is it that you are so healthy when even young people are dying of starvation?’ His mother explained that she had been eating stones. Her son asked ‘How have you been able to cook stones?’, and she told him the mantra that she had been given to recite. Her son quickly spotted the mistake and declared ‘Your mantra is wrong! The mantra of the enlightened Goddess Tsunda is OM TZALE TZULE TZUNDE SOHA.’ When she heard this the old woman was plunged into doubt. She tried reciting both the mantras but now neither of them would work because her faith was destroyed.
Faith is essential. If we have understanding alone without faith we easily take Dharma on a merely intellectual level. If we do not have faith, even if we master Buddhist logic and become capable of skilful analysis our mind will remain untamed because we will not be putting Dharma into practice. Without faith we will not develop spiritual realizations and we will easily increase our intellectual pride. Therefore, faith is to be cherished as extremely precious. Just as all places are pervaded by space, so all virtuous states of mind are pervaded by faith.
What is faith? Faith is a naturally virtuous mind that functions mainly to oppose the perception of faults in its observed object. There are two types of virtue, natural virtue and virtue by motivation. Natural virtue is a mind that is virtuous through its own power, without depending upon a specific motivation to make it virtuous.
There are three types of faith: believing faith, admiring faith and wishing faith. By engaging in the following meditation, if we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, this is an example of the first type of faith, believing faith. With confidence that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, if we believe the Dharma that he or she teaches, this is also an example of the first type of faith. Believing faith is the firmest type of faith because it is based on valid reasoning that brings confidence in persons and objects that are virtuous. Such faith is not shaken by doubts or wrong views.
An example of admiring faith is the faith we have when, by recognizing the good qualities of our Spiritual Guide and the good qualities of the Dharma that is taught, we develop admiration for these and our mind becomes very clear and free from disturbing, negative conceptions. This faith is pure-hearted, and it comes when we develop sincere respect and deep admiration for someone or something that we recognize as being worthy or beneficial.
An example of wishing faith is when, on the basis of admiring faith, we develop the aspiration to cultivate within ourself the good qualities we see in our Spiritual Guide or the good qualities explained in the Dharma that is taught.
To gain conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha we consider:
1 Why it is necessary to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha
2 How it is possible to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha
3 How to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha
why it is necessary to regard our spiritual guide as a buddha
We meditate:
If I always regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha I will overcome doubts and hesitations and develop the three types of faith very strongly. With faith I will gain realizations and quickly receive the fruits of my Dharma practice.
Meditating in this way makes us determine, ‘I will always regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.’
how it is possible to regard our spiritual guide as a buddha
When we have developed the determination always to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha, we may wonder how to do this. We should meditate:
If I do not allow myself to dwell upon any faults that my Spiritual Guide may appear to have, and if I concentrate only upon his good qualities, attention to his good qualities will gradually exclude attention to his faults.
If we practise sincerely in this way, there will come a time when we will think ‘Perhaps my Spiritual Guide is an enlightened being’, and then we will understand how it is possible to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.
We continue to meditate:
When I gain the path of accumulation of Secret Mantra I will be able to perceive my Spiritual Guide directly as Buddha’s Supreme Emanation Body. I will see the whole world as a Pure Land and I will see all the beings who inhabit it as Gods and Goddesses, Heroes and Heroines. Since there will come a time when I will see all beings in this way, it is certainly appropriate for me to regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.
By meditating in this way we conclude ‘When my mind is tamed and pure I will see my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha, and so there is no doubt that from now on I can regard my Spiritual Guide as an enlightened being.’
how to develop conviction that our spiritual guide is a buddha
There are four lines of reasoning that lead us to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha:
1 Buddha Vajradhara said that Spiritual Guides are Buddhas
2 Our Spiritual Guide performs the enlightened actions of a Buddha
3 In these degenerate times Buddhas continue to work for the benefit of all living beings
4 Appearances are deceptive and our own opinions are unreliable
buddha vajradhara said that spiritual guides are buddhas
A pure Mahayana practitioner has faith in Buddha Vajradhara and in his words as being completely non-deceptive and reliable. Therefore, such a person can develop conviction that his or her Spiritual Guide is a Buddha simply by reasoning ‘My Spiritual Guide is a Buddha because Buddha Vajradhara said that all Spiritual Guides are Buddhas.’ In Two Examination Tantra Buddha Vajradhara prophesies:
In degenerate times, when the practice of Buddhadharma is in decline, I will manifest as a Spiritual Guide. You should understand that I am that Spiritual Guide and you should pay due respect . . . . I will appear as an ordinary being, and I will come in many forms.
Who are these Spiritual Guides? Who are the ordinary beings that are emanations of Buddha Vajradhara? Surely they must be the Teachers who are doing so much to help us right now.
our spiritual guide performs the enlightened actions of a buddha
If we consider what are the actions of an enlightened being we must conclude that they could only be the actions that guide others along correct spiritual paths to liberation and full enlightenment. If we consider who is performing such actions now, we will see that it is our Spiritual Guide.
Since at present we cannot receive guidance directly from Buddha, if we are to take Buddha’s teachings and put them into practice we need a Spiritual Guide to act as our interpreter and intermediary. Just as we need a mouth if we are to take food from our plate and digest it, so we need a Spiritual Guide through whom Buddha’s enlightened actions are communicated in such a way that we can actually comprehend and learn from them.
Although this line of reasoning is perfect in establishing that our Spiritual Guide performs the enlightened actions of a Buddha, we may still be unable to gain conviction. If so, the fault does not lie in the reasoning but in our own mind. As a result of our own harmful, deluded actions we carry a heavy burden of negativity within our mind, and this weighs down and obscures our intelligence, preventing us from developing believing faith even when we are meditating on perfect reasons. When this happens we can at least acknowledge that the reasoning itself is valid and that our failure to feel convinced is the result of our own negative habits of mind. Then we can try the next line of reasoning.
in these degenerate times buddhas continue to work for the benefit of all living beings
Although it may seem to us that there are no longer any Buddhas, if we think about it we will see that such a thing is impossible because Buddhas have developed bodhichitta, practised the six perfections and completed the spiritual grounds and paths solely for the purpose of helping others until the end of samsara. Since benefiting others continuously is the very meaning of full enlightenment, it is impossible for Buddhas to cease helping us.
If we consider how the Buddhas are helping us right now, we will see that they are helping us principally by means of our Spiritual Guide’s instructions and example. Buddhas cannot purify us or take away our suffering directly with their own hands, and they cannot help us by revealing themselves in their actual forms because we are incapable of perceiving these. Therefore, the most skilful and effective way they can help us is by means of our Spiritual Guide. Knowing that Buddhas are helping us right now, it follows that they are helping us as our Spiritual Guides.
appearances are deceptive and our own opinions are unreliable
We may object ‘Although these ways of reasoning are valid and lead me to conclude that my Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, when I actually meet my Spiritual Guide he does not appear to be a Buddha because I can see faults and a Buddha would not possess any faults.’ To change this way of thinking we meditate:
What appears to my mind is indefinite and uncertain. I cannot be sure that something exists just because it appears to my mind, and I cannot be sure that anything really exists in the way that it appears to exist. Things appear differently at different times. While my mind is impure I will continue to experience hallucinations and mistaken appearances. Only a completely pure mind can perceive things the way they really are.
Depending upon their individual karma, beings perceive objects differently and with different feelings. For example, a human being perceives plain water where a god perceives nectar and a hungry spirit perceives repulsive substances like pus and blood.
Before they purified their minds many of the Mahasiddhas and Yogis saw their Spiritual Guides in low and imperfect forms. Asanga saw his Spiritual Guide, Maitreya, as a dog. Naropa saw his Spiritual Guide, Tilopa, as a fisherman. Devadatta and Bhikkshu Legpai Karma saw the completely perfect Buddha as a very limited being. Bhikkshu Legpai Karma could see a cubit of light radiating from the body of Buddha Shakyamuni, but he could not perceive Buddha’s inner qualities and so he complained ‘This Gautama has got only one cubit of light!’
We can consider the following stories. Gyalwa Ensapa once visited a Sakya monastery in Tibet where he recited the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines in Sanskrit; but since the monks did not know Sanskrit they could not identify what he was reciting. They thought that he was mumbling some kind of spirit language and they concluded ‘This is not a human being, it is a Gelugpa ghost!’
A man called Naro Bon Chung went to see Milarepa after Milarepa had attained enlightenment, but this man saw him as very ordinary. He said ‘Before I met this man known as Milarepa I heard high praise of him, but when I approached I found that he was nothing special, just an old man lying on the ground.’ If mistakes like these could be made even in the golden age, no wonder we make mistakes so often in these degenerate times. In Essence of Nectar Yeshe Tsondru says:
Until I purify this impure mind, even if all the Buddhas were to appear in front of me I would see them all as ordinary. At present it is impossible for me to see their holy bodies with all the special signs and indications.
While our minds are impure we will perceive only ordinary appearances. To overcome these we need to develop believing faith that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha.
When we meditate using these four lines of reasoning we are doing the analytical meditation that causes us to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha. When this conviction arises clearly in our mind we stop analyzing and hold this new feeling as our object of placement meditation so as to become more and more closely acquainted with it. The sign that we have gained the realization that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha is that whenever we think of our Spiritual Guide we think of Buddha, and whenever we think of Buddha we think of our Spiritual Guide. We always think of them as one and the same. A mind that has this realization is very pure. Recognizing our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha is a very powerful method for gaining higher realizations, such as the realizations of generation stage and completion stage of Secret Mantra.
how to develop respect for our spiritual guide by remembering his or her kindness
This has two parts:
1 Remembering that our Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas
2 Remembering that our Spiritual Guide is kinder even than Buddha Shakyamuni
remembering that our spiritual guide is kinder than all the buddhas
How can we say that our Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas? Suppose we are very poor and someone gives us some money over a period of time so that eventually we are rescued from our poverty and become very rich. Suppose another person then comes and gives us food and other gifts. Which benefactor is the more kind? Surely it is the one who gave to us in our greatest need.
Our Spiritual Guide helps us directly when we are spiritually impoverished and the Buddhas help us directly when we have a wealth of realizations. At present we have little wisdom, concentration or mindfulness, and we have only a small amount of merit or good fortune. Yet in our spiritual poverty our Teacher heals and nourishes us with Dharma, enabling us to improve our condition by increasing our wisdom, concentration and mindfulness, and, by reducing our delusions, making our minds more calm and peaceful.
If we accept and assimilate the wealth of Dharma given to us by our Spiritual Guide we will eventually attain the concentration of the Dharma continuum and be capable of seeing Buddhas directly. At that time, when our mind is rich with realizations, we will receive instructions directly from the Buddhas. Therefore the Buddhas are like our second benefactors. Our Spiritual Guide, however, is kinder because he or she helps us when we are in the greatest need.
Countless Buddhas have already manifested in this and other worlds. Seventy-five thousand Buddhas gave the Bodhisattva vows to Buddha Shakyamuni in one of his previous lives, but we ourself have never been one of their disciples. Before the time of Buddha Shakyamuni the first three Buddhas of the one thousand Buddhas came and benefited countless living beings by expounding Dharma, but we were not among their disciples. When Buddha Shakyamuni came and taught Dharma, we were not among the many disciples who received his instructions and attained liberation or full enlightenment. After the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, exalted Bodhisattvas such as Manjushri and Maitreya, and great Teachers such as Nagarjuna and Asanga, appeared in this world and guided many beings to liberation and enlightenment, but we were never among those disciples. Highly realized scholars such as Tilopa, Naropa and Atisha taught Dharma and helped disciples to attain liberation and full enlightenment, but we were not among those who benefited from their advice. The great Kadampa Teachers came, but again we were not among their disciples. Then Je Tsongkhapa and other realized Teachers came, but we were not among those they led to liberation.
If we ask ‘Whose disciple am I? Who is now revealing the spiritual path for me?’, we will see that our Spiritual Guide is now showing us the same kindness that Buddhas of the past showed their disciples. Therefore, as far as we ourself are concerned, our present Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas.
remembering that our spiritual guide is kinder even than buddha shakyamuni
Generally, Buddha Shakyamuni is kinder than other Buddhas because he is our main object of refuge and the founder of this present doctrine of Dharma. The Buddhadharma we listen to, contemplate and meditate on originates from him. We have already considered how very kind he is, but our present Spiritual Guide is even kinder to us because at this time we have no opportunity to make a direct connection with Buddha Shakyamuni. Therefore it is only through personal association with our present Spiritual Guide that we can gain spiritual realizations. Atisha said:
Every single realization that we wish to attain depends upon our receiving the inspiration of our Spiritual Guide.
When we practise Secret Mantra we meditate on our Yidam, or personal Deity, as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide so that we can receive his or her blessings and inspiration more quickly, since these are necessary if we are to succeed in our practice. If we meditate on our Yidam alone, without regarding the Yidam as one with our Spiritual Guide, our meditation will lack power. Therefore in Secret Mantra it is said that whenever we visualize any Deity we should visualize the Deity as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide. Gyalwa Go Tsangpa said:
Many meditators meditate on the generation stage of Secret Mantra, but meditating on the Spiritual Guide is the supreme meditation. Many practitioners recite the mantras of their Yidams, but making requests to our Spiritual Guide is the supreme practice.
The most qualified Tantric practitioners keep the practice of Guru yoga as their main practice. The way to practise Guru yoga is to rely sincerely upon our Spiritual Guide.
Indirectly our interest in Dharma is caused by the habits we have built up in previous lives, but the direct cause of our interest is the blessings and inspiration we have received from our Spiritual Guide. We begin to practise Dharma, avoiding non-virtuous actions and practising virtuous actions, only through the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide. All our prostrations and other virtuous actions of body, our recitations and other virtuous actions of speech, and our meditation and other virtuous actions of mind are caused by the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide. The opportunity we now have to gain new realizations, and the realizations we have already gained, all arise in dependence upon the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide.
Sometimes the blessings of a Spiritual Guide are extraordinary, as in the case of Geshe Jayulwa who, without exerting effort in meditation, gained concentration naturally through the power of his Spiritual Guide’s blessings. There are many other examples, such as the example of Naropa, who found it exceedingly difficult to receive teachings from his Spiritual Guide, Tilopa. Tilopa just gave him problems, but he did so to help Naropa purify his mind. On one occasion, instead of giving Dharma instructions Tilopa threw a handful of dust into his disciple’s face, whereupon Naropa developed single-pointed concentration and remained there, undistracted, for one week. All the problems that Tilopa gave were blessings in disguise.
how to rely upon our spiritual guide by engaging in actions of service and devotion
There are four types of action we can offer to our Spiritual Guide once we have developed the correct mental attitudes of faith and respect:
1 Offering actions of bodily or verbal respect such as making prostrations or reciting praises
2 Offering material things
3 Offering service
4 Offering our own practice of Dharma
We can make these offerings at any time, whether or not our Spiritual Guide is actually present. All of them please our Spiritual Guide, but the offering of our own practice of Dharma is the most pleasing. It is the supreme act of devotion.
When we engage in practices such as Six Session Yoga we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Buddha Vajradhara. When we practise Offering to the Spiritual Guide – making prostrations, offerings and requests – we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang. When we engage in the six preparatory practices, called Jorbai Cho Drug in Tibetan, for meditation on Lamrim, we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Buddha Shakyamuni. All these practices are ways of relying upon our Spiritual Guide by engaging in actions of devotion.
concluding the meditation
At the conclusion of each session of meditation we imagine that Guru Buddha Shakyamuni at our crown reduces in size and gradually descends from our crown to our heart, where he radiates wisdom light which purifies our body and mind. Our body of wisdom light immediately transforms into the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni and our mind becomes one with his mind. From our heart, light rays radiate and reach all living beings and their environments. All the countless living beings and their environments are purified and their bodies of wisdom light are transformed into the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni. At our heart, and at the hearts of all the Buddhas surrounding us, is a moon disc supporting a yellow HUM surrounded by the mantra, OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA. We recite the mantra, imagining that all the Buddhas are reciting it with us.
When we have finished reciting the mantra we complete our session by dedicating our virtue to the full enlightenment of all living beings.
how to train the mind during the meditation break
When we are out of meditation we can read books and receive further instructions on whatever stage of the path we have been practising in our meditation session. We should never completely forget our object of meditation. Instead we can use the opportunity of the meditation break to recollect and contemplate the points of our meditation, and to talk with our Dharma friends about the instructions we have received and the experiences we are having. Besides maintaining mindfulness of our object of meditation, our main practice during the meditation break is to protect the doors of the sense powers. Usually, when our sense powers (the eye sense power, the ear sense power, the nose sense power, the tongue sense power and the body sense power) or our mental power come into contact with their respective objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects and other phenomena), delusions easily arise in the mind, causing us to engage in harmful actions that bring suffering as their result. When we have eliminated self-grasping, which is the root of all delusions, our sense powers and their objects can come into contact without our generating delusions. Until that time, we can practise protecting the doors of our sense powers.
We can do this in either of two ways. The first is to avoid making contact with the objects of the sense powers. For example, we avoid letting our gaze fall upon beautiful forms, we avoid crossing paths with our enemies or we avoid listening to pleasing music. This way of practising is difficult for most people. We could practise like this only if we were living, like Milarepa, in a cave. Therefore, most of us have to practise in the second way.
The second way to protect the sense doors is not by preventing contact with the objects of the sense powers but by protecting our mind from becoming influenced by them. We do this as soon as the sense power and its object have made contact. For example, when we see a very beautiful object we immediately move our attention to something else. The reason why we develop desirous attachment for beautiful objects is that as soon as we have made contact with them we let our attention dwell there and we become engrossed. We start to engage in quite an intense process of thought that resembles analytical meditation, familiarizing our mind with every aspect of the object, both manifest and hidden. As a result of our ‘analytical meditation’ a powerful feeling of desirous attachment arises clearly in our mind and we hold it there until, eventually, we cannot get rid of it! For example, when we meet a handsome man or a beautiful woman we keep thinking about how beautiful they are and we visualize them in detail – their hair, their complexion, their smile, their eyes, their expression, their figure. We remember all their features from the crown of their head to the tips of their toes. On these occasions our powers of visualization are superb. This ‘analytical meditation’ makes strong desirous attachment arise in our mind, and this makes us seek the object that we have been visualizing. If we fail to make contact again, we feel depressed. Where does this pain of disappointment come from? It comes from our own ‘meditation’! Thus, if we want to be free from such suffering, whenever we encounter a beautiful object we should leave it alone and not allow our mind to dwell upon it. Similarly, if someone says unpleasant things to us we should let these things fall upon deaf ears and avoid dwelling upon them. In this way we will avoid becoming angry. The same kind of practice is to be applied with regard to all other objects of the sense powers.
If we protect the doors of our sense powers during the meditation break, our concentration in the meditation session will be very good. Je Tsongkhapa taught that the meditation break is more important than the meditation session because our meditation session may last for only a few hours every day, but our meditation break is as long as the rest of our life. If we practise well during the meditation break we will be practising well for most of our life, and we will greatly improve the concentration that we have in our meditation session.
During our meditation break we can use our Dharma wisdom to transform all our experiences into spiritual practice. If we are able to do this we will not have to rely upon books alone to keep our mind on Dharma when we are not meditating. For example, when we go shopping we can use our wisdom to see how some things teach impermanence, some things teach the faults of samsara, some things teach compassion, and some things teach patience. If we practise like this, we will bring home many virtuous states of mind. Otherwise, when we come home from town we will be carrying a heavy bag full of delusions.
