(2) DEVELOPING RESPECT BY REMEMBERING THE GURU’S KINDNESS
The second major division of devoting to the guru with thought is developing respect by remembering the guru’s kindness. Actually, the Tibetan word gü-pa doesn’t mean simply respect but something more like reverence. This outline has four sections:
(a) The guru is kinder than all the buddhas
(b) The guru’s kindness in teaching Dharma
(c) The guru’s kindness in blessing our mindstream
(d) The guru’s kindness in inspiring us to practice Dharma through
material gifts
The guru’s main kindness is in teaching Dharma.
When remembering the kindness of our gurus we should recall their kindness in guiding us not only during this life but during beginningless lives. Our gurus are the absolute guru, the dharmakaya; therefore, our present gurus are all the gurus from our beginningless past lives who have guided us to the point of our present perfect human body and they are the same ones who, in our future lives, will guide us to enlightenment. Each of our gurus has been kind to us during beginningless samsaric lifetimes, is kind to us in this life and will also be kind to us in the future, until we achieve enlightenment. Recognizing our guru’s past, present and future kindness deepens our appreciation of his kindness.
Here it helps to understand the meaning of “unified primordial savior” [Tib: zung jug dang pöi gön po], an expression found in one of the requesting verses in Guru Puja.83 It describes the all-pervasive Vajradhara. If we keep in mind the real meaning of guru, we can see all our past-life gurus as just one. All our gurus—those who gave us vows and teachings in all our past lives, the gurus we have now and those we will have in the future—are just one being: the unified primordial savior, the primordial dharmakaya.
All our past, present and future gurus are just one, and they guide us through the conventional guru, who appears in accordance with our karma. This is the aspect we can see and receive direct guidance from. This is all our past-life gurus, all our present gurus and all our future-life gurus.
That unified primordial savior, that dharmakaya, that absolute guru, is bound by infinite compassion that embraces every single one of the numberless sentient beings. Why is the absolute guru working for us sentient beings? Because of compassion for all sentient beings. Compassion is like a pilot who flies a plane to different places, taking people to wherever they wish to be. The absolute guru is bound by perfect compassion, by compassion for all sentient beings, without excluding even one.
When meditating on the kindness of the guru, it is good to read the relevant verses in The Essence of Nectar (see appendix 5) and the first few lines of the abbreviated Calling the Lama from Afar (see appendix 2) and relate these verses to each of our gurus. Those who have studied Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand can use the section in The Essence of Nectar to expand their meditation on the kindness of the guru; those who haven’t had the chance to study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand can use The Essence of Nectar to guide their meditation on the kindness of the guru and their practice of pleasing the guru with action. I find these verses very effective for my mind.
The words of The Essence of Nectar are profound and effective, as in the verse at the end of the requesting prayer to the lineage lamas:
The compassion of all the numberless Victorious Ones
Manifested in the holy body of the supreme virtuous friend who reveals the path.
To the kind root guru, I request,
Please bless my mental continuum.
(a) The guru is kinder than all the buddhas
This section has two parts:
(i) the guru is kinder than all the buddhas in general
(ii) the guru is kinder than Guru Shakyamuni Buddha in particular.
While in terms of good qualities the guru is equal to all the buddhas, in terms of kindness the guru is much kinder than all the buddhas of the three times. More specifically, the guru is kinder than even the present founder of the Buddhadharma, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, who is also kinder than all the buddhas of the three times.
(i) The guru is kinder than all the buddhas in general The Essence of Nectar says,
Not only are these, my saviors,
Of the essence of all the Victorious Ones;
In constantly guiding me with the nectar of holy Dharma,
Their kindness is much greater than that of all the Victorious Ones.
Also, as mentioned in the requesting prayer in Guru Puja,
To those untamed by countless past buddhas,
The unruly transmigratory beings of this degenerate age who are difficult to subdue,
You accurately show the good way of those gone to bliss.
Compassionate refuge savior, I make requests to you.84
During our beginningless rebirths, countless buddhas have descended and led numberless sentient beings to enlightenment but we have been left out, unable to be guided by them. In his lamrim teachings, Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo gives us some idea of how many buddhas have appeared in this world.
Between Buddha Mahashakyamuni and Buddha Rashtrapala, 75,000 buddhas appeared in this world but we were not subdued by them. This doesn’t mean that we didn’t exist in samsara at that time but that we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by those buddhas. As explained in the vinaya teachings, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made offerings to these 75,000 buddhas in the first countless great eon of his following the path to enlightenment.
Next came Buddha Bhadrakara, and between Buddha Bhadrakara and Buddha Indradhvaja, 76,000 buddhas appeared in this world but again we didn’t have the fortune to be guided by any of them. When each of these buddhas descended, numberless other sentient beings had the karma to be led in the path to enlightenment and enlightened by them but we were left out; we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by them. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made offerings to these 76,000 buddhas in the second countless great eon of his following the path.
Then, between Buddha Dipamkara and Buddha Kashyapa, 77,000 buddhas appeared in this world; but even though each of these buddhas subdued numberless sentient beings and led them to enlightenment, we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by them. We were left out once more. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha made offerings to these 77,000 buddhas in the third countless great eon of his following the path.
According to the general sutra vehicle, the kind founder, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, accumulated merit by serving and making offerings to all these buddhas for three countless great eons, but specifically according to the Mahayana, as explained in Sutra of the Moon Lamp and other Mahayana sutras, Buddha offered service to countless times ten million buddhas, equal to the number of sand grains of the Ganges River. Even though such an incredible number of buddhas appeared, we were unable to be subdued by any of them. Yet we, who were unable to be subdued by all those previous buddhas, are now being guided by our present gurus.
Of the one thousand buddhas of this fortunate eon, three buddhas descended prior to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. In this present eon, when the length of life of human beings in this world was 80,000 years, Buddha Krakucchanda appeared in this world and, by revealing Dharma, subdued countless sentient beings and led them to liberation and enlightenment, but we were left out, unable to be guided by him. When the human lifespan had decreased to 40,000 years, the second Buddha, Kanakamuni, appeared and, by revealing Dharma, subdued numberless sentient beings and led them to enlightenment. However, we were left out; we didn’t have the karma to be guided by this buddha. When the human lifespan had decreased to 20,000 years, Buddha Kashyapa appeared and, by revealing Dharma, subdued numberless sentient beings and brought them to liberation and enlightenment. Again we were left out. Even though these buddhas appeared, revealed Dharma and enlightened countless sentient beings, we didn’t have the fortune to be subdued by any of them. Our present gurus, however, are now guiding us—what could be kinder than this? In this way, our present gurus are kinder than all those numberless buddhas.
It’s as if our gurus give us food when we are starving and about to die, while the buddhas give us food when we already have plenty to eat. Or our guru is like a guide who suddenly, unexpectedly, appears and leads us to safety when we are terrified, lost and alone in a dark and dangerous place surrounded by packs of savage animals, whereas the buddhas are like those who come to guide us in the daytime when we are walking happily and fearlessly in a beautiful flower garden. In other words, when we have accumulated the merit to be able to see buddhas, our mind is already in a high state that is not greatly disturbed by delusions and defilements.
In Calling the Lama from Afar Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo says,
Thinking of how you show the excellent unmistaken path to me, an unfortunate wretched being, abandoned by all the buddhas—reminds me of you, guru.
There have been numberless buddhas in countless universes, but we haven’t been subdued by any of them. During our beginningless past lives, we didn’t have the fortune to receive teachings directly from those buddhas and become enlightened. Numberless other sentient beings who were wandering in samsara with us have become enlightened, but we still haven’t achieved any realizations. Like this, we are pitiful. We are like the bone in meat, which can’t be eaten and has been cast aside. We are like the student who has been kicked out of school because he is impossible to help.
Numberless other sentient beings have become enlightened during our beginningless rebirths but we have been left out, which shows very clearly how selfish and unsubdued our mind has been. Even though our mind is like this and we are so pitiful, our guru has shown us the complete and unmistaken path to the happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment. Even if each guru hasn’t personally revealed the whole path, all our gurus together have shown us the complete path. Therefore, they are unbelievably kind, and without wasting this opportunity, we must practice this path, on the basis of correctly devoting ourselves to our virtuous friends.
(ii) The guru is kinder than Guru Shakyamuni Buddha in particular
The wheel-turning king, Aranemi, had one thousand sons, who will be the one thousand buddhas of the fortunate eon. When they generated the altruistic mind of bodhicitta, each of them vowed to subdue a particular field of sentient beings. Except for the son called Brahma Samudraraja, who would later become Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, all the rest of the one thousand sons made prayers to guide sentient beings in good times in this world. We were left out because those bodhisattvas were unable to generate the altruistic mind in relation to us. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was the only one who specifically vowed to guide the sentient beings of the quarreling age, when the lifespan would be one hundred years and life would be very difficult because of the explosion of the five degenerations, with many wars, famines and other disasters. When Brahma Samudraraja generated bodhicitta, he made five hundred great prayers in front of his guru Buddha Ratnagarbha to be able to descend during the quarreling age and subdue the sentient beings of this time, who are so difficult to subdue and have been left out by all the other buddhas. The devas then praised this bodhisattva, saying, “You are like a white lotus among the one thousand buddhas.”
In this quarreling age, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of the present Buddhadharma, appeared in this world in the country of the aryas, India, revealed the Dharma and enlightened numberless sentient beings.
When Magadhabhadri invited Guru Shakyamuni Buddha from very far away to her house in Magadha with the invocation prayer “Protector of all beings without exception…,”85 Buddha took the time it takes to stretch out an arm to come from where he was to her house. Even during that short period of time Buddha liberated seven thousand sentient beings in the roads and forests along the way. This was just one occasion—there were so many others. However, on all such occasions, even though so many sentient beings, including animals, were liberated, we were unable to be subdued by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha taught Dharma in Rajghir and many other places but we didn’t have the fortune to be his direct disciples and hear teachings directly from Buddha, achieve realizations of the path and become enlightened along with his other disciples. We were left out; we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. Now, when the Buddha’s teaching is setting like the sun and everything is about to become dark in this world, our gurus are guiding us by revealing the Dharma. While Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is kinder than all the other buddhas of the three times, our virtuous friends are even kinder than Buddha.
After Guru Shakyamuni Buddha passed away, many great yogis and pandits appeared, like stars in the sky. The Seven Patriarchs—the Hearer Kashyapa, Ananda, Upagupta and so forth86—guided so many sentient beings, leading them in the path to liberation and enlightenment. However, we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by them. Even the one arhat, Upagupta, offered unbelievably extensive benefit to sentient beings. Each time one of his disciples became an arhat, Upagupta put one stick in a huge hole, twelve cubits square by six cubits deep, that he had dug in the ground. He completely filled that huge hole with sticks. Upagupta had 1,800,000 disciples who directly perceived emptiness. Even this one arhat liberated so many sentient beings but we didn’t have the karma to be liberated by him at that time.
The Six Ornaments—Nagarjuna, Asanga and so forth87—beautified the world and the Two Sublime Beings—Shakyaprabha and Gunaprabha—appeared, as did the Eighty Mahasiddhas: great yogis such as Saraha, Tilopa, Naropa, Indrabhuti and so forth.88 Each one of them brought unbelievable benefit to sentient beings by leading them in the path to liberation and enlightenment. Even though all these pandits and yogis appeared and ripened the minds of so many sentient beings, we didn’t have enough merit to be subdued by them. We were left out by all these pandits
and yogis.
Even in Tibet, there were many, many great yogis. In the early times in Tibet, the trio of the Abbot (Shantarakshita), the Master (Padmasambhava) and the Dharma King (Trisong Detsen) appeared. Padmasambhava had twenty-five special followers, who achieved high realizations. They ¬subdued great numbers of sentient beings and led them in the path to liberation and enlightenment but at that time we didn’t have the karma to be guided by them.
Many great yogis appeared from the Nyingma, Kagyü and Sakya traditions. At Drak Yerpa, a holy place near Lhasa, eight great Nyingma yogis who practiced secret mantra appeared. Kunga Nyingpo and the other great pandits known as the Five Sakya Lords benefited an unimaginable number of sentient beings by leading them in the path to liberation and enlightenment. Marpa, Milarepa and many other Kagyü lamas also appeared. One teaching explains that even among the disciples of Milarepa, twenty-eight became enlightened in one life, like Milarepa himself, and thousands of others actualized the clear light and illusory body as well as other realizations of the path to enlightenment. So many great yogis appeared in Tibet but we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by any of them. We were left out.
We also didn’t have the karma to see and receive teachings from Lama Atisha or any of the Kadampa geshes. We didn’t have the karma to see and receive teachings even from Lama Tsongkhapa and his disciples, founders of the new Kadampa tradition. An inconceivable number of sentient beings received teachings from Lama Tsongkhapa and his disciples and were led to liberation and full enlightenment. But we were left out; we didn’t have the karma to be subdued by them.
Like stars in the sky, an inconceivable number of holy beings—buddhas, bodhisattvas, highly attained pandits and yogis—have appeared in India, Tibet and other places and have liberated numberless sentient beings, but we didn’t have the karma to receive teachings from or be subdued by them. Having created negative karma, we were wandering in the lower realms and didn’t have the fortune to be subdued by them. So far, during beginningless rebirths, we have been permanent residents in samsara, especially the lower realms.
Like a discarded bone, we have been cast aside by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, all the Indian pandits and all the great Tibetan yogis. However, since our present gurus are guiding us, they are much kinder than all those other holy beings. If we hadn’t met our present gurus we would be completely ignorant. We would be called a human being simply because we have the external form of a human. If we hadn’t met our present gurus we would have had no opportunity at all to practice Mahayana Dharma, to create the cause of temporary and ultimate happiness and to abandon the cause of suffering. We would have had no opportunity to make preparation for the happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment.
If our present gurus weren’t guiding us, what would happen to us? We would be completely lost. There would be nobody to guide us on the path to the happiness of future lives and especially to liberation and full enlightenment. Therefore, our gurus are extremely kind, kinder than all the buddhas before Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and kinder than even Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. We should think, “How extremely kind my gurus are to guide me.”
In his requesting prayer, the great bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo says,
You liberate the extremely foolish and stubborn ones,
Unable to be liberated by the many Gone to Bliss,
From the ocean of samsara so difficult to cross:
To you, precious Lord of Dharma, I make request.
Relate this verse to yourself. Because you are so deeply ignorant, stubborn and difficult to subdue, you have been left out by all the buddhas. Think of yourself, recognizing your own nature, then think of the kindness of your guru in liberating you from the ocean of samsara that is difficult to cross.
As mentioned in the requesting prayer in Guru Puja,
When the sun of the Muni sets because of the times,
You enact the deeds of a conqueror
For the many transmigratory beings who lack a savior refuge.
Compassionate refuge savior, I make requests to you.89
At this time the teachings of the Buddha are like a setting sun, about to disappear from this world. However, when sentient beings are completely lost, the gurus—sole saviors and objects of refuge for us and other sentient beings—perform the actions of all the buddhas. By remembering this verse, meditate on the kindness of the guru.
None of the previous buddhas and great yogis were able to subdue us; we were abandoned, like a child left alone in a jungle full of wild animals on a dark moonless night. Imagine being a child lost in an unknown place on a pitch-black night; you would be terrified. With no light and nobody to ask for help, you would be in a pitiful state. While you were lost and terrified, somebody’s suddenly appearing in front of you with a light would seem like a miracle. If this person was someone who you could trust and who could guide you out of the jungle, you would regard this person who saved your life as incredibly kind and precious.
This person’s kindness, however, is nothing compared to the kindness of our gurus, who save us from all the sufferings of samsara, including the unimaginable sufferings of the lower realms. We have been wandering, lost, in samsara, in the darkness of ignorance with no light of Dharma wisdom and attacked by many samsaric sufferings. We have been without a guide, left out by all the previous buddhas, including even Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and by all the past pandits and yogis. At this most difficult time, our present gurus are showing us the light of Dharma wisdom and guiding us to liberation and enlightenment. There is no greater kindness than this.
At this time when we are deeply ignorant and unable to see any buddhas or bodhisattvas, our present gurus are unimaginably kind in manifesting in ordinary forms, which accord exactly with the level of our mind. It is only through these present ordinary aspects that we can receive the guidance of all the numberless buddhas of the three times. In showing ordinary aspects, our gurus are extremely kind because they thus enable all the buddhas to guide us to enlightenment. These ordinary aspects are extremely precious because without them we have no way to receive guidance from any of the numberless buddhas.
I think that even the aspects of the gurus with whom we have a karmic connection is an essential point in this meditation—we receive the guidance of all the buddhas through the aspect of this person with whom we have a karmic connection from the past. If there were no karmic connection with this particular person, he couldn’t benefit us in this way. We can understand this from our own individual experiences: when we have no karma with somebody we never establish a connection by meeting or hearing Dharma from that person.
Without these ordinary aspects, we have no way to receive teachings, no way to put them into practice and no way to achieve liberation from samsara or enlightenment. Without these ordinary aspects, we would be completely lost. We would have nobody to take care of us, nobody to guide us on the correct path to the happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment. This is the only way that we can achieve enlightenment and then bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. Therefore, these ordinary aspects with faults are extremely kind and precious.
Keep on developing respect by remembering the guru’s kindness. The emphasis here is not so much on external respect but on respect in our heart, on devotion. This meditation on the guru manifesting in ordinary aspect also becomes part of remembering the kindness of the guru.
(b) The guru’s kindness in teaching Dharma
In his past lives as a bodhisattva, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha sacrificed what was dearest to him to receive even a single verse of teaching. For example, when he was born as King Vyilingalita, he drove one thousand nails into his holy body. When he was born as King Ganashanapala, he lit one thousand lamps on his holy body. When he was King Suvarna, he had to allow vicious yakshas to eat his beloved wife and son. When he was King Utpala, using his skin as paper and one of his bones as a pen, he wrote the teachings that he heard with his own blood.
Lama Atisha also went through much hardship and many dangers to receive the teachings, traveling by boat for thirteen months to Indonesia.
When twenty-one Tibetan students were sent by the Dharma King of Tibet to study at Nalanda in order to revive Dharma in Tibet, all but two of them died from the heat. The Dharma kings of Tibet, Lhalama Yeshe Ö and Jangchub Ö, had to give up the gold that had been collected to invite Lama Atisha to Tibet and Lhalama Yeshe Ö gave up even his life to spread the teachings. They persevered despite great hardships.
Without needing to bear even a small part of such hardships, we have the opportunity to listen to and reflect and meditate on the extensive and profound advice of the graduated path to enlightenment. It is only by the kindness of our gurus that we have been so extremely fortunate.
The Essence of Nectar says,
If it’s said that the kindness of teaching a single verse
Cannot be repaid by making offerings for eons
Equal in number to its letters,
How can one measure the kindness
Of having shown the complete pure path?
With respect to the kindness of the guru in revealing the teachings, Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen said,
Even if I offer everything—my body, life and possessions—for as many eons as the number of syllables of Dharma that I have been taught, there is no way I could repay the kindness of you, the Lord, Je Chökyi.
Also, it is said that even if we made offerings for six eons we couldn’t repay the kindness of being given the oral transmission of the six-syllable mantra OM MANI PADME HUM.
We couldn’t repay the kindness of the guru in teaching us one verse of Dharma even if we made offerings to him for eons equal to the number of syllables in the verse. Even if we were to offer our gurus the three thousand galaxies of the universe filled with wish-granting jewels for eons, we couldn’t repay their kindness in teaching us one word of Dharma. Such an offering is nothing when compared to the limitless skies of benefit we get from that one word. Therefore, there is no doubt that we can’t repay the kindness of our gurus in revealing to us the whole path to enlightenment. No matter for how many eons we made offerings we could never finish repaying this kindness.
When our guru gives us teachings, every single word brings us closer to enlightenment. Every single word we hear lessens our ignorance and leaves on our mind a positive imprint, which will later enable us to actualize the path. With each word we become closer to enlightenment. Without even talking about hearing a commentary, simply hearing the oral transmission of one mantra or verse of teaching definitely brings us to full enlightenment.
Remember the story of when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha gave teachings to five hundred swans, who simply heard the words of the teachings. Right after their deaths, all five hundred swans were born as human beings because they had heard the words of Dharma. They also all became Sangha, not just living in ordination but realizing emptiness. Also remember the story I told earlier of Vasubandhu and the pigeon.
The Essence of Nectar also says,
If a man is suffering in prison
And someone frees him from that prison,
Then has him taken to a place of perfect enjoyments,
We definitely recognize that as great kindness.Therefore, when our gurus have revealed to us
The methods of escaping from the three evil-gone realms,
Kindly giving us the chance to enjoy for a while
The perfections of gods and humans,And they then show us well the highest method
For pacifying all the degenerations of samsara and nirvana,
And lead us to the exalted state of the three kayas—
Why is this kindness not supreme?
We should compare the kindness of our guru in teaching us Dharma to the kindness of a doctor or healer who cures us of cancer. If we had cancer and were afraid of dying, we would find the situation unbearable. Day and night we would look for help. If we found a doctor who could cure our cancer we would regard her as very kind and very precious. We would consider the rest of our life to be a gift from that person.
The kindness of a doctor who cures our cancer is nothing compared to the kindness of our guru. Even if our guru gives us just the oral transmission of one mantra or one verse of teaching, the benefit we receive is as limitless as space. If we do nothing about the actual cause of our cancer—negative karma and delusions—our recovery from cancer will only be temporary. We can’t purify karma and delusions simply by taking medicine or having an operation.
If we were starving to death and somebody gave us food or money, we would regard the person who saved our life as very kind and very precious. However, his help cannot be compared to the limitless benefit we receive from the guru who gives us the oral transmission of one mantra or one verse of teaching. The guru’s kindness to us is as limitless as space.
If we were blind and somebody donated one of her eyes to us so that we could once again see, we would regard it as an incredibly kind act. But that cannot compare with the kindness of the guru, who gives us the Dharma wisdom eye so that we can see what is the cause of happiness and what is the cause of suffering. Our guru enables us to see all the various types of samsaric suffering—the general sufferings of samsara and the particular ¬sufferings of each realm, especially the lower realms—and their causes; he enables us to see the whole path to enlightenment. The Dharma wisdom eye given to us by our guru enables us to understand each Dharma subject, and each understanding helps us to cease the stains on our mental continuum and to develop good qualities. This kindness is as limitless as space.
Consider the example of a person who, having eaten poison, food and medicine, is close to death. If a skillful doctor comes along and treats the person by making him vomit up the poison, turning the food into medicine and transforming the medicine into the nectar of immortality, we would say that such a doctor is extremely kind.
Like such a person, we have eaten a lot of the poison of non-virtue, which makes us go to the lower realms. By explaining methods of confession and purification, the guru enables us to confess and purify the non-virtues we have created during beginningless lifetimes and to abstain from those negative actions in the future.
We have also accumulated merit, but with the aim of obtaining good health, a long life, wealth, power, reputation and other meaningless things. The guru transforms our attitude into a pure one, leading us to direct the merit we have accumulated through our virtuous actions toward the happiness of future lives. And, through pure dedications, the guru leads us to transform the merit we have accumulated for the happiness of future lives into causes of liberation and enlightenment. Therefore, there is no one with greater kindness than our guru.
Our present gurus are unbelievably kind because they are leading us to full enlightenment by revealing the unmistaken Mahayana teachings. Think of how all their actions of giving vows, oral transmissions, initiations, teachings and personal advice are guiding us to enlightenment. First of all we can think of their kindness in revealing Buddhadharma, then especially Mahayana Dharma, which enables us to achieve not only a good rebirth in our next life and liberation from the whole of samsara but full enlightenment. And if we have received tantric teachings, we can meditate on the kindness of the guru who, by revealing tantra, grants us enlightenment quickly, within one life or even within a number of years. Think how unbelievably kind to us the guru is; there’s no greater kindness than this.
As mentioned in Guru Puja, the guru is kind in three ways.90 There are three kindnesses according to sutra and also three according to tantra. In sutra, the three kindnesses are giving oral transmissions, teachings and commentaries. In tantra, they are revealing the teachings, giving the three levels of vows and imparting tantric instructions.
We can also think about the kindness of our gurus in enabling us to meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, which are especially clear compared to other teachings.
The Essence of Nectar says,
It is by the kindness of our holy instructors
That we have met the teaching of the Jamgön Lama,
Which is difficult to find even on searching for many thousands of eons,
And that we have confidence in the methods of his teaching.
Lama Tsongkhapa is known as the Jamgön Lama (jam means gentle and gön means savior, or protector), because he is one with Manjushri (Jampälyang, in Tibetan), the embodiment of the wisdom of all the buddhas.
Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching is specifically mentioned in the section on the guru’s kindness in The Essence of Nectar because Lama Tsongkhapa’s sutra and tantra teachings have many special qualities. To appreciate having met and found faith in Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching, we have to understand these special qualities. A prayer composed by Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo91 and another composed by Gungtang Tänpäi Drönme92 are commonly recited at the end of practices to dedicate merit toward the flourishing of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching. Both of these prayers describe the special qualities of Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim and tantric teachings.
Realizing how fortunate we are to have met Lama’s Tsongkhapa’s teachings depends on studying them and also on studying other teachings, because we can’t fully appreciate how special Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings are unless we compare them with other teachings. There is no doubt that Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings are special when compared to the teachings of other religions, but they are also special within Buddhism. There is no doubt about the special nature of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings on philosophy and tantra, but we can see how even his lamrim teachings are special when we compare them with other Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachings. The more we understand how pure and precious Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings are, the more we will appreciate the kindness of the guru who teaches them to us.
Of course, you can achieve enlightenment through all four traditions of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism: Nyingma, Kagyü, Sakya and Gelug. Even though in the other traditions the explanations of the most difficult subtle points might not be as clear and as detailed as those of Lama Tsongkhapa, a person who has accumulated a lot of merit in the past will still be able to have realizations of lamrim and tantra. In some cases, however, because the teachings are expressions of the experiences of highly realized yogis, it can be easy to misunderstand them. Those with a lot of merit who practice correct devotion to the virtuous friend might have planted so many seeds to have realizations in past lives that they are still able to have correct realizations. However, Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings have remarkable clarity, especially in explaining the most difficult points of sutra, particularly calm abiding and the Prasangika Madhyamaka view of emptiness, and of tantra, particularly the means to achieve the illusory body.
Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings have remarkable clarity, especially on the most difficult points of the path where other learned masters, even those who are great meditators, make mistakes. In calm abiding, for example, there are two major obstacles to meditation: attachment-scattering thought and sinking thought, both of which have gross and subtle levels. Many meditators make mistakes in relation to subtle sinking thought, which is very difficult to recognize; they think that they are meditating perfectly when actually they are experiencing subtle sinking thought. In his teachings, particularly his lamrim teachings, Lama Tsongkhapa gives incredibly clear explanations of calm abiding.
If you are a monk or a nun, you can meditate specifically on the kindness of your guru in having directed your life toward liberation by giving you vows and enabling you to live in ordination. On the basis of this fundamental practice, you are able to achieve liberation and end the whole suffering of samsara and its causes. Even if you don’t engage in much formal practice but do nothing apart from eat, sleep and go to the toilet, you are constantly collecting merit, day and night, by living in your vows.
You can also think about all the shortcomings you would experience if you were living a lay life, which is like being caught in a fire, and see that you are protected from them. Lay people have no freedom to practice Dharma; they are completely trapped, with many problems both inside and outside their mind. Inside the mind there are all the delusions and outside there are many obstacles. They have no time to practice Dharma because they have to engage in so many meaningless activities. Think of all the problems and distractions of the lay life, then think of the benefits of living in ordination. Meditate in this way on the kindness of the guru in giving you vows.
The Essence of Nectar says,
It is by the kindness of our precious gurus
That we renounce family life, which is like being in the center of a fire,
Then, living in a sage’s righteous conduct in a solitary place,
We experience the sublime taste of the nectar of holy Dharma.
A lay person can live in the eight precepts, some or all of the five lay precepts93 or the refuge vow alone.94 These are also the basis of achieving liberation and allow you to accumulate extensive merit. If you have taken even one of the five lay vows, because you take the vow until your death (pratimoksha vows are taken until death, bodhisattva vows until enlightenment), you continuously collect merit, day and night, from the second you take the vow until you die. While you are eating, walking and sleeping—and even if you are in a coma—you are constantly collecting merit. And if you have taken all five precepts, there is no doubt that you are constantly accumulating even more merit.
The Heaped Flowers Sutra95 explains that the merit collected by one person living in vows who makes a tiny light offering to one buddha using butter the size of a mustard seed and a wick the size of a hair is far greater than that collected if all the sentient beings of the three realms, without living in any vows, became rich and powerful wheel-turning kings and each one of them made an extensive light offering to every one of the numberless buddhas using an ocean of butter and a wick the size of Mount Meru. Even a lay person who is living in eight, five or fewer precepts or simply in the refuge vow alone accumulates unbelievable merit by making even a tiny offering to the guru-Triple Gem or by making charity to other sentient beings. Because we have been granted vows by our gurus, we can collect unbelievable merit in our everyday life. All these benefits we receive by living in our vows come about through the kindness of our gurus.
We can also relate the kindness of our gurus to the bodhisattva vows. If we don’t live in the bodhisattva vows, there is no enlightenment; if we live in the bodhisattva vows, there is enlightenment. All the infinite merit we continuously collect in each second from the moment we take the bodhisattva vows is also by the kindness of our gurus.
Also consider initiations. Without taking a great initiation, there is no way for us to enter the door of Vajrayana; we cannot listen to tantric teachings or practice tantra. This means that we have no opportunity to achieve enlightenment quickly or to free other sentient beings from suffering and bring them to enlightenment.
There is no way we can achieve enlightenment without a qualified vajra guru planting the seeds of the four kayas in our mind through granting us the blessings of the four complete initiations of Highest Yoga Tantra. Each initiation leaves a potential, or seed, in the mind of the vajra disciple. For example, receiving the vase initiation allows us to meditate on and actualize the generation stage and leaves a special imprint on our mind to achieve the nirmanakaya. Receiving the secret initiation allows us to meditate on and actualize the path of the illusory body and leaves a special imprint to achieve the sambhogakaya. Receiving the wisdom initiation allows us to meditate on and achieve the clear light and leaves a special imprint to achieve the dharmakaya. Receiving the fourth initiation, the word initiation, allows us to meditate on and achieve the path of unification and leaves a special imprint to achieve the unified state of Vajradhara, or the svabhavikakaya, which is the ultimate nature of a buddha’s omniscient mind. We receive all this by the kindness of our vajra gurus.
When we think about the process of the Vajrayana path from the beginning up to enlightenment and about how we become enlightened by receiving initiation from the vajra guru, it is easy to recognize the kindness of the guru and how important the guru is in order to achieve enlightenment.
We can relate to the kindness of the guru in a general and extensive way and then meditate on specific examples of the kindness of each of our gurus. We should remember the kindness of our gurus from our heart.
Besides that, we should remember that we have received a human body with eight freedoms and ten richnesses and all our present happiness, wealth and comfort through our past practice of morality, charity and so forth. In our past lives our guru gave us vows and teachings on karma and we were then able to create the causes of a human body through the practices of morality and charity. Both the result, this human body, and its cause, morality, were received by the kindness of the guru.
We can also relate the various practices we do in our daily life to the kindness of the guru. All the virtuous actions we perform, all the Dharma understanding we gain, and all the merit we collect every day come from our present gurus. For example, when we do prostrations and recite the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, by reciting each name, we purify many eons of specific negative karmas. In the few minutes it takes to read a lamrim prayer we plant the seed of the whole path to enlightenment so that sooner or later we will achieve enlightenment. Even during one session of Dharma practice we are able to derive so much benefit by doing prostrations, making offerings and meditating on bodhicitta and other lamrim topics. We gain all these benefits in our daily life through the kindness of our virtuous friends. At the end of each practice we should remember that our having the opportunity to accumulate all this merit is by the kindness of our gurus. It is our present gurus who enable us to collect all our merit, the cause of the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment.
One high Amdo lama, Mipham Yangchen, from whom Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche received many teachings, said in his lamrim teaching written in verse form that everything—even the place where we do our practice—is the manifestation of the guru. All our enjoyments and all the conditions necessary for us to practice Dharma are embodiments of the guru.
Even though we may not recognize it, all our happiness comes from our gurus. Every single good thing—past, present and future—comes from our gurus. There is no doubt that the more we learn and practice Dharma, the more we develop our compassion and our wisdom and the more we are able to benefit other sentient beings. We are able to bring deeper and deeper benefit to others. All this comes from the kindness of the guru. Every single benefit we offer sentient beings through understanding and practicing Dharma comes from the kindness of the guru.
In this life, we can not only achieve any happiness we want—the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and enlightenment—but we can achieve all of these three great meanings in each second. For example, if even without bodhicitta motivation we circumambulate or make offerings or prostrate to a statue, stupa or scripture of Buddha, just through the power of the holy object we create the cause of enlightenment and, by the way, liberation from samsara and all the happiness of future lives. All this comes about through the kindness of the guru.
If we hadn’t met our virtuous friends and had their guidance, even though we have been born as a human being, our life would have been completely wasted. We would have had a human body but our mind would have been no different from that of an animal. It is only by the kindness of our virtuous friends that we have become an actual human being, something more than an animal. It is only by the kindness of our virtuous friends that we have been able to hear teachings and understand their meaning and thus been able to make preparation for not only the happiness of future lives and liberation but full enlightenment as well. Our ability to work for and attain these goals comes about only through the kindness of our virtuous friends.
Without our gurus there is no way that we could even leave an imprint on our mind by hearing the words of Dharma let alone meditate on the path to enlightenment or attain realizations. Not everyone has this chance—in fact, only a very small number do. Most people don’t have even this opportunity to leave an imprint of the path to enlightenment. Even if we don’t get the chance to meditate, at least we have had the chance to imprint our mind with the complete path to enlightenment through hearing teachings from our gurus. Even though we might not now be able to attain realizations, sooner or later, because of the imprints, we will be able to have complete understanding of the words and their meaning and be able to actualize the path. Through this, we will then achieve enlightenment.
(c) The guru's kindness in blessing our mindstream
Generating within our mind all the realizations of the path from guru devotion up to the unified state of no more learning is dependent upon the guru blessing our mind. The arising of every single virtuous thought within our mind is because of the kindness of the guru in blessing our mind.
The guru’s kindness in blessing our mental continuum means that when we meditate on the lamrim, we are able to transform our mind into that meditation: when we meditate on loving kindness or compassion, we are able to transform our mind into loving kindness or compassion; when we meditate on refuge or guru devotion, we are able to transform our mind into devotion to the Triple Gem or to the guru; when we meditate on impermanence and death, we are able to transform our mind into the thought of impermanence and death—we feel not only that death is definite and can happen at any moment but that the appearance of this life is short and that we need to practice Dharma. Even though we mightn’t generate the actual realization of these meditations, we have some experience of them. We mightn’t achieve the stable, spontaneous, intense experience that characterizes an actual realization, but some transformation happens in our mind when we meditate. This is regarded as the kindness of the guru in blessing our mind.
There are many stories of past great yogis and pandits who achieved sublime realizations of tantra by serving and being blessed by their gurus. Since the minds of these great yogis were blessed by their gurus, they were able to generate extraordinary realizations. Naropa, without having meditated, generated the transcendental wisdom of simultaneously born great bliss by having undergone twelve great hardships, which almost caused him to die (see chapter 18). By experiencing each of the great hardships, he received initiation from his guru, Tilopa, with realization of each level of the path occurring spontaneously at its appropriate time.
Lama Tsongkhapa said,
If you listen, you cannot comprehend the words; if you reflect, you cannot understand the meaning; if you meditate, you cannot generate the realization in your mind. At such times, when the power of intelligence is extremely small, the advice is to depend on the power of the merit field. When listening, reflecting and meditating don’t work in the right way, if you pray and make requests to the guru at that time, they will quickly and easily be accomplished. Even that is a sign that your mind has been blessed.
Lama Tsongkhapa advises that during such hard times, when the capacity of our mind is limited, we should rely upon and make requests to the special merit field of the guru. By visualizing the guru as inseparable from the deity, we rely upon a special merit field that increases our devotion and grants us blessings. By making requests to this special merit field, we accumulate merit and purify obscurations. We then hit the target, which means that our practices of listening, reflecting and meditating become successful and effective.
If, when we make requests to the guru, realizations and experiences increase in our mind, it is a sign that our mind has been blessed by the guru. When, no matter how much reflecting and meditating we do, we never generate any experience in our mind, the best practice to eliminate obstacles is to make requests to the guru. If we pray to the guru our mind gets blessed and we quickly and easily generate realizations.
Tilopa said,
The best of all methods for spiritual progress is the guru.
Earlier I told you the story of Naropa when he was the pandit doorkeeper at Nalanda Monastery about to be defeated in debate with a Hindu. When Naropa made requests to his guru Tilopa, Tilopa descended on his crown. Naropa immediately generated extraordinary wisdom and was then able to win the debate. This was also an example of the guru’s kindness in blessing the mind.
Making requests to the guru is very powerful, even in accomplishing the small works of this life, such as when we have disease or spirit harms and nothing seems to help. We can be freed from the problem by praying to the guru. Also, for the guru to bless the disciple’s mind, it’s not necessary that the guru actually be living on this earth, like a mother hen with her chicks.
When an ascetic meditator from Sera Me Monastery, Gen Wangdu, did chu-len practice96 in Orissa in east India, he lived in the forest in a very simple house, like a tribal person living in the jungle. He just had four wooden poles with a simple roof on top. He said that at night wild animals would come and fight each other. They made such a lot of noise that he expected to see dead bodies in the morning, but there would be nothing there.
One time a bear came underneath his hut and was just about to come inside. Gen Wangdu prayed very strongly and single-pointedly to a photo of his root guru, His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche. He prayed, “If the bear comes in, let it not eat me or else eat me quickly.” While he was praying, the bear left; it didn’t come in. He said that from that time he had unshakable devotion to His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche.
As mentioned in the lamrim teachings, the best way to eliminate obstacles is to pray to the guru. When we have problems, whether with our Dharma practice or even ordinary problems, we should make strong, single-pointed prayers to the guru, looking at him not as an ordinary being but as a buddha. In emergency situations, the usual advice given is to pray to your root guru.
When Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo met difficulties and nothing seemed to help, he would recite his precious lama’s name mantra seven times and pray to him. All his works would then be accomplished.
From the holy speech of Gyalwa Götsangpa,
So many people meditate on the generation stage,
But there is nothing higher than meditating on the guru.
So many people recite mantras,
But there is nothing more profound than praying to the guru.
(d) The guru’s kindness in inspiring us to practice Dharma through material gifts
The other kindness of the guru is in making us happy and inspiring us to practice Dharma through giving us gifts of food, clothing and other material things. Because we like material things more than Dharma, the guru is able to guide us into the Dharma by providing us with material enjoyments; in this way we continue to follow the guru and to practice Dharma.
Sometimes we may generate negative thoughts toward the guru because we have experienced suffering in fulfilling his demands and he doesn’t even bother to express his gratitude or compliment us. At such times we could have a black view of our lama, seeing him as heartless and filled with nothing but self-cherishing. By fulfilling our temporal needs, the lama can transform the situation; he can make us happy, cause us to generate devotion and stop us from creating negative karma.
Also, when we don’t care much about practicing Dharma, by fulfilling our temporal needs, our guru can inspire us to transform our mind and follow his advice. When the guru gives material gifts to those no longer interested in practicing Dharma, they can be inspired to practice. When we are tired from listening to teachings, for example, after our guru gives us a cup of coffee, we are able to listen to more.
In Lines of Experience of the Graduated Path to Enlightenment Lama Tsongkhapa says,
At the beginning, by meeting their temporal needs, may I gather sentient beings into my retinue then satisfy them with holy Dharma.
As it is said,
All the happiness and perfections of the three times are received by the kindness of the guru.
This is so because all the merit of the three times is accumulated through the kindness of the guru in different aspects. Kindness such as this cannot be measured, even at the end of the path to enlightenment.
We might have the doubt, “All these results are not due to the kindness of a single guru—there were many different gurus at different times.” When that thought arises, we should think of the basis of transformation of all our various gurus: the absolute guru, the dharmakaya, the holy mind of all the buddhas, the transcendental wisdom of nondual bliss and voidness. Like many waters coming from different places into one ocean, the holy mind of all the buddhas becomes of one taste in emptiness; the dharmakaya, the absolute guru, manifests in all our gurus in accord with our own karma. With this understanding we then see all our gurus as one being, and all our present gurus are also one with all our past-life gurus. All our past, present and future happiness is received from our present gurus.
Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo says that our own guru is the embodiment of all the buddhas and all the buddhas are manifestations of our guru. The holy minds of all the buddhas are of one taste in the essence of the dharmakaya, inseparable bliss and voidness. The guru then manifests from that dharmakaya, like a bubble coming from the ocean, which itself comes from all the different rivers that drain into it. If we understand this, we know that all the buddhas of the hundred types, the five types, the three types97 and the one type, which means Vajradhara, are all manifestations of the guru. There is no Vajradhara and no other deity apart from the guru. In reality, there is no buddha separate from our gurus.
If the guru is pleased with us, all the buddhas are pleased; if the guru is displeased with us, all the buddhas are displeased. Attaining this one practice of guru devotion attains the practices of numberless buddhas. If we don’t do this one practice of guru devotion or make mistakes in this practice, we won’t succeed, no matter how many different aspects of buddha we try to practice. But if we succeed in this one practice of guru devotion, we succeed in the practices of all the buddhas.
While we may take initiations, engage in the practices, do retreats and recite mantras of many different deities, we need to recognize that in reality we are trying to attain the guru. We can understand this by thinking of the actual meaning of the guru: the absolute guru.
After the verse on the guru’s kindness in enabling us to meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, The Essence of Nectar continues,
Therefore, my virtuous friends are:
Rescuers, rescuing me from the lower realms;
Captains, taking me across the ocean of samsara;
Guides, leading me to upper realms and liberation;
If we have studied the sufferings of the lower realms and have a complete view of all the sufferings involved, we will have a strong feeling for the kindness of the guru in protecting us from those many eons of suffering. But if we don’t recognize the sufferings of the lower realms, we won’t appreciate the kindness of the guru in protecting us from them.
At this point think of the entire suffering of samsara: the six, four or three types98 of general suffering and the particular sufferings of each realm. Each realm has oceans of suffering. The guru liberates us from the oceans of samsaric suffering, like a captain taking us across the ocean in a boat to the place where we wish to be.
The more extensive our knowledge of the general and particular sufferings of samsara, the more strongly we will feel the kindness of the virtuous friend, the captain who liberates us from the oceans of samsara.
Upper realms refers to the body of a happy migratory being, of a human or god, and liberation refers to liberation from samsara and to full enlightenment, or great liberation, as well.
Doctors, curing the chronic disease of delusion,
Streams of water, extinguishing the great fire of suffering,
Lamps, dispelling the darkness of ignorance,
Suns, illuminating the path to liberation,
The delusions, the continuation of which has no beginning, are like a chronic debilitating disease—our virtuous friend completely cures the disease of delusion and ensures that we never ever experience it again. Even if an ordinary doctor gives us medicine to help us recover from sickness, it is only a temporary cure and does nothing to pacify the cause of the sickness, our delusions. The virtuous friend is the real doctor because he ceases the delusions, from where the 424 diseases and all other problems arise.
Remember the kindness of the virtuous friend in being the doctor who cures you of the chronic disease of delusion.
Liberators, releasing me from the bonds of the samsaric prison,
Rain clouds, showering a rain of holy Dharma,
Relatives and friends, bringing benefit and dispelling harm,
Parents, always caring for me with love.
Releasing me from the bonds of the samsaric prison means that the guru breaks the continual chain of the twelve links. And the guru, like a brother or sister, always helps us to get rid of our problems.
It is extremely effective to read these verses and to meditate on their meaning by relating them to each of our gurus.
By training our mind in the root, devotion, and remembering the kindness of the guru, we feel the guru is there in our heart—as if the guru is our heart. We feel that the guru is the most important, most precious thing in our life. Respect for the guru then arises, which brings us inconceivable merit and great purification. Correct devotion to the virtuous friend then comes naturally and easily. In accord with how well we have trained our mind and how much devotion and realization of the guru’s kindness we have, we are happy to devote ourselves to the guru and follow his advice. Our practice of guru devotion then becomes very successful.
Six-Session Guru Yoga mentions,
Every supreme and mundane attainment
Follows upon pure devotion to you, my protector.
Seeing this I forsake my body and even my life;
Bless me to practice what will only please you.
This attitude is what enables us to achieve enlightenment quickly, even within one brief lifetime of a degenerate time, as Milarepa did. Because Milarepa had this realization, cherishing his guru more than his own life, he sacrificed himself to follow his guru Marpa. Due to his strong guru yoga, Milarepa was able to achieve enlightenment within a few years.
The kindness of the guru in Guru Puja
In the prostration section of Guru Puja,99 first the qualities of the guru are described and then the kindness. It is very effective to meditate on each verse in relation to the kindness of each of our gurus.
Your compassion grants even the sphere of great bliss,
The supreme state of the three kayas, in an instant.
Guru with a jewel-like body,
Vajra holder, I prostrate at your lotus feet.
Our gurus give us all the teachings of the whole path to enlightenment, both lamrim and tantra, as well as initiations; they teach us all the most secret, profound means of achieving enlightenment in this brief lifetime. By practicing these, we can become enlightened in this life. This is like achieving enlightenment in an instant, compared to one day in even the first category of the hot hells, Being Alive Again and Again, which is equivalent to nine million human years. Compared to the duration of beginningless time and one day of a hell-being’s life, our gurus grant us enlightenment in an instant. Our teachers are extremely kind in revealing to us the teachings of the entire path, which can grant us enlightenment, the sphere of great bliss, the supreme state of the three kayas, in a moment.
The transcendental wisdom of all the infinite conquerors,
Supreme skillful means appearing in any way that subdues,Sporting in the guise of a saffron-robed monk;
Holy refuge savior, I prostrate at your feet.
This second verse is talking about the kindness of the guru in manifesting in whatever form suits our mind. Even though there are numberless aspects of buddhas, since we can’t see buddhas in the form of buddhas, we can’t receive teachings from them in that form. Therefore, the guru is extremely kind in manifesting in his present form, which accords with our level of mind, and guiding us by giving the various teachings.
You eliminated all faults and their imprints from the root,
And are a treasury of infinite precious qualities.
Sole source of benefit and bliss without exception,
Perfect, pure Guru, I prostrate at your feet.
In this verse, when we recite the line about eliminating all faults and even their imprints, it is good to think about all our delusions, every single one of them, and to remember all the negative actions we have done out of them. We should then remember in detail all the suffering of the six realms that has resulted from these negative karmas. For example, we should remember all the various problems of human beings that result from negative karma—not only old age, sickness and death, but famine, epidemic disease, relationship problems and the many other problems. Who is it that totally eliminates all our problems and their cause, negative karma and delusions? Our gurus.
We should think especially of eliminating the negative actions and delusions that result in the unimaginable suffering of the eight hot and eight cold hells, as well as the branch hells. No matter what pain we experience from heat and cold in the human realm, it is pleasurable compared to the sufferings in the hells. Who ends all our suffering in the hot and cold hells and its cause? Our gurus.
We should also think of the hungry ghosts, whose sufferings we couldn’t bear. We couldn’t survive without food or even a drop of water for seven days, yet hungry ghosts experience such great suffering for hundreds of years. Who completely ends the immense suffering we have to experience as a hungry ghost? Our gurus.
We should then think of all the animals, who are extremely foolish, suffer from heat and cold and eat one another. A human being couldn’t bear the suffering that animals experience; there is no way a human could bear even the hardship of not being able to explain her needs. Through giving us teachings, our gurus are the only ones who can completely end for us all the karma and delusions that bring this animal suffering.
When we recite the line, Sole source of benefit and bliss without exception, we should remember that every single merit we create is the action of the guru; it comes through the guru’s kindness. Who gives us every single happiness of past, present and future and every single quality of a buddha’s holy body, speech and mind? Who gives us all the merit that we receive? Our gurus. All the good things that we have now and will receive in the future, up to enlightenment, come through the kindness of the guru. Our gurus are treasures of inconceivable merit, source of all happiness and benefit, and the panacea of peace. This is why we prostrate at the holy feet of our gurus.
Teacher of gods and all, embodiment of all buddhas,
Source of the 84,000 holy Dharmas,
You stand out among the whole host of aryas.
Kind Guru, I prostrate to you.
With this verse, we should think that each of our gurus is all the buddhas; each guru is Manjushri, Tara, Vajrapani and all the other buddhas. And because each guru is all the buddhas, each guru is the source of all the Dharma, of all the 84,000 teachings. Without each of our gurus, there is no Buddha, there is no Dharma, there is no Sangha.
To the gurus dwelling in the three times and ten directions,
The Three Precious Sublime Ones, and all worthy of homage:
With faith, conviction and an ocean of lyric praise,
I prostrate, manifesting as many bodies as atoms of the world.
The objects of prostration include not only living beings, but statues, scriptures, stupas and all other holy objects. Here we should remember that without the guru there is no Triple Gem with which we can accumulate merit. Without the guru, there is not even one statue to which we can make offering and with which we can accumulate merit; there is not even one scripture we can study to leave an imprint of the path; there is not even one stupa with which we can purify and accumulate merit. Any merit we accumulate with any holy object comes solely by the kindness of each of our gurus.
In relation to holy objects, we can think, “The guru manifested in these forms to enable me to purify my mind and collect merit.” It is such an easy way to collect merit, as it doesn’t even depend on our having a virtuous motivation. Even if our motivation is not Dharma, simply seeing, circumambulating, or prostrating or making offering to holy objects immediately becomes the cause of enlightenment, liberation from samsara and the happiness of hundreds of thousands of future lives. And, of course, it also affects this life. Because we purify so much negative karma, it reduces the problems of this life.
The existence of holy objects makes it so easy for us to purify our heavy negative karmas and collect extensive merit, enabling us to have realizations of the path to enlightenment. We should also understand that all these holy objects exist due to the kindness of the guru. By understanding that the meaning of guru is the dharmakaya, the holy mind of all the buddhas, we see that these holy objects happened through the kindness of the guru, or through the guru manifesting in them, to liberate us from samsara and bring us to enlightenment.
As mentioned in these verses, the guru has done the work of giving us all the teachings of the complete path to enlightenment, from beginning to end. If we had practiced these teachings, if we had followed the guru instead of our selfish mind, we would already have become enlightened, or at least had some attainment of the graduated path to enlightenment.
As mentioned here and in Six-Session Guru Yoga, it is definite that our gurus give us enlightenment in an instant; the fault is only that from our side we haven’t followed them. Our gurus have been unbelievably kind in giving us vows, thus helping to protect us from negative karmas and enabling us to accumulate merit. In this way, each of our gurus is leading us from our present state to the state of enlightenment. Each of our gurus is extremely kind.
This is the way to meditate on the kindness of the guru with these verses from Guru Puja. It is very effective to read or chant these verses slowly, meditating on their meaning.
NOTES
83 Arising from the play of omniscient transcendental wisdom,
You are the essence of ten million mandala cycles.
Pervading lord of a hundred types of buddhas, foremost vajra holder,
Unified primordial savior, I make requests to you. (V. 51.) [Return to text]
84 V. 46. [Return to text]
85 Protector of all beings without exception;
Divine destroyer of the intractable legions of Mara;
Perfect knower of all things:
Bhagavan and retinue, please come here. [Return to text]
86 The Seven Patriarchs are Kashyapa, Ananda, Shanavatsa, Upagupta, Dhitika, Krishna and Mahasudarshana. [Return to text]
87 The Six Ornaments are Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. [Return to text]
88 For details of the Eighty Mahasiddhas, see Buddha’s Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas. [Return to text]
89 V. 47. [Return to text]
90 On them sits my root Guru, kind in three ways, in nature all buddhas… (V. 10). [Return to text]
91 Prayer for Meeting the Teaching of the Great Tsongkhapa, Dharma King of the Three Realms, Giving Compassionate Refuge and Care. [Return to text]
92 Prayer for the Flourishing of Je Tsongkhapa’s Teachings [Tib: Lo-sang gyäl-tän-ma]. See Essential Buddhist Prayers, Volume 1, p. 259 ff. [Return to text]
93 See the glossary for the eight and the five precepts. [Return to text]
94 See Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, pp. 380–84 for details of the refuge vow. [Return to text]
95 The Avatamsaka Sutra, translated as The Flower Ornament Scripture. [Return to text]
96 See Taking the Essence, Lama Yeshe’s teaching on this practice. [Return to text]
97 The buddhas of the three types are Vairochana, Amitabha and Akshobhya—essences of a buddha’s holy body, speech and mind. The buddhas of the five types add Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi to the previous three, and these five are related to a buddha’s five pure aggregates. The buddhas of a hundred types are related to five aspects of a buddha’s five aggregates, four elements, six inner bases of consciousness and five sense objects. [Return to text]
98 The six types of suffering are uncertainty, dissatisfaction, repeatedly leaving bodies, being born over and over again, moving from high to low again and again, and having no companion; the four types of suffering are birth, old age, sickness and death; the three types of suffering are the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering. [Return to text]
99 Vv. 18–22. [Return to text]
