Revealing the complete path to enlightenment
We shouldn’t rely upon just anyone as a guru. In order to achieve the goal of enlightenment for the sake of other sentient beings, we should have a virtuous teacher who is able to show us the complete infallible path to enlightenment. As mentioned in The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, the guru should be someone who understands the whole instruction and can lead us in the paths of the Hinayana, Paramitayana and Vajrayana. As Manjushri advised, for the disciple to become enlightened in one brief lifetime of this degenerate time, the lama should be someone who is able to lead the disciple in the complete path. It is like pulling on a dingwa, the square Sangha seat cover: no matter which side you pull, the whole dingwa comes. In a similar way, all the teachings of the Hinayana, Paramitayana and Vajrayana are related to each other and are instructions for one person’s graduated practice to achieve enlightenment. Nothing is to be left out.
First we have to seek a qualified virtuous friend, one who can reveal the complete unmistaken path, and once we have found one, we then need to correctly devote ourselves to him. Finding a qualified virtuous friend requires past karma, accumulation of merit and many prayers. But when a virtuous friend who can reveal the whole path to enlightenment and a qualified disciple who can bear hardships meet, full enlightenment can be achieved.
Geshe Potowa said,
If the virtuous teacher has all the characteristics, which means one who is able to lead the disciple in the complete path to enlightenment, the disciple becomes a fortunate one, able to generate the whole path to enlightenment.
As Geshe Potowa emphasized, if the disciple finds a guru who can lead him in the complete path to enlightenment, the disciple has the good fortune to generate the whole path. If the guru knows only part of the path to enlightenment, the disciple can generate only part of the path.
In The Great Treatise, Lama Tsongkhapa also emphasizes that we shouldn’t give the label “realization” to just any kind of achievement. For example, somebody might have done some meditation practice and achieved clairvoyance or some miraculous power to heal sickness or bring wealth, but if that person hasn’t meditated on the lamrim, the main road to enlightenment, and gained any realization of guru devotion, renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness, the five Mahayana paths and ten bhumis or the two tantric stages, then those other attainments can’t be called realizations.
Of course, ordinary people who don’t know about Dharma, who don’t know about the four noble truths, regard somebody who has clairvoyance and can tell them about the past and future as very special, more special than somebody who doesn’t have psychic power but can show them the four noble truths. If you don’t really understand or have faith in the four noble truths, you have no appreciation of someone who actually can liberate you from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, karma and delusions.
We feel that somebody with clairvoyance or miraculous powers is much more special than the person who really is awakening us from ignorance and liberating us through teaching us about the four noble truths, about how to be free from the suffering of samsara and its cause. We don’t feel that this person who is not only liberating us from samsara but bringing us to enlightenment by teaching us about the lamrim, the five Mahayana paths and ten bhumis or the tantric path is special; we feel such a person is kind of ordinary.
Thinking in this way is wrong. Why? Because we have had such miraculous powers numberless times but we’re still in samsara. And we have achieved single-pointed concentration numberless times, so that if we placed our mind on an object it could stay there like a mountain for years, for eons. As Kadampa Geshe Chengawa said,
We have had all those powers numberless times, but they didn’t bring us any special benefit, as we’re still in samsara. Leave aside practicing and realizing lamrim, I would prefer even to ask questions about what the lamrim is to having such powers.
It is because we didn’t achieve the lamrim in the past that we’re still not liberated from the sufferings of samsara and we still haven’t achieved enlightenment. To achieve liberation we need to achieve renunciation of the whole of samsara, then realize emptiness and develop that realization until we directly perceive emptiness. Because this didn’t happen, we’re still suffering in samsara.
Lama Tsongkhapa also stresses that the virtuous friend and his way of subduing our mind should be in accord with the general teaching of Buddha. The virtuous friend should be qualified and able to lead the disciple in the steps of the path to not only liberation but enlightenment. As a Mahayana practitioner, he should be in harmony with the general teaching of the Buddha and have subdued his mind in that way so that he can then help his disciples to actualize the whole path to enlightenment.
We should examine whether a virtuous teacher has the qualities necessary to reveal the path that we wish to follow. There are qualities to reveal Hinayana teachings, qualities to reveal Paramitayana teachings and qualities to reveal tantric teachings. The different kinds of qualities are described in commentaries to the requesting prayer in Guru Puja21 as well as in other teachings. With respect to the qualities a vajra guru should have, there are differences between even Action Tantra and Highest Yoga Tantra. The ten outer qualities a vajra guru needs to reveal Action Tantra and the ten inner qualities to reveal Highest Yoga Tantra are explained in the Guru Puja commentary by Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen.
Some teachings mention sixteen qualities that a virtuous friend should have, others mention ten, five or another number. However, if the guru has the qualities explained in Maitreya Buddha’s teaching Ornament of Mahayana Sutras, Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion,22 the commentaries to Guru Puja or the lamrim teachings, he is able to lead his disciples along the complete path to enlightenment.
Qualities of a Mahayana guru
In Ornament of Mahayana Sutras Maitreya Buddha mentions ten qualities that a virtuous friend should have in order to reveal Mahayana teachings:
Rely upon a virtuous friend who is subdued, pacified,
and highly pacified,
Has greater knowledge, has perseverance, is learned in scripture,
Has realized emptiness, is skillful in teaching,
Has a compassionate nature and has abandoned discouragement.
The first three qualities relate to the three higher trainings. Subdued means the guru should be living in the higher training of morality, protecting himself from negative karma. Even a lay teacher should be living in the lay pratimoksha vows. In that way, he will have tamed, or subdued, the actions of his body, speech and mind. In other words, he should have pure morality.
On top of that, the guru should be pacified through the higher training of concentration. He should be able to control his delusions by having realization of shamatha, or calm abiding. With achievement of this, it’s very easy to continuously keep the mind in virtue and then very easy to develop any realization. With perfect concentration you can then develop great insight.
Highly pacified relates to the higher training of wisdom, or great insight. The great insight referred to here doesn’t have to be the view of the Prasangika Madhyamaka school; it can be the view of the Mind Only school or one of the other lower schools. This is why having realized emptiness is listed later as a separate quality, where it refers specifically to the Prasangika view.
The guru should also have greater knowledge, or realizations, than the disciple, otherwise he cannot benefit him. In terms of this quality of a guru, Gomo Rinpoche once said something that is very effective for the mind. When Gomo Rinpoche was talking about the meaning of “lama” (which means heavier, or greater, in knowledge) before giving a Manjushri initiation to Bakula Rinpoche, Gelek Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe in Gelek Rinpoche’s home in Delhi just before Lama Yeshe passed away, Rinpoche said to the three of them, “You people are very learned. I’m not like you, but I do have one thing that you don’t have—the lineage of this initiation. So, by this, I am greater in knowledge.” Lama later mentioned to me what Gomo Rinpoche had said as he thought it very effective. So, if the guru has received the oral transmission of a mantra that you haven’t, it means the guru has greater knowledge than you.
The guru should also have perseverance. Learned in scripture means that the virtuous friend should have a mind enriched with quotations and teachings, so that he is able to refer to many teachings by heart. Without compassion, even if a teacher has great knowledge, he won’t necessarily help the disciple. Having abandoned discouragement means the teacher should have abandoned impatience, exhaustion and laziness in guiding disciples. He should not get upset or discouraged when teaching Dharma to students. If the guru has compassion, there is no thought of laziness or tiredness in guiding disciples.
Although these ten qualities are mentioned in Ornament of Mahayana Sutras, Geshe Potowa said,
Even if the guru doesn’t have all these qualities, he should at least have the following five: the realization of emptiness, compassion, greater understanding and qualities than the disciple, pure moral conduct and no discouragement when teaching disciples. Otherwise, the teacher cannot guide the disciple out of samsara.
With respect to the qualities of the guru, Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion begins by mentioning five bad qualities to avoid when choosing a guru. We shouldn’t choose as a guru someone who doesn’t have compassion, who has an impatient, angry nature or who has pride. Also, we shouldn’t choose a person who can’t control his mind, which basically means his desire. Finally, we shouldn’t choose someone who is boastful, who constantly advertises to others some small quality that he has.
Qualities of a vajra master
Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion describes the perfect qualities of a vajra master who reveals the tantric teachings in the following way:
Firm and subdued, intelligent, patient, sincere, without cunning, knowledgeable in mantras and the various activities of tantra, compassionate and loving, learned in the scriptures, proficient in the ten principles, expert in drawing mandalas, skilled in explaining tantric teachings, calm, with subdued senses.
Patient means able to practice patience with the enemy who gives harm and also able to bear hardships to guide disciples by giving them teachings.
Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion later summarizes the basic qualities of a vajra master into five: strong compassion for others; stable faith in the Mahayana teachings; learned in the various levels of teachings (Hinayana, Paramitayana and Vajrayana); skillful in guiding disciples in the path to enlightenment; and having tamed, or subdued, his three doors.
Similar qualities of a vajra master are described in the requesting prayer in Guru Puja:
You are wise, patient, honest,
Without pretense or guile, your three doors well subdued,
You have both sets of ten qualities, know mantra and tantra,
And are skilled in drawing and explaining:
Foremost vajra holder, I make requests to you.23
As above, patient means able to bear harms from others and hardships; free of hypocrisy means that the guru doesn’t try to hide his personal faults or pretend to have realizations that he doesn’t have.
Lama Tsongkhapa advised that the virtuous friend who gives tantric initiation and reveals tantric teachings should have at least three qualifications. First, he should have received the full initiation of the deity and be living well in the samayas of his ordinations. If the guru is ordained, he should be living well in his pratimoksha ordination and abstaining from the ten non-virtues. If the guru is not ordained he should be keeping the basic pratimoksha lay precepts. The virtuous friend should also be keeping the pledges of his bodhisattva and tantric ordinations.
Second, he should know the ten principles and be expert in the methods of giving initiations through having seen the traditional practices of the lineage lamas. He should know the ten outer principles,24 which are related to Action Tantra and the other lower tantras, and the ten inner principles, which are related to Highest Yoga Tantra.
The ten inner principles that a virtuous teacher who reveals Highest Yoga Tantra teachings should be expert in are: protection wheels; giving the vase, secret, wisdom and word initiations; making ritual tormas; mantra recitation; wrathful pujas; consecrations; and self-initiations.
A Vajrayana guru should be skilled in drawing protection mandalas, which are worn on the body to protect from harms, and able to dispel obstacles through meditation on protection wheels. In addition to understanding the tantric root texts and commentaries, he should understand how to do all the tantric rituals, such as drawing mandalas, reciting mantras, doing mudras, consecrations and performing various pujas, including wrathful ones. He should be expert in making ritual tormas, or offering cakes. This seems to indicate that tormas are not a Tibetan tradition but actually come from tantric scriptures.
A vajra master should also be expert in the seven different types of mantra recitation that come in the tantric sadhanas: verbal recitation, mental recitation, vajra recitation, samaya recitation, circling recitation, wrathful recitation and recitation one-pointedly concentrating on syllables.
If he cannot succeed in certain tantric practices using peaceful methods, he should be expert in the wrathful tantric methods to subdue evil beings who disturb holy beings or harm sentient beings or the teachings. He should be able to split the evil being from its helpers, such as protectors or devas, and then able to separate its consciousness from its body and transfer its consciousness to a pure realm. He should be able to do these wrathful actions with the thought of renouncing self and cherishing others.
He also needs to be expert in doing consecrations and performing self-initiations.
Third, he should have done the retreat of the deity and received permission from the deity to give the initiation—or at least, the deity should not have objected to his giving the initiation. One has to be very careful in making the decision to give an initiation because it can be dangerous in the present time and also very dangerous to the fulfillment of wishes in the future.
Unless we first do retreat and complete the recitation of the number of mantras required to generate power or to gain permission from the deity, we cannot do any of the various actions associated with tantric deities, such as giving initiations and blessings and performing the fire puja. We also cannot do the various tantric actions of peace, increase, control and wrath that are needed to complete Dharma practice and achieve enlightenment for the sake of other sentient beings. If we have not received initiation and done the retreat, our actions don’t have power. In previous times it was sufficient to recite the main mantra of a deity 100,000 times, but nowadays, in this degenerate time, when even the power of mantra has degenerated, we need to recite the main mantra 400,000 times.
A vajra master, whether ordained or lay, should have at least these three qualifications as mentioned by Lama Tsongkhapa. Lama Atisha also explained this in the text Request of the Tantra. While many other qualifications are mentioned in Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion and other texts, Lama Tsongkhapa described the minimum ones.
Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion and some other tantric texts mention sixteen qualities that a tantric guru should have. In this degenerate time, however, it is extremely difficult to find a perfectly qualified guru with every single one of these qualities. Because of this, Lama Atisha advised his heart-son Dromtönpa that since it is impossible to find a virtuous friend with every single one of the sixteen qualities, one should follow a virtuous friend with at least half, a quarter or an eighth of these qualities. At the very least, the virtuous friend should have more good qualities and knowledge than the disciple.
The text White Lotus explains:
In the future quarreling time, one will not see the guru other than as having a mixture of qualities and faults. There will be no one who doesn’t create any negative karma at all. In short, examine well to find someone who has more qualities than you, then, my sons, devote yourself to that one as a spiritual friend.
Because of the degenerate time, the guru always has a mixture of qualities and faults and there is no one who only accumulates virtue.
Also, in this degenerate time, because our own mind is obscured by gross delusions, even if the virtuous friend were perfect, an enlightened being with only good qualities and without a single fault, we couldn’t see him in that way because of our obscurations. It is extremely difficult for us to see the guru as having only good qualities. We see a mixture of good qualities and faults. Lama Tsongkhapa said that in the quarreling time it will be difficult to see a virtuous teacher without faults.
The essential qualities
Although the texts explain all these many different qualities to look for in a guru, the very essence is that our guru should at least be someone who emphasizes cherishing others more than cherishing self, because we then have the opportunity to develop bodhicitta, the root of the Mahayana path, and thus achieve enlightenment. Otherwise, if our guru doesn’t emphasize cherishing others, we will have no opportunity to develop bodhicitta. In essence, we should choose as our guru somebody who emphasizes cherishing others through the practice of loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta.
Failing that, choose a spiritual teacher who emphasizes liberation from samsara rather than samsaric pleasures. If our virtuous teacher doesn’t emphasize cherishing others, he should at least be someone who looks at samsaric perfections as suffering and emphasizes liberation, because in this way we have the opportunity to achieve liberation.
At the very least choose a spiritual master who regards working for the happiness of future lives as more important than working for the happiness of this life. If our spiritual teacher doesn’t emphasize this, he can’t guide us even in the path to the happiness of future lives, which means to a good rebirth. If aimed only at the happiness of this life, our practice won’t even become holy Dharma. Even if we’re meditating every day, there’s the danger that what we do will become purely non-virtue, purely attachment to the happiness of this life. If our teacher doesn’t emphasize detachment from this life’s pleasures and working for long-term happiness, the happiness of future lives, there’s the danger that we’ll waste our life completely caught up in meaningless activities for the happiness of this life.
Whether our teacher is ordained or lay, the very essence is that he should emphasize these three things: by emphasizing bodhicitta, he is able to bring us to enlightenment; by emphasizing liberation from samsara, he is able to bring us to liberation; and by emphasizing letting go of clinging to this life and working for the happiness of all the coming future lives, he enables us to achieve the happiness of future lives. Those who know how to practice lamrim regard these as the main qualities to examine before establishing a samaya relationship with a guru. Otherwise, without these qualities, even if a person is very scholarly and has great knowledge, it will be difficult for him to successfully guide disciples to enlightenment.
If the guru has at least the very basic qualities that I have mentioned, it will help us to avoid the danger of later engaging in the heavy negative karma of generating anger, heresy or other negative thoughts toward the guru, and also of giving up the guru.
The fundamental quality
Among all the many different qualities to consider in choosing a guru, the fundamental thing to examine is whether the person emphasizes the practice of morality, or ethics. As described in the first verse of the requesting prayer in Guru Puja,25 the fundamental point according to Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching is living in the morality of ordination. However, whether the virtuous teacher is lay or ordained, the basic quality is that he himself should live in morality and emphasize the practice of morality, because otherwise there is no basis for realization. Disciples who don’t practice morality, which means protecting karma, can’t achieve even the happiness of a good rebirth in their next life, let alone liberation from samsara. Just as you can’t hold liquid without a container, you can’t receive the body of a happy migratory being—a human or deva—in your next life without living in morality. Without the practice of morality, you can’t even be protected from the lower realms. If the guru is someone who emphasizes morality, he’s able to protect the disciple from negative karma, the obstacle to achievement of enlightenment, liberation and the happiness of future lives. The disciple is then able to achieve temporary and ultimate happiness.
Tibetans who know the essence of lamrim practice don’t decide on their gurus by checking how famous or learned they are because they know that successful practice has to do with samaya. Those who know how to correctly devote themselves to the virtuous friend, as Lama Atisha did with Lama Suvarnadvipi, check the lifestyle of the person and his practice, including how he devotes to his virtuous friends. On that basis, they then decide. A person could be famous and very learned but have some corruption in the samaya with his gurus. Even though one could learn intellectually from such a person, it would be difficult to complete the practice and gain real benefit. Real benefit doesn’t come from just learning the words, like in school or university, but from subduing the mind.
For Lama Ösel, Lama Yeshe’s reincarnation, the most important factor in his life and what will determine his success in benefiting the world is the guidance of his virtuous friends. This is why at different times over the years I have made many observations to choose his virtuous friends; it is my biggest responsibility. I have mainly been choosing on the basis of the person’s practice, not because of his reputation of being learned or famous.
As a child, Lama Ösel learnt Tibetan prayers and Tibetan writing from an ascetic monk, Geshe Thubten, who was one of Lama Yeshe’s best friends. While His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave Lama Ösel his very first lesson in the Tibetan alphabet, Geshe Thubten taught him the rest of the letters, spelling and writing. Geshe Thubten and Lama Yeshe were in the same class at Sera Je Monastery and had a very good samaya bond between them, though they were not in a teacher-disciple relationship. This is why we requested Geshe-la to teach Lama Ösel the alphabet.
Lama Yeshe often used to praise Geshe Thubten, saying that he really knew Dharma. Even though some monks were able to debate well and were regarded as learned, Lama would sometimes say of this one or that, “Oh, his understanding of Dharma is just superficial—he doesn’t have any deep understanding.”
In the observations, Geshe Thubten came out many times as beneficial, but another reason I chose him is that Geshe-la himself is a very good practitioner, an ascetic monk with a very good understanding of Dharma and very good samaya with his gurus, especially Geshe Rabten Rinpoche.
Being learned is not the most important quality of a teacher. It is not enough that the virtuous friend has vast intellectual knowledge or can teach well. Having knowledge alone doesn’t mean that a person can benefit others. Of course, the virtuous friend also needs knowledge, but that is not the only thing that can bring real benefit. The main thing to check is the quality of his samaya. Even if someone is very learned and capable, if he has broken samaya with his virtuous friends, no matter how great his learning or reputation, it will be difficult for him to really benefit the minds of his disciples. We are talking here about benefit that is deep and ¬long-¬lasting, not just making someone happy and excited for an hour. We are talking about long-term benefit and success, up to enlightenment, which is the greatest benefit.
If the virtuous friend is a good practitioner with pure samaya, even if he isn’t very wise or knowledgeable, he can benefit his disciples; disciples who correctly devote themselves to that virtuous friend can become learned, develop realizations and benefit many sentient beings.
An additional qualification
I want to specifically add one extra qualification to the usual ones explained in the teachings. If you are about to make a new Dharma connection, these days you should also examine to make sure the person is not somebody who opposes the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; in other words, make sure the person is not a practitioner of the spirit.26 If you are about to make a Dharma connection with someone for the first time, check this point so that you don’t run into problems later.
For a long while, I tried not to get involved in talking about the issue of the spirit in public but responded only to individual people who wrote to me about it. I never engaged in public debate on this issue, apart from at the Gelugpa meeting in Delhi, where I mentioned that we should follow His Holiness’s wishes. However, I recently made some protective guidelines for all the FPMT centers; one of them is that before inviting a teacher, the center should check whether or not the person opposes His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and whether or not he or she is practicing the spirit. This is for the protection of individual students as well as the organization.
This doesn’t mean that the gurus who practiced the spirit in the past are bad or that you should become careless about the advice of those gurus. It is mentioned in both sutra and tantra teachings that we shouldn’t create the heavy negative karma of criticizing or giving up the guru. Be careful not to lose faith in any of your gurus. It is not that the guru has made a mistake. This is the appearance of your karma, of your impure mind, at this time. Or you can think that these gurus have purposely manifested in this way, because showing faults is the only way they can communicate with you and guide you to enlightenment. You don’t have to criticize your gurus who do the practice. It doesn’t have to bring conflict into your life or destroy your devotion. The main reason we practice guru devotion is to benefit ourselves because we disciples want profit and don’t want loss. Our aim is to achieve the highest profit, enlightenment.
If you have gurus who practiced the spirit in the past but have now passed away, if they were existing in the same aspect now, they would also have stopped the practice. His Holiness himself did the spirit practice for a short while, but after many experiences and signs and a lot of analysis, His Holiness advised against this practice.
And His Holiness is not the only one who is saying this. Many other high lamas, holders of the entire Buddhadharma, have given similar instructions to their monasteries.
After checking his own experiences and in many other ways, His Holiness came to the conclusion that it would be of greater benefit to individuals, as well as to the world, to stop doing the practice. His Holiness himself stopped and also advised others to stop. Many other great teachers have already stopped doing this practice, even though they had practiced it before.
Even though various monasteries and groups of people have asked His Holiness to change his mind, His Holiness reached this decision after many years of analysis and will never change from this view. His Holiness has kept on insisting in his teachings that he will never change from advising against this practice.
Geshe Lobsang Tsephel27 told me that when he went to see His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche to ask for advice on the issue of the spirit, His Holiness said that when you visualize the merit field, you visualize the guru first; the guru is the highest one. After the guru, you visualize the buddhas, then the bodhisattvas, the arhats, the dakas and dakinis, and then the Dharma protectors come at the very end. Rinpoche said, “You should listen to what your guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, says. Who is more important, the guru or the protector? The guru is more important. Even when you visualize the merit field, the guru comes first.” It is a mistake to think that what the spirit says is more important than what the guru says.
My point of view is that we should stop this practice, not because we are careless about the advice of other gurus, but because this is the advice we have been given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Buddha of Compassion.
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha himself made the prediction that the Dalai Lamas, incarnations of Chenrezig, would be Dharma kings working for sentient beings in the Land of Snow, Tibet. When Buddha was in India, he made this prediction to one of the bodhisattvas who usually accompanied him:
When the teaching of Buddha degenerates in India, at that time you will be Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, and the sentient beings in the Snow Land will be objects to be subdued by you. At that time you will lead the sentient beings of Tibet to have faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and you will then spread Buddhadharma like the rising sun.
During one of His Holiness’s visits to Deer Park, Geshe Sopa Rinpoche’s center in Madison, Wisconsin, His Holiness said in a teaching, as His Holiness often does, “I have no realization of bodhicitta or emptiness or anything else, but I have strong faith in them.” Later, during a group interview, somebody asked His Holiness, “You say you don’t have any realization, so how is it possible for us? We have no hope!” As this was expressed strongly, His Holiness had to respond in some way, so he let slip from his holy mouth as a kind of private comment, “Actually, I remember that I was with Shakyamuni Buddha in India.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also an incarnation of Dromtönpa, Lama Atisha’s great Tibetan translator, an embodiment of the Buddha of Compassion. Dromtönpa is known to be in the line of reincarnations.
No other lama can benefit the world as much as His Holiness can. His Holiness is the source of the peace and happiness of sentient beings in this world. Millions of ordinary people, even non-Buddhists, not only in the East but also in the West, can see that His Holiness is someone whose holy body is filled with great compassion and wisdom. His Holiness is able to bring unbelievable peace and happiness to others. Simply seeing His Holiness has inspired many thousands of people to have faith in Buddhism. We know the positive effect, the incredible peace and happiness, that comes by seeing his holy body, hearing his holy speech or reading His Holiness’s teachings. Anyone who sees and especially hears His Holiness definitely plants seeds of enlightenment. Simply seeing His Holiness brings great purification.
Even though there are many Buddhist traditions and many holy beings in this world, no one else benefits the world the way His Holiness the Dalai Lama does. There are many religious leaders in the world, but there is no one like His Holiness, who can benefit sentient beings so much. Even though there are many Buddhist leaders, there is no one like His Holiness who can benefit so much to the world. Even among the high lamas, there is no one like His Holiness, who can benefit so much to the world. And even among the incarnations of the Dalai Lamas, of whom there are now fourteen, there hasn’t been anyone like this incarnation. This fourteenth Dalai Lama has benefited the world the most, and more and more in the West. The previous incarnations benefited the East but this one is now benefiting the whole world. His Holiness is the one who has the greatest impact in bringing peace in this world, in changing negative thoughts into positive.
What differentiates Buddhism from other religions is compassion for sentient beings without any discrimination. Because of that compassion, one stops giving harm to other living beings and, on top of that, tries to benefit others. In His Holiness, people see the best example of what Buddhism talks about, compassion as well as wisdom. By seeing His Holiness, even though they may not have read any books on Buddhism, they develop some interest in what a Buddhist is.
In fact, simply seeing the holy body of His Holiness plants the seed of enlightenment and inspires people to develop compassion and wisdom. Even people who don’t understand what enlightenment or liberation is can feel that His Holiness is a pure being. Listening to His Holiness speak, people get a very broad view of Buddhism in a very short time, in half an hour or an hour. The quickest way to learn about Buddhism is to listen to one of His Holiness’s public teachings.
His Holiness has taken responsibility for the entire Buddhadharma, not only for the Hinayana teachings and the Mahayana Paramitayana teachings, but also the Mahayana Vajrayana teachings. His Holiness has taken responsibility for the preservation and spread of the entire teaching of Buddha. His Holiness is the one who is able to preserve these teachings in this world and spread them in the most extensive and quickest way.
Because of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s guidance, all the monasteries that were destroyed in Tibet have been re-established in India and the monks have been able to continue their extensive studies. Just like in Tibet, those monasteries, especially Sera, Ganden and Drepung, have been able to produce many qualified teachers to spread Buddhadharma in the world with depth and clarity. After all the trouble in Tibet, the whole Dharma has still been preserved and is being spread to others, especially the young. This is totally by the kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It has all come about because of his compassionate guidance.
Even though there are many other monasteries, without Sera, Ganden and Drepung and the tantric colleges as centers of learning, Buddhism would be lost in this world. Without these monasteries there would be no place in the world to learn extensively and in depth, studying with many learned scholars. The same applies to monasteries of the other traditions. Their survival, their ability to re-establish and continue their traditions, is solely by the kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who, after escaping from Tibet, requested permission from Prime Minister Nehru for the Tibetans to live in India.
For the Tibetan people, of course, His Holiness is the sole object of refuge. On top of that, His Holiness has taken full responsibility for the Tibetan people, who have a particular karmic connection with Chenrezig. The reason that so many people in the West have been able to meet His Holiness and hear teachings and receive advice not just one time but many times is that they also have a connection with the Buddha of Compassion. It is not just the Tibetan people. However, there is a particular connection with Tibetans, with His Holiness guiding them not only in a spiritual way by teaching Dharma but also by guiding the whole country.
It is now similar with Western people. You should know that every day you are being guided by Chenrezig. It is because of His Holiness that Buddhism has been able to spread to the West. If His Holiness hadn’t come out of Tibet but had instead decided to leave this world, Buddhism wouldn’t have spread in the rest of the world. You wouldn’t have been able to meet Buddhism and make your lives meaningful. It would have been impossible; it would never have happened if His Holiness had stayed in Tibet or had passed away.
Without His Holiness’s existence in this form in this world, we would have a human body, but our mind would be like that of an animal, with no understanding of Dharma. Everything we did in our daily life would then be negative karma. We would have no understanding of reincarnation and karma, no understanding of how the motivation can make an action virtuous and the cause of happiness or non-virtuous and the cause of suffering. Our attitude, if not one of anger, would usually be one of attachment to this life. Therefore, even though we might not be killing people or stealing, every single thing we did twenty-four hours a day would be only negative karma, the cause of suffering. Without the existence of His Holiness in a human form that is able to spread Dharma and without His Holiness being outside Tibet, we wouldn’t have had this chance. Right now we would have a human body but the mind of an animal.
We are receiving guidance from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from Chenrezig, all the time. Every time we generate a motivation of bodhicitta, every time we meditate on bodhicitta, we are receiving guidance from Chenrezig; we are experiencing the kindness of Chenrezig. Every time we purify our past negative karma and every time we collect merit, we are receiving guidance from Chenrezig.
A patient’s recovery from a sickness doesn’t depend only on a knowledgeable doctor diagnosing her illness and giving a prescription for the correct medicine; from her side the patient has to take the medicine. Only then can she recover. In a similar way, even though there is an actual living Buddha of Compassion, the freedom or independence of Tibet is not only up to the Buddha of Compassion but also depends on the karma of the Tibetan people. From their side the Tibetan people have to put effort into creating the cause for that. If it were solely up to the Buddha of Compassion, not only would there be no suffering Tibetan people; there wouldn’t be any suffering sentient beings at all by now.
Because His Holiness has unbelievable qualities, His Holiness is able to bring benefit as limitless as the sky to the teaching of Buddha and to sentient beings. His Holiness has taken responsibility for sentient beings in general and for those of this world in particular. His Holiness has also been carrying all the heavy responsibility while Tibet has been having a very difficult time. His Holiness carries so many responsibilities, for the peace and happiness of all the sentient beings in this world, for all the teachings of Buddha and for the independence of Tibet.
That is why we should support His Holiness and follow His Holiness’s advice. The more support we offer, the more His Holiness can benefit sentient beings with all his oceans of qualities. Since we ourselves don’t have those qualities, though we do have the potential for them, we cannot benefit in the way that His Holiness the Dalai Lama can. But if we offer our support and don’t cause any obstacles, His Holiness can benefit not only Tibetans and the sentient beings in this world but all sentient beings.
If people do exactly what His Holiness wishes, which means following his advice in relation to the issue of the spirit, it helps His Holiness to have a longer life, so that His Holiness can benefit sentient beings even more. The whole purpose of our life is to benefit sentient beings as extensively as possible. We can’t benefit sentient beings the way His Holiness does. Even if we teach Dharma courses, only sixty or seventy people come, but when His Holiness gives teachings, many thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people come. The quickest way to liberate sentient beings is to support His Holiness. His Holiness will then be healthy and have a longer life, and sentient beings will receive extensive, deep benefit and will quickly become enlightened.
That is the reasoning I use to follow His Holiness’s advice. The reason is not a narrow one but as vast as the limitless sky. It doesn’t involve thinking of yourself and your own happiness, but of all sentient beings and what can most benefit them.
21 See The Union of Bliss & Emptiness, chapter 5. [Return to text]
22 See The Fulfillment of All Hopes and commentaries by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. [Return to text]
23 V. 45. [Return to text]
24 The ten outer principles that a vajra master should know are: 1) how to meditate on the mandala with and without form; 2) how to maintain meditative stabilization as the deity within the mandala; 3) how to do the various hand gestures for offering adornments to the deities; 4) how to perform ritual dance; 5) how to assume a variety of postures such as the vajra position; 6) how to recite mantras; 7) how to conduct peaceful, increasing, powerful and wrathful fire pujas; 8) how to make outer, inner and secret offerings; 9) how to perform peaceful, increasing, powerful and wrathful activities, as well as how to give protection and invite different kinds of guests; and 10) how to conclude rituals and send guests back to their different dwelling places. [Return to text]
25 Source of virtue, great ocean of moral discipline,
Treasury brimming with jewels of much hearing,
Master, second buddha clad in saffron,
Elder, Vinaya-holder, I make requests to you. (V. 43.) [Return to text]
26 The spirit is Dorje Shugden. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has asked his followers to stop the practice of this spirit. For further details see The Fourteen Dalai Lamas, pp. 209–10. See also Rinpoche’s advice on the spirit on www.fpmt.org and www.LamaYeshe.com. [Return to text]
27 Geshe Lobsang Tsephel, abbot of Ganden Jangtse College, is the director of Land of Compassion Buddha near Los Angeles, California. [Return to text]
