Relying on the Spiritual Teacher

Did this research paper as part of my final exam in holy retreat at Kopan; because Venerable Course Teacher + German so demanding.  He liked it.  Gave “100% + 10 points”.  Ha ha ha.

I wrote this as a first-year-naive dharma girl student.   Jangchup Lamrim in South India, HH The Dalai Lama warned us several times:  “Choose your teachers carefully.  Up to 12 years.  Before you practice guru devotion.”  I became newly aware:  this concept is not for beginners.

HH the Dalai Lama gives one of the best teachings on this Tibetan Buddhist path in Chapter Three:  “Relying on a Spiritual Teacher”  from Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment (Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive 2002) .

Enjoy the photos from my hometown province – Beautiful British Columbia – 39 outdoor murals from the old logging town of Chemainus; First Nations totem art at the Museum of Anthropology; beach creatures at Ucluelet; summer blooms at Capilano Suspension Bridge .



“Relying on the Spiritual Teacher” by Judy Lin, Student of Buddha’s Mental Science

Accepted 9 Sept 2007 by Venerable Tenzin Dongak for FPMT Basic Program – Y1 at Kopan

How to Listen to and Explain the Teachings

All knowledge, practices, meditations and realizations leading to enlightenment are the result of first listening to the Dharma teachings and the teacher.  Contemplating the three benefits of listening, you will develop pure morality that keeps the mind free from negative emotions, you will develop good concentration that subdues the mind, and you will develop wisdom that perceives the ultimate nature of all phenomena, cutting away the ignorance of self-grasping that imprisons you in samsara.  The wisdoms of contemplating and meditating are developed in dependence on the wisdom of listening.  As your knowledge of Dharma grows, these three wisdoms will also grow and increase, removing doubt, ignorance and wrong views.

Students, listen well, with faith, enthusiasm and respect, as if the Buddha himself were present, without afflictions of arrogance and contempt.  Abandon the Three Faults of a Vessel:  dirty, polluted by impure motivations; turned upside down, closed-minded and distracted; full of holes, not remembering the teachings.  Listen to everything, listen attentively and do not forget anything.

Teachers, explain well the teachings, with pure motivation, love and compassion, free of expectations of receiving offerings, fame or merits, free of anger or attachment, laziness or miserliness.  Develop respect for the Teacher and Dharma:  arrive clean, tidy and cheerful; carefully prepare the teaching throne; and prostrate three times to the merit field.  Know whom to teach and whom not to teach.  Remember the kindness of Shakyamuni Buddha who turned the Wheel of Dharma for all sentient beings.

Students and teachers, rely on the Six Recognitions:  the student is the patient and the teacher is the doctor.  Dharma teaching is the medicine and persistent practice is the cure.  Buddhas are Superior Beings and may the Dharma endure for many eons.

And at the end of each teaching session, dedicate the merits of listening and teaching to the enlightenment of all sentient beings.  

This is Chapter Three in Lama Tsong-Kha-Pa’s Lam Rim Chen Mo on how to listen to and explain the teachings for each session.  

Nevertheless, how should a student practice for a lifetime?

Introduction

Sufferings of cyclic existence, karma and mental afflictions, refuge and renunciation, purification and accumulation, the Six Perfections and bodhicitta, impermanence and selflessness, emptiness and liberation:  how does one effectively discern, penetrate and transcend the mysteries of the dependent arising of all manifest, hidden and very hidden phenomena?  How does one skilfully make full use of one’s precious human rebirth to generate the understandings and realizations necessary to achieve enlightenment?  How does one know if one is on the path or off the path?  The answers to these questions reside in the teacher, who is the root of the path, the Buddha's path to enlightenment. 

In Chapter Four of Lam Rim Chen Mo, Lama Tsong-Kha-Pa shows students that proper reliance on the spiritual teacher involves clear understanding and meditation on five essential points:  the need for a spiritual teacher, the qualities of the spiritual teacher, the qualities of the Dharma student, how the student relies on the teacher, the benefits of relying and the pitfalls of not relying on the teacher.

Why the need for a spiritual teacher?

Enlightenment is a spiritual aspiration that takes many eons of lifetimes to achieve.  Studying and practicing the Dharma without the guidance of a spiritual teacher or ‘guru’ involves the risks of losing your way and wasting valuable time given to you to practice in this lifetime.  The guru is the spiritual teacher to whom you make a special commitment to help you develop your mind quickly.  

Sadaprarudita struggled alone for a long time to reach the third level of the path of accumulation before meeting his guru, Dharmodgata.  By relying on his teacher, Sadaprarudita was able to progress to the purified field of the eighth bodhisattva ground during his life, but alone it would have taken eons to achieve.  [1]  

As Bo-do-wa says, “Without a guru, how can we succeed in traveling to a place where we have never been, having just been reborn from a miserable realm?”  [2]  

Lama Tsong-Kha-Pa says, “Thus, the excellent teacher is the source of all temporary happiness and certain goodness, beginning with the production of a single good quality and the reduction of a single fault in a student's mind and eventually encompassing all the knowledge beyond that.”  [3]  

Shakyamuni Buddha as Prince Siddharta relied on famous teachers of his time, Yeshe Tsogyal relied on Padmasambhava, Aryadeva relied on Nagarjuna, Milarepa relied on Marpa, Potowa relied on Dromtopa, Dromtonpa had five teachers and Sangphuwa set no limits in his search for teachers.  

Students, who will you rely on?

What are the qualities of the spiritual teacher?

Maitreya says in his Ornament for the Mahayana Sutras:

Rely on a Mahayana teacher who is disciplined, serene, thoroughly pacified;

Has good qualities surpassing those of the students; is energetic; has a wealth of scriptural knowledge; Possesses loving concern; has thorough knowledge of reality and skill in instructing disciples; and has abandoned dispiritedness.  [4]

The above describes a teacher who instructs you on the stages of the path of the three persons of low, medium and great capacity, and only a teacher who has these ten qualities can guide you to the Mahayana, the path to Buddhahood.  

The student must rely on a teacher who has accomplished higher training in ethical discipline, higher training in meditative concentration and higher training in wisdom of emptiness as these first three qualities show that the teacher has disciplined his mind through the practice of the Three Higher Trainings.  The other seven qualities refer to the teacher's realization of emptiness, his vast store of Dharma knowledge, his great compassion, dedication and excellent presentation skills.  

In addition, the first six qualities refer to the guru’s own attainments and the other four are qualities necessary for effectively showing the Dharma to students, inspiring and exciting them to practice Buddhadharma correctly.  

Choosing a teacher well requires the student to examine carefully from the beginning whether these ten qualities are present in the teacher, and if so, the student reduces the risk of receiving misguided teachings. 

What are the qualities of the Dharma student?

Aryadeva says in his Four Hundred Stanzas:

It is said that one who is nonpartisan, intelligent and diligent

Is a vessel for listening to the teachings.

The good qualities of the instructor do not appear otherwise

Nor do those of fellow listeners.  [5]

Non-partisan means not to take sides, not to develop attachment for your own religious views and aversion towards the views of others.  This bias creates obstacles in the student’s mind and you will not recognize or discover the meaning of good teachings.  Likewise, without intelligence, you cannot distinguish correct explanations from the false ones, what ideas to accept and what to reject.  Furthermore, without diligence, you cannot listen to the teachings with enthusiasm, interest or the pure motivation to put the teachings into practice.

Candrakirti’s commentary adds the wisdom of listening and respect for the teacher and the teachings to total five qualities.  [6]

While it is essential for the student to show devotion and respect to the teacher and the teachings, this does not mean that you blindly accept everything out of mere reverence.  In His Lam Rim commentary, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama reminds the student to follow the Buddha's own advice to subject his words to critical analysis “in the way a goldsmith examines gold by rubbing, cutting and scorching and accept the validity of his teaching only on the basis of their own analysis.”  [7]  Like Vimuktisena did to Vasubandhu’s and Dharmakirti to Dignaga’s commentaries, using their intelligence to point out their teacher's mistakes.  [8]

How does the student rely on the teacher?

Through faith, respect and devotion in thought.

The Array of Stalks Sutra states that a student should respect and serve the teacher with nine attitudes: 

Like a dutiful child submitting to the guru's will; like a diamond, developing a close and stable relationship with the guru; like the earth, taking on all responsibilities without dispiritness; like the foothills able to bear any suffering; like a worldly servant, performing all tasks without complaint; like a sweeper, considering yourself lower than your guru; like a foundation, taking on the heaviest responsibilities with pleasure; like a dog, never responding with anger when the guru scolds you; like a ferry, not tiring of fulfilling your guru’s instructions.  [9]

Milarepa, Marpa, Naropa, Atisha, Tsong Kha-Pa, and Shakyamuni in past lifetimes all endured hardships to hear even one verse of Dharma.  [10]

The Tantra Bestowing the Initiation of Vajrapani states:

Keep the master’s good qualities in mind

Never seize upon their faults

Keeping their qualities in mind, you will reach attainments.

Seizing upon their faults, you will not.  [11]

Lama Tsong Kha-Pa explains that you must have faith in the guru, viewing the guru as being the Teacher.  Recognizing him as a Buddha, you will not perceive faults but only observe his good qualities, training your mind to only focus on the good qualities because it is these qualities you want to emulate to attain realizations and not the faults.  If you train your mind in this way, your attainments will increase, but your attainments will decrease if you train your mind in fault-finding.

The Ten Teaching Sutra says, 

I have wandered for a long time through cyclic existence, and they search for me; I have been asleep, having been obscured by delusion for a long time, and they wake me; they pull me out of the depths of the ocean of existence; I have entered a bad path, and they reveal the good path to me; they release me from being bound in the prison of existence.  [12]

Remember your guru’s kindness and be respectful by offering sutras and reflecting on their meaning.  Because of our direct relationship with our spiritual teacher, he is the most powerful object of offering and his blessings are most powerful for leading us to enlightenment.  

In practice, the student should show proper reliance in three ways.  By offering material gifts, the student accumulates the collection of merits and wisdom because the guru is the supreme field.  By respecting and serving the guru with body and speech, the student performs physical actions of cleansing and nursing the guru’s body, and vocal actions of praising the guru's good qualities.  By practicing according to the guru's words means not contradicting his instructions.

On the third practice, however, the Cloud of Jewels Sutra says, “With respect to virtue act in accord with the gurus’ word, but do not act with the gurus’ words with respect to non-virtue.”  [13]  If a guru instructs you to perform a non-virtue, the student should excuse himself politely without generating disrespect, criticism or dislike of the guru.

His Holiness explains that the actual practice of reliance is done through cultivating specific thoughts of faith, admiration and respect based on your teacher’s great kindness.  The purpose of cultivating these thoughts is to arouse enthusiasm and dedication to your practice.  By generating thoughts of respect and admiration, the student develops a deep appreciation of the spiritual teacher as Buddha and as your personal guide along the path, and these thoughts strengthen your commitment to practice.  [14]

His Holiness adds, “The best way of making an offering to your teacher is to practice what you have been taught.”  Milarepa wrote, “I do not have anything to offer my teacher, but still I have the best offering - my practice and experiences.”  [15]

What are the benefits of relying on a spiritual teacher?

Pabongka Rinpoche’s commentary on the Lam Rim lists eight benefits: 

1. You will come closer to Buddhahood by practicing instructions he taught you.
2. You will come closer to Buddhahood by making offerings to the guru and serving him.
3. Buddhas of the ten directions are willing to teach you Dharma, but you are not even fortunate enough to see the supreme Nirmanakaya, let alone the Sambhogakaya, because these appear only to ordinary beings with pure karma.  If you do not rely properly on your guru, you will not please the Buddhas, no matter how many offerings you make to them.
4. You will not be disturbed by demons or bad company.  You will automatically put a stop to all delusions and misdeeds.
5. Your insights and realizations into the levels on the path will increase.
6. You will not be deprived of virtuous spiritual guides in all your future rebirths.
7. You will not fall into the lower realms.
8. You will effortlessly achieve all short and long-term goals.  [16]

The Sutra of Ksitigarbha says:

Those whom the teachers care for will purify the karma that would otherwise cause them to wander through the miserable realms for ten million limitless eons….  They produce more roots of virtue in one morning than those who give gifts to, worship, or observe precepts from limitless tens of millions of Buddhas.  Those who respect and serve their gurus are endowed with unimaginable good qualities.  [17]

What are the pitfalls of not relying on a spiritual teacher?

Pabongka Rinpoche's commentary on the Lam Rim lists eight pitfalls:

1. If you inadvertently disparage your guru, you insult all the victorious ones.
2. When you develop angry thoughts towards your guru, you destroy your root merits and will be reborn in hell for the same number of eons as the number of moments of your anger.
3. Your will not achieve the supreme state, despite your reliance on tantra.
4. Though you seek the benefits of tantra, your practice will achieve only the hells and the like.
5. You will not develop fresh qualities, you have already developed and those you already have will degenerate.
6. In this life, you will come down with undesirable illnesses and so on.
7. You will wander endlessly in the lower realms in your next lives.
8. You will be deprived of spiritual guides in all future lives.  [18]

The Tantra Bestowing the Initiation of Vajrapani states:

As I have explained, any of the unbearable hells

Resulting from such karma as the deeds of immediate retribution

Are said to be the abode of those who reproach their teachers.

They must stay there for limitless eons.

Therefore, never reproach your master

On any occasion.  [19]

The Sutra on the Concentration Which Perceives the Buddha of the Present Face to Face states:

If the students remain resentful, intractable, or hostile towards the guru, they have no way to obtain good qualities.  It is also the same if they do not develop the idea that the teacher is indistinguishable from the Teacher….  Also, you will only waste those qualities that you have already obtained, for, as a result of not respecting these people, the teachings will disappear from your mind.  [20]

Conclusion

These five points on how to rely on the spiritual teacher are instructions for the practice of “guru yoga”. 

Without understanding all the benefits of relying and all the pitfalls of not relying on the spiritual teacher, without knowing the ten qualities of the spiritual teacher to rely on and the five qualities of the student who relies on the teacher, and without proper reliance on the teacher in both thought and action, one cannot make progress along the path to enlightenment, and whatever progress one makes may degenerate.  

The student cannot develop complete understanding of all phenomena, what non-virtuous mental states to abandon and what virtuous mental states to accept, how to subdue the mind in order to generate genuine experiences of the truth of all phenomena, experiences leading to the generation of renunciation and bodhicitta, and the realization of emptiness.  

The spiritual teacher is the inspiration, the role model, and the student's personal guide along the difficult Dharma path to enlightenment.  

Students, who will you rely on?

Dedication

Several years of effort may be necessary to check the spiritual teacher's qualifications, but when you find your guru, you will know without a doubt, “He is the one who will guide me to enlightenment.”

Students, with this prayer, accumulate merits to have an excellent spiritual teacher to guide you now:

The Foundation of all good qualities is the kind and venerable guru;

Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.

By clearly seeing this and applying great effort,

Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect.

In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus,

May I enjoy the magnificent Dharma.

By completing the qualities of the stages and paths,

May I quickly attain the state of Vajradhara.  [21]

© 2013 Photos by DC Lee, Chamainus, Ucluelet, Capilano Bridge, UBC

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[1]  Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden, Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism  (Melbourne:  Tushita Publications, 1993) 112.

[2]  Tsong-Kha-Pa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: Lam Rim Chen Mo, ed. Joshua WC Cutler et Guy Newland  (Boston:  Snow Lion Publications, 2000) 70.

[3]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 70.

[4]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 71.

[5]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 75.

[6]  Tsong Kha-Pa 76-77.

[7]  The Dalai Lama, Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment (Long Beach: Thubten Dhargye Ling, 2002) 60. 

[8]  The Dalai Lama 59.

[9]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 78-80.

[10]  Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden 112.

[11]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 81.

[12]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 83.

[13]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 86.

[14]  The Dalai Lama 61-62.

[15]  The Dalai Lama 62. 

[16]  Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, ed. Trijang Rinpoche, trans. Michael Richards (Boston, Wisdom Publications, 1991) 252-263.

[17]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 88.

[18]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 263-270.

[19]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 89.

[20]  Tsong-Kha-Pa 90.

[21]  Essential Buddhist Prayers:  Kopan Prayer Book (Kathmandu: Kopan Monastery, 2001) 26-28.