Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. When Marpa glimpsed a vision of his personal deity in the sky, his teacher Naropa posed a stark choice: prostrate to the deity or to your guru? In this 95-minute commentary, Khensur Rinpoche uses that scene — and the story of Milarepa beaten for offering an empty copper bowl — to anchor a treatment of guru devotion. He covers what qualifies a lama, the empty-cup analogy for how a teacher’s qualities pass to students, and the practice of meditating on the lama as Buddha — a sensitive topic, Rinpoche notes, that requires some Lamrim background from the audience. He then opens Lama Tsongkhapa’s root verses, unpacking renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view as the distilled heart of all Buddhist teaching, and what it means to be a “fortunate one” capable of great-vehicle practice. A short Q&A follows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 3PA 2001 06 29.mp3
UUID: dd8460d4-a806-446a-a725-bac58677b36c
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principle Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2001-06-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 95.3 minutes
Words: ~6,739
Rinpoche will start again with giving you the transmission of the text, and then we will go into the explanation. So we’re at the point where we were discussing the importance of relying at spiritual teacher who is properly qualified. And what is firstly established here is that just by looking at different texts and reading the texts on your own, you will never find all the answers in the questions that you have. And also the thing is that you have to rely as we say in a stable and well versed teacher that has more qualities than yourself. Because if you don’t do that, you will not be capable of generating new realizations and understanding.
Now, we talked about having a spiritual teacher, a lama or a guru. So the question is what is a lama and why do we need a lama? Of course all of us want to experience happiness and nobody wants to experience any suffering but the problem is that we do not know how happiness arises and how suffering comes about. Because we don’t know the causes and we don’t know the mode of arising of those two things, we cannot really establish happiness and we cannot really avoid suffering. Now the lama is there so that he would have a wealth of experience and due to their great experience they can actually describe a route of action for us.
So a lama is somebody who out of their experience can give us correct advice and say if this is the type of happiness that you wish to attain then you have to do such and such. If you wish to avoid this and this suffering then you have to stop doing this and this. So lama is somebody who gives correct advice out of experience. Now, we look at our experiences, we see that already up to now we have experienced a lot of suffering and when we examine the type of happiness that we have, even if we have experiences of happiness, we cannot say that we have stable, supreme, complete happiness. These things we are lacking.
And the reason why we are lacking all that is because we have never been in a position to really receive this correct and detailed advice that would come from a lama. We never had somebody who was in a position to say to us: Well, if you want this type of happiness this is what you should do and if you don’t want this type of problem and suffering then don’t do that. We have not received this advice so we’re in a position where we are confused. We don’t know how to establish the happiness and how to avoid the suffering. And because we’re in this state of not knowing how to bring about those things what we do instead we make one mistake after the other and then we accumulate bad karma and then we have the experiences we do.
Now for that reason if we understand this function of or this role of the lama we can see why it is so important to rely properly on a Lama if we want to follow the correct path. Now the thing is that because we lack this advice actually we end up doing things that we should not be doing and the things that we should be doing we actually almost avoid doing them. And we are in a difficult situation but the point is that no one else is responsible for the situation we are. Nobody else put us in that situation. It is our own ignorance.
It is our own bad actions, own bad karma that actually put us in that situation. We don’t really know what happiness is. We look at a certain situation and we say, oh, that looks like happiness. I better go towards that. And we try for things that are not really happiness.
They don’t bring about our happiness. So not knowing we are directed towards the wrong things, and then we put ourselves in a difficult situation. Now, in a mundane situation we have a very obvious example of and that is the example of education. When you have a young child, you know that there is so much that the child does not know and for that reason you understand that schooling is necessary. So what you do is you try to find a school, you try to find a class and you try to make you check the teacher, you make sure that this is a good teacher and then in a sense you trust the child to the teacher.
The teacher is there to give direction, to give advice, to guide the child and tell them what to do and not to do and also to pass on knowledge. If the child does not go through some years of schooling, now most people would recognise that the child has gone to waste. Their capacity to develop qualities will go to waste and the child would remain ignorant and will not be able to achieve many things in their life. So if the child is put in a school, if the child is provided with a teacher and if it receives proper advice and then follows that advice, we know that there is great achievements, great things to be achieved in terms of qualities, understanding and knowledge from the side of the child. And all these things that are achieved are actually due to the kindness of the teacher.
Now this is a situation we should be able to recognize. So, let’s say in a mundane sense, we have a teacher, we call that person a teacher, a class teacher, right? A school teacher. Teacher. If we have somebody who guides us along the path of Dharma, then we apply the name lama or guru, you know, spiritual friend to that person.
Now if we look at the Vinaya, there is a description of what a lama, a person who guides you along the Dharma of the qualities that such person should have and the Vinaya says that this person must be the source of developing qualities. And in reality, what they should have is two things. One is stability and the other one is knowledge, to be a scholar, right, to be learned in different areas. So that means that the teacher should have studied the different texts of Vinaya, have accumulated a lot of information and also a lot of experience. These are the things that will bring about the stability and the knowledge that we seek in a lama.
Now if we’re looking at the tantric teacher, the tantric teachers should have some specific qualifications. First of all, they say that the tantric teacher should have control over the three doors and when we talk about the three doors of activity we talk about body, speech and mind. So in order to be a qualified tantric teacher we should be looking at a person who has control, does not allow any activities to take place but they are fully guarding these three doors. Then on top of that the person should have a lot of wisdom, great understanding. It should be somebody who has patience.
It should be somebody who is also a straight and honest person, not somebody who is trying to who is deceitful and is trying to fool you and so forth. Further on, this this type of tantric lama should have understanding on on the tantra, on the different mantras and so forth. There are great qualities that need to come together for someone to be called a tantric teacher. Now we have a quotation actually from one text which is called the Compendium of Sutras and in that we have the list of ten qualities of the fully qualified lama and here it seems to be indicating that these are the qualities of a Lama of the great vehicle. So it says that the spiritual friend should be tamed, should be pacified, should be closely pacified, should have more qualities than the student, should have enthusiastic effort, should be rich in transmission, should have great realisations on those transmissions, should be very skillful in speaking, should have affection, and also should be stable by having abundant, let’s say, mental disappointment.
Difficult to find a lama who has all the full set of ten qualities. They say it’s very rare. So what we’re actually doing is maybe looking for the minimum of qualifications that would make somebody a good teacher. So the absolutely minimum should be to be thoroughly trained by the three higher trainings, to be well versed, to have this wealth as it says here of transmissions and also to have realizations. So this will be the minimum we’re looking for.
Now the question is why is it that we’re looking for certain qualities at the teacher and we go into great length to finding out what’s the minimum of qualities that we can accept and the answer to that is that whatever qualities the teacher has, in a sense these qualities are transferred or are reflected also and developed into the students. So if the teacher didn’t have the qualities, it would be unreasonable to expect the students to develop qualities on their own. The other hand, if the teacher does have all these qualities, eventually we see them being transferred and developed to the student as well. So that’s why it’s important. Now, if we look at it from the point of view of an example, suppose you have two cups, right, and they are both empty of milk.
If you try to pour milk from the first empty cup to the second empty cup, there’s nothing to pour. Because if the teacher is lacking the qualities, there’s nothing to pour down to the student. Alright, so having found a teacher with qualities, why is it important to rely on such a teacher? Well, the obvious thing is that if your teacher is somebody who has knowledge, if you rely on that teacher, it is expected that the teacher will pour or will transfer this knowledge down to you. So you as a student will benefit as being the recipient of that knowledge that you receive from your teacher.
Now receiving that knowledge it means that it becomes easier for you to attain enlightenment and enlightenment will be achieved faster and easier as well. At the same time if you rely properly on your teacher it is said that your path will not meet with obstacles from different demons and bad spirits as you try to progress along the path. Also you will easily develop different realizations on whatever you try to study. You will meet Buddhas, you will meet Bodhisattvas, eventually you will receive teachings from those, you will please them and in all these ways you will be coming closer to your enlightenment. Now in total there are actually eight benefits that come from properly relying on a teacher and it was Lama Tsongkhapa who said that in this life whatever qualities you develop will be a result from properly relying on your teacher.
And in the future life, if you enjoy happiness, again that will be the result of having properly relied on the teacher in this life. And eventually the amount and the type of happiness you experience will increase and become a pure and stable type of happiness. So that’s the result. So Lama Tsongkhapa actually was the one who made it very clear that the root of all the qualities that we develop is our own lama and for that reason he’s giving in different occasions the advice to all the students to make sure that they rely properly on the teacher. Now we have examples of the great master Atisha of of acting in this role of of the great lama.
And we have, for example, Dromtönpa, one of his main disciples in Tibet. And there is a great number of stories of great gurus or people who develop great realizations back in India by following exactly that advice of relying properly on somebody else who acted as a guru for them. Marpa and Milarepa and every good story between Marpa and Milarepa must have a bit of beating. Sorry I knew that. Alright?
So, the second master, Marpa, was playing the role of the guru, of the lama and he had Milarepa who was following him around as a disciple. So there was this particular occasion where Marpa was going to give an initiation to Milarepa. Now traditionally if you request and receive an initiation, you have to make offerings to your lama. Now Milarepa was somebody who was very poor. He had almost nothing for himself.
He had nothing to offer. But he was very lucky because it just happened that somebody made an offering of a copper ball to him. So he said, oh, this is what I’ll do. I will offer this copper bowl to my teacher Marpa so that I can receive the initiation. But the point is that he only had the bowl.
He didn’t have anything to put inside the bowl and it looked so empty. Right? And it didn’t look like a proper offering. Nevertheless, this is what he had, so this is what he offered. And as soon as he offered this to Marpa, and Marpa saw this empty bowl, like, is this my offering for the initiation?
He threw down the ball and he picked up a, you know, a long and hard stick and started beating him and he was beating really hard. So, of course, Milarepa started crying out. Now, you look at this situation. You have somebody in Milarepa, he’s destitute. He has nothing.
Right? And that puts him in a position where he cannot make a proper offering to his lama. And then you see what Marpa does. Marpa is hitting him really hard. And then, of course, Milarepa starts shouting and crying out.
Now due to all this shouting and crying and crying out, the incident became very famous. Right? So all these people were gathered and everybody came to know about poor Milarepa who was bitten by his teacher. So he became really famous out of this event. Now, you might be wondering where did Marpa got his good manners as a teacher.
Right? Now Marpa was a Tibetan, but where he got his Dharma from was from the Indian master Naropa. What happened was that Marpa left Tibet and went to India seeking for a proper teacher in Naropa and he spent about twelve-fifteen years studying with Naropa. Now there is this story where it seems that Marpa and Naropa haven’t established this teacher and disciple relationship, they were living close to each other. And one day, quite early in the morning, Naropa called out to Marpa and he said, Oh, you know, get up, get up, stop lying in bed, get up, there’s something extraordinary happening.
Your Yidam has appeared. Now for a long time Marpa was trying to get closer to his own deity, right, Hevajra, and he rushes out and goes to the place where Naropa was sitting and he looks up in the sky and he sees this full manifestation of the Yidam. It was there in full detail. So then Naropa says, Well, I think it’s about time for some prostrations. Are you going to prostrate to me who is your teacher or are you going to prostrate to your Yidam?
Then Marpa says, Well, he felt like that, well you know, the teacher is here every day. I can prostrate to him at any given time. But my Yidam, I’ve been trying forever and this is the one and only time that appears to me. So what he does, he prostrates to the Yidam. And then Naropa says, You don’t realize that without the Lama you will never reach to the Buddha and that the Lama is more precious than all the Buddhas of thousand eons.
And then snapping his fingers, he completely he took this manifestation of the deity. He drew it back into his heart, and the the whole picture disappeared. Now what happened in this incident is not that really Naropa got really angry with Marpa. He said that Marpa made a mistake by choosing to prostrate to the Yidam, not realizing that the Yidam is a manifestation of the Lama himself. But what he said to him is that with this choice that you this choice that you made actually gives me the opportunity to tell you something and what I have to tell you is that your personal lineage is going to be very very short.
What we mean by this, the personal lineage, is that in the Saga tradition there is this tradition of the father who studies for a long time and becomes somebody who is very knowledgeable is getting married and is having a child and then passing on whatever they know to the child and then the child later on again becomes a great scholar and passes the knowledge to their own children and so forth. So this is what we mean by the personal lineage. So what Naropa said to Marpa is that I hope you have no expectation for a long lineage. It is severed. It is going to be now with these sorrows.
Now, actually, there are a lot of stories that illustrate this how important is this relationship between a student and the lama and you can find all these stories from many other places. We don’t really have all the time to get into great detail into that. What is important once more is to stress that you need to examine for yourself whether you need to rely on a teacher or not. And if you decide that, yes, it is important to rely on a lama, then you have to rely on a proper way. There is no bigger negativity than having made the decision to rely on a lama and then reverse that thing and decide that it was all a mistake and you’re not doing it anymore.
Anyway, the benefits of relying on the LAMA, the shortcomings of not relying properly on the LAMA also can be found elsewhere, and we don’t have time to elaborate more here. Now all the great states such as attaining the state of an arhat or Pratyekabuddha or becoming a Buddha, these are results that come by relying properly on one’s own spiritual teacher. And having relied properly on a teacher and having attained such high states, then one is in a position to help limitless other sentient beings. So it’s for great benefit for oneself and for others to rely properly on a teacher. Now one by relying on your teacher properly, there is nothing really to stop you from reaching a state similar to the state of Buddha Śākyamūni.
Now another issue is this meditation of seeing the Lama as being a Buddha and this is not an easy meditation, it’s not something that comes naturally. Now the thing is that if you meditate seeing your lama as being the Buddha, you will definitely receive a great amount of blessings. Whether your lama is a Buddha or not, the important thing from your own side is to meditate and see the Lama as being the Buddha. Generate this great faith that the Lama is indeed the Buddha because this is the only time to receive blessings. Blessings comes from something that you consider to be more advanced, more developed than your own self.
If you look at your Lama and all you see is an ordinary person, there is no blessing to receive. Whether the Lama is ordinary or whether the Lama is a Buddha, if you start seeing them as an ordinary person, you have nothing to receive from somebody who is ordinary. If you generate the faith, if you meditate and generate the strong faith that your Lama is indeed a Buddha, if your Lama is a Buddha, then you received direct blessing. If your Lama is not a Buddha but you have the great faith that he is, then you receive the indirect blessing of the Buddhas. The Buddhas use this Lama as the medium for directing down their blessing to you.
So in any case, it is for your benefit to see the teacher as being the Buddha. Now, definitely this subject of meditation is a sensitive one. It’s not a very easy one. You can’t present it very easily to beginners. And Rinpoche was saying when he was in India, sort of preparing to come here, he was given this warning, you know.
And be aware when you go there and try to teach these Westerners, if you try to tell them that the Lama is the Buddha, now they won’t believe you, they’ll have a bit of difficulty and don’t tell them about the hells because they can’t take the bad news. Nevertheless, Rinpoche says in this occasion now, although there are some new students, there is already some of the older students and some of the older students have listened to before to the teachings of Lam Rim. They have exposed themselves to these meditations and teachings, to all these teachings that one has to see the lama as the Buddha. They have heard about the hells as well. So there is a certain amount of, let’s say, maturity in the audience to bring it up, but it’s a sensitive, you know, matter of meditation.
It’s not very easy. So today, Rinpoche gave, let’s say, a brief and condensed maybe, description of what it is to what a Lama is and what it is to relax. What would a good idea to do some analytical meditation? Concentrate on the root verses and the first line was, I pay homage to my lord, venerable gurus. We said this first line is actually offering homage or paying one’s respect.
And the three words that are important are the words Lord, Venerable and Gurus. It is said that these three words are there to represent the practices of the three scopes of the Lamrim. The first word, which is the word Lord, is the one indirectly talking about the path practiced in the small scope. The second word, which is the word Venerable, is the one that implies practices of the medium scope. And the word Guru or Lama is the word that talks or refers to practices of the great scope.
Now we look at the first word, the word Lord, and the word Lord actually implies somebody who has some authority, somebody who’s high in the hierarchy. Now if you have somebody in that high position who’s actually quite cruel and engages in killing, all of his subjects would be afraid of this person with great authority. But if it was the case that this lord who committed some killing in the beginning later on changed and somehow was made to promise that he would never kill again, then there would be no cause for fear for the people who would live around him. Now, by making such a promise that one would avoid queuing, one in the future could attain the precious human body as a basis for practice. And this is why we say the first word, the word lord, is the one that indirectly implies the practices that are related to the small scope.
So I’m just I think this more or less, this must be the connection. There was an actual story of such a a lord who was about killing people, and then he was made to promise that he would never engage in killing ever again. And having made that promise and by applying a lot of enthusiastic effort in proper practices, he developed in such a way that he in the next life, he attained again a human basis and he eventually reached the state of a hearer, right? So you could refer, you know, the word Lord could just be referring back into that story that brings about a lot of the themes of the practice of the lesser vehicle, of the small scope. Now, we look at the second word, the word venerable, right, it actually has a very similar root with a root that means to hold tight.
And what is it that we need to have a tight control over? It is, of course, the three doors of different activities. Now if you can have full control over the three doors of activities, that means that you would be avoiding the ten non virtuous actions and that directly takes us to ethics, right? And then further than that, if one were to continue one’s practice and develop one’s patience and one’s enthusiastic effort, one’s concentration and one’s wisdom, one could see how all these practices would be practices shared with the middle path. Now the last word which is the word we have it as Guru, the Sanskrit word.
Now, it’s the Lama. Now, Lama means the one where there is no higher above than Him, right? So when you talk about a Lama, you talk about something which is very high. If you are comparing the practices of the great scope, you see that they are higher than the practices of the small and the middle scope. So that’s why the word lama indicates practices of the great scope.
And as we said, one, if you find if you’re looking for a lama to rely upon, we talked about the proper qualities of such a lama. Now, in Lam Rim, all these teachings appear under the heading of Guru Devotion, correctly relying upon the teacher. Now we come into the first proper verse where it says the heart meaning of all the discourses of the conquerors, the path praised by the immaculate conqueror’s sons, the thought of the fortunate who desire I will explain in whatever way I can. And we examine the first line where it talks about the heart meaning of all the discourses of the conqueror. By the way, this proper first verse is the actual promise of the composition.
So the conquerors we’re talking about here is the Buddhas. Then when we talk about all the discourses of the conquerors, we talk about the complete collection of sutras and tantras. And then we’re going to look at the heart meaning of all sutras and tantras. And the heart meaning, the essence of all these teachings, it will be like this drop of milk that we get from eventually you remember we had this example of milking thousand cows and feeding hundred cows and so forth? So the essence of the teachings will be like the last drop of concentrated potency.
The heart of the meaning of all the discourses is renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view. We look at the second line where it talks about the path praised by the immaculate conqueror’s sons. So in the first line we talked about the conquerors and we said that this refers to the Buddhas. And now their sons are actually the bodhisattvas. Now, when we talk about the bodhisattvas, we talk mainly here about ārya bodhisattvas.
So, they were said to be the eight close disciples of the Buddha who were the eight great bodhisattvas. And also in that list we should include beings such as not only Manjushu but also Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga and so forth. So all these are the immaculate ārya bodhisattvas, and they have a path that they all praise. The path that is praised by them is exactly renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view. Why is it that they praise them?
They praise them because they see that all the blessings and all the qualities come from these three principal aspects. And because these three principal aspects are so important, they are praised by all the bodhisattvas. We look at the third line where it says, that fort of the fortunate who desire emancipation. So there are some fortunate beings who have generated the desire to reach liberation, and there is an entrance. There is a for them, for all of them.
And the entrance, again, this this ford is renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view. Was explaining one particular word here and the word is the fortunate one. So what it means to be a fortunate one? It has a specific use, a specific understanding of the word. You’re called a fortunate one if you are somebody who has the opportunity and the capacity to engage in practices of the great vehicle.
If you can do that, then you’re a fortunate one. If you do not have the capacity to engage in practices of the great vehicle, then you’re not fortunate. You missed out, let’s say, in this lot of opportunity, in this lot of fortune. And instead of doing practice of the great vehicle, eventually you will end up doing practices of the lesser vehicle. Now, word that we translate as fortunate is literally break it down, it means a good lot, right?
So you get a good portion of something. Rinpoche was saying, suppose there was somebody who was practicing generosity and he proclaimed that tomorrow I’m going to give to everybody who comes into this place a thousand dollars. So there you are, there is this somebody is there offering thousand dollars to everybody who would arrive at a certain time at a certain place. Now, if you’re capable to get at that place at the right time, you will receive this lot because this person has Aloked a thousand to each person. But if you cannot go there at the right place at the right time, you’re going to miss a disproportionate amount, right?
Now the same thing, let’s say, a dinner where food is given out. Now you arrive there and your stomach is full, right? There is a second lock, a plate will come in front of you, some food will be served to you. Now, whether you can make use of that or not, that’s another thing. Well, at least if you’re there at the right time, at least you can save the food and take it home and consume it later.
But if you don’t show up alone, it means that this food that was Aloked for you, you’re not going to receive it, right? So there is this whole idea of something being Aloked and whether you are capable or not to be there to receive it. And when here we talk about the fortunate ones are the ones who are going to be capable of taking this opportunity to practice great vehicle. So you’re a fortunate one if you’re going to take up this opportunity and you’re not fortunate if you let it go, if you’re not capable of utilizing it. Now, as we say here, we have this great opportunity of having met with the dharma of the great vehicle, and a lot of qualities can be derived.
But what we have to do from our own side is to make sure that we take whatever is offered. Because it’s not enough just to meet with the Dharma. You have to put a lot of effort in taking upon yourself all these practices, engaging in all these practices in order to derive some benefit. And then it becomes like this situation we were talking about with the food. It’s not enough that food is offered.
You have to be there and you might even have to elbow a few people in order to get you a plate of food to make sure you do get that food, right? So there’s this effort that is needed from the side of the students. Now everything really depends on the amount of effort and enthusiasm that we are capable of generating. If you look at renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view and you see all the incredible qualities that are associated with them, if you can recognize these qualities then you generate faith towards them. On the basis of this faith you generate great aspiration.
And great aspiration is the type of mind who who would say, I need that, I want to have that. And on the basis of that you generate great enthusiastic effort. One follows after the other. If you look at the dharma and you don’t see any qualities in it, if you don’t see any value in that, there’s gonna be no aspiration in your mind and there will be no reason for you to strive to attain it. So no aspiration means no enthusiastic effort, and no enthusiastic effort means you will not be taking upon yourself all these things.
We look at the last line where it says I will explain all this in whatever way I can. And this is a particular phrase, you know, we can see a little bit of the style of Lama Tsongkhapa in that. In one way, it shows lack of pride, right? It is as if it’s saying I’m not capable, I can’t promise too much, I will just try my best in this occasion, I can’t promise you everything. But on the other hand it says I will explain in whatever way I can, as much as I can, as much as I’m able to do that.
What we see in this text is that actually the text is very small, it’s very content. So the actual number of words that are used is very limited. And yet with this very few words, a huge a huge number of different subjects are addressed and are discussed here. So with a very few words, I’m going to explain the essence of all the teachings of the Buddha and by doing that I’m going to address a great number of very subtle and very beneficial subjects. Right?
So in a sense this is what this line implies. I’m not capable of doing too much but I will do all that. Now actually we have to understand that this is a very rare occasion of receiving such great blessings, the great blessing of having a presentation of so many practices, practices that are quite deep and incredibly beneficial. Great blessing. So maybe we can stop here with the presentation and if you have more than two questions, we can have a few minutes.
When there was that moment of choice in the story with Naropa and Marpa, is it known what would have happened if he had chosen otherwise? To prostrate to the Yidam? I mean, I guess part of the question is, was all of his karma up to that point sort of determined? Was there a choice point that could have gone actually two ways, two different ways? Do you follow me on that? No, I don’t.
Okay. Just ask the question. Okay. Yeah. The other question is if he had prostrated to the guru instead of the Yidam.
Gone differently? Do we know if it would have gone differently? Okay. Well, the opposite of what it came from the previous from the choice that he did. So if he had chosen to prostrate to the teacher, he would have a great continuum.
The personal lineage would continue. Let’s say his descendants would remain for a long time so his lineage in that sense would remain. Rinpoche said alright, so you said that Lama is somebody who needs to give advice from experience, correct advice. So how is it if they’re asking advice on the matrimonial, you know, about marriage? If he hasn’t experienced it in his lifetime.
In his lifetime, yes. There is nothing that the Buddha does not know. Well, the lama is Buddha and Buddha knows everything. There is nothing the Buddha does not know. Well, probably if your lama is not a Buddha, right? So how is he going to give advice? Well, there are a couple of possibilities here.
You can say there are many lamas who have clairvoyance, they have higher perceptions, so they can draw from that. And there are Lamas who have accumulated such experiences in the past, so they can draw from these experiences. Like why does he then go and make extra efforts to be able to see a manifestation? Why does he want to see Buddha in that way? So he’s meditating Lama Tsongkhapa is practicing on Guru devotion and he’s meditating on seeing the Lama as the Buddha.
And then why does he have the extra need to see the form of the Buddha, right? Yes. Okay. You see two joint efforts, two people to ask a question but the answer is quite interesting. Now, it is true that Lama Tsongkhapa actually had a lot of teachers and he relied on Geshe Rendawa who was a very great scholar and they had a close relationship.
But it seemed that relying on, for example, Rendawa was not enough to clear all his questions. And Lama Tsongkhapa was somebody who was looking for the correct view and he was looking in great detail. He was not satisfied with the amount of teachings that he had in Tibet. And he decided that he could not find the most detailed teachings on the correct view in Tibet. And he said, that’s it.
I have to go to India. I have to search for more detailed answers. And he was about to to to start this trip to India when actually Geshe Rendawa appeared to him and said, look, you know, I don’t think it’s a good idea that you leave Tibet and go to India. Why don’t you make strong requests and prayers that you meet directly with Mañjuśrī and then you can address all your questions to Mañjuśrī? So maybe that’s the you know, that explains a bit why there was the the further need for seeing the actual form of the Buddha meeting Mañjuśrī like that.
Yeah. And also, Rinpoche thinks more or less that Rendawa, although he had the middle way view, he didn’t have the middle way consequence view. He had the middle way autonomy view. And it seems that at the time of Jetsün Tsongkhapa, there were still quite a few questions and the final view of the Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka school was not very clearly formulated so he needed more advice. He needed to ask questions to somebody other than the dharma texts.
Okay, so what would happen if first you decide to rely on Lama but then you decide you don’t want to rely on their advice. So what are you relying on? Are still taking something from the Lama? What would happen or how do you get out? Rinpoche was saying that he can see two cases in this question.
It could be the case that your lama actually asks you to do something which is impossible or immoral, Right? It could ask you to go out and kill somebody or steal or engage in in really extreme activities. Now if you really see that it’s impossible for you to engage in these activities, you have to actually say that. So you approach your approach your lama and in a very respectful way you say, I’m sorry. It is impossible for me to do something like that.
Or if the task is indeed impossible for you, you say, I can’t. You know, it’s beyond my capacity. So I’m sorry, but I would not follow this advice. So this is one case of, let’s say, an impossible task. Another case is that your lama actually gives you an advice of something that is feasible and something that you, your yourself also can see the need for doing.
Right? So it is within your capacity and there is reason for the thing to be accomplished. Now if in this case you say, I’m sorry, I’m not gonna do that, then, you know, you’re the one who is at fault because there is something that would benefit you and something that you can do but you choose not to, right? So the problem is with you