Excerpts from- 'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying'

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

I am enjoying reading a very informative, thoughtful and useful book -

'The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying', authored by Sogyal Rinpoche

who was born in Tibet and raised by one of the most revered spiritual

masters of this century, Jamyang K. C. L.

 

Sogyal Rinpoche is the spiritual director of Rigpa, an international

net work of Buddhist groups and centers. Foreword of his wonderful

book has been written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 

The Master

-----------

 

Our buddha nature, then, has an active aspect, which is our 'inner

teacher'. From the very moment we became obscured, this 'inner

teacher'* has been working tirelessly for us, tirelessly trying to

bring us back to the radiance and spaciousness of our true being. Not

for one second, J.K. said, has the 'inner teacher' given up on us.

 

In its infinite compassion of all the Buddhas^ and all the enlightened

beings**, it has been ceaselessly working for our evolution- not only

in this life but in all our past lives also- using all kinds of

skillful means and all types of situations to teach and awaken us, and

to guide us back to the truth.

 

When we have prayed and aspired and hungered for the truth for a long

time, for many, many lives, and when our karma has become sufficiently

purified, a kind of miracle takes place.

 

And the miracle, if we can understand and use it, can lead to the

ending of ignorance forever.

The 'inner teacher', who has been with us always, manifests in the

form of 'outer teacher', whom, almost as if by magic, we actually

encounter.

 

This encounter is the most important of any lifetime.

 

Who is this 'outer teacher'? None other than the embodiment and voice

and representative of our 'inner teacher'. The master whose human

shape and human voice and wisdom we come to love with a love deeper

than any other in our lives is none other than the external

manifestation of the mystery of our own inner truth. What else could

explain why we feel so strongly connected to him or her?

 

At the deepest and highest level, the master and the disciple are not

and cannot ever be in any way separate; for the master's task is to

teach us to receive, without any obscuration of any kind, the clear

message of our own 'inner teacher', and to bring us to realize the

continual presence of this 'ultimate teacher' within us.

 

I pray that all of you may taste, in this life, the joy of this most

perfect kind of friendship.

 

Not only is the master the direct spokesman of your 'inner teacher',

he or she is also the bearer, channel, and transmitter of all the

blessings of all the enlightened beings.

That is what gives your master the extraordinary power to illumine

your mind and heart.

 

---------

(* to me it seems closely related to realizing the Super Soul,

or 'Paramatma' as given in Svetaswatara Upanishad 4.6,7)

 

(^ ? Incarnations) (** ? Saints)

------------

 

I would like to share with you this beautiful prayer, the words of

J.L., a prayer we say in Tibet to invoke the presence of the

'master in our heart':

 

From the blossoming lotus of devotion, at the center of my heart,

Rise up, O Compassionate master, my only refuge!

I am plagued by past actions, and turbulent emotions:

To protect me in my misfortune

Remain as the jewel-ornament on the crown of my head, the mandala of

great bliss,

Arousing all my mindfulness and awareness, I pray!

 

 

===================

> In Buddhism we establish whether a teacher is authentic by whether or

> not the guidance he or she is giving accords with the teaching of

> Buddha. It cannot be stressed too often that it is the 'truth of the

> teaching' which is all-important, and never the personality of the

> teacher. This is why Buddha reminded us in the 'Four Reliances'.

>

> 1. Rely on the message of the teacher, not on his personality;

> 2. Rely on the meaning, not just on the words;

> 3. Rely on the real meaning, not on the provisional one;

> 4. Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary, judgmental mind.

>

>

> More on the way!

[Guest guest]

The Alchemy of Devotion

 

Just as Buddha said that all the buddhas who attained enlightenment,

not one accomplished this without relying on the master, he also said,

" It is only through devotion, and devotion alone, that you will

realize absolute truth. "

 

The absolute truth cannot be realized within the domain of the

ordinary mind. And the path beyond the ordinary mind, all the great

wisdom traditions have told us, is through the heart.

The path of the heart is devotion.

 

D.K.R. wrote:

 

There is only one way of attaining liberation and obtaining the

omniscience of enlightenment; following an authentic spiritual master.

He is the guide that will help you to cross the ocean of samsara.

 

The sun and moon are reflected in clear, still water instantly.

Similarly, the blessings of all the buddhas are always present for

those who have complete confidence in them.

 

The sun's rays fall everywhere uniformly but only where they are

focused through a magnifying glass can they set dry grass on fire.

When all-pervading rays of the Buddha's compassion are focused through

the magnifying glass of your faith and devotion, the flame of

blessings blazes up in your being.

 

........

D.K Rinpoche tells us:

 

At first this devotion may not be natural or spontaneous, so we must

employ a variety of techniques to help us achieve this. Chiefly we

must always remember the excellent qualities of the teacher,

especially his kindness to us. By repeatedly generating confidence,

appreciation to the guru, and devotion toward him, a time will come

when the mere mention of his name or the thought of him will stop all

our ordinary perceptions, and we will see him as the Buddha himself.

 

To see master not as human being, but as the Buddha himself, is the

source of the highest blessing. For as Padmasambhava says:

 

" Complete devotion brings complete blessing; absence of doubts brings

complete success. "

 

The Tibetans know that if you relate to your teacher as buddha, you

will receive the blessing of a buddha, but if you relate to your

master as a human being, you will only get the blessing of a human being.

 

So to receive the full transforming power of the blessing of his or

her teaching, the complete unfolding of its glory, you must try and

unfold in yourself the richest possible kind of devotion. Only if you

come to see your master as a buddha, can a buddha-like teaching come

through to you from your master's wisdom mind.

 

If you cannot recognize your master as a buddha, but see him or her as

a human being, the full blessing can never be there, and even the

greatest teaching will leave you somewhere unreceptive.

......

Devotion, then, is in one sense the most practical way of ensuring a

total respect for, and therefore openness to, the teachings, as

embodied by the master and transmitted through him or her.

 

The most devoted you are, the more open you are to the teachings, the

more open you are to the teachings, the more chance there is for them

to penetrate your heart and mind, and so bring about a complete

spiritual transformation.

 

So it is only by seeing your master as a living buddha that the

transformation of yourself into a living buddha can be truly begun and

fully accomplished.

....

This most intimate relationship between disciple and master becomes a

mirror, a living analogy for the disciple's relationship to life and

the world in general. The master becomes the pivotal figure in a

sustained practice of " pure vision, " which culminates when the

disciple sees directly and beyond any doubt:

the master as the living buddha, his or her every word as buddha

speech, his or her mind the wisdom mind of all the buddhas, his or her

every action an expression of buddha activity, the place where he or

she lives as nothing less than a buddha realm, and even those around

the master as a luminous display of his or her wisdom.

......

Thinking again of that wonderful day in Sikkim, and of those great

masters I have known, these words of a Tibetan saint that have always

inspired me return to me:

 

" When the sun of fierce devotion shines on the snow mountain of the

master, the stream of his blessings will pour down, "

and I remember the words of D.K. Rinpoche himself, which express

perhaps more eloquently than any other passage I know the vast and

noble qualities of the master:

 

He is like a great ship for beings to cross the perilous ocean of

existence,

an unerring captain who guides them to the dry land of liberation,

a rain that extinguishes the fire of passions,

a bright sun and moon that dispel the darkness of ignorance,

a firm ground that can bear the weight of both good and bad,

a wish-fulfilling tree that bestows temporal happiness and ultimate bliss,

a treasury of vast and deep instructions, a wish-fulfilling jewel

granting all the qualities of realization,

a father and a mother giving their love equally to all sentient beings,

a great river of compassion, a mountain raising above worldly concerns

unshaken by the winds of emotions,

and a great cloud filled with rain to soothe the torments of the passions.

 

In brief he is the equal of all the buddhas.

 

To make any connection with him, whether through seeing him, hearing

hims voice, remembering him, or being touched by his hand, will lead

us toward liberation.

 

To have full confidence in him is the sure way to progress toward

enlightenment.

 

The warmth of his wisdom and compassion will melt the ore of our being

and release the gold of the buddha-nature within.

........

These teachings have been brought to you from Padmasambhava's

enlightened heart, across centuries, over a thousand years, by an

unbroken lineage of masters, each one of whom only became masters

because they had learned humbly to be disciples, and remained, in the

deepest sense, disciples of their masters all their lives.

 

Even at the age of eighty-two, when D.K.R. spoke of his maser J.K.,

tears of gratitude and devotion came to his eyes.

In his last letter to me before he died, he signed himself " the worst

disciple. "

 

That showed me how endless true devotion is, how with the greatest

possible realization comes the greatest devotion and the most

complete, because the most humble, gratitude.

 

---------

 

a colorful version of these messages is posted at:

 

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index.php?showtopic=2260

 

Jaya Sri Radhe!