8 In many future lives we will not meet well-qualified Spiritual Guides and we will be without Dharma, and whenever we do meet Spiritual Guides we will continue to lack faith and respect for them.
By meditating on these dangers we will develop a strong determination never to break our commitment to our Spiritual Guide or to become distrustful or disrespectful towards him or her. When this determination arises clearly in our mind we do placement meditation.
how to rely upon our spiritual guide by developing faith and respect
This has two parts:
1 How to develop faith that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, which is the root of all attainments
2 How to develop respect for our Spiritual Guide by remembering his or her kindness
how to develop faith that our spiritual guide is a buddha, which is the root of all attainments
In general, faith is said to be a ‘root’ because all good qualities and realizations depend upon it and are nourished by it. In particular, our ability to rely completely upon our Spiritual Guide depends upon our having faith based on conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha.
In Lamp of the Jewel Sutra Buddha says:
Faith precedes all virtuous activities, like a mother.
It protects and increases all beneficial qualities.
In his Lamrim, Gyalwa Ensapa says that all experiences of realization, great and small, depend upon faith. Since faith is the root of all attainments it should be our main practice.
While Atisha was in Tibet a man once approached him asking for Dharma instructions. Atisha remained silent and so the man, thinking that he had not been heard, repeated his request very loudly. Atisha then replied ‘I have good hearing, but you need to have faith.’
If a disciple has strong faith, then even if the Spiritual Guide makes some mistake the disciple may still receive benefits. Once in India there was a famine in which many people died. One old woman went to see her Spiritual Guide and said ‘Please show me a way of saving my life.’ Her Spiritual Guide advised her to eat stones. The woman asked ‘But how can I make stones edible?’ Her Spiritual Guide replied ‘If you recite the mantra of the enlightened Goddess Tsunda you will be able to cook the stones.’ He taught her the mantra, but he made a slight mistake. He taught OM BALE BULE BUNDE SOHA, instead of OM TZALE TZULE TZUNDE SOHA. However, the old woman placed great faith in this mantra and, reciting it with concentration, she cooked stones and ate them.
This old woman’s son was a monk and he began to worry about his mother, and so he went home to see her. He was astonished to find her plump and well. He said ‘Mother, how is it that you are so healthy when even young people are dying of starvation?’ His mother explained that she had been eating stones. Her son asked ‘How have you been able to cook stones?’, and she told him the mantra that she had been given to recite. Her son quickly spotted the mistake and declared ‘Your mantra is wrong! The mantra of the enlightened Goddess Tsunda is OM TZALE TZULE TZUNDE SOHA.’ When she heard this the old woman was plunged into doubt. She tried reciting both the mantras but now neither of them would work because her faith was destroyed.
Faith is essential. If we have understanding alone without faith we easily take Dharma on a merely intellectual level. If we do not have faith, even if we master Buddhist logic and become capable of skilful analysis our mind will remain untamed because we will not be putting Dharma into practice. Without faith we will not develop spiritual realizations and we will easily increase our intellectual pride. Therefore, faith is to be cherished as extremely precious. Just as all places are pervaded by space, so all virtuous states of mind are pervaded by faith.
What is faith? Faith is a naturally virtuous mind that functions mainly to oppose the perception of faults in its observed object. There are two types of virtue, natural virtue and virtue by motivation. Natural virtue is a mind that is virtuous through its own power, without depending upon a specific motivation to make it virtuous.
There are three types of faith: believing faith, admiring faith and wishing faith. By engaging in the following meditation, if we develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, this is an example of the first type of faith, believing faith. With confidence that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha, if we believe the Dharma that he or she teaches, this is also an example of the first type of faith. Believing faith is the firmest type of faith because it is based on valid reasoning that brings confidence in persons and objects that are virtuous. Such faith is not shaken by doubts or wrong views.
An example of admiring faith is the faith we have when, by recognizing the good qualities of our Spiritual Guide and the good qualities of the Dharma that is taught, we develop admiration for these and our mind becomes very clear and free from disturbing, negative conceptions. This faith is pure-hearted, and it comes when we develop sincere respect and deep admiration for someone or something that we recognize as being worthy or beneficial.
An example of wishing faith is when, on the basis of admiring faith, we develop the aspiration to cultivate within ourself the good qualities we see in our Spiritual Guide or the good qualities explained in the Dharma that is taught.
To gain conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha we consider:
1 Why it is necessary to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha
2 How it is possible to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha
3 How to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha
why it is necessary to regard our spiritual guide as a buddha
We meditate:
If I always regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha I will overcome doubts and hesitations and develop the three types of faith very strongly. With faith I will gain realizations and quickly receive the fruits of my Dharma practice.
Meditating in this way makes us determine, ‘I will always regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.’
how it is possible to regard our spiritual guide as a buddha
When we have developed the determination always to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha, we may wonder how to do this. We should meditate:
If I do not allow myself to dwell upon any faults that my Spiritual Guide may appear to have, and if I concentrate only upon his good qualities, attention to his good qualities will gradually exclude attention to his faults.
If we practise sincerely in this way, there will come a time when we will think ‘Perhaps my Spiritual Guide is an enlightened being’, and then we will understand how it is possible to regard our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.
We continue to meditate:
When I gain the path of accumulation of Secret Mantra I will be able to perceive my Spiritual Guide directly as Buddha’s Supreme Emanation Body. I will see the whole world as a Pure Land and I will see all the beings who inhabit it as Gods and Goddesses, Heroes and Heroines. Since there will come a time when I will see all beings in this way, it is certainly appropriate for me to regard my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha.
By meditating in this way we conclude ‘When my mind is tamed and pure I will see my Spiritual Guide as a Buddha, and so there is no doubt that from now on I can regard my Spiritual Guide as an enlightened being.’
how to develop conviction that our spiritual guide is a buddha
There are four lines of reasoning that lead us to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha:
1 Buddha Vajradhara said that Spiritual Guides are Buddhas
2 Our Spiritual Guide performs the enlightened actions of a Buddha
3 In these degenerate times Buddhas continue to work for the benefit of all living beings
4 Appearances are deceptive and our own opinions are unreliable
buddha vajradhara said that spiritual