Countless Buddhas have already manifested in this and other worlds. Seventy-five thousand Buddhas gave the Bodhisattva vows to Buddha Shakyamuni in one of his previous lives, but we ourself have never been one of their disciples. Before the time of Buddha Shakyamuni the first three Buddhas of the one thousand Buddhas came and benefited countless living beings by expounding Dharma, but we were not among their disciples. When Buddha Shakyamuni came and taught Dharma, we were not among the many disciples who received his instructions and attained liberation or full enlightenment. After the time of Buddha Shakyamuni, exalted Bodhisattvas such as Manjushri and Maitreya, and great Teachers such as Nagarjuna and Asanga, appeared in this world and guided many beings to liberation and enlightenment, but we were never among those disciples. Highly realized scholars such as Tilopa, Naropa and Atisha taught Dharma and helped disciples to attain liberation and full enlightenment, but we were not among those who benefited from their advice. The great Kadampa Teachers came, but again we were not among their disciples. Then Je Tsongkhapa and other realized Teachers came, but we were not among those they led to liberation.
If we ask ‘Whose disciple am I? Who is now revealing the spiritual path for me?’, we will see that our Spiritual Guide is now showing us the same kindness that Buddhas of the past showed their disciples. Therefore, as far as we ourself are concerned, our present Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas.
remembering that our spiritual guide is kinder even than buddha shakyamuni
Generally, Buddha Shakyamuni is kinder than other Buddhas because he is our main object of refuge and the founder of this present doctrine of Dharma. The Buddhadharma we listen to, contemplate and meditate on originates from him. We have already considered how very kind he is, but our present Spiritual Guide is even kinder to us because at this time we have no opportunity to make a direct connection with Buddha Shakyamuni. Therefore it is only through personal association with our present Spiritual Guide that we can gain spiritual realizations. Atisha said:
Every single realization that we wish to attain depends upon our receiving the inspiration of our Spiritual Guide.
When we practise Secret Mantra we meditate on our Yidam, or personal Deity, as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide so that we can receive his or her blessings and inspiration more quickly, since these are necessary if we are to succeed in our practice. If we meditate on our Yidam alone, without regarding the Yidam as one with our Spiritual Guide, our meditation will lack power. Therefore in Secret Mantra it is said that whenever we visualize any Deity we should visualize the Deity as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide. Gyalwa Go Tsangpa said:
Many meditators meditate on the generation stage of Secret Mantra, but meditating on the Spiritual Guide is the supreme meditation. Many practitioners recite the mantras of their Yidams, but making requests to our Spiritual Guide is the supreme practice.
The most qualified Tantric practitioners keep the practice of Guru yoga as their main practice. The way to practise Guru yoga is to rely sincerely upon our Spiritual Guide.
Indirectly our interest in Dharma is caused by the habits we have built up in previous lives, but the direct cause of our interest is the blessings and inspiration we have received from our Spiritual Guide. We begin to practise Dharma, avoiding non-virtuous actions and practising virtuous actions, only through the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide. All our prostrations and other virtuous actions of body, our recitations and other virtuous actions of speech, and our meditation and other virtuous actions of mind are caused by the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide. The opportunity we now have to gain new realizations, and the realizations we have already gained, all arise in dependence upon the blessings and inspiration of our Spiritual Guide.
Sometimes the blessings of a Spiritual Guide are extraordinary, as in the case of Geshe Jayulwa who, without exerting effort in meditation, gained concentration naturally through the power of his Spiritual Guide’s blessings. There are many other examples, such as the example of Naropa, who found it exceedingly difficult to receive teachings from his Spiritual Guide, Tilopa. Tilopa just gave him problems, but he did so to help Naropa purify his mind. On one occasion, instead of giving Dharma instructions Tilopa threw a handful of dust into his disciple’s face, whereupon Naropa developed single-pointed concentration and remained there, undistracted, for one week. All the problems that Tilopa gave were blessings in disguise.
how to rely upon our spiritual guide by engaging in actions of service and devotion
There are four types of action we can offer to our Spiritual Guide once we have developed the correct mental attitudes of faith and respect:
1 Offering actions of bodily or verbal respect such as making prostrations or reciting praises
2 Offering material things
3 Offering service
4 Offering our own practice of Dharma
We can make these offerings at any time, whether or not our Spiritual Guide is actually present. All of them please our Spiritual Guide, but the offering of our own practice of Dharma is the most pleasing. It is the supreme act of devotion.
When we engage in practices such as Six Session Yoga we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Buddha Vajradhara. When we practise Offering to the Spiritual Guide – making prostrations, offerings and requests – we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang. When we engage in the six preparatory practices, called Jorbai Cho Drug in Tibetan, for meditation on Lamrim, we visualize our Spiritual Guide as Buddha Shakyamuni. All these practices are ways of relying upon our Spiritual Guide by engaging in actions of devotion.
concluding the meditation
At the conclusion of each session of meditation we imagine that Guru Buddha Shakyamuni at our crown reduces in size and gradually descends from our crown to our heart, where he radiates wisdom light which purifies our body and mind. Our body of wisdom light immediately transforms into the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni and our mind becomes one with his mind. From our heart, light rays radiate and reach all living beings and their environments. All the countless living beings and their environments are purified and their bodies of wisdom light are transformed into the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni. At our heart, and at the hearts of all the Buddhas surrounding us, is a moon disc supporting a yellow HUM surrounded by the mantra, OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA. We recite the mantra, imagining that all the Buddhas are reciting it with us.
When we have finished reciting the mantra we complete our session by dedicating our virtue to the full enlightenment of all living beings.
how to train the mind during the meditation break
When we are out of meditation we can read books and receive further instructions on whatever stage of the path we have been practising in our meditation session. We should never completely forget our object of meditation. Instead we can use the opportunity of the meditation break to recollect and contemplate the points of our meditation, and to talk with our Dharma friends about the instructions we have received and the experiences we are having. Besides maintaining mindfulness of our object of meditation, our main practice during the meditation break is to protect the doors of the sense powers. Usually, when our sense powers (the eye sense power, the ear sense power, the nose sense power, the tongue sense power and the body sense power) or our mental power come into contact with their respective objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects and other phenomena), delusions easily arise in the mind, causing us to engage in harmful actions that bring suffering as their result. When we have eliminated self-grasping, which is the root of all delusions, our sense powers and their objects can come into contact without our generating delusions. Until that time, we can practise protecting the doors of our sense powers.
We can do this in either of two ways. The first is to avoid making contact with the objects of the sense powers. For example, we avoid letting our gaze fall upon beautiful forms, we avoid crossing paths with our enemies or we avoid listening to pleasing music. This way of practising is difficult for most people. We could practise like this only if we were living, like Milarepa, in a cave. Therefore, most