I who am a Yogi practised in this way,
You who seek liberation, please do the same.
He also says:
The kind Teacher is the source of all good qualities
Of virtue and excellence, both mundane and supramundane.
Also, the Condensed Perfection of Wisdom Sutra says:
Good disciples who respect their Spiritual Guides
Should always rely upon their wise Spiritual Guides.
If you ask why, qualities of wisdom arise from them;
They reveal the perfection of wisdom.
The Conqueror who possesses all supreme good qualities says
‘The qualities of a Buddha depend upon the Spiritual Guide.’
There is never a time when we do not need to rely upon a Spiritual Guide. Even after we have attained enlightenment we still need to rely sincerely upon our Spiritual Guide so as to show a good example to others. For example, Avalokiteshvara’s crown is adorned by Amitabha to show how he relies upon his Spiritual Guide. Similarly, Maitreya’s crown is adorned by a stupa, symbolizing his reliance upon his Spiritual Guide, Buddha Shakyamuni.
A pure Spiritual Guide must have authentic spiritual attainments, hold a pure lineage, cherish the Buddhadharma, and with love and compassion give unmistaken teachings to his or her disciples. If we meet such a Spiritual Guide we should consider ourself to be very fortunate. We should develop faith in him and rely upon him sincerely by practising purely what he teaches. Geshe Potowa says that if a pure disciple meets a pure Spiritual Guide it is not difficult for him or her to reach enlightenment.
Manjushri
Our mind is like a field, our Spiritual Guide’s instructions are like seeds sown in that field, and our faith in our Spiritual Guide is like water that germinates these seeds. If these three come together we will quickly and easily harvest a rich crop of Dharma realizations. If we do not have these conditions at the moment we should pray that we will find them in the future.
Once we have met a qualified Spiritual Guide, the way to rely upon him or her is basically very simple. All we have to do is to develop faith in him and put his instructions into practice to the best of our ability. If we do this, our Dharma realizations will naturally increase and we will quickly attain enlightenment. We develop faith in our Spiritual Guide by regarding him as a living Buddha, the synthesis of all objects of refuge. Even though our Spiritual Guide may appear to us in an ordinary aspect we should avoid seeing faults in him and learn to see him as a Buddha instead. We need to develop deep faith in our Spiritual Guide and always keep a pure view of him. We should try to feel close to him, maintaining a happy and affectionate mind towards him at all times. We should regard our Spiritual Guide as our mother who cares for us and cherishes us, as our father who provides us with all we need and protects us from danger, as the moon that cools the heat of the delusions in our mental continuum, as the sun that dispels the darkness of ignorance in our mind, and as a kind benefactor who gives us the priceless gift of Dharma.
To meet a fully qualified Spiritual Guide is infinitely more meaningful than to possess external wealth. Our Spiritual Guide is our real benefactor. He gives us the inner wealth of moral discipline, concentration, and wisdom, and eventually leads us to the supreme bliss of full enlightenment. Even if we have vast material wealth, if we lack these internal realizations, in reality we are impoverished. On the other hand, if through relying upon a Spiritual Guide we develop the realizations of the stages of the path to enlightenment within our mental continuum, we will be truly rich, even if we have no material possessions. Therefore, we should not be preoccupied with external wealth and development but should put all our energy into relying sincerely upon a fully qualified Spiritual Guide.
Putting our Spiritual Guide’s instructions into practice is the supreme offering. According to Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition, a qualified Spiritual Guide will be more pleased with his disciples’ Dharma practice than with receiving material offerings. Even if we make prostrations all day long, or regularly give presents to our Spiritual Guide, such practices will have little power if we are not following the spiritual path he has taught us. On the other hand, if we practise our Spiritual Guide’s instructions purely and with deep faith, even if we are unable to make physical prostrations or material offerings, we will be continuously making offerings that delight our Spiritual Guide.
By practising Guru yoga sincerely, even someone who was formerly very evil can become enlightened; but without relying sincerely upon a Spiritual Guide even the most intelligent person will never become a Buddha. To begin with, Milarepa was very evil. Using black magic he killed thirty-six people before he met his Guru, Marpa. Later, by relying sincerely upon Marpa he was able to purify his mind completely, accumulate merit and wisdom, and finally attain enlightenment in that same life.
Our Spiritual Guide is a powerful field for accumulating merit, purifying negative karma, and receiving blessings. We need to accumulate merit to meet with success in our spiritual training. In the Sutras Buddha says that those who possess merit have no difficulty in fulfilling their wishes whereas those who lack merit find it hard, no matter how virtuous their wishes may be. Similarly, if we do not purify our previously accumulated negative karma it will function as an obstacle to pure Dharma realizations. Just as plants cannot grow in polluted soil, so Dharma realizations cannot grow in an impure mind. The practices of accumulating merit and purifying negativity, therefore, are essential preliminaries to successful Dharma practice. In general, all the Buddhas and holy beings are powerful objects before whom we can accumulate merit and purify our minds, but the supreme object is our own Spiritual Guide.
Similarly, all Buddhas are very kind because they bless the minds of sentient beings and reveal the Dharma, but our Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas because he or she gives us blessings and Dharma instructions directly. Thus, in Heruka Tantra it says:
He is the self-arisen Blessed One,
Foremost amongst the Highest Yoga Tantra Deities;
But the Vajrayana Spiritual Guide is superior to him
Because he gives instructions.
Realizing this, we should seek a fully qualified Spiritual Guide and rely upon him sincerely in both thought and deed.
In the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in Eight Thousand Lines the story is told of a great Bodhisattva called Sadaprarudita who relied sincerely upon his Spiritual Guide, Dharmodgata, regarding him as more precious than his own life, and more important than all the Buddhas.
Even though he was a highly realized meditator, Sadaprarudita longed to meet a Teacher who would explain the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra to him, for he realized that it was impossible to attain either liberation or enlightenment without realizing the meaning of this Sutra. Even though he had a strong wish to meet a qualified Spiritual Guide, and even though he wandered the length and breadth of the land in search of one, he was unable to find a Teacher who could give him the instructions he desired. So saddened was he by his failure to find a Spiritual Guide that he wept constantly. Others who knew him called him ‘Sadaprarudita’, which means, ‘He who is constantly weeping’.
One day, while deep in meditation, Sadaprarudita received an extraordinary vision in which many Buddhas appeared directly before him. They told him that he had a close connection with a Bodhisattva called Dharmodgata
