for me to see their holy bodies with all the special signs and indications.
While our minds are impure we will perceive only ordinary appearances. To overcome these we need to develop believing faith that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha.
When we meditate using these four lines of reasoning we are doing the analytical meditation that causes us to develop conviction that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha. When this conviction arises clearly in our mind we stop analyzing and hold this new feeling as our object of placement meditation so as to become more and more closely acquainted with it. The sign that we have gained the realization that our Spiritual Guide is a Buddha is that whenever we think of our Spiritual Guide we think of Buddha, and whenever we think of Buddha we think of our Spiritual Guide. We always think of them as one and the same. A mind that has this realization is very pure. Recognizing our Spiritual Guide as a Buddha is a very powerful method for gaining higher realizations, such as the realizations of generation stage and completion stage of Secret Mantra.
how to develop respect for our spiritual guide by remembering his or her kindness
This has two parts:
1 Remembering that our Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas
2 Remembering that our Spiritual Guide is kinder even than Buddha Shakyamuni
remembering that our spiritual guide is kinder than all the buddhas
How can we say that our Spiritual Guide is kinder than all the Buddhas? Suppose we are very poor and someone gives us some money over a period of time so that eventually we are rescued from our poverty and become very rich. Suppose another person then comes and gives us food and other gifts. Which benefactor is the more kind? Surely it is the one who gave to us in our greatest need.
Our Spiritual Guide helps us directly when we are spiritually impoverished and the Buddhas help us directly when we have a wealth of realizations. At present we have little wisdom, concentration or mindfulness, and we have only a small amount of merit or good fortune. Yet in our spiritual poverty our Teacher heals and nourishes us with Dharma, enabling us to improve our condition by increasing our wisdom, concentration and mindfulness, and, by reducing our delusions, making our minds more calm and peaceful.
If we accept and assimilate the wealth of Dharma given to us by our Spiritual Guide we will eventually attain the concentration of the Dharma continuum and be capable of seeing Buddhas directly. At that time, when our mind is rich with realizations, we will receive instructions directly from the Buddhas. Therefore the Buddhas are like our second benefactors. Our Spiritual Guide, however, is kinder because he or she helps us when we are in the greatest need.
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
