A Spiritual Love Story

13 April 2025

The Karmapa began by reviewing what had been covered so far. In the Fifty Verses, there are eight points on how to show respect to the guru, and he would be covering the third and fourth points, but first a short digression. 
HH Karmapa began by quoting from the text:

It’s from the guru that one receives
Siddhis, high realms and happiness
So put every effort into
Not overstepping the guru’s commands (verse 25) 

He started his discussion with an examination of the instruction: So put your every effort into not overstepping the guru’s commands. The first example he selected is the story of Rechungpa and Milarepa.

Rechungpa spent the longest time with his guru, longer than Gampopa, but there were some situations when he may not have really listened to the guru’s instructions, as illustrated by the story of the horn. Today, however, the Karmapa intended to tell a different story, one from the time when Milarepa was relating his life story at Rechungpa’s request. “It is a love story”, the Karmapa said. 

When Milarepa was staying in Drophug, and Rechungpa was staying in the upper cave, many disciples, including Repa dharma brothers, students, patrons, and benefactors gathered. Teaching sessions began and the assembly became very large. At that time, the guru’s yidam deities, and dakinis inspired Rechungpa through signs in dreams. In response to these signs, Rechungpa made earnest supplications to Milarepa to tell his life story. 

That done, Rechungpa developed a strong intention to go to Central Tibet. At that time, some of the patrons were saying, "The son who returned from India is even more exceptional than the father.”  The younger patrons, especially the young women, went to meet Rechungpa while the older ones went to meet the Milarepa. On one occasion, when patrons came to make offerings to both Milarepa, the Venerable Father and Rechungpa, his ‘son’, they gave excellent offerings to Rechungpa but only minimal offerings to the great Milarepa. At that time, Rechungpa didn’t know it. He thought, "Since I have received this much, surely the Venerable One must have received even better offerings."

He went before  Milarepa and asked, "Venerable Sir, did you receive good offerings today? Would it be good to offer a feast gathering to the Repas from our teacher-student offerings?" Milarepa replied, "We will certainly do that. My portion is in that wicker box, please bring it." When he opened the box, there was a piece of dried meat, a small chunk of moldy cheese, a container of sour chang, and a mere handful of tsampa. Seeing this, Rechungpa felt deeply unhappy. 

Milarepa said, “Let’s have some so that the sponsors can accumulate merit.” Rechungpa gave some to his Guru, who ate it as if it were delicious. Rechungpa, however, had no appetite and felt nauseated. Rechungpa went into his cave and thought, "Considering how these patrons behave, even though I cannot match a single pore of this buddha-like guru, they are making improper offerings. Previously, I thought I would stay with the guru to receive complete instructions and serve him wholeheartedly. But now, if I stay longer, it seems I will not be serving the guru but bringing disgrace upon him.".

So Rechungpa offered many reasonable requests to the Venerable Guru for permission to travel to Central Tibet to circumambulate Lhasa, honor the two Jowo and Shakya statues, see glorious Samye, visit the seats of Marpa and Ngokpa, and so forth.

The Guru said, "Though your future disciples are in Central Tibet, now is not the time to go, so do not go." But Rechungpa did not listen. He was stubborn. The Guru said, "If you are determined to go to Central Tibet, in order to eliminate obstacles,  perform one hundred prostrations to my hut, one hundred circumambulations, one hundred mandala offerings, one hundred torma offerings, one hundred water offerings, one hundred tsa tsas, and one hundred confessions, then go." Rechungpa was so happy that he had got permission to go, he promised to do them, but by the next morning he had totally forgotten his promise and left without doing all these meritorious deeds.

Then, having no other possessions to carry, he wore his cotton robe, held his three-cornered net or bag and a notebook of the whispered lineage under his arm, tucked an acacia-wood phurba at his waist, and put on his Indian pandita hat. He went to the great Venerable One to request blessings. The Guru was thinking, "I have been with Rechungpa for a long time, and now I don't know when we might meet again," and so he accompanied him a short way to the top of the La Kha pass. 

As they parted, Milarepa said, “A child who stays with their mother grows bigger. An egg hatches more easily with the mother’s warmth. A great meditator has no danger of any pitfalls when near the guru. But since you are going without listening, I will not abandon you out of my love. Pray to me continually." Rechungpa, shedding tears, said, "I have an unceasing perception of the Venerable One as Buddha. Before, I had no one to rely on except you, and until I attain buddhahood, I will still rely only on you, the Venerable One. I request your protection and guidance in this life, the next, and in the bardo."

Milarepa said, "Since you insist on going, I will give you auspicious blessings for your journey. For auspicious connection, sit on my cotton robe." He folded his robe and spread it out. Rechungpa said "It is not appropriate to even step on the guru's shadow, so how can it be proper to sit on your cotton robe?" The Guru replied, "When the Guru gives permission, there is no fault," and had Rechungpa sit. The Venerable One himself sat in half-lotus position on a boulder, where his body left an impression, which is still clearly visible even now. Then the Venerable One sang an auspicious song:

When asked what my lineage is, my lineage is of bad people but good transmission. My lineage is the great Vajradhara. May there be auspiciousness of that excellent lineage! May there be auspiciousness for my son Rechungpa!

Furthermore, in his parting advice, he said, "In Central Tibet, a worldly female dog will grab you by the leg. At that time, do not forget your guru and your practice." Rechungpa made prostrations and circumambulations, requested a blessing from Milarepa’s foot, and made prayers before departing.

Milarepa thought, "He will look back once. If I don't stay here until then, he will be unhappy." So, he purposely remained for a while on the roof of Drophug Cave, but Rechungpa never looked back. "He is leaving without even a single glance back,” Milarepa observed. “Has he developed wrong views toward his guru and dharma brothers, or will he be able to withstand obstacles?" 

Then, he went ahead of Rechungpa and first manifested as seven bandits who stole Rechungpa's food and clothing. Rechungpa thought, "This is because I didn't make prostrations and circumambulations this morning." He closed his eyes, meditated on his guru, and felt immediate relief. When he opened his eyes, he saw the seven bandits had transformed into seven unfamiliar Repas. To test Rechungpa's experience, they asked, “Who are you? Who is your guru?” Rechungpa thought, “No Repa would speak to me like this except as a manifestation of the Venerable One,” and he offered prostrations. The manifestations dissolved, and the Guru said, "I came to test you because you left without looking back even once. Since your samaya is undamaged, now you and I are inseparable due to our pure samaya. Go to Central Tibet.”

 Rechungpa was delighted and, placing the Guru’s feet on the crown of his head, offered many prayers before departing for Central Tibet. To get there, Rechungpa held his breath in the state of guru yoga and traveled by miraculous powers, (lung gom) covering in one day what would take a normal Tibetan traveler a month, as he journeyed to the regions of Tsang and Central Tibet. 

Rechungpa reached Yarlung and arrived at the palace known as Kyorlem seeking alms. When Rechungpa knocked on the door of the fortress and sang a melody, he encountered a princess named Lhachik Dembu who was caring for her sick father, the king. At that moment, she was outside the inner gate milking a dzomo and was startled. She fell off her milking stool and became annoyed, "Yogis are corpses. In summer they beg for white food. In winter they beg for sour food. These wanderers roam regardless of seasons." She grabbed a handful of dirt intending to open the door and throw it in his face, but when she saw Rechungpa's body, as handsome from every angle as a god’s, her anger subsided and a clear faith arose in her. "Where have you come from? Where are you going? What is your name?" she asked, staring him up and down, head to toe. Rechungpa said, "I have come from the direction of Nyam. My guru is Milarepa. I am called Rechung Dorje Drakpa. I've come here seeking alms, thinking to make an offering to request teachings."

The princess said, "You must let me make an offering." She took a silver plate full of tsampa and offered it along with the vessel, saying, "Guru, please stay here for a while. I will go to inform my father." The princess returned inside and went before her father, Tsepo Kyordem, and said to him, "Father, at our doorway, a yogi named Rechungpa, a most wonderful person, who seems to have practiced meditation and accomplished spiritual practices, has arrived seeking alms. If we invite him inside and request him as our guru and make offerings, do you think it might help your illness?"

King Tsepo replied, "Last night I had an auspicious dream. Something wonderful might happen. Invite him inside and offer him whatever alms he accepts."

The princess came before Rechungpa and said, "Guru, do you know of any remedies? My father the king is somewhat unwell. If you come inside and provide a remedy, we will offer whatever service and offerings you accept.". Upon entering and meeting with King Tsepo, the king asked, "Guru, where have you come from?" Rechungpa replied, "I have come from a place called Nya Nang Drophuk." King Tsepo then said, “They say there are two gurus in that area; one is called Rechen and the other is Rechung. Whose disciple are you?” (Milarepa was called the Re Chen the great cotton clad, and Re Chungpa was the lesser cotton clad.)

To this, Rechungpa replied, "The one called Guru Rechen is Lord Mila Rechen (Milarepa), the undisputed accomplished master who is universally renowned. He is my guru. I am called Rechungpa, the heart son of the guru." The king said, "In that case, it is my good fortune to meet you after so long. If I had met you earlier, I might not have suffered so much. Now please embrace me with your compassion. I am afflicted and suffering from a serious illness. All the divinations and calculations said that if I requested blessings from a realized guru, it would help. And now you have come. If my illness can be cured, I will serve you and bestow whatever you want.”

So Guru Rechungpa performed the dharani of Ushnishavijaya, the blessing of Lady Tsheringma, and the cleansing ritual of Vajra Bhairava. He gave the empowerment and recitation instructions of the wrathful Vajrapani with Garuda wings and performed the practice. After seven days, the king's illness was completely cured without a trace.

The king, filled with devotion, said, "I have no son. I offer all my dominions and wealth to you. I request that you accept everything including my daughter, the princess, as your consort." He offered the Kyordem palace and the princess, who was the most beautiful among all women, along with all his dominions. Guru Rechungpa accepted all of these, promising to care for them all, and, under the king’s patronage, he built Rechung Cave, where he stayed for about three years.

At one time, a leprous beggar appeared whose origin was unknown. He came daily to request teachings, but no one saw where he went at night. He regularly came before Guru Rechungpa, repeatedly saying, "Please embrace me with your compassion." On one occasion, the guru asked, "You always say the same thing What is it that you want?" The leprous beggar replied, "I need a kind of wealth that will free me from poverty in this life." Then Guru Rechungpa said, "Well, as you keep coming wherever I go, when I receive wealth from offerings, I will give it to you."

The beggar replied, "Please keep that in your heart. I will request it." As it happened, his wish came true.  Later, in a place called Gang Ra Drong Mar in Yarlung, there was an elderly couple without descendants who owned a large turquoise called "Blazing Firelight" about the size of a small child's fist. They were uneasy about it and discussed what to do. The old man said, "There's no use hiding it underground. If we keep it here, there's a risk of conflict with relatives and neighbors. Since such a wonderful guru is residing here, perhaps we should offer it to him." The old woman replied, "I've been thinking the same but couldn't say it. Now let's do as you suggest. From tomorrow onward, we'll be of one mind. Let's quickly prepare a feast, invite the guru, and make the offering." 

Then the elderly couple invited all the villagers, the Guru and his disciples, and all the royalty and ministers. They arranged all the necessary food, drink, and enjoyments properly. They made many other offerings to the Guru and secretly offered the great turquoise "Blazing Firelight." The princess caught a glimpse of this from the corner of her eye, but even the attendants didn't see it. Then, a few days later, the leprous beggar appeared and secretly requested from the guru, "As I asked before, please have compassion and give me that turquoise." Rechungpa, motivated by compassion and generosity, quickly gave it to him, saying, "Don't stay here but quickly go to another place. If the attendants and others find out, they will come to take it back." The beggar vanished in an instant, and no one knew where he went.

The guru taught the dharma to the elderly couple and instructed them in the practice of consciousness transference, enabling them to find their way at the time of death.

Then Princess Lhachik thought, "How could I get that turquoise offered by the old couple? As the guru himself doesn't wear turquoise, I must obtain it." Despite trying various methods and deceits, she couldn't get the turquoise. She couldn't ask for it directly, and all her services and respect failed to obtain it. One day when Guru Rechungpa went out for relaxation, Lhachik, wanting to see the turquoise, opened the bundle and looked inside. The large turquoise offered by the old couple wasn't there, but there was a smaller, lion-like posture turquoise. Delighted, she tried it on her ear, on her neck, on her forehead while looking in a mirror, testing out the best place to wear it. She then put it back in its container as before, concealing her actions. Lhachik thought to herself, "Even though the other turquoise is gone, there's one similar to it. I must obtain it somehow." 

At that moment, the guru returned, accompanied by many poor, disabled, and destitute beggars who clung to his robes, saying, "Precious guru, please give us something that is easy to hide, light to carry, and valuable to sell."

The guru, filled with intense compassion, said, "All of you come to the back of the palace." He took the lion-like posture turquoise from his bundle, wrapped it in a ball of dough, tossed it behind him, and said, "Don't eat this food here, go elsewhere and eat it." Some beggars said, "We asked for provisions from Guru Rechungpa, and all we get is leftover food, which he even tells us not to eat here. What use is this? Let's just eat it now." An elder said, "Rechungpa is an actual buddha. It's not good to disobey his words. Who knows what this might contain?" He went to a secluded spot and broke open the dough, finding within it the lion-like posture turquoise. They took it to the north of Uru and sold it, freeing all the beggars from poverty, and thus formed what became known as the beggars' community of Uru.

The story wasn’t over yet. At a feast for the consecration of the Jaser Temple in Yarlung Valley, there was a beauty contest and Lhachik wanted to attend. She said to Guru Rechungpa, "Guru, please finish your meditation early tomorrow as I'm going to the fair. My father has horses to ride, clothes to wear, and ornaments to adorn. I'll take the servants. You should represent the men at the gathering. No one is more handsome than you, and no one is more beautiful than me. I've won many beauty contests before. Please come this time, and I'll win again. Please also lend me the turquoise offered by the old couple and the turquoise in your bundle."

She made repeated requests, until finally the Guru said, “I gave the turquoise offered by the old couple to that leper; it’s gone. I gave the turquoise in the pouch to some beggars; it is gone. Girl, you've asked too late. If you want to go to the fair, go. I'm not going anywhere. The greatest spectacle is to look within one’s own mind.” Hearing that the turquoise had been given away, Lhachik became very displeased, her face darkened like a withered tree. “You’re the real beggar,” she said as she left.

That night, the Guru thought, "In general, possessions are the basis of afflictions and the pressure cooker of suffering. Such desirable wealth creates suffering in both this life and the next, so it was good to have given it away. Women tend to be greedy and miserly. Lhachik is very attached to turquoise and jewels, so she is unhappy.”

 Lhachik was overcome by negativity  towards Rechungpa. She thought to herself: "When Rechungpa first came, he was a beggar but I gave him the best food, clothed him in the finest garments, and offered him all royal power and authority, yet he won't give me two turquoise stones. He has become arrogant." She was so angry with him that the next morning, whereas before she had personally brought him only fine food, she sent a servant with poor-quality tea. Because his meditation wasn't finished, he didn't drink it. 

All the people were on their way to the fair; the men were riding horses and all the beautiful women were wearing turquoise and jewels. Lhachik grew angrier and angrier. She wanted to go to the fair but couldn’t go and didn’t go. She brought him some poor-quality food and drink. Addressing Rechungpa, she said, "You, selfish beggar from who knows where! You gave two turquoise stones to beggars. Aren't you the real beggar? I seem to have shown you too much respect and service. If delicious food doesn't appeal to a beggar, then just eat this." She placed it before him and left. Seeing and hearing Lhachik's hurtful words and negative demeanor made him sad, but he saw the food and drink as a good omen.

After a while, Lhachik asked, "Did he eat it?" The maid replied, "He didn't eat it." Lhachik became enraged, took a white willow stick, and went to Rechungpa. Thinking, "If he gets up, I can't handle him. I must not give him a chance to rise," she struck him three times. His meditation mat scattered like bird feathers. She threw dirt and grass on his head, poured beer and vegetables on his body, and beat him repeatedly with reeds as if threshing grain until it broke into three pieces. He was covered with wounds and bleeding.

The Guru thought, "If I retaliate, my samaya will be broken. This must be the meaning of the prophecy about not going to Central Tibet, and the warning about an obstacle from a worldly female dog." He decided to leave Lhachik Dembu and go to his guru, the Venerable Milarepa. As he prepared to leave, Lhachik thought, "This man who has no attachment to anything might leave. I should take this instruction manual that he values highly." She took it, but he left without attachment even to that. "He has been without attachment from the beginning. That's why he gave away the turquoise too. Actually, I am at fault," she thought. Although she begged him not to go, her pleas were unsuccessful, and he gradually departed. Finally, at the Nyangpo ferry crossing, Rechungpa crossed the water with miraculous powers, making it impossible for her to follow. Lhachik, in despair, turned back. Then Rechungpa went to Drilche Cave where his guru Milarepa resided.

After Rechungpa fled from Lhachik and reached his guru, he wasn't granted an audience for fifteen days. One day, being told to bring many feast and offering materials, Rechungpa sought an audience along with other practitioners. His guru had created a Chakrasamvara mandala and said he would bestow initiation on Rechungpa. At that time, the turquoise previously given to the beggars was recognizably sitting on a mandala plate. Rechungpa's body trembled with shock. The beggar was an emanation of Milarepa! Immediately, his attachment to samsara was completely reversed, and from then on, his desire for comfort was exhausted. 

Then the Guru said, "You, Rechungpa, are my first disciple, so no matter what happens, I cannot give you up. Though you travel too much, I have kept you as my heart son. This time, because you have a bit of compassion and faith in the guru but still have dualistic perception, I have found support in you, and you have found support in me. He then sang a song:

Great is the blessing power of Father Marpa. 
Great is the crucial point of Mila's miraculous powers. 
Great is Rechungpa's compassion and generosity. 
The turquoise given to the beggar was actually from Mila. 
Tonight, make offerings for the Chakrasamvara initiation.

Before this, Rechungpa had been too ashamed to speak. After the Guru sang this, he gained confidence and offered confession before the Guru and the disciples of the mandala. The Guru was pleased and said, "The saying 'The downfalls of the learned are the heaviest' refers to people like you." He bestowed initiation on about fifty practitioners who all agreed that night was joyous. Then the practitioner Zhiwa Ö asked, "Many male and female yogis live together. Since we've confessed to our master and disciples, what is the meaning of all this?" The Venerable Master gave this instruction. "If you don't know the time for dharma practice, everything becomes misconduct. Dharma practice requires proper timing," 

The Best Way to Proceed if You Are Unable

Needless to say, fulfilling all of a guru’s instructions is difficult. Even when the guru says, “Practice dharma. Keep your vows and samaya,” it can be challenging to do this. And if you had to do as Tilopa instructed Naropa or as Marpa instructed Milarepa, it would be even more difficult, needless to say.

So with this in mind, Tsongkhapa’s commentary says:

Students with great intelligence, that is, great prajna, obey their guru’s commands or orders with great effort—they listen and fulfill them. This is not unwillingly but with an attitude of great joy and delight. You might wonder, must we accomplish all of them? Even if the command accords with the dharma, but you are unable no matter how you try, explain the reason well in simple words why you are unable to fulfill the command. If you do so, there is no fault if you do not accomplish it.

If the action is one that you cannot accomplish by proper methods but is a command that is non-dharmic, then do as described above and do not engage in it.

One point that we must consider is this: In general, when a qualified guru, a dharmic guru, gives us an instruction regarding dharma practice and we try our best to accomplish it, that is enough—there is no doubt about that. If we try with all our efforts in every way we can but are still unable to do it, there is no fault, as it is taught. 

For example, when Nagtso Lotsawa promised the abbot of Vikramashila that he would bring Atisha back to India after three years in Tibet, later he was unable to escort Atisha back to India due to warfare in Nepal and other factors. Because of this, Nagtso Lotsawa became so distressed that his body became emaciated, but Atisha explained to him that there is no fault when one is unable to accomplish something.

If you do everything you can to finish what you have been asked to do, but you're unable to, there's no problem, the Karmapa commented. The main point is that these days, there are many people who pretend to be qualified gurus, when they are not. They deceive and mislead many people, and say, I need this wealth, I need this position, as if they really need it. They demand wealth and prestige, and so they, “You must do this and that for me, and if you don’t, your samaya will be broken.” There are more than a few stories of such gurus. This has obviously caused great harm to the Buddha’s teachings in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular, so we cannot simply say “do whatever the guru says.” Instead, we need to consider what should be done when caught in such situations.
In this regard, we need to understand that in the history of Vajrayana, there are accounts of yogis sometimes engaging in practices such as all-conquering conduct, during which they drank alcohol, took consorts, and occasionally even killed beings. 

For example, when Mother Dakmema (Nairatmya) sent Milarepa to request teachings from Lama Ngokpa, the lama said, “Today a group of merchants harmed my monks. Cast a hailstorm on them, and I will teach you the instructions I know." Unable to refuse the guru's command, he cast a hailstorm during which all the region's crops were destroyed and many creatures died, including birds in the sky and mice on the ground.

Lord Jetsun, the great magician, became furious and went to a hillside. He gathered as many of the dead bird corpses as he could find at the base of a tree trunk and went before Guru Ngokpa. He said, "When I come to request Buddhist teachings, must I commit such terrifying misdeeds that accelerate the path to hell and deepen its depths? Now where should I go?" 

The guru exclaimed, "Oh my! Don't be alarmed. Throw these bird corpses into this fire." When the bird corpses were placed in the fire that was there in front, the guru snapped his fingers once, and the birds flew away into the sky with a fluttering sound. This brought some relief to Milarepa's mind.

Now, if someone asks, "Didn't Jetsun Milarepa cast spells when needed and send hailstorms when required to fulfill the commands of Marpa and Ngokpa? Weren't these non-virtuous actions?", the answer is that gurus like Marpa and Ngokpa were not merely qualified teachers in the ordinary sense. They were exceptional gurus with special miraculous powers who could transform others' lack of faith, revive the dead, and control the four elements. So, from the guru's perspective, it was different.

Also, Jetsun Milarepa had faith in them as if seeing the actual Buddha, so from the disciple's perspective, his faith and trust were unlike others. When these conditions are not there, it would be meaningless to casually follow whatever instructions come from gurus whose qualifications are incomplete, initially pretending to listen, then later losing faith—causing both guru and disciple to fall into lower realms.

His Holiness quoted a Tibetan proverb: "The fox who jumps where a lion leaps will break its back." Therefore, it's important to practice according to one's own level. It's better to carefully fulfill the dharmic instructions of the guru as much as possible while avoiding non-dharmic commands—this brings greater benefit with less risk.

And when Marpa the Translator treated Milarepa so badly, at that point it does not look good, but after a certain time has passed acting in such a way should become meaningful. If it gets worse as time passes, then it is not right. 

When it's like this, those who have the title of lama or tulku, including myself, should not prioritize self-interest, but rather have pure altruistic intention and genuine compassion for the teachings in general, all sentient beings, and especially those who have faith in us. This is extremely important.

Generally, deceiving those who trust you—particularly misusing the holy dharma to harm sentient beings, and if this damages the teachings—needless to say, it creates extremely serious misdeeds. If you think, "I am a lama, so whatever I do is acceptable," you are only deceiving yourself.

A lama also has responsibilities and samaya commitments. In the Fifty Verses on the Guru, it states: "Because the guru and student would have / The same violation of samaya." This means that just as disciples can break their samaya, gurus can also break their samaya.

Likewise, we needn't worry too much about what to do if our guru were to give us instructions like those Tilopa gave to Naropa or Marpa gave to Milarepa. The reason is that that era is over, as was said long ago. Indeed, it is recorded in their biographies that Marpa instructed Milarepa, "Do not do to others what Tilopa did to Naropa and I did to you."

In Amdo, there was a student of Lachen Drokmi Shakya Yeshe who was the source of the Sakya teachings on the path and its result. His name was Drom. He practiced sorcery and liberated (killed) 25 enemies at once. Because of his fame, there were many people who made offerings to him. However, he grew sad and brought his wife and 30 members of his retinue to request dharma teachings from Lachen Drokmi, at the Nyugulung monastery in Western Tibet.  Many people gave him offerings along the way, so he brought them along when he went to see Drokmi. He gave a pound of gold for each teaching session, but he only had enough for four sessions and then the gold ran out. He asked Lachen Drokmi whether he could give anything other than gold. Lachen said, “If you’ve run out of gold, I’ve run out of dharma.” 

So Drom bought gold from Drokmi’s wife, offered it, and received the rest of the dharma completely. Then Drom’s wife died, so he offered all of her jewelry to Lachen Drokmi. Having served him for eight years, Drom needed to return to his homeland and take the dharma texts and so forth with him, so he asked Lachen Drokmi to lend him three horses for the journey. But Lachen Drokmi refused, saying, “It is inappropriate for a guru to make an offering to a student. Don’t go to your homeland, stay here.” The people with Drom got annoyed at Lachen Drokmi’s attitude and criticized him heavily. 

Drom also felt helpless to do anything. “From now on, even if Nyugulung were Bodh Gaya and Lachen Drokmi were Buddha Shakyamuni, I can’t come here again because I’ve become a beggar, and I’d be too embarrassed to go home on foot.” So he went to Dingri in Tö, and because he was well-known to be a student of Drokmi, many people asked him for teachings and made offerings to him. Then, as soon as he had taught the most precious pith instructions that Drokmi had given him, he broke his samaya, had a nosebleed and fell ill. 

The next morning, he developed great clairvoyance. “My guru is Vajradhara in person, but I underestimated him and didn’t realize that. That has ruined me. However, he will take care of me in the bardo,” he said. He told his retinue, “Give all my possessions and these bones to him. If you ask him for instructions, he will give you the instructions without all the hardships I went through.” Then he passed away. When his remains were cremated, there was a rain of flowers. 

His students took his remains and offerings to Nyugulung, coming from the foot of the valley blowing conches. Drokmi was making a torma and said, “Look, it’s like they are extracting my essence.” so he sent his student to find out what was happening. Drom’s students told him the story and offered the jewels. Drokmi took the remains into his lap and said, “Son, have you returned to your father?” weeping. “My guru told me to examine the vessel, but I examined him too much and that made problems. If any of you want the pith instructions, I shall give them.” There were not so many who asked for the instructions. They asked for the Hevajra empowerment, which Drokmi gave. Thus we can see that Lachen Drokmi also appeared to feel regret for examining his students too harshly. 

These days, it's very rare to find any examples of such guru-disciple relationships. Since this is a degenerate age and the Buddha's teachings have spread not only in Tibet but throughout the East and West of the world, I think that when benefiting beings among different ethnicities and cultures, one needs to act with skillful means rather than merely following the old traditions.

In particular, the later Tibetan Buddhist tradition practiced not only Secret Mantra alone, but combined Sutra and Tantra together, practicing view, meditation, and conduct without contradiction. Especially the Dakpo Kagyu lineage combines the oral instructions passed down from Marpa and Mila (father and son) with the graduated path of the Kadampa tradition that descended from Lord Jowo (Atisha). Since they practice these as one, they are known as "Kadampa and Kagyu merged into a single river."

Therefore, not only in terms of inner practice, but also in outer conduct, practitioners should be pure and inspire faith and clarity in others' perception, act in accordance with the dharma, and benefit only the teachings. This is like the life-force of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

If a guru demonstrates qualities of realization, clairvoyance, and visible signs of accomplishment, that is a different matter. Otherwise, it is important to be cautious of those who merely bear the title of guru and act inappropriately. Even if one has already taken someone as a teacher, it's crucial to examine whether what they say accords with the Dharma. Furthermore, if you follow the guru as much as possible primarily in terms of the dharma, many of these difficulties will naturally be resolved.

In any case, if without any knowledge what the guru is like, from the outset you rush to do everything they say or teach, that can be very dangerous in this age, as you all know. 

In summary, according to the oral tradition of some gurus, Vajrayana is like putting a snake into an iron pipe - you either ascend to enlightenment or descend to hell with no middle ground. It is well known that Vajrayana is extremely strict and is the sphere of those with the highest faculties; it is not said to be appropriate for everyone. The reason why you keep who your guru is and who your yidam is secret is that there are few who know how to practice and can get their heads around it. Moreover, there is a great danger people will misunderstand and use it improperly. So we need to be careful. The Buddha and many other scholars have repeatedly said we need to be secret and private about it. 

For this reason, if one meets a qualified guru and properly relies on them as taught in the Fifty Verse on the Guru, there is the possibility of attaining enlightenment in the best case. Conversely, if one encounters a false guru or an unqualified, deceptive one, there is the risk of wasting both this life and future lives. Therefore, it is extremely important to be careful throughout the entire process.

I am not telling you today to offer everything you have to the guru, to sacrifice everything for the guru's sake, or to do whatever the guru says. However, in this time when we still have some qualified gurus living among us, I think it's important for all of us, both ourselves and others, to strive to properly rely on our gurus—even if we cannot follow 100% of what is taught in the Fifty Verses on the Guru—in a way that is meaningful and avoids unnecessary samaya violations. This is the main reason why I needed to explain the Fifty Verses on the Guru on this occasion.

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The Guru and Vajradhara as One

10 April 2025

The Guru and Vajradhara as One

His Holiness Karmapa began by welcoming all the monastic sangha listening over the internet and friends from all over the world.

The discussion focused on the point of the text regarding viewing the guru as the Buddha. According to Tsongkhapa’s outline, this section has two points: 1) the actual point and 2) avoiding being disrespectful to their shadow and so forth. 

First, His Holiness wished to begin by explaining the Sanskrit commentary the Textual Explanation of Following the Guru (Skt. Gurvārādhana-pañjikā) of the verse in question: 

Thus students with qualities of compassion,
Generosity, discipline, and patience
Should not ever consider the master
To be different from Vajradhara. (22)

Interpretation of the Sanskrit Commentary

The first word – “thus” – means the reason why students give offerings to the guru and pay them respect. When we say “students,” what kind of student do we mean? Those students should have compassion and be loving. There are three types of compassion – that with a focus on sentient beings, a focus on dharmas, and a nonreferential focus. They should also have the quality of generosity, which means that they give in three different ways – giving material objects, giving loving-kindness (refuge and safety), and giving dharma. In addition, these students should possess the quality of discipline, which means being free of immorality. There are likewise three types of discipline – the discipline of restraining from harmful acts, of benefiting beings, and of gathering virtuous qualities. Finally, they should also possess the quality of patience, which is a calmness of mind. The three types of patience are contemplating dharma, accepting suffering, and thinking nothing of harm from others. One should work to increase and meditate upon these qualities of compassion, generosity, discipline, and patience.

Now considering the next lines, “different” means “not the same,” and “not” is a negation. The Sanskrit suffix -tva is for emphasis. The Tibetan says lopon, which means master, but the Sanskrit and Chinese versions of the text use the word for guru, so actually it would be better to say “guru” here instead of “master.” In any case, the meaning is that a student with the qualities of compassion and so forth who wishes to achieve siddhi should never see their guru and Vajradhara as different from one another. They should never have this thought at all, even in their dreams. Instead, they should view the guru themselves as Vajradhara. As it is said in the Net of Illusions Tantra (Skt. Māyājāla): 

They are themselves always Vajradhara,
The Tathāgata, and Ratnaketu.
They are the great ocean of wisdom,
The wish-fulfilling gem that gives the great purpose.

In brief, viewing the guru as a buddha is taught as being very important in both the Foundation vehicle and in the Mahayana. In particular, it is essential to have this view in the Secret Mantra Vajrayana. This point is confirmed in many of the tantras themselves. It is especially emphasized in the Dakpo Kagyu lineage. As the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje wrote in his Hundred Short Instructions (Tib: ཁྲིད་ཐུང་བརྒྱ་རྩ།), “The Kagyu lineage being broken will be due to students who are not receptive meeting gurus who lack realization and not seeing the guru as a buddha.”

Thus, if the Kagyu lineage will ever be broken, it will be due to this circumstance. It is most important that Lamas who have realization meet students who are receptive, which primarily means that they have faith, that they see their guru as a buddha. If they see their guru as a buddha, they will receive the blessings of a buddha. If they receive the blessings of a buddha, they will be able to develop the realization of a buddha, and thus they will be able to uphold the lineage.

Avoiding being disrespectful to their shadow and so forth

His Holiness then proceeded to discuss the next verse of Fifty Verses on the Guru (Skt: Gurupañcāśikā):

If you would not step over their shadow
From fear the misdeed would be like smashing
A stupa, what need to mention stepping
Over their shoes, seat, ride, and such? (23)

Interpretation of the Sanskrit Commentary

The first line is taught to explain the guru as one who has great qualities who is able to tame his disciples. A “stupa” simply means a stupa, which is often a representation of the body, speech, and mind of a buddha, or sometimes represents only the mind of a buddha. “Smashing” means to destroy completely down to its foundations. If an individual were to completely demolish a stupa in this way, they would have committed a terrible misdeed and would experience terrifying karmic results full of suffering; thus, they would have fear of this act. 

A “shadow” is an image, and the verse here indicates that one would not wish to step on it or walk over it. In the last line, “shoes” means footgear such as sandals, “seat” means the cushion the guru sits on, and “ride” means a palanquin, such as those they use in India where two or four people will carry a person up a mountain on a bamboo pallet supported by two sticks. “Ride” here could also mean horses or elephants, and today it could even mean a car and so forth. When we say “and such,” this means the guru’s clothing, jewelry, and so on. The words “what need to mention” indicates there is not even any need to bother saying these words, it is so obvious that one would not wish to step over these items of the guru.

Tsongkhapa’s Interpretation in his commentary Fulfilling All the Student’s Hopes: An Explanation of the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Tib. བླ་མ་ལྔ་བཅུ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སློབ་མའི་རེ་བ་ཀུན་སྐོང།)

Tsongkhapa’s interpretation of the text is easy to understand. There are five heinous and five nearly heinous acts; destroying a stupa is one of these nearly heinous acts. Since this verse compares stepping over the guru’s shadow to destroying a stupa, it is clear that stepping on the shadow of the guru is thus also a grave misdeed. As such, one should be afraid and avoid stepping on the guru’s shadow. If one is so careful to avoid stepping on even the guru’s shadow, then of course it goes without saying that one should not step on their shoes, their ride, or the rest.

The negative consequences of this act are also taught in the eighth chapter of the Vajra Dome Tantra (Skt. Vajrapañjara-tantra):

Any great idiot who steps
On the guru’s parasol, shadow,
Shoes, seat, and pillow
Will cause people to fall on razors.

Of course, sometimes there are particular situations where one must step on these items of the guru and there is no way around it. In this instance, a remedy is provided in the “Chapter on Beds” in the Vinaya. For example, if you need to put whitewash on temples or you need to clean them, you will have to step on them. In this case, you should recite the verses of the sutra about the temple as you do so; in this case, there is no fault. Likewise, in tantra, there are particular ways to counteract such faults. These methods will be explained later.

There are people in Tibet who truly practice in this way. For instance, sometimes old women circumambulating a temple will avoid stepping on the shadows of the stupas. From one perspective, this is good, as it shows they are very aware of even the most minor karmic causes and effects. You might think this is unnecessary, but it is good to remember even the finest points. If you loosen up with one thing, you might start to become relaxed about the more important points as well.

The main idea of not stepping even on the guru’s shadow is to show that you have great respect for the guru. Perhaps you are worried that it is a prohibition you might not be able to keep – it can be difficult to move around if you are always looking down. But in the Buddhist teachings there are no prohibitions you are not able to keep, as the Buddha would not have made any rules that are unable to be kept since he is compassionate. For this reason, when we discuss not stepping on the guru’s shadow, the main point is not actually about their shadow, but it is about having respect for the guru. If you just feel hesitant about stepping on their shadow, that is a sign of respect.

Fulfilling the Guru’s Instructions

We have now reached the third point of the eight points in Tsongkhapa’s commentary about how to be respectful. The third point is that we should work to fulfill the instructions of the guru. Once we see the guru as a buddha, if we really mean it and it is not just words, we need to accept and follow their instructions. This is confirmed in the Ornament of Mahayana Sutras (Skt: Mahāyāna-sūtrālaṃkāra-kārikā), which states: 

Serve the spiritual friend with respect,
Gifts, service, and practice.

***
This instruction corresponds with the verses on serving the guru through practice in Fifty Verses on the Guru. There are two stanzas on this topic in this text; the first reads as follows: 

The greatly intelligent obey
The guru’s commands with effort and joy,
But if unable, explain to them
Their inability properly. (24)

Interpretation of the Sanskrit Commentary

According to the Sanskrit commentary, “greatly intelligent” here means having a vast mind. “Guru” is the master, and “commands” means their instructions, what they say. This could mean that the guru has given us specific spiritual instructions, but it also means anything at all that they say. “Effort” means with a desire that seeks merit, and “obey” means to fulfill and to accomplish the wish. Here it means to listen to the instructions and to carry them out. “Unable” means if you cannot do it because of the cause or the result. “To explain” means to request that the guru listen to your explanation of how you are unable to follow the instruction. “Them” means to the guru, and “properly” here means explaining with analogies to demonstrate your point; you should provide a reason. 

The essence of this verse then is that whatever the guru tells you to do, that is something you should be able to do. Thus, if you can do it, you should strive with great effort to accomplish it. However, if you cannot do it, are unable to do it, or do not have the time or circumstances, you should not just forget about it. If you just ignore it and disregard the guru, then it becomes a misdeed. Out of fear for the misdeed, you should think about the reasons and explain them to your guru. You should say, for example, that you do not have the ability to accomplish what they have told you to do; you should explain it clearly to the guru. This is the intention of this verse according to the Sanskrit commentary. 

Tsongkhapa’s Commentary

In his commentary on this verse, Tsongkhapa explains that “great intelligence” here meansprajñā. Students with great intelligence obey their guru’s commands with great efforts. They work hard, listen to them, and fulfill their wishes. If a king tells you to do something, you have no choice. But here it is not that you are following the guru’s instructions unwillingly because you are under someone else’s power. Instead, you carry out the guru’s wishes with an attitude of great joy and delight.

Should we do everything the guru says we have to do? This is an important question. If the words of the guru do not violate the dharma, then you have to try. However, if you are unable to do it, you should communicate the reason to the guru with words. If you do that, then there is no fault even if you do not accomplish their wishes. Moreover, if you are not able to accomplish the instructions with the proper methods – those that are in accord with the dharma – you need to be sure to explain this to the guru.

In the Tengyur there are many presentations of root downfalls by Indian masters. Among them, Rangjung Dorje’s explanation of roots and downfalls in the Ocean of Samaya is mainly based upon Mañjuśrīkīrti’s work The Ornament of the Essence of Rituals of All Glorious Secrets (Skt. Śrī-sarvaguhyavidhigarbhālaṃkāra-nāma), which states: 

With words that encourage nonvirtuous action,
Request them and remain equanimous.

Likewise, The Vinaya Sutras also confirm, “If they instruct nondharma, refuse.” For this reason, even if the guru insists that you do something nondharmic, you should not do it. However, you should not take this as a reason to lose faith in the guru and criticize them.

The next stanza in Fifty Verses on the Guru is also on the subject of fulfilling the guru’s instructions. This stanza states: 

It’s from the guru that you receive
Siddhis, high realms, and happiness.
So put your every effort into
Never transgressing the guru’s commands. (25)

Interpretation of the Sanskrit Commentary

“From the guru” means that it is from the master. “Siddhis” here means both the worldly and supramundane accomplishments you desire. For example, a worldly siddhi could include achieving a superpower other do not have, such as seeing treasure underground or going very fast. These superpowers are less useful today since technology can also help us do these things. But invisibility could also be a worldly siddhi, and this one could still be useful today. For example, it could be something like an invisibility cloak. These siddhis come about through mantras, but they are all worldly siddhis that are not beneficial for achieving buddhahood. Supramundane siddhis, on the other hand, are valuable for the attainment of enlightenment. If you see the guru as the same as the Buddha, you can gain these kinds of siddhis. 

There are three kinds of “high realms” – the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. Among these, the desire realm contains the abodes of the gods, demigods, and humans. In addition there are the four dhyanas of the form realm and the four absorptions of the formless realm. You are able to achieve these realms because the guru is the essence of dharma and because of understanding karma and practicing virtuous deeds. The “happiness” mentioned in this verse is also received from the guru; this includes both worldly and supramundane happiness. Worldly happiness includes political power, wealth, and being able to enjoy pleasures. Supramundane happiness means you are able to achieve liberation. You are able to truly achieve such happiness because the guru is the essence of the three jewels and produces every result for happiness both now and in the future.

“Every effort” in the verse means you should act with true effort; if you do this, you will receive all the benefits spoken about here. Furthermore, you should act with every effort with great intention in every situation. The “guru” is the master, and we should not transgress or overstep their commands.

Tsongkhapa’s Commentary

Now we will compare this understanding with that provided in Tsongkhapa’s commentary. If the guru gives an instruction contrary to the dharma, you should explain clearly why you cannot do it and then you should not follow the nondharmic command. However, if the guru’s instruction is in line with the dharma, you need to carry it out with as much effort as you can.

The reason you need to carry out their instructions is because the two supreme and common siddhis come from the guru. The attainment of the bodies of gods and humans in the higher realms requires fulfilling the commands of the guru. The guru’s words are the primary gateway to the guru’s blessings so never transgress them. This second stanza is taken from the Secret Drop of the Moon Tantra (Skt. Candraguhyatilaka-tantra).

The Reason for Fulfilling the Guru’s Commands

At this point in the teaching, His Holiness stated that he wished to digress from the root text to say a few things about his own opinion of the reason for fulfilling the guru’s commands. 

First, the Jataka tales state: “The way to honor those who speak beneficially is to practice according to their instructions.” If we want to honor the guru we can worship them and make offerings to repay their kindness. But the best offering is to practice according to their instructions and do whatever they tell you to do. This is taught to be the best way to remember the kindness of the guru and to please them. 

Generally, many of us categorize the guru’s speech in two different ways: one is when the guru is giving formal dharma teachings such as empowerments and instructions, and the other is when the guru speaks in the course of daily life. So we could ask ourselves – do we only need to follow the guru’s instructions when they are explicitly teaching dharma, or do we need to follow everything they say?

It is easier for us to fulfill the first kind of instructions where the guru is teaching dharma. There is no question at all about if we should follow these instructions; it is only a question if we are diligent and capable enough to carry them out. However, it is more difficult to always follow the guru’s instructions that include everything they say in the course of daily life. In order to do this, we need to listen very carefully and when they say to do something, we need to do it.

Many of us may think that of course we will do what the guru tells us to do, but in actuality the guru’s instructions might not match our wishes. Perhaps their instructions are not what we hoped to receive. It may be that the guru tells us to do something that does not seem very connected to dharma practice. It is even possible that the guru may tell us to do something that seems nondharmic. If the guru gives us many instructions, we may have a lot of difficulty following through on them. When we encounter such difficulties, we will realize it is not so easy to do everything the guru tells us to do. In actuality, it is frightening to receive an empowerment because we are saying we will do whatever the preceptor tells us to do; we will listen to whatever they say. This is something we have to think about. It is not always easy. 

For example, when they first met, Lord Marpa told Milarepa to build many houses. Milarepa suffered greatly working to accomplish this task; it caused him to have wounds like saddle sores covering his back. Nevertheless, Marpa made him continue working; he treated Milarepa terribly. Nowadays, we are many centuries removed so when we read about the life of Milarepa, we think he was able to become a great master yogi due to the kindness of Marpa and his own perseverance. We think it is great that it happened that way, but if we think what it was like for people at that time, they had no way to know the result. They saw only Marpa’s bad treatment of Milarepa. They thought Marpa had gone crazy – here he is abusing a young man who is working so hard! No wonder they thought this way, since they could not see that Milarepa would become a great mahāsiddha. 

Similarly, Tilopa subjected Nāropa to the twelve great trials, which are even stranger for us to understand. He made him jump off a roof and more. It is so hard for us to wrap our minds around it; it is impossible to understand. When we think about it, we can see that we may be able to follow the dharma teachings the guru gives us. But if we have to do everything the guru says, it may be very difficult indeed. It is useful then to distinguish between these two kinds of speech so we can have a better understanding of the situation.

Many skillful teachers in our lineage did not immediately provide dharma teachings to their students. Even worse than that, they instructed their students to do minor annoying tasks that seemed unrelated to the dharma, like Marpa having Milarepa build houses. It may well have seemed like pointless work. Sometimes teachers even gave instructions that seemed to contradict the teachings, such as when Milarepa handed Lord Gampopa a skull cup of beer the first time they met. He told Gampopa to drink it even though he knew Gampopa was a bhikshu in the Kadampa tradition who was extremely strict in his observance of the Vinaya. Many of Milarepa’s students were present for this encounter, so Gampopa looked around and hesitated when Milarepa asked him to drink the beer. Upon seeing his hesitation, Milarepa said, “Don’t think; just drink the beer.” Whatever thoughts and doubts Gampopa had disappeared then and he drank the entire skull cup without leaving a drop. Because he drank it, Milarepa thought, “This Gampopa will be able to hold the lineage. He’ll be a suitable vessel for all the instructions because he drank the full cup of beer.” If Gampopa had given the beer back to Milarepa, it would have shown that he probably would not have been able to uphold the lineage and all of the instructions. But it was a sign of interdependence. It was a test from Milarepa to Gampopa. 

Giving a bhikshu beer to drink is contradictory to the dharma. We think that dharma and daily life are different. But for Milarepa and other authentic gurus, there is no separation between daily life and dharma. They are all the same, all of one taste. For them, everything has become one with the dharma and everything they do is in accord with the dharma. For us, dharma and our individual lives are separate. We have not yet been able to incorporate all dharma into our being. But when mindstream becomes mixed with the dharma, then even when masters break wind, it is all the dharma.

There is a short story about this subject and the Glorious Düsum Khyenpa. If you go down to the lower part of the Tsurphu valley at a place called Nakhar, there is a meditation cave called “Omniscient Wisdom of Undefiled Knowledge” where Düsum Khyenpa practiced. While he was there, of course he sometimes went to the bathroom. Many relics came out of his waste, and these became known as “Düsum Khyenpa’s fecal relics.” Thus, for such masters, even if they go to the bathroom, it is meaningful. For such gurus, there is no difference between dharma and the world. It is us who make a difference between the two. 

The masters always abide within the ocean of dharma. As stated in the Eighth Karmapa’s Hundred Short Instructions:

As long as a master thinks of nothing other than the welfare of sentient beings, it is impossible for anything they do to not benefit sentient beings. Not even a single word of their teachings on what to adopt and what to abandon is anything other than dharma. Therefore, by developing conviction and trust that it is so, whatever they say becomes true dharma, and it is impossible to misinterpret their words as meaningless chatter.

The guru thinks about nothing besides the welfare of sentient beings, and therefore it is impossible that any action of the guru’s body, speech, and mind be for anything other than for the benefit of sentient beings. Likewise, no matter what they say, what instructions they give, it is always dharma that tells you what to do and what not to do in the world. It is speech stating what virtues you should accomplish and what misdeeds you should abandon. If we have certainty in this truth, everything the guru says is dharma and never just meaningless words. The guru will not say anything that does not have a purpose or reason.

For a Lama like that who only thinks of the welfare of sentient beings, everything they say is meaningful. However, the level of our dharma is not at that level, and we do not have realization at that level. As such, we are not able to understand that what the guru says is always true. Since we are not able to understand this truth, we cannot distinguish between what is dharmic or nondharmic. However, there is no distinguishing between regular conversation and dharma teachings from an authentic guru. Everything the guru says becomes dharma and will be beneficial.

Likewise, great masters of the past have said that believing in a guru’s commands and believing in karmic cause and effect are the same thing. Believing in the guru is to have faith in them. Whatever the guru teaches is only teaching the ways for giving up what should not be done and doing what should be done – there is nothing else to say. This is how karmic cause and effect work, so believing the guru and believing in karma come down to the same point. For this reason, Tsongkhapa said that believing the guru’s words and believing in karma are very related, and also very important. All Kadampa forefathers did exactly what their gurus told them to do.

Problems that Arise if you are Unable to Accomplish the Guru’s Instructions

What problems come up if you cannot do as the guru says? As said previously, words of an authentic guru are primarily about practicing virtue and giving up misdeeds. They are about nothing else; all of their words are dharma advice. Even if it does not look like dharma instructions to us, the guru’s words are in fact dharma instructions. Therefore, if you do the opposite of what the guru says, it is a misdeed.

If you intentionally disobey a guru’s instructions or do it with a bad motivation, this can interrupt interdependence and create obstacles. We should follow the guru’s instructions because they are giving us these instructions for our own good. They are not imposing rules and forcing us to carry out their wishes – this is not how we should think of it. 

As an example of the importance of interdependence as a reason for following the guru’s advice, His Holiness told a story about the Tsalpa Kagyu tradition. The founder of this lineage, Zhang Tsalpa, thought he should entrust his monastic seat to his disciple Namkha Öd. Zhang Tsalpa thus conferred the Cakrasaṃvara empowerment upon Namkha Öd and told him to maintain and care for the monastic seat. But Namkha Öd said, “I have not accumulated enough merit to uphold the teacher's legacy. I wish to practice in this life and pray that in future lives I may benefit sentient beings like the precious teacher.”

Zhang Tsalpa responded, “Bodhisattvas only think of benefiting sentient beings, not their own peace. Even if you meditate on the Foundation vehicles’ shamatha for a lifetime, you won’t attain buddhahood. Therefore, work for the benefit of sentient beings.” He then gave him all the instructions and did not criticize him.

However, Namkha Öd broke his teacher’s command and experienced many obstacles in life. He only had a few receptive disciples and his activity was not able to spread widely. Nevertheless, Zhang Tsalpa did prophesy that Namkha Öd would achieve buddhahood in a future life.

If Namkha Öd had done as his guru had told him, it would have benefited himself and the whole lineage. Perhaps he did not listen because he was overly humble. On the other hand, he did want to emphasize his own practice and was stubborn, and because of this he was unable to fulfill his teacher’s command. This was a great loss for both himself and others. Today, the Tsalpa Kagyu lineage is not extant, although this is not due solely to these circumstances.

This kind of situation has occurred in the Karma Kagyu lineage too. The First Shamarpa, Togden Drakpa Senge, was one of the chief disciples of Chöje Rangjung Dorje. According to the dharma history text The Feast for Scholars (Tib. མཁས་པའི་དགའ་སྟོན།), Rangjung Dorje planned to entrust his teachings to the great realized master Drakpa Senge, and he instructed Drakpa Senge to go to Kampo Nenang, the first seat of Düsum Khyenpa. 

Drakpa Senge began this journey going down into the lower part of Tsurphu valley. But he took with him a white mule he liked, and at a certain point the mule did not want to go on the main road; it climbed up the mountain and no one stopped it. The party followed the mule and when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found a pleasant plain with a spring where the mule had laid down. Drakpa Senge rested there and thought he should build a monastery there, so he did and named it Nenang due to auspicious connections. But he did not continue his way down to Kham and so unable to meet up with Rolpe Dorje, the next incarnation of Rangjung Dorje. Rangjung Dorje’s intention was that Drakpa Senge would bring Rolpe Dorje up to Tsurphu but this was not able to happen since Drakpa Senge did not follow his guru’s instructions. Because of this, Rolpe Dorje did not come to central Tibet. Moreover, because Drakpa Senge did not follow his guru’s instructions, his students likewise did not listen to his instructions. 

Breaking a teacher’s instructions can lead to a serious negative consequence such as a misdeed or offense, but even if this does not happen, it can still interrupt interdependence. As another example, Pomdrakpa’s guru Drogön Rechen told him not to go to Markham but after Drogön Rechen passed away, Pomdrokpa went to Markham and then he himself passed away because he had broken interdependence. 

When he fell ill in Markham, Karma Pakshi was with him. Pomdrakpa said he was dying because he had broken his guru’s command. As he was dying, he told Karma Pakshi that if he accomplished exactly as he was taught, it would please all the venerable gurus. Not only Karma Pakshi but all his disciples would receive the same supreme and ordinary accomplishments simply by remembering their gurus.

Pomdrakpa’s reason for going to Markham was to continue Drogön Rechen’s legacy. It was not that Markham was a bad place. Pomdrakpa had a good motivation, but because of interdependence, his going to Markham created a bad outcome.

His Holiness completed his talk for the day by stating that he would speak of Rechungpa in the next session. While Rechungpa disobeyed his guru many times, the talk would focus on one story in particular.

Viewing the Guru as a Buddha

7 April 2025

On the thirteenth day of the Spring teachings, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa continued to teach the Fifty Verses on the Guru primarily according to the outline of Tsongkhapa’s Commentary. He noted that there were eight points on how to pay respect to the guru. Previously he had discussed the first point: how to make offerings. For this session he would cover the second point: viewing the guru as a buddha.
 
Viewing the Guru as a Buddha

This contains two subtopics: 1. The actual meaning and 2. Avoiding being disrespectful to their shadow, and so forth. The Karmapa would speak about both points. 
In the Mahayana Ornament of the Sutras (Skt: Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā), the Protector Maitreya says:

Serve the spiritual friend with respect, 
Gifts, service, and practice. 

This correlates with the Fifty Verses on the Guru and concerns today’s topic: serving the spiritual friend through respect. 

The root text of the twenty-second stanza is:

Thus, students with qualities of compassion,
Generosity, discipline and patience
Should not ever consider the master
To be different from Vajradhara. (22)

The Karmapa explained how he used different translations for the teaching: the Sanskrit is the original, the Tibetan from the Tengyur, the Chinese from during the Song Dynasty, and the English by our translator, Khenpo David Karma Choephel.

In this stanza, the students have qualities of compassion and generosity. The first two lines describe the characteristics of these students. 

They have three qualities:

The students naturally have great compassion with altruism, they wish to help sentient beings, pay little attention to material wealth and are very generous; they make offerings to gurus and give to the poor and deprived. In this way they are very generous and make great gifts. 

They have the prātimokṣa vows of giving up [negativity] and benefiting others.

They have the vows of the bodhisattva for benefiting others. In brief, the student should have the wish to reach buddhahood, particularly in this lifetime.

Therefore, these students must have compassion, be very generous, and keep their discipline. 

If the student has these qualities, when they follow their guru, there’s a great hope they will be in accord with the dharma. The main necessity for them to be in accord with the dharma is that the student must never think of their master as being different from the guru. They must think of the guru himself as the deity; that Buddha himself as the deity. This is very important.

From Tsongkhapa’s commentary

Here the guru is the field for gathering merit. The guru is the same as all the buddhas. Therefore, true students do not consider the vajra master to be separate from the vajra bearer, Vajradhara. They have the resolve that the guru himself is indeed Vajradhara. 

True students, or great students, have the compassionate mind, the basis of the Mahayana. They have the generosity of discarding all self-interested attachment to their bodies, possessions, and virtues. They are dedicated to sentient beings and have the discipline of keeping the vows they have taken purely. They also have the patience of not being discouraged by sentient beings’ wrong practice and austerities.  

Following this, Lord Tsongkhapa discussed how viewing the guru as a buddha was not something that an ordinary person would teach but was expounded through many different scriptural texts. He cited how viewing the guru as a buddha was taught in many tantras: chapter 17 of Guhyasamaja, chapter 15 of the Vajra Dome (Vajra Pañjara), chapter 14 of the Ornament of Vajrahridaya (Vajrahṛdayālaṇkara tantra), and chapter 32 of the Vajrakhandra, and also the Four Seats (Catuḥpīṭha). 

Since there would not be time to discuss each of these tantras, the Karmapa said he would review some of them.

During the time of Lord Tsongkhapa, most of the citations he gave were primarily from the unexcelled tantra. However, he did cite two lower level tantras considered main tantras of the charya class: The Manifest Awakening of Vajrapani, and The Tantra of the Empowerment of Vajrapani.

Then the Karmapa read from The Tantra of the Empowerment of Vajrapani:

“Lord of Secrets, how should a student view the Master? Just as they view the Bhagavan Buddha.”

This quotation stated very clearly that the student should view the vajra master as an actual Buddha in this great tantra. Although not included in the unexcelled tantras, most Tibetans say this charya tantra, The Tantra of the Empowerment of Vajrapani, was important because it was an example of how the lower tantras also taught that the student should view the guru as a buddha. 

Lord Tsongkhapa also cited an excerpt from the 17th chapter of the Glorious Guhyasamaja Tantra. Here the bodhisattva mahasattva Maitreya supplicated all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and asked the Buddha this:

“Bhagavan, how should all the tathagatas and the bodhisattvas view a master who has been empowered by the secret vajra of the body, speech, and mind of all tathagatas, Guhyasamaja?”

“Child of the noble family, all the tathagatas and bodhisattvas, view them as the Bodhicitta Vajra. Why? The master is the same as bodhicitta, they cannot be separated into two.”

So Maitreya asks, when you view a master, how do all the buddhas and bodhisattvas recognize a guru? The response is that the master is the same as Bodhicitta Vajra, and Bodhicitta Vajra is just another name for Vajradhara. 

According to Tsilupa’s commentary on the Guhyasamaja:

…‘cannot be separated into two’ means that from Bodhichitta Vajra’s dharmakaya, there arises a sambhogakaya. Because its emanated forms are not in our field of vision, it abides in their body and so… it’s inseparable from them.

Since those who are unable to see the three kayas of the buddha as they are because of their own obscurations, the buddha enters the vajra master’s body to purify others’ karmic obscurations. When we are ordinary individuals, we cannot actually see a buddha. But at this time, when all the buddhas enter the Vajra master’s body they then bring benefit to sentient beings. This is what Acharya Tsilupa said in his commentary. 

The reason for viewing them as inseparable from the guru is to have equal faith in Vajradhara and in the guru. Faith should be stabilized in Vajradhara and accumulations gathered with few difficulties to swiftly reach accomplishment. This is the purpose according to Shantipa’s commentary on Guhyasamaja. This is what Lord Tsongkhapa said.

The Karmapa also quoted a passage from the 15th chapter of the Vajra Dome, (Vajra Pañjara Tantra). The citation in Tsongkhapa’s copy (which is from the Tengyur) is a little different from the Kangyur. The Kangyur reads:

The one who is called Vajradhara
Takes the form of the vajra master.
Aiming to benefit sentient beings.
He remains in ordinary form. 

Here, the Kangyur and Tengyur are basically the same, as Vajradhara takes the form of a guru to benefit sentient beings. 

The Karmapa’s Own Thoughts

Just being a guru or a master does not necessarily mean that someone is a buddha. For example, the Treasury of Knowledge discusses the different kinds of masters:

The types are in general: ordinary being, bodhisattva, nirmanakaya, and sambhogakaya, according to one’s own four phases.

When you are a beginner, you primarily follow a guru as an ordinary individual. When your obscurations are somewhat purified, the guru is a bodhisattva on the levels. When your karmic obscurations are mostly exhausted, you follow a guru who is a bodhisattva on a high level. When you are on the path of seeing, the spiritual friend is an actual nirmanakaya buddha. When you are on the high levels, you can follow the spiritual guru who is an actual sambhogakaya buddha. These are the four different types of vajra masters. 

But this is not necessarily definitely so. Even when your karma has not been purified, it is possible that you may be cared for by an emanation of a buddha or a bodhisattva. It’s not necessarily the case that if you are an individual, your spiritual friend will be an ordinary individual. When you talk about the division of the four types of spiritual friends, then this is just a general or a gross overview. 

When you think about the four types of Mahayana spiritual friends, these four types are also similar in the secret mantra: you can classify the gurus as ordinary individuals and as noble individuals who have reached the levels. The reason is because it is not the case that a guru of a secret mantra absolutely must be a buddha. It is not so that an ordinary individual may not be given empowerments or be a guru. This is not what the Tantras say. 

Likewise, the secret mantra explains many characteristics of the guru: it does not say that they must have achieved the bodhisattva levels or that they must be a buddha. It is possible that the guru may be an ordinary individual. However, whether the guru in their own perspective is a buddha or not, the prospective student must have unlimited faith and great pure view of them. This is very important. 

When we look at this from the perspective of the student: the student must have unlimited faith and great pure view of the guru, it is important to have faith as if they are an actual buddha. There are a few main points here:

We see the gurus as being like ordinary beings, but they might be emanations of buddhas and bodhisattvas, since many are like that.

Lhodrak Marpa, the translator, was known to be an emanation of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, or Domba Heruka. When we look at them, they seem like ordinary beings, but they actually are emanations of buddhas and bodhisattvas. This is possible.

When we go into a monastery—like Rumtek—we cannot categorically say that there are no emanations of buddhas and bodhisattvas in Rumtek monastery. When we study the signs, we remember the reasons for the non-observation of the imperceptible. We can’t point at someone and say: there is an emanation of a buddha or bodhisattva. We cannot categorically say that there are none. 

Similarly, when we read the biographies of the Indian siddhas, many had achieved the supreme siddhi, but to benefit a variety of sentient beings, they even took the lowest of low forms. For example, Saraha was servant to a prostitute. Tilopa was a fisherman who caught live fish. Merely appearing in an ordinary form does not necessarily mean that they’re not a buddha. 

Many gurus and scholars in the past have said that while transmitting a teaching through writing, they were possessed and blessed by a deity.

When Acharya Gunaprabha was writing the Vinaya Sutra, the Buddha entered his chest, and he became possessed and blessed. Later, when he wrote the Autocommentary, he didn’t receive the blessings from the Buddha and the Autocommentary didn’t completely live up to his understanding when writing about the Vinaya Sutras. But it can still be said that the Vinaya Sutras are still the words of the Buddha, because the Buddha had entered and blessed him.

Even if the guru is not an actual buddha, they are the ones who give us empowerments, teach us the dharma, show us the path, and guide us out of samsara. In terms of activity, they are like a buddha. It’s not like the sun can directly light a fire. Only if you shine sunlight through a magnifying glass can it light a fire. If you’re going to receive the activity of the Buddha, it needs to pass through the guru. When the Buddha has possessed the guru, the guru has received the blessings of the buddhas. From our perspective, the guru is like a buddha. Because we have lesser fortune, we cannot take empowerments from the Buddha directly or receive instructions directly. 

Since we don't have the fortune or the capability, even if a Buddha were to appear before us, we wouldn't be able to receive an empowerment. Even if a Buddha came carrying a vase, we wouldn't be able to take it, because we don’t have that connection with the Buddha. If a Buddha should come before us, we wouldn’t see them, hear their words, or meet them. We don’t have the ability. Therefore, there’s no one better way to meet the Buddha than through the guru. The guru shows us the Buddha’s method, whether they're a good person or a bad person, for us, a Buddha would have to be just like them. There is no other way.

When Mikyö Dorje wrote Complete Teachings on Mahamudra, he asked:

What is the basis for considering someone the root guru? 

What is the reason we call them the root guru? 

How do we understand the guru?

First, we must understand the great guru: the first guru, the first among the lamas with no one above him, the one who plants a/the stable basis for the roots of virtue, the first one from whom we feel faith, that is our root guru. 

From our perspective as ordinary individuals, the guru is among all the gurus and jewels throughout space, but our guru is the one who has the greatest and highest wisdom, love, and power. There are many jewels throughout space, but compared to all the gurus throughout space, the one who benefits us is the one who has the perfect wisdom, love, and power, is the guru. 

From beginningless samsara until now, many buddhas and jewels have come, yet we haven’t been able to make a virtuous connection with them. Because of this exalted guru, we are able to make a virtuous connection. So compared to all the buddhas who fill space, this guru is far superior to them. The gurus themselves, if they are ordinary individuals in terms of their qualities, can’t be compared to the buddhas. But for us, their capacity and their kindness are far greater. This is why we say, equal to all the buddhas in qualities, far superior to buddhas in kindness. 

No other buddha has been able to bring us onto the path to liberation, so now we have reached the beginning of the path. This is because of our guru Vajra master and our root guru’s kindness. They are extremely kind to us. The Kadampa masters of the past said, “Ordinary gurus are like people who give us food when we’re hungry.” 

Are noble gurus like that? The gurus who are well on the bodhisattva levels are the people who finally give us food. Once we’re already quite full, they’re the only ones who finally start giving us food. The gurus on the noble levels are like that. 

When our stomachs are empty and we’re about to die from hunger, the ordinary gurus give us food; when we’re about to die from cold, the ordinary gurus give us clothes. The noble gurus give us food when we’re full and that  is kind, but it’s not as kind as the ordinary guru because we don't really need it. The gurus who dwell on the noble levels, by the time we get to the point where we can see them, we're doing all right ourselves and are at a pretty high level ourselves. The Kadampa gurus say noble gurus are pretty good, but not quite as kind as the ordinary individual gurus. 

In the worldly tradition of upstanding people, the people who are like our parents and teachers, beneficent, and so forth, are the jewels. Likewise, the guru is the one who can bring us onto the path to buddhahood in one lifetime, in one body, even if they’re not actually a buddha themselves. There’s no way we can find a buddha by ourselves. If we went looking for another buddha other than them, we wouldn’t find them. For this reason, we need to view the guru as a buddha. 

With this point in mind, Mikyö Dorje said in his text on the indivisibility of winds and mind states:

“Even though the guru is an ordinary person, when performing activities which has benefit in empowering students, all the buddhas actually come.”

From one perspective, we visualize the guru as the Buddha, as the yidam deity. All the buddhas and the bodhisattvas, the yidam deities, all the blessings of all three vajras of the body, speech and mind enter the guru. When the student takes the empowerment, they naturally receive the blessings of all the buddhas and the bodhisattvas. For that reason, the guru at the time becomes an actual guru. We receive the activity of the guru coming through the guru, so we are able to receive any benefit from them. Without a guru, we cannot receive the power of the Buddha’s activity, because we haven’t really come to that capability or to that level yet. From our own perspective, the guru is kinder than the buddhas.
 
After this, there are many different citations that Mikyö Dorje gave from the tantras and the Indian texts. So, a qualified guru such as that, when you see them as being an actual buddha or being equal to the Buddha, or even seeing them, if we can view them in this way, this is excellent. 

As Mikyö Dorje said in his 100 Short Instructions:

As you develop devotion, as you develop the ambition to use supplications, then you receive the blessings to be able to receive the supreme and ordinary siddhis according to the level of your devotion and supplications.

In general, it’s not only supplicating that’s important. It’s not enough to think that “my guru is like this, but there must be some buddha that’s superior to that.” If you don't think of your guru as being the greatest, then you’re not going to receive many blessings. 

If you think that there is no Buddha who is superior to the Buddha, if you have that confidence, that certainty, and you have that confidence within your mind, then you can supplicate them with every fiber of your being. With this enthusiasm of body, speech, and mind, unlike any other enthusiasm, then you will receive the blessings of the guru. 

Even if the gurus themselves are ordinary beings, whether they are an ordinary being, or a buddha, or a nirmanakaya, or not a nirmanakaya, most important is that the guru has all the qualifications, and that you yourself have faith—the faith that you are someone capable of development, the faith that causes this—and devotion. This faith you have is one you are able to develop, the faith that is the cause that gives you devotion, and then you will receive the kindness of the empowerments, instructions, and transmissions. In this way, you'll be able to receive all the blessings of the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind. 

From the 100 Short Instructions, Mikyö Dorje said:

Some people think that when we say that the guru isn’t a buddha, but we imagine that he’s a buddha, but they are not, they think that we just imagine being like, we’re just feeling; but the guru is not freed from birth, age, and sickness, they suffer from heat, and cold, hunger, and thirst, and if things don’t happen the way they like, then they can cry out in pain, they can complain, and they can worry. It’s just a human who does that, so if you have an ordinary individual like that, can they possibly be Vajradhara?

A Vajradhara is someone who has no feelings of pleasure or pain, someone who has no experience of hunger, cold, thirst, and so forth. That’s what we think. Their Vajradhara, doesn’t need to experience hunger and thirst, doesn’t need to have birth, age, sickness, and death, for their Vajradhara won’t complain when things don’t work as they should, so we think there’s no way that they can be like that. That’s what a Vajradhara has to be like. But the book of Vajradhara says: “In the final 500-year period, I myself will appear in the form of a teacher, I think this is me, and at that time generate respect for me.” 

If we examine it, they may seem like an ordinary individual, but they receive the blessings of Vajradhara's body, speech, and mind, then the disciples can receive from them the blessings of Vajradhara and accomplishments can be bestowed.

For this reason, there is no greater root of virtue than pleasing the guru.

*

Many similar things have been said, so I don't need to say all of it. Before you follow the guru, you need to look whether the guru has all the characteristics or not. Even if you can’t, you need to examine. You can’t just follow any guru. Once you have followed the guru, even if you see a few faults, you should not lose faith or complain about them or criticize them. 

The Kadampa masters have said, “If you follow the guru, but don’t examine them first,  it’s like getting married.” 

The Karmapa commented on how getting married these days is not as in the past when marriage was for life:

If you get married one year, you break up and go with someone else next year. It’s not like that. It’s not like when you go to a guru and then you are with him for a little while and think, ‘Oh, there's a better one,’ and then you find another.

That's not good. If you disappoint one guru, you are disappointing all gurus. Even if a guru is not good, you must respect them as an actual Buddha. Even if the guru is bad, you should still not disrespect them. If you disrespect them, then no matter how much respect you show a good guru later, you will not be able to receive it, because you will have a breach of samaya; then later, no matter what instructions you have, you will not receive the blessings or develop experience and realization. So, we must be very careful. The main thing here are the blessings. They are extremely important for taking the blessings of the path.

The Karmapa referred to Gampopa’s Excellent Dharma Teachings:

Gampopa said that in the sutra path, taking blessings is the path. Some say that it is taking perception as the path. But Gampopa said that the Tantra is taking blessings as the path, taking Mahamudra, taking the perception as the path. So, in the secret mantra, blessings are extremely important. The origin of the blessings is the guru, it’s the place where you receive the blessings from, the place where the faucet from which the blessings come is the guru. The place where we receive the blessings from is the guru. The place we feel the faith and devotion must be the guru. The place where that comes from, the place where we go, it all comes down to the guru.

It's possible you could receive some blessings without the guru. But if you have violated your samaya, if you have upset the guru, if you have disrespected the guru, then it’s basically impossible for you to receive the blessings and it’s extremely difficult to receive any of the blessings. For this reason, no matter how many blessings you receive from the buddhas and bodhisattvas and so forth, you can receive from the buddhas and bodhisattvas, you must receive them through the guru. So first, you must have true faith, pure faith in that guru. If you don't have faith, then you can't receive any blessings. The gateway for receiving blessings is faith.

There was a Kadampa master in the past who spoke to a student. The student said, “Please give me blessings.”

The guru said, “Well, first of all, give me faith. If I need to bless you, then first, you must have faith in me. If you don’t have faith in me, then I can’t bless you.” So similarly, the greater your faith, the greater the blessings that you will receive. 

As Gampopa said, “It’s well known that the highest devotion has the devotee’s blessings. If you have excellent vigilance, then you have the greatest blessings. If you have middling devotion, then your meditation will also be middling, and your blessings will also be middling. If you have the least devotion, you have low-rate devotion, then you just have low-rate blessings and only have low-rate meditation.” This is an example of faith for a guru.

There is a story found in the biography of Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo, about a student of Third Karmapa Deshin Shekpa from The Feast of Scholars by Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje:

A student, Thrimkang Lotsawa Sonam Gyatso, was traveling through Kham to gather offerings where there were many Karmapa followers. He knew he needed the Karma Kamtsang lineage blessing if he should teach them, so he went to Tsurphu to visit Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo. Upon arrival, he was welcomed and they both prostrated to each other. When they sat, their seats were exactly at the same level. They had good meals together and were provided with excellent hospitality, but Thrimkang Lotsawa did not receive any teachings. They had conversations and discussions about the dharma. Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo was very learned.

But after a month, Thrimkang Lotsawa thought about it. Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo was treating him with respect but hadn’t given him any dharma teachings. Every day they had many conversations, but Thrimkang Lotsawa thought, “He’s giving me a lot of respect but not teaching the Dharma.”

Then Thrimkang Lotsawa thought, “To listen to the dharma properly, I have too much pride, my view is too high.” He hadn’t developed faith and had thought of the spiritual friend. He realized he had been thinking about the dharma as a thing, like wealth; he had not thought of the dharma as the dharma, so he had not been able to develop faith, and had not become a proper vessel for the dharma. He hadn’t developed the perception of the spiritual friend as a buddha, but had seen him as a friend, an ordinary being. Thus he realized he had not been a proper vessel for the dharma, and he immediately became very sad and shed many tears. 

When he had this feeling, he realized that Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo was the same as the Buddha. He supplicated intensely. Then on the next morning, very early, he was called to meet Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo. 

When Thrimkang Lotsawa arrived, it was different from other days. He saw Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo seated on his throne. He did not stand up and prostrate. Then Tsurphu Jamyang Chenmo gave a blessing with his hand. In the past they had touched foreheads. In front of Thrimkang Lotsawa there was a small carpet. 

Jamyang Chenmo said, “You please sit here.” When he said, “Sit there,” that, “Someone who seeks the Dharma should act like this." 

Then immediately, Jamyang Chenmo gave a teaching on the profound inner meaning and taught the Six Limits and Four Amounts. Thrimkang Lotsawa made notes on this which we can still see in his commentary. He received this as instructions, so he developed extraordinary faith in Jamyang Chenmo. This is the reason why faith is so important.  

The greater our faith, the better it is. There is another story about that. 

Phagmo Drupa Dorjé Gyalpo and Geshe Zhang Sumthokpa were first dharma friends, but later Geshe Zhang Sumthokpa became a senior student of Phagmo Drupa Dorjé Gyalpo. 

At that time, Gampopa was very well known so Phagmo Drupa wanted to meet Gampopa very badly. So Geshe Zhang said, “If you are going to Gampopa, let’s go. I also want to see Gampopa and prostrate to him.” Since they were both friends, they went together. Geshe Zhang Sumthokpa was very wealthy and brought many gifts and provisions to offer when they arrived at Daglha Gampo monastery. When they arrived, Gampopa was not feeling well, so they did not meet for forty days. 

During that time, Gampopa’s students were building a stūpa as a long life offering for Gampopa. So Phagmo Drupa joined in and carried the earth back and forth to build it. When Gampopa recovered his health, they were immediately called, and they went to see him. 

Then Phagmo Drupa thought, “He’s not going to give me any dharma. I don’t have anything to offer. He considered himself at fault, so, he said to his friend, “I have nothing to offer. So if we go together, he might not give teachings to you as well. We should go separately.” But Geshe Zhang Sumthokpa didn’t say anything, so they went to see Gampopa together. At the beginning of their audience, Geshe Zhang offered Gampopa a huge turquoise, the size of a pigeon according to some accounts, declaring, “This is in place of Phagma Drupa making his offerings.” He then offered many silks and brocades.  They drank tea together and conversed.

Phagmo Drupa had been so worried about not receiving dharma teachings, but Gampopa told both of them to return the following day for breakfast and dharma teachings.

Afterwards, the two friends discussed what had happened. Although Gampopa had had his own personal cup, the student attendants had given them tea from Gampopa’s personal teapot, which surprised them. Geshe Zhang particularly thought this was a breach of protocol. 

Phagmo Drupa asked Geshe Zhang, “When you saw the Guru Gampopa, what did you think him?”

Geshe said, “I saw him as a really learned, virtuous and good individual”

Phagmo Drupa said, “When I saw him, it wasn’t like that, I think it was like seeing an actual buddha.”

They would see him again the next morning, but Pagmo Drupa had such a strong desire to see the guru, he didn’t sleep well. He lay waiting for the dawn. The next day he rose early in the morning, and said, “We’ve got to go now, get up, Geshe.” 

The geshe also rose, since the precious guru had said to come early. Geshe Zhang Sumthokpa said, “Those yogis do have some problems. Those students really don’t understand the way things should be done, because of the way the student attendants had given them tea the previous day. He was critical of Gampopa. He said, Gampopa doesn’t really know how things should be done.

Phagmo Drupa said, “But they did this out of a wish to help us. It was beneficial for us. They did this so we could receive the blessings. There’s nothing to think about. We should go.” 

Only then did Geshe Zhang Sumthogpa go along. 

Because of their interdependent connections, later Phagmo Drupma had activities equal to space because he was among Gampopa’s greatest students; but Geshe Zhang became a senior student of Phagmo Drupma—and other than that he did not have particularly vast activity. 

Now, another example is that if you only have medium activity, when your activity increases, your faith grows stronger and stronger. For example, when you receive this tradition, where you actually see the paths and levels, and you see the Buddha as the Buddha. 

Gampopa had incredible faith in Milarepa before he met him. Then when he met Milarepa, he, of course had greater faith. 

But when Gampopa was about to part from him, Milarepa predicted this: “In the future, one day you will have developed superior realization. It’s unlike what you have now. At that time, you'll also have developed the certainty of seeing me, this old man me, like a natural Buddha.” 

Later, when Gampopa was practicing at Olka and other places, he realized the nature of his mind. And at that time, he had the faith of seeing his guru as being an actual buddha. His previous faith was a great faith, but as he said before, the guru was an actual dharmakaya. He thought, “In the past, I saw him as an actual great mahasiddha. That wasn’t okay.” 

The Karmapa commented: You should think the guru is the actual dharmakaya. Because when you receive the dharmakaya, he actually realized that the guru is also the dharma nature, the dharmakaya. That was one story.

There’s another story about Götsangpa. Götsangpa’s guru was Drogon Tsampa Gyare. He once thought that Drogon Tsampa Gyare was probably a tenth level bodhisattva. This was Götsangpa’s  initial thought—that the guru was a tenth level bodhisattva—but then he immediately criticized himself:

“The guru who points out my own mind, who points out the actual nature of the dharma, do you think that is the dharmakaya? I think there's no one else who thinks of that. He is an authentic guru.” 

“Thinking that the guru is a tenth level bodhisattva is not authentic devotion. Thinking that they are an actual buddha is actual devotion.

“Since I once thought of my guru Chöje Repa as a tenth-level bodhisattva. Immediately he scolded me saying, ‘It’s only the guru who points out your mind is a buddha as on the tenth level.’ From then on, I never lacked the idea of him being a guru.”

From then on, Götsangpa never lacked the idea of the buddha. Thinking that the guru is a tenth level bodhisattva, for somebody like great Götsangpa, we think that the Guru is a tenth level Bodhisattva. Do you think of that? This is not authentic devotion. Thinking that they're an actual Buddha is actual devotion, is what he was recognizing. 

Forget about thinking of the guru as a buddha or a tenth level bodhisattva! For us, it’s even difficult to think of the guru as an authentic guru.  Because of our obscurations and negative karma, the fact that we can see the guru as a human being rather than a dog or a donkey is an improvement. How then can we develop the faith and pure vision of seeing the guru as an actual buddha? 

Some Additional Ideas to Share

There was a time when Dromtonpa asked Atiśa a question: “There are many people in Tibet who practice meditation, but there aren’t that many who develop superior qualities, why is that?”

Atiśa replied:

“All the qualities of the Mahayana you develop, whether great or small, all arise because of the guru. You Tibetans only think of the guru as an ordinary person. For that reason, how can you possibly develop extraordinary qualities?”

The gurus of the past, said that if you lacked dedication to the guru, you would not receive the blessings. You must have faith and dedication to the guru and you must also think of the guru as being a buddha. If you think of the guru as a buddha, then you will receive a buddha’s blessing. If you think of the guru as a bodhisattva, you receive a bodhisattva’s blessing. If you think of the guru as being an ordinary person, a regular person, you won’t receive many blessings at all. 

There are many scriptural and logical proofs that teach us that the guru is the same as a buddha or is an actual buddha. But if you don't believe that, no matter how many thousands of proofs you are presented with, there's not much benefit. 

When you say that the guru and the Buddha are the same, what is the buddha like that the guru is like? That’s something we need to consider. In general, we have our individual ideas. Is this like being the greatest person we know? Or might it be the one with the purest ethical conduct? Or could it be like an individual who has exhausted all qualities, possesses all qualities? The levels differ from person to person.

Some people have very low-level expectations. Some people have very complicated needs and wants, they have a very high level that is difficult.

We tend to think of the Buddha as a superhuman, or like a god, or we think of the Jowo in Lhasa, getting up and coming down to us from heaven. When we talk about the Buddha we treat it like myth. We don’t think of it as human history. But the Buddha was a historical person who lived in India 2,500 years ago. He was a historical person. He wasn't a god. When he was born, he was born from his mother's womb. He spent eight or nine months in his mother's womb. That's the same as all of us, isn't it? When he wanted to learn the alphabet, he had to be taught the letters from the very beginning. He had to eat food. He had to go to the bathroom. At night, he had to sleep. He got sick. He got old, and he passed away. If we don't say it respectfully, he died, didn’t he? He was someone who experienced pleasure and pain. So when you look at him, he’s just a human being, right? 

But what was different about him from other people, is that he had awakened to buddhahood. He had achieved the level of buddhahood. That makes him different from other people. When you say that he awakened to buddhahood, it doesn’t mean that he developed three heads and developed six arms, as if when you become Buddha, you develop extra heads and extra arms. 

That’s not what you mean. Sometimes we talk about the third eye in the middle of your forehead. It’s not like this eye develops in the middle of the forehead, right? We’re not talking about the growth of a third eye. We’re not saying you grow an extra eye when you become a buddha. 

Awakening to buddhahood means that you realize the true nature of phenomena. It's when you understand what the path to achieving liberation in omniscience is. It’s knowing how to teach that path to other people. It means you are someone who can teach this path unmistakably to others. Being a Buddha means you've come to an extremely high level of experience and realization. That’s why we call him Buddha. 

It's not about becoming some superhuman and becoming a god. That’s not what it means. When you say, he’s “awakened to buddhahood” it means a huge improvement in his internal qualities. It doesn't mean that his external form as a human has changed at all. If we only look at him on the surface, it would be difficult to distinguish between whether he's a Buddha or not. 

For example, in the future, scientists could invent a time machine, that could go back in time, so we could return to the time of the Buddha. We would have to search for and find the Buddha on our own, right? If we needed to do it on our own, I think that we probably wouldn't find the Buddha. It wouldn’t be easy to find the Buddha. Even if we did find the Buddha, we wouldn’t recognize him as being a Buddha. The reason is that none of us has ever actually met the Buddha. 

Also, a more important reason is the way we think about a Buddha. We don't think of him as an ordinary person. We believe he must be different, an extraordinary being. When we go to the Bodhi tree, we see an ordinary person who is the Buddha. We wouldn’t believe it. This can’t be the Buddha. It must be someone who’s radiating light, who has a halo. He must be huge. We look all around to see if we can find him. We wouldn't really take any interest in the person directly in front of us as being the Buddha.

So when we say “Buddha” there’s an incredible, huge gap between the Buddha that we think should be there and the actual Buddha. Also at that time, there were many spiritual practitioners who sat on their mats meditating. In India at that time, if you looked from the outside, many looked like the Buddha. The whole country was filled with them. So we’d wonder, “Who’s the actual Buddha?” We wouldn’t know. 

I think it would be difficult for us. We need to understand that Buddha Shakyamuni was an individual who appeared in a human form. If we understand that, then I feel we can understand how the guru can be a buddha.

In general, when we talk about a spiritual friend or a guru, about the external appearance of the spiritual friend or the guru, the way we should understand that is that we don't mean an external appearance of another human being. That's not what we mean when we say a spiritual friend or guru. What it means is someone who teaches us the pure dharma and elevates our mind to a higher level. 

The word “buddha” doesn't refer to the external form. It refers to inner qualities. To understand the Jewel of the Buddha is to recognize someone who teaches the students the unmistaken path. That’s the main activity of the Jewel of the Buddha. 

For this reason, we call Shakyamuni Buddha our teacher, because he’s the one who teaches us the path. He’s the first one who taught us the path, so we call him our teacher. Also, the guru is authentic. The guru teaches the path without mistake, just like the Buddha. They’re able to teach that for us individually. The guru performs the activity of a buddha, just as the Buddha. 

If the guru has a lineage, the dharma they teach has been passed down from Buddha Shakyamuni, from one guru to the next. Many great beings have practiced it, all the way down to our own root guru now. 

The dharma we receive from the root guru and the dharma that we receive from Shakyamuni Buddha would be no different. The dharma they teach is the same. There’s no difference between them. For this reason, if we think about it in terms of these reasons, it wouldn’t be presumptuous to say that all the teachers who teach the students of the dharma are like the buddhas. It’s not contradictory of reality. I think it actually matches how things truly are. 

Instead of taking the very person as an ordinary person, as an example, a spiritual friend, we need to take the person who teaches us the true dharma and helps us elevate our dharma at our mind to a higher level. The teacher Vajradhara himself also said, as I also said before, “In a future time of degeneration, I will appear in the form of a master.” He said this while in a degenerate time: the people who want the dharma will not be able to meet me, the teacher Vajradhara. But they don’t need to think that they can’t meet and practice the Dharma, that they can’t receive the Dharma. Because even though I seem to have passed away, always, I'm performing an activity to pass on the Dharma.

If you are born in a degenerate time, if you want to enter my teachings, at that time I'll become your teacher and teach you the Dharma that’s appropriate for your devotion. 

Another doubt that we might have is that if we think about the guru as a buddha, this might mean we’re being taught secret mantra, and it’s not Buddhism. It’s not something that’s accepted generally in Buddhism. But that's also not true. 

For example, we talk about the preeminent account of the Vinaya. We speak about the activity of associating with the teachers, that those who associate with them should keep the concept of thinking of the Khenpo as the guru. They should serve him, stand up promptly, walk quickly, be respectful.

In the Vinaya, it says that you must regard the Khenpo as the Teacher (Bhagwan Buddha) Likewise, the Mahayana Sutras, such as the Sutra on the Ten Dharmas says: “They are thus free of depravity of body, speech and mind, so arouse the conception of the abbot as the Teacher.”

Likewise, the Light of Gold Sutra says: “Arouse the connection of the Teacher Dharma as the great Teacher.” The Sutra of Narayana's Questions, also known as the Noble Mahayana Sutra called “The Samadhi that Encompasses All Merits” says that you should think of the Dharma as medicine and think of the abbot and master as the Teacher. For this reason, in general of course, we say that in the sutras it said:

We recognize in the sutras that you should view the gurus as being like the Buddha. And in the śastras it says you should recognize them as being the actual Buddha. They do make that distinction, but in any case, where the Buddha is similar, you need to visualize, see them in that way. What we need to do is, it’s not just someone who can teach their guru. What is as important to that is having belief, having confidence. If you don’t have confidence, even if the Buddha came in person, it would be difficult.

Because the Buddha lived around 80 years, during that time many people had faith and confidence in him. Many followed him and achieved liberation. There were a lot of people like that. But there also were people who didn’t feel faith in him, who didn’t consider him valuable, or even who didn’t take much interest in him. There are many people like that. And then there was Devadatta. He wasn’t just anyone. He was the Buddha’s own cousin. He was his own cousin, but Devadatta felt jealous of the Buddha and began to hate him. He tried to kill the Buddha several times. There were even people like that. Even with a perfect Buddha, there were people who made good connections with him, people who made bad connections, and there are people who made no connection at all.

So, there are many different types of people. It’s not like the Buddha is just merely being there. It doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to feel faith in him. That's not necessarily going to happen. There’s no lesson that says you’re going to achieve liberation. The main point is from your own perspective, having faith and confidence is as important. So having faith and conviction in the guru and the Teacher, are the same in importance. Sometimes having confidence is even more important. It’s even more important than having someone to teach you the path. 

There’s a story when it’s more important than being on the path. This story took place in the old days, long ago, when two people wanted to go to circumambulate Tsari mountain. Tsari is a sacred site, a very important Kagyu place. These people went to circumambulate Tsari, and there was a neighbor in that region, an old lady who heard about them. When she heard them, she went to them, and the old woman asked them, “Is it true that you two are going to Tsari?” 

And the two people said, “Yeah, it’s true, we’re going.”

The old woman was delighted. She said, “Okay, then my wish will be fulfilled.” And she said, “Tsari is a long way, so you’ll need some provisions for the trip.” So she gave them a bag of tsampa and a bag of puffed wheat. A full bag for both. Then she said, “Now you two go to Tsari, go to the top at Dakpa Sheri, the Pure Crystal Mountain, and then from Dakpa Sheri, bring a small rock, a small stone as a support for me, an old woman, to pray over. I’ve heard that Tsari is the mandala of Chakrasamvara, so if I can have a stone from there, I can practice.” 

And they said, “Oh, this is easy, of course, we'll do this.”

And off they went. They went to Tsari, they circumambulated the mountain but forgot to bring back a rock. 

As they were returning, the old woman knew that it was about the time they’d return, so she went out to look. “Are they coming?”

She searched to see if they were coming, and then, from the high point, they saw her standing and immediately remembered they’d forgotten to bring the rock. “What are we going to do? What should we do? Think about it, what’s the best thing to do? There’s nothing we can do. We needed to bring just a black rock from there.”

So they went to a spot where the old lady couldn’t see them; they found a black rock, wrapped it in a kata, and pretended it was valuable. They put it inside their cloaks and went to visit the old woman. 

When they arrived, the old woman asked them, “How are you doing? Did you have problems?” She listened, then said, “And then? You two must have brought my rock, right?”

They replied, “Of course. We paid so much attention to this we intentionally were careful to do this.” They said they took the stone from right in front of the Pure Crystal Mountain and then gave it to the old woman. They thought to themselves, “Oh, this old woman! There are many gullible old women like her. Even these days, right?”

She said, “Oh, this black stone must really have come from that sacred place, and it must be the yidam deity itself.” 

She put it above her pillow, she made a shelf above it, placed it on top, then made offerings to it. Every day she offered water and lamps, and whatever she ate or drank she made an offering to it. In the morning and at night, she prostrated a hundred times, and supplicated it. Eventually, the stone grew an image of Vajravarahi herself, the image just grew spontaneously. And the old woman’s faith increased greatly.

Of course, your faith is going to grow, right? She just supplicated like a nun, and as she did, the stone started to give off many relics. In the end, when the old woman passed away, there were so many miraculous signs, it’s like she went off to Kechari. So this is the story.

This is how important confidence is, right? And that belief in confidence must be stainless, sincere, and pure. If our faith and conviction is not pure, then it’s not good. A lot of people nowadays who enter the gate of dharma do not find an authentic guru and instead meet fake gurus. A lot of times this happens. And one factor in this is when the student does not have a pure motivation. The student doesn’t have a stable intention to practice genuine Dharma.

The Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa said, “The student’s mirror is the guru.” 

The guru appears in the way according to your desires and wishes. If you’re someone who is attached to external appearances, then basically when you look, it’s possible to find a guru who, when you look at them from the outside, is handsome and good-looking. That’s what you’re going to look for, and that’s what you’re going to find. Some people think they should find a guru who pays a lot of attention to them, always welcoming, who doesn’t think about other people, and always will see themselves more than anyone else. They think that’s what the guru is going to be like. Because that’s what they want, I also find that there’s the danger that they’re only going to find a guru like that. 

Think of Milarepa, for example. He practiced sorcery, killed people. He killed a lot of people. He thought, “When I die, there’s nowhere I’m going to go except for hell.” He only had one hope, that he could reach a guru who could give the instructions on awakening into buddhahood. If he could meet them, get the instructions and achieve buddhahood, then he could do that. Other than meeting that guru, there was nothing else he could think of that he could do. There was nothing else that he needed. Perhaps this seems like too extreme an example, but in any case, for us to practice the Dharma, it’s important for us to have the motivation of wanting to practice the Dharma and the pure true motivation of wanting to follow a guru as a real practitioner. If our motivation is pure and sincere, then our chance of meeting the guru becomes hundreds of times much more likely. If you don’t have that, you won’t be able to.

For example, if Tilopa, Nāropa, Marpa, and other teachers manifested, how would we see them, as being like a good guru? Most of us probably wouldn’t see them as being like a good guru. People who behave so badly! Forget about us seeing them as a guru. We’d probably call the police to have them arrested, put them on trial, send them to prison, or maybe send them to a lunatic asylum. There’s the danger that we’d do that, right?

Particularly in Tibet, forget about it, there’s no freedom. Here, however, there is the freedom to sue the gurus. People will say anything about the gurus. You have a lot of freedom of criticism. So now we’re in a time like this. If Tilopa, Nāropa, and Marpa were alive today, it would be difficult for us to consider them an authentic guru. For this reason, it’s important to have a good guru. But from our perspective, it’s important to have good certainty and good conviction in them.

With that, the Karmapa concluded the teaching. 

Keeping Samaya and Making Offerings
April 4, 2025

Overview
Verse 18: Making offerings and why this is reasonable
Verse 19: Keeping samaya and to whom you should make offerings
Verse 20: What should be offered
Verse 21: Benefits of making offerings

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa began by offering his greeting to all those listening to this Arya Kshema Spring Teaching. He also extended his greeting specifically to the nuns, members of the sangha, and the men and women all over the world listening over the internet. 

Making offerings and why this is reasonable

The other day I spoke about the seventeenth stanza of the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Skt: Gurupañcāśikā). To correlate it with Lord Tsongkhapa’s outline, I am speaking about making offerings. In terms of subtopics, there are four:

Making offerings to purify disrespect
Offering everything you own
Why this is reasonable
How to continually keep the three samayas

Yesterday we spoke about the first two of these subtopics, which were the sixteenth and seventeenth stanzas. They correspond with a quote from Maitreya’s The Ornament of Mahayana Sutras (Skt: Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā), which says:   

Serve the spiritual friend with respect, gifts, service and practice. 

This is related to serving the guru with gifts. To continue with the topic of making offerings according to the Fifty Verses of the Guru, I would like to speak about the third subtopic.

Why this is reasonable. Verse 18 says:

    For they give in this very lifetime
    To those who strive for buddhahood
    That which is difficult to attain in even
    Ten million uncountable eons. (18)

In the Sanskrit Commentary, The Textual Explanation of Following the Guru (Skt. Gurvārādhana-pañjikā), it says, “The reason this is taught is because it explains why we should be especially respectful of the guru.” Likewise, in Lord Tsongkhapa’s commentary Fulfilling All the Student’s Hopes: An Explanation of the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Tib. བླ་མ་ལྔ་བཅུ་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་སློབ་མའི་རེ་བ་ཀུན་སྐོང།) he poses the question, “What is the reason you must please the guru by offering yourself as a servant and offering everything to them from your own body upwards?” This is the question which is answered in the eighteenth verse from the Fifty Verses on the Guru. 

Explanation from the Sanskrit Commentary

The word “for” means “for what reason?” 
“Difficult to attain” is stated because it is obtained through difficulty, hardship, and suffering.
How long of a time? “Ten million eons.” How is ten million eons calculated? His Holiness referred to the Sanskrit and Tibetan system of counting, on which the Western numeral system is now based. In this system place position gives the number its value.  If you have a total of eight places, then 1 equal in first place equals ten million —10,000,000. One uncountable eon equates to 60 places. The Sanskrit verse is stating, “ten million uncountable eons.” 

According to the Foundation tradition, it takes three uncountable eons to attain perfect buddhahood. There are many different discussions within the four vehicles of Buddhism that explain how long a great eon is. Perhaps in the future it will be beneficial to discuss how to calculate a great eon, but His Holiness said, there is not enough time today. 

“Buddha” means someone whose nature is that of the three kayas. An individual who practices the Dharma with diligence and cultivates, or strives, continuously can achieve buddhahood in this lifetime; the guru will give them the state of buddhahood in this lifetime. Because of this, the guru is so very kind. In Lord Tsongkhapa’s commentary it says: 

Because they bestow through Vajrayana the state of buddhahood, that is difficult to attain, and which is otherwise attained in ten million uncountable eons, one must please them in this way. To whom do they bestow buddhahood? They give it to supreme students whose diligence and effort blaze. If the student does not strive, they will not be awakened, and that is only the fault of the student. The supreme siddhi is bestowed, not to mention the common siddhis.

This stanza relates to giving the guru gifts or making offerings, however, in actuality, this stanza teaches the crux of why it is important to serve the guru through gifts, respect, and service. In brief, giving up everything from your own life to serve the guru. 

The importance of the spiritual friend is not only taught in the Secret Mantra but is taught in the Mahayana as well. The reason it is taught in the Mahayana is because without them you will not know the methods for attaining buddhahood. However, in the Secret Mantra Vajrayana following the guru is considered even more important. 

The sutras teach the various lengths of time that it will take to achieve buddhahood while following a spiritual friend:

• For bodhisattvas with sharp faculties it will take: three uncountable eons.
• For those with middling faculties it will take: seven uncountable eons. 
• For those who have dull faculties, they will spend: 33 uncountable eons gathering merit and purifying obscurations. So, it takes an incredibly long time.     

In the Secret Mantra perfect buddhahood can be achieved in either sixteen, sixty, or six lifetimes or even in this very lifetime. One’s ability to achieve it depends primarily upon the guru’s kindness and blessings. Therefore, within the Secret Mantra, the guru is especially kind. 

There is some debate in the sutras about whether or not one can achieve buddhahood in one lifetime. But in general, the ability to achieve buddhahood in one body, in one lifetime, is said to be a particular quality of the unexcelled Mantra. As it is said in The Profound Inner Meaning (Tib. ཟབ་མོ་ནང་དོན།), by the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje:
     
    Bodhisattvas may benefit all sentient beings in three uncountable eons, 
    By the distinction of means, instead of the path of the transcendences.
    By knowing the methods of kriyā and caryā, the supreme siddhi is attained in 
    Only sixteen human lifetimes. And through the unexcelled Mantra, the diligent
    Can certainly attain it in one single lifetime. 
    

What do we mean by a human lifetime? We could consider this as one hundred years. 

As the verse states, if one is extremely diligent, buddhahood can be achieved in one lifetime in the path of the unexcelled Mantra. Or even in three years, three lunar phases and three days. From one perspective, whether or not one is able to achieve buddhahood that quickly or not, depends upon one’s degree of prajñā and diligence. But primarily, within Secret Mantra, there are the superior skillful methods and the guru who teaches them. 

Firstly, being able to enter into the path of the Secret Mantra depends upon the kindness of an authentic guru. Receiving the empowerments which ripen and the instructions which liberate, are also due to the guru’s kindness. Practicing properly, your qualities of realization increase. One is not overpowered by maras and obstacles. All of this depends, primarily, upon whether you have received the blessings of the guru or not. Whether you have supplicated the guru or not. In the very end when you awaken, with the ability to recognize the nature of your mind, and attain buddhahood, it is because of the guru. Thus, the guru is extremely important. 

Within the biographies of many different masters, as their experience and realization begin to increase, even a little bit, their faith in the guru grows even stronger. Those disciples sing songs to remember the guru’s kindness and they sing them over and over again. 

When we think about this lifetime, we have our parents who give us life and this body, and we consider them to be extremely kind. Likewise, when we receive a secular education, which we consider to be important, our teachers are very kind. In terms of other close personal relationships, no matter how much love they give one another in this lifetime, it benefits this lifetime alone. Relationships, such as lovers or husband and wife, if things don’t work out, it is quite possible that it will end up being more harmful then beneficial. However, if we have an authentic guru, in this very lifetime, we can completely exhaust all our suffering and be brought to the unexcelled happiness of buddhahood. In this world, there is no other kindness that is more amazing and greater than that of the guru. 

Contemplating these reasons, we can realize The Fifty Verses on the Guru teaches us how to follow the guru in a way which truly accords with the nature of things. It will bring us great benefit in this and future lifetimes. If we do not have enough prajñā or diligence to achieve buddhahood in this lifetime, we should understand that the moment we have entered into the path of Secret Mantra Vajrayana, we can supplicate the guru. If we do this and are able to keep our vows, there is still a hope that we can achieve buddhahood within a few lifetimes. Therefore, it is crucial, and of absolute importance, that we do our very best to properly follow the guru and keep our samaya. His Holiness stressed that it is extremely important that we gather all of our energy and follow the guru properly. 

The following three verses relate primarily to serving the guru with gifts:

    Always keep your samaya 
    Always offer to the tathāgatas
    And always offer to the guru; 
    They are the same as all of the buddhas. (19)

    Those who want what cannot be exhausted,
    Offer to the guru
    Anything that is desirable
    Or even the most superior. (20)

    To give to them is to perpetually
    Give to all buddhas. 
    By giving to them, one gathers merit. 
    The supreme siddhi, supreme awakening
    Comes from the accumulations. (21)

Keeping Samaya According to the Sanskrit Commentary and Lord Tsongkhapa’s Interpretation

• The Sanskrit Commentary’s Interpretation of the 19th stanza: 

    Always keep your samaya 
    Always offer to the tathāgatas
    And always offer to the guru; 
    They are the same as all of the buddhas. (19)

His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa begins the explanation of each of the three verses by giving a gloss of the text:

“Always keep your samaya.” 

“Always” means at all times you must continuously practice and keep your samaya. 

“Tathāgatas” refers to buddhas and is defined in two ways. The first is that they have gone to suchness and come from there. Alternately, they become the cause of beings’ benefit. Every day we should give various offerings to the buddhas/ tathāgatas. 

“Always offer to the gurus” means at all times and the guru is the master to whom you need to make the offering to. One needs to prostrate and offer him gifts. 

Why must one offer to the guru if there are buddhas and bodhisattvas? Isn’t offering to the tathāgata enough? Because the Guru is “the same as the buddhas”. 

“They” refers to the guru and they are equal to, or the same as, all the buddhas. 

• Lord Tsongkhapa’s interpretation of the 19th stanza:

“Always keep your samaya” refers to the body, speech and mind of the special deity. 

“Always” means that we must continuously remain within the inexhaustible virtue; always keeping your vows. 

The Seventh Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso said, “Always keep your samaya” means that you need to keep the samaya of body, speech and mind. What is meant by body, speech and mind? A passage in Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye’s Treasury of Knowledge (Tib. ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་ཁྱབ་མཛོད།) speaks about the Mantra vows of the awareness holders and it says:

Because all sentient beings are by nature the vajra body, speech and mind.
Whether male or female, never scorn them, this is the samaya of vajra body. 
Never distress or harm sentient beings, this is the samaya of vajra mind. 
When speaking always do so in a pleasant way that isn’t harmful to their ears, 
this is the samaya of vajra speech. 

Many other tantras including The Ornament of Vajra Essence Tantra (Skt. Vajra-hṛdayālaṃkāra-tantra) are unanimous in this instruction. The Ornament of Vajra Essence is one of the most important sources for The Fifty Verses on the Guru.

The way to understand what is meant by, “always keep your samaya”, as it is taught in The Treasury of Knowledge, refers to the samaya of body, speech and mind. This teaches about how important it is to follow the guru, and just as following the guru is important, keeping samaya is also important. The reason is because they depend upon each other. The basis of the samaya in Secret Mantra is the guru. If you don’t keep samaya then there is no way you will be able to provide the guru with service.     

The second line of the verse says, “Always offer to the tathāgata”. This could be understood as always offering mandalas to Vajrasattva and so forth. Normally, when we say Vajrasattva we think of the well-known deity who purifies misdeeds and obscurations. This way of thinking about the deity is fine, but another way to understand this is that Vajrasattva doesn’t mean a particular deity, instead, in terms of the unexcelled Secret Mantra, Vajrasattva can refer to the level of Vajradhara. When practicing Secret Mantra, you need to continuously invite the deities of the mandala as a field of merit and make offerings to them. Alternately, you can go through the stages of the rite of the ground, the preparation, the actual practice and so forth to perform the mandala ritual. When an extensive or grand puja is performed, the offerings and visualizations are done as elaborately as possible. Some people may get bored doing this or feel they don’t have enough time to recite such long texts, but actually, the more that is offered and the longer the praises, the greater the accumulation of merit. Many lamas have given such explanations of the creation phase. 

Likewise, it is during the mandala rituals that you do the self-entry visualization and this is extremely important, one can effectively repair the breakages of samaya.   

His Holiness tells a story to emphasize this point: There was a lama of the Phakdru Kagyu tradition named Sonam Gyaltsen. In his notes he wrote that in the tradition of Luipa Cakrasaṃvara, he performed the self-entry 230 times. He did the self-entry of the Kṛṣṇapāda tradition of Cakrasaṃvara 180 times, and the self-entry of the Ghaṇṭapāda tradition 350 times. This is one example. In Tibet, there are many lamas and monks who have done countless pujas and mandala rituals, performing the self-entry many, many times. The monasteries of all the traditions often hold grand pujas which include these ritual practices. It’s not simply to spend the whole day reciting, there is an important reason for doing it. 

• The Sanskrit Commentary’s Interpretation of the 20th stanza: 

    Those who want what cannot be exhausted,
    Offer to the guru
    Anything that is desirable
    Or even the most superior. (20)

According to the interpretation from the Sanskrit commentary, the second stanza is taught in order to instill enthusiasm for offering to the guru. 

“Anything that is desirable”.  There are the Sanskrit words ’yad yad’ which refers to ‘anything that’ is desirable such as wealth, grain and so forth. “Anything” means anything and everything. “desirable” is something that is pleasing or attractive. What is attractive to the student and what is attractive to the guru are not necessarily the same. It needs to be something that the guru desires. When making an offering it is important to think about this. 

“Most superior” means an offering that is excellent or extremely important, the very finest of things. 

“Those who want what cannot be exhausted”, refers to that which is most superior and cannot be exhausted; it is infinite. “Those who want” are those who seek and wish to please the guru. Whatever they offer to the guru will increase without ever being exhausted in this and in future lifetimes. The resulting virtue from doing this will also be inexhaustible. 

• Lord Tsongkhapa’s interpretation of the 20th stanza:

What cannot be exhausted itself means, the state that once attained will never be exhausted as long as space endures; the dharmakaya. The student who desires that should give any offerings which they find most desirable and superior. Offering them to the guru, the guru should then accept the offerings in order to counteract the student’s craving.

The first chapter of the second book of the Saṃpuṭa-tantra states:

With a mind free of any hope, offer anything that is dear to the guru. This will counteract the student’s fixation. Accept it with the wish to benefit them.
     

• The Sanskrit Commentary’s Interpretation of the 21st stanza: 

    To give to them is to perpetually
    Give to all buddhas. 
    By giving to them, one gathers merit. 
    The supreme siddhi, supreme awakening
    Comes from the accumulations. (21)

“To give to them” teaches why it is inexhaustible. Why is it inexhaustible with the merit continuing to increase? The reason is because giving to the gurus is the same as giving to all of the buddhas and tathāgatas. One may ask, well aren’t the gurus and buddhas different? How can giving offerings to the guru be giving offerings to all of the buddhas? Actually, the gurus and buddhas are indivisible. They are indivisible in essence, they have different forms but, in actuality, there is no difference between them. 

By giving such an offering to the guru, something most superior, one gains merit. Of the two accumulations: merit and wisdom, this is pertaining to the accumulation of merit. When you gather the two accumulations you attain siddhi. Of the two siddhis there are the inferior/ordinary and the supreme. The supreme siddhi is the siddhi of mahamudra; of completely awakening to Buddhahood. 

• Lord Tsongkhapa’s interpretation:

The benefit of making offerings to the gurus, which is the same as making offerings to the buddhas, one will gather the accumulation of merit. Due to gathering great accumulations of merit, one will achieve the supreme among siddhis, Buddhahood. So, what need is there to mention the other siddhis? Thus, the guru is the supreme field for gathering the accumulations of merit and wisdom.   

According to the  Five Stages: The Stage of Blessing Oneself    

    Abandon all offerings
    And begin to offer properly to the guru.
    By pleasing them, you will achieve
    Supreme omniscient wisdom. 

This verse is saying that you don’t need to offer to anyone else, offering to the guru is the best way to make offerings; the most supreme, excellent offering. 

From the stanza, “Therefore you should put all of your efforts…” from verse fifteen to, “Comes from the accumulations”, these stanzas, aside from the sixth, the rest of them are all found in the first two parts of the Supreme Glorious Primordial Tantra (Skt. Śrī-paramādi-tantra). For example, there are seven stanzas in The Fifty Verses on the Guru and among those seven stanzas, except for the sixth, all are taught in the Supreme Glorious Tantra. The first and fifth stanzas from The Fifty Verses on the Guru are also found in the Vajra Tent Tantra (Skt. Vajra-pañjara-tantra). 

Summary and Conclusion

To summarize all of this concisely, whether we’re talking about your material wealth and what you cherish most, or whether offering something that pleases the guru, whatever it is, you should offer them all the guru. So, we have been speaking about serving the guru through gifts. In general, in our lifetime, if we wish to benefit others, there are many different ways that we can do so. The easiest and also the most important among these ways is by being generous. By giving material wealth, Dharma, or safety, all of these are examples of generosity.

Chandrakirti taught in Entering the Middle Way (Skt. Madhyamakāvatāra):

All beings desire happiness and human happiness does not exist without enjoyments. Knowing that enjoyments are obtained by those who are giving, the Buddha first taught about generosity.

Now, what most pleases an authentic guru, one who possesses all of the characteristics, is not being offered material things. What pleases them the most is when the student practices the Dharma. In terms of the student, while there are many ways to serve the guru, the most important way is to practice the instructions as the guru has taught them. In terms of pleasing the guru, accumulating merit, recalling the guru’s kindness, expressing gratitude and making offerings are among the different ways to please them. The last of these, making offerings, is a sign of your gratitude. 

This is something that we speak about quite a bit, however, it may seem like a way for the gurus to accumulate wealth and to enjoy themselves. To live in such a way seems to contradict the Buddha’s teaching on needing little and being satisfied with what you have and avoiding the extremes of indulgence. Moreover, what’s even worse is when the gurus live in luxury and the disciples live in poverty. This just doesn’t look good. People may criticize this and we all know this is so. 

When offering to lamas and tulkus, it is important to make doing so meaningful. In terms of the sponsors, they should be making the offerings to accomplish the accumulation of merit in order to benefit sentient beings. At the very least, it should never be a cause for harming themselves or others. 

When it says in The Fifty Verses of the Guru that we need to make great offerings to the gurus, this is referring only to a guru who has all of the characteristics. Someone who doesn’t have any greed or attachment to wealth or possessions. Such a guru will only think, “How can I benefit the disciple? How can I benefit others?” They need to be someone who is only engaged in meditation practice. So, for such a guru, no matter how many offerings they receive they will use them in accordance with the Dharma; making materials and wealth meaningful. This is, “extracting the essence from material wealth”, as mentioned in the biography of Drikungpa Jigten Sumgön titled, The Lhorong Religious History (Tib. ལྷོ་རོང་ཆོས་བྱུང་།):

He never had anything but his three dharma robes and his alms bowl. He had no attachment or fixation to material things. He would use the auspicious connections of all things offered to him. He would accept them and not allow them to go to waste. He ensured they were never used improperly and encouraged others to do the same. 

For this reason, no matter what kind of offering that you give to a guru with all of the characteristics, it is more meaningful than keeping it for yourself. This helps to counteract attachment. Normally you have your most treasured possessions that you couldn’t possibly give to anyone else, but when you meet an important guru and you feel great faith in them, by offering that possession to the guru, it is beneficial in helping you give up your attachment and fixation. From another perspective, if you give such an offering to an authentic guru, who has great prajñā, the instant that it comes into their hands there is nothing more meaningful because they can use it in ways that are beneficial. 

When a guru and disciple with all the right qualifications come together, then you should serve that guru as it is taught in The Fifty Verses of the Guru: through gifts, service, paying respect and practice. But if the guru spends all their time living in comfort, doesn’t practice, doesn’t keep their discipline, or their samaya, or if they always make their students work and indulge in attachment and aversion, then there is no way that this fulfills the proper characteristics of the guru/disciple relationship as it is taught in Buddhism. Such relationships should be abandoned like poison and the hell realms, as stated in Ultimate Service (Tib. དོན་དམ་བསྙེན་པ།) composed by Rigden Pema Karpo. Many other tantric and Indian texts also stress this. 
Likewise, within Je Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path (Tib. ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ།), when speaking of the three ways to please the guru, it explains that we have to make material offerings. Geshe Logshorwsa said, “If you have nice things that you could offer, but you offer the guru inferior things, this violates samaya. However, if you only have inferior things to offer, then the guru will be pleased with it.” From the student’s perspective, in order to gather the accumulations, they need to offer what they can and as often as possible. From the guru’s perspective, they must not have any attachment or craving for it. 

As Geshe Sharawa said about this, “A guru who is pleased by practice does not concern themselves about material offerings. The opposite cannot be a guru who guides you to liberation.” An authentic guru is happiest when you practice the Dharma properly, not someone who likes offerings and things. 

To further explain how proper gurus and students should exchange offerings, the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje stated in his Hundred Short Instructions (Tib: ཁྲིད་ཐུང་བརྒྱ་རྩ།):

Once the Kagyu Masters of the past began to follow a guru, they would not hold onto their possessions as being ‘mine”, instead, they would give them to the guru. They knew that these things, which they considered precious, came to them primarily because of the guru. Therefore, whatever they acquired was given back to the guru. They had a firm commitment to doing this within their hearts. If their guru was not physically present, they would make the offering during the anniversary of the guru’s passing away or take them to the guru’s monastery. Even before drinking a glass of water or if they had one myrobalan, or before eating even the tiniest piece of fruit, they would first place it facing the guru.  

In brief, even if you do not have an attachment to things, for the sake of the gurus, and even if you only have a little spoon to eat with, or the counter on your mala, you should offer it to the guru. We have a tradition of making an offering even if you are drinking a cup of tea and the reason for this is because we have the tea due to the kindness of the Guru and the Three Jewels. We give the offering to the guru, there are the blessings from that, then having made this connection, we drink the tea ourselves. This is very beneficial for us in terms of purifying the obscurations of offerings. Every time you eat or drink, make an offering instead of thinking, this is all for me. 

In the biographies of many lamas it is said, whatever offerings we give the guru, it should be given in person if they are there. If they are not there, then we make offerings for the sake of fulfilling the guru’s intentions. For example, when the First Lord of Dharma, Dusum Khyenpa met Gampopa he did not have much to give because he was only a poor mendicant. He only had a flower and ten katas. However, later when he went to Kham, his activities flourished and because of that, many people gave him offerings. Some of these he sent to Daklha Gampo Monastery before he left again for central Tibet. When he was much older, in his seventies, Dusum Khyenpa then returned to central Tibet. One reason he did this was to bring some of the offerings that he received to offer at his guru’s monastic seat. 

The second time that Dusum Khyenpa went from Kham to Daklha Gampo, although Lord Gampopa had passed away, he offered one hundred volumes of texts written in gold, one hundred dzo [a hybrid from yak and domestic cattle], one hundred large horses, a large turquoise and so forth. 

On his own part, Dusum Khyenpa didn’t have any attachment to material things. He passed away on the third day of the Tiger month in the year of the Ox. Two days prior to his passing, on the first day of Tiger month, he gathered five of his most significant disciples including Geshe Tsang Sowa and gave them his last testament. He said that the only things he possessed were his robe and a small hand mill for grinding barely flour for tsampa; probably given to him by Gampopa. Everything else belonged to the sangha. He told them:

You five should take ownership of these twenty-five gold srang, the silver, turquoise, silk brocade, dzo, horses, and cooking utensils. You should distribute the barley to the monks. Stay here for a year or two after I am gone.

His disciple Pön Drang Seng asked him, “How many people will stay? Will people come to a remote place like this?” When asked this, Dusum Khyenpa sat up straight and opened his eyes wide and said, “Can’t you stay for a least one or two years?” Now, during this time Tsurphu was in an extremely remote location, one of the most remote places in Tibet, and it was difficult for people to come and to stay there. 

Likewise, there was Taklung Thangpa Tashi Pal, who was the son of a wealthy family. When he first met Phagmo Drupa Dorje he had gold and other things to offer. Later he established the Taklung Monastery, and his activities flourished with many people coming to give him offerings. He had great offerings that he gave to Phagmo Drupa such as one hundred srangs of gold that he offered as butter lamps. At the time of his death he said that all of his belongings should be dedicated to Phagmo Drupa Monastery. But his students asked that he keep a little so that he could fulfill his intentions, otherwise, it was all sent to the monastery. 

There are many such stories; of Dusum Khyenpa, Drikungpa, Taklungpa etc. They were gurus but from another perspective, they were also disciples. In terms of being a guru they were authentic gurus, in terms of being disciples, they were authentic disciples.