FOUNDATION of ALL PERFECTIONS. A Contemporary Commentary on the Stages of the Spiritual Path

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2 FOUNDATION of ALL PERFECTIONS A Contemporary Commentary on the Stages of the Spiritual Path

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4 Also by Gelek Rimpoche Books Good Life, Good Death The Tara Box Transcripts Cittamani Tara Teachings Ganden Lha Gyema: the Hundreds of Deities of the Land of Joy Gateway to the Spiritual Path Gom: A course in Meditation Guide to the Bodhisattva s Way of Life (8 volumes) Guru Devotion: How to Integrate the Primordial Mind Healing and Self Healing through White Tara Je Tsongkhapa s Three Principles of the Path Karma: Actions and their Consequences Lam Rim Teachings (in Four Volumes) Lojong: Training of the Mind in Eight Verses Lojong: Training of the Mind in Seven Points Love and Compassion

5 Odyssey to Freedom: in Sixty-Four Steps The Perfection of Wisdom Mantra The Practice of the Triumphant Ma Self and Selflessness Sem: the Nature of Mind Six Session Guru Yoga Solitary Hero Yamantaka: Teachings on the Generation Stage The Four Noble Truths The Four Mindfulnesses The Three Principles (Short Commentary) Three Main Vajrayana Practices Transforming Negativity into Positive Living Vajrayogini Teachings The Wheel of Existence

6 FOUNDATION of ALL PERFECTIONS A Contemporary Commentary on the Stages of the Spiritual Path Gelek Rimpoche Jewel Heart Transcript 2013

7 Gelek Rimpoche Foundation of All Perfections: A Contemporary Commentary on the Stages of the Spiritual Path 2013 Ngawang Gelek Jewel Heart Transcripts are lightly to moderately edited transcriptions of the teachings of Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche and others teachers who have taught at Jewel Heart. Their purpose is to provide Rimpoche s students, as well as all others who are interested, with these extremely valuable teachings in a way that gives one the feeling of being present at the teachings. JEWEL HEART Tibetan Cultural and Buddhist Center, 1129 Oak Valley Drive, Ann Arbor, MI USA

8 Editor s Note This lightly edited transcript is based on Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche s teachings on Je Tsongkhapa s shortest lam rim, known as The Foundation of All Perfections. The teachings were given on Thursday evenings at Jewel Heart New York in Though small groups of Rimpoche s students were able to connect to the New York City teachings by telephone, most people have never heard this practical and engaging commentary on the stages of the spiritual path, from the importance of the guru to Vajrayana. Filled with stories, examples, and contemporary explanations, Rimpoche provides rich material as well as instructions for meditating on each verse. May this work be of great benefit to everyone who reads it. Brenda Rosen Chicago, IL August, 2012

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10 FOUNDATION OF all perfections A petition to the Lineage Gurus for instant realization of the stages on the spiritual path YÖN TEN KÜN GYI ZHIR GYUR DRIN CHEN JE TSÜL ZHIN TEN PA LAM GYI TSA WA RU LEK PAR THONG NE BE PA DU MA YI GÜ PA CHEN PO TEN PAR JIN GYI LOB Following a kind master, foundation of all perfections, is the very root and basis of the path. Empower me to see this clearly and to make every effort to follow well. LEN CHIK NYE PAY DEL WAY TEN ZANG DI SHIN TU NYE KA DON CHEN SHE GYUR NE NYIN TSEN KUN TU NYING PO LEN PAY LO GYUN CHE ME PAR KYE WAR CHIN GYI LOB Precious human life gained but once has great potential but is easily lost. Empower me to remember this constantly and to think day and night of taking its essence. 1

11 Gelek Rimpoche LU SOK YO WA CHU YI CHU BUR ZHIN NYUR DU JIK PAY CHI WA DREN PA DANG SHI WAY JE SU LU DANG DRIP MA ZHIN KAR NAK LE DRE CHI ZHIN DRANG WA LA I must remember that death is quick to strike, for spirit quivers in flesh like a bubble in water; and after death one s good and evil deeds trail after one like the shadow trails the body. NGE PA TEN PO NYE NE NYE PAY TSOK TRA ZHING TRA WA NAM KYANG PONG WA DANG GE TSOK THA DAK DRUP PAR CHE PA LA TAK TU BAK DANG DEN PAR CHIN GYI LOB Understanding that this most certainly is true, may I discard every level of wrong, and generate an infinite mass of goodness; empower me to be thus continually aware. CHE PE MI NGOM DUK NGEL KUN GYI GO YI TEN MI RUNG SI PAY PHUN TSOK KYI NYE MIK RIK NE THAR PAY DE WA LA DON NYER CHEN POR KYE WAR CHIN GYI LOB Sensual gluttony is a gate to suffering and is not worthy of a lucid mind. Empower me to realize the shortcomings of samsara and to give birth to the great wish for blissful freedom. 2

12 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS NAM DAK SAM PA DE YI DRANG PA YI DREN DANG SHE ZHIN BAK YO CHEN PO YI TEN PAY TSA WA SO SOR THAR PA LA DRUP PA NYING POR CHE PAR CHIN GYI LOB And empower me that with mindfulness and alertness born from thoughts ultimately pure, I may live in accord with the holy Dharma, the ways leading to personal liberation. RANG NYI SI TSOR LHUNG WA JI ZHIN DU MAR GYUR DRO WA KUN KYANG DE DRA WAR THONG NE DRO WA DROL WAY KHUR CHER WAY JANG CHUB SEM CHOK JONG PAR CHIN GYI LOB Just as I myself have fallen into samsara s waters, so have all other sentient beings. Empower me to see this and really to practice Bodhimind that carries the weight of freeing them. SEM TSOM KYE KYANG TSUL TRIM NAM SUM LA GOM PA ME NA JANG CHUB MI DRUP PAR LEK PAR THONG NE GYEL SE DOM PA LA TSOM PA DRAK PO LOP PAR CHIN GYI LOB Yet without habituation in the three higher trainings, thought-training accomplishes no enlightenment. Empower me to know this deeply, and intensely to train in the various ways of the great Bodhisattvas. 3

13 Gelek Rimpoche LOK PAY YUL LA YEN PA ZHI CHE CHING YANG DAK DON LA TSUL ZHIN CHO PA YI ZHI NE LAK THONG ZUNG DU DEL WAY LAM NYUR DU GYU LA KYE WAR CHIN GYI LOB And empower me to pacify distorted mental wanderings and to decipher the ultimate meaning of life, so that I may give birth within my mindstream to the path combining concentration and wisdom. THUN MONG LAM JANG NO DU GYUR PA NA THEK PA KUN GYI CHOK GYUR DOR JE THEK KEL ZANG KYE WO JUK NGOK DAM PA DER DE LAK NYI DU JUK PAR CHIN GYI LOB One who trains in these common Mahayana practices becomes a vessel worthy of the supreme vehicle, Vajrayana. Empower me that I may quickly and easily arrive at that portal of fortunate beings. DE TSE NGO DRUP NAM NYI DRUP PAY ZHI NAM DAK DAM TSIK DOM PAR SUNG PA LA CHO MA MIN PAY NGE PA NYE GYUR NE SOK DANG DO TE SUNG WAR CHIN GYI LOB The foundation of what then produces the two powers is the guarding of the pledges and commitments of tantric initiation. Bless me so that I may have uncontrived knowledge of this And guard my discipline as I do my very life. 4

14 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS DE NE GYU DEY NYING PO RIM NYI KYI NE NAM JI ZHIN TOK NE TSON PA YI THUN ZHI NAM JOR CHO LE MI YEL WAR DAM PAY SUNG ZHING DRUP PAR CHIN GYI LOB And bless me so that I may gain realization of the main practices of the two stages of Vajrayana, essence of the tantric path, and by sitting relentlessly in four daily sessions of yoga, actualize just what the sages have taught. DE TAR LAM ZANG TON PAY SHE NYEN DANG TSUL ZHIN DRUP PAY DROK NAM ZHAB TEN CHING CHI DANG NANG GI PHAR DU CHO PAY TSOK NYE WAR ZHI WAR CHIN GYI LAB TU SOL Empower me that the masters who have unfolded the sublime path within me and the spiritual friends who have inspired me may live long, And that the myriad inner and outer interferences be completely and utterly calmed forever. KYE WA KUN TU YANG DAK LA MA DANG DREL ME CHO KYI PEL LA LONG CHO CHING SA DANG LAM GYI YON TEN RAB DZOK NE DOR JE CHANG GI GO PHANG NYUR THOP SHOK In all future lives may I never be parted from the perfect lamas or the pure ways of Dharma. 5

15 Gelek Rimpoche May I gain every experience of the paths and stages and quickly attain the stage of Vajradhara. 6

16 INTRODUCTION We are going to talk about the Foundation of All Perfections. It is extremely short, even shorter than the shortest lam rim, but it gives you the basis for an almost complete training of the mind. You might say that it expresses the essence of Tibetan Buddhism not as a theory or philosophy, but as a very practical way for one individual person to make a difference in life. It was written by Je Tsongkhapa, the great fourteenthcentury Tibetan master and scholar. In very few words he expresses the essence of what he did and what he experienced in his life. That achievement gives you a real understanding of human life and its value. That s exactly what the Buddha did try to understand what human life is and what value it has what is different between human life and other lives, and how you can make best use of such a life. VERSE 1: THE QUALITIES OF THE GURU YÖN TEN KÜN GYI ZHIR GYUR DRIN CHEN JE TSÜL ZHIN TEN PA LAM GYI TSA WA RU LEK PAR THONG NE BE PA DU MA YI GÜ PA CHEN PO TEN PAR JIN GYI LOB 7

17 Gelek Rimpoche Following a kind master, foundation of all perfections, is the very root and basis of the path. Empower me to see this clearly and to make every effort to follow well. Is a guru necessary? This verse is about the qualities of the guru. The important first question raised here: Is a guru necessary? The translation we are using refers to the guru as a kind master. Maybe the translator thought using the word guru was dangerous because the whole guru business has been very controversial in the West. So, it is important for us to figure out if a guru is even necessary. Especially in the late fifties and early sixties and seventies, so many gurus appeared in this country. Many were Hindu or Buddhist, Tibetan and non-tibetan. When I got to the United States by the late eighties, there was hesitation for people like me to talk about gurus. There have been swamis like Chittananda, Muktananda, and Rajneesh Bhagawan. And Trungpa Rinpoche, who was a great teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, also had a lot of controversy surrounding him. In the West, we have a very superficial knowledge of guru devotional practice. That s why all these controversies come up. For that reason, a person like me hesitated very much to talk about the guru, because you never know whether that is going to help people or create huge trouble for them. People can develop all kinds of doubts. For a long time, I tried to avoid talking about guru devotion, but I could not avoid talking about it completely, because in the Buddhist tradition and, for 8

18 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS that matter, in almost all Eastern religions, the subject of guru devotion comes up. In fact, it is the first really important point. Not only that, but as the text says, it is the root and basis of the path, in other words, the root of all development. So guru devotion is extremely important and impossible to avoid. Those of us who are on the spiritual path would like to have some accomplishment in our lives other than material gains or professional achievements. Buddhists call this ultimate spiritual goal becoming a Buddha. If we were talking about Buddhist philosophy or about the intellectual points of the Buddha s experience, we could get around talking about the guru. But since we are talking about benefiting and uplifting the individual, about fundamental principles and developing a proper foundation within the individual in order to grow spiritual qualities, we cannot avoid talking about it. Particularly in Vajrayana, the guru is a very, very important point. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are three yanas or vehicles. They are called vehicles because they deliver the individual to liberation. First is the Theravada, traditionally called Hinayana. People following that vehicle don t like the name Hinayana because hina means small or narrow. So they changed the name to Theravada, which means the teaching of the elders or the elders way. In addition to the Hinayana, there are the Mahayana, the great vehicle or bodhisattva way, and the Vajrayana, the tantra or diamond vehicle. Actually, Vajrayana is part of Mahayana. That may not be the traditional division of Buddhism into three vehicles, but from the individual practitioner s point 9

19 Gelek Rimpoche of view, there is nothing wrong with it. It is also okay from the Buddhist philosophical point of view. But let us have a look at the guru business. How is that viewed in these three yanas? In the Theravada tradition, gurus are looked at as a Buddha. In other words, practitioners give the same respect to gurus as they give to Buddha. That s why you notice in the Theravada tradition, when a monk is regarded as a spiritual master, other monks give him respect equivalent to the Buddha. For instance, they bow down. The background for that is the idea of treating the gurus like they would treat Buddha. In the Mahayana, the gurus are treated not only as a Buddha but as a real Buddha, and in Vajrayana, the gurus are inseparable from Buddha. Guru devotion is a very complicated subject, but to me personally, it is very definitely necessary to have a guru. Without the guru one cannot properly establish one s spiritual practice. Without a proper guru, people can spend years and put so much time and effort into their spiritual practice but not make any headway towards gaining spiritual development. Can any person who claims to be a guru be your guru? No, very definitely not. The more advertisement, the more publicity and the more self-proclamation someone does, the more you can see it as a sign of weakness. The qualities of a guru must be perceived by individuals who are interested in practicing; they cannot just be projected by the guru. If you are trying to sell commercial goods, then you have to advertise; otherwise you don t sell anything. The manufacturer, the seller, the shop, all would lose out. But spiritual development is not for sale. So why would you blow your 10

20 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS own horn? In that case, who loses? Not you; as a matter of fact, you gain. But whoever did not buy, they lose out. So why would you advertise for spiritual things? The more advertisement is done, the more caution I would raise. There is tremendous room for anybody to exploit anything in terms of life, wealth, time, and everything else. The controversies like sexual exploitation and so on are only possible because we don t know how to handle it. We are not clear about what guru devotion is. On top of all that, advertisement comes up and adds to the confusion. We sort of know that the guru is important, but don t know exactly what it is, and then advertisement makes it more confusing. In good old Tibet, there was no advertisement; there wasn t even a newspaper until late in the 1950s. Even then nobody advertised and particularly gurus didn t advertise. There were no brochures. So how does one find one s guru? You have to carefully observe the person you think of taking as a guru and then go and buy them. It is you, the individual practitioner, who chooses a guru. It is never the guru who chooses you. A guru may or may not accept you. That s different. But you are making the first choice. I choose the person to be one of my gurus. Whether that person will accept or not is their individual right. He or she can reject you, saying, I m too busy. I don t have time. Or, I do not have interest, maybe later. We can try any excuse. In the good old Tibetan system, they won t say, I am too busy, but maybe we can try later. So in principle, it is the individual practitioner who approaches that other person and asks, Can I attend your 11

21 Gelek Rimpoche teaching? Can I follow you? Can I learn from you? The other person will not say, Come here, sit down, and I will teach you. That may happen in very, very exceptional cases, maybe one in a million. On the other hand, everybody will think, I m the one in a million, but that s not how it works. Spiritual guides and spiritual role models The second point is the quality of the guru. You don t choose a guru because he or she is popular or handsome. The guru is perhaps the only role model you have on your spiritual path, so you want to be sure that he or she has good qualities. It is not the question of how he or she dresses or walks or talks, but how he or she handles problems. I m not talking about economic problems, but rather spiritual problems. Gurus are spiritual guides and spiritual role models. They are not business consultants, definitely not. Nor are they psychological consultants, though psychological issues may come up quite a lot. But gurus are consultants dealing with our negative emotions, like anger, attachment, and hatred. So there may be a gray area with psychological points, but it has nothing to do with business, nothing to do with your professional life, nor with your sexual problems or family problems. The textbooks will tell you to consult the guru for everything and follow exactly what the guru tells you. But we are all human beings. A number of you have met the great spiritual teacher Dagyab Rinpoche, who lives in Germany. He came here [to the United States] and met the Jewel Heart people a couple 12

22 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS of times. Dagyab Rinpoche has two children, one son and one daughter. The son s name is Namri Songtsen Dagyab, which is a very unusual Tibetan name these days. It is taken from one of the early Tibetan kings in the seventh century. If you know the Tibetan language, the name is extremely rich and sort of fantastic. It is poetry with a lot of meaning, a lot of historical influences, and very beautiful. Dagyab Rinpoche is very close to Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and, of course, very close to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. So I thought he had asked either the Dalai Lama or Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche for this name. But Dagyab Rinpoche said, Oh no, I didn t consult with any of them. If I did, [my son s name] would have ended up being Tenzin. I didn t want that, so I got this name myself, and then showed it to them, and they said it was very nice. The Dalai Lama s personal name is Tenzin Gyatso. So in this period, there are hundreds and thousands of Tenzin s. That is the Tibetan tradition. Just like that: you don t consult about everything. You have to know yourself how to deal with things, and it is very important to deal the right way. So when you want to select a spiritual guide or role model, you have to put the person under observation for a long time, so that you can see if you encounter any problems and how that person is going to handle him or her self. These are the points of consideration on which we make corrections or choices. I was in Singapore about ten years ago. It was the same year the Chinese had the problem with students in Tiananmen Square, so it was I was staying at the house of friends. They were business people. My friend told me a 13

23 Gelek Rimpoche couple of times that he wanted to buy a big house. He asked me, Should I buy that house? What do you think? And I said, Let me think about it. I will check, or something like that, but I didn t do it. That year I stayed for over a month in this friend s house. One week went by, another went by, and then he asked again. I said, Oh, well, I will check about it. So again I postponed it. Then one day he asked me again, just before lunch, when he normally would go to work in the money exchange. I would not see him at all until night, or he might pick me up for lunch or something. But that day around 10:30 in the morning, he came by and said, I have to make a decision about the house today. I didn t know what to tell him. He said that there were two other people making offers on the house, and he had to make a decision that day. So he asked me, Would you please come? So I said okay, and I went and I saw the house. It was a very nice house. We went up and down, and I still didn t know what to tell him. I had no answer nothing whether he should buy it or not. I began to have thoughts like, If Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche were here, he would know what to say. There were steps leading upstairs. Trijang Rinpoche had an attendant who used to keep his head a little bit up. A couple of American friends know him. They called him the egghead guy. While I was walking up one step, I sort of half-hallucinated and half-saw this attendant, and he told me, Kyabje Rinpoche said if this guy buys this house, there will be no unnecessary problems like illness or troubles from spirits. Otherwise and as far as the business is concerned, he said that s not your concern. I realized I had an answer. 14

24 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS So that s the role model you look for. I m sharing that much with you. It was really last minute. There were three other people going in trying to make an offer, and a decision had to be made right there, that minute. I had to have something to tell him about what to do because he was totally looking to me. So I went up those steps into three or four rooms, and then I said, Well, if you buy this house, I don t think you will have many problems. As far as the business is concerned or the value, I know nothing about it. That s what I told him. Things like that can serve as a role model. But the most important point is how we deal with our anger, attachment, and jealousy, and how to clear our ignorance. For that you are looking for a role model, and that cannot be somebody you worship. It can t be somebody who will tell you exactly what to do so that you don t have to take any responsibilities. Americans have a big problem there. You don t want to deal with your problems. So you go and ask somebody else, and they tell you yes or no or all kinds of things, and then you say, So-and-so said so. But that person probably did not hear even half of what you said, particularly if you had to go through an interpreter who may translate wrongly half the things you said. So the answer you re going to get is ninety percent incorrect anyway. So why do that? Maybe that s a job for psychics, astrologers, fortunetellers, or soothsayers, but not for spiritual masters. What I said about this house business is probably a fortuneteller s or astrologer s job, but then it just landed on my lap, and I had to deal with it. That happens. It overlaps here and there. 15

25 Gelek Rimpoche The ten qualities of a spiritual master But when you re really looking for the role model of a guru, then the guru who is qualified to be a spiritual master should have ten qualities that are traditionally mentioned. 1. The spiritual master has to have better qualities than you do. He or he has to be a well-behaved person in the sense that he is not under the control of negative emotions. So one of the qualities of a spiritual master you are looking for is whether that person really has the quality of dealing with negative emotions. 2. He or she should be more learned than you are, because you want to learn from that person. If he doesn t know any more than you do, there is nothing more for you to learn, right? A number of people these days say, I got this from my personal intuition, blah, blah, blah. There may be great beings who really can take information off the Akashic records or know from their intuition, but ninety percent of those are phony. Ten percent, maybe yes. But ninety percent are phony. So your spiritual master must be more learned than you and have a better quality than you. The path that Buddha shared with us is totally based on the Buddha s personal experience. It was put to the test by thousands of followers. They found that if you apply the same methods the Buddha did, it works, and you get the same results, no matter whether you are a man, woman, or whatever you might be. This is called a reliable, solid, grounded path. 16

26 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS Bottom line, a guru s knowledge can t be their halfhallucinated, half-asleep, half-high, half-drunk personal intuitions. Why should we rely on something like that, when we have the solid, tested experience of the Buddha followed by thousands of people in an unbroken lineage? Their experience is further recorded in books. The many books and teachings all of them are their statements that they recorded. It is very scientific, very solid. And if you have something like that available, why should you go for some little funny half-hallucinated thing? It is so silly to me. This path is extremely solid. Thousands of people have experienced it, one after another and then they recorded that. 3. and 4. The person should be enthusiastic [enthusiasm for teaching the dharma (3) and delight in doing so (4).] 5. He or she should be rich in sources. If you have a rich knowledge of Buddhist scriptures, you can say, the Buddha experienced it. Or, So-and-so did this and soand-so did that. They had this difficulty and tried that solution, and this one worked and that one didn t work. All of these are the sources from which gurus draw their information. So the spiritual master should be rich in that and 8. A spiritual master should understand what he or she is talking about. There are a lot of people who read a lot of books and then make very nice, beautiful speeches, but they have no idea what they are talking about. You can see that very often these days. They 17

27 Gelek Rimpoche talk about something very profound, but they have no idea what they are talking about. They just know a lot of nice words that they have collected from different books. That is just dry academic information. But for a spiritual master, we need someone who has had experience and has developed [some (6) concentration and (7) wisdom that (8) reduces self-grasping] as a result. Intellectual knowledge is not the most important. What we need is intellectual knowledge verified by personal experience. Do you see the difference? 9. A guru should have the art of presentation. If you don t have that, then it doesn t work. Think of Japanese food. They may only have a small quantity of daikon radish, but they shred it in a very artistic way and make it fluffy. Then in the middle of a big plate there is that tiny little daikon radish and maybe one or two pieces of carrot mixed in, and it looks very beautiful. You would rather have just this much daikon radish and this much carrot made in a way that makes you want to eat it than a huge daikon radish that is just chopped and you don t want to eat it. So the art presentation is absolutely important. 10. The person must be very compassionate. Otherwise, if you are uncaring and uncompassionate, there is big trouble. That means that one should be able to take a little hardship. Otherwise, you have a little cold or cough, and you don t show up. That won t work. A guru must have a little endurance. 18

28 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS According to the Theravada tradition, gurus must have the two qualities of stability and knowledge. In the Mahayana there are the ten qualities I just mentioned. In the Vajrayana, there are ten plus ten, or twenty qualities. For all of those qualities, you have to give up to fifty percent discount. They give you an idea on what basis you can make a decision. Some are very important; others, you can give a little discount. You are not going to find anybody perfect everywhere. So when you look for these qualities, you are the judge. You have to make a choice, not that person. I used to say that if anybody calls you and says, Hey I m your guru, run 500 miles and don t look back. Let them hear the whistle blow and go 500 miles. It is you who makes the choice, not the guru. Of course, he also has the right of refusal, very definitely. But these are the criteria and on that basis you choose. Gurus in dreams and hallucinations Another question is: what about a guru that appears in dreams, a guru that you feel is with you, whose voice you can hear? I m going to say the same thing: there may be exceptional cases, but for percent of the time, you are better off not dealing with those things. In our tradition of teachers, we do not rely on that. Take as an example Je Tsongkhapa, who wrote the Foundation of All Perfections. He lived from 1357 to 1419 and was the founder of the Gelugpa or yellow hat sect. Je Tsongkhapa had a vision of 35 different Buddhas on the peaks of the mountains. He didn t just run there. He ignored them. He went out of his cave and did his usual business. 19

29 Gelek Rimpoche Today, if we have a little hallucination, we go for that straight away, feeling a little bit high and thinking it is so fantastic. Many people have told me, I have seen stars, or I ve seen the clear light. When someone tells me these things individually, what can I say except Oh, nice! How can I say, This is nothing. People won t like it, so I simply say Oh nice, nice, and try to run away from the conversation as fast as I can. But in the group I can say it, because it is not addressing any individual. So this is a nice opportunity. When those 35 Buddhas appeared on the mountaintops and tried to talk to Je Tsongkhapa, he ignored them totally until a solid human messenger from his teacher came and told him, These are real. Do not ignore them. Until then he ignored them. Even then, when he began to have a conversation with them, he asked only questions that he knew the answers to. That way he knew whether what they were telling him was right or wrong. Since a person like Je Tsongkhapa went through that, obviously we have a tremendous problem in separating our hallucinations from real visions. Plus if you smoke a couple of joints or have a couple of drinks, it will be a big difference. So the point is reliability. You are better off relying on something that is solid and accountable. If you are dealing with a human being, he or she can be accountable and responsible. If it is not a human being, there is no accountability. Somebody came and told you something, but where is that somebody now? You don t know. That s a big problem. I am not denying that there are spirits, but there are equal numbers of good and bad ones, and the chances of 20

30 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS coming across the really great ones are very small. Therefore it is better to rely on solid human beings who are accountable and responsible rather than on something strange. I still have a number of people who tell me, You told me this morning blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Didn t you tell me? Then I say, I don t know, and they say, But I recognized your voice. Then I say, Okay, well not that I know of. What else can you say? I can t tell them, You have been hallucinating. The best thing is not to rely on that kind of thing. And remember, you are the one who is the decision maker. Nobody can push you or make the decision for you. Why guru devotion is important It is very clear that we need a guru. Even for ordinary daily little things, such as artist s work or even painting a car, you need some kind of guidance. Nowadays you have owner s manuals. They can be very helpful, but still you need someone who is there and who can show you and answer your questions, sort of like a living dictionary. That is extremely helpful. According to Buddha and his disciples, a guru is absolutely necessary. I really cannot emphasize enough how important it is. One cannot manage without it. I recall one of the last public teachings that I had from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, the senior teacher to his Holiness the Dalai Lama. I think it was almost his last public teaching. He gave it under the sponsorship of Tibet House in New Delhi, India. It was a seven-day teaching. The translation is actually available in English. It is based on just four stanzas of a spiritual song by the Seventh Dalai Lama. 21

31 Gelek Rimpoche [Gelek Rimpoche gave a teaching on this in , and the edited transcript The Four Mindfulnesses was published in 2009.] Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, commenting on this text, gave a long teaching on guru devotional practice. I think it was the first and second day. During the break he said to me in his own room, Why are we afraid of talking about gurus so much? There s nothing to be afraid of. You have to talk about it, because if you don t talk, nobody will know, and after a little while, probably guru devotional practice will not be considered important anymore and will not even exist. That s true. You cannot be afraid of talking about it, because otherwise there will be a huge gap, and then the danger is that everything becomes an intellectual exercise rather than spiritual. This is a sensitive subject and important, so much so that Je Tsongkhapa chose to call it the root of all development. If you want to grow a tree or flower, you need the root. Without the root, it cannot grow, right? So anything without the root cannot grow. Why is guru devotion the root? Because the guru is the link between the enlightened society and ourselves. Traditional teachers will give you the example that the enlightened society is like solar energy the sun s rays, the guru is like a magnifying glass, and we are like dust or dried grass. In order for that dry grass to catch fire, you need the magnifying glass to focus the sunlight. That s the reason why the guru is your supreme field of merit. Mind you, after a little while you have to see that person as inseparable from a truly enlightened Buddha. You must make the decision by yourself. Don t be quick to 22

32 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS judge. Take your time but again, don t take all the time, or you won t have time to do anything. In the 1100s, a Chinese emperor invited one of the Sakya lamas from Tibet. He arrived in the Chinese capital, and the emperor said, I have to observe you to see whether you are fit to be my guru or not. He put him under observation for twelve years. After twelve years, the court s decision came that he was fit to be guru to the emperor. So the emperor showed up one day and said, We have checked you very carefully and found you perfectly suitable. Hereby I appoint you as the emperor s guru. Now that guru said, Well, you have observed me for twelve years; now it is my turn to observe you for twelve years to see whether you re fit to be a disciple or not. In between that, he died. After he passed away, the Chinese emperor immediately picked the lama s nephew, who had accompanied his uncle to China, to be his guru without any observation at all, telling him, Now you re the one; you re the only one. That s how it happened. If you read Sino-Tibetan history, you see all these interesting things. So don t over spend the checking time but don t be too quick to make a judgment, because this is very important. The Tibetan teachers will normally tell you that even the dogs, if you throw food at them, will smell it first and then decide whether to eat it or leave it alone unless the dogs totally relies on you and believes you. Then they will eat whatever you throw them. But if you are a stranger, the dog will smell it first and check whether it s edible or not and then make a decision. We have to be better than the dogs. So you have to make your own decision by using those cri- 23

33 Gelek Rimpoche teria and observing the person. If you don t, then all these things can happen that happened in the 60s. Everybody followed everything. There were so many Hare Rama s and Hare Krishna s everywhere, at every airport, at every place, also, the Bhagawan Rajneesh s orange disciples. So if you take it like that and swing so far, then no doubt you ll have controversies at the end. No wonder all those problems came up later. It s because at first they did not do any observation. These problems create trouble in your spiritual journey. It is a huge obstacle, not a simple obstacle. It not only creates obstacles for you, but it is a big problem for your circle and associates. How can we avoid that? By being observant right from the beginning and not being so quick to make a decision. Don t take a whole twelve years to do it, but don t be so quick to make the decision. How to teach dharma Many of you are going to be spiritual teachers, no doubt about it. The most important thing is that you have something to teach. You must be better than the person you are going to teach; otherwise you are not fit to be their teacher. Selling yourself is not your purpose. Helping others is your goal and purpose. Helping in whatever way you can is important, but your motivation has to be totally altruistic, nothing else. There should not be any agenda. There should not be any manipulation. These are the fundamental vows that one has to commit oneself to if one wants to follow the Buddha s path. And don t chase people. In other words, there is no point in becoming another Jehovah s Witness you know what I 24

34 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS mean? That s not your job; that s not your duty; that s not helping; you must know where to draw the line. When somebody is not interested, don t push it. That is so important. In Jewel Heart people come and people go. We don t particularly bother. In the case of those who have been the very core group people, if they are not there, we make one phone call to find out if there s something wrong. Other than that, it s the individual s choice wherever they go. We should never chase a person. If they want to go, let them go. If they come back, welcome them. Be very open. Moreover, if you share [the dharma] with other people, there can be no financial considerations whatsoever. There should be no difference between teaching a person who wants to give you a million dollars and a person who gives you a nickel. This is so important. Otherwise you ll be totally under manipulation. If somebody very wealthy gives you millions of dollars and then says, If you don t do this, I m out, then fine, let them go. Never hesitate to let people go; never ever hesitate. Think, That s fine. Somehow we ll figure out how to manage. These are important points from the guru s point of view. Another thing: you people are looking up at me and I m looking down, because I am sitting on a chair on a stage. So I could be thinking, I m great today, wow. That is ego. Never ever think that; always remember impermanence; always remember that the moment when you are looking down and three people are looking up is impermanent. Everything changes. These are the criteria, if you going to be a spiritual teacher. In addition to that the most important thing is that you have something to say, something to share, 25

35 Gelek Rimpoche something to guide. Instead of talking from the philosophical point of view, talk from the practical point of view. You just say something, and people come and listen. If it s a lecture, it s fine. It doesn t matter. But if it s a teaching, it s not fine; it does matter. Every single word you say makes a difference. So you are responsible; it does matter. Therefore you should only be interested in serving and helping people. Never insult anybody. Never insult anybody! In Tibet they will tell you, Never say no, but that won t work in America. In Tibet, the tradition is that if you don t agree, you just keep your mouth shut and don t say anything. That doesn t mean you agree. It actually means you do not agree. In the American tradition if you don t say anything, you have agreed. In Tibet, it s the other way around. If you don t endorse it nicely at first, it means you did not agree. Anyway, never be harsh; always be kind and compassionate; never be manipulative. Sometimes you may have to be harsh to some people for their own benefit or for your personal benefit, too. You need the wisdom to be able to discriminate. These are the qualities one has to possess if one is going to be a spiritual master. Questions and Answers Audience: I remember about five or six years after I met you, I happened to be talking to Robert Thurman. I wanted to join a school and find a teacher. So I was interviewing him or something. I said, By the way, I am looking for a teacher. Can you recommend someone? He said, I recommend Gelek Rimpoche, and I said, Yes, I know him. 26

36 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS He lives in Ann Arbor, but I live in New York. Then he said that there is this traditional Tibetan saying: It is good to find a guru who lives three mountains and two valleys away from you. That gives me the idea that probably there were always some traditional problems with guru relationships, is that right? Rimpoche: Yes, there is a saying in Tibetan that goes, The guru is like the sun. Don t go too close or you will get burned. Audience: You are saying the student picks the guru and observes the guru and then the guru can accept or reject the student. Why would a guru in light of some of the qualities, like helping people and being compassionate, reject somebody? Is that common? Rimpoche: Very common, yes. It is nothing personal. Maybe there is no karmic connection. Maybe it s not right. There can be hundreds of different reasons. I don t think any good gurus will give up anybody because that s breaking their vow, so they won t. But it might not be the right time yet or whatever the reason may be. Audience: [What does someone do who has had a bad experience with a guru?] Rimpoche: It is funny. If you look back today at what happened in the sixties and seventies, then you see all these reports and writings and people s memories of the guru 27

37 Gelek Rimpoche abuses that took place. But does anybody really talk of the benefits that they got from having a guru? It seems that those who benefitted are definitely there, but they choose to keep their mouths shut. Looking thirty years back, look at the benefits brought by those swamis like Chittananda and Muktananda and all these other nandas and also Bhagawan Rajneesh [Osho] and, even closer to home, Trungpa Rinpoche. Not so many people talk about that, but you can read their books, which are available everywhere. They will tell you what happened and what benefits people got and how fantastic it was. I don t read English much. It is very difficult for me. But you just have to look at Trungpa Rinpoche s Cutting through Spiritual Materialism and books like that. They made a fantastic contribution. I am not familiar that much with Rajneesh s work, but his books are there, too. But what we hear are just the stories of abuse. They were there, too. But we have to compare and see how much benefit people got as a society and as individuals and how much abuses were there for society and individuals. We should make a fair judgment now, after looking back thirty, forty years. Yes, there were some terrible experiences. Sometimes these are necessary, and sometimes they are totally abuse and taking advantage. But sometimes it is necessary. Look into Milarepa s life story. There are now several versions of that available in English, as well as his Hundred Thousand Songs. Then you will know that at least in the case of Milarepa, it was necessary. I don t know about anybody else. I m not here to defend anything. The judgment has to be made by yourself, rather than anybody else. But the ques- 28

38 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS tion is also how to heal that [abuse]. That depends on what kind of wound you have. Milarepa got healed because of his understanding, his spiritual development, and his meditation. But everybody is not like Milarepa. It s very hard to do it that way. There s a rather rough way of healing it, which all of us Eastern people like to do. It comes from the abuses we experienced from gurus or parents. People would like to swallow it and keep quiet and have respect for the elders and parents and gurus. So they say, Whatever that person does, let him do it, and they take it and take it and take it. That s what the Eastern tradition does. I used to get beaten up terribly during my childhood, all the time, and not only by the teachers but even by the attendants and servants! The servants would beat me up all the time. That is how I was brought up. At that time, I was so small I couldn t challenge them even if I wanted to, and if I went to my parents and complained, all they would say is, Oh, the good qualities are on the tip of the whip or something. So instead of getting sympathy you get additional salt put on your wound. So what else could you do? Nothing. So you just take it and take it and hope that the pain you are experiencing will be able to purify all our negativities and illnesses and trouble in this in life and everybody else s trouble, too. That s what I used to do. [In the monastery], the disciplinary people including the abbot looked the other way, pretending they didn t see it. But when I got home, I got beat up, so much so I that at certain times I could not ride a horse. In Tibet, in those days, when you traveled, you had to ride a horse. There 29

39 Gelek Rimpoche were no cars. When I had been lashed, I was all wounded, so I couldn t sit on the horse. It would bump so much that I had to stand up in the stirrups rather than sitting. That happened very often, especially between the ages of nine or ten to fourteen or fifteen. Then when I became a little bigger, I didn t challenge them. However I was strong enough that when they started beating me, I could hold them very tight. They would say, Aren t you going to let me go? and I would say, No, I am sorry. I held them so tight that they said they couldn t breathe. So, you simply say sorry very politely but hold tight until you make sure that person will not hit you anymore. If you don t take it personally, the physical pain will go away. Then you won t have mental scars. But if you take it personally, then you re going to get mentally wounded. You think about it: Wow, how dare they do this? What am I going to do? How am I going to challenge? Wait till I get bigger, and you will cook up all kinds of schemes. One advantage I have is that I have a lot less anger. People who know me well know I have very little anger. Even at childhood, I was known among friends as the one who never gets angry. I used to get very scared, but I didn t get angry. Maybe I m a wimp. But that has been an advantage for me, and that s why although I did get a lot of childhood abuses, I do not a have mental scars. But we don t have to do it that rough Eastern way. It is not in Western culture. Actually, most healing is done by understanding, and I think this is the best way. You need to look carefully. Some gurus are genuine, and some are not. I think you can definitely confront [a guru who does not act 30

40 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS properly]. I don t think anything is wrong with that. With a genuine idea and honesty and straightforwardness, you can talk to that person. You can talk privately or publicly, whatever you want. I think definitely you can talk about it and find out how to heal it. The way I was healed was by understanding and by not taking it personally. But when you re talking about guru abuses here, particularly if it is about sexual abuse, that s a totally different story. I think it depends on what the nature of the abuse is. One advantage of being a good human being and intelligent person is that you can always find a way to personal healing. That is extremely important. So, can you be angry with that person? That s a big question. If I have a choice, I will not be angry. Am I sad? Yes. Will I dislike it? Sure. Will I avoid it? Sure. But I don t want to be angry. Particularly I don t want to be angry with the guru. If it is guru abuse, then it may be a little bit better, but if you really get angry with that big guru, it is probably one of the heaviest things. You can pull yourself away from enlightenment. So somehow we have to find the healing without getting angry. But you don t have to appreciate bad behavior either. Audience: Do you think it s adequate to have the books as the guru or do you need personal contact with a person? Rimpoche: According to the Buddha s teaching, personal contact with the guru is necessary. The Buddha very strongly emphasized that book knowledge cannot substitute for a real guru. And a living guru is considered important for 31

41 Gelek Rimpoche the individual. It is not that the guru must be alive all the time, but a living guru is necessary. It is emphasized in the Buddha s tradition. Audience: In Tricycle magazine, Thurman is interviewing His Holiness, and they are talking about this subject. Thurman is asking about the doctrine that you have to view the teacher as the Buddha. His Holiness says he thinks that this doctrine has been abused in Tibet. Rimpoche: Yes, that is what I m saying right from the beginning. Yes, it has been abused, but can you do without it? Probably not. There are a number of reasons, but the most important one is that not only is the guru a link between the enlightened beings and yourself, but at the point when you become a Buddha and this may be news to many people first you become enlightened as the mind part of the Buddha, rather than the physical part of the Buddha. And that happens in the nature of the guru s mind. That is the Mahamudra business. When you first become enlightened, you do so in the nature of the guru s mind. That is why one cannot do without that. That s the bottom line, and that is why it is sensitive and why it s very important. Truly one cannot do without it. Of course it has been abused, no doubt about it. And a number of people are abusing it all the time. That s not good. It s terrible. Is that abuse necessary? Most probably not, unless a person like Milarepa meets a person like Marpa. That s a different story. Otherwise it s not necessary. Did I see many guru abuses in Tibet? No, I did not. Yes, I 32

42 FOUNDATION OF ALL PERFECTIONS got beat up all the time, but they had no agenda of their own. They beat me up because I was naughty; they wanted to improve me, and perhaps they didn t know any better way of doing it. Audience: Can you say more about how one gets enlightened in the nature of the guru s mind? Rimpoche: First, when you become enlightened you become enlightened in the guru s mind form. At that level there is no separation between the guru and the Buddha. Buddha is guru and guru is Buddha. That s why we look at the guru even now as being like a Buddha or as oneness and inseparable from the Buddha. Although the guru devotional practice is introduced as the first step, do you really have to stick with this point and not move on until you have really developed that within you? The answer is no. Not only that, it is recommended not to do it. Otherwise it can take a whole life for somebody to sort it out, and if you cannot do anything else because you re stuck on that point, it is not good. You can waste your life. So that is why it is recommended to develop the guru devotion simultaneously with the next practices. VERSE 2: APPRECIATING HUMAN LIFE LEN CHIK NYE PAY DEL WAY TEN ZANG DI SHIN TU NYE KA DON CHEN SHE GYUR NE NYIN TSEN KUN TU NYING PO LEN PAY LO 33