Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind
Page 9
Have not dispersed.
Rely then on such glorious teachers, learned and accomplished.
6. Their qualities are boundless;
Yet, if we praise but partly
These great friends of beings,
They are like mighty ships
That bear across the ocean of existence.
They are the peerless guides
Of those who enter on the path.
They are like wish-fulfilling jewels
That dissipate recession and decline.
They are like streams of nectar
That extinguish fires of karma and defilement.
They are like perfect clouds of rain
That soothe with showers of teaching.
They’re like the gods’ great drum
That thrills all beings with joy.
They are like great physicians
That cure the ills of the three poisons.
They are great shining lamps
That dissipate the dark of ignorance.
They’re like the mighty tree of miracles,
The source of bliss for everyone.
They’re like the perfect precious vase
That satisfies unprompted every wish.
They are like suns of intense love
With rays of light unbounded.
They are like moons that soothe all torment,
Shining their white light of bliss and benefit.
7. Their vast expanse of mind is like the stainless sky.
Their concentration, luminous and clear,
Is like the planets and the stars
That shine with their own light,
Their love and wisdom are as boundless as the sea.
The powerful surge of their compassion
Is like a mighty river in its course.
No distraction moves them;
They’re like glorious snowcapped peaks.
Utterly unwavering,
They’re like Sumeru, king of mountains.
They dwell within the world unstained
Like lotuses that grow in muddy pools.
They have impartial love for beings
As though they were their fathers or their mothers.
Unending are their qualities;
They are like precious treasure mines.
And, like the mighty Conqueror,
They are the guides for all the world.
8. Such teachers are the glorious lords of Dharma.
No matter where they are, they are the peers of all the buddhas.
Through seeing them or hearing them,
Remembering or touching them, saṃsāra is undone.
Tremendous is the charge of their great works,
And they are like the mighty earth supporting every being.
9. Enlightened masters, the fourth Jewel,
Are herukas in the maṇḍala, powerful and glorious.
They labor in this age of dregs
For beings difficult to teach,
For whom they thus surpass all buddhas.
Vajra masters are the root of all accomplishment.
Attend such masters purely and with honesty
In thought and word and deed,
Revering them above your head.
10. These masters bar the way to lower realms;
To higher destinies they build a stair,
And they bring benefit and bliss in this and future lives.
They teach the perfect truth and bless the minds of beings
And place them in this life
Upon the path of ripening and freedom.
Therefore with a constant, firm, unchanging faith,
Follow them at all times tirelessly.
11. To bring defilements to an end
And to be free from harms, results of evil deeds,
To be delivered from the dread of birth and death,
And gain spontaneously the twofold goal,
To cross the ocean of existence—
For this you must rely upon a teacher,
Like the sick on their physician
And the people on their king,
Like travelers upon their escort,
Merchant sailors on their captain,
And like those who cross the water on their ferryman.
12. Consider thus your teacher as a doctor
And his teaching as a medicine.
Regard yourself as sick and take
Your practice as your therapy,
The gaining of both happiness and peace
As cure from your disease.
Likewise, in ways similar to these,
Attend upon your teacher
With the four pure attitudes.
13. But disciples with an evil karmic share
Are the ground of every fault.
They are bereft of faith;
They have no sense of shame or decency;
Small is their compassion.
Their character and family, their conduct and their destiny
Are bad. Their minds, behavior and defilements—
The five poisons—all are very gross.
Confusing right with wrong and virtue with nonvirtue,
They distort the precepts.
They do not keep the vows and the samayas
And have no methods of redress.
Weak in their intelligence, they are dull and difficult to please.
Their anger and their violent speech are fully grown.
With five erroneous attitudes, they pursue the teacher.
For them the teacher is a musk deer and his doctrine musk.
They regard themselves as hunters;
Their practice is to shoot assiduous arrows,
And they think the fruit thus gained
Is something to be sold to others.
Because they do not keep samaya,
Suffering is all they get, in this and future lives.
14. Some become disciples
Rashly and without investigation.
First, they praise the master’s qualities,
But later they decry them.
Some do both and are deceitful hypocrites.
They defame the teacher’s entourage
Through sly insinuation.
The fruit of such behavior is the Hell of Torment Unsurpassed.
15. Fortunate disciples have great faith and wisdom.
Careful, mindful, vigilant, they strive with diligence.
They do as they are told; they keep their vows and pledges.
They control themselves in thought and word and deed.
Great is their compassion and their altruistic mind.
They are spacious in their attitudes and always joyful,
Generous, and pure in their perceptions.
They are steadfast and have great devotion.
16. Disciples such as these are ever mindful
Of their teachers’ qualities.
They never think that they have defects,
And if perchance they see them,
They will take them for good qualities.
Sincerely they tell themselves, “The master has no defects—
This is just my own perception.”
They thus confess their error and,
Resolving to refrain from it,
They implement the antidotes.
17. All the teacher does not like should be avoided.
Strive instead to please him by all means
And never disobey what he commands.
Regarding as himself all those around him whom he cherishes,
Never take his entourage as your disciples.
Request instead both teachings and empowerments.
18. In the presence of the teacher,
Hold in check your body, speech, and mind.
Don’t stretch out your legs or sit in vajra posture.
Do not turn your back or have a somber look,
And do not crease your face with frowns.
19. Don’t speak out of tu
rn, and do not lie or slander others.
Don’t discuss another person’s faults
Or speak unpleasantly and harshly.
Avoid all careless and unseemly talk.
20. Do not covet what the teacher owns,
And wish no harm or malice
To himself or to his entourage.
In the various deeds and conduct of the teacher
See no error, no hypocrisy.
Do not think his deeds are wrong
Or even slightly untoward:
All such false, mistaken views should be rejected.
21. When the teacher has a wrathful look,
Reflect that it is surely your own fault.
Make confession and restrain yourself.
Meditate upon the teacher; seeing him above your head,
Make fervent prayers to him.
By pleasing him you swiftly gain accomplishment.
22. When you see the teacher, rise and bow to him.
When he wishes to be seated, bring to him a seat
With all the needed comforts,
And with folded hands and pleasant speech extol him.
When he leaves, stand up
And like a servant tend on him.
23. Be at all times mindful, careful, vigilant,
Respectful, humble, full of awe.
In the teacher’s presence be restrained—
Just like a newly wedded bride—
In body, speech, and mind.
Be without distraction, agitation, or vain ostentation.
Respect him in a manner free from partiality,
Without a wish for fame or personal advantage,
Free from all hypocrisy and all deceit,
Without duplicity or biased exclusivity.
24. Offer to the teacher wealth, if you possess it.
Serve him with respect and reverence
In your body, speech, and mind.
And please him with your practice,
Abandoning this life’s concerns.
25. When others denigrate your teacher,
You should stop them.
If you are unable, think only of his excellence.
Block your ears and with compassion help the slanderers.
But do not stay with them or chat with them on easy terms.
26. To act like this brings benefit in all your future lives.
You will encounter holy beings and hear the supreme Dharma.
Grounds and paths of realization,
The power of dhāraṇī48 and of concentration—
All this wealth of excellence will be completely yours,
And to beings you will bring a feast of happiness and peace.
27. Keep good company with sublime masters;
Evil, sinful teachers, utterly avoid.
They are without the qualities explained above
And are disordered in their vows and their samaya.
Their faults are numerous and grave.
Small they are in love, compassion, wisdom, erudition,
Great in lazy indolence, in ignorance and pride,
In petulance and spite.
Their defilements, all five poisons, are extremely rough.
Their care is only for this present life;
Concern for future lives they cast away.
This tribe of charlatans may seem to teach the Dharma,
And yet it is not so.
Such teachers are like heaps of refuse.
Even if they have great followings,
Keep far away from them.
Their faithful followers they lead
On false paths to the lower realms.
If you desire the path to freedom,
Never count on them.
28. Links with evil friends should also be forsaken.
As long as you stay in their company,
To that extent your dark side will develop
And your virtue will diminish.
Defilements will fall down on you like rain.
Bad friends destroy your happy destinies
And are a stairway down to lower realms.
Holy beings they slander; they are enemies of virtue.
Evil beings they praise, and darkness is their friend.
They praise the wicked ways of those who are like them.
At all times do they draw you onto paths to lower destinies.
With eyes of wisdom you should cast them far away.
29. By avoiding evil teachers and bad company,
You will gain good qualities
And will be happy in this life and those to come.
Your virtue will increase and you will tread
The profound path of liberation.
Evil beings you will never see
But only your protectors:
Blissful buddhas and their retinue of bodhisattva children,
Who hold you in their minds and bless you.
You will have a happy death and go to higher realms.
All these and other qualities
Beyond imagining you will possess.
30. Always keep the company of good and virtuous friends,
For thanks to them your virtue will increase;
Your sins and your defilements will diminish,
And your faults will disappear.
You will pass beyond saṃsāra
And gain high birth and final goodness.
This life will pass in happiness;
Your later lives will bear good fruit.
All your actions will be wholesome;
You will be the guide of gods and humankind.
31. By keeping company with spiritual masters and good friends,
You will increase in virtue and have joy as the result.
In saṃsāra you will have no fear
And gain unbounded benefit and bliss.
You will achieve the endless riches
Of the twofold goal of beings.
These friends and masters are the emanations
Of the buddhas, our enlightened guides,
Appearing in this age of decadence.
Therefore, till the essence of enlightenment is gained,
Rely on holy beings.
32. Doing this, you will perceive impartially
All things as pure.
You will have perfect love, compassion, bodhichitta.
Your spiritual experience and your realization
Will develop more and more.
Your work for beings will be boundless;
Your aspirations will be all fulfilled
In accordance with the Dharma.
33. How then should you meditate upon your teacher?
How should you address your prayers to him?
At all times to fulfill the two accumulations
And to remove your obscurations,
Meditate by day on your root teacher up above your head
And meditate on him by night within your heart,
Never parted from your yidam and the ḍākinī.
He is adorned with all the major
And the minor marks of buddhahood,
Surrounded by the masters of the lineage,
The ḍākas and the ḍākinīs.
In your mind make offerings to him
And pray for the attainment of your goal.
34. Pronounce the syllable om
Before the Sanskrit version of your teacher’s name
With, afterward, the syllables ah and hung.
Then pronounce the syllables befitting the desired activity.49
35. If you wish to purge all illnesses,
All evil spirits, sins and obscurations,
Your visualization should be white
And shining with white rays of light,
Whereby adversity is pacified
And the accomplishment achieved.
If you wish to undertake the action of increasing
Life or reputation, property, and so forth,
Visualize rays of yellow light
that cause
A rain of all that you desire.
For the act of magnetizing that attracts and gathers,
The rays of light are red and visualized with hooks.
For ferocious action that destroys
All evil forces, obstacles, and all the rest,
See everything as dark blue,
Emanating weapons and a wheel of fire
Endowed with spokes a-thousandfold,
Destroying all adversity.
36. A thousand billion universes
Quake and tremble, shake and throb
To the recited mantra’s sound.
Perform activities as when you implement
The supreme generation stage.
At the end, dissolve the visualization step by step,
And relax just for a moment in the state of emptiness.
Then dedicate this virtue to enlightenment.
According to each one of these activities,
Indications of accomplishment appear.
Such is the profound path, ocean of great bliss.
37. Especially for the action of outwitting death and illness,
Obstacles, and all demonic forces,
Visualize your teacher in the space before you,
Seated on a lotus plant surmounted by a mighty throne
Upheld by fearless lions.
Radiantly he smiles, not separate from the buddhas,
Surrounded by the teachers of his lineage,
And bodhisattvas and ḍākinīs.
Below him are the guests of your compassion,
Beings of the six realms to whom you owe a karmic debt.
They are the beings in saṃsāra:
Your fathers and your mothers, past, present, and to come.
38. Your mind appearing as the letter hung
Emerges from the summit of your head.
It takes a ḍāka’s form who brandishes
A skull cup and a knife that’s razor-sharp.
He cuts around your brow,
Removes the upper section of your skull,
Which then he places on a hearth made of three other skulls.
He fills the skull cup with your body:
Bones and flesh and blood.
A nectar rain falls down,
And from below the flames blaze up.
Equal in dimensions to a thousand billion worlds,
The skull cup brims with nectar.
39. Imagine then that from your mind there emanates
A countless host of ḍākas who all together at the same time
Distribute the nectar from the skull.
The “nirvanic guests” are pleased,
And, completing your accumulations,
You attain accomplishment.
The “samsaric guests” are also satisfied: