from Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche's extended commentary on the Lama Chöpa:
[The Lama Chöpa] is an important practice, very easy, very comprehensive, it is almost that one cannot do without. Everything is included in it. It is almost like the eyes through which you can look at all phenomena. It is like the ocean that collects all the rivers which come from anywhere. We are very fortunate to have such a fortunate thing. It is Manjushri’s teaching to Tsongkhapa. The essence of his practice was then put into words by the First Panchen Lama. It is simple, easy and fantastic. (It is important to say it when something is great. That does not mean that other traditions don’t have great things. They have their own. But we are very fortunate to have this one.)
It is the real essence of the Buddha’s teachings, given by Manjushri to Tsongkhapa. The Lama Chöpa totally focuses on guru-devotional practice, which is the root of all development. There are a lot of people who think that this is something the Vajrayana Buddhists have cooked up. Very often you hear the refuge taking as Buddham saranam gacchami, Dharmam saranam gacchami, Sangham saranam gacchami. They don’t say Guru saranam gacchami. We say Namo Gurubya Namo Buddhaya Namo Dharmaya Namo Sanghaya. So many people think it is something the Vajrayana people have cooked up. It is brought up in the teachings and particularly the Lama Chöpa tells you that it is not something invented by the Tibetans or the Vajrayana people, but that it is actually taught by Buddha himself. Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen’s commentary has almost twenty pages on this. He mentions that it comes from Buddha, and exactly which sutra has it.
Just to give you one example: In the traditional mythological Indian culture trades people would go over the ocean, looking for jewels in some jewel land somewhere in the middle of the ocean. When they go there they depend on a ship and a captain and so on. If you don’t have all of that and just jump into the ocean you are just going to die. There are a lot of metaphors used in the traditional teachings. In order to go and collect the jewels you really have to depend on the ship, captain, etc. Likewise, in order to achieve our spiritual goals, we depend on the captain-like guru and the ship-like practice. That is the metaphor used in the sutras for pages and pages and volumes and volumes.
The actual method only Buddha knows. (That is according to the Buddhist tradition and that does not mean that the other traditions don’t have anything). Maitreya Buddha said, “There is no one in this world who knows better than Buddha.” Why is that so? Because he gained his experience by dealing with the neuroses that we have to deal with now. He did that and came through. He had similar sufferings as we do and he got out. His experience is our guide. And that comes in the form of the so-called me ngags. That does not just mean teachings but within the teachings they give you instructions with practical purposes. I have no idea which equivalent English word would express that. Maybe practical instructions.
The Buddhist Kangyur of which the Prajnaparamita is a part, is more complicated than the consti- tution of the United States. It is not easy to read. You can interpret it in many ways. It is purposely kept vague, so that people will develop their minds and ideas and it can be used at different times, according to the need. It can then be interpreted in a direction where it can be helpful. The sutras will never talk straightforwardly. Actually they do, but there is always another way it can be interpreted or another explanation that comes up somewhere else. That is why the me ngags are extremely important. We cannot manage without them – particularly in Vajrayana. This is mentioned detailedly in the Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen’s commentary, dorje trengwa. (This is a problem with Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen. He talks so much. (laughs). Page after page he gives really good explanations. But we have to take something solid from here – just a little thing.)
He tells you, for example, that practicing without me ngags is like shaking water and hoping to get butter through that. No matter how much you shake water, you will never get butter. Or if you want to Guru Devotion: how to integrate the Primordial Enlighened Mind go an unknown place, but you don’t have a map and you can’t ask anybody, you can go but you will not get anywhere. That is the reason why Namo Gurubya is important.
If there is no me ngag, even the great, learned scholars or saints, no matter how much they may practice, they won’t achieve anything. On the contrary, sometimes they may get very upset because of not achieving anything. Then, because of the consequences of the anger, there is more suffering than benefit. That is why it is always recommended to have a good guide.
The tantras further say that the path is like a boat and the teachings and me ngags are the oars. Then, even if you have the best qualities, without guru you are not going to be liberated from samsara. That is why it is very important. There are zillions of quotations from all parts of the sutras about this. For example, the Prajnaparamita talks about it. Ramjor, a disciple of Buddha, asked him, ‘How do the lay bodhisattvas – that means the new, not so developed bodhisattvas – learn about prajna paramita, the transcendental wisdom and how do they maintain it?’ Buddha replied,
The new bodhisattvas, in order to learn, need a guru-devotional practice. That means, to
have a guru, maintain the relationship, pay respect, etc. That is how you work.
I have people coming to me who say, ‘I have had all these teachings, like Odyssey to Freedom, Lama Chöpa, Lamrim, etc. so where do I begin?’ Buddha’s reply is to begin here, at the guru devotional practice. He says that the first and foremost doorway is the guru-devotional practice. An example for the guru-devotional practice in the sutra is the bodhisattva called Always Crying.
How do the bodhisattvas gain their development, how do they dedicate, how do they pray, how do they obtain buddhahood? It depends on the Guru; he is the root of the development. You depend on him and all gets purified through him. That is from the sutra point of view. Then in Vajrayana it is beyond imagination; you absolutely depend on the Guru.
That should be enough about where to begin. Some people think it is about sitting down and wearing a different sort of dress, do their hair differently and do some woom woom business. But that is not the practice. A number of people do that. The Tibetans do. In the West you probably beat a gong and say OM or whatever. Crystals fly round and so on. The Tibetans will do prostrations, burn incense, go round, take refuge and so on. That is all great, but the most important practice is to work with your mind. There is plenty of information around how to take care of your body. Just turn on the television and there are so many physical exercises you can do. There is no lack of physical education. But we completely lack the mental education.
The relationship with the Guru is very important. During the Theravadin teachings the Guru should be seen as Buddha; in Mahayana you see the Guru as Buddha and in Vajrayana you see the Guru as inseparable from Buddha.
All of you know, the root of all development is guru yoga. Even in the Lamrim the guru yoga is the foundation of all development. Even though in the Theravada tradition the guru-devotional practice is not so much emphasized as in Mahayana and Vajrayana, if you really look carefully, the abbot from whom one received the vows, is very much emphasized. In almost every function of your life whether sleeping or walking or whatever the abbot’s direction is emphasized. In the Theravada tradition the guru is seen from that angle rather than from a guru-devotional angle. In the Mahayana guru devotion is emphasized and in Vajrayana it is the fundamental basis.
What does that mean to the individual, to me? It really means: analyzing and thinking and passing resolutions on the outlines of the benefits of having a guru, the disadvantages of not having a guru and how to keep the relationship.
The relationship boils down to two points. Point one: the mental relationship. That means seeing your gurus as enlightened beings. I think that is a very important point. If you have a misunderstanding there, you try to clarify that misunderstanding. It should not be suppressed, not put aside or ignored. Look at it, deal with it, talk to people, think about it, ask questions and finally satisfy yourself. Problems are changeable, problems are dependent arisings; they are not independently existing. Certain problems are bound to be there because of us being human beings. The bottom line is: seeing the guru as a fully enlightened being.
Think about it, analyze and have a little understanding of yourself: what does that mean to me? Is that what the teachings are telling? And does that match or does it not match? f it does not match why does it not? If it matches be happy about it. After analyzing, understanding and passing resolutions, one should be very happy about having a spiritual master and having a good relationship. And if there is anything that has gone wrong, through misunderstanding or through misinformation or just simply because one did not like something, it is not necessarily bad. It is bound to happen, particularly if you are talking about a relationship with a living human being. Some may be having it, some have had it and it’s gone, for some it might happen. That is how it is. Even in good old Tibet it happened. And if you have a close contact there is more danger of difficulties, of misunderstanding, then when you have a less close contact. That is absolutely true. If you get teachings from His Holiness once in a few years and with ten thousands together, the relationship of closeness does not rise. In our case, in the Netherlands, when Helen was still alive and we were still a small group, I remember contacting with each and everyone of you. We used to have a beer together in the evening in Nijmegen. Remember? This sort of relationship may not be possible to develop with hundred people. So, the most important point is main- taining a good relationship.
Then, point two: action relationship. That is having great respect, by remembering the qualities of the lama, making offerings, making yourself available to serving the guru, giving praise and making of- ferings actually arranged and mentally created for the benefit of all sentient beings, keeping your moral commitments properly, and of course, most important, offering your perfect practice of sutra and tantra. The Lama Chöpa really has the complete stages of development, both sutra and tantra in the form of blessings. It is the most important offering, because it is the offering that follows exactly the advices of the lama. Thus it is the most important action one can take.
Seeing your own spiritual master as a collection of all the enlightened beings with all the qualities that have been mentioned in sutra and tantra, seeing all the qualities in the one individual person and developing faith – not blind faith but faith that follows on reasons, is common to Vajrayana and non- Vajrayana both.
At the sutra-level we establish the relationship. In Vajrayana, we establish it through the understanding of the nature of reality – emptiness. The recognizing mind, the mind of the person who is offering, is in the nature of joy. The recognition of the nature of the reality – void – and the mind in the na- ture of joy, becomes bliss-void inseparable. Such a bliss-void inseparable base, manifested in the form of outer, inner, secret and suchness offerings is offered to the guru. The combination of that makes it a Vajrayana thing. This is the key here.
So, the practitioner is in the form of a yidam. The object to whom you make the offering is the guru or lama, who is also not in ordinary form, but has the nature, the reality, and the appearance of a yidam – lama-yidam inseparable. All three, the offering person, every offering and the object of offering are of bliss-void nature.
See also: Lama Chöpa's Origin