[From Advice to Vajrayana Practitioners given by Lama Tashi Topgyal in Battle Creek, Michigan on September 22, 2012. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. Transcribed by Linda Lee. Edited by Matt Willis. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint without permission.]
Tantra is not dangerous. There are actually no accounts or stories of disasters ensuing from people doing tantric practice. It is, however, designed for the intelligent. It is also designed for times like the present. That is why nowadays there are so many authentic teachers and practitioners of tantra, both those who are widely known and those who are hidden and unknown. In fact, rather than being dangerous or difficult, tantra is actually easy and convenient, much easier to practice than other vehicles.
As for what a tantric practitioner needs, what the prerequisites or qualifications are, they are faith and devotion. To really practice tantra, you must be able to see your root guru as inseparable from the dharmakaya Samantabhadra, or Vajradhara, or Guru Rinpoche, because the basis of tantric practice is to receive the authentic transmission of the lineage. And the lineage that the root guru transmits, which is what makes him or her your root guru, really includes what we call three lineages. These are the lineage of the wisdom of the victors, the symbolic lineage of the vidyadharas, and the oral lineage of individuals. This terminology comes specifically from the Nyingma tradition, but it’s very important to understand it.
The earliest source of the lineage of tantra is the lineage of the victors’ wisdom. “Victors” in this case means buddhas. And “wisdom” means what is known to a buddha and only to a buddha. That knowledge is passed from one buddha to another simply through the intention to do so; therefore, people call it “the lineage of the victors’ intention.”
This is included within the root guru. To receive this lineage one has to rely upon the root guru and one has to understand that the root guru as the embodiment of the trikaya — the dharmakaya, sambogakaya, nirmanakaya — holds all three lineages. If you think that the dharmakaya Samantabhadra is one thing and your root guru is a totally different thing, just a person, and you are, again, a totally different thing, just a random person — if you’re dualistic in that way, then there is no basis for tantric practice.
Essentially this first lineage, the lineage of the victors’ wisdom, is the transmission of the wisdom of the dharmakaya itself. It was passed by the dharmakaya Samantabhadra to the sambogakaya Vajrasattva; by him to the nirmanakaya Garab Dorje or Prahevajra; and by him to the great vidyadhara Manjushrimitra. And we hold that that lineage goes up to Manjushrimitra.
Then, the lineage from Manjushrimitra to Shri Singha to Guru Rinpoche (and also through Jnanasutra and Vimalamitra as well), so let’s say that lineage between Manjushrimitra and Guru Rinpoche, is what we call “the symbolic lineage of the vidyadharas.”
Then, the lineage from Guru Rinpoche down to our own root guru is the oral lineage of individuals.
The second and third lineages continue the essence of the first lineage in a different means or a different medium of transmission. In the case of the first lineage, Samantabhadra simply taught Vajrasattva by having the intention that Vajrasattva give rise to the same wisdom. Vajrasattva taught Garab Dorje by simply having the intention that Garab Dorje give rise to the same wisdom. From Manjushrimitra onward, more was necessary; it was the presentation of dharma through a symbol, but no words were needed.
But from Guru Rinpoche onward, words have been needed because we are incapable of understanding the wisdom of the victors simply through their intention that we understand it. If we were capable of it, we already would, because that is their intention. We’re also incapable of understanding it simply through the presentation of symbol. We require detailed, word by word, line by line, guidance. And that’s what we receive from our root guru.
But for the oral lineage of individuals to be valid, in receiving it we must recognize that embedded within it is what is transmitted through the victors’ intention and through the symbols of the vidyadharas.
In that way, the trikaya — the three bodies and the wisdom of the three bodies — is all present in our root guru. So, for someone who understands that and appreciates that, not only is there no danger in tantric practice, but they have the special type of faith or devotion that is its primary requirement.
