[From a teaching on Life of Guru Rinpoche by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche given in Seattle, WA, in April 2009. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Linda Lee, copy-edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright 2009 Karma Thegsum Choling Seattle, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, and Peter O’Hearn. All rights reserved.]
In our practice, we depend upon our teachers or our masters. And we naturally choose teachers based upon their qualities. We choose teachers based upon their learning: who has the best ability to compose, to teach, and to debate. But if we rely upon the teacher for their learning and our reliance on such a teacher is genuine, then we ourselves must come to exhibit the fruit of having heard the Dharma.
Traditionally, it is said that the sign of having really heard the Dharma is to be tranquil and subdued or at peace. No matter how great our teachers may be, no matter how eloquent, how skillful, and how learned they may be, if we remain wild and untamed, then never mind practice, it means that we have not actually even heard the Dharma yet. We are like yak horns that are impenetrable. No matter how much oil you rub into them, it does not penetrate the substance of the horn. We may rely upon masters who are renowned as great yogis and teachers of meditation, but if we rely upon such masters, we must exhibit the signs of the practice of meditation.
In Buddhist tradition, the sign of having meditated is very simple—it is to have no kleshas. As we go on year after year, practicing meditation, relying upon or attending great gurus or great masters of meditation, if our kleshas increase as time goes on, then it is simply not working. So we need to be genuine on the inside. We need to actually be going through a process of training. Only through being genuine on the inside, can we become good examples of the sangha, good examples of what Buddadharma does to people. Read More
