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20060330GRNYALS

Living Tradition

20060330GRNYALS

JHNY

Living Tradition

March 2006

Welcome here tonight. Since we moved the wisdom teachings to weekends we have been talking on Thursday night very basic but yet very relevant for ourselves and our practice. So I would like to look back. A couple of weeks ago we raised the question: is the spiritual path necessary? We sort of talked in detail about that, saying it is necessary, and if we don't have a spiritual path what problems we have. I do not want to revisit, OK? Then secondly, what kind of spiritual path, and what are the qualifications of the individual practitioners? How do I get on the spiritual path, where do I begin, what do I do? So for that we come out with three points: learning, analyzing and meditating. As for learning we talked about the example of the cup, and putting water in the cup, all this. Then the third point: if you are learning, from whom and what are you learning? We talked about the spiritual masters, or spiritual guide, or spiritual friend, about their criteria, or qualifications, and last Thursday, if I remember correctly, we even talked about looking into the anatomy of the guru, the pieces of the spiritual masters and their qualities, disadvantages, and also the criteria given by Buddha, the ten qualities. Out of ten, probably we can give fifty percent discount, but there are five where you cannot give any discounts, and that is basically the three basket teachings and their practices: morality, concentration, and wisdom. On top of that there has to be compassion and knowledge. These were the qualities where we cannot give a discount.

Tonight the subject is "The Living Tradition." That is again concerned with the spiritual master and the practice itself. We are talking about a teaching that has come through Buddha, a teaching that comes through the lineage. So an important emphasis is made on the living tradition. There are tremendous amount of teachings that all claim to be true, a number of spiritual paths and practices. I do not know if they emphasize or not, that the teaching is coming through Buddha., Buddhism in general, and particularly Mahayana Buddhism, and even more so, through the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The living tradition is considered extremely important. There is an example given to the Tibetans: When you want to drink great, pure, water in Tibet, you have to make sure that the root of the water really comes from the snow mountain glaciers. Likewise, in order to have authenticity of your practice, you need the continuation of the lineage to be traced back to Buddha. This point which we normally do not emphasize because there are so many things in the spiritual path you can do.

In Tibet it is taken for granted that there is no one who will give teachings or take teachings that are not from an unbroken lineage, or traceable to the living tradition. I only know of one example, for which we can blame the Mongolians. I mean this has become a joke. One Mongolian guy was giving the oral transmission of the Collected Works of the Buddha, the kangyur. This is about a hundred and some volumes or depending on a different way of classifying them, can even be up to 140 volumes. In the oral transmission, someone reads everything and the listeners will hear the sound. That is called oral transmission. It is supposed to be a living tradition, one person heard it from another living master, not through another medium. It is the continuation of the sound. To read the kangyur probably takes two months, and this guy apparently took three or four months. At the end of it, he said, "You all are very fortunate, you all have heard the Collected Works of the Buddha word by word. But I did not get it that way." So everyone is saying, "What the heck have you been doing here and what the heck have we been spending three months here?" This is a joke that is carried on through the teachings. I do not know whether it actually happened. And we blame the Mongolians all the time.

The Living tradition means teachings given by Buddha, continuously passed on to one great human being one after another, who brought them in their life. This is not only about the sound and the teaching and the message, but also the practice. It is life. One after another. And that is living tradition we talk about. And this is very important. In Tibet we did not emphasize this because it was taken for granted. But in the west we have to mention this and make it clear to people, otherwise people will not be aware of the importance and value of these teachings.

In the west, now there is not so much difference between the information given by a learned person as information, and a spiritual teacher or master who is giving a spiritual teaching. People do not make that much distinction. But I think there is a hell of a difference in this. And this is not really known, it is not in the culture in the west. Because of that you have the New Age and things like that. Everything came up, because you do not have to trace a standing lineage. You do not trace this to a tradition where it really comes from. I do not know whether in the western culture I do not emphasize, I have no knowledge, but in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, we will make sure that whoever is giving teachings, whatever the teaching may be, they will trace the lineage completely. That is why in all those initiations and teachings and oral transmissions you find the names of the lineage masters, one after another. It came from this person, this one got it, from this person, that one got it, and we can see how it can be traced continuously although there is no way we can prove the practice is continuing by our own judgment, but at least we have the authenticity of who talked such a thing and where and when, and who attended, and who got it from who, and who else is there, so this really brings the continuation.

When an individual is continuously practicing, then it becomes a living tradition, and that gives much better and reliable results. Not only that, there is a very strong force behind that. I remember there is a particular verse in the Vajrayogini’s practice, the "Praise for the Revelation of the Lovely Dakini's Face". The very last verse says,

TSA GYÜ LA MA CHOG GI TUG JE DANG

GYÜ CHEN SANG TÄ NYUR LAM ZAB KYA DANG

NAL JOR DAG GI LHAG SAM DAG PÄ TÜ

KHA CHO GA MÄ DZUM ZHAL NYUR TONG SHOG

By the power of the compassion of great Root and Lineage Lamas,

By the power of the distinctive profundity of the quick path

Of the ultimate secret of the great Tantra,

And by the power of my own yogi (ni)'s pure high resolve,

May I quickly behold your smiling face, O Blissful Dakini!

So the continuation of the lineage is becoming extremely important. We do not emphasize it much. When you read Tibetan books, you probably don't see it much, because in Tibetan culture it is taken for granted, nobody raises a question. And if you find one, like the Mongolian example, that is shocking news of everybody, a big surprise. there is not only a living practice, but also there is a safeguard. There is less likely to be fraud in there, because we have to keep in mind that the spiritual path is uncharted territory. There are not so many critics, at least in this part of the world, right now, I am sure they will come, I hope they will come up. And it will be great to have the critics, because critics make sure that it is right and authentic. It is not necessarily accusing anyone, but it is important to check whether a teaching is right and authentic.

I do remember a few years ago, a controversy came up through Tricycle, if I remember correctly. Critiquing is not a strange thing in the United States. There are always critics everywhere. The critics make it proper, make it good, because wherever the fault is, it will be pointed out. If I were the person pointed out, if I made a mistake, I will be more than happy to say, “Thank you,” rather than to say, “Oh, the guy is challenging me, oh it is terrible and we must challenge back.” If the critic is wrong, then you have to clarify. I think that is extremely helpful. In Tibet, there is not so much critiquing business. I mean there debate and dialogue but they will not drag it to the end and say, “Oh, you are totally wrong, I am totally right.” Or, “You are totally right, I am totally wrong,” and they do not drag you to that level. So somehow you leave it there nicely, but at the same time everybody will know what went wrong. There is sort of an art of doing that. No one gets into a personal attack. Getting into a personal attack is totally wrong. If someone checks whether whatever somebody teaches or presents is right or wrong, that is definitely necessary, and a very good thing, although immediately when you hear it, you may get a little big, “Oh". I mean your ego may jump once or twice, but it does not matter, you will see this. I really hope there will be good spiritual critiquing people who will come up in the near future. Not during my period, but in the near future. I am just joking. But that is necessary, and very important. Pointing out mistakes will make it pure and better.

We use the terminology of "refined gold". Refined gold comes out by analyzing, by doing debate, dialogue, criticizing. Then it comes out. Like Sakya Pandita has said [Tibetan], “The knowledge and the right thing can be presented by learned ones, among the learned ones. But how do other non-learned ones know which is right and which is wrong?” That is what the Sakya Pandita says, and that is why it is important we have critics.

In Tibet, especially, the essence of both the sutra and tantra teachings have to be in life. If these teachings are not alive, then no matter how much efforts the practitioners put in will be like hanging on to a little bit of a river valley project which has no water coming from the upper valley mountains. It is somehow divided and gone and discontinued from the mountain sources. So whatever is left from inside that dam, that is the only water you get. So you have to hang on to that.

So that is not a continuation. The continuation of the blessings of the teaching is really coming right through with the continuation of the lineage. The lineage continuation thuys is the backbone of our spiritual practice. And it is really the source on which the individuals build their practices. Without it, no matter how much emphasis we put in, it is very hard and difficult to make it. The spiritual practice is very scientific-like, totally dependent arising, functioning on the base of causes and conditions. And within the causes, within the conditions, the continuation of the lineage is one of the major important points. Otherwise, there is nothing to hang on, nothing to go by. Then it will be simply some good ideas, some intelligent, witty thoughts combined together, made into a spiritual path. And that is not going to get you anywhere.

There is a quotation by Gendun Tenzin Punzok in Pabonka's "Liberation in the Palm of your Hand". I think the tenth or eleventh day begins with [Tibetan].

"[This teaching] is the essence of the reliable teachings and words of the Buddhas, as well as Buddhas disciples, and not somebody's cleared up created thoughts. It is the points accepted by the forerunners of great Buddhist masters and not just somebody’s stupid whispering thing."

When it says that the great forerunners of Buddhist teachers have accepted this does not only mean accepted, but agreed to what it says. They used it as their own practice, and they developed, and they then show the continuation of the living tradition. shay shung, refers to the ones that carried the continuation of the earlier Buddhist masters, such as Nagarjuna and Asanga. There are eight of them. The teaching has to be based on the experience of learned and developed persons. They have to be based on the experience of the adepts, the mahasiddhis. It is not just a mere mirage of some few people here and there. [Tibetan] It is also the great path or road that leads to the ultimate Buddha-level. It should not be leading to the other side, which ultimately ends in the hell realm.

So these are the qualities of the living tradition. Living tradition makes sure these problems are not there. We practitioners cannot judge much, no matter how intelligent, no matter how learned we may be. It is beyond our comprehension to be able to judge, although we can go by certain criteria.

Last week, I told you it is for you to operate on the spiritual master, and see what he is made of, cut him or her into pieces and see, whether there is right and wrong within. But on the basis of right and wrong what do you judge is the criteria of teachers that I told you earlier. That sort of thing we can do. But beyond that, we cannot really figure out the spiritual path. Especially when we go to the very subtle, profound level, it becomes very difficult to see what is really correct and what is not. And something may not necessarily be wrong, but it may not fit the individual practitioners. All of that should be taken care of by the living tradition. The living tradition makes all of the spiritual development, sees another living person with spiritual development, and that is continuing, and that is what it means, living tradition. Living tradition guarantees the individual the right path. Living tradition guarantees that the individual does not fall into the wrong path that leads to the hell realm. So it is really, really, really extremely important. And one cannot develop without that. Without that proper living tradition, one cannot really develop the path, or the development within the individual.

Take one example, initiations. Without continuation of a living tradition, any mandala of any yidam will not become initiation, it will just become a performance; it will totally become showbiz. Number one, the person will not even know what to do, number two, even if they do know, but if there is no living tradition, it becomes just show biz. It just becomes a performance. I think that is the difference there. And then how can one expect the students or disciples, or friends to enter into the mandala? How can you expect that they work hard in their life, and there is no result of their life after life rebirth? Where does all this go? And they are nowhere, without basis, there would be nothing to trace, and that is why the living tradition is important.

Not only that. Even the teachings and even the oral transmissions, if there is no living tradition, how can that transmission take place from one living person to another? There is nothing to transmit. It will be just like a person reading a book and talking about it, and that will be like picking up a story book and reading to kids before they go to bed. And there will be no difference, except the subject happens to be more complicated and more sophisticated.

Some of you may know this story. Marpa was an extraordinary mahasiddha, an adept and disciple of Naropa, one of the earlier Indian masters. Marpa was the first Tibetan disciple to bring this traditions to Tibet, and is the founder of the Kagyu tradition, of all the sixteen Kagyu schools like Karma Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, Drukpa and Drikung Kagyu and so on. All sixteen Kagyu schools are all actually coming from Marpa. So Marpa visited Naropa in India a number of times. The last time he went to see him, actually Naropa had already passed away, but Marpa determined to go and see him anyway and found him running around in the middle of some forest somewhere. So then, like he did in the usual living situation, Naropa continued to give teachings to Marpa . Then early one morning, while Marpa was still asleep, before dawn, Naropa suddenly woke Marpa up, “Hey Marpa, wake up, wake up. The mandala of your yidam Hevajra has come. Look up here.” Marpa saw the complete mandala of Hevajra in the air, standing on its own. So then Naropa said, “Would you like to prostrate to me, your master, first, or would you like to first prostrate to the mandala?” So Marpa thought, “Well Naropa is my teacher, I can see him every day, he is there, but the mandala I get to see only once in a blue moon. So I prostrate to the mandala first.” So the moment Marpa started prostrating to the mandala, Naropa said those words,

Where there is no master, there is not even the name of a Buddha. All the thousands of Buddhas of fortunate eons are manifestations of the guru, and the mandalas and deities are the manifestation of the guru, therefore I dissolve this mandala in my heart.

and the mandala just dissolved.

This is the indication that Marpa had received the Hevajra teachings from Naropa, from a living teacher who happens to have achieved the state of that Buddha, and Naropa’s teacher or master was Tilopa. You can trace it, you can always trace it. So that is why it is important. In the west we do not consider this important normally, because we just look for information. Yes, information is necessary. In very rare situations, some of the great masters used a different way of teaching. They could just look at each other and have lunch or dinner or tea together and have conversations or things like that, and there are great masters who do that too, but in any case, without teaching the great masters do not really serve the purpose. Well they can transmit, but that way of giving information does not serve much purpose. But, on the other hand, if someone gives you a lot of information, but without a living tradition, that does not serve any purpose at all, it will be like story-telling. I will be nothing but a monologue. Story-telling, or show-biz, and there is nothing behind.

The Tibetans have a way of making cheesecake, we call it “tu”. It is dry, smelly cheese made into cake. It becomes good because of the butter put in there. If you use water it becomes bad within two, three days. So we have that saying that this “tu” is so good because of butter. Similarly, if the guru is good it is because of the living tradition. I am sorry, you know. I am not talking about smelly, rotten butter, but the good, sweet butter, or salted, whatever. The sweet and salted butter did not exist in old Tibet. The butter is just butter.

You may think, this is the Gelugpa way of talking, but no, very definitely, if you look in the Kagyu and Nyigma tradition, especially, this is the first step, they will tell you. They have five important points. The Six Yogas of Naropa and the Five Important Points are the real essence of the Drigung Kagyu tradition. One of the five important points, according to Jigten Sumgon [founder of Drikung Kargyu], is that the guru is like the four kayas. The four kayas are the nature body and wisdom truth body aspects of the dharmakaya, and then sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya.

Dharmakaya really means the mind aspects of the total enlightenment. Sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya are the physical aspects of total enlightenment. The sambogakaya is exclusive and the nirmanakaya is available to everybody to be able to see. The buddhas are known as those having the four kayas. Jigten Sumgon points out that the guru is like the snow mountain of the four kayas. If one does not have respect, faith and devotion of the sun shine hitting on that mountain, the blessing and spiritual development the water stream will not come out. So be very careful about the faith and respect. That is the first, faith and respect is connected with the living tradition. If a person has intelligent faith it can be relied on to give you good results. Without such a faith no development will ever grow within the individual.

But blind faith is almost not going to give you any result. It is not something that Buddha ever encouraged. Blind faith is totally unreliable. It may serve a little bit the purpose to be able to connect, to be able to do something, may serve to that extent, but not so much. In order to make a living tradition, a life, one does need to connect the intelligent faith to the spiritual master. The link between the individual and the spiritual master is the intelligent faith, and that is really the bridge between the enlightened and ordinary persons. I did mention to you earlier that the guru is like the magnifying glass that collects the powers of the sun rays in order to make the hay catch fire. Another modern example is like Verizon or AT&T which connects two ends together. That is the living tradition.

In the Lam Rim texts we don't emphasize the living tradition that much, although we say one of the proofs of the teaching's authenticity, right from the beginning, is the continuation of the teaching from the Buddha. "Through the living master, up to me", in the Lam Rim teachings you get that. Beyond that you do not have much reference. That is because it is taken for granted among the Tibetans. It does not work in the west because there are a lot of different things going on. I always get blamed in the west for saying "it is obvious". It is obvious to the Tibetans, but it is not obvious in the Western audience. So that is important. And whoever follows any spiritual path has to make sure that the spiritual path is a continuation of the living tradition - at least where I come from. Look at any Buddhist tradition. Even in the Theravadan Buddhism, it is always a continuation of a living tradition. Though they may not emphasize that, it is. The sutras they share and teach come from one master to another, continously.

The Tibetans have a very particular habit of keeping track of lineages, and it becomes very important. Sometimes volumes are written on who taught this and that teaching to whom. Pages and pages and pages in the middle and in the end are written. In every sadhana practice you have a lineage prayer. Before you teach a teaching you have a lineage prayer. The linage gurus have been named one after another. Even during the practice when you are making offerings, you are making offerings to the lineage masters. So the living tradition is a really the basis on which the blessing and development is kept in life. I do not know what more to say than that. It is really the life, the breath within us. If there is no breath we cannot live. If there is no life, no living tradition, then there is no more correct spiritual development. A bit of clairvoyance here and there may show up, we may be able to fly here and there a little bit, that sort of thing may come up, but not a solid spiritual development that leads the individual to total enlightenment.

Let me give the example of the Four Mindfulnesses that I taught last year in Garrison, and which we will be repeating this spring, again in Garrison. The label "Four Mindfulness" makes a lot of people think, “Oh, that is the mindfulness of body, feeling, consciousness, phenomena and that sort of thing,” but in this teaching it is not. The first one is the mindfulness of the guru. When you say mindfulness of the guru, you are really referring to the living tradition. The essence of the guru, the value and importance is also the living tradition. So it is the mindfulness of living tradition. Likewise the mindfulness of compassion and likewise the mindfulness of wisdom and the mindfulness of deity as self, as yidam. So these are the four mindfulnesses. So wherever you look, it is there. But it is not particularly pointed out, because there is a lot of taking for granted. Who is going to doubt it? So the living tradition is extremely important. If that is not there, then there is no perfect spiritual development, thereafter, not only to the person, but anyone thereafter. And that is extremely important. I do not have much more to say. I think you have questions. Go ahead.

Audience: What about Buddha himself? Where did he get his "lineage teaching" from?

Rimpoche: I thought you were going to ask that question. You know the Buddha's story is very interesting. According to the Theravadin tradition, and according to the common story, Buddha was born as an Indian prince and gradually developed and became Buddha, within six years or something.

But if you look in the Jataka stories and the Mahayana teaching tradition, and especially the Vajrayana teaching tradition, Buddha had been working very hard for a number of lives way before the life in which he became Buddha. All of the Jataka tales are the pre-Buddha life stories. There are a lot of them, right? Thousands of them, actually. So when you are looking from that angle, yes. But even if you re not looking from that angle, even in the Theravadin tradition, there are three things

You know these three yanas: Buddhayana, Pratyekayana, Sravakayana. Between the times of the Buddhayana and the Sravakayana, the Pratyekayana remains. What happens is they are self-liberated. There is a group of people called self-liberated arhats. That is what pratyekayana means. Pratyekayana arhats. Self-liberated arhats appear in the periods where there are no buddhas. In between the buddhas. Buddha’s teachings become available for them somehow and they practice, and they themselves becomes arhats, but they do not pass it on. That is why they are called self-liberated. They cut it here. No more continuation, unlike the sravakas who will listen to Buddha's teaching and then pass the message, although they themselves do not practice the Mahayana path. The Pratyeka buddhas only develop themselves. Period. They do not pass it on. And when the next Buddha officially comes in, all of those pratyekabuddhas pass away. So somehow the living tradition of that enters through not only the life after life experience of the Buddha, but even the living pratyekabuddhas' lineage pass through to Buddha, although the teachings do not say that Buddha took teachings from them. They do say, Buddha went to the forest and meditated with a number of sadhus, or rather, rishis. I think they call them rishis. So there is definitely a living tradition. I mean, in reality it is, though you can debate it. I really thought you were going to ask that question. I do not know why. Funny.

Audience: In some of the practices about the lineage there is a specific number of lineage masters that are named. When one adds one’s own teacher subsequently to the lineage, you would add, it would seem, a number… how do you reconcile that.

Rimpoche: Sure. Nothing to be reconciled. You add one more.

Audience: But the number changes….

Rimpoche: The number changes. The number does not have to be that. You know. Numbers change. The verses will change. Prayers, verses will change. And then if it gets too long someone will come later and put three or four lineage masters together in one verse. So that is how it always works, you know.

Audience: Rimpoche, when you were discussing tonight the idea of a lineage, you were really making it very historical, but when I listen to it I really think it is about the future because the idea of a lineage is about continuity, correct? The historical continuity but there is also the idea that it is going to continue.

Rimpoche: Historical, that is right. That is right. Historical continuity is what we have to check and thereafter, whether there will be future continuity or not, depends on us. And that is why practitioners have some responsibility. Not only responsibility of developing oneself, but also keeping it for the future generations. And I believe it comes as a package, though nobody says so, but it is. Because if one does not really continuously have a practice, or continuously do, how would you expect future generations will pick it up?

Q: What is going to authenticate it or verify it or qualify it?

Rimpoche: The continuation of the linage. And that is why they are right to write everything down. If you read it, in the Tibetan tradition, everybody will have volumes on any teaching that you got, from whom you got it, and then, continue. And then lazy people like me, we say I got this teaching from that teacher, and that teacher got it from so and so, and then look in their lineage list, and so it continues that way. You can do that, but that is OK.

I would like to share one story here. There was a great teacher of mine, Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche, from whom I got this White Tara teaching and many others. Once he was giving a teaching in Kunduling Labrang, which is near the Norbulinka, the Dalai Lama’s summer palace. There was another big Rimpoche called Kunduling Rimpoche and he had this monastery and Kunduling Institute, and it was a huge labrang, with a huge, huge, garden. I am not sure if the Norbulinka, the Dalai Lama’s summer palace was bigger. Kunduling could have been bigger, but they were also almost next to each other. Kunduling had built a picnic house in the garden and Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche was giving a teaching of the Prajna Paramita, the Transcendental Wisdom, together with four different commentaries.

I was young at that time. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche always liked me, and I liked to go and see Kyabje Rimpoche in his room before he went into the teaching, and Kyabje Rimpoche would say to me, “Where did we reach today?” And I would open the book at the place where he wanted to continue, we would make some marks and all that, and then I carried the book and Kyabje Rimpoche’s yellow robe, and we walk through the garden, and we had to walk quite far. Kyabje Rimpoche walked slowly, I think it took more than forty minutes to walk, maybe an hour from the main house to the picnic house, and people were waiting there. So every day I took that yellow robe and when Kyabje Rimpoche reached near the throne he would put on the yellow robe and prostrate on the throne, and sit on it.

One day Kyabje Rimpoche was making sure, “Can you bring my book[?]?" He meant the text which had the lineage description in it, meaning what did he received, from where did he receive, what is the lineage. He had two volumes which were huge. So I was bringing the teaching book, as well as that lineage book. Then I forgot to bring Kyabje Rimpoche’s yellow robe. And so when we reached there, the first thing I did was take these two volumes up and put them on his side table. There were always two tables. Always. I put them on the side table. Then I was going to put his book on his table in front where he was giving the teaching. Then I was going to give him the yellow robe, and it was not there. Kyabje Rimpoche had already taken his red robe down and was about to prostrate, and I said to Kyabje Rimpoche, “I will run quickly and bring it.” You know, I was young, I could run very quickly. But still, it was going to take a little time. There was no telephone, nothing, right? No car, or even a bicycle. So I said I would run quickly and bring it. And then Kyabje Rimpoche said, while he was doing his prostrations, “I was hoping you would take my place later, but maybe you are not going to remain as a monk, but that is also fine,” he said, continuing the prostrations.

And that day Kyabje Rimpoche was a little wrathful. There were a lot of other Rimpoches, and one of them was giving an oral transmission of the Collected Works of the Buddha. Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche had sort of promoted him. He was giving this oral transmission but the talk of the town was that his [lineage] list was not very good. He did have a list, a little bit here and there and then put them together, so Kyabje Rimpoche kept on blasting him, you know. I mean really, literally. He was shouting, "Until my hair became white I studied and took teachings, I went to the Mongolia here and there, collected each one of them, and I listed everything, whatever I obtained. Here are my two volumes." Then he was saying to me, "Rimpoche, Rimpoche, open this up, show it to him. Show it to him." So he did that in public. There were maybe a thousand people there. And that shows the importantce of the living tradition. That is what happened that day.

I regard this as part of a conversation. Maybe there is no need to include this in the transcript. I hope.

Audience: In the west we are historically not as concerned about lineage. We have less of a monastic tradition here, obviously, so the formal passing on of teaching credentials and so on may not be as obvious here. How will, granted students have the responsibility to preserve the teachings and so on, but if you have a population of students, some who may be teacher material, and some who are not, how do you distinguish between the students that are properly qualified and those that are maybe not going forward into the future, as giving teachings, initiations and so on, if it is not obvious who has been given formal teaching credentials from one generation to another, how do you distinguish, how would you know who would be the appropriate parties in the future?

Rimpoche: I think it is a very important question that you really touched, you know? Something very, very important. There is always two ways. Two ways. I prefer the later one. I do not like the first one. There are tradition who appoint somebody else as successor. I don't like that appointing part very much. But the recommendation I think is very important. How does a spiritual teacher become a spiritual teacher? This is the question. Spiritual teachers are not self-appointed and not appointed by their masters. We have group of people here, let us say, whatever, fifty people here. So with this group of fifty people, day after day, week after week, month after month, we get together. Here and there. And when we meet, it is one thing to say, “Hi, how are you, and goodbye.” It is another thing to look at the person and observe. We are not looking for the faults of the other person, and we see the quality of the individual. And when you see the quality of the individual, the first step as a friend is to ask questions. Say, "I am not clear with this. What do you think about it" That is the period when you can dialogue, and talk about it, and ask questions, and they can point it out, and all those. Then when you are convinced that person is a good person, and out of all the ten qualities, with 50% discount you think, “Ah, this person is OK, suitable” then that person can become a teacher to you. So, how does a teacher become a teacher? Because the other person asks them a teaching. And that is how it becomes.

On the other hand, advertising yourself, self-promoting, which is possible in the west, that is not such a good way to become a spiritual teacher. Not good. If an individual observes you and finds you good and learns from you, picks up help from you, that is how you become a teacher. And of course, receiving transmission, that is how a teacher really becomes a teacher.

Of course, also in our tradition we had for example a great teacher like Pabongka, and then Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche became sort of the substitute for Pabongka. But Pabongka Rimpoche did not announce, "Trijang Rimpoche is going to be my substitute, and I appointed him". No, he did not. He did not. There is another funny way of doing it. It is done in places where a lot of people will come and ask you this teaching, that teaching, then there is the method of “ask so-and-so, ask so-and-so.” And that is how they pass it on. That is another way. They did not appoint or anything. That is how one comes in. And more or less as I said earlier, we choose our own spiritual masters. Nobody else chooses. If you choose that person as your own spiritual master, then he or she will have at least three qualities, and morality is an important one. From the angle of morality itself, a person who has not received a teaching from somebody, or who does not know something, it is obvious that such a person should say, "I read about it but I do not have the lineage, I do not have that teaching tradition, I know nothing about it, I have not received it, I cannot give it." So, that is honesty as a basis of morality, and that will function. That will make the frauds also easy to come in, and advertise, and that is also possible.

As far as I know, that is how it has been done traditionally, and I hope that will continue. But in the Kagyu tradition, they have a system of appointing a regent or something, which Trungpa Rimpoche also did. Trungpa Rimpoche appointed somebody as rejent, but it has not been very successful as far as we know. It has not been great. So I think it is a case of once bitten, twice shy. So you learn the lesson, and you do not want repeat such a thing. So, it comes down to the individual person showing their own qualities. After Tsongkhapa, there were Gyeltsap and Kaydrup, and all the other people asked them to do teachings, rather than they saying, “I am doing it.” Like Gyeltsap, he became the number two throne holder of Tsonghkhapa’s. Gyeltsap Rimpoche never even thought that he is in that line. But Kaydrup Je came into the meeting with a scarf in the pocket, and suddenly went up to him and Gyeltsap Rimpoche tried to get up, but he was already old and couldn't get up, so Kaydrup Rimpoche took out his scarf and pressed him down with the scarf, and extemporaneously composed that famous poetry called panden yunde. [Tibetan] And that is beautiful poetry. And that is how it happened. Nobody actually appointed Gyaltsap-je.

Actually Tsonghkhapa had given his hat to Gyeltsap Je the first day when Gyeltsap Je came to debate Tsonghkhapa. Tsonghkhapa was teaching and Gyeltsap Je and Khedrup Je came in with the plan to challenge him during the teaching. So Gyaltsap came in wearing the debator's hat. Khedrup Je was a little cleverer, and a little more witty, so Khedrup Je sat with the group, and Gyeltsap Je did not sit down, and wearing his hat he went right up to Tsongkhapa and asked him, “Move!” So Tsonghkhapa moved a little bit and Gyeltsap Je sat next to him. And they said that was an omen, that was the time Tsonkhapa had sort of appointed Gyaltsap-je to be the next regent. But Tsongkhapa ketp teaching and continuously talked, and Gyeltsap Je listened and one after a little while he started moving a little bit down from the throne, and a little bit further down, and finally landed on the steps, down on the floor, and then he took the hat off, and that is how the story goes on. That is in the biography

So this is some important thing we have to think more carefully and analyze. I do not think we can set up a system, but you have to remember: you choose your own spiritual master. No organization, no group, nothing chooses any spiritual master. Recommendation, yes. But not in big way.

( 2006 Ngawang Gehlek, All Rights Reserved