I have allowed a little bit of printed information about Terchen Barway Dorje to be circulated, but I have never spoken one word about my predecessor in a public setting. It is not because I am ignorant of Terchen Barway Dorje’s life or of his teachings, or that I have failed to understand their true meaning or the nature of things. It is out of respect and devotion for my root guru, the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, that I have sought in all of my teaching and traveling only to serve his activity and his teachings. I have, therefore, been extremely careful to abstain from anything that could by any stretch of the imagination be conceived as self-aggrandizement or self-promotion.
Emulating Lineage Masters as a Path to Awakening
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa, and many other great masters of the four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism have come to this country repeatedly. You have had the opportunity to meet these great masters, to listen to their teachings, and to do so in a state of freedom and convenience, all-around affluence, and even luxury that is almost unique to this country. Since you have all of this, all of these resources at your beck and call, it is necessary that you make some genuine use of it; it is necessary that your contact with these holy beings actually do you some real good. And the real good that such contact is supposed to do is to help us actually tame our minds and overcome our kleshas. I have said what I have said up to now this evening in order to remind you of this spectacularly extraordinary opportunity that you all enjoy and to urge you to make the best possible use of it.
The Importance of the Guru in Vajrayana Tradition
Authentic gurus teach the path of devotion and faith not because they need our devotion or our faith, but because we do. Authentic gurus do not want or need our respect. They have no use themselves for our service. They do not want or particularly enjoy our wealth. This is because they have no hope or fear. Hope and fear are born of dualism. Authentic gurus are not dualistic, therefore, respect and disrespect and so forth are irrelevant to them. However the fact remains that while the guru may not need you, if you whole heartedly supplicate a guru who is authentically beyond dualism, you can achieve the same state as his in a single instant. In a single instant, you can achieve what we call “the mixing of the guru’s mind and your mind.” And it is this whole hearted open supplication that makes vajrayana the fastest possible spiritual journey.