Master Nagarjuna
Whatever the school of Buddhism, a great emphasis is placed on the
uninterrupted transmission of Teachings and Blessings. These transmissions
take place through an equally uninterrupted lineage of Masters and disciples
who have transcended the chain of suffering and delusions and attained
supreme realization of the pure nature of mind and reality. Hence it is
said that the idea of someone attaining Buddhahood would never occur if he
did not have a teacher or Master acting as a guide to bring him to the
ultimate stage of realization.
As there are many types of disciples, so the manifestation or appearance of
the Teacher varies accordingly. For instance, beings who are close to total
enlightenment, the Master, it is said in the Nyingma tradition is the
Primordial Buddha himself, Samatabhadra. The transmission does not require
the cumbersome words and rituals we need at our level but occurs directly
from mind to mind; hence it is called direct transmission. For those who
have not quite reached this level, yet a slightly more concrete approach is
needed and takes place through symbolic signs, which awaken the discipes
realization. Thus it is called symbolic transmission. In our world
however, the fact that we appear as human beings means that our principle
characteristics is that we are attached to appearances and the idea of self
and we do not have the openness of mind to receive these teachings in these
ways; we need words to stimulate our conscousness and thus this type of
transmission is called the aural lineage.
In all these cases, however, the role of the Teacher or Master is primary,
as it doesn't only carry the actual Teaching but also the necessary
Blessings to purify the disciple's obscuration and enable him ultimately to
merge his mind with the realized Mind of the Master.
Therefore we can see from the above that all the transmissions and Blessings
are passed on uninterruptedly from a living Master to his disciples whether
in the Distant Lineage of Kama or the Close Lineage of Terma.
For any transmissions of precepts or empowerments there are two links: one
on the side of the Master who holds the precepts or the lineage and on the
other side his disciples wishing to receive them. For the chain to be
strong, both links have to fulfill certain characteristics. This is why in
the tradition of the relationship between the spiritual teacher and the
disciple characteristics of both are described in great detail according to
Vinaya, Bodhisattva and Tantrayana.
It also derives from the above that there is no possible transmission hence
no possible spiritual accomplishment without a spiritual Master. It is
stated in a tantra that there is not as much as a name of the Buddha without
a Teacher preceding him, therefore even the Buddha of the three times,
before their enlightenment had to seek a spiritual teacher and receive
precepts and transmissions from him.
Although we may have the tendency today to believe that we can achieve
anything on our own, this will certainly not apply to spiritual matters. If
that had been the case, we would all be enlightened by now. Lost into
Samsara today as we have been for eons, we are experiencing the same chains
of suffering and are no wiser to attain liberation. Hence, we still need
the help, guidance and blessings from an authentic Master to attain our
goal.
Similarly, not every Teacher that we encounter will qualify as an authentic
Master. This person needs to have also undergone not only a formal and
complete Buddhist education and training, but also display irreplaceable
moral, inner and secret qualities that can only riped though a profound
spiritual training, itself arisen from following an authentic Master, and
lead that Teacher to display characteristics which have been fully described
in numerous sutras and tantras, revealing his or her inner realization and
signs of accomplishement. The texts also warn us about the dangers of not
examining a potential Teacher according to the three different precepts as
well as the shortfalls of not following a Master correctly once we have
selected him or her.
In the following parts we will examine what are the criteria applying both
to choosing a spiritual Master, relying on him and following his advice as
well as the qualities and duties required from the aspiring disciple. In
this context we will expound each part according to the three main
catagories of Vinaya, Bodhisattva and Tantra precepts - this in fact
corresponds to the outer conduct contained in the Pratimoksha vows, inner
Bodhisattva precepts representing the next level of practice and finally the
secret Tantra Samaya whose purpose is to enable us to attain enlightenment
in a relatively short period of time.
However, it must be pointed out that we cannot just choose a higher level
without complying with the lower ones. All the teachings of Lord Buddha and
the following great Masters are all based first on moral conduct and only
when those have been fully actualised can the disciple naturally develop the
subsequent levels.
