Yantra Yoga, Vajra Dance and Santi Maha Sangha – Tenerife, November 9-13, 2012
Excerpt from the Teaching of the last day, November 13, 2012
We are here in this time for the teachers’ meetings. A teacher means someone who is teaching something. So many kinds of teachings exist, someone is teaching music, or how you should work with wood; all is teaching. All is teaching, but what we are teaching is a spiritual path, dealing with a spiritual path, so that is different. It is different particularly when we are considering the Vajrayana tradition of teaching, then the teaching is connected with vajra, and that means the teaching is connected with our real nature. Who teaches, teaches that kind of knowledge directly or indirectly.
For example with the Dzogchen teaching, we are introducing mind to nature of mind directly. If we are following the Kriyatantra style, they consider there are enlightened beings that have quality and quantity of wisdoms and recognize we are in samsara, in transmigration, and we do not have this qualification so we ask them for help, for receiving their wisdom. This is not going directly, this is indirect. Also indirect is very far, you are trying to do something to receive wisdom.
In general, if we do not do anything and we are not active, even enlightened beings with their infinite quantity and quality of wisdoms, cannot give us wisdom. It does not mean everyone can receive that wisdom. For receiving that transmission or wisdoms, we always need a kind of connection. We do not know what kind of connection we have with enlightened beings, or the path, or the transmissions. So when we are going the direct way, somehow we are on this path, we try to practice by praying and invoking, asking to receive wisdoms, etc., which means we are becoming active, we are asking, and preparing more and more possibilities to receive wisdoms and in that way we are developing. Slowly, slowly we develop and receive more and more wisdoms, but it does not mean that receiving wisdom or blessings enlightens us. With that we purify our negative potentiality we have accumulated and when we diminish that, our clarity increases. With increasing clarity we discover that the path is not only that we are asking and waiting to receive that blessing.
The path and realization are related to our condition. For example, in the Dzogchen teaching, it is directly presented that we have kadag and lhundrub in our condition, and emptiness and all its qualifications. The non-dual state is our real condition – just like Vajrayana – but we are not introducing in that same way; we know we have that kind of potentiality and there is the possibility that something can manifest if we apply the methods of transformation with development and accomplishing stages, etc.
You see there are so many kinds of methods and teachings. If we are learning only one kind of secondary practice there is some kind of principle, how we do that practice, what the final goal is, relatively what we should do, how we deal with our body, speech and mind. For that reason, from the beginning regarding these practices, the position, the breathing, the visualization are explained; these are related to the body, speech and mind. When we apply the practices, there is mantra, mudra and visualization related to body, speech and mind. The mudras are related to the physical level, mantras to voice, and visualization with mind. We apply that in the correct way and we can have some fruit, its effect. The effect can be the effect we need relatively in our condition and then we can go ahead for having total realization. For example, if we know very well a very high level practice of contemplation, etc., but if we have illness or many negative provocations, what can we apply? In this case we also need the perfect relative condition.
