How Can a Disciple Have Firm Confidence in His Guru?

“Mahamudra: Essence and Practice” (Book  II)

How Can a Disciple Have Firm Confidence in His Guru?

◎Yixin Chen: In daily practice, how can we have firm confidence in our guru?

●Xue Mo: Put everything down, get rid of intentional contemplating or efforts, and hold pure confidence in your guru. Give up all your solicitudes toward the temporal world. Don’t stick to anything, and abandon all the obsessions in your life, even the ambition or wish to achieve Buddhahood.

In the early years in my life, I even didn’t make any wish to be blessed to be reborn to any buddha-land. If I had an afterlife, I would be willing to assist my guru in preaching Buddha dharma. In many cases, the longing to achieve Buddhahood can be an obsession, too. The genuine state of Mahamudra is not to care about Mahamudra itself at all. As soon as you accomplish the ultimate brightness, the brightness will eliminate the binary opposition between you and Buddha. And you will understand that there is no difference between you and Buddha. There is no such question as whose Pure Land one is reborn to.

I find that many practitioners are still obsessed with a lot of things. They don’t understand why their guru is so precious. Many of them only know the importance of dharma. But they don’t know that their practice doesn’t work if they don’t have firm confidence in their guru. On the contrary, with firm and pure confidence in your guru, you have the chance to be quickly enlightened into the nature of emptiness and achieve the ultimate emptiness, even though you haven’t practiced any dharma in the meditation of both the creation and perfection stages. That is the superiority of esoteric methods. If you don’t get the point, no matter how long you keep practicing, you are putting the cart before the horse.

Some disciples are as innocent as children. They look silly, but may be gifted with superior faculties. As long as they have confidence in their guru, and when the time comes for the guru to enlighten their mind-nature, they will achieve enlightenment at once. These people may have accomplished the practice of nadis and bright dots before this life or during the first half of their life. In this life, as soon as they begin to practice esoteric methods or as soon as they meet their guru, the qi will flow into the central chakra and make them get enlightened into Mahamudra.

People of superior capacity begin with mind-nature training to obtain mind freedom and nadi clearance; People of middling or lesser capacity begin with the meditation of both the creation and perfection stages to open nadi ties, let the qi flow into the central chakra and realize perception of the heart and seeing the true nature.

Among those of superior capacity, some achieve Mahamudra immediately with a sudden enlightenment, others need to practice gradually and obtain a sudden enlightenment, and yet others approach enlightenment step by step through continuous practice. I measure a person’s natural capacity by the scale of confidence in his guru. Great confidence shows superior capacity, little confidence shows lesser capacity, and no confidence means no chance of enlightenment into Vajrayana. Some disciples have a strong confidence in their guru at the beginning. But later they come up with some evil opinions toward him. Thus, the foundation of confidence has been ruined and it is impossible for them to achieve Buddhahood anyhow. For instance, if the roots of a tree are rotten, it can’t survive wherever you replant it. So, whenever I see these kinds of people, I keep away from them. Of course, sometimes there are also people pretending to have confidence. I had a disciple who renounced the secular life in appearance. When he got along with some bad friends, he spoiled his confidence. He pretended to listen to his guru but slandered him behind his back. Such people have lost the basic qualification as a man with integrity. No matter how they look like, no matter what dharma they practice, it is impossible for them to accomplish enlightenment. As a traditional saying of Vjrayana goes, those who slander their guru will be depraved to the Vajra Hell, which is another way to say that they are beyond redemption

For a man who possesses complete confidence in his guru, he can see and achieve the ultimate enlightenment straightaway with the blessings from his guru by braking through the three barriers simultaneously. Even if he can’t make it at once, he can see his own nature and practice step by step after enlightenment. In so doing, it is easy for him to make ultimate achievements. To sum up, the possibility of all these achievements depends on the scale of confidence in one’s guru.

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《光明大手印：实修心髓》 下

如何对上师生起信心？

◎陈亦新：平时修行时，用什么样的心态才能对上师真正生起信心？

●雪漠：放下一切，无计无力，净信上师。放下对红尘的牵挂，不要去算计一些东西，放下对今生的所有执著，甚至放下成佛的欲望和念想。

早年，我甚至不去发愿往生哪个佛国。如果有来生的话，我也愿意帮上师来弘扬佛法。因为许多时候，成佛也是一种执著。真正的光明大手印是对大手印也不执著。当你真正地证得实相光明之后，就消除了我佛之间的二元对立，就会明白自己本身就是佛，也根本没有谁往生谁的净土的问题。

我发现许多修行人仍有许多放不下的东西。他们仍然不明白上师的真正珍贵在什么地方。好多人只明白法的重要，但却不明白要是对上师没有信心，你修那些法是不起作用的。而哪怕你不修生起次第和圆满次第，只要对上师有信心，你立马就能证悟空性，而且可能是究竟证悟。密法的殊胜就在这里。要是不明白这些，你修呀修呀，修上无量劫，你修的仍是那个心外的不究竟的东西。

有些弟子没有心机，像孩子一样单纯，他们看起来傻乎乎的，却可能是上根之人。只要他们对上师有信心，机缘一成熟，上师一为他开示心性，他立马就明白了。这类人的气脉明点可能在上一世或是前半生就修圆满了，这一世一修密法，或是一见上师，就会气入中脉，契入大手印。

上根之人由心性入手，进而心解脉开；中下根之人，由生圆二次第入手，打开脉结，气入中脉，明心见性。

上根之人中，有顿悟顿证者，也有顿悟渐修者，也有渐悟渐修者。我以对上师的信心来衡量根器的大小：对上师信心大者，为大根器；对上师信心小者，为小根器；对上师无信心的，是绝不会契入密乘的。有些弟子，初对上师有信心，后来却生了邪见者，就是坏根之人。坏根之人，是不可能成就的。一棵树要是根坏了，它无论移到哪儿，肯定活不了。所以，我一发现这类人，就会远离他。当然，有时候，还会有一种阳奉阴违的人。我以前有个学生，外相上出家了，因遭遇恶友坏了信根。他一方面当面奉承上师，背后却又诋毁上师，这类人，已失去了做人的基本底线。这种人无论披了啥衣服，无论修啥法，是绝不可能成就的。因为按密乘的传统说法，诋毁上师的人，是要堕入金刚地狱的。这金刚地狱，是“万劫不复”的另一种说法。

对上师俱足信心者，凭借上师加持之力，可以一箭透三关，当下悟证。即使不能穿透三关，也会见性，悟后起修，是很容易成就的。这一切，都取决于对上师的信心。

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