How to Distinguish True Sage from the False ones

“Mahamudra: Essence and Practice” ( Book II)

How to Distinguish True Sage from the False ones

◎Chen Yixin: Is there a way to distinguish true sage from the false ones?

●Xuemo: Buddhism has a way to distinguish true sage from the false ones. You can tell from the people around him, whether they become greedier, full of hatred, foolish or more pure, wise, free from attachment; whether they fall or transcend? And this is the most important. If a yoga makes you more and more arrogant, foolish, full of hatred, greedy, the practice is meaningless.

According to Guru Yoga, we visualize the Yidam or Guru on the top of our head, emitting red light, with blessing into your central channel. Keep on praying instead of reciting any Mantra when your whole body turns into red lights. It says that, during the praying, the data line will connect the Guru and the disciples. The correspondence is established when great faith and certain conditions are in place. Then the wisdom and enlightenment from Guru would continuously flow into the disciples heart through the data line. Of course, this is just a metaphor.

It's also said that the disciples would have very special emotional feeling, like burst to cry, with even just hearing the name or a glance, if the Guru or Yidam is meant to be your soul guide. Once you found the Root Guru, other Mantras are not necessary any more. As per《Record of Mind Transfer》, praying to Guru once is better than reciting Yidam Mantra for ten thousands times; practicing Guru Yoga once is better than practicing both the creation and the perfection stages for ten thousands times.

After you found the root Guru and had the real belief, you have to extend the great love to Guru. Treat your families, neighbors and all other people as the Guru. Respect and love them. Consider everything you do in daily life as the best way of Buddhism practice and hold on the brightness and emptiness; take the world as a stage property, and observe the heart, to see whether it would stay undisturbed, and as still and bright as a mirror. If you can keep in the status of serenity and clearance, even the daily activity will be the best way of practice. Don’t think practice means you have to escape from the world and meditate in a quite place. When you can really hold on to citta, you would find all the activity of the ‘static’ and the ‘dynamic’ are just appearance of it. You must understand this, and break the discrimination, break the duality of ‘static’ and ‘dynamic’, wipe out all the concepts you learnt, and not go after fancy methodologies. What’s the value, if you can’t get enlightened? All the yoga practicing is meant to help get enlightened, to calibrate the heart, to liberate you from the bound of concept, and keep this status in every activity. It’s good to visualize the image of Buddha clearly, but don’t be worried if you can’t. Visualization is a method, not a goal; it’s used to help you entering emptiness. Try not to be dazed. It means your imagination is not good enough, but don’t be worried, focus on praying, listening and keep alert. Always keep in mind to clear all the previous bondage, go deep into the way to enter the phase of darsana-marga, you will see the light gradually from a small hole to greater and greater area. When the light becomes as broad as the sky, you’ll finally enlightened. Of course, the light I talked about here is the wisdom enlightenment instead of physical bright. And the wisdom I mean here is not only a feeling, but also the compassion, Three Bodies and Five Wisdoms; with all these, you can finally achieve the real samanvagama.

After you found the root Guru, you need to get rid of the discrimination. Incorporate all the previous Gurus, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Dhammapalas into the ocean of wisdom from the root Guru. As long as you have the great faith, you will enter the emptiness very soon.

I always said, the merits and the accumulation is more about the confidence to the true sage, and this is the real one that leads to correspondence and the blessing from the bright attainment when all conditions are ready. We take a metaphor here that, it looks like to transfer a program through the date line. Enlightened by oneself gradually is one way of the Buddhism practice; while, the Attainment Blessing is another one. It’s like magnetization, which let you taste the bright of emptiness directly. You can enter the phase of darsana-marga through perceiving ultimate Self, then get rid of the habits gradually.

The purpose of practicing is to clear the afflictions, barrier and the bad habits with the brightness of emptiness. Treat the whole world as your tool, to see whether the bad habit of your will still come out, whether your heart still be troubled and wavered?

That's why I said samanvagama is as easy as winking when you are full of faith and accumulations. Instead, it's as difficult as to climb to the sky.

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《光明大手印：实修心髓》下

如何鉴别真假善知识？

◎陈亦新：有没有一种办法可以鉴别真假善知识？

●雪漠：佛教中有一种鉴别真假善知识的方法。你要看跟他在一起的人，是愈加贪婪、仇恨、愚痴，还是日渐清凉、明白、破执？他们是在升华还是在堕落？这是最主要的。如果一个法越修越傲慢、愚痴、仇恨、贪婪，这种修就没有意义。

在上师相应法中，要把本尊或上师观想到头顶上，让他发出红光，加持进入你的中脉，你的整个身体都变成一团红光，在这种状态下不断地祈请，不需要诵别的咒。据说，在祈请的时候，信心的“数据线”就接通了弟子和上师。只要信心和因缘俱足，二者就会相应。上师的觉悟和光明就会源源不断地通过这根“信心数据线”进入你的心里。当然，这仅仅是一种方便的说法。

据说，要是某个上师和本尊跟你有缘，你在一见到他或者听到他的名字的时候，会有种涕泪交流的感觉。按照传统的说法，当你得到真正的根本上师，别的咒子就不需要再诵了。《心传录》里说，念一万遍本尊咒，不如祈请上师一次；修一万座生圆二次第，不如修上师法一座。

在有了上师，并有了真信仰后，要把对上师的那种爱扩散开来。在日常生活中，要把你的亲人当成根本上师，去尊重他们；把你的邻居当成根本上师，去尊重他们；把所有的人都当成上师，去尊重他们、爱护他们、关心他们；把你每天做的事情当做最好的修法，安住于明空去修炼，把眼前的世界当做一个道具，就看你的心动不动，你是不是真的能如如不动、心如明镜？如果你能安住于那种宁静、空灵的状态中，即使你在做事，也是最好的修行。不要认为躲开这个世界、跳出这个世界到一个静处坐禅，才算修行。要是你真的能安住真心之后，你会发现所有的静和动都是真心妙用。一定要明白这一点，把分别心打碎，把动静的二元对立打碎，把一切过去学到的概念扫掉，不要追求那些花里胡哨的方法。要是不能明心，学那么多的法有什么用？修所有的法的本意就是为了见到真心，为了调心，为了扫除概念的束缚，并能在行住坐卧中都保任那种状态。能把佛像观出来很好，观不出来也不要紧。观不是目的，观是手段，观的目的是让你能契入空性。观时尽量不要昏沉，能观得很清晰当然很好，说明你没有昏沉；观不上说明你想象力不行，也不要紧，只要你祈请、聆听、警觉就行了。你要始终记住一点，要把过去的束缚扫掉，沿着能够入道的这条路深深地扎进去，扎开一个口子，慢慢地你就会看到光明，然后让光明越来越大。当光明像天空一样广大的时候，你就证果了。当然，我说的这光明指的是智慧光明，而非物理光明。我说的智慧也不是一种感觉，还有慈悲、三身、五智等，这些都要俱足，才是真正的成就。

当我们有了根本上师之后，要把过去的所有上师都融入根本上师的智慧大海。不要有分别心，要把所有的佛菩萨和空行护法也融入根本上师的智慧大海。当你的信心俱足时，很快就能契入空性。

我常说，福德资粮更多的是对善知识的信心。这是一种真正意义上的福德资粮，当你因缘俱足时，就可以达成相应。要是真正地相应之后，我们就会得到证量光明的加持。我们举个例子，那形式，就像把某个程序通过数据线传递给你。这便是加持的本质。自己慢慢地悟是一种修行路子。证量加持是另一种，它类似于一种磁化，可以让你直接“品尝”到空性光明，你可以由认知自性而入道，进而慢慢地清除你的习气。

修道的目的，就是借助空性光明来扫除烦恼、障碍和习气。要把这个世界当成道具，看看在它面前，你的习气还会不会冒出来？心会不会烦恼？会不会动摇？

所以，我总是说：成就易如反掌，也难如登天。当信心与资粮都俱足时，成就就易如反掌，反之就难如登天。

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