Tonight,
we did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer under the guidance of Acho Rinpoche. After which,
he mentioned a recent teaching given by Asong Rinpoche of Yaqing Monastery who
said, “Even if all the people in the world dislike you or feel unhappy about
you, let them be, no matter. However, when your guru is feeling unpleased,
dislikes and unhappy about you, you will only fall into a Vajra Hell. This is
true. A Guru is really someone whom you should be taking seriously. Similarly,
even when all the people in the world love you and are fond of you, no matter,
let them be. However, when your Guru is fond of you, you will earn the most
precious and unique spiritual attainment including the fruit of Buddhahood in your
present and future lives through his grace.” Acho Rinpoche opined that such
teachings are the highest guiding principle for our spiritual practice according
to the traditional Tibetan Buddhism. It worked in ancient Tibetan society which
produced many great adepts. However, in the current degeneration age, we have
seen many spiritual teachers falling in their practice and therefore, a
Buddhist student should not blindly accept such guiding principle for his
spiritual practice.
Acho
Rinpoche opined that there must be a pre-condition for this guiding principle
to be followed by a student in the current era, that the teacher must be a
truly enlightened master! Otherwise, it will be a very dangerous advice given
to a student. Those spiritual teachers who are not acting in accordance to the
teachings of the Buddha are not truly enlightened masters, and they cannot
expect blind faith from their students. Mingyur Rincpohe reminded us that if a spiritual
teacher acted violently against his students, that teacher must be in the
wrong! Spiritual masters who are great adepts hardly use violent methods to
teach their students. Besides, such methods are not suitable for the current
society that we are in. So, Acho Rinpoche reminded us that if a spiritual
teacher continues to transmit such teaching of blind faith, we ought to be
cautious.
Finally, we ended our prayer by reciting the names of
the Buddhas under the guidance of Acho Rinpoche, and dedicated the merits to
all sentient beings - may all sentient beings be happy, free of sufferings and
attain enlightenment one day.
Reported
by Sun Moon KFS on 20-10-2017 @Singapore
