Guru Yoga #2
by HE Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche

For the experience of complete awakened mind, three important conditions should be present:
(1) the vehicle of human birth,
(2) the cause of spiritual friends, and
(3) the method of instruction.
While the potential to experience awakened mind ultimately is inherent in all beings, even in the tiniest beings, only with the vehicle ofthe 'precious human birth' can one realize that potential. The cause of the realization of that potential is the spiritual friend. The method is the skillful means of the teachings that are presented by the spiritual friend.

Among these important conditions, it can be said the most important one is that of the relationship with the proper spiritual friend. Given the fact that one does not have the understanding and the recognition of one's ability to experience enlightened mind, one cannot fabricate on one's own a path of which one has no idea; one would have no experiential understanding of the fruition, or even know the starting point. It is an honest fact that however one attempts on one's own to experience completely awakened mind, true awakened mind will not be experienced. One may perhaps experience momentary satisfaction or entertainment, but in order to experience true awakened mind one needs the cause of the spiritual friend, one who has the understanding of the method, and skillful means as well as experience.

As it is said in the 'Mahamudra Liturgy of Aspiration' by the third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, one must develop the three types of wisdom in order to realize the nature of all phenomena. The first is the wisdom of hearing, which cuts through the ignorance of not knowing, of being uninformed. If something needs to be clarified, to be asserted, proven, or refuted, the wisdom of hearing gives one the opportunity. Then there is the wisdom of deep understanding, which is contemplating what one has heard. Through developing the wisdom of contemplation, of understanding, one breaks through the tapestry of doubts and clears them away. Thirdly, through the wisdom of meditation practice, one becomes enlightened; one begins to realize the fundamental nature of phenomena, not relating to phenomena from the point of view of illusion and the confusion of dualistic clinging. Developing the three types of wisdom in this way is possible through the cause of the spiritual friend. Thus the spiritual friend is indispensable.

The spiritual friend one relates to must have a lineage, because a lineage has a history of transmitting the awakened intelligence, the inspiration or uplifted quality of blessing. When the spiritual friend represents such a lineage, the teachings carry the impact of enlightened intelligence. This can have an important effect in the experience of the sanity of the path that one is involved with. So having a spiritual friend with a lineage is extremely important.

The different types of spiritual friends are classified in accordance with the teachings of the Buddhadharma. A spiritual friend can be just an ordinary person who has more knowledge or realization than oneself, or who is linked to the tradition, having both experience and the transmission of a lineage. A spiritual friend could be a highly realized being, like a nirmanakaya (Tib. tulku), an incarnate being, or a bodhisattva of the different stages, a more subtle manifestation having the transmission of the teachings of the samboghakaya. These different types of spiritual friends may also be embodied in one person. The type of spiritual friend one has depends upon the stages of spiritual growth that one experiences.

Whatever different types and levels of spiritual friends one may relate to, the relationship must be based at least to a certain degree on the three types of confidence. The first is the confidence of clarity, a clarity about the relationship and the importance of it. The second is the confidence of yearning, longing to continue the relationship. The third is the confidence of certitude, that is, some certainty, something decisive, and definite about the relationship. One knows that the relationship is for real, and one engages in it with a real decisiveness, with heart.