Part 2a - The characteristics of the one to be relied upon

1) The characteristics of the spiritual friend in general,

Briefly, as for the characteristics of spiritual friends, if it is asked what they should properly be like, first generally, and then in the tradition of the perfections:

What is the pro per manner of these holy ones?
As leaders of the world, they are in accord with all.
In going beyond the world, they are in accord with nothing.
In actions of the three gates, they are more noble than anyone.

The Gandavyuha Sutra says: #372.4

If it is asked what spiritual friends should be like, insofar as they are perfect leaders of many sentient beings, if those beings are seen with compassion by them, it is not inappropriate. Since they are beyond the world, they are not in accord with anything. Since what they undertake is always beneficial, they accomplish immeasurable benefit.

2) Their virtues

If it is asked what their virtues are like:

They are peaceful in body. Their actions pure and faultless.
They are skilled in cutting through doubt. Their speech is faultless and pleasant.
Their deep and peaceful minds are a treasury of omniscience.
Compassionate and learned, they are limitless in their virtues.
Vast in prajña, their vision and action are like the sky.
In their buddha activity they are limitless.
All who have a connection with them are benefited.
In kindness they abandon sadness and fatigue,
And for that reason they are constantly diligent.
Beings rely on spiritual friends as ennobling guides.

Spiritual friends benefit sentient beings with many virtues of body, speech, and mind. Their prajña and realization are as deep as space. The undertakings of their Buddha activity plant seeds of liberation in all who have a connection to them. By their compassion they look on every one of them as if they were an only child. By the wealth of good qualities of the teachings, they turn the wheel of Dharma of any vehicle to which someone may have devotion. The Madhyamakalankara says:

Spiritual friends are tamed and peaceful—fully at peace.
Replete with effort and qualities, they are rich in teachings.
Having supremely realized these, they are skilled in speech.
Guarding the nature of kindness, they rely on renunciation.

3) Their special characteristics

In addition to these qualities, among others that they have, the guru of secret mantra also has these:

In particular, as for the marks of gurus of secret mantra,
They keep their empowerments, vows, and samayas pure and unbroken.
They reach the other shore of the ocean of tantric instructions.
They have mastered the four-fold aspects of sadhana,
Propitiation and practice, transforming,^[1] and buddha activity.
They have perfected view, meditation, action, and fruit,
With experience and realization, and attained the measure of heat.^[2]

Very kind, with an excellent grasp of skillful means,
They establish students in ripening and liberation.
They are undiminishing cloud-banks of the rain of lineage blessings.
Rely on such a skilled and accomplished, glorious guru.

The great master Vimalamitra’s Mirror-like Commentary on the Net of Miracles (sgyu a’phrul dra ba me long lta bu’i ’grel pa says:

Such gurus have completely attained the empowerments of the outer and inner mandalas. Their vows and samayas are pure. They are learned in the individual meanings of the tantras. They have trained in propitiation and practice, together with the karmic applications. Their view of realization is unobscured. In their meditation, they are familiar with the experiences. They are connected to a variety of actions. Because of their compassion they lead students. They have these eight characteristics.

The guru, in addition, because the lineage is unbroken, diffuses an atmosphere of blessings. Therefore this ninth characteristic is also taught.

4) The praise by means of examples

If it is asked how many virtues such a guru has, this is the explanation:

Their buddha qualities are utterly limitless.
To give only part of the praise that is due to such friends of beings,
They steer the great ship that crosses the ocean of samsara,
Incomparable captains of those who journey on that path.
They remove poverty, like wish fulfilling gems.
They are the amrita that quenches the fires of karma and kleshas.
They are the excellent clouds of the cooling rain of Dharma.
They are like a great drum, delighting all sentient beings.
Kings of physicians, they cure the sicknesses of the three poisons.
They are a radiant lamp, dispelling the darkness of ignorance.
They are like a great tree that can fulfill all wishes.
All the joy of sentient beings arises from them.
Like an “excellent vase”^[3] or a wish-fulfilling gem,
They spontaneously grant whatever may be desired.
They are the measureless rays that shine from the sun of kindness.
Removing affliction, they are the light of the moon of benefit.

The Gandavyuha Sutra says:

Kye, O son of noble family, moreover, because they liberate from the ocean of samsara, they are like ships. They are like guides of those who dwell on the path of liberation. Since they clear away the deteriorations of samsara, they are like a king of wish-fulfilling gems. Since they remove the fires of karma and the kleshas, they are like a river. Since they cause the great rain of Dharma to fall, they are like excellent clouds. Since they make all beings rejoice, they are like the great drum of the gods. Because they clear away the sickness of the kleshas, they are like a king of physicians. Because they clear away all the darkness of ignorance, they are like a lamp. Because they fulfill the hopes of all desires, they are like a wish-fulfilling tree. Because they accomplish all that is wished for, they are like an excellent wishing-vase. By their measureless kindness they are like the disk of the sun. Since they cool the torment of the kleshas, they are like the disk of the moon. Since they bestow the wealth of the buddha qualities, they are like the god of wealth Vaishravana.

5) The praise of their being in accord with the goal

Moreover,

Vast in realization, they are like an unbroken sky.
Like planets and stars, their samadhi is self-luminous.
Their nature of wisdom and kindness is like a limitless ocean.
Their great waves of compassion flow like the stream of a river.
They are like snow-capped mountains in their immovable splendor.
They are supremely immovable, like the mass of Mount Meru.
Like lotuses growing in mud, they are undefiled by samsara.
They are kind and loving, like a father or mother,
With equanimity toward every sentient being.
Their limitless qualities are a precious treasury.
As leaders of the world, they resemble powerful kings.

The Sutra of the supremely Vast Garland of Buddhahood, (Avatamsaka Sutra, shin tu rgyas pa’i phal po che’i mdo):

Kye, sons of the Victorious one, these virtues arising from the spiritual friend are measureless. Since they arise because of opportunities for compassion, they are like the sky. Their collection of many samadhis and dharanis is like the stars. Their immeasurable compassion is like a great, full ocean. Their loving-kindness is immeasurable like a river. Never disturbed by agitation, they are like a snow mountain. Never moved from suchness, they are like Mount Meru. Since, even when they exist within samsara, they are not obscured by defilements, they are like a great lotus. In the equality of unobscured compassion, they are like a father or mother. Because of their immeasurable buddha qualities, they are like a precious treasure source. Since they completely liberate from all wandering within samsara, they are like the Tathagata. The assembly of their buddha qualities is beyond measure and limit.

6) The summary

As for further qualities:

Wherever these gurus dwell, who are the lords of Dharma,
They are the equals of all the buddhas of the world.
By seeing, hearing or contact, or by remembering them,
Subsequently samsara will surely be overthrown.
The limitless burden of their magnificent buddha activity,
Like the great earth itself, supports all sentient beings.

When buddhas arrive in the world, all who see, hear, or remember them, will eventually be established in happiness. Since this is also accomplished by those gurus, they have the same kind of buddha activity. As emanations of the Victorious One, they are explained in the same way. The Great Drum Sutra (rnga bo che’i mdo) says: #377.2

Do not generate suffering. Be all-joyful.
Do not wail laments, but be all-joyful.
I in later time, will emanate
In the form of the spiritual friend himself,
Producing benefits for you and others.

The Tantra of the Vajra Mirror (rdo rje me long gi rgyud) says:

As the chief of the Vajrasattva mandala,
The guru is the equal of all the buddhas.

Without sadness and weariness like the earth, gurus produce benefits for sentient beings. Though they see peace, the benefit for oneself, they are not concerned with it, undertaking the benefit of others, even when it is very difficult. The Letter to a Student says:

When great beings strive to benefit others, that is their beauty,
The power of those great beings to make them happy is noble.

As the splendid sun pulled by its horses is the bringer of light,
As heaping up no burdens, the earth supports the world;
Such, without self-benefit, is the nature of these great ones.
They try to make worldly benefit one with the play of enjoyment.

Smoky cloud heaps of worldly ignorance anguish beings.
Seeing them fall helpless in blazing fires of pain,
Attentively striving, as if those fires flared on their foreheads,
Those great beings are also skilled in dealing with that.

For others, even the Ceaseless Hell, full of tongues of flame,
They enter as joyfully, as if it were snow and moonlight.
As if they were swimming for pleasure in a lake of lotus blossoms,
They burn with longing for these collected tongues of flame.

Those who are skilled in the aspects of benefit for others,
Take comfort even in a grove with leaves of swords.
Divine maidens’ company within a pleasure grove,
Would not produce such happiness as a moment there.

In order that beings who cannot cross over may cross over,
They enter the unfordable river Vaitravani.^[4]
By contact with the flowing waves of a heavenly river
They would not have the nature of such happiness.

Ornamented by such adornments of excellent conduct,
In luminosity radiant with the amrita of peace
To produce the unmakable joy of joys, which is hard to find,
Auspiciousness of auspiciousness, they rely on the cause of peace.

The flower of Sugata speech is always reliable.
From that flowering tree arises a vast fruition.
The collected sense of these flowers of the Sugata’s speech
Dependably brings the highest joy, like honey for bees.

7) The Buddhas’ supreme view

The buddha-guru is a fourth to the three jewels.
The guru is Shri Heruka, lord of the mandala.
In benefits of taming beings of this dark age,
Better than the Buddha, for beings to be tamed.
The vajra master is the root of all the siddhis.
Bow the three gates purely, without hypocrisy.

The Unified Sameness of the Continuums of All the Buddhas (sangs rgyas thams cad mnyam par sbyor ba'i rgyud) says:

With the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
The guru is a fourth.

The Universal Secret (gsang ba rab ’byams) says:

As the heruka who is the lord of the mandala,
The highest guru’s siddhi is very great.

The Immaculate Sky Sutra (nam mkha’ dri ma med pa’i mdo) says:

Ananda, though the Sugatas do not appear to all sentient beings, spiritual friends appear everywhere, teaching the Dharma and sowing seeds of liberation. Therefore, think of spiritual friends as better than the Sugatas.

The Dohakosha says:

The root of all the siddhis is the vajra master.

The Great Wish-Fulfilling Display (yid bzhin bkod pa chen po) says:

Thus with awe and devotion to the holy guru,
Always offering all the offerings,
By our pleasing the guru, let us serve truth itself.

8) The benefits attending on this service

If it is asked what other benefits the gurus have:

Having blocked the path that leads to the lower realms,
They establish us on the staircase to the higher realms.
They benefit us within this life and that to come.
They bless our minds, and reveal to us authentic truth.
We are set on the path that ripens and frees within this life.
Therefore, with a faith that is always firm and changeless,
Always rely on the gurus, without fatigue or regret.

The gurus block the lower realms and teach the higher realms. They lead us to the level of buddhahood and are always the source of all buddha qualities without deceit or pretence, without holding back or reversing themselves. If we are respectful and reverent to them, special qualities will arise within this very life. The Tantra of Subtle Wisdom (ye shes phra rgyud) says:

By always being without hypocrisy
To gurus having all excellent qualities,
If even small offerings are made to them,
This life will be long, and we will have no sickness.
We will possess the best and most pleasant enjoyments.
Later liberation will be mastered.

The Song of the Oral Instructions of the Inexhaustible Treasury (mi zad pa’i gter mdzod man ngag gi glu) says:

E ma! The secret teachings coming from the dakinis
And all the various dharmas have but a single meaning,
Embodied in the teacher, who is the holy guru.

Like the lips of faith, with devoted mind this highest jetsun,^[5]
Should be received on the heads of those who are pure.
The guru points out mind collected into one.
What is pointed out is the essence of students themselves.

As for that warrior, the one who has realized that,
And instantly conquers all suffering, though the guru is kind,
When the truth has been viewed, to actualize that kindness,
We must always rely upon that king of all physicians.

From the ocean of samsara so very deep and wide,
There is no other excellent ship that liberates.
As relying on that holy ship we gain great bliss,
Its powerful motionless boatman is esteemed by all.

By the pure rays of the light of wisdom, like the sun,
This excellent being makes ignorance be transformed to insight,
Changing all dharmas to bliss, like changing grass to gold.
Always rely on this skillful universal monarch.

By that river-like mind dualistic views are overcome.
Not abandoning anything, we possess naked wisdom.
Resting in uncontrived mind and its phenomena
The amrita-like face of the holy guru will arise.

The conventional designations “mind” and “mental events,”
These labeled designations that are the companions of yogins,
Are all transformed, becoming the lotus face of the guru.
They all become and have their source in the spiritual friend

If the tantras are hidden and isolated from the normal,
No one will ever know the secret of all the buddhas.
The oral instructions are seen by the eye and fill the senses.^[6]
If we touch the dust of the guru’s feet, we understand wisdom.

A thousand arrows, the dharmas of various things, are shot.
Skillful means transform a thousand apparent experiences.
Appearances to be comprehended are seen by prajña.
The knowledge of prajña that sees and apprehends appearance,
Rises from the master’s unsurpassable purity.

All kleshas are supremely transformed by skillful means.
Any tormenting thoughts that cannot be transformed,
Using the essence instructions are able to be renounced.
This too is truly attained by the power of the Jetsun.

Therefore whatever lineage blessings we may have,
Let us always rely on the gurus with skillful means.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

karma.

[2]:

A sign of accomplishment.

[3]:

That accomplishes wishes.

[4]:

A river of ashes and boiling water in the fourth neighboring Hell.

[5]:

Noble, exalted or venerable lord.

[6]:

Fill the taste of sense... Omitted for metrical reasons.