Dangerous Friend (eBook)

FromChapter 1: Opening Therelationship between the vajra master and vajra student should be the mostimportant relationship in one's life as a spiritual aspirant. This is the onlyrelationship we can have which ultimately leads to enlightenment. From theVajrayana point of view itismore important than our relationship with our spouse, our children, or ourparents. For a Vajrayana student itismore important than this one life. 'Withoutthe vajra master, there is no Vajrayana.' These were the words of my vajramasters, and the words of their vajra masters. These words might well have beenexpressed through the lineage of non-dual experience for two thousand years,but it is only in the west, and at the turn of the twentieth century, that theyhave needed to be expressed. It is only in this time and this place that weneed to define the essence of Vajrayana in order to demonstrate that the roleof vajra master is indispensable. Thevajra master provides the fuel for the path. Without fuel, engines are curiosto be preserved in the museums of cultures which have depleted their fuelsupplies, and no longer have recourse to motorized transportation. Ngak'changRinpoche and Khandro Dchen, in a vajra letter to their sangha, madethis clear: Petrol or gasoline may well be dermatologically harmful, butwithout it one's Harley Davidson or Vincent Black Lightning can only roll downconvenient hills. One can strip a vehicle down and expose the engine in thecreation of a dragster, but if one removes parts of the engine, even the mostluxurious sedan will not serve its intended purpose. The vajra master is theliving fuel of Vajrayana—,of Tantra and of Dzogchen—,and politically correct,'psycho-egalitarian' arguments as to the unsuitability of this modefor the western temperament are both fatuous and flaccid. Ourexperience of emptiness or devotion is the base, realization of the nature ofMind is the fruit or result. But the vajra master is the path. It was TrungpaRinpoche who coined the memorable description of the Tantric teacher as'the dangerous friend', dangerous because the student grants the lamaa dramatic freedom of action. Khandro Dchen, in answer to a question Iasked, confided the following:Thevajra master is dangerous in the sense of the danger a vacuum cleaner poses toa carpet, or that a bath poses to body odour. The Lama is dangerous to ourdualistic conceptions—,but beyond that, he or she is the compassionate surgeonwho saves our lives. The surgeon's knife cuts us open—,but if there's a cancerto be removed, then the operation is to be welcomed. 'Newage' spirituality in general is afraid of danger, as is the society thatspawned it. Nowadays people seek guarantees about aspects of life that werepreviously treated as matters of individual responsibility. There is a littlefishing village in Cornwall, England where a diving board has been removed onthe grounds that people might dive in at low tide and hurt themselves. In someways it is laudable that people wish to protect others—,but the result of thiskind of paternalism is that we are gradually stripped of more and more sense ofpersonal responsibility. This actually has the effect of making us morevulnerable—,rather than protecting us through encouraging greaterresponsibility. So those who say that association with the vajra master isunacceptably perilous are also saying that the individual is incapable ofmaking choices which involve risk. Would they also wish to legislate againstskiing, parachuting, and climbing trees? Many people in the world takecalculated risks and are...