Chogyam Trungpa, commentary on the Vajrayana Path

“I would like to apologize for using so many traditional terms. These terms come out of the texts and scriptures and philosophical writings of my Buddhist heritage, and they are loaded with meaning. However, in this discussion, they are not particularly meant to be philosophical terminology, but experiential terms referring to experiences that actually exist. In presenting the vajrayana, I also do not want to create the impression that everything is over your head, so that there is nothing you can actually do. That would be like telling fairy tales, which seems to be the wrong approach. If I did such a thing, I would be personally punished by the dharma protectors, such as our friend Ekajati, who would be very angry with me.

As far as the role of the teacher is concerned, it is considered criminal to teach vajrayana by presenting it as ordinary. It is also said that trying to convert individuals directly into vajrayana without preparation would be criminal. According to the Hevajra Tantra and many other tantras, students should first be taught hinayana and mahayana, and only then should they be shown the path of mantra, or vajrayana. If teachers ignore that tradition and lead students into the vajrayana immediately, it is quite possible that chaos will result, and a lot of neurosis will take place.

The Guhyasamaja Tantra says that to begin with, a person should receive the complete hinayana disciplines; then they should receive the complete mahayana disciplines; and finally, they should be received into the vajrayana. People in the past have recommended quite strongly that hinayana is the preparation, mahayana is the further direction, and vajrayana is the final crescendo. Without that kind of prior development, vajrayana can be destructive to both the vajra master and the student. So before entering the vajrayana, there needs to be immense respect for the hinayana practice of shamatha-vipashyana, and for the bodhisattva’s paramita practice and their glimpse of shunyata experience. Having had that training, the worthy person can then enter into the vajrayana properly.

Entering the vajrayana is like boarding a vajra airplane. You will be welcomed and received by the vajra master, as well as by vajra hostesses and hosts of all kinds: “Welcome aboard the vajrayana. Captain So-and-So is directing this diamond airplane. If there is anything we can do, please call on us.” Once you get onto this particular flight, it is quite an odyssey, but it does not seem to be all that easy to do. It is necessary to realize the crimes that can be committed, both by an incompetent vajra master (who hardly could be called a vajra master, but should be called a salesperson, which basically means a charlatan) and by a frivolous student who would like to collect powers and techniques and wisdoms of all kinds (which they are not going to get out of a real teacher). So both teacher and student should be very firm in understanding that unless the student has some experience of the hinayana and the mahayana, they are not going to be accepted into the vajrayana.

The teacher at this point is regarded as an immovable person, someone who cannot be shaken by little jokes, little tricks, little scenes, little insults, or little criticisms. That person has a very solid basis in vajra dignity. They also embody the lineage of the past completely, every one of the individuals in the lineage. There may be a thousand people in the lineage, but all their wisdom is transmitted and communicated properly by that one particular person: the vajra master.

Presenting tantra is a very sacred matter and very dangerous. If we were off by a quarter of an inch, somebody would tell us that we were doing something wrong. So we are relying a lot on messages from the phenomenal world, and at the same time we are relying on our own intelligence. This discussion of vajrayana is being closely guarded by visible forces and invisible forces. But it is not as if a ghost is hovering around dressed in a white sheet with holes for the eyes. Actually, there is something much more powerful than a ghost guarding this situation. Nonetheless, we can still discuss everything nonchalantly, as if nothing is happening.“

~ Chogyam Trungpa