Worrying About the Lama’s Health

In answer to a question from a student:

"You say you love your lama very much, however, you worry that something bad may happen to him. This shows that you don't know what a 'lama' is and their qualities. If you do see the lama as a buddha as taught in the texts, then worrying in this way would be the same as saying, 'something bad happened to the buddha.' So in truth, when you say you love your lama, you are seeing him as an ordinary being which is why you worry about him in the same way as you would for ordinary people.

When I was staying in Serta shedra, Khenpo Jigme Puntsok was ill. At the end of a teaching, the chant master, wanting to dedicate towards the lama's good health, started to recite a prayer that is often used for the sick but he cut the chant short after the first line, which reads, 'I dedicate to sentient beings who are sick', because he realised it is wrong to consider the lama as a sentient being.

So don't worry about the lama's health all the time. According to the teachings of the Mahayana and Secret Mantrayana, the Buddha didn't pass into nirvana at all. If he did, then it means that he hadn't transcended aging, sickness and death. It was just a manifestation by the Buddha, a way of teaching, telling the students that, 'even I am subject to impermanence and have to die, so do you,' so the students would be diligent and apply themselves to the practice.

Bodhisattvas manifest the appearance of aging, sickness and death; they don't really suffer from them. It is only a way of teaching the students. When the lama manifests the appearance of aging and sickness, it is a teaching in order for the students to give rise to renunciation and be diligent in practice. So please don't miss the point."

Khenpo Karma Lhabu's teaching on Guru Yoga at HwaYue Foundation, 12 November 2016