Question asked by Melvin
Dearest Rinpoche,
You have said before that if one takes tantric initiation and does not hold their commitments, the student can shorten the lama's life. I think I understand that the lama can only teach if the causes and conditions are there, but if fully enlightened beings have full control over when they die, this would imply that they choose to shorten their lives because of student's broken samaya. My question is, why would a lama purposly shorten his/her life because of the short comming of their students? Shouldn't they always manifest out of compassion for all sentient beings to free them regardless if they are too wild to tame? Thank you Rinpoche, please live long and continue to turn the wheel of Dharma regardless of any broken samayas. Thank you _/\_
Dear Melvin,
When a student purposely and without conscientiousness breaks their samaya:
1. It creates the karma for them to find ideas, thoughts, and paths that lead to harm, selfishness and grasping attractive. Whenever others talk to them about non-virtue, their minds are drawn to it. They become more and more drawn to the samsaric life they lead before they met their teacher. Their excuses they make to their teacher and themselves for not practicing or advancing in practice becomes solidified and you see them less and less. Even if you see them, they are around, they are not practicing, but acting in contradiction to the Dharma without them understanding why because no merit to support understanding.
2. They are easily influenced by friends who promote attachments, activities that waste time and generally away from the spiritual path. They are overwhelmed by their laziness, selfishness and pleasures. Then this life is used up and wasted ‘enjoying’ themselves, till it’s too late and time to face death, karma, rebirth.
3. Their worldly works become ‘better’. Their situations seems to improve. Their samsaric aspirations become easily fulfilled deluding them into thinking things are alright when it’s not. Negative karma easily manifests in our samsaric attachments manifesting very easily to draw us away from spiritual practice. This is to encourage them towards more samsaric activities and less dharma. It encourages them towards creating more karma to stay in samsara longer…When we don’t practice dharma or break samaya or give up and things seems to be better, it is a very bad sign. It is a very bad direction. No spiritual aspirant wishes for easy life in samsara knowing it’s deceptive. They wish to be released from samsara and not be controlled by it. When we do negative actions and it brings success, it is a clear sign of spiralling down. Negative karma feeds our greed for more money, wealth, fame, pleasures, attachments, drinking, fun and wasting of time on the senseless so that this leads to more of the same. One thing we have to remember, success in samsara does not lead to good things. Success in samsara does not mean you are truly successful.
4.Although an attained being has control over their rebirth,death and life, they do not have control over student’s karma. So if a student creates bad karma through broken commitments, then they create the causes not to listen to their teacher, find faults in their teacher and maybe go away. Why? By going away, they hear and practice less and less dharma. If the accummulated negative karma is heavy enough, it cannot sustain the teacher’s presence anymore. From the side of the student you need merits to sustain the teachings (teacher) and to recieve teachings. If you create the opposite, and the causes for many not to recieve teachings is created, then the teacher cannot remain anymore, and passes away.
Very genuine and sincere question. I am glad you are contemplating more. Wonderful.
I hope this helps. TR