25/07/2026
“The past couple of years have been among the most challenging, draining yet an eye opening episode(s) in our lives - emotionally, mentally and spiritually to say the least…..”
⚜️ དག་སྣང་
The "pure view" (or pure perception) of the guru is a foundational Vajrayana practice in Tibetan Buddhism. It is the deliberate training of one's mind to see the spiritual teacher as a fully enlightened Buddha rather than an ordinary human being with flaws.
This perspective focuses on the three layers of the guru, the psychology of devotion, and the purpose of transcending dualistic judgment.
⚜️Baptism by Fire:
"Baptism by fire" is an idiom describing a highly challenging, stressful, or dangerous first-time experience. It refers to an initiation where someone is thrust into a difficult situation or new role without prior preparation, forcing them to learn, adapt, or survive on the fly.
⚜️Baptism by Fire & Understanding Pure View Firsthand:
The past couple of years have been among the most challenging and draining yet an eye opening episode(s) in our lives - emotionally, mentally and spiritually to say the least.
To stand by and persist in our own better judgement and reasoning, when it came to our Guru Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche ~ who inspite of all odds and consequences (to put it lightly) continued to “show up” and live through this ordeal - what one can only but imagine to be a most horrifying and heartbreaking experience, one after another, that I myself am a witness to, I knew there had to be a teaching somewhere.
They do say "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph," and so we did the only right thing there was to do -firstly, block out the empty noise and distraction that echoed in every corner where the intent was to reach, then resolutely choose to believe only that what we were seeing and experiencing first hand and stand our ground, all the while watching unfortunately as the circus played out…..
The horrors, all of which most of us can only imagine but probably never ever survive through - and to think that this was no ordinary being; someone of that stature and standing being torn down and reduced to nothingness ….. or so they thought.
In a parallel world, we ourselves struggled with our own fate as Kyabje Rimpoche’s ardent followers (coincidently) experiencing similar episodes in our day to day mundane lives - at a minuscule scale as compared, but there was so much comfort in knowing that Kyabje Rimpoche was right beside us dealing with his own catastrophe- head on, catching the bull by its horns, not backing down one bit and leading by example.
Of course, but naturally it took Kyabje Rimpoche some time to get back on his feet and surrender to his own misfortune or was it? Kyabje Rimpoche never claimed to be no superhero ….. but I am guessing he is one now - baptism by fire, it happens to the best of us it seems!
I will always, always be indebted to Kyabje Domang Yangthang Rinpoche for connecting us to Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rimpoche two years before his parinirvana in the autumn of 2016. The serendipitous story that continues on but sometimes shows up randomly- to remind me every now and then, that my beloved teacher approves of this path I now walk with his very own beloved teacher - but that is a story for another day•
⚜️Pure view:
Pure view is not the suppression of discernment. It is a recognition that the ordinary mind’s habit of finding fault is itself the primary obstruction to transmission. A student who relates to the Guru as an ordinary person with flaws activates the same mental machinery that perceives all phenomena through the filter of self-referential judgment. That machinery cannot produce recognition of buddha-nature, because buddha-nature is precisely what lies outside that filter.
Without thinking and without realizing that the Guru is like the Buddha, with all the qualities, then one will have attachment, especially because the ordinary mind arises. If you realize that the Guru is like the Buddha, if you look at him in the same way as the Buddha, then you will never arise attachment, only genuine devotion.
The deepest claim of this teaching tradition is not about obedience. It is about what blocks recognition.
When we start practicing the Dharma we bring all of our old stuff to it and we project so much stuff onto our spiritual mentor.
We all bring our own stuff. And then, whatever the teacher’s doing, of course, we have an opinion factory-like mind that never goes on strike, never shuts down, operates 25/8…. If we have a very active opinion factory then we have opinions about everything our spiritual teacher does, just as we have opinions about what everybody we see does.
The student’s ordinary perception — which finds fault, which evaluates, which maintains a safe critical distance — is the same structure that prevents recognition of one’s own nature. The Guru, particularly in the Vajrayana context, functions as a living mirror. When the student can hold the Guru without the defensive critical layer, something becomes visible that was always present but never accessible.
Lama Tsongkhapa said: “The only door for disciples who want to experience great bliss and gain the highest attainments without much effort is the proper cultivation of Guru devotion.”
This is the tradition’s full argument, compressed. Not that the Guru is infallible. Not that devotion replaces wisdom. But that the particular quality of open, unsuspicious, non-defensive attention cultivated toward the Guru is the same quality that recognizes buddha-nature directly — and that this recognition cannot be achieved by a mind that has never practiced holding anything in that way.
The exceptional disciples of the tradition — Naropa, Milarepa, Rechungpa — became exceptional precisely because they stayed when staying was hardest. In the tradition’s reading, what they were protecting was not a relationship with a person. They were protecting the aperture through which transmission could pass.
⚜️The Rationale:
According to Mahayana and Vajrayana commentaries, the benefit of this practice lies in its transformative power. If a disciple relates to their Guru as an ordinary person, they receive ordinary blessings. By holding the pure view and recognizing the Guru's essence as a Buddha, the disciple opens themselves to receiving the highest realizations, even within a single lifetime.
May all be auspicious 🦚
Sarvamangalam Jayantu 🐦🔥
Rambling’s of an Idle Mind - XVII
24th July 2026
(༡༠)~ Guru Thungkar Tsechu written in honour of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche ‘s birth anniversary 🌹
Biksthang Heritage Farmhouse•
