The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

44 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING
The introduction by my master had sown a seed deep
inside me. Later, I came to realize that this was the method of
introduction employed in our lineage. Not knowing this then,
however, made what happened completely unexpected, and
so more astonishing and powerful.
In our tradition we say that "three authentics" must be
present for the nature of mind to be introduced: the blessing
of an authentic master, the devotion of an authentic student,
and the authentic lineage of the method of introduction.
The President of the United States cannot introduce you to
the nature of your mind, nor can your father or your mother.
It doesn't matter how powerful someone may be, or how
much they love you. It can only be introduced by someone
who has fully realized it, and who carries the blessing and
experience of the lineage.
And you, the student, must find and constantly nourish
that openness, breadth of vision, willingness, enthusiasm, and
reverence that will change the whole atmosphere of your
mind, and make you receptive to the introduction. That is
what we mean by devotion. Without it, the master may introduce
but the student will not recognize. The introduction to
the nature of mind is only possible when both the master and
student enter into that experience together; only in that meeting
of minds and hearts will the student realize.
The method is also of crucial importance. It is the very
same method that has been tried and tested for thousands of
years and enabled the masters of the past themselves to attain
realization.
When my master gave me the introduction so spontaneously,
and at such an early age, he was doing something
quite out of the ordinary. Normally it is done much later,
when a disciple has gone through the preliminary training of
meditation practice and purification. That is what ripens and
opens the student's heart and mind to the direct understanding
of the truth. Then, in that powerful moment of introduction,
the master can direct his or her realization of the nature of
mind—what we call the master's "wisdom mind"—into the
mind of the now authentically receptive student. The master is
doing nothing less than introducing the student to what the
Buddha actually is, awakening the student, in other words, to
the living presence of enlightenment within. In that experience,
the Buddha, the nature of mind, and the master's wisdom
mind are all fused into, and revealed as, one. The student
then recognizes, in a blaze of gratitude, beyond any shadow