Lama Zopa Rinpoche

That butcher behind the Potala was the enlightened deity Red Yamantaka. So an enlightened
being doesn’t have to be some being we see radiating light in the sky whereas somebody we
see elsewhere—on the ground, in the bathroom, where meat is sold and so forth—could not
be an enlightened being. Any of those people could be enlightened.
Buddhas manifest as gods or demigods, as all kinds of human beings. For example, when we
are having problems and somebody suddenly appears and helps us, telling us what we need
to hear, showing us the path, that could be a buddha or a bodhisattva manifesting to help us.
This happens many times.
We may think a person is ridiculous, that she doesn’t know any Dharma, but we cannot
judge by the appearance. In reality, what appears to us is totally a projection, or decoration,
of our own karma, our ordinary impure mind. We really cannot say. The way something
appears to us and what we believe to be real can be the complete opposite of what is actually
real. The ordinary person can in reality be an enlightened being. Many times unknown
people have helped or guided us and we have not known who they were.
Buddhas can manifest as hungry ghosts to help hungry ghosts. They are not hungry ghosts
but they manifest in that form in order to help them. They can manifest as all kinds of
animals to help animals. They are buddhas, not animals, but they manifest as animals or
insects or whatever. They can manifest as hell protectors or hell beings. They can manifest as
maras; they are not maras but they show that aspect to help others. There are all kinds of
ways they manifest to help beings.
Because of our deluded mind we find it difficult to know reality and always believe that what
appears to us exists the way it appears. Somebody ordinary appears to us and we believe in
that appearance; we think that that is the reality. We cannot see the reality, that that is a
buddha.
In the Heruka body mandala there are twenty-four holy places. When we do the sadhana we
have to visualize those holy places on the body as they are on earth, in Nepal, Tibet and
India. They are there, but we also visualize them on our body. At that time numberless dakas
and dakinis immediately come and enter our body, blessing our winds, chakras and drops to
make them functional while we are meditating, as in the Six Yogas of Naropa. 57 They enter our
central channel, abide and absorb, and then, after the gross mind is absorbed and the subtle
mind is absorbed, the most subtle mind, the clear light, arises. Then we experience the great
bliss of non-duality with emptiness, ceasing the dualistic mind, the dualistic view, the
superstitions, ceasing the ordinary mind-wind. This is like an atomic bomb. This is the
practice of Highest Yoga Tantra.
At those holy places there are numberless dakas and dakinis with different levels of
realization. There are those who have just achieved the unification of clear light and illusory
body and also enlightened beings. When we go to those holy places we will definitely meet
those holy beings, but the question is whether or not we will be able to recognize them as
such. That is the biggest problem, especially in those places. Of course, this is not something
to speak about in public, but it’s just to get the idea.
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