This realization has not come easy to me. On the long journey of reading messages and Masters, one confusion I was constantly dogged by, was how many people have scoffed, attacked and even resorted to bodily harming many, many Masters, messiahs and enlightened souls. Why indeed? The answer can only be that they do not know whom they assault. Much like the historic last words of Christ on the cross when he said, “Forgive them father for they do not know what they do.” Even the smallest flash of comprehending the light of the Master, would not just stem their aggressive eye but perhaps transform their raging heart. Such stories have been recorded also in the lives of many Masters.

But the question continues, how and why do so many manage to ignore, criticize, mock and even obstruct the ones that others experience as the source of light? The ones who visibly spread love, and abundance in an otherwise volcanic world, why would one want to turn to them with malice, rage and hate in one’s heart? There are many subtle layers to examining and answering this question but for now let’s just touch upon the enigma of people’s rejection of mystics and Masters.

For, if thousands experience His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a living Buddha, how can the Chinese continue to plot and plan against him and his people? How can some walk away unmoved or even critical? Simply put they have no desire to seek the Buddha. Simply because they do not believe such a being exists. Going a bit further, one can safely say that the anger, hate, confusion or even pain in their own hearts blocks them to the idea of purity, Divinity and effulgence- at least in manifest form. They do not seek, for they do not believe that man can actually achieve his/her own Spirit Peak in this material world. At least not in the world they live in! Perhaps to believe so, they will have to accept that the same must lie somewhere within them too! For to believe they will have to acquiesce and bow before such a form and accept it as living truth! And that would mean taking responsibility to dig deeper within, perhaps commit to the inner high road, which they would rather not tread. For what else do Masters symbolize in this very ephemeral world of ours but the height of man’s spirit and the adventure of his/her potential?

The living Buddha is firstly, a sight extraordinaire of the victor and the victory. He/she stands tall beckoning you to your feisty destiny. An ultimate Master- adept at negotiating the high road, skilled at demystifying the cosmic game and loving and unconditional in his/her guidance of the Great Way. But his finger points to a mysterious moon.

“I climb the road to Cold Mountain
The road to Cold Mountain that never ends,
The valleys are long and strewn with stones,
The streams broad and banked with thick grass.
Moss is slippery though no rain has fallen;
Pines sigh but it is not the wind.
Who can break from the snares of the world
And sit with me among the white clouds?”
Han Shen

This is the call of a living Buddha. So is it not really about those who desire to sit among the white clouds? Once the desire stirs, they seek and as they seek so shall they find.

Yet it is equally true that even when the eye shifts to the Great Way, the mind continues to flutter. Seeped in suspicion, doubt and mangled self-esteem it targets primarily the very same people that it seeks-i.e Masters of the Way. The illusory mind rankles against them and all they signify. You carry notions of sacred and profane and decide to pitch them full throttle against the mystics before you. Is he in saffron, how ‘material’ does he/she seem, is there attachment to money and comfort, is he/she in it for fame and glory, are they showing signs of sexual interest, is their proof of ‘sanyaas’ tangible? The list is as endless as it is cosmetic. For as long as the mind rants the heart can never witness the glory of a Buddha.

In fact, the metaphor of the mirror is the most accurate for Truth i.e The Master too. So whom you choose, accept and receive as a Master, must also reflect the clarity of your inner mirror. For instance, the more still the waters the greater their powers to reflect the subtlest hues and details of the world. Then the same must be true for the heart. The more still its waters, the greater its powers to witness the subtlest realms of the Master and his indications of Truth.

And Buddha was the subtlest and rarest of Masters. It is no accident that Buddhism is experiencing its renaissance in the 21st century when minds are sharpened and refined by the march of history, technology and wisdom. Buddhism and its womb child Zen, excel at speaking to the modern mind which needs to begin where rituals and hierarchy end, where sacred and profane are not divided into hells and heaven and evil and moral are no longer demonic shadows.

Matchless in defining advaita (non-duality) in a million prolific ways, Buddhism relentlessly attacks the root of the mind and its paradoxical leanings. In such a context, the importance of His Holiness The Dalai Lama takes on awesome proportions. He is here and able to bring to life in the language of our times the ultimate height of man- Buddhahood.

I sometimes wonder if it is not fair to say, that the metaphor of Shiva’s locks as integral to receiving the torrential Ganga is applicable to the heart of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama as pivotal for resurrecting the spiritual ocean of Buddhism. Since nothing is accidental in the cosmic game plan, his title indicates his historic and spiritual role as Ocean Of Wisdom. And this reminds me of a dear friend, hugely influenced by His Holiness, who for many years lamented the brutality of the Chinese and the pain HH must endure at not being able to return to his beloved Tibet. He would often say- if HH cannot return to Tibet with all his powers and purity then what is this cycle of karma which makes us all suffer so. And I would tell him gently that HH understood the cycle differently perhaps. For had not Tibet been annexed and HH not exiled, how would the world witness this incredible resurgence of Buddhism which has been possible under him? The game of karma has placed him as a Bodhisattva whose life exemplifies peace, non-violence and love in the face of an unscrupulous, machiavellian and unrepentant adversary like China. His height has made him a world leader, unique in living by the principles he professes. And in the luminosity of being the light that he also points to, he brings hope and faith to millions who stand witness to the miracle of his being.

Had he stayed in Tibet, the Wish-fulfilling Gem (Kundun) would have been hidden in that lofty land. Today his light beckons all to seek and find their highest peak, Buddhahood. There are many subtle things to be said about the role of HH both as a world presence and as a Master of Buddhism, but for this post it suffices to say that there are few who manage to do both as effortlessly and profoundly as HH.

To conclude I would like to quote from a powerful piece by the great Zen Master Dogen. In his “Mountains and Water Sutra’ he says – “Although mountains belong to people, mountains belong to people who love them. When mountains love their Master, such a virtuous sage or wise person enters the mountains. Mountains are not the realm of human beings; do not judge the mountains from the scale of human thought. There are mountains hidden in treasure. There are mountains hidden in the sky. There are mountains hidden in the mountains.”

A living Buddha is a mountain, with numerous mountains hidden within. The eye that seeks must be the eye that finds.