HH 41st Sakya Trichen
The biographies of great masters are a powerful source of inspiration for practitioners. From biographies we can learn how the earlier gurus proceeded on the spiritual path; how they studied and practiced; what helped them develop their experience; and how they attained realization. In this way, we can then try to follow in their footsteps. For me personally, biographies are a very, very important source of inspiration…
One of the stories from Sakya Paṇḍita’s life that is personally very inspiring to me also occurred during his youth, when he was still studying with his primary guru and paternal uncle, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen. Sakya Paṇḍita requested him to bestow the profound guru yoga blessing, but Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen refused, saying, “You don’t see me as a Buddha, you see me as your uncle.”
Sometime after that, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen became ill, and Sakya Paṇḍita served his Guru day and night without regard for his own health or comfort. By that merit, any small obscurations Sakya Paṇḍita may have had were purified, and he perceived his Guru as Mañjuśrī. At that moment, Sakya Paṇḍita’s inner wisdom opened, and he attained comprehensive and detailed understanding of all knowable things.
This event in Sakya Paṇḍita’s life shows that although through study one can gain outer knowledge, it is only through devotion that one can gain inner awakening. The experience of inner awakening brings definitive certainty of all knowable things in a single moment, such that one no longer needs to study.
