The last post was about what makes a good dharma teacher, It was based on a list of worthy qualities from the Pali Canon, the primary scriptures for Theravada Buddhism.
The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra contains a list of four things may rely on. These are sometimes called the Four Reliables.
What are the four? They should be based on dharma, not the person expounding it; on the meaning, not the words; on wisdom, not on consciousness; on sutras that lead to enlightenment, not sutras that do not lead to enlightenment. They should well know these four things, but not four such persons.
I found three different English translations of this passage and tried to patch together a single coherent version. I believe there is similar text in a few other Mahayana sutras.
The Mahaparinirvana is particularly important for its teaching on Buddha Nature. The part of the Mahaparinirvana that contains the Four Reliables, as they are called, seems to me mostly an argument for the superiority of the Buddha Nature teachings over "Sravakayanika," which I believe in this context refers to Theravada Buddhism. And, frankly, I don't find these commentaries very useful, but maybe I'm missing something.
However, I found this version on the Web. It was attributed to Sogyal Rinpoche, although I cannot verify this is his version. Still, this one works better for me --
Rely on the message of the teacher, not on his personality;
Rely on the meaning, not just on the words;
Rely on the real meaning, not on the provisional one;
Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary, judgmental mind.
If anyone recognizes this and know who said it, let me know. I'm looking for a reliable version.
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