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The Four Reliances<\/strong><\/p>\n Do not rely on the individual, but on the Dharma If you do not have such understanding, 1. Do not rely on the individual, but on the Dharma<\/strong><\/p>\n Therefore do not rely on individuals, 2. Do not on the words, but on the meaning 3. Do not rely on the provisional meaning, but on the definitive meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n When it comes to the meaning, 4. Do not rely on the ordinary mind, but rely on wisdom<\/strong><\/p>\n When taking the definitive meaning into experience,
\nDo not on the words, but on the meaning
\nDo not rely on the provisional meaning, but on the definitive meaning
\nDo not rely on the ordinary mind, but rely on wisdom
\n<\/span>
\nMipham Rinpoche says in The Sword of Wisdom:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThen, like a blind man leaning on his staff,
\nYou can rely on fame, mere words or what is easy to understand,
\nAnd go against the logic of the four reliances.<\/p>\n
\nBut rely upon the Dharma.
\nFreedom comes from the genuine path that is taught,
\nNot the one who teaches it.
\nWhen the teachings are well presented,
\nIt does not matter what the speaker is like.
\nEven the bliss-gone buddhas themselves
\nAppear as butchers and such like to train disciples.
\nIf he contradicts the meaning of the Mahayana [path to Buddhahood] and so on,
\nThen however eloquent a speaker may seem,
\nHe will bring you no benefit,
\nLike a demon appearing in a buddha\u2019s form.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nWhenever you study or contemplate the Dharma,
\nRely not on the words, but on the meaning.
\nIf the meaning is understood, then regardless of the speaker\u2019s style,
\nThere will be no conflict.
\nWhen you have understood what it was
\nThe speaker intended to communicate,
\nIf you then continue to think about each word and expression,
\nIt is as if you\u2019ve found your elephant but now go in search of its footprints.
\nIf you misinterpret what is said and then think of more words,
\nYou\u2019ll never stop till you run out of thoughts,
\nBut all the while you\u2019re only straying further and further from the meaning.
\nLike children playing, you\u2019ll only end up exhausted.
\nEven for a single word like \u201cand\u201d or \u201cbut\u201d,
\nWhen taken out of context, there\u2019s no end to what it might mean.
\nYet if you understand what is meant,
\nThen with that the need for the word is finished.
\nWhen the finger points to the moon,
\nThe childish will look at the finger itself.
\nAnd fools attached to mere language,
\nMay think they\u2019ve understood, but they will find it difficult.<\/p>\n
\nYou should know what is provisional and what is definitive,
\nAnd rely not on any provisional meaning,
\nBut only on the meaning that is true definitively.
\nThe omniscient one himself in all his wisdom,
\nTaught according to students\u2019 capacities and intentions,
\nPresenting vehicles of various levels
\nJust like the rungs of a ladder.
\nWisely, he spoke with certain intentions in mind,
\nAs with the eight kinds of implied and indirect teachings.
\n[http:\/\/www.rigpawiki.org\/index.php?title=Eight_kinds_of_implied_and_indirect_teachings<\/a>]
\nIf these were to be taken literally they might be invalidated,
\nBut they were taught for specific reasons.<\/p>\n
\nDo not rely upon the ordinary dualistic mind
\nThat chases after words and concepts,
\nBut rely upon non-dual wisdom itself.
\nThat which operates with conceptual ideas
\nIs the ordinary mind, whose nature involves perceiver and perceived.
\nAll that is conceived in this way is false
\nAnd will never touch upon the actual nature of reality.
\nAny idea of real or unreal, both or neither\u2014
\nAny such concept, however it\u2019s conceived\u2014is still only a concept,
\nAnd whatever ideas we hold in mind,
\nThey are still within the domain of Mara. This has been stated in the sutras.
\nIt is not by any assertion or denial
\nThat we will put an end to concepts.
\nBut once we see without rejecting or affirming, there is freedom.
\nAlthough it is without any subject-object grasping,
\nThere is naturally occurring wisdom that illuminates itself,
\nAnd all ideas of existence, non-existence, both and neither have ceased completely\u2014
\nThis is said to be supreme primordial wisdom.
\n
\nThe definitive meaning can either be understood conceptually, by means of ideas, or it can be experienced directly as the object of non-conceptual awareness wisdom. As long as you are caught up in the conceptual extremes of negation and affirmation, existence and non-existence and so on, you have not gone beyond the realm of the ordinary mind. When you arrive at the sublime experience of wisdom, and all dualistic ideas have been pacified, you are in harmony with the nature of reality, which is beyond any kind of refutation and establishment or denial and affirmation, and you have reached the true depths of the Dharma.<\/span><\/p>\n