Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

sentient beings—such as those of ignorance (avidya)
and self (atman), thus making salvation possible.
3. Great Pride
It seems that sentient beings fall into the round of
rebirth by the strength of avidya—they are weak in
Buddhahood and never wish to have the nature of a
Buddha; they just stick to their old, defiled self. But the
highest doctrine has been pointed out: You are a
BUDDHA! Few people are really prepared for such
teaching. There was the case of old Vairocana, the
Translator, at whom Padmasambhava pointed his finger
as they met for the first time. Vairocana instantly
understood, or, as is said, attained Full Enlightenment.
But such men are as rare as their cases are truly amazing.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha announced that he will
predict the Buddhahood of even those persons whose
sins are very great. Five hundred Arhats [Note: In the
Sutra it is stated that five thousand bhiksus, bhiksunis,
upasakas and upasikas], because they had no such faith
in the Buddha nature, walked out of the assembly.
People like this lack the Pride of Buddhahood, but we
must emphasize that Buddha-nature is possessed by
everyone and that by the methods of the Vajrayana, this
may be recovered. It is people who are not holy enough
to hold to such a name. The stress in Vajrayana is that
one should have the mind of a Buddha, the will of a
Buddha. All one's actions should be like those of a
Buddha, and one should keep this Pride of
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