Post #942

"There are those who conclude that any classic text should be considered only an explanatory teaching, therefore lacking the key points for practice. They hold that there are separate personal instructions that teach the core meanings that are the heart of practice. They then imagine that there are two separate forms of the excellent teaching — a teaching that is explained to you and a teaching that you practice. Know that this attitude precludes the development of great respect for the stainless sutras and tantras as well as the flawless treatises that comment on their intent. Know also that you accumulate the karmic obstruction of abandoning the teaching when you see those classic texts as objects of contempt and say, "Those are merely for promoting one's superficial knowledge and eliminating others' misconceptions; they do not teach the deep meaning." Therefore, for those who desire liberation, the supreme and authentic instructions are indeed the classic texts. However, due to your limited intelligence and so forth, you may be unable to recognize those texts as the supreme instructions through depending on them alone. Thus, you must seek out personal instructions, thinking, "I will seek certain knowledge of those texts based on the per-sonal instructions of an excellent being." But do not think, "The texts are without substance, since they merely promote a superficial knowledge and eliminate others' misconceptions; yet the personal instructions, since they reveal the deep meaning, are supreme." Je Tsongkhapa