Guru Tree : Why are there empty Buddha seats?

[shugdenpromoter]

A friend of mine showed me this picture of a guru tree and a monk has explained to us. I thought it was very inspiring and would like to share with everyone.

As you guys can see, there are 2 empty seats on each of the method and wisdom part of the Guru Tree. (I have circled them) It was explained to me that the 2 empty seats belong to the practitioner/me and it is there as cause for the practitioner to become a lineageholder and a Buddha one day. And we can achieve that goal.

Since this Guru Tree was drawn, there have been many Buddhas created such as Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Domo Geshe Rinpoche & etc. This represents that we can be enlightened and be on the same level as the Buddha. It blew my mind when that explanation was made. Do share with everyone.

[brian]

Wow! Thanks for sharing this! It blew my mind away too when I read from what you wrote here my friend! It is inspiring and took my breath away for a moment or so. The empty seat was meant for ourselves?? It shows that thangkas especially this Guru Tree thangkas really gives careful thoughts and whoever who did this must have been a very caring and clever person! I wonder who actually came up with this brilliant idea? So now when I look at thangkas, it will give me a different perspective and no longer the old me. Interesting!

[Tenzin K]

Thank you shugdenpromoter.

This is a great sharing. Never notice and know it. The explanation of the empty seats is for the practitioners which mean us. This is really so nice to know.

This reminds me of my dharma friend that told me, learning dharma is to find our own Buddha in us. All of us have our Buddha seed in us. We can be enlightened. The Guru Tree Thangka shows that too. How wonderful and the Guru Tree is really a great lineage learning tree.

Also proven from all the great masters that they have achieved the enlightened mind and we believe that they are enlightened. Their teaching can never be wrong and it has been also proven from the growth of their lineage and teaching.
The blessing of the Guru Tree.

[Positive Change]

I love the significance and representation of what you shared about the lineage tree thangka, Shugdenpromoter... I never really noticed the "empty" seats till now... It reaffirms (not that we need it but it is nice to see) our potential of the Buddha nature and that even in such blessed old Thangkas such "hints" exists. That is the beauty of Buddhism where everything is documented and has a lineage that can be traced right back to Buddha Syakyamuni.

The very factual basis that Buddhism is based on gives us a very strong foundation to work upwards from and also something to fall back on. There are no assumptions and misconceptions when it comes to the teachings of Buddhism which i personally like as blind faith for me is something archaic and that very basis of thought is so open to misinterpretations.

[Barzin]

What an interesting and profound information.  This is what I like about Buddhism.  It boils down to every small little details like this and have great meaning to it whether it is a picture, a statue and even a word.  And the most beautiful thing about Buddhism is, it works with any races, people, times and conditions... wonderful.  Such profound religion.

Such a beautiful representation here to indicate the empty seats so that one day we can be there too.   This is what makes Buddhism really profound, logic and beautiful.  Buddhism doesn't promote blind faith, saying that if you trust in the divine everything will be okay.  It teaches us good values and good actions to transform and hence our life lays in our hands by understanding the law of karma.  It never teaches us that if we do not believe in the Buddha, we'll boil in hell.  In fact, we can even be a Buddha.

By following the path, we all have the potential to be enlightened.  This has said so in Buddhism.  I like the "up to you" method.  It brings us back to reality that if we are true practitioners of Buddhism we need to practice the dharma, it is really up to us on how we want our lives to be.   

[vajratruth]

It takes more than a while for the ordinary human mind to perceive that we can actually sit amongst all the enlightened beings and Buddhas. That is because we are already so out of touch with our own Buddha nature that the idea sounds incredulous to us. And so we do not even try and connect. We have completely lost sight of our potential. How lucky it is therefore to be reminded.

I am encouraged by the Guru Tree for it says that the invitation for us to attain our own Buddhahood is not merely a figure of speech. The Gurus actually mean for us to attain what they have attained and to be where they are.

It would be a great opportunity to be able to attend a class where each one of the Guru, Bodhisattva and other enlightened beings in the Guru Tree is identified and studied.

[dsiluvu]

Wow AWEEEEESOME sharing dear friend! I would have never thought.

Now when I look at a Guru Tree, it will have a greater meaning and will remind me of our positive potential as Buddha himself has taught us. But we clouded often but our own negativities seems to always doubt this potential.

How fortunate we are at this day and age of Kaliyuga we can still meet perfect masters/guru to guide and show us the way to our very own enlightened state. How blessed we are to be in a lineage of such incredible masters.

Yes will definitely share this wonderful knowledge with everyone.

[thor]

I agree with everyone here that this information from shugdenpromoter is really something quite special. One of the fundamentals of Buddhism is that we can all achieve the state of buddhahood and that's what we practitioners are working towards, regardless of where we stand on the issue of the ban.

My teacher has always said that thangkas of buddhas all contain the essential information about the path to enlightenment. But to see a seat for us on the guru tree is really mind blowing. I have never noticed the empty seats before (shame on me) but now that I know about this, I will always notice it. I don't know the origins of the guru tree image but I particularly like the one by H.E. Dagom Rimpoche with Dorje Shugden. I have it on my wall behind the altar and it brings me great comfort when I do my daily prayers, especially when I see Shugden in it. I hope one day we can all openly have guru tree thangka like this.

[kris]

First of all, I want to thank shugdenpromoter for pointing out that there are indeed 2 empty seats in the Guru Tree. I didn't see them (may be I didn't pay enough attention).

I have heard a Lama mentioned before that one of the main differences between Buddhism and other religions is that in Buddhism, it is believed that, once you accept Buddhism, we assume responsibility to make things work (instead of letting some higher being to solve the problem for us). We are the result of our own karma, and where we end up in our next live is entirely up to us. We do not worship Buddha because He is great. Instead, we worship Buddha so that we can develop that kind of quality in ourselves.

With that notion, what shugdenpromoter explained make 100% sense, because whether we want to become Buddha or not, is entirely up to us, and there is no excuse to it.

I will definitely share this to others!

[hope rainbow]

This is a discovery indeed.
Hold on, I think I've got my boarding pass somewhere in my Lamrim Chenmo. Yes there it is!
Now all I need to do is follow the arrows for the journey to the boarding gate,
- first checking-in on Guru devotion,
- then letting go of a few things that will not travel with me immediately, things I must learn to travel without,
- immigration will be next, are the preliminaries completed? will I get the visa stamp to tantra zone?
- a few more checking points, a long long walk to the gate, maybe even a long waiting time, maybe plane is delayed, maybe plane is cancelled, maybe I loose my passport....
- but I'm in the system...

[Klein]

Thanks for sharing this. I looked at the other gelug guru trees on the internet. Some have empty Buddha seats and some do not. Attached is a guru tree without empty Buddha seats.

This is the first time that I've come across empty Buddha seats.  What shugdenpromoter explained was very beautiful.  I believe it also helps us aspire to become a Buddha, visualising ourselves in the empty Buddha seats. This also shows that Buddhists do not idol worship. Pictures and statues inspire us to attain the qualities of the Buddhas. Furthermore, it encourages us to take responsibility of ourselves and not throw our problems to the Buddhas expecting them to help us solve them.

[dondrup]

I haven’t come across a guru tree with empty seats as described.  What a skillful method of motivating the practitioners of their Buddha natures! Yes, all sentient beings have the potential to be Buddha.  By depicting ourselves occupying the seats on the guru tree is like bringing the result of the future into the present.  If we constantly visualize and generate ourselves as a Buddha among all Buddhas in the Guru Tree, we are creating the causes to be the future Buddha! 

[Aurore]

This is would make a good thangka to meditate on!

As it is, all Gelug monks and nuns cultivate a daily practice on the guru tree. Especially so for those who have received tantric initiations. The refuge tree is known as “The Assembly Tree of the Guru Devotion Practice”. It can remind us or any practitioner the importance of guru devotion, the lineage one is from, obligation and protection.

At the bottom of the thangka, there are representations of practitioners taking refuge in the particular tree. I have read that we can imagine ourselves being there taking refuge with the merit field. Now we can even aspire to fill up the empty seats! In Buddhism, there is a place for everyone IF we choose to be. It is just waiting for us.

BTW, a bit out of topic, but just to share that it is also good to have a guru tree thangka behind your altar. It is similar to making offerings and prayers to all the beings in represented in the thangka. How wonderful is that?

[beggar]

Now there's an interesting thought. I've never seen a Guru tree like this other, but it's very empowering for showing us what we can achieve. Book your seats now, front row too.

This shouldn't surprise us though. This is the pith of the path - to acknowledge our enlightened potential and work towards it. The Gurus (real ones) don't want us to pray to them forever. We do not become their disciples just to serve them for the rest of eternity. This isn't what the Guru-disciple relationship is about. We become their disciples so we can learn to be like them - the Gurus, the beings on that very tree. In taking us on as students, the teachers are actually effectively training us to eventually find out own independent paths. We take an outward Guru - who is Buddha, Dharma, Sangha to us - to realise the three jewels within ourselves.

This tree also perhaps the very practices that are done within Tantra, which is to visualise ourselves as the deity - taking the result (of being an enlightened being ourselves, sitting within the tree) onto the path (our current practice, looking upon the tree). A powerful visualisation - we visualise what we are ultimately capable of and not our current limitations.

[harrynephew]

Reading this thread reaffirms my faith in Je Tsongkhapa's teachings. As we all know, the founder of our school of Buddhism chose not to reincarnate like the rest of the other High Lamas so that we can continue to uphold the tradition of practice and insights. As such the Gaden Throne holders of Gaden Tri Rinpoches are very instrumental people who oversees the running of all Gelugpa monasteries and its affairs.

These masters are usually not normally reincarnations of higher beings but normal monks who work their way up in earning the seat of the Gaden Throne. This actually match the same theory of these Guru Tree tangkhas. Je Lama believes in the potential of ourselves. It is how much we need to work towards to see that we achieve a certain level of realization. The path and means have been laid, it is up to us to tread it.