There are several erroneous views concerning just who is a true holy person. Some feel that just because someone is the head of a very large temple and/or has many disciples is automatically a holy and virtuous person, but that may not be the case. We also discussed in an earlier article that a true holy person must have holy realization and bodhicitta. CLICK for the article.
Erroneous View #21: THE VIEW THAT ONE WHO SUCCEEDS TO THE POSITION OF HEAD OF A HUGE TEMPLE IS DEFINITELY A PERSON OF HOLY VIRTUE
Some temples are very big. Once someone succeeds to the highest position of such a temple, everyone thinks that this successor is definitely a holy one. That is not true! Remember what I say here. The successor to the position of head of a huge temple is not necessarily a holy person. He might be a holy person. He also might be an ordinary person rather than a holy person. Everything must be based on the definitive truth, not on anything other than the definitive truth.
Erroneous View #25: THE VIEW THAT ONE WHO HAS NUMEROUS DISCIPLES IS A HOLY AND VIRTUOUS PERSON
When those with this view see that someone has a large number of disciples, such as over one hundred thousand, over a million, or three or four million, they think, “That is amazing. He is a person of great holiness!” Such a view is wrong. No matter how numerous his disciples may be, he might still not be a holy one. Among those with numerous disciples, there indeed are people of great holiness. One of them is H.H. Dharma King Dodrupchen IV Thupten Trinle Palzang, who is the incarnation of Guru Padmasambhava. Therefore, you must remember to be very careful. The pervasiveness of one’s fame does not reflect the nature of one’s holy realization. I know three people of great holiness and virtue who have holy realization. One of them has a few disciples who are rinpoches, and the other two have never had any disciples. However, among those false dharma kings, false rinpoches, and false great dharma masters who have over a million disciples and who speak hollow theories, which one has attained the high realization and great accomplishment that those three have attained? They are not even close to the level of those three. Therefore, it is wrong to determine that someone is a holy person based on the number of disciples he has.
Erroneous View #26: THE VIEW THAT IT IS ACCEPTABLE TO REGARD SOMEONE WHO HAS NO HOLY REALIZATION AND BODHICITTA AS BEING A TRUE HOLY PERSON
Some people have neither holy realization nor bodhicitta. However, their dharma speeches attract listeners and are pleasant to hear. Moreover, because worldlings do not understand the sutras and treatises, they misjudge such people. All of these result in such people being regarded as true holy ones. This is wrong. A true holy one must have holy realization. He must also have bodhicitta. Neither of the two can be missing.
CLICK to view article on “What Is Bodhichitta and How Important Is It in Buddhism?”
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