We need some kind of a sacred space, a place that's held as a container for our death and rebirth, for our inner initiation.

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Here, the topic of the talk was on refuge, on the refuges which are part of Buddhist tradition and practice, and how one could understand them in terms of finding a refuge in oneself.

And tonight, I suppose what would be fitting would be to talk in part about independence since it's going to be the 4th of July.

I did that last year, actually. I gave a talk on real independence, which wasn't what kind of beer you could buy or whether you bought American or foreign cars or something like that, but the spirit of independence inwardly.

However, I'm going to do something that's peripherally related to that this evening, if I may.

I mean, the process of writing a book, a new book for a banter publications called Parals and Pitfalls of the Spiritual Path, mostly telling my own story, needless to say.

And the other gurus that I have known, not to speak of their disciples.

And one of the chapters that's needed for this book that I began to reflect on is on true gurus and false gurus, if there is such a thing, either way.

So I'd like to speak about the relationship to teachers and gurus tonight a bit, and in the context of doing a spiritual practice.

Start by reading part of a 15-page meditation that was written by Chogyam Trumper Rinpoche in 1968 in a cave in Bhutan just after he had escaped from Tibet.

He wrote, this is the darkest hour of the dark ages, in which disease, famine, and warfare rage like the fierce north wind.

The Buddha's teaching has waned in strength. The various schools of the Sangha are fighting amongst one another with sectarian bitterness, and although the Dharma teachings have been perfectly expounded in their many reliable teaching since the Buddha.

Yet, the students pursue intellectual speculations, the sacred teachings have strayed into cults, and the yogis are losing the insight of meditation.

On the whole, no one acts according to the highest code of discipline, justice, meditation, and wisdom. The jewel-like teachings of insight fade, and the Buddha's awakening is used for political purposes, or merely to draw people together socially.

As a result, the blessings of spiritual energy are being lost. Even those with great devotion begin to lose heart.

If the Buddhas of the three times and the great teachers were to comment, they would surely express their disappointment.

So to enable us to ask for help and renew our strength, I have written this course of practice for the embodiment or the awakening of the spirit.

And then he goes on with the whole supplication of the masters and teachers and primarily of oneself, asking that we find in ourselves that which is true in our spiritual life.

That's pretty intense, isn't it?

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