The Liberation Stories of the Kagyu Masters – Day 1

In order to be able to teach the lives and liberations of authentic masters you must be learned in both history and the dharma, they are a vast and difficult topic, so I am not someone who can teach them properly. But as practitioners we need to hear about these life stories as a way of giving rise to faith, so we can go in that direction ourselves.
They include outer, inner and secret aspects. The inner and secret aspects are inconceivable for us because they describe the inner way of thinking and realisation of the master, which is probably quite distant from our own experience. But we can relate to the outer aspect – where a master went, from whom they received teachings, how they transcended (entered nirvana) and so on.
It is important not to relate to these teachings as mere stories.
So how should we listen to the life story of a master? We should not be focussed on trying to learn what they did, but on what we ourselves should do. We should take note of how they were thinking and working, in order for us to see what we should be doing, how we should go about our studies and practice.