Diamond masters are careful in controlling their bodies and are thus steady. Careful in controlling their speech, they are disciplined. They are supremely wise and intelligent. They are very patient in the face of being harmed, putting up with hardship, and meditating on the profound truth. They are impartial in their pure and superior intentions for all sentient beings. They do not craftily attempt to hide their own faults or make out that they have good qualities that they do not have: they are free of guile and their minds are well controlled. They are skilled in the use of mantras, substances, and medicines for performing the activities of pacifying, increasing, bringing under control, and wrathful subjugation, and are proficient in the principles of tantra. In their wish to free beings tormented by suffering, they are immensely compassionate, much more so than those who practice the Vehicle of Transcendent Perfections. (Their imperative, in this context of the unsurpassable Mantra Vehicle, is that we strive for the level of Vajradhara in one lifetime, which in this degenerate age is so short. They cannot bear the fact that, when it takes those practicing the Vehicle of Transcendent Perfections three measureless great kalpas to attain Buddhahood and those practicing the lower tantras sixteen or seven lifetimes, beings will be tormented by suffering for that long. It is this need to put us on the path using urgent diligence and particularly powerful compassion that makes them so extremely loving and compassionate.) They are learned in the treatises of the inner sciencesb and well acquainted with the ten principles. They are skilled in drawing mandalas with colored powders and in explaining the path of the secret mantras to others. They have great faith, having great respect for and firm devotion to the Great Vehicle in general and to the Mantra Vehicle in particular. They have disciplined their body, speech, and mind by eradicating distractions with the wrong kinds of objects, and have thus brought their senses under control.

One who is steady, disciplined, and intelligent, Patient, impartial, and free of guile; Who knows how to apply the secret mantras and tantras And can draw mandalas; Who is fully versed in the ten principles, Gives all beings the gift of freedom from fear, And takes perpetual delight in the Great Vehicle— Such a being is said to be a master.

The Net of Magical Display

The ten principles: Mandalas and supreme concentration, symbolic gestures, movements, sitting postures, recitation, fire offerings, offerings to the deity, activities and dissolution.

Master Kunga Nyingpod

Even more special than the above qualifications are those of a master who teaches the pith instructions.

Learned, free of mundane activities, Having reached the ultimate point of the absolute nature, And not deluded as to what is desirable— These are the marks of a master of the secret mantras.

Great Array of the Sublime

The roots of the path are the diamond masters: From keeping their commitments, their conduct is pure; From listening, they are richly adorned; as a result of reflection, they have discernment; Through meditation, they possess the signs of warmth and the qualities of experience and realization; Applying compassion, they care for their students.

The Great Masters

A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom: Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practice of the Profound and Secret Heart Essence of the Dakini By Dudjom Rinpoche; translated by the Padmakara Translation Group