Audio Teachings by Lama Dondrup Dorje Rinpoche
Guru Yoga
Of all the 84,000 teachings given by Lord Buddha and the 64,000 tantric texts, the teaching of Guru Devotion is the single most powerful, most expedient means to realisation. It is the heart-essence of all Buddhist practice, as practised by all the Buddhas, and without which it is impossible to have any success in either the path of the sutrayana or tantrayana.
Thus begins an extract of teachings on Guru Devotion given by Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje before many students received refuge vows from the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche.
Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje explains that the qualities we see in others are the qualities we manifest ourselves – a greedy person is likely to see others as greedy, an angry person sees others as angry. In order to practice Guru Devotion, one should see one’s teacher as the Buddha. Since what we project onto others is simply a reflection of what is in our own mind, by training ourselves to see only the good qualities of our spiritual teacher, we will engender the possibility of realising the Buddha-nature that already lies within all of us. This essential advice extends into all walks of life, where, by approaching all things with humility, we can learn from everything, whereas, to only see faults in our spiritual teachers or in others will only reinforce our own short-comings and strengthen our negative attitudes. It is through our whole-hearted commitment to a spiritual teacher, by showing him respect, by serving him, and by making offerings, that we build up the positive potential that allows us to become liberated from all of our suffering.
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