Gem of Wisdom for Daily Reflection: 

The Power of Guru Devotion

Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje praying in front of the Kudung of his root guru, the late Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche at Namdroling Monastery in India

The Audio Teaching by Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje ‘The Power of Guru Devotion’ comes from the beginning of a two-day teaching on Guru Panchashika - Fifty Stanzas of Guru Devotion, which explains that ‘success in following either the Sutrayana or Tantrayana path depends solely on the whole-hearted commitment of the student to the spiritual teacher’.

Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje emphasises the importance of always having the right motivation, and explains the essential qualities of faith and devotion as the most important factors in the practice of Buddhism; describing how our motivation leads us from life to life in the 31 planes of existence, and giving inspiring examples of the aspiration and devotion of the Great Compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and the Goddess Tara who has the power to pacify all worldly fears in the three worlds.

Explaining the Four Activities of Deity Devotion, those of pacifying, increasing, magnetising and subjugating, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje encourages students to stop and reflect on the quality of their own practice. All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are the embodiment of wisdom and compassion; and when we practice with the same motivation we will receive the support and protection of these deities, but when we have a self-centred attitude, opposite to that of the deities, instead of attracting supportive conditions, we attract the opposite; and the more we practice the more of the opposite we attract.

Play Audio (20 mins)

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