The Heart of the Path
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For the past seven years, our senior editor Ven. Ailsa Cameron has been editing Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings on Guru Devotion. She has drawn on nearly fifty different teachings that Rinpoche has given over the past three decades and the result is this book, The Heart of the Path: Seeing the Guru as Buddha. This is a fantastic teaching on Guru Devotion and is a great and very important book. Excerpts from Heart of the Path: "Guru yoga is the key to all happiness." "Without guru devotion, nothing happens—no realizations, no liberation, no enlightenment—just as without the root of a tree there can be no trunk, branches, leaves or fruit. Everything, up to enlightenment, depends on guru devotion." "First of all, we should remember the ultimate meaning of guru, which is the absolute guru. We have to realize that the guru that we see and hear is the absolute guru, the dharmakaya, the transcendental wisdom of nondual bliss and voidness, the eternal primordial mind that has no beginning and no end. Since this absolute guru is the holy mind of all the buddhas, all the buddhas are the guru. We can understand from this that the guru is all the buddhas and all the buddhas are the guru." "In relation to your own gurus you have to think, 'My gurus are buddhas.' There’s no discussion on that—for you, that is the practice. And not just the practice but the fundamental practice. It is the foundation of all the other practices of lam-rim. In terms of my relationships with my gurus, it is like that. No matter how others might want to debate that my gurus are not buddhas, from my side there is no questioning of that." "The main point is that for you to succeed in liberating the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bringing them to enlightenment, you need to practice guru devotion. You have to understand this point." "Teaching guru devotion is the responsibility of the teacher and practicing guru devotion is the responsibility of the disciple. If guru devotion is not explained, it is the fault of the teacher; if it is not practiced after having been explained, it is the fault of the disciple." In addition to the chapter excerpts available through the links below, you can also read excerpts in our December 2007 e-letter and our February 2008 e-letter, and view of pdf of Chapter One. |
- The Heart of the Path: Table of Contents
- Foreword by His Holiness Sakya Trinzin
- Editor's Preface by Ailsa Cameron
- Chapter 1: Why Do We Need a Guru?
- Chapter 7: The Benefits of Correct Devotion to a Guru (excerpt)
- Chapter 11: Why We Are Able to See the Guru as a Buddha (excerpt)
- Chapter 12: How to See the Guru as a Buddha (excerpt)
The Heart of the Path: Table of Contents
| Foreword | xv | |
| Editor’s Preface | xvii | |
| 1. Why Do We Need a Guru? | 1 | |
| The root of the path | 1 | |
| Why do we need a guru? | 5 | |
| Manjushri’s advice to Lama Tsongkhapa | 11 | |
| The four general benefits of guru devotion | 14 | |
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14 |
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| 2. The Power of the Guru | 19 | |
| 3. Checking the Guru | 25 | |
| 4. The Qualities of a Guru Revealing the complete path to enlightenment Qualities of a Mahayana guru Qualities of a vajra master The essential qualities The fundamental quality An additional qualification |
29 29 32 33 37 38 40 |
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| 5. The Qualities of a Disciple | 47 | |
| 6. Who to Regard as Guru Taking teachings Do we need to formally request someone to be our guru? Taking initiations Taking vows Should we regard our alphabet teacher as our guru? The importance of visualizing every guru How many gurus should we have? Who is the root guru? |
49 49 63 64 66 67 70 73 74 |
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| 7. The Benefits of Correct Devotion to a Guru The benefits of correctly devoting to a guru |
79 80 |
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80 | |
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81 |
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100 102 105 106 117 120 122 |
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| 8. The Disadvantages of Incorrect Devotion to a Guru The shortcomings of not devoting to a guru or of devoting incorrectly |
129 129 |
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131 135 |
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138 | |
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140 |
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| 9. The Importance of Devotion How to devote to a guru with thought |
165 165 |
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165 | |
| 10. Why We Should Look at the Guru as a Buddha | 175 | |
| 11. Why We Are Able to See the Guru as a Buddha The mind can be trained Focusing on the good qualities of the guru Using the guru’s faults to develop our devotion |
183 183 186 189 |
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| 12. How to See the Guru as a Buddha There is nothing to trust in our own view Even nowadays all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are still working for sentient beings The guru is the doer of all the buddhas’ actions Vajradhara asserted that the guru is a buddha |
201 203 224 230 241 |
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| 13. Debating with the Superstitious Mind | 245 | |
| 14. The Kindness of the Guru Developing respect by remembering the guru’s kindness |
253 253 |
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255 | |
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255 258 |
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263 272 275 |
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| The kindness of the guru in Guru Puja | 279 | |
| 15. Devoting to the Guru with Action How to devote to a guru with action |
283 283 |
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284 284 285 |
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| 16. Is Absolute Obedience Required? | 295 | |
| 17. How the Past Kagyü Lamas Practiced | 303 | |
| 18. Exceptional Gurus, Exceptional Disciples Tilopa and Naropa Marpa and Milarepa |
311 311 320 |
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| 19. What is Guru Yoga? The real meaning of guru |
327 332 |
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| 20. Guru Devotion in Six-Session Guru Yoga | 343 | |
| 21. Guru Devotion in Calling the Lama from Afar | 351 | |
| 22. Teaching and Studying Guru Devotion Teaching guru devotion Studying guru devotion |
367 367 370 |
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| 23. The Realization of Guru Devotion | 375 | |
| 24. Dedications | 385 | |
| Appendixes | ||
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387 391 393 401 407 415 421 429 |
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| Glossary Bibliography Suggested Further Reading Index |
433 457 461 465 |
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