The actual proof of how experiences and realizations of the path to enlightenment depend on the root of strong guru devotion comes when we practice. Our own experiences answer any questions we might have about the importance of guru devotion. We can clearly see the difference in our everyday life between times when we’re correctly devoting ourselves to the guru with thought and action and times when we’re not. 

Realizing guru devotion doesn’t depend so much on intellectual understanding or logical reasoning. It mainly depends on constantly working hard at purifying negative karma and accumulating merit. Even if you have memorized all the texts and can recite them by heart, your mind will still be like a rock if you have no actual experience of guru devotion. Nothing will be happening, even though you know all the words; experiences come only when you perform powerful purification and accumulate extensive merit. This applies not just to the experience of guru devotion but to any other experience of the path to enlightenment.

What the teachings say becomes real to you when strong guru devotion arises because you are doing Vajrasattva practice, prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, mandala offerings or other practices or because you are experiencing powerful purification through working hard on the advice of your guru. At such times you feel that your mind has been transformed into what the texts describe. Even though before you might have felt a big gap between what the texts say and your own mind, there is now a connection. Your mind actually becomes what the texts describe. 

When your guru devotion is strong you also have strong experience of whatever you are meditating on: impermanence and death, renunciation of samsara, bodhicitta, emptiness. You find it very easy to feel the meditations. Because you are continuously receiving blessings, any meditation you do is effective and any prayer you do moves your mind and brings understanding. Even though you might have been saying the same prayer for many years, each word now affects you because you discover its meaning. This is a sign that your mind has been ripened through strong practice of purification and accumulation of merit in dependence upon the holy object of the guru.

With strong devotion, you also have complete trust in your guru and no difficulty in following whatever advice he gives you; you find it very easy and enjoyable to follow it. When your mind is filled with devotion you also experience great inner peace. Your heart is full of incredible joy and you see yourself as unbelievably fortunate. Even though there might be other difficulties in your life, such as no money, no visa or no job, your strong guru devotion overwhelms your problems and external things don’t bother you much. Your life becomes very enjoyable and very meaningful. 

When there is no devotion in your heart, however, your mind is dry and empty, like a hot desert where nothing grows. At that time, there’s not the happiness and richness that you feel when you have devotion. When you have no devotion or your devotion is weak, like a thin cloud about to disappear in the sky, you have no feeling for any of the rest of the path. It is difficult for you to have any feeling for impermanence and death, renunciation, bodhicitta or emptiness. No matter how many times you repeat the words, no matter what lamrim teachings you read, no matter what you meditate on, you feel nothing from your heart. Everything becomes just words. Your mind is like a rock.

When guru devotion decreases, everything degenerates, even pure practice. If you don’t correctly devote yourself to the virtuous friend, your life becomes messy. There is no development in any of your practices. You continuously make mistakes and find it difficult to follow the guru’s advice and it is then very difficult for you to develop your mind. Your mind creates many obstacles to being able to follow the guru’s advice, which means many obstacles to practicing the path to enlightenment. Besides being unable to practice Dharma, many other problems arise, such as depression and lung.

Since negative thoughts toward the guru disturb your mind, you have no peace or happiness. During such times it is very difficult to feel anything in your meditations and even prayers don’t affect your mind. Even if you read the lamrim, which is especially set up to tame the mind, it doesn’t affect you. When your mental state is like that, it is difficult for even the lamrim to move your mind. 

If you’re not making progress in developing your mind, there’s something wrong with your practice of guru devotion. You have to examine what is missing or what mistakes you have made in your guru devotion practice. When changing your mind by doing the basic lamrim meditations is difficult, something is wrong in your practice there at the root of the path. You have to examine your guru devotion practice and then, by recognizing your mistakes, correct your practice. You then need to do strong practice of purification. 

This is a scientific explanation, not by scientists but by meditators, inner scientists. For something to be a scientific explanation, it doesn’t have to come from a scientist. You can see from your own experiences that the teachings on guru devotion are true. 

You have generated the realization of guru devotion, of seeing the guru as buddha, when you spontaneously recognize that there is no buddha other than the guru and that there is no guru other than the buddha. Whenever you see or think of a guru, you immediately recognize that that guru is an actual buddha. Whenever you see or think of a buddha, you immediately recognize that it is the guru. The understanding that the guru and buddha are one arises naturally, effortlessly, from your heart. In the beginning you see the guru and buddha as separate, but when you have the realization of guru devotion you see them as inseparably mixed, like water poured into water. 

We should understand and remember during guru devotion meditation and at all other times, that guru means buddha and buddha means guru. We should think that they’re just different names for the same person. When someone acting in a play comes out dressed as a king, he’s called a king; when the same person comes out dressed as a general, he’s called a general. It’s the one person but because there are different costumes, different labels are given. 

It’s important to understand even from the names that there aren’t two separate beings. Someone who has ceased all faults of the mind and completed all realizations is called a guru and is also called a buddha. Guru and buddha are just different names given to one being. There’s no separation between them; it’s just that each receives a different label. 

When you have the experience that all the buddhas are the guru and all the gurus are the buddha, you have the realization of guru devotion. At that time you don’t need to use much reasoning or many quotations to feel that what the teachings describe is real, but you still need to stabilize the realization. To preserve the experience you need to continue the guru devotion practice every day; otherwise the experience will degenerate. The feeling should be stable, not just last a few minutes or one or two hours and then disappear. 

However, a sudden experience of seeing the guru as buddha is also a good sign. While we are meditating on guru devotion, doing strong Dharma practice or offering service to the guru, the thought can suddenly come, “If this guru is not buddha, who else can be buddha? There is no other buddha.” Even though the experience mightn’t last long, it’s a sign of having received the blessing of the guru. We have to try to hold this experience without losing it, then develop it, so that it leads to the actual realization of guru devotion.

Unless we clearly establish the reasons that we have to practice guru devotion, our guru devotion will be dependent on external factors and not stable, or fully established, as explained in the lamrim teachings. It can then disappear at any time. Whenever we perceive some mistake in the actions of the guru’s holy body, speech or mind, guru devotion that is not well established through reasoning will disappear. If our devotion is established through wisdom, however, even if in our view there appear to be faults in the actions of the guru, we won’t believe it is the reality. Because of our stable devotion, any appearance of faults won’t affect our mind or cause us to lose our devotion. It also depends on how much merit, or good karma, a disciple has. It’s not easy to shake the devotion of those with a lot of merit and those who understand how to practice guru devotion. Their devotion is very strong. 

In the first verse of The Foundation of All Good Qualities, Lama Tsongkhapa says,

The foundation of all good qualities is the kind and perfect, pure guru;
Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.
By clearly seeing this and applying great effort,
Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect.

The reason that Lama Tsongkhapa stresses great effort is that seeing the guru as a buddha doesn’t come from the side of the guru; it has to come from our own mind, with great effort. It’s not easy to practice guru devotion. We have to put effort into achieving the realization of seeing the guru as a buddha. 

Lama Tsongkhapa’s saying great effort has much meaning. Because guru devotion is the most difficult realization to achieve, we need to put a lot of effort into it. Just doing the meditations a few times can’t transform our mind into the realization of seeing the guru as a buddha. We won’t feel this after doing the meditations for just a few months—or even a few years. Since we can’t easily stop the faults of our mind and generate this devotional thought, we need to apply great effort. Since guru devotion is the root of the path, we absolutely must have this realization; therefore, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many years or even lifetimes it takes, we have got to face the hardships involved in generating this realization. 

From the very beginning of our guru devotion practice we should do much analytical meditation as explained in the sutra and tantra teachings. We shouldn’t be satisfied by thinking about a few of the points just once or twice. That won’t help us to generate the realization. We must reflect on the points over and over again, using quotations and reasoning, until we generate the realization. As the Indian master Chandragomin said in the text Confession and Praise,

The mind, which has been ignorant for such an incredible length of time, will need to have treatment for a long time. For example, if a person has lost his hands and feet to leprosy, taking medicine just a few times won’t do anything for him.

These days we could say that if a person has cancer or AIDS, taking medicine just a few times won’t do anything for him; he has to take the medicine for many years. In a similar way, we should continue to constantly train our mind in guru devotion until we have the stable realization. 

If our guru devotion is well established through logical reasoning and analytical meditation, we’ll be able to transform our mind into the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha. We then stabilize our devotion by doing fixed, or single-pointed, meditation on our feeling that the guru is a buddha. In this way, we preserve that experience of devotion. We train again and again with analytical and then fixed meditation. After we have transformed our mind into the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha, we keep our mind in that state of devotion for as long as possible. If possible, we should do guru devotion meditation every morning when we meditate on lamrim, then try to continue the experience during the rest of the day. This is the best way to ensure quick and stable development of the guru devotion realization. 

Apart from calm abiding, all the lamrim meditations are analytical. First we transform our mind into the experience of the meditation subject through quotations and valid logical reasoning, then we do fixed meditation on that experience. 

As we train our mind more and more in this way, the feeling of devotion becomes very stable. According to those who have the realization of guru devotion, at that time you feel that each buddha is all the gurus and each guru is all of the numberless buddhas. Whenever you think of a buddha or say the word “buddha,” in your heart you understand that it’s the guru. Whenever you see, hear or think of a guru or say the word “guru,” in your heart you understand that it’s buddha. Even when you visualize yourself as a deity or visualize a deity in front of you, it’s the guru. For those with the realization of guru devotion, there is no separation between the two. 

We should attempt to meditate continuously until we have stable realization of guru devotion, spontaneously seeing the guru as buddha. When our understanding faith¹²⁹ that the guru’s holy mind is dharmakaya becomes definitive, it will arise spontaneously, just as we spontaneously think “That is my mother” when we see our mother, even among many other people. We don’t need to go through a process of reasoning, thinking of how we were born from her body, of how she acted as our mother and so forth. Whenever we see our mother’s body, no matter what she is wearing or what she is doing, the thought that she is our mother instantaneously and effortlessly comes to us. It is exactly the same when we have the understanding faith that the guru’s holy mind is dharmakaya. No matter what wrong action we see our guru doing, it can’t disturb our mind because we have the definitive understanding that our guru’s holy mind is the dharmakaya. The thought that the faults we see are the faults of our guru doesn’t come. At that time, seeing faults can’t disturb our mind or change our devotion.

The more we are able to look at the guru with devotion, and especially if we have the realization of guru devotion, we will be able to see the guru as a buddha without the slightest doubt. We will have very stable faith. No matter how the guru appears to us, if we have the realization of guru devotion, nothing will disturb us. No matter what appears to us, it won’t affect our mind; it won’t affect our devotion. We will always see the guru as a buddha. Any fault that appears to us will appear to be an act. We will relate to any appearance of faults as a projection of our own impure mind. Or we will think that since buddhas appear in all kinds of forms and perform all kinds of actions to benefit sentient beings, this action must definitely have some purpose. 

Whether or not we visualize the guru in the pure form of a deity, we must constantly think that the guru is in essence Guru Shakyamuni Buddha or our own special deity. We have to think that the guru has ceased all faults and possesses all good qualities; that the guru is in essence the dharmakaya, the absolute guru, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha or our own special deity. Even if we don’t have the actual realization of guru devotion, once we start to train our mind in the devotion that sees the guru as in essence dharmakaya, if our guru says or does something that is contradictory to Dharma, we will see it as an act, like someone acting in a play or a movie. We won’t cling strongly to the wrong conception that what we are seeing is true and negative thoughts won’t arise. With this practice of guru devotion, seeing the guru as a buddha, nothing causes us to lose our realizations and degenerate our mind. 

No matter what appears in our view, we have to completely decide that the guru’s mind is the dharmakaya, the holy mind of all the buddhas, with cessation of all faults and completion of all good qualities. That is the main point to remember. It is especially important when we see mistakes in the actions of the guru, when the guru scolds or beats us or when we see the guru showing faults of anger, pride, jealousy, attachment or ignorance. Even if we see the guru as ordinary and not in the aspect of a buddha, we should have this understanding in our mind, just as when somebody tells us that a particular woman is a transformation of Vajrayogini or Tara and convinces us of it with amazing stories—even though we still see the woman as an ordinary person, we understand that she is a completely pure being. 

Seeing the guru as buddha stops the arising of the thought of faults and the negative actions we create in relation to the guru. Once we have generated and stabilized the realization that sees the guru as buddha, since no thought of faults can arise, we don’t create the heaviest obstacle to realization, negative karma in relation to the guru. Any fault that we see in the guru’s actions appears to us as an act, not as real. Even if the guru kills -hundreds, thousands or millions of people, steals, tells lies or commits sexual misconduct, it all appears to us as an act. Even if faults appear to us, we don’t believe in this appearance. 

It is similar to the way that you see everything as illusory after you have realized emptiness. Even though everything still appears to you as if it exists from its own side, since in your heart you know that it is empty, you don’t cling to the way things appear to you as true and you don’t create obstacles to your achievement of liberation and enlightenment. In a similar way, even though faults in the guru might still appear to us, because we have the realization that the guru is buddha, we don’t believe what appears to us to be the reality. This is a great protection as it doesn’t allow us to generate anger, heresy or the thought of faults. In this way, we don’t create the greatest obstacle to the development of our mind. 

Seeing the guru as buddha stops wrong views and mistakes in our practice. Even though we still see an ordinary impure aspect, we have no belief that the guru’s faults are real faults, just as when we see a mirage, we have no belief that there is real water. There’s an ordinary aspect, an appearance of faults, but we don’t believe that there are faults in reality. Because of our faith, even if we see a fault, we have no belief that it is a fault in reality. This gives space in our mind to develop the path to enlightenment. 

The purpose of meditating on guru devotion is to stop wrong conceptions and avoid the eight shortcomings of incorrect devotion to the guru, each one of which is a heavy result. If we train our mind to have stable devotion that the guru is buddha, the thought of finding faults in the guru never arises and we are also able to rely completely upon the path shown by the guru and to practice it without doubts. Even if we don’t have the realization of guru devotion, seeing the guru as a buddha, at least we should stop generating anger, heresy and other wrong thoughts toward the guru so that we don’t create obstacles. If there are no obstacles, there is then space for the development of our mind. That is the whole point. We can see that the practice of guru devotion is for our own sake. 

The thought of finding faults in the guru, which is the opposite to devotion, is the greatest obstacle to the development of our mind and to all our happiness, now and in the future; it is the greatest obstacle to the happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment. Without guru devotion, the thought of faults arises and this then blocks the development of our mind. Nothing happens in our mind; no realizations grow. And instead of experiencing more happiness, we experience only more problems. We can see very clearly how important it is to develop guru devotion and how it comes to be the root of the path to enlightenment.

Once you have the realization of guru devotion, it is very easy to meditate on any subject. Your mind, like dough, can be made into any shape. You can make dough into bread, noodles and many other shapes. With realization of guru devotion, you easily feel any subject you meditate on. Normally when you recite a prayer, the words you recite and your heart are totally separate but when you have realized guru devotion, your heart is living in the meaning of the words you are reciting. When you are reciting words about compassion, your mind feels compassion. When you recite or think of words about impermanence and death, bodhicitta or emptiness, your mind is easily transformed into that. Your mind becomes easy to tame, like a dog. It is very easy for you to have the realization of whatever you meditate on. Because of the realization of guru devotion, it is also more difficult for delusions to arise in your daily life, and even if they do, they are weak and easy to overcome. It is then very easy to practice Dharma. 

It doesn’t matter whether we can intellectually understand our experience of guru devotion or explain it in words, as long as we feel the way it is explained in the teachings. The main thing is to have the experience. If we feel that the guru is buddha, we have achieved what needed to be achieved. However, having the intellectual understanding helps to stabilize the experience. Then, even if we lose the experience, because we know all the logical reasoning, by meditating we can again generate the experience of guru devotion.

How quickly and easily we can actualize the path and achieve enlightenment depend on how strong our realization of guru devotion is. The skillful way to meditate on lamrim and complete the lamrim realizations is to realize guru devotion. Once we have realized guru devotion, realizations of the rest of the path then come without difficulties, like falling rain. However, to generate bodhicitta and the rest of the realizations of the path, it’s not necessary to wait until we can see the guru as a buddha, which might take several lifetimes. If we are going to wait for that, no realizations will be generated for that many lifetimes. 

Seeing the guru as buddha and seeing all sentient beings as mother are generally regarded as the most difficult lamrim realizations for most people to achieve, though it still depends on the individual. That’s why it’s emphasized that we should train our mind in these meditations at least once every day. Every day, first thing in the morning, we should meditate on guru devotion. As Shantideva and Geshe Chekawa mention, there’s nothing that we can’t train our mind to become; whichever way we train our mind, it becomes that. If we do the meditations on guru devotion every morning and remember them throughout the day, this practice will become easier and easier. When the wrong conception seeing faults comes, because we have meditated and trained our mind, we will immediately be able to recognize it as a mistake that is creating obstacles to our enlightenment and to our performing extensive works for all sentient beings. 

While we should try to generate the realization of guru devotion in this life, the skillful way to train our mind in lamrim and quickly accomplish the path is not to spend our whole life solely on trying to generate the realization of seeing the guru as buddha. We would then not get the chance to generate renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness or any other realization. When we died, we then wouldn’t have any lamrim realizations in our mind. Since it is the superstitious thoughts toward the guru that disturb our generating the rest of the realizations of the path, when we are capable of not allowing such thoughts to arise we can start to train our mind in the rest of the path to enlightenment. 

As we develop our guru devotion more deeply and strongly, we purify more of our obscurations, and any lamrim meditation we do makes great sense to us. Our mind is no longer hard like a rock, but extremely soft. With any meditation we do, we feel confident that if we really tried for some weeks or months, we could generate the realization of that meditation. What were mere words in the beginning, we now feel strongly from our heart. 

By developing this realization of guru devotion, we then generate the realizations of the graduated path to enlightenment. With the generation of bodhicitta, we enter the Mahayana path, which has five divisions. The first, the path of merit, has three divisions. When we achieve the great path of merit, we see the guru in nirmanakaya aspect. When we achieve the Mahayana path of seeing and become an arya bodhisattva, we see the guru in sambhogakaya aspect. When we then achieve the path of no more learning, we cease even our subtle obscurations and our mental continuum is complete in realizations. When the continuation of our present consciousness becomes omniscient mind, our own mind becomes dharmakaya, which is the absolute guru. We achieve the absolute guru. When we achieve the absolute guru, we achieve the guru; we meet the guru mentally, becoming one.

NOTES

¹²⁹ See note 57, p. 169. [Return to text]