There are two ways of devoting ourselves to the guru: with thought and with action (chapter 15).
3. HOW TO DEVOTE TO A GURU WITH THOUGHT
Devoting to the guru with thought has two divisions:
(1) The root, training our mind in devotion to the guru
(2) Developing respect by remembering the guru’s kindness
(chapter 14)
If we meditate on these two outlines, using quotations and logical reasoning as effectively as possible, we will be very happy to devote ourselves to the virtuous friend. Remembering the qualities of the guru causes devotion to arise and remembering the kindness of the guru causes respect to arise.
(1) The root, training our mind in devotion to the guru
Training our mind in devotion to the guru means using quotations and logical reasoning to prove to this mind that does not see the guru as a buddha that the guru is a buddha. It means training our mind in this meditation. Our ultimate goal is to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. To succeed in this, we ourselves need to achieve enlightenment first; to do this we need to actualize the path; to do this we need the blessings of the guru. Since the cause of receiving blessings is our devotion, we need to look at the guru as a buddha. Otherwise the only thought that will arise in our mind will be, “I will take teachings from this lama.” The guru will then be just like a teacher in school from whom we simply learn words and we will then have nothing more useful than intellectual knowledge to rely upon.
Strong devotion is what makes it easy to correctly devote ourselves to the virtuous friend. The stronger our devotion, the more we are able to dedicate our life to serving and following the advice of the virtuous friend. And the more we follow the advice of the virtuous friend, the easier it is for us to achieve realizations of the path to enlightenment. Therefore, we have to train our mind in guru devotion, transforming our mind into the pure thought of devotion, which means looking at the guru as a buddha. Whether from the guru’s side he is a sentient being or a buddha, from our side we have to transform our mind into the pure devotional thought that sees him as an actual buddha by looking at him as a buddha.
Whether or not the teacher from his side is an enlightened being, if we disciples from our side don’t look at him as a buddha, we will never see that teacher who revealed Dharma to us as a buddha. The key point is that if we don’t look at the guru as a buddha, we will never see the guru as a buddha. That’s why we need to practice guru devotion.
This outline is extremely important because all the realizations of the rest of the path have to be generated by devoting ourselves to the guru. (I prefer the expression “devoting to the guru” to “relying upon the guru” as relying upon makes it sound as if we just relax and leave it all to the guru. Devoting implies more action from the side of the disciple. On the basis of devoting, an action of mind, we then do something.) Unless we generate the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha, there is no way we can generate any other realization.
I will explain various techniques for training the mind to see the guru as a buddha, as described in the lamrim teachings and by various lamas who have actualized the path. Various reasons are used to prove to our ordinary mind, which sees guru and buddha as separate, that they are one. Looking at them as one then transforms our mind into devotion. If you can’t understand through one method, you can use another.
The root, training our mind in devotion to the guru, has three divisions:
(a) Why we should look at the guru as a buddha (chapter 10)
(b) Why we are able to see the guru as a buddha (chapter 11)
(c) How to see the guru as a buddha (chapter 12)
In the practice of guru devotion, the most important thing is training our mind in devotion, or faith. As I explained at the very beginning, guru devotion, seeing the guru as a buddha, is called “the root of the path” because just as the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit grow from the stable root of a tree, all the realizations of the graduated path to enlightenment grow from stable devotion to the guru. If there is no root, nothing can grow. Just as a tree depends on its root, all the realizations from perfect human rebirth up to enlightenment depend on guru devotion. If we have the stable root of guru devotion, all realizations come quickly.
Whether or not we will be able to generate the realizations of the path to enlightenment in this life or in future lives depends on whether or not we cultivate the root of the path, guru devotion, within our heart. Receiving realizations depends on receiving the blessings of the guru, and the blessings of the guru come from guru devotion. This is the whole answer. If we have this root, we will be able to attain the path from the beginning up to enlightenment. If we don’t have this root, we can’t generate any lamrim realizations.
Devotion, or faith, is necessary generally for practicing Dharma and particularly for generating the realization of guru devotion. Along with recognizing all sentient beings as our mother, seeing the guru as a buddha is one of the most difficult realizations to generate. Even though it’s very difficult, if we don’t attempt to realize this, we can’t generate the rest of the path to enlightenment.
Generally, faith has to be the preliminary to all virtuous actions. The sutra, The Ten Dharmas, explains,
In those who have no devotion, the white dharmas do not grow.
White dharmas refers to the scriptural understanding and realizations of the path to enlightenment. If a person doesn’t have devotion, the white dharmas can’t be generated.
The Ten Dharmas continues,
Just as a sprout cannot come from a burnt seed, no white dharmas can come from those who have no devotion.
The minds of those who don’t have devotion or have lost it are burned by anger and heresy. Like burnt seeds, their minds don’t have the potential to grow the green sprout of scriptural understanding or realizations of the path.
The sutra, The Lamp of the Three Jewels, explains,
Faith is generated first, giving birth like a mother;
It protects all good qualities.
Just as a mother gives birth to her children, faith gives birth to all good karma and all realizations of the path. And with faith, all good qualities are protected and increased. This is easy to understand. When we lose our faith, or devotion, we also lose the good qualities and good experiences we have achieved. When we have little faith in karma, we are more careless about our actions and vows. When we have little faith in our guru, we are more careless in our devotion to him and make more mistakes. On the other hand, when we have strong faith in karma, we take more care to decrease our non-virtuous actions and increase our virtuous actions. And when we have strong faith in our guru, we are careful in our devotion to him.
When we feel strong guru devotion, we find it easy to have feeling for whatever lamrim meditation we are doing. Any meditation we do—even meditating on emptiness—is very effective. Even though for many years the words of the Guru Puja prayers or the lamrim teachings and meditations mightn’t have made any sense to us, suddenly the same words make incredible sense. Each word has unbelievable meaning; each word is a profound commentary, deep and rich. As we read the words, we feel them strongly in our heart. We have the confidence that if we put some effort into meditating, we could really attain realizations.
However, when the moisture of devotion evaporates, all our prayers and meditations become just dry words. Even though we recite prayers that praise the guru’s qualities, we have no feeling for them in our heart. There is no connection between our mind and the meaning of the words. Everything feels very dry. No matter how much we try to meditate, our mind is very dry, like a rock. A rock can be under the ocean for hundreds of years but still no water will penetrate it.
The teachings say that the fact that guru devotion is the root of the path is proved through our own experiences. All we have to do is check what happens during the times our mind becomes like hard, dry ground because we have no guru devotion. It becomes very difficult to feel anything when we try to meditate on lamrim. Even though we might normally feel strong loving kindness and compassion toward others, those feelings are lost; they disappear. Our mind feels distant from loving kindness and compassion. By checking our experiences, we see very clearly that when the teachings say that guru devotion is the root of the path, it is not something made up so that gurus will receive offerings.
The Lamp of the Three Jewels also explains,
Faith eliminates pride and increases respect.
It eliminates doubt.
It liberates you from the four great rivers.
Faith signifies the city of happiness.
With faith, your mind becomes calm and clear.
Faith is the sublime treasure.
Generating faith, like possessing legs,
Enables you to reach wherever you wish to go.
Faith is the root of moral conduct.
Like a hand, it gathers virtue.
Faith57 can refer to general faith—in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, for example—but here it refers especially to faith in the guru. The four great rivers58refers to the continuous stream of disturbing thoughts, which has no beginning. Moral conduct refers to the moral conduct of abstaining from negative karma, the moral conduct of working for sentient beings and the moral conduct of performing all virtues together, which means trying to do every practice with all six perfections.
If you have devotion, you have less pride. Your mind also becomes calm and clear. When you have no devotion, your mind becomes confused and disturbed. The lack of devotion obscures your mind so that you can’t concentrate for even a few seconds. Generating devotion is also likened to possessing legs, because it allows you to reach anywhere you want to go: the happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment.
Like a hand collecting grain, this positive mind of devotion makes it very easy to collect extensive merit. It happens naturally, twenty-four hours a day. With devotion you purify inconceivable defilements and negative karmas. Every day the level of your mind goes higher and higher. Why? Because with guru devotion, twenty-four hours a day, your life is naturally dedicated to accomplishing your guru’s advice or serving your guru.
Those with indestructible devotion are the most fortunate of beings. All success comes to them. Because of their strong devotion they are under the protection of the guru, so evil beings—nonhuman beings, such as spirits, and human beings—cannot harm them. They attain realizations and at the time of death they go to a pure land.
I think if you have strong faith, or devotion, you are the luckiest person because you’re able to abide by your guru’s advice twenty-four hours a day. No matter what difficult situation you are in, there is no hardship because of your devotion. But if there’s no devotion, you find it very hard to do even a small thing. Everything becomes a problem. With devotion, there are no problems. You happily and easily abide by your guru’s advice, whether it is to do Dharma practice or offer service. No matter what difficulties there are, with the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha, you feel incredible joy twenty-four hours a day. You see how fortunate you are. It’s like a dream. You are able to live your life in virtue. You are constantly collecting extensive merit and constantly purifying heavy negative karmas. And you are constantly receiving blessings.
When you meditate on the guru and buddha as being one by looking at them as one, when you train your mind in that pure thought of devotion, you are then able to actually realize that the guru and buddha are one. That stable guru devotion brings success. You will be able to follow all your guru’s advice without any doubts or difficulties. It makes it very easy and enjoyable to follow your guru’s advice, which is the most beneficial thing in life. Because you see all the benefits, instead of having doubts and feeling it a burden on you, you see following your guru’s advice as the greatest thing to enjoy in your life. When you feel it is a burden, you find it very difficult to follow even a small piece of advice.
Kyabje Chöden Rinpoche made the point that the advantage of looking at the guru as buddha is that you are able to accomplish the guru’s advice without any difficulties at all. With that guru devotion you’re able to achieve all the realizations of the path, liberation and enlightenment and do perfect work for all sentient beings. That is the advantage of following the guru’s advice.
If you don’t have strong devotion, if your devotion is unstable or artificial, everything becomes difficult. You find many problems. You can’t abide by your guru’s advice, and then, because of your lack of devotion, many negative thoughts arise, like grass growing in a field.
Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo said,
In order to generate realizations of the paths and bhumis within us, we need to receive the blessing of the guru through depending on guru yoga. Whether or not we receive the blessing of the guru depends on whether or not we have devotion. Therefore, from our side, we need to train our mind in the devotion that actually sees the guru as a buddha.
Geshe Tölungpa said,
If we have faith that the guru is the embodiment of all the buddhas of the three times, the holy body, speech and mind of all the buddhas abide in that teacher, and we, the disciples, receive the blessings of the holy body, speech and mind of all the buddhas of the three times.
Also, Gyalwa Ensapa, one of Lama Tsongkhapa’s indirect disciples, who achieved enlightenment within only a few years, said from his own experience,
In short, whether we achieve great or small realization depends on whether we have meditated with great or small devotion. Therefore, may I keep as my heart practice the instruction to reflect only upon the qualities of the kind guru, source of all realizations, and not to look at faults. May I fulfill this commitment without any obstacle.
Receiving the blessings of the guru and thus receiving realizations depend on whether or not we have devotion. We can say billions of words about guru devotion but, in short, whether we have great or small experience of the path comes from whether we have great or small devotion to the guru. Since we are seeking enlightenment for the benefit of numberless other sentient beings, we want the realizations of the path to enlightenment, and realizations come from having transformed our mind into devotion. The guru is the source of all realizations, of all the good things, as also mentioned in the third stanza of the prostration section in Guru Puja.59
The above verse from Gyalwa Ensapa contains the very essence of guru devotion practice. We should reflect only on the qualities of the valid guru, who is the source of all our attainments, common and sublime, up to enlightenment. We shouldn’t look at our guru as having faults but as having only good qualities. Among the many practices we do in our life, we should keep this instruction as our heart practice.
Since we need to live in this commitment to our gurus twenty-four hours a day, we request to be able to do this without obstacles. This is for our own benefit, for us to be able to complete the path, achieve enlightenment and enlighten other sentient beings. It’s not that we practice this when we’re happy but don’t practice it when we’re unhappy because we’ve been told to do something that we don’t want to do. No matter what happens in our life, we should keep this as our heart practice and complete our commitment. Gyalwa Ensapa advises us to make this prayer of personal commitment to train our mind in the devotion that sees the guru as a buddha. This verse contains precious instructions that we should remember every time we meditate on guru yoga.
As a constant reminder, you should write this quotation in the beginning of your prayer book or even on the cover. Or write it on the cover of your diary. Or put it up in your meditation room or kitchen. It’s good to have Dharma quotations around the house to remind you of your practice, to help you control your negative thoughts. In this way, you protect yourself from heavy negative karma and are able to have quick realizations.
To achieve the sublime realization, we must have both the devotion that sees the guru as an actual buddha and unmistaken teachings. Devotion is the basis of generating all realizations. Pabongka Rinpoche says, however, that even if our instructions are mistaken, if we believe in them, we can still achieve some small common attainments.
In India in the past a man came to request teachings from his guru. The guru was busy and said, “Marileja,” which actually means, “Go away.” Not understanding that his guru was telling him to go away, the man thought he had received an instruction and recited it as a mantra. With that word “marileja” he was later able to heal himself and also many other people of illnesses. He achieved this small attainment by having faith in what he thought was an instruction from his guru.
His Holiness Song Rinpoche used to tell a story about someone with a big nose who came to ask for teachings from a lama in Kham. The lama told him, “Your nose is like a raksha bead.60 The man, not understanding what the lama had said, thought that he had been given a mantra. Satisfied that he had received a teaching, he went back home and recited “your nose is like a raksha bead” many, many times, as if he were saying a mantra.
The lama had a disease that sometimes caused him pain and no medicine could help him. His servant told him, “There’s a famous, powerful ngakpa in this area who has healed many people—should we invite him here?” The lama agreed, so the servant invited the ngakpa, who came and recited “your nose is like a raksha bead” and blew in the lama’s mouth. I’m sure the lama laughed at what the ngakpa said, but he was healed. The ngakpa’s ability to heal people came from his faith in the power of the mantra, from the power of his devotion.
In the lamrim teachings there is also the story of the old woman who, during a famine, recited OM VALE VULE VUNDE SVAHA, thinking that she was reciting the mantra of the deity Chunda, which enables stones to be cooked and eaten. By reciting the mantra, the old woman was able to eat rocks and remain healthy.
Later, when her son heard her reciting the mantra, he said, “Mother, the mantra you’re reciting is wrong. You should be reciting OM CHALE CHULE CHUNDE SVAHA.” After he taught her the correct mantra, however, she was unable to cook stones with it because she had doubts about this mantra. Even when a mantra is recited correctly, it won’t work if the person has no faith in it. When she then went back to reciting the mantra incorrectly, because of her strong faith, it worked again.
In the region of Tibet called Kongpo there lived a simple-minded man. When he went to see the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in Lhasa,61 the statue spoke to him, so he invited Shakyamuni Buddha to come to his home town. Shakyamuni Buddha said, “I will come.” As he was going home, a Shakyamuni Buddha started floating down the river and another Shakyamuni Buddha later appeared spontaneously in stone near his home. Even now this image can still be seen.
A tantric teaching explains that even a foolish person with stable devotion will have attainments, while an intelligent person with a superstitious, intellectual mind will be far from realizations.
Notes
57 In general there are three kinds of faith: believing, or pure-hearted, faith; lucid, or understanding, faith—faith based on logical conviction; and yearning, or aspirational, faith. See Liberation in Our Hands, Part Two, p. 31, n. 23. [Return to text]
58 The four great rivers are those of ignorance, views, desire and worldly existence. See The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, pp. 87–88. [Return to text]
59 You eliminated all faults and their imprints from the root,
And are a treasury of infinite precious qualities.
Sole source of benefit and bliss without exception,
Perfect, pure Guru, I prostrate at your feet. (V. 20.) [Return to text]
60 A raksha bead is large, red and has a rough surface. Indian sadhus often wear malas made of raksha beads. [Return to text]
61 This refers to the Jowo, the famous image of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Jokhang temple in the center of Lhasa. [Return to text]
