Relationship with the teacher
How do we know the nature of our own mind without some help from a teacher, a guru? Lama Yeshe said that, “A guru is a person who can really show you the true nature of your mind and who knows the perfect remedies for your psychological problems. Someone who doesn’t know his own mind can never know others’ minds and therefore cannot be a guru.”
In this issue, we enter the intriguing field of guru devotion, a prerequisite for devout students in the Mahayana tradition, which sometimes mystifies other practitioners. How to choose one? How to know one when we meet him or her? The responses from various contributors from several traditions shed light on a relationship that can be as complex as a marriage, as fraught as a political drama, as full of unqualified love as that of parent-child — and as practical as learning to bake a cake in First Assemble the Ingredients by the inimitable Ven. Robina. Read more extracts from this absorbing feature:
- Spiritual Authority, Genuine and Counterfeit by John Welwood
- The Guru As Buddha — or Like Buddha? An interview with His Holiness Sakya Trizin
- Mos and Other Conundrums by Ven. Thubten Gyatso
- Grappling with the Guru Principle by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Wake Up Call by Ken McLeod
- Thinking Like a Thief by Thanissaro Bikkhu
- A Teacher’s Responsibility by Yvonne Rand
- Just Get On With It! by Ven. Tenzin Palmo
- Zen Moments of Truth by Sean Murphy
- A Healthy Relationship by Alexander Berzin
- Students Speak by FPMT practitioners
- Trials and Joys of a Disciple: B. Allan Wallace on Geshe Rabten