Why be devoted to a Guru??~Ms Sock Wan
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Two weeks ago, I asked Ms. Sock Wan (Thank you!) to do a write up on guru devotion. I advised for her to do a good and thorough research on what guru devotions means, why practice guru devotion, the importance of guru devotion etc etc. I also asked her to include the story of Atisha and Virupa in her write up.
Guru Devotion is the heart of our spiritual practice in Tibetan Buddhism. Without it, one would make very little progress in their spiritual practice, or take a longer period of time to gain any form of attainments. Having devotion for one’s Guru is not about being controlled by your Guru or following him/her with blind faith… We choose to be devoted to a Guru when we have checked out the teacher and have found that he/she has benefited us in some way, and will continue to benefit us until enlightenment. Only when we have confidence that this Guru can help us in our spiritual growth do we full-heartedly surrender ourselves to follow this Guru in pursuit of enlightenment.
For example, if you want to be a professional golf player, you would check out different coaches and determine which one has produced the greatest results and displayed the greatest set of skills. After observing a few coaches or a particular one, you would then judge for yourself whether he/she suits you and whether he/she is willing to take you on as a student. You would then engage in training sessions with him/her, trusting that he/she will bring out and develop your greatest abilities. Same thing with a Guru-Disciple relationship.
Two mahasiddhas who had strong guru-disciple relationships with their Guru were Atisha and Virupa. Both of them were highly attained beings who ultimately attained enlightenment through their diligent practice and strong guru devotion. Stories of other great Mahasiddhas also shows us great examples of guru devotion and should be read by everyone who is serious in their spiritual practice.
Sock Wan did a very good job! She clearly put a lot of effort into writing about something profound in a clear and simple manner. Do read the write up. It is very well written… I decided to share it here on my blog for everyone to learn what she has herself has learnt. Do leave a comment to express your thoughts.
What have you learnt from the write-up?
Tsem Rinpoche
The importance of Guru Devotion in gaining realization and enlightenment
By Wee Sock Wan
We engage in spiritual practice simply because we want to gain realizations and achieve the state of enlightenment, be free from sufferings then help others to do the same. What is the secret recipe for getting the results we want in our spiritual practice? There is only one secret, Guru Devotion.
A Guru is someone who has gained realizations, whose mind stream is of the Buddha, his responsibility is to teach and guide us how to practice in order to achieve enlightenment. It is a Guru’s role to make sure the students are on the right path all the time. His responsibility to us is not only in this life but many lives, as long as we are still in Samsara. He will not do harm to us, any action he does is for the benefit of the students.
Once we have established a guru-student relationship, we see him and Buddha as one, we surrender ourselves completely to him. This means having trust and faith in him and executing all tasks that are given by our Guru and doing it diligently without complaints or doubts. A Guru has the ability to see what a student needs in order to progress in the spiritual practice. Sometimes we might not understand why we are asked to do something ‘ridiculous’ by our Guru (because we are not at the level where we can comprehend) but there is always a reason behind it.
Here I would like to use the stories of 2 great masters to illustrate the importance of Guru Devotion in gaining realization and enlightenment.
Atisha
Atisha was born in 982 in a royal family in Bengal, he passed away at the age of 72 in year 1054. When he was born, several auspicious signs appeared such as flowers rained down and the appearance of the rainbow canopy, there were also gods singing hymn. The child was not ordinary at all. At the age of 18 month when Atisha was visiting a temple, he announced that he wanted to pursue in spiritual path. Growing up, he had exhibited his extraordinary capability in understanding Dharma. Atisha learned from more than 150 teachers, he also had a very special affinity with Tara, she often appeared in his vision to give him advices. Eventually Atisha became a great Dharma teacher in teaching Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Since Atisha was the brightest son among the three siblings, his parents tried to make him the successor of the throne and arranged a marriage for him with a girl, hoping that he would give up his wish to becoming a monk. Upon having a vision of Tara, he was told how his spiritual might be jeopardized by his royal life, Atisha excused himself from the wedding and went away from the palace in order to find his spiritual teacher. Atisha met a holy Jetari in a jungle and took the bodhisattva vows from him. He then went on to Nalanda University and studied with the great master Bodhibhadra. Subsequently, he studied with Vidyakokila and Avadhuyipa. He also studied Tantra with Rahulagupta on the Black Mountain. The first tantra practice he received was Hevajra practice. Rahulagupta would appeared in Atisha’s dream to give him advise on his spiritual practice, Atisha would listen and follow the instructions. Rahulagupta told Atisha that he must develop caring, love, compassion and a boddhicitta aim to benefit others, then he would achieve enlightenment.
At the age of 29, Atisha was ordained as monk, he was still looking for the fastest way to achieve enlightenment so he went to Bodhgaya for a pilgrimage trip. While he was circumambulating the Great Stupa, he heard 2 statues talking to each other. One statue was telling another in order to achieve perfect enlightenment, practice of boddhicitta was the path to pursue. This was again affirmed by another Buddha statue when Atisha circumambulated the cupola of the stupa.
Thus, Atisha decided to travel to Suvarnadvipa to study boddhicitta teaching from Dharmakirti, who was a renowned and a great master in this subject. He was 31 years old when he made the journey to seek his guru. Atisha stayed there for 12 years and was trained under Dharmakirti. Under the guidance of the great master, Atisha had gained amazing realization. Because of what this master had given him, whenever Atisha heard his name, he would cry. He owed his attainment to Dharmakirti. After Atisha went back to India, he became the abbot in Vikramasila Monastic University. A couple of year later, he was invited to Tibet to spread the Buddha’s teachings. Atisha stayed in Tibet for 13 years and passed away in a village called Lethan near Lhasa.
There is a little story about Atisha and Naropa that I would like to share here:
When Atisha was a disciplinarian at Nalanda University, Naropa was a monk at Nalanda too. When Atisha knew Naropa was engaging in consort practice, he expelled Naropa from the University not knowing it was appropriate for Naropa at that point of time to do. Naropa took his robes off, put them down and walked through the wall and left the university. Atisha realized he had made a mistake by disparaging a highly attained master, he was very regretful. 7 days after the incident, Atisha had a vision of Tara in which she said to Atisha, “You have committed a very great fault. If you do not confess and purify your actions toward this great yogi, your mindstream will be reborn in hell.” Tara advised Atisha in order to purify his negative karma resulted from his wrong doing, he had to make five tsa-tsa everyday for the rest of his life. Since that day onwards, Atisha had never missed making 5 tsa-tsa everyday. Some of his students offered to make the tsa-tsa for him but he replied, “Are you going to eat my food for me too?”
Virupa
Virupa was born in 837 in a royal family in Bengal. When he was born, the astrologer predicted he would become a great spiritual master. He entered into the monastic university Somapura to study at a very young age. Later after he completed his studies there, he went to Nalanda University to receive further teachings from the Abbot, Dharmamitra who gave Virupa Vajrayana teachings and Chakrasambvara practice. After Dharmamitra passed away, Virupa was made the successor and became the Abbot of Nalanda University.
While he was teaching during the day, at night he would do his Tantra practice. He continued to do this until he was 70 years old. At this point of time, he became rather frustrated because after so many years of practice, he could not see any attainments or realizations at all. On top of that, he started to have nightmares in which he saw fire in the lower end of a valley and flood rising in the upper end. He saw his Guru, Yidam and spiritual friends hanging upside down, some of their faces were torn, or were terribly disfigured.
Without a Guru’s guidance, Virupa did not know that he was actually about to achieve a major realizations through his Tantric practice. He had in fact already perfected the Path of Accumulation, the Path of Preparation and was about to attain the Path of Seeing. But since his Guru passed away without leaving him the complete instructions, he took all of these as bad omen. He was so disappointed and discouraged by what he experienced, he threw his Mala away in the toilet.
On the same night, Virupa dreamed of Vajra Nairatmya instructed him to continue his practice bestowed him four initiations which later brought realizations to Virupa. After following the instructions from Vajra Naitratmya strictly, Virupa gained the attainments of becoming a great Boddhisattva in 7 days.
In order to show his gratitude to his Guru and Yidam, Virupa arranged a Ganachakra feast where meat and alcohol were offered. Since other monks did not understand, they thought Virupa, the Abbot was behaving rather strange and started to be suspicious of his conduct as a monk. To avoid other monks making negative comments and disparaging highly attained master, Virupa choose to leave Nalanda University. It was at this time, he name himself Virupa (he was called Dharmapala when he was still the Abbot in Nalanda University) which meant “the wicked one”.
Virupa travelled to various places and performed numerous miracles to bring common people, elites, kings into practicing Dharma. 2 very famous miracles performed by Virupa was when he parted the Ganges river, and stopped the sun from setting down for 3 days.
Learning from the 2 great masters in relation to Guru Devotion
It is interesting to find that both Virupa and Atisha were born in a royal family in Bengal and at a very young age already exhibited their extraordinary inclination towards spiritual practice. Both studied in Nalanda University too. They were not bound to material wealth even though they were born in a wealthy family. They both achieved perfect enlightenment through Boddhicitta practice.
However, if we looked at the journey of these 2 great masters in attaining perfect enlightenment, it appeared that Atisha took shorter time to accomplish than Virupa.
Atisha studied with many Gurus, more than 150 gurus. Not a single period in his life before he gained perfect enlightenment he was without a Guru. Atisha spent 12 years in Suvarnadvipa to study boddhicitta teaching from Dharmakirti, he follows instructions of his Guru strictly. Under the guidance of his Guru, Dharmakirti, he achieved perfect enlightenment at the age of 43. He always remembered his Guru’s kindness, he said he owed his achievements to his Guru.
Virupa, on the hand followed a guru too who was the Abbot of Nalanda University called Dharmamitra. However, his guru passed away before he gained attainments, Virupa still continued to practice with the instructions left to him by his guru. He kept practicing until he was 70 years old but he didn’t seem to gain attainments at all, on top of that he had nightmares that worried him very much to the extent that he gave up his practice until he had a vision of Vajra Naitratmya. With the guidance and instruction of Vajra Naitratmya, Virupa became a great Boddhisattva in 7 days. If Virupa had his Guru guiding him, he would not have mis-interpreted the dreams he had, he would have achieved perfect enlightenment much earlier like Atisha did(who accomplished at the age of 43).
The story on Atisha and Naropa tells us that when a highly attained master disparages another highly attained master, he creates negative karmas too. A highly attained master like Atisha had to also purify the negative karmas (by making 5 tsa-tsa everyday) he created in order to support his practice and it took him his whole life to purify this ‘little’ action he did. Understanding this was his own karma, and he was responsible for it, he had never let anyone making the tsa-tsa for him. It was also his demonstration of Guru Devotion, following what was told by Tara.
In conclusion, if we want to have results in our spiritual practice, we need a guru. After we have found our guru, we have to follow the instructions and guidance strictly without any doubts. The stricter we follow, the faster we see the results. If we have any negative thought arises on our Guru, we have to do a lot of purification works in order to continue receiving the teaching and progress in our spiritual practice. Remember, even Atisha a highly attained master has to purify his negative karma, let alone us.
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Very interesting article! Is it possible to have more than one Guru? From even different traditions? How complicated it can be?
Dear Chrissa,
Thank you for your response. It is indeed a very interesting article! Yes, it is possible for a person to have more than one guru. In the example shared in the article above of the great teacher Atisha, it was mentioned that he had over 150 teachers. These were his gurus, from whom he received the various Buddhist teachings. Of course, the example of Atisha is very rare. That being said, you can have more than one guru.
The main thing to remember here, however, is that to have a spiritually successful relationship with a guru, is to practice guru devotion strongly. That means following the instructions of your guru strongly without wavering, having steadfast faith and trust, and serving them well by practicing the Dharma and transforming the mind for the better. According to the Buddha Vajradhara, the root of all spiritual attainments is reliance on guru devotion. This is why many people only have one guru whom they follow, but others have more if they can maintain this sacred relationship with all of them.
In regards to having gurus from different traditions, this is possible. However generally speaking one’s main practices, the ones that you would focus on during your spiritual journey would necessarily belong to a particular tradition. Therefore, your main practices would be from tradition A, but you could have also received teachings from a guru in tradition B. As long as you can maintain the relationship between both teachers well, without contradictions, then you can follow both.
There are however some practices in which you take the commitment to only follow the teachings of one particular tradition until you have attained enlightenment. This is because different traditions present the teachings in slightly different ways. Therefore one may become confused as to the methods of practice. This is not only applicable to teachers of differing traditions, but also those in the same tradition. This is because different gurus will use different methods in helping students to overcome their afflictive emotions, and generate compassion within their minds, leading the student further along the spiritual path. Therefore it can be difficult to follow more than one teacher, in order to follow their instructions all the way.
This is a reason why once you have found a qualified guru, you should go all the way with your guru devotion with them singularly. This guru would have the teachings that can take you all the way to enlightenment. So in that sense, you would not need more than one guru on your spiritual path. Dedicating yourself to the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and wisdom, following one guru with steadfast devotion, and practicing the various meditations necessarily lead to higher states of mind, spiritual attainments, and enlightenment. Therefore for most people it is advisable to follow one guru, all the way to enlightenment. I hope this helps.
Thank you.
Well I can’t thank you enough!for your guidance! May I also ask, if a practitioner didn’t yet meet his Guru,& until this condition arises,what you would advice as a general practice for every day life? I’ve read about the preliminary practices,so my understanding is that is something that everybody should do right? For example I’ve read on another post about the “homage to 21 Taras” which I really loved , so a daily practice with prostrations it can be considered basic? Or complete? Thank you again! 🌸
Dear Chrissa,
It’s good to read that you want to start a daily practice. Even though you may not have met a guru in person, if you do consider someone to be your guru from your heart, making offerings in front of your shrine, and believe in this person from your, and practice guru devotion from your heart, this person becomes you guru.
For a very good daily practice, you can engage in the guru yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa. This practice is very unique as it calls upon the energies of Lama Tsongkhapa, who is himself the embodiment of Manjushri, Chenrezig and Vajrapani. You can find a commentary on the practice by His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/tsongkapas-daily-practice-video-commentary.html
Actually, this practice, when engaged in extensively is considered part of the preliminary practices, so if you engage in this during your daily practice, you can take it as part of the preliminary practices, if you engage in it extensively, as described on the preliminary practices blogpost: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/preliminary-practice.html
After the guru yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa, you can engage in the homage to the 21 Tara practices that you have an affinity with. Which is very good, and beneficial.
Generally, most people at Kechara engage in the practice of Lama Tsongkhapa, coupled with the practice of Dorje Shugden, who is a Dharma protector who helps us to overcome our obstacles in both daily and spiritual life. This set of prayers can be found here: http://www.dorjeshugden.org/practice/diamond-path-a-daily-sadhana-of-dorje-shugden or if you would like to invite a physical copy of the prayers, it is available here: https://www.vajrasecrets.com/diamond-path.
These prayers may be somewhat long for a person starting a daily practice, therefore it is advisable that one begin with the practice of Lama Tsongkhapa’s guru yoga. Even though it is short, it is very beneficial. Of course, these prayers coupled with any of the preliminary practices is going to be extremely beneficial on your spiritual journey. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much, your advice is precious! I have a better understanding now, where exactly I’m with my practice & where I have to focus more😊, with folded hands💛 thanks again
Well done,Sock Wan for these beautiful article on Guru Devotion.It very clear and easy to understand for new comer like me.I now better understanding of Guru Devotion with your explanation.A guru-student relationship is very important and having trust,faith following all the instructions given by our Guru plays a part too.There is alot for me to learn. The stories of the great master mahasiddhas Atisha and Virupa was interesting .I do enjoyed reading and get to know, understand better.
Thank you Rinpoche for your guidance and Ms Sock Wan for these reminder and teachings.
I had the great fortune to get this assignment of writing about Guru Devotion from Rinpoche 3 years ago. At that time I didn’t know a lot about Atisha and Virupa, so I had to do quite a bit of research. Through the research, I learnt quite a lot which was totally new to me.
Student and Guru relationship is very important in gaining attainment and ultimately to enlightenment. This is especially important in Vajrayana practice. Due to our karmas, our guru has to manifest different behaviour to help us to purify our karmas, whether outer or inner (mind) and help us to collect merits in order to progress and have a stable mind.
Some classic examples of ‘ridiculous’ behaviour of a Guru include Tilopa who did not really like Naropa in the beginning, Tilopa ignoted Naropa and even hit him but Naropa’s devotion, faith and trust did not fade away. Instead, his devotion grew stronger. In the case of Milarepa, Marpa who was his Guru also ignored him in the beginning. Later, Milarepa was asked to build a house but Marpa seemed to be unreasonably picky, every time when Milarepa built the house, Marpa will find faults and ordered Milarepa to tear it down and rebuild the house. It happened for several times. Even though the Guru manifest ridiculous behaviour, Naropa and Milarepa did not give up their faith in their Gurus, eventually they gain enlightenment in one life time.
We must always remember when our guru manifest ‘ridiculous’ behaviour, it is their kindness to help us purify outer and inner (mind) obstacles and collect merits so that we can understand and comprehend Buddha’s teachings. We must not forget the kindness of our Lama.
Thank you Sock Wan for this clear write up on Guru Devotion. When I joined Kechara I do not understand why we need to prostrate to Rinpoche or the term Guru Devotion. It is because at that point of time I viewed him as a normal human being.
After I learned more, I know understand why we need a Guru and the importance of Guru in our spiritual path. We can do a lot of reading in Buddhism, meditation and etc but without a Guru, we will not know the proper method, just like Atisha and Virupa as mentioned above.
Guru is like our parent who love and care for us. His only mission is for us to transform and be better. Therefore, it is important to follow his instruction and guidance , in order to see results.
Dharma practice offers the most exciting,highest happiness there is: following advice,finding no hardship at all.Seeing the Guru as Buddha,without question,is incredible,the peak,the highest devotion.
By correctly devoting to our virtuous Guru in thought and actions,even one doesn’t have intellectual knowledge,understanding and realizations come.Thank you Rinpoche for sharing Sock Wan’s beautiful article.
Thank you Rinpoche and Sock Wan for the sharing.
We can learn Dharma from Dharma texts. However, we may not fully understand all the texts. Future more, secret Tantra which is the fastest path to the enlightenment needs initiation, blessing and explanation from one’s Guru. Virupa achieved the attainments slower than Atisha becuase he did not have Guru guiding him after his guru had passed away.
All instructions given by our Guru is to train our minds to cut out our ego, attachment and laziness etc. Guru can see through our minds and know what we need to do to improve. With 100% faith on our Guru, we will be able to follow through all instructions given by our Guru no matter how tough the task is.
Thank you Sock Wan for this wonderful summary of your clear understanding on Guru Devotion in a nut shell. I appreciated the 2 stories of the great master mahasiddhas Atisha and Virupa. Yes even an great master like Atisha also had to purify His negative karma from a mistake shows no one is excused or exempted from karma. Karma is the law of our universe and our existence and that is why purification practices are so important. That is why Rinpoche gives many of us assignments that help us purify our karmas.
For me it is to paint many Buddha statues, wash them, insert mantras in them, printing a lot of Buddha images, designing them or creating them and a lot cleaning to purify my body and minds heavy karma and obscuration. If I do not purify them I can never progress to the next level and by me resisting I keep falling back and destroying all the positive karma and nullified the purification practices I’ve done. So that is why I don’t progress. How ignorant to follow the evil ego who fools us and drags us down. I must be more mindful now not to allow the ego to take over and do my best to work hard to purify as much as I can. Thank you Rinpoche for this blog post, for creating this blog, and in thinking of so many ways skilfully, and compassionately in trying to help us realise, wake up and transform of ways so that we suffer less. Being ignorant is suffering.
I thank Rinpoche and Sock Wan for the great explanations about what Guru Devotion is about. We, as normal human beings must be always alert in our mind of our every speech and actions towards anyone as it will determine where we go in our next life.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article by Sock Wan, indeed it explains clearly what guru devotion is all about & why it is so important for spiritual growth ; it has helped me clear some of my doubts as well
Thank you for the sanitized version of the Mahasiddhas’ tales!
Guru is the one who able to teach us and give the specified instruction that make us learn and practice Dharma with less obstacles and gain enlightenment faster.
Guru is an enlightenment person as Buddha, so when we totally surrender we will gain the 100% blessing from him.
We definitely need Guru to led us to enlightenment…
thank you rinpoche and sock wan sharing us what is Guru devotion and the importance of applying it in our daily life. What I realize is that a pure guru devotion is doing all types of tasks that is given by your guru without asking why because a qualified teacher will only benefit us without any harmful action or intention.When we are able to fulfill the guru’s wishes we must immediately fulfill it without a second delay or excuse.I will make such a conclusion is because I find that all our guru’s wishes will only benefit all sentient beings in long terms or short terms.Dear Rinpoche,personally saying,I really learn a lot from this great article on guru devotion.I will bear it in my mind and applying it in my daily life if I have the opportunity to put it into practice.I promised rinpoche and I want to make request that is I want to back to Kechara house and be the servant of rinpoche after I taking monk’s precepts and finish my 3 years Buddhist philosophy at FO GUANG SHAN when I have the opportunity.I believed that become a qualified monk can only be able to make Dharma flourish.I have already put it into action without just always make promise.I have start to hold five basic refuge precepts carefully without broken it.I have stop joining such meaningless activities and push myself to studying more Dharma.Thank you!
With folded hands,Hecelus
In this spiritual journey, we have embarked on – for the purpose of freeing ourselves from suffering and attaining enlightenment and then helping others towards the same liberation and enlightenment – we definitely need a Guru.
We need a Guru, to whom we give our total trust and to whom we totally surrender, because only he can help hasten us on this path of attainments and ultimate liberation and Enlightenment. Virupa was slower than Atisha to gain realizations and full enlightenment because he lost his first teacher and, for quite a long while after that, he was without a teacher.
So long as we see our Guru as a Buddha,and never have the slightest doubt about him and carry out all his instructions, we will move more swiftly on the Path. He is there for us all the way to Enlightenment.