Lama Zopa Rinpoche

that it is his mistake. It is like having dirt on our forehead and being unaware of it until we
look in the mirror and then blame the mirror for the dirt. That way of thinking is totally
false; the reality is not like that. This is exactly what the Fifth Dalai Lama said: we must
recognize that this is our mistake and abandon such wrong thinking like poison.
Guru devotion is like a jewel; it’s the most important jewel in our life and we can destroy it
in an instant by seeing any apparent mistakes of the guru as coming from him. For as many
seconds as we think like that, we must suffer for that many eons in the lower realms; for that
many eons our virtue is destroyed. Even though we might be just about to attain bodhicitta
or renunciation or the realization of emptiness, that is delayed for the number of eons
equivalent to the number of seconds we had heresy or anger.
When mistakes in the actions of the guru appear to our hallucinated mind, there are two
ways of utilizing this. The first way is described in this verse from the Fifth Dalai Lama.
When we recognize that the appearance of a mistake is our own mistake, instead of
destroying our guru devotion, it strengthens it. We use apparent mistakes to develop our
devotion. We see that the mistake is a projection of our hallucinated mind, our negative
karma, and there is no mistake from the guru’s side. Because the guru is a buddha, the
mistake cannot be from the guru’s side. If we think like that our devotion will not be
disturbed and will, in fact, be made stronger.
The second way is to see that in order to guide us to liberation, to free us from the oceans of
samsaric suffering of the lower realms, the guru manifests in an ordinary aspect, as having
mistakes, especially for us. Showing an ordinary aspect is his method of helping us.
When His Holiness the Dalai Lama first gave the mahamudra commentary 84 I asked him
what “showing an ordinary aspect” meant. He explained that showing an ordinary aspect
means showing mistakes. It is very important for the guru to show us an ordinary aspect and
appear to have mistakes in order to guide us. If he were to show himself in the aspect of a
buddha we would not be able to see him because our mind is so impure. Without pure
karma we cannot see him in an enlightened aspect. With a mind such as ours, a mind full of
obscurations, we can only see mistakes. As His Holiness said, the guru can only guide us by
appearing to have mistakes. But it is a manifestation of our own mistakes, our hallucinated
mind. Therefore, showing the ordinary aspect, showing mistakes, is unbelievably important
to us. It is mentioned in the Lama Chöpa,
Adorned with a sugata’s three bodies and ornamental wheels,
You manifest from an alluring net of skillful means
In ordinary form to lead all beings.
Compassionate refuge savior, I make requests to you. 85
That is very important. The guru is the essence of the three bodies of all the buddhas gone
to bliss, the sugatas, the skillful means that is like a net cutting through appearance. His
actions, like a blissful dancing gait, guide transmigratory beings to enlightenment in an
ordinary form, not in a pure form.
This means that when the guru appears, he purposely shows us this mistaken, ordinary
aspect in order to guide us and all other transmigratory beings to enlightenment. The
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