Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Without a guru, we cannot be free from samsara even if we complete all the qualities and
have all the education. That is very important to know. Even if we know by heart and can
explain the entire Kangyur and Tengyur, if we do not have a guru we cannot be free from
samsara.
Padmasambhava, who is like the second Buddha, also explained,
If you don’t recognize the guru as a buddha,
Your mind cannot be liberated by the blessings.
Therefore, reflect on the qualities of the guru
And then make requests to him. 31
I’m not advertising myself as a buddha to you! You must know that. This quotation is what
Padmasambhava has said; this is his instruction. So here, Padmasambhava is also teaching
me as well as you.
Unless we realize that the guru is buddha, the guru’s blessings cannot liberate our mind,
which refers to freeing ourselves from the bondage of delusion and superstition. That relates
to the ignorance holding the I, aggregates and phenomena as truly existent, and to the selfcherishing
thought and attachment to samsara as well. We cannot be liberated from those as
well as from impure appearance and impure thought, the dualistic mind and the dualistic
view, the ordinary mind-wind and the subtle mind-wind. When Padmasambhava talks of
liberating the mind this is what he is referring to.
Our practice should be to think of our guru not from the side of his apparent mistakes but
from the side of his qualities. We should think of the guru as having a buddha’s qualities and
pray to him like that. This is the instruction of Padmasambhava.
Without a guru, there is no object of meditation to realize the buddha. Without that, we
cannot receive the blessings of the guru. If we do not receive the blessings of the guru, our
mind cannot actualize the path to enlightenment. Then we cannot liberate our mind from
those delusions, from the disturbing-thought obscurations and the subtle obscurations, the
obscurations to knowledge. For that reason, we have to think of the guru as having a
buddha’s qualities and pray to him on that basis.
The fourth Panchen Lama, Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, who composed the Guru
Puja, texts on mahamudra and many other collections of teachings on sutra and tantra, also
explained,
If you cherish yourself, don’t follow just anyone you happen to meet, like a dog seeking food
in the street. Examine well the lama who reveals the holy Dharma, then follow him with
respect. 32
We should not be like an old dog who runs toward anybody offering food without checking,
gobbling it down as quickly as possible. We need to carefully examine the guru who is
revealing the Dharma and then follow his advice and practice well.
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