Oct 31

Kalu Rinpoche | In the right direction

Q: How to build a connection with his/her guru?

A: Regarding that I think I have answered many many times, but if it can help other people, why not?

The most important is that, many of us when we receive some teachings or some small empowerment, like one hour and a half empowerment, weekend teachings, or maybe you receive the refuge vows, we think that ‘Oh, that is already our guru, or has to be guru.’ And that pretender also says ‘Oh, you are my student, I am your guru.’…so why not, shake hands. That’s a bullshit, to be honest.

Because you can have many great masters in your life, like one hundred even, because throughout the history, it has been many great masters who also have many root gurus in their lineage. So, in terms of numbers of the guru, you can have many gurus as you want. That’s one thing.

And the second is that how you keep your connection with the guru. I think the most important, first is that you follow the Lord Buddha’s teaching. And then slowly when you developed the qualities of the Lord Buddha’s teaching and then the devotion comes genuinely and directly to the guru by itself.

If you tell yourself that you need to have a devotion by force or by obligation, then it will lead you in a wrong direction. That is something really important. So you have to follow Lord Buddha’s teaching first, and then the devotion to the guru is not an obligation. It comes naturally. So that’s how the relation should be.

If there is a guru telling you that, you need to have a devotion to the guru himself/herself, then you are in the wrong path, I guarantee. If there’s a guru telling you that the Lord Buddha’s teaching is important, and myself I’m not perfect, and also not trying to make you think he is humble also, then maybe you are in the right direction.

As long as you follow the Lord Buddha’s teaching, you are always in the right direction.

 

With love and respect from your Kalu Rinpoche
Live talk Q&A on Facebook, Sep. 4th 2018