Teacher/Guru

 A teacher/guru gives guidance and inspires. They cannot make the journey for us…we have to do that once we understand what to look for.

The concept of teacher is not easy for the modern mind to accept or understand. From an authentic, qualified teacher/guru, one can receive blessings. It is not just a matter of receiving the spoken word from text and commentaries: it is a matter of presence – word of mouth. It’s a listening transmission. Of course, one has to find a teacher who suits one’s temperament.

The Buddha said, “Place no head above your own.” He warned us that the spiritual path has to be travelled by ourselves and not to merely rely on books and hearsay. We must experience for ourselves the truth of any teaching. Others’ views, though inspiring, have absolutely no value, unless we make the journey ourself. But this does not mean we need to make the journey alone.

“Place no head above your own,” may be misleading when taken out of context. Our problem, in this modern “self-help” world, is that ‘my way’ is what has been preventing spiritual advancement.

We have to remember that pride and conceit (thinking we know better rather than “the wisdom of enlightened beings”) are negative karmic driving forces. A spiritual guide constantly reminds us of egocentric activity.

There are four demonic activities which pervert the four enlightened activities:

THE FOUR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITIES

The enlightened activity of pacifying accommodates everything. It reveals that there are no problems, and that aggression from the ego is unnecessary.

The enlightened activity of enriching brings to light the process of growth, and allows wisdom through knowledge.

The enlightened activity of magnetising bypasses conventional reality. In conventional reality, we continually try to draw desired situations towards ourselves and fend off undesirable ones. A realised person simply remains as he or she is, without this ego intervention, attracting naturally.

The enlightened activity of destroying is connected to compassion, aimed at ego’s manipulations.

THE FOUR SELFISH ACTIVITIES

We fall into selfish activity of:

Selfish pacifying
This attempts to make peace by using pleasure and security, to eliminate what is unpleasant. It is an imitation of genuine pacifying, which is beyond any self-serving strategy (… “There, there – it will be all right. Trust me.”).

Selfish enriching
Ego takes natural growth and turns it into its own ground. It takes the richness, and claims it, turning it into my wealth (… “See how clever I am.”).

Selfish magnetising
One attempts to attract in order to feed one’s ego with what is desirable, based on the possessive emotions (…“I enjoy praying for others.” ).

Selfish destroying
Instead of destroying what needs to be destroyed – ego’s manipulations – we dismiss everything. Trungpa Rinpoche wrote, “It begins to get inspired in the wrong way, and uproots the whole tree…and that is the karmic quality of destruction gone wild, unnecessarily” (… “You are talking total rubbish!”).