“My Guru” … Really?

We talk about giving up attachment, but then we say, “My Guru.”
Why?

The purpose of a human and scriptural guru is to teach us to recognise our inner guru of karmic reactions that shows us our neuroses. These reactions reveal how we relate to the symbolic guru of everyday phenomena that is created by our past. We either continue within a vicious cycle of existence, or we cut through it. That is how we actually learn – through raw experience – to see our habitual behaviour.

Realisation does not come from a person or a book. It is in recognition of the arising of appearances in the mind, which reveals our attachments that actually disturb us. We evolve through these realisations – we are not here to collect gurus. 😀

In Tibetan Buddhism (to which I am eternally grateful), Gurus are known as ‘Rinpoches’, which means ‘precious jewel’. Tai Situpa, when knocking at a door, jokingly introduced himself as, “It’s his expensiveness here.” 😀

Genuine teachers are important as they are the conduit of wisdom, but we will only know this when we reach a certain stage. Becoming attached to specific ideas, even though they may be truthful, is not the same as personal realisation. Gradually, whatever we thought we understood changes, and words become more meaningful … or less meaningful.

What is meaningful to one person may sound banal to another.
What is banal to one person may sound meaningful to another.