Guru Infatuation

[pummy369]

Sigh!!!!! Here I go again - emabarrassing and revealing myself with my lack of understanding.

I am watching now "Words of my perfect teacher" and when I look into the eyes of that Rinpoche (I will only mispell his name if I write it now) I go all ga-ga.  This same thing happens when I look at Tsem Tulku and also Sogyal Rinpoche.  I seem to have no resistance here.  It makes me wonder that if it is so easy to become attracted to all of these great masters and teachers, how does one decide who their guru will be?  For a moment I think to myself "I want to meet this teacher so badly" and I worry about being so fickle in this way.  The next moment I think of my own Lama and he gets me right in my heart and I know that this is the one that I want to be my teacher. 

Still, it's a strange phenomena isn't it?  Is it a bad indication that I am drawn to so many? I just can feel my heart get bigger when I look at them, or listen to their voices.  Hmmm......

[spiritnoname]

 You might just be recognizing the same pleasing aspects among various teachers. In that way they're the same, so you don't really need to visit all of them I think.

[Joey]

They're no diffrent inside, but what is important is whether or not that particular Lama is near  or far from you.

[dabeisyin]

I know, I listened to the Setrap teachings on mp3 before I went to sleep last night and I am totally ready to move to Malaysia now.
Three people that bothered me moved out of my dorm this morning too. 
I know I have deep affinities with Amitabha, but I am really not that informed.  I think i should move to Malaysia and be around people who have a clue.
But I don't know if I could live overseas because I am such an American girl and I have a loud mouth.  LOL.
Last night when i was listening to Rinpoche talk about how when Iron birds fly... then the dharma will come to the land of the red man... it is true because my great grandmother was native american. 
She died when I was five, it is kind of a long story.
Today I helped one of my roommates fix her computer and I feel like she is just so sweet.  Like really compassionate.  I actually feel like she is a better person than me.
So it was really good that I helped her. 

[Ninje]

Oh my goodness...  Young lady smallpiggygirl2dabeisyin...

Why you just delete you post in a thread like that? Haha... now my answers to your deleted post seems so irrelevant to this thread and kind of silly.

Anyway, I thought your earlier post is not offending to anyone and may be useful to some other readers too especially younger people like you...

For others' benefits, smallpiggygirl's question was related to a neighbor that seems to hate her and everytime she is near her neighbor, she felt terrified. So, my answer to her was:

" Please chant Om Mani Peme Hum in your heart when you're near her and always put her image in front of you in your visualisation during meditation or prayer. I believe after some time she will change her attitude towards you.

She maybe suffering from some kind of problems or mentally distress. Just have compassion for her will you?

  "

[dabeisyin]

i had an AE.  Please forgive me.

[Kalki]

Back on to topic, Joey is right on here. The Guru is a reflection of your own True Self. There are many emanations of various mindstreams out there, and you will have an affinity to a Guru with a similar affinity. This person is the one who knows your mind and its "poisons" and what the most appropriate remedy might be. In example, one of my old teachers used to say that he attracted students who were angry, as he also had anger issues. True spirituality is attractive, and finding oneself enamored of many Teachers is not uncommon. When the time is appropriate, the Guru appears and is accessible/close, not unaccessible/far.....

[pummy369]

Kalki - I love your post.  I can't imagine my Lama (well I call him my Lama but I'm sure he doesn't call me his student but anyway...) having had any of the poisons that I have.  He does have this humility and compassion that draws me in like a magnet - maybe that's something that I really aspire to more than anything.  Especially humility - in someone like him it blows my mind every time.  The way he seeks you out and beckons you to come closer or goes out of his way to shake your hand or just talk to you.   He seems sometimes like it is his honour to be around you and not the other way around.   Humility is definately something that I need more of (by the truck load) so maybe that's part of what is attracting me.  The way he behaves humbles me.  He is a shining example of humility to me whenever I think of him and let me not start on the compassion.

You and Joey both made a point about the Guru appearing who is also accessible/close.  This worries me somewhat because he isn't close.  He lives in Europe and also India and I, Australia.  Maybe I will be lucky to see him once a year and I think about him everyday.  This isn't the perfect situation for my progress I know but that connection is there.  Not sure what it all means really.  I guess I'll keep meditating and praying.  I feel like my karma must be good to have met him like this but not so good that I can be guided by him as I would wish to be.  Is that just being greedy or ungrateful? ...or practical.

[sarit]

A guru is a mirror.

[spiritnoname]

A guru is the result of a lot of good actions

[pummy369]

I don't know if my karma will be good enough in this life to be close to a Guru - you know, to have the benefit of his regular guidance and blessings.  I can want it and pray for it and do my purifications but other than that, I feel like to it is not in my hands because like you say SNN, it's the result of past karma.    Actually, it's quite scary to want something so much isn't it?  It makes me feel vulnerable and start questioning if I am really over-estimating my good karma.   Who am I to deserve this?  I'm a good person who has done bad things and is trying to strip back so that the good person is all that there is.  But we all good people when you strip it back anyway.  So I'm still stuck at why it is that I think I deserve to be close to the Guru in this life and I can't think of any good reason or answer.  I can think of so many people who deserve to be in that pure presense so much more than me.  So, I'm trying to think of other lives and do things that will bring me to the Guru then and work towards that and be happy with that.  It's quite a jump and still doesn't stop the wanting in this life.  To think of the Guru makes me feel very happy but my heart is raw and exposed at the same time.

If the Guru is a mirror, well that right there is scary stuff.

[sarit]

Subconscious precedes knowledge and projects. The Guru reflects this projection as our own reality. We may be trapped in this as Narcissus. Our kind Guru with the wisdom of Dharma shows us our true face. It is terrifying. At this moment, the realization of the first noble truth is understood. Henceforth, the Guru participates with the student to transform as he know's this is not our true nature.

[dabeisyin]

if a guru is a mirror then i am fabulous, sweet, compassionate, bratty and cute. my self esteem has just increased by leaps and bounds.  thank you.
i think you mean a mirror for our true self, the internal guru...
like is that what you mean?

[bobreamer]

what you see is what you are. a illusion.

[spiritnoname]

 I think the cause for having a guru is to have the commitments of a guru. I'm not saying teach, but definitely try to develop the same qualities and help people as you can, and when you are capable of teaching go out of your way to teach the beings you can.

 Also there are obstacles to having a guru, and basically those are obstacles to someone being able to teach you. So if you're a jerk, if you don't make time, if you don't take the Dharma seriously, if you harm beings, etc etc. even if there is a perfect teacher in front of you there might even be no benefit from your being around them, and you can potentially mess up your future  if you screw up around a teacher.

 These are just my thoughts.