We are lucky. (small guru devotion story)

[stevet]

I was downstairs (at my parents') earlier, and saw an open letter on the counter from their Protestant church (formerly my church), so out of curiosity I started reading it.  It was some sort of long apology letter written by a minister, concerning something that he wrote in the church's "magazine."  I was looking at the wording in it and at how, though it seemed sincere, there was no real remedial action behind the apology or open humility, there was a little excuse-making and pity and so forth.  Those were just small observations I made, I didn't know the situation.

My mother walked by and saw me reading it, and she said "that minister is horrible, we stopped going to that church because of him."  I asked for how long was he minister, and she said "3 years."  I remember back when I was forced to go to that church there was a minister there who was fairly old who was there for a long time, I associated it with being "his church" he was there so long.  Actually, he was voted out of the church (for a few reasons, but one was that he's "boring"), and as a result this new minister came in.  So then, after this new one came in, people are dissatisfied with the new one and there's resulting friction and people leave, and therefore it interferes directly with spiritual practice.  So we are dissatisfied with the old one, dissatisfied with the new one, where does the dissatisfaction end, without studying our minds?

So after learning about this, I only had one thought:  guru devotion.  I was basically thinking, how lucky we are to have lamas who study years and years (7-20 years usually), with bodhicitta and skillful means, and how we can rely on them in such a way to have our own guru devotion, and that once guru devotion takes place we don't want to "push them out" or "get a new one" but that we visualize them as enlightened beings.  We realize that they're Buddhas manifesting in a way that, at our human level, where they can reach us and benefit us most, and as a result on the outside they don't seem perfect, but really that is just our perception and our level.

From what I gather, Protestant ministers only need 4 years of training, not to insult them or the religion in any way.  But since our teachers are strenuously qualified and knowledgeable, with right motivation, we can place our trust completely into them, and not let our delusions of "this isn't good enough" get in the way where we always try to look for "the perfect spiritual teacher" based on our OWN PERSONAL definitions.  Never being satisfied with what we have, as human beings in samaras, this would result in endless searching, with lamas being replaced every 3 years in the same fashion.  Spiritual growth would be extremely slow, or maybe even cut off.

So, this is definitely not a "my religion is better than yours" sort of thing, but it's rejoicing.  There are many things we (or maybe just I) forget about with Buddhism, or our practice or lineage, we fault-find or create doubts and linger on them, but don't see how it associates with the big picture.  The "religion topic" here relates to method, and if other religions happened to use this method then spiritual growth would increase, and therefore we are lucky to have legitimate lineages and lamas worthy of guru devotion, and the method behind guru devotion and all the precise steps and paths set out for us.  Small things like the four opponent powers, attachment or aversion, studying the nature of dissatisfaction, humility -- it is so hard to find these anywhere else!

Thanks,
Steve

[wmw111]

Nice sharing Steve : )

[Crazywisdom]

 

[greasypalm]

Something totally different but once I came across a group of religious people (non-buddhist) in a  restaurant.  They were making so much noise and I noticed one of their 'holy scriptres' being placed on the restaurant floor under someone's chair.  To me any books let alone holy scriptures merit respect. I don't step on it, walk over it etc... So I turned to the person sitting on the chair directly over the 'holy scripture' and gently mentioned to her that there is a book underneath her chair.  The response was "oh it belongs to the priest'.  So I reminded her that it is their 'holy book' and regardless to whom the book belongs, it should not be sitting on the floor underneath the chair.  Only then did she pick it up and very sheepishly put it in a safe place.   

The first thing I was taught when I came into Buddhism - is to respect my dharma books. Do not put them on the floor or place objects on it and Never read them in the toilet.   These small things are so important in our spiritual development.  If we can't get this right, how can we get to do bigger things correctly?

[spiritnoname]

 There's not much point in giving genuine spiritual advice to people who practice for social reasons, they don't know the difference between practicing and looking like you're practicing, so to them any instructions are just pointless rules that you have to follow to stay in the club. Better to avoid these kind of people I think.

 OMG lol, my sister just asked if she could have my shrine because she really needs a place to put her books!

[wmw111]

I think  there is a point in trying , coz even you get no results from them, you made an impact on yourself .

Thats what Rinpoche always tells us : ) , it helps to make us not give up so easily in whatever we set out to do.

[spiritnoname]

 Hmm maybe,...

 Often when I talk to people who aren't practicing right I get depressed because I see so little that is worth while from their efforts, makes me question if I'm wasting my time practicing. Or I get angry at them. Recently though I've had a good friend put a cap on that though. Looking at my anger right now, it's kinda ridiculous,.. getting angry at qualities in others that, while maybe less, are in me as well.

[Joey]

if when the Buddha, a very highly accomplished being was here, there were some people who could not accept Him or the Dharma, is there any need to say about us? It just tells us that we lack practice whenever we "fail" to convince someone. Because people learn from examples, behavioral patterns and body languages etc. They dont learn from words or speech alone.