Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Lama Ribur Rinpoche presents the foundational role of guru devotion in Tibetan Buddhist practice, framed as the prerequisite for all advancement on the path to Buddhahood. Drawing on the Lamrim tradition, he establishes why a correct relationship with a qualified teacher is essential: it provides the instruction and example necessary to move from ordinary existence to complete liberation, as illustrated in the lives of Marpa and Milarepa. He outlines the first of eight principal benefits—that devotion to a proper guru leads directly to Buddhahood through study and practice of the gradual path and tantric stages. He anchors this teaching in the lived examples of the great Buddhist masters, notably Atisha and his disciples Jangchub Rinchen, whose unbroken service and single-pointed devotion generated profound realizations and siddhis far beyond what meditation alone produced. He closes by naming the eight benefits and encourages listeners to meditate on these points and apply them gradually to their own practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 GD 1994 04 15.mp3
UUID: 58326b19-48ea-403c-a7fd-23d1b32d1089
Teacher: Lama Ribur Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Devotion (Lama Ribur Rinpoche)
Date: 1994-04-15
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 28.6 minutes
Words: ~1,880
So whatever you heard in all these six years, then I’m going to put all these subjects together in a a gradual way so you can be you will be able to meditate and to have experience of all this hearing. So so right now, if you actually if you want to meditate, it’s fine. If you want to if you really want to meditate from now on, it’s okay. I will tell you whatever all the subjects are. And so if you want to because all these teachings you have already heard, so the only thing you have to do now is to put all this into practice.
So from now on, if you want to meditate, it’s fine. Now I have obtained the precious human rebirth, which gives me the opportunity to practice Dharma in this life and for the benefit of all future lives. And there’s no way how can I practice Dharma without being based on the guru devotion? So I must think about how to relate in the proper way towards the towards the guru or the lama. In the same way as I in the same way as I need an example in order to master all the work or the activities in this life, In the same way, I need a proper guru that gives me the right example in order to reach the freedom or the total or the complete Buddhahood.
Just like just like the works or the jobs that you can do in this life, whatever job it is, you need an example, you need the model, you need somebody that shows you how to do that, Otherwise, you won’t be able to do. So the same way, if if this ordinary job has to be, preceded by a learning, a learning period, having an example having an example. So in the same way, the Buddhahood and the perfect liberation should be preceded by the training with the perfect example, which is the guru. And have you met having met what is a perfect guru or a guru having all the requirement or the characteristic in order to be a perfect teacher, so we should understand which are the benefit in in having a correct relation towards it or with this guru. And having understood which are the benefits of what of this correct relationship, we should we should stick we we should stick to a perfect to a perfect behavior, to a perfect morality in order to in order to take all the maximum advantages from this from this teacher himself.
So which The first benefit is having based on the in a perfect relationship with the proper guru, we can obtain or we can achieve the Buddhahood. And why is it like that? Because if you relate to a proper guru in the in the correct way, you are going to receive the instruction which leads you from the ordinary state to the complete Buddhahood through the practice of the gradual path and through the practice of the two main tantric stages. So if you if you obtain if you obtain if you achieve all these instruction and you practice in the same way as has been taught to you, there’s no doubt that you’re going to realize all those attainments, all these achievement. And in the same way like Marpa instructed Milarepa, and Milarepa was able to achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime.
And so the same way you can actually do, because the the base on which Milarepa was working on, that is the precious human rebirth, is the same like like yours. There’s no actually even one hair of difference between you and Milarepa according to the base that is the human life. So if you relate yourself in the correct way towards a proper a proper guru, having all the characteristics, so through his teachings and practicing in the same way like you like he teach you, there’s no doubt that you’re going to achieve the the freedom and the perfect Buddhahood. Through the through the perfect relation with the with the correct with the correct teacher, you can you can achieve what what they are called the three or you can generate, you can realize the three principle of the path, and you can realize renunciation, bodhicitta, and the the perfect view based on practicing or yeah. Based on practicing the teaching that have been given by your by your guru.
And up to the up to the path of accumulation and up to the path of accumulation, you have to you have to base your your practice on what your teacher what your teacher teach you. There’s no actually just a single moment when you can sort of abandon the practice of guru devotion, just you can’t you can’t abandon the guru devotion practice till you are complete till you are complete Buddhahood. And if you are able in your in your during your path, if you’re able in your path to perform what is to be practiced and to abandon what is to be avoid or abandoned, this is only due to the kindness of your teacher. This is due only to the teaching or instruction that was being given to you. So the way how to achieve buddhahood is through practicing or taking experience of the teaching that has been given you by a perfect guru.
There’s no doubt. There’s no absolutely no doubt that if you practice in accordance with the instruction you have received from by your perfect guru, there’s no even doubt that you’re going to achieve the Buddhahood. So because of that, because there’s so much value, there’s so much so much precious to have a perfect relationship with your your guru. So because of this, you should strive in order to obtain it, in order to generate the perfect devotion towards your teacher. So in order to understand if this is true or not, you should you should read all those biography of of the great saints of the past.
How did they achieve all their achievement? How did they achieve the complete Buddhahood? They achieved through perfect devotion to their teacher, to their guru, and practicing in accordance in practicing in accordance to their to the instruction they have received. So like reading all those biography biography, you understand how important is to relate with a perfect and correct in a correct manner to a perfect guru. In order to understand how the So in order to understand how important is to have a correct relation with the teacher, there are many many many stories.
For example, one is regarding Atisha. Atisha had in his when he was quite old and he was very close to death, he had two main disciples. One one was Jangchub Rinchen, and the other one, it was called. And both of them were servant of, like, all day long a servant of Atisha. So what happened is that Atisha, instead of like, it was not because of his it was impossible for him to go to the toilet to defecate, but it was in order to for these two servants, for these two disciples to accumulate merit, what he was doing, he was like leaving how do you say?
Was leaving, like, part of his feces around feces? Around the around the room. So, in order to with a with really, like, single pointed devotion, he was collecting all this and taking outside with the and holding holding it above his crown. And due to his single pointed devotion, when he once when he get he got outside of the house and he was going to to put the the the guru’s feces on the on the earth. He had he acquired what is called the the third eye, a type of clairvoyance, which is able to see to see objects and and phenomena very far in a very far distance.
So the cause, the main cause for him to achieve that clairvoyance was not meditation. He didn’t get this this siddhi or this power through meditation, but he he he acquired that through the merit that he collected with that with those action based on a very pure and single pointed devotion. Again, Atisha had this servant, who was continuously helping him out, serving from early in the day up to late at night. And it was cooking and collecting the food and water and so forth. It’s it’s not actually being the attendant of a lama is not like easy.
It was not easy like it is now where you just cook wherever you want and there is stuff and so forth. It was very difficult at that time. So he didn’t have a single instant of free time where he can apply some meditation, where he can devote his time to meditation. He didn’t have a single instant of free time. So there was another at that time, there was another disciple of Atisha who used to spend his whole time up in the mountain meditating.
So sometimes when these two were coming together, so the meditator and Lama Jangchub Rinche, there was not one single moment when the meditator was able to be as highly realized as Lama Jangchub Rinchen. Lama Jangchub Rinchen was always this cook, this servant, was always very, like, much more highly realized than the meditator. And the reason it was not because he was secretly meditating or something during night, but just because of his devotion, just because of his action, of his perfect attending or serving his lama. So through this through this this like, going on on those biography, reading those biography, you should understand which great value is in being having a great relation with the with the guru. So this was the first this was the first of the eight, among all the eight great benefit of having a correct relation with your guru.
So, like, applying the same techniques, applying the same analysis that we have done now, you should meditate on all the other eight. The Lamrim actually mentions all eight, but so I’m going to I’m trying to leave it there, but because you have received the Lamrim, you know. So the first one is you are easily reaching Buddhahood, and then the second is that you are protected by human and non-human harms, and that your quality are going to increase, and then the fourth one is that your faults are going to decrease, and the fifth one is that lower realm door is closed. And then the sixth one is that you’re going to meet another perfect lama in the future. And the seventh the seventh and the eighth.
Is repeating what I’ve said, but so there are still two. I don’t remember which are these two. Is there any good question here? So we stop here. What time is tomorrow?
So tomorrow will be from eleven from eleven to twelve thirty, and in the afternoon from two to three thirty PM. And what I’ve said today would be very good if you can, like, if you can meditate about, so you can put a little bit in practice.