Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 31-minute teaching, Lama Ribur Rinpoche explores the transformative benefits of proper guru devotion, drawing on classical Buddhist logic and exemplary stories. He establishes that offering to one’s teacher generates far greater merit than offerings to all the Buddhas combined, since the guru embodies Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The teaching walks through seven key advantages: merit accumulation and knowledge acquisition; Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ rejoicing; freedom from hindrances through vast merit; natural decrease of mental delusion through proximity to the teacher; increase of virtuous qualities, exemplified by Atisha’s reliance on his teacher; future protection by meeting perfect teachers; and closure of the door to lower realms through devotion that purifies negative karma. Lama Ribur uses the classic example of Marpa and Milarepa, showing how harsh treatment motivated by compassion and skillful means, accepted through single-pointed devotion, led to purification of vast negative karma and enlightenment in one lifetime. Pitched at serious practitioners seeking doctrinal understanding of guru devotion.
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File: 05 GD.mp3
UUID: 29a29681-8d31-4451-a2bd-2a3b2554b809
Teacher: Lama Ribur Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Devotion (Lama Ribur Rinpoche)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 31.0 minutes
Words: ~2,151
That is not even comparable to it’s not it’s so it’s so great. The accumulation of merit is so great that is that is much greater than making offering to all the Buddhas of the three times. So the making offering of a single hair of your teacher becomes even more meritorious than making offering to all the Buddhas of the three times. This because as I said, the Buddha is the embodiment, sorry, the Lama is the embodiment of all the object refuge of Buddha, Dham and Sangha. And what I mean for like just a single hair, I mean like all whatever just relics you see.
Not that you should take a hair from the lamas and then from the lamas body then you should use an object of refuge. But I mean the relics of the Lama like the robes or after his cremation whatever is left there, are the relics and they are like unbelievable precious for as an object of refuge and offering, even more precious than all the Buddhas. So for example because of this, Atisha used to have a very precious stupa with himself and he was like carrying this stupa wherever he was going and inside that stupa was nothing more than the relics of Lama Serlingpa. The stupa was like filled with the relics of Lama Serlingpa. And he was he was keeping this stupa as the main object of refuge, prostration, confession and so forth.
Like if it was the most precious things he ever had, even more precious than all the Buddhas of the three times. And what he was doing is that Atisha was really very careful with all his vows and in his vows and regarding his practice. So what he was doing is that as soon as he was aware that he was breaking a vow or he was degenerating some vows, was stopping wherever he was and setting up an offering for this stupa. He was offering confession and prostration and offer himself to that to the stupa in order to purify and to accumulate merit. So because of this, the lama is, because of these double reasons, the lama is the, is the root of all your achievement.
Is the root of the achievement because it’s like, explaining to you the path from the beginning to the end and in the way as he explained it you can put it into practice and reaching like that the complete freedom. And on the other hand, the lama itself is the main object of refuge, is the main object of, of offering, because of being the embodiment of all the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So the second benefit is that if you relate in a proper way to your spiritual guide, then all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas of the three times, will rejoice. And this is because what makes what makes the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas to rejoice is the ordinary beings accumulating merit. So there’s no other like, there’s no best way of accumulating merit for an ordinary being above and then relating in the correct way towards your spiritual guide.
So because as I explained before because I as as I explained before, the lama is the is the main object of is the main of the main object of offering as well as the main object of accumulation of merit. So there’s no actually you see, if you if you relate yourself in a correct way towards your guru and you make offering to him, then this has, like, double advantages. It has the advantages of accumulating merit and it has the advantage of acquiring knowledge. Whereas if you make offering to all the Buddhas without having guru devotion, then there’s no accumulation of merit. The merit is not is not going to be accumulated.
So, so then, it’s very important that whatever practice you do is is based on the proper relation to your guru, because because guru being the, double accumulation of merit and the acquiring of knowledge. The third advantage is is that through a correct devotion to your guru, you’re going to accumulate such a massive a massive accumulation of merit that in you’re going to just naturally you’re going to turn into virtues. And because of this vast accumulation of merit, you’re not you’re not going to face any hindrances by, human and not human. So the third advantage is is that, based on the, like, the correct guru devotion makes yourself to be free from hindrances by human and not human because of this great accumulation of merit. The fourth the fourth benefit is that relating in a proper way to your guru makes your mental delusion to decrease, to naturally to have a natural decrease.
And this is this is actually you can see by your own eyes. There is a lot of difference between for example a monk or a student who stays all the time with his with his teacher and the monk or a student was spending his his time very far away. The difference is that the monk or the student who stays closer to the guru is much more subdued and controlled, where whereas the other student has a lot of mental delusion or rather his mental delusions are like more free to be generated in the mind. So if you ask yourself which is the reason, it might be that actually the reason is because the monk who is closer to the lama was living always with the lama is more careful.
It must be that because he’s scared, he’s afraid of the lama then it does not allow the mental delusions to arise. It might be this, it might be that he’s afraid, but however, however it is, the reality is that the one that is closer is much more controlled and subdued than the other that is always by himself, by by his own. So so the reason the reason is because the monk or the student who is closer to the guru is more keen to to control his mental delusion and to pacify his own mind. And so this is like the fourth advantages of being having a good relation with your guru, with your lama that makes your mental delusion to decrease. The fifth, I think, fifth advantage is is that relating in a proper way with your teacher makes your virtuous mind or the quality of yourself to increase and to have a natural increase.
And and this is explained through a lot of stories of biography of the high lama of the past. Atisha used to say that holy qualities from the very from the smallest one to the greatest, whatever whichever knowledge you acquire and whatever attainment or siddhi or power Atisha achieved, they are only due to the kindness of his teacher. So the only reason why, the only cause that make made Atisha to, be at like, at the top range of all this, of the practitioner is it was his lama. It was his, correct devotion to his teacher. And and as well as all the other all the other practitioner, if you read all the biography, what was the thing that made them to achieve such a high such a high state of realization, what made them to realize such a deep truth of reality.
This was only due the main reason is because they relate in a proper way towards their spiritual guide. The sixth the sixth advantage is that if you relate in a proper way towards your spiritual guide, then as a result of this in the future you’re going to you’re going to not be abandoned by your teacher. You’re always going to be taken care of by your teacher, and and they are going to, like, you are always going to meet a perfect teacher in all your life. And this is because as Geshe Potowa wrote, it’s much better not to receive a lot of teachings from a guru that you haven’t checked, that you haven’t checked. So because after after you accept a teacher as a as your guru, then you should, like, devote yourself in thought, in action in a complete in a complete way.
So it’s much better to check before devoting yourself or be before taking a guru taking a teacher as your guru. And why? Because the reason of, like, the effects, right, the result of relating or having proper relation with your guru after you have accepted him as your guru is that in the future you’re going to be taken care again and again by this this teacher and you’re going to meet a lot of proper and teacher that are going to lead you in the path. Otherwise, if you’re not if you’re not and once you have accept the teacher as your guru, if you break that relationship, then this is the then this is the cause for, like, to be abandoned by your by the teacher in the in the in the future. The seventh benefit benefit is that the door of the lower realm is going to be closed.
This means that if you relate in a proper way towards your guru or your teacher, then the, obscuration and the negative cause which may which may bring you to the to take rebirth in one of the lower realm and are going to be completely purified. And, they’re saying that they’re saying that, when you receive a scolding from your lama, that is like, is like a purification of negative karma. And look at, for example, in the story of Marpa and Milarepa, how much how much hardship did Milarepa had to take or to do, and how much work Marpa was was ordering Milarepa to do and not in not like in a very kind way. Marpa was was, like, shouting to Milarepa and beating him up and and was and actually was having a lot of like, he he he played a lot of trick to him. Like, he made him to build first, like, a round tower, and then he made it to destroy it. And then he asked him to make, like, semi, like, semi sorry?
Semicircle. Right. Semicircle tower, and he let he asked him to destroy it. And then a triangular shape one, and he had to destroy it. And then at the end, it led him to build the square sized tower, which is still in Tibet.
And and this is only for not because not not because of Marpa amusement, but he wanted to he want Milarepa to clean away all the obscuration, all the negative karma which he had accumulated in the past lives. And what and so due to Marpa loving compassion and skillful means, Milarepa, and due to the devotion that Milarepa had, like Milarepa was not in would not I mean, it’s not easy to to do as Milarepa. Milarepa was like single-pointedly devoted to Marpa. So whatever, Marpa was doing to him, he was just accepting that as part of the path. And if he was able and, you see, based on that guru devotion, Milarepa was able to, purify all that massive accumulation of negative karma to accumulate so much merit that he was not only from not being reborn in one of the hell realms, but he was able to reach the enlightenment state just in one life.
And this is only due to his this is only due to his perfect guru devotion at the beginning towards Marpa. And and then sorry. I forgot. Then there is a quotation from saying, the, the proper way how to admire or to think about your guru is that, when is when is called when you receive scolding from from the lama, this is this is like purification of karma. When you receive a beating from your lama, this is an initiation.
When you receive, and when the the lama is like yelling to you, it’s like, yelling to you, that is like a lung, a mantra transmission. So, that is Rinpoche says, it is it’s not very easy to do that. It’s quite difficult, but at least it’s good to hear that. It’s good that you hear you hear what is the proper way out to relate to your guru. So whatever the if you after you have accept teachers, your guru, and you think about your guru as being, perfect teacher for you, then, like, however is manifesting to you, like, whichever way is manifesting to you, like, either is peaceful or is a very a rougher one.
So if is if he’s beating you up or if he’s scolding you, then, not only is going to purify a huge amount of negative negative karma, but