Are you ready to receive direct training from a Qualified Guru?

[Damian.D]

Does anyone out have any examples of how the Guru makes the mind pliable? Perhaps can share the types of experiences you have if any so we know what it really means to completely surrender ourselves to the Guru.

Chances are its a balancing act for the Guru to see how much the student can take without making them run. I picked up a comic book on a Mahasiddha called "Milarepa" the other day, chanced upon it and read it while waiting for my wife in the hair salon. The Guru put him through soo much trials, physical and mental to test his sincerity and committment.

We live in a different age than Milarepa, so what methods or trials does the Guru resort to in this day and age.

[Positive Change]

Does anyone out have any examples of how the Guru makes the mind pliable? Perhaps can share the types of experiences you have if any so we know what it really means to completely surrender ourselves to the Guru.

Chances are its a balancing act for the Guru to see how much the student can take without making them run. I picked up a comic book on a Mahasiddha called "Milarepa" the other day, chanced upon it and read it while waiting for my wife in the hair salon. The Guru put him through soo much trials, physical and mental to test his sincerity and committment.

We live in a different age than Milarepa, so what methods or trials does the Guru resort to in this day and age.

A very interesting question indeed... one that provokes thought. For me personally, whatever that makes us "uncomfortable" and out of our comfort zones like an "out of body experience" would be the results of a Guru's methods in destroying our egos and thus making our minds "pliable".

We are and have been so conditioned from this and previous lifetimes that we may not even realise the methods that our Guru are using. In fact, we are very quick to jump back right into our so called comfort zones and "run" because we find it hard to deal with.

When our Guru points out something straight to our face, it is always from care and compassion. It is our ego that translates it into "hurt" and "fear". If we truly consider our Guru as our Spiritual Teacher, we have to accept that the methods used are in our best interest and benefit.

[Reena Searl]

How rare and fortunate to have a qualified guru in this life time!
In order to be ready to receive direct training,  not only need enough merits, individual has to be ready and face up the truth (especially my inner demon and fear )
Under the direct training of a qualified guru, if  I can achieve tremendous mind transformation and quick shift in comparison to before i met my guru, then this  would be the best offering to my guru.

[dsiluvu]

If you say you are NOT READY, then when will you ever be ready???

The very reasons and motivation you started can change and will change if one really wants to practice Dharma. Otherwise you will always be not ready. And if one chooses to be not ready, then why even bother to take refuge with the Guru in the first place?

Once you have taken refuge, one should already have the mind set to be prepared for training, for transformation...

[Positive Change]

If you say you are NOT READY, then when will you ever be ready???

The very reasons and motivation you started can change and will change if one really wants to practice Dharma. Otherwise you will always be not ready. And if one chooses to be not ready, then why even bother to take refuge with the Guru in the first place?

Once you have taken refuge, one should already have the mind set to be prepared for training, for transformation...

I like what you have said here dsiluvu... it is very true... when are we ever ready if we keep telling ourselves that we are not. Such is the condition of delusion that is so apparent in many of us. We are so "clever" to find reasons or convincing arguments as to why we are not ready but the fact remains, if we have yet to find a Guru or have even found one, WE HAVE TO BE READY. The only difference between the two is the latter is more fortunate than the former in having the merits to meet his or her Guru.

[hope rainbow]

I read somewhere (I can't remember where...) that purification is like taking a shower after years and years of being in the mud, filth and dirt without ever washing. When we start the process of showering, it seems as if we are getting more dirty, the dirt is everywhere, but we know we must continue in order to wash it out completely.
But when we purify or engage in actions as advised by our guru, maybe it seems as if our problems get bigger, more acute, more painful... and we think o-ooohhh that's not good I better stop this now... But there is no difference with the shower story, one must continue in order to purify.

[Positive Change]

I read somewhere (I can't remember where...) that purification is like taking a shower after years and years of being in the mud, filth and dirt without ever washing. When we start the process of showering, it seems as if we are getting more dirty, the dirt is everywhere, but we know we must continue in order to wash it out completely.
But when we purify or engage in actions as advised by our guru, maybe it seems as if our problems get bigger, more acute, more painful... and we think o-ooohhh that's not good I better stop this now... But there is no difference with the shower story, one must continue in order to purify.

This is an interesting analogy... I must remember this. Thank you Hope Rainbow... I find this analogy very apt as if one is so dirty from all the accumulated filth, it takes a while to get clean. And the soap or brush or gloves we use will also get dirty and may also needed to be replaced. And that is just the larger surface areas... imagine the areas where we cannot reach, or under the nails, ears, nose, etc... Keep that shower running I say... and we better hope we paid the water bills!!!!

[kris]

We all have imprints from our past lives. The job of a guru is to keep pouring water onto the seeds so that the good imprints can grow. For example, if we made aspiration to benefit others in our previous life, guru will nurture it and let it grow.

I guess we all are never ready for something big. We just have to just jump in and do it.

[dorjedakini]

Yes Kris, we will never be ready. Many of my friends said they are not ready for spiritual practice, it is just an excuse. They do not understand the value of Dharma and Spiritual practice. We will not simply throw pure gold bar away as we know the value of gold in this world.

When we say we are not ready, one reason is because we are lazy, another reason is that we do not want to lose face due to our high ego which (our Guru will try many ways to lessen it). Understand how rare and fortunate to have met a Guru and receive his or her direct training, we will not give up easily.

We can read up all the Dharma book and chant all day, but without a guidance of Guru, we will not know never know how much we have to learn and how to remove our ego as by nature we do not like to inconvenient and push ourselves.

[Aurore]

We may think we are ready but we may not be or we may think we are not ready but we are. I dont think we will know for sure!

I think the best person who will know is the guru himself. Whether we are ready or not, the guru will know. Understanding the guru's role well, trust in the guru and take the guru instructions well is the only way I define being ready. Sometimes, you may be getting training from the guru without you even knowing.

On the other hand, even if one is ready, do everyone have that opportunity to be trained directly by the guru? I guess not. Does anyone know how do one create causes for that to manifest?

[thor]

We may think we are ready but we may not be or we may think we are not ready but we are. I dont think we will know for sure!

I think the best person who will know is the guru himself. Whether we are ready or not, the guru will know. Understanding the guru's role well, trust in the guru and take the guru instructions well is the only way I define being ready. Sometimes, you may be getting training from the guru without you even knowing.

On the other hand, even if one is ready, do everyone have that opportunity to be trained directly by the guru? I guess not. Does anyone know how do one create causes for that to manifest?

There are a few things you can do to create causes to be close to a teacher. Make strong prayers to be born close to a guru in future lives. Keep your samaya clean with your current guru, if you have one. If you do not have one, do whatever you can to follow the Buddhist path as if you already had a Guru. And search for a Guru close to you to follow, or even online.

[iloveds]

We all have imprints from our past lives. The job of a guru is to keep pouring water onto the seeds so that the good imprints can grow. For example, if we made aspiration to benefit others in our previous life, guru will nurture it and let it grow.

I guess we all are never ready for something big. We just have to just jump in and do it.

Let it grow, let it grow brother. Once those seed open there's no going back.

Alas in samsara its quite unfortunate that there are soo many without a Guru that there is no chance for the seeds to open in this life. My Guru has said before, if good seeds can open so too can bad seeds.

The good seeds will propel us towards good actions and the cultivation of more good seeds to open. Where as the bad seeds will cause us to open more and more bad seeds and negative outcomes.

Hence as buddhist we should at all times help plant seeds for the future, maybe not this lifetime but eventually the seeds will come across the opportune moment to open.

Here's to happy planting.

[WoselTenzin]

I think it's not a question of whether we are ready to receive direct training from a qualified Guru but rather whether we want to be subject to the training to become a better person and gain attainments and whether we have faith in our Guru.  If we have a strong desire to become a better person and gain attainments and we have faith in our Guru and have complete trust that whatever our Guru does is for our benefit, then we would willingly submit ourselves to any type of training from our Guru.

[Klein]

Being ready is a choice we make. If we decide that we will do whatever it takes to learn from the qualified guru, then we make a choice to BE ready. It is a state of mind that is not dependant on the situation we're in.