Serving the Guru: Making Offerings and Adjusting Our Attitude
31 March 2025
The Importance of the Guru
His Holiness began by explaining that we should complete the teachings on the Fifty Verses (Skt: Gurupañcāśikā) this year and begin with a new topic such as the Ocean of Samaya (Tib. དམ་ཚིག་རྒྱ་མཚོ་མཐའ་ཡས་པ།) next year. He then continued by emphasizing that the importance of following a spiritual friend or a guru is not just limited to the dharma. Even in worldly contexts, teachers and professors hold great importance. Within the Secret Mantra of Vajrayana, relying on a guru is of particular importance.
He then continued with the main points of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje's text Prāṇa and Mind Indivisible (Tib. རླུང་སེམས་གཉིས་མེད།) which explains why following the guru is important.
In the vehicle of the śrāvakas, some students achieved results even though their teacher did not. For example, before Ananda achieved the state of arhat, one of the students whom he taught achieved the level of an arhat. Likewise, the pratyekabuddhas in their last existence can achieve the result without following a guru. Karmapa explained:
This does not mean they do not need to follow a guru at all, but rather that in previous lifetimes they followed a guru; in their final lifetime, they do not need to. They go to charnel grounds and other such places, examine how death occurs, and meditate upon the twelve links of interdependence.
His Holiness explained that in the Secret Mantra, we absolutely must have a guru with a higher realization than us, and if we do not follow a guru, there is no way to achieve the result. This is because the paths of the lower vehicles, in comparison to the higher vehicles, are not so difficult to realize and the results are easier to accomplish. They are for ordinary people who do not have the supreme fortune.
He elaborated that pratyekabuddhas in their last existence have pride in their limited prajna and due to the power of having trained in the path in previous existences, they can realize a certain degree of knowledge. Nevertheless, the Vajrayana presentation of the cause, path, and fruition is extremely profound, and it cannot be realized through limited or partial prajna. This is the uncommon sphere of those who have the supreme fortune, and why, if we do not follow a guru with superior wisdom, love, and power than us, we cannot accomplish the result of the Secret Mantra.
There is much discussion about whether arhats and pratyekabuddhas have abandoned all afflicted obscurations; in any case, they have not fully gathered the accumulations to purify the three obscurations and their imprints. Therefore, we need an individual with whom we can gather the accumulations. Karmapa explained:
As a beginner, we cannot meet a buddha as a field of merit, so we need someone equal to the Buddha with whom we can gather merit. Without such an object or recipient for the accumulation of merit and purification, we won't be able to gather the accumulations and purify ourselves, so we won't be able to achieve the accumulation and purification for great awakening.
For that reason, there is no other object for accumulating and purification other than the Guru Vajra Holder (Skt.Vajradhara).
He clarified that this implicitly teaches that without following a guru, we cannot achieve the supreme and common siddhis, particularly the supreme siddhi. This is the main point taught in the beginning of the text on the teachings on the Prāṇa and Mind Indivisible.
Karmapa reiterated that the guru is like the basis of the path in the teachings on the Prajnaparamita (Prajñāpāramitā) and the causal vehicle of Prajnaparamita. In the resultant vehicle of the Vajrayana, the lama is also the basis for accomplishing the path. If we follow this guru with all the characteristics properly, it will bring benefit; if we don’t, it will not happen.
He then quoted from the commentary on the Kalachakra the Stainless Light (Skt. Vimalaprabhā-nāma-kālacakra-tantra-ṭīkā): "The true path arises in true students by the kindness of a true guru who, with love for sentient beings, always strives at virtue for others' sake." In this way, it is essential to have a guru for gathering the roots of virtue and learning what we should do and reject.
His Holiness elaborated:
If we do not follow the guru properly, then there are many difficulties that will arise. The reason is that when you disappoint or upset the guru, then you will fall into the vajra hell. If you follow them well, then you develop the prajna that sees the nature of everything as it is, and therefore you achieve the ultimate result. It is critical that we follow the guru properly.
Making Offerings to the Guru
According to Tsongkhapa's outline of the Fifty Verses, we have reached the point of discussing how to be respectful to the guru. This section has eight different points: making offerings, viewing them as a buddha, fulfilling their instructions, how to treat the guru's things, being pure in one's immediate behavior, particularly serving with body and speech, abandoning pride, and not acting independently.
Among these, making offerings has four different sub-points. Karmapa noted that there are many distinctions or types of offerings regarding making offerings to the guru.
The Karmapa then referenced Mikyö Dorje’s The Evaṃ Mudrā: Pointing Out the Three Kāyas (Tib. སྐུ་གསུམ་ངོ་སྤྲོད་ཨེ་ཝྃ་ཕྱག་རྒྱ།) which discusses how we should serve or follow the guru. Serving the guru is not the same as the way in which courtiers serve a king. Courtiers serve a king primarily to gain the bounties of this life. Their aim is for this lifetime, that is why they flatter the king and try to serve and please him.
He observed that in modern times, most countries do not have kings, but there are presidents and ministers whom people flatter on occasions like New Year's or their birthdays, in hopes of gaining some benefit. He added that this is particularly prevalent in Asian countries, where even smaller government officials expect gifts. The reason for giving these gifts is the hope for some profit in this lifetime; if we treat them well, they will help in return when needed.
He pointed out that when serving the guru or spiritual friend, it is not for the aims of this lifetime, but for seeking liberation and achieving the state of buddhahood, and for going down a good path in future lifetimes. The aim and fundamental attitude for serving the guru is different, and it is important that we understand this clearly.
When discussing the essence of serving the guru, most Tibetan scholars quote Maitreya from his text The Ornament of the Sutras (Skt: Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā):
Serve the spiritual friend with respect,
Gifts, service, and practice.
This line is sometimes combined with the teachings from the Fifty Verses on the Guru. Mikyö Dorje wrote about this in The Evaṃ Mudrā and his student, the second Karma Trinleypa, also wrote on this in The Chariot of the Karma Kamtsang (Tib. ཀརྨ་ཤིང་རྟ།). He quoted Trophu Lotsawa, who combines the ways to serve a guru taught in The Ornament of the Sutras with those taught in the Fifty Verses.
Mikyö Dorje writes in The Evaṃ Mudrā: “The nature of serving is to follow the guru through offerings, respect, service, and practice.” and “In particular, the ways that are taught in the tantras of the mantra tradition are summarized in The Fifty Verses on the Guru, and you should learn them from that.” The Chariot of the Karma Kamtsang explains this quote from The Ornament of the Sutras of serving the guru in terms of gifts, respect, service, and practice.
Karmapa detailed the four ways of serving the guru:
Making offerings to the guru involves material offerings like khatas, fruit, or various other things. Following them with respect means paying respect to the guru and not being disrespectful. Service means attending to the guru in daily life, helping the guru, giving massages and so forth. Practice means practicing the dharma that the guru teaches, putting it into practice rather than just leaving it as something the guru taught.
The way these general understandings and the Fifty Verses are combined by Khang Lotsawa is given in The Chariot of the Karma Kamtsang:
In terms of giving gifts, it refers to offering whatever food, clothing, and so forth we have with enthusiasm. From The Fifty Verses:
If the master of your samaya
Is to be served with the ungiveable—
Your children, spouse, and your own life—
What need to mention fleeting riches? (17)
Next is respect, which refers to practicing respectful behavior, being polite, and giving up anything that is disrespectful.
From the same text:
In the three times, with highest faith,
With mandalas and flowers between
Your palms, revere the guru and teacher,
And bow your head down to their feet. (3)
In addition, there is the verse on how to give up being disrespectful:
If you would not step over their shadow
From fear the misdeed would be like smashing
A stupa, what need to mention stepping
Over their shoes, seat, ride, and such? (23)
Providing service means attending the guru, be it bathing, massaging, anointing, and whatever needs they might have. As the text says:
The greatly intelligent obey
The guru’s commands with effort and joy,
But if unable, explain to them
Their inability properly. (24)
And:
When you wash their feet and so forth
Or give them a massage or the like,
Prostrate to them before and after,
And then do what you wish. (33)
Serving the guru through practice means cheerfully fulfilling all the guru’s commands and assiduously practicing listening, contemplation, and meditation of all dharma, as appropriate and as much as we can.
Among the three types of offerings, the best is the offering of practice, the medium is the offering of body and speech, and the least is material offerings. The offering of practice means practicing the teachings that the guru has taught. A proper guru is truly pleased only by the offering of practice that they have taught, not by material offerings. This explanation is in accordance with The Chariot of the Karma Kamtsang.
Karmapa explained that Mikyö Dorje's Hundred Short Instructions (Tib: ཁྲིད་ཐུང་བརྒྱ་རྩ།) presents a slightly different view. While it agrees that the offering of practice is generally best, it points out that whatever will please the guru most should be considered the best offering. If there is much work to be done, then the offering of service might be most important. For example, even if the student is on retreat, if the guru needs something done and tells the disciple to come, the disciple should leave their retreat immediately and do whatever the guru asks. Staying in retreat would not please the guru, and therefore the meditation practice would not be the best offering.
Likewise, if the guru has a material need that must be fulfilled, and the disciple has the skills and resources, they should immediately do so. The main point is pleasing the guru; that is what should be considered most important.
Karmapa reiterated:
Sometimes if you regard the offering of practice is most important, saying things like “I do not have time to do what they tell me to do. I am doing this incredible dharma practice,” and you stay there, then there is no way that that can be the highest offering, and I think that there is an important point here.
Nine Attitudes to Adopt
He then turned to the Stem Array Sūtra (Skt. Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra), which teaches twenty-one attitudes for following the guru. The Chinese translation only contains twenty. When discussing these, we refer to nine attitudes for following the guru, because the Compendium of the Trainings (Skt. Śikṣāsamuccaya) quotes only nine attitudes from the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra. The Compendium of the Trainings and the Way of the Bodhisattva (Skt. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra) were considered very important texts, which may be why the nine attitudes became better known. However, the sutra itself teaches twenty-one attitudes for following the guru.
These nine attitudes encapsulate all the main points on the attitudes for serving our teacher. According to Lord Tsongkhapa, all these points contain what motivation we should have and how we should think when following a guru. Karmapa then introduced these nine attitudes:
- The attitude of an intelligent child is to entrust ourselves to the guru. This means giving control over ourselves to the guru and doing whatever the guru tells us to do, rather than doing whatever we want. We give our power to the guru, like an intelligent child who knows how to listen to what their teachers instruct them to do.
- The vajra-like attitude makes affection stable and unbreakable. Our affection is so stable that no one can break or destroy it. No matter how anyone harms us, they cannot destroy, weaken, or break our affection, which is like a vajra.
- The earth-like attitude involves carrying all the burden of the guru's activities. Like the earth that we are on that sustains everyone, whether human or animal, we are able to take up any burden of the guru's activities.
- The attitude like a mountain range that does not move, no matter what suffering occurs. When we want to fulfill the guru's wishes, no matter what difficulties arise, we do not think, "I can't do it." Our mind is never affected or shaken by it, like the outer ring of iron mountains that surround the earth according to the Abhidharma.
- The attitude like a servant who undertakes all unpleasant tasks without any doubts. No matter how unpleasant a task may be, we do it regardless just like a servant.
- The attitude like a sweeper involves giving up all pride and arrogance and considering ourselves inferior to the guru. Like a janitor who gives up all pride and arrogance and takes a humble position, we do not have particular worries about cleaning. We do not think about coming from a high caste or a high family with certain qualities, or about being made to do unpleasant jobs. Instead, we give up all pride and arrogance, similar to a laborer in India.
- The attitude like a truck or lorry means eagerly carrying the heaviest burdens of the guru's extremely difficult tasks. Like a wagon or truck used to carry things back and forth, we are able to bear all burdens required when doing things for the guru.
- The attitude like a dog means not getting angry, even when the guru criticizes or scolds us. Just like a dog that does not get upset when its master gets angry with them, we should maintain a dog-like attitude.
- The boat-like attitude involves never tiring of going back and forth, no matter how much we engage in the guru's activities. Just as a boat never gets tired of crossing back and forth, we never get tired, no matter how much running about is required.
These nine attitudes are very important points when following the guru. They explain the attitude, motivation, and way of thinking we ought to have.
His Holiness then spoke on the earthquake that had recently occurred in Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia, primarily Myanmar. Many people had died, many buildings in cities had been destroyed, and there had been much harm to many living beings, resulting in terrible destruction for everyone.
He noted that international reporters do not have much freedom to travel through Myanmar, so we are unable to know the entire extent of the difficulties they face. However, it must be a terrible situation with a large number of casualties and some small towns entirely destroyed. Myanmar was the epicenter of the earthquake, but even in Bangkok, Thailand, about a thousand kilometers from the epicenter, there was significant destruction, including a 37-story building that collapsed in just a few seconds.
Karmapa emphasized:
Whenever a natural disaster occurs in any part of the world, we need to make aspirations for those who have perished; we need to make aspirations for the deceased as well as for all the survivors who have been injured. We need to pray that they may be swiftly healed of their injuries.
He pointed out that Myanmar and Thailand are important Buddhist countries, and they are closer to us for this reason, and we have a feeling for them that is different than others.
His Holiness concluded by remarking that in the next few days, there will be time dedicated for people to gather to make offerings and recite aspirations on behalf of those affected.