Before embarking on your search for a guru, your intentions should be clear. As with everything, motivation is of utmost importance. Why would you even want to have a guru?

At the very least, the quest for a guru should be fueled by a revulsion of worldly life. If not revulsion, then at least some understanding that success in worldly endeavors is not the ultimate answer. A step up from that motivation is genuine confidence in and attraction to the spiritual life and a desire to understand the truth. And even better is an attitude of a warrior wishing to understand the truth not only for himself but for the sake of all sentient beings.

For such a grandiose journey, you want to have a guide, a coach, someone who will show you how. Someone who will give you the support, who will correct you, who will pull the rug out from under your feet, and who will not let you go astray. That is the ideal motivation, which will immediately give you a good sense of what type of guru you should be looking for.

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book The Guru Drinks Bourbon?

Read a random quote or see all quotes by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Further quotes from the book The Guru Drinks Bourbon?:

• Dharma without devotion
• Abundance and variety in the teachings is so important
• Check how the guru handles criticism
• Peeling of our patches of samsara
• Guru devotion and pure perception
• Hearing the Dharma
• Teachings don’t just rain down
• The authentic guru lineage is indispensable
• A proper guru-student communication
• A different interpretation of austerity
• Going beyond Rational and Irrational Devotion
• Pure perception
• Devotion
• Never opt for the easy way out
• Good gurus are on the verge of extinction
• You and only you will decide
• Spiritual wealth
• Examining the Guru
• Dismantling the puzzle of dualism
• The Worst Forms of Abuse Award