When you see something you like, you perceive it as desirable and good. Likewise, if you see somebody you don’t like, then the perception is negative. Kindness, tolerance, impatience, wrath are all your own perception. If you feel kindness instead of wrath, you have a different perception. If you are more tolerant than impatient, you have a different perception. If you know life is impermanent, you see things differently. When your annoying friend is suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer, your perception changes. If we learn to accept, even in a limited way, that everything is subject to our perception, then pure perception of the guru is more achievable. Coupled with pure perception, guru devotion has nothing to do with being a sycophant. It’s really about exercising your own perception.
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?:
- 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
- Celebrity Gurus
- Vajra hell
- The path is practical
- The quest for a guru
- Seeing a student’s potential
- The whole purpose of the outer guru
- Merging with the guru’s mind
- Practicing Dharma requires sacrifice
- Devotion is supreme
- Advice on selecting a guru
- No one can please everyone
- Samsara
- Experience is like a mist in the morning