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?

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Further quotes from the book The Guru Drinks Bourbon?:

• Never opt for the easy way out
• Hearing the Dharma
• Teachings don’t just rain down
• Examining the Guru
• Controlled by circumstances
• The guru is like the horizon
• Celebrity Gurus
• Vajra hell
• Famous unintentionally
• Dharma without devotion
• Guru
• Look beyond titles and hats
• Samsara
• The path is practical
• You and only you will decide
• Pure perception
• The whole purpose of the outer guru
• Merging with the guru’s mind
• A different interpretation of austerity