There is so much benefit in requesting teachings, especially if you supplicate not just for your own benefit. If you request teachings with a motivation triggered by renunciation and compassion (bodhichitta) — if you are requesting the teachings to benefit all beings — this is the supreme way to request.
But if the guru is a proper, brave, qualified master, he might not give the teaching even if he seemingly has all the knowledge, time, and place to give it.
I requested specific tantric teachings from Kyabje Dejung Rinpoche many times over the course of two years. Finally, one day in Nepal, instead of sending me away, he told me to wait. He appeared to go through the hassle of searching his suitcases and summoning his attendants to search for his almanac. I think I had to wait an hour. He didn’t answer my questions—he didn’t even look in my direction as he was reading the almanac and making notes. Finally he said, “Good. This is the seventh time you asked, so I will teach you.”
![](https://justdharma.org/wp-content/uploads/1459149822-200x200.jpg)
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?:
- Vajra hell
- Celebrity Gurus
- The path is practical
- Seeing a student’s potential
- The quest for a guru
- Merging with the guru’s mind
- The whole purpose of the outer guru
- Practicing Dharma requires sacrifice
- Advice on selecting a guru
- Devotion is supreme
- Samsara
- No one can please everyone
- Experience is like a mist in the morning
- Why can’t the Guru be perfect?
- Gurus Don’t Fish for Devotion
- The moment there is devotion
- Your decision is now taking the lead
- Beginning to subdue and outshine appearance and existence
- Sooner or later, you will have to check
- Controlled by circumstances