Guru Yoga: The Relationship With the Lama

Lama Lena discusses the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Guru Yoga and clears up common misconceptions about the Lama/student relationship.

What is Guru Yoga?

In Guru Yoga, we open our hearts to a lineage in order to receive the transmission from a teacher. It has been an integral part of practice for more than 2000 years (in both Buddhism and Bön). When teachings are passed to the student by a living teacher, the transmission is direct and realization can come swiftly. Learning through books alone, it’s easy for our intellect to interfere. We become bogged down in intellectualization and concepts.

How Does it Help?

Guru yoga helps to still our “namtok” (discursive thoughts) about the teacher, which are usually quite extreme and which interfere with the transmission. The perceptions we take to be true about ourselves, our world, and our teacher are mere stories.  Through guru yoga, we come to notice this and the elaborate stories we tell ourselves about our experiences stop. Lama Lena shares the story of Naropa who, after years of study and meditation, ultimately found realization through dedication to his teacher, Tilopa. Just like Naropa, guru yoga helps us get over our stories so we can hear what is actually being given. As Lama Lena says “it’s not the teacher that puts you through the process, but rather, you who put yourself thorough the process around the teacher”. With Guru Yoga, we can transcend our limited thinking to experience the unlimited awareness of Buddhahood that is already available to us. This talk was given at Open Secrets Bookstore in San Rafael, California, on February 15, 2017.