Guru Yoga: Meditating On or With Your Root Teacher

Nicole C: Ever since the Spring Retreat I have been meditating more than ever. Oftentimes, I imagine myself at the retreat, in the meditation room, with you there in front. So my question is…by imagining that I am somewhere else, is that a problem? It really works for me.

Lama Surya Das: That is how Tibetan Buddhists practice what is called Guru Yoga, meditating on or with your root teacher. It’s a great way to travel, if it

works for you. (It certainly does for me, and many of my teachers as well, and is highly recommended.) For instance, I was just with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Atlanta for several days at the Second International Tibetan Buddhism Conference, and I feel as if he is still with me: whenever I close my eyes, or

meditate with eyes open even, (it’s as if) he’s right there for me, and we are in that spiritually intimate state of closeness and even oneness. If and when this feeling fades— as it inevitably does, after a few more days or weeks— then I might purposefully visualize and imagine him there right before and with me

and my sangha friends and colleagues, or even look at his picture to help enhance the feeling of his blessed presence and energy to further fuel my devotions.

Moreover, in Vajrayana meditation practices we sometimes benefit by imaging and visualizing we are somewhere, like performing bows and prostrations while chanting refuge and Bodhichitta vows beneath the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, to raise the inner spirit, arise inspiration, and further our practice. This is

not necessarily the same thing as neurotically wishing we were somewhere other than where we are, at least from the Vajrayana point of you, and it can actually engender extraordinary benefits and blessings.