What are the benefits of relying on a guru? What are the qualities of both the guru and the disciple? According to Samdhong Rinpoche, “Guru devotion is the basic foundation of a spiritual journey.” In a rare video presentation for Jewel Heart, H. E. Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, the first elected prime minister of the Tibetan Exile Government and the former long-time Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi, gives a teaching on the meaning and practice of guru devotion.
Venerable Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was born as Samdhong Lobsang Tenzin in 1939, in the Tibetan province of Kham. At age five, he was recognized and enthroned as the reincarnation of the fourth Samdhong Rinpoche. He began his monastic studies at age 12 at the University of Drepung in Tibet and eventually obtained a Doctorate in Buddhist sciences at Gyütö Monastery, Dalhousie, India in 1970. In 1959, Rinpoche fled to India to escape the repressive Chinese government in Tibet. There, he was commissioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as a teacher to monks in exile. He was appointed director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Varanasi in 1988 and remained there until 2001. On July 29, 2001, Rinpoche was named Kalön Tripa, or Prime Minister of the Tibetan Exile Government, the first political leader to be directly elected by the people in exile.
He is an eminent and distinguished scholar, teacher and philosopher, and a life-long campaigner for Gandhian principles especially that of non-violence or peaceful resistance.
(from Rigpa Wiki)
About Professor Samdhong Rinpoche
VIDEOS
SUGGESTED READING
Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verses (Catuhsataka)
https://www.amazon.com/Aryadevas-Four-Hundred-Stanzas-Middle/dp/1559393025
Chandrakirti’s Commentary to Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verses:
Four Illusions: Chandrakirti’s Advice to Travellers on the Bodhisattva Path (Bodhisattvayogacharacatuhsataka)
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Illusions-Candrakirtis-Travelers-Bodhisattva/dp/0195151135
INTRODUCTION BY GELEK RIMPOCHE
