The Guru Principle: A Guide to the Teacher-Student Relationship in Buddhism [Paperback]

A clear-headed and relatable guidebook for navigating the student-teacher relationship by one of the first female Buddhist teachers in the West.

All major forms of Buddhism stress the need for a teacher. However, the importance of having a guide or guru is sometimes a source of cultural and spiritual confusion as Buddhism expands in the West. A clear understanding of the Buddhist view of the guru is essential for the student-teacher relationship to be beneficial for one's spiritual growth.

Collecting over fifty years of personal experiences as both a student and a teacher, Shenpen Hookham writes candidly of the opportunities and challenges facing modern Dharma students in the West who wish to study with a teacher. Traditional texts often do not reflect how the student-teacher relationship manifests in practice, which leaves many pressing questions and a great deal of confusion in communities taking root in the West. With honesty and clarity, Hookham discusses the roles of the teacher, practices related to the guru, and commonly asked questions she receives as a teacher. This handbook is the first of its kind, breaking down in a pragmatic and relatable way everything you need to know to enter a student-teacher relationship with open eyes and an open heart.“What is the meaning and role of a guru on the Buddhist path? This book offers a wealth of insight for students wishing to begin to understand the guru principle. Writing from vast experience and understanding of the topic, Lama Shenpen Hookham provides timely guidelines for discernment as one starts out on this journey of discovery. Beginning with the Buddha, ‘the enlightened one,’ who taught that all beings could awaken to their enlightened nature, the significance of the guru in this process of awakening is explored in a wide range of traditional, contemporary, and cultural contexts. In the context of Buddhism in the West in palS+