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Without guru devotion, nothing happens-no realizations, no liberation, no enlightenment-just as without the root of a tree there can be no trunk, branches, leaves or fruit. Everything, up to enlightenment, depends on guru devotion.
- Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Dr. Nick will explain the importance of the spiritual teacher, the correct way to develop a student-teacher bond, and offer commentary on the traditional guru devotion topics found in Lama Tsongkhapa's lam-rim.
An excellent resource for further study of this topic is Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book, The Heart of the Path, available in our bookstore.
Dr. Nick Ribush, first encountered Buddhism at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 1972, when he attended the third one-month course given there. It was taught by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, two of the lamas most instrumental in the transmission of Buddhism to the West and founders of the FPMT, the international organization with which Kurukulla Center is affiliated. One of the main things that impressed Dr. Nick was the way Tibetan Buddhism distills the complexity of the vast Buddhist teachings into a clear path that can be understood and practiced by anybody, a roadmap to enlightenment (in Tibetan: lam-rim, the stages of the path). Another was that nobody was expected to accept what was taught unchallenged-everything is up for analysis and debate, following true scientific method.
Dr. Nick has been directing the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive since founding it in 1996. Before that he founded and directed Wisdom Publications, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre and Kurukulla Center, and in general has worked full-time for the FPMT for more than forty-five years.
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