The Bliss You Want

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called Longing for the Guru

We’re all sleeping until we reach supreme enlightenment, but most beings are really sleeping in a very profound way. In that coma, they are not even able to say, “I want.” They merely act out in different ways. While we are still asleep and until we achieve supreme realization, the fact that you are reading the teachings, is the evidence that you have felt that longing. You should find it within you and relate to it purely. You should encourage it because it is a dynamo of energy you can use to really touch the nature that you are seeking, the bliss that you want — the union between the student and the teacher.

You are so ashamed to feel that feeling directly, because you’re so macho, you’re so tough, or you’re so cool or you’re so advanced. You are so ashamed to feel that feeling that you want to say, “Oh, the longing for the Teacher is only me longing for my own nature.” Well, yes, it is that, but you should face directly the longing for the Teacher on the deepest level. You should not be ashamed of that. You were ashamed of it as a child and you were taught not to feel it and so you made a lot of mistakes. You should not be ashamed of that now.

I have that longing. It is so strong that I cannot imagine another longing like it. I live with that longing constantly. I use that longing to provide the means to accomplish Dharma and kindness for all sentient beings. I realize that the truest longing is the longing for the Guru. It’s the longing for my Teacher, for the Guru on all of the different levels, on the apparent level as well as the deepest, most primordial level. And I realize that I will only find that longing satisfied so long as I try to live the qualities that are my Guru.

So, if I were to turn away from students saying, “Oh, I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m tired.” Or, “I’m lonely doing this. I don’t want to do this anymore.” If I were to do that, I would never find my Guru. I would never be with my Guru, because those are the qualities of my Guru. My Guru never leaves me. He cannot turn his face from me. And so, that being the case, if I were to turn my face away from anyone that had hopes of me, it would be hopeless. I would never find the Guru. The longing would never be satisfied, because I would have turned my face away.

You must begin to practice in such a way that the face of the Teacher is understood in everything that you do. No matter what you experience, whether it is loss or having, joy or sadness, life or death, sickness or health, poverty or wealth, whatever you experience, you should think that everything is a blessing from the Root Guru.

The Root Guru has given you this blessing because you can use any situation to practice. You should never question that the blessing is good. You should practice understanding the mind that sees the difference between poverty and wealth. You should practice understanding who the taster is. You should practice understanding what desire is. You should practice understanding that all things have the same taste.

If you practice faithfully in that way, then you will never be separate from the Guru. See the Guru in everything. Everything you touch, everything you taste, everything you smell, everything you wear, everything you say, your life, every experience, both internal and external, is the Guru. This is the Guru at play and at work. You are constantly in a blissful union with the Guru, if you use every life situation to practice and understand that all things are a blessing from the Guru.

You will never be able to practice that way if you do not go back to the original longing, because you need that longing as a motivator. You need that longing to help you willingly approach that kind of marriage. You need that longing to help you approach that kind of meaningful and blissful union. It’s of the utmost importance. Think about this teaching and try to get it right.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo