By Pleasing the Guru, We Collect Unimaginable Merit, Purify Negative Karma, and Achieve Realizations

What enables us to quickly achieve enlightenment, Rinpoche explains, is correctly following the guru, the virtuous friend. For example, if for one thousand eons we made charity of our limbs and dedicated our merit—we would collect this much merit in one second by following the guru’s advice and fulfilling the guru’s wishes. We are unbelievably fortunate to have this opportunity, it is the quickest way to be free from samsara, which we have been suffering in from since beginningless rebirths. In addition, pleasing the guru purifies heavy negative karma in one second! Rinpoche says that when we experience hardships while following the guru’s advice, we purify the negative karma to wander in the lower realms for ten million eons. Instead, we experience a small suffering in this life or even in a dream. By receiving the blessings of the guru in our heart, realizations can happen quickly, like a seed receiving water so it can grow. The teaching for this episode was recorded on September 16, 2018, at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore.