Beginnings

Welcome, brothers and sisters on the journey.

I am starting this blog to express my thoughts and connect with others on the issue of finding a guru. I have been meditating for several years and have studied with a number of different teachers. My interest is especially in the tantric or vajrayana mystic traditions.

What is the experience of meeting the guru supposed to be like? I have heard stories that some people recognize their teacher as soon as they meet him or her, while others take several years. I have been told by some that meeting your teacher should feel like coming home right away, and by others that you should be sceptical of anyone who might be your teacher and test them for several years before making any decisions.

One thing I do know is that at root, choosing a teacher is not an intellectual decision. It is an instinct, much like meeting a lover. And that makes sense: the procees is organic, not mechanical, and flows from the underlying spirit trying to realize itself through dualistic manifestation. The relationship could almost seem unconscious and dreamlike.