When you rely on them your faults come to an end and your good qualities grow like the waxing moon. Cherish spiritual teachers even more than your own body. This is the practice of Bodhisattvas. 

How are we influenced by spiritual teachers and friends? There is a quote in the Upaddha Sutta (S.N. 45.2) where Ananda said that spiritual friends are half of the spiritual life, and the Buddha corrected him and said, “No, spiritual friendship is all of the spiritual life.” Some people think this refers to our regular Dharma friends, but in the sutra, the Buddha went on to talk about himself as the spiritual guide whose guidance we should follow. The Buddha is our ultimate spiritual friend from whom all the teachings came, but we must depend on other people to give us the teachings because the Buddha is not alive today. 

Forming a relationship with a spiritual friend is quite important because books cannot give us the inspiration of an actual human being who is practising the path, who is going through or has gone through some of what we are going through. Also, a book cannot point out our faults in a very direct manner, whereas a spiritual mentor can really pinpoint the things we need to look at. This requires opening and establishing Dharma relationships rather than doing everything ourselves. When we have a relationship where there is a lot of respect and admiration and trust for our spiritual mentor, we take to heart our mentor’s advice and do our best to practise their teachings. In the process, our faults will come to an end and our good qualities increase as we practise the Dharma. 

Having a good relationship with a qualified spiritual mentor will help us not only in this lifetime but will also lead to a good rebirth if we create good karma by following our mentor’s teachings. We may also have the opportunity to reconnect with the same spiritual teachers in future lives if we make strong prayers. Conversely, the last thing we want to do is to create negative karma that sends us to the lower realms by establishing a connection with an unqualified teacher over multiple lifetimes. We need to rely on people who have the proper practice, knowledge, and motivation of wanting to help us for our sake, not because they want offerings, followers, or prestige. 

“365 Gems of Wisdom” First Volume (January — March) e-book is out now!