Guru puja

With Annelies van der Heijden

Online & onsite

A Guru Puja is a ceremony in which we make offerings to our spiritual teachers. The practice consists of making these offerings (in the form of flowers, fruit etc., both real and visualised) and prayers to the spiritual masters and receiving their inspiration. Our spiritual masters are seen as the embodiment of the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) and are visualised in the form of Lama Tsong Khapa, surrounded by the entire merit field, which consists of the lineage lamas and buddhas. Any of the vows and pledges that we have received from them and that may have degenerated, are restored by the festive ‘tsog’ offering. 

‘Puja’ literally means ‘to please’. ‘Guru Puja’ means ‘pleasing the gurus, the spiritual masters’. We want to please them as they help us develop our inner potential to enlightenment. Actually, we cannot become enlightened without their skilled guidance, so in this way they are more important than anyone else. Pleasing the spiritual teachers is to our own advantage, not theirs. In this practice, we unite our mind with the mind of our spiritual masters to obtain inspiration and realisations on the path to enlightenment.

The main language is English. You can join online through:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88272510454

If you would like to be on a separate mailing list about pujas in MIA (for updates and dedication requests), please email us at amsterdam@maitreya.nl.

Participation is free of cost, but of course we welcome any donation or offerings!