Part 2b - How we should rely on the guru

1) The teaching by example of how we should rely on the guru:

If it is asked how we should rely on such a guru

Just as those who are ill are in need of a king of physicians,
As the people need a ruler, and travelers need an escort,
Groups of merchants a leader, and those in boats a steersman;
In order to calm the kleshas and render evil harmless,
So that birth and death will be annihilated,
And the two benefits established spontaneously,
And so that we can cross the ocean of samsara,
We must place our reliance on the holy guru.

As those who are sick rely on a physician, we rely on the guru to pacify the illness arising from the kleshas. As subjects rely on a king, the guru protects us against danger of harm.

As travelers rely on an escort, the guru liberates from the dangers of birth and death. As merchants rely on a merchant-captain, we rely on the guru so that the two naturally existing benefits may be accomplished. As passengers in boats rely on a steersman, the guru helps beings cross the river of samsara.

2) The explanation of how to rely on the guru

In relying on the guru as on a physician, first as for relying on the guru as one relies on a physician because of illness:

The physician is the guru; the medicine of instructions,
Should be applied to the sickness of samsaric perception.
Serious effort is the way of using it.
Peace and happiness are the fruit of curing the illness.
Such a way of reliance is of higher measure than others.
Therefore, rely on the guru by means of these four comprehensions.

The Gandavyuha Sutra says:

O son of noble family, you should guard yourself from perception of disease. Perception of the medicine of Dharma should be produced. In diligent practice the perception should be produced that the disease is completely cured. Perception of the spiritual friend as a capable physician should be produced.

Also, son of noble family, you should produce the perception of yourself as a king’s subject. You should produce the perception of fearlessness in the Dharma.

You should produce the perception that in diligent practice, torments are completely pacified. You should produce the perception of the spiritual friend as your king.

Also, son of noble family, you should produce the perception of yourself as a traveler. You should produce perception of the gift of fearlessness in the Dharma. You should produce the perception that in diligent practice you are liberated from all fear. You should produce the perception of the spiritual friend as your warrior-escort.

Also, son of noble family, you should produce the perception of yourself as a merchant. You should produce the perception of the Dharma as your wares. You should produce the perception that in diligent practice you are making great profits. You should produce the perception of the spiritual friend as your merchant-captain.

Also, son of noble family, you should perceive yourself as a passenger in a boat. You should perceive the Dharma as a boat. You should perceive that in diligent practice you reach the other shore of the river. You should produce the perception of the spiritual friend as your steersman.

Also it says there:

Son of noble family, with all reverence toward the spiritual friend, produce a mind immune to sadness like the earth, a mind like vajra, which is not susceptible to any harm, a mind like a student who never closes the mind against any speech, the mind of a servant who does not go against any command that is heard, and produce a mind without arrogance, like cutting off the horns of a bull.

Of these the Bodhicharyavatara says

As for spiritual friends, who are ever-virtuous,
They are skilled in the meaning of the great vehicle
And the excellent discipline of a bodhisattva.
Even to save our lives, we should never forsake them.

Within the Biography of Shri Sambhava
It is taught how we should rely upon the guru.