“He abandoned his teacher?? Well that does say it all doesn’t it? How sad and flippant. Spiritual practice is not like seasonal fashion trend. And we don’t switch our teachers like changing to the latest ‘hot’ designer of the year.”

Actually he’s a very poor guy grown up in an orphant house and probably his main troubles just arose from projecting his very personal childhood problems on his first teacher. I suppose he had been better advised to do a good therapy instead of terrorizing the whole Tibetan Buddhist scene with his psycho problems. I met him one time in my Nyingma Sangha where he had gnashingly to accept when he saw Rinpoche sending me around with the scull cup – obviously without any problems for my Dorje Shugden background. All his present Gurus as to mention Ringu Tulku, Dagyab Rinpoche and others advised him very clearly to stop slandering on his previous teachers but he doesn’t listen to them. When he was offered to do a proper monastic education in India by one of his masters he rejected it as it is more comfortable for him to spend his time in denigrating others on the cost of some naive donators. Just recently I heard from a friend that he believes our monastery doing Pujas against him. But I fear I am the only one who even knows him from our monastery and I have definitely better things to do let alone that we do usually pujas for persons and not against. I could gossip a little more about him but I don’t want to grab too deeply into the dirt box, it’s too disgusting and he’s really a very, very poor guy Lips sealed

The teachings were on reliance on the Spiritual Guide are given so the student can benefit. If they view their Teacher as a Buddha, they get the benefits of that pure view in terms of blessings, and the teachings they receive will have a more powerful effect on their mind. It’s not so the Teacher can get off on everyone calling them a Buddha and prostrating to them! I suppose it is possible that the teachings can be abused in this way, though, but there’s no way that Geshe Kelsang’s doing that.

Guru devotion is a private decision. If students hold this view of Geshe Kelsang (or of the Dalai Lama), it can benefit them in their practice but I’ve never heard it come from the side of Geshe Kelsang himself. He simply explains what past lineage gurus have taught regarding choosing and relying on a Spiritual Guide. But neither should he forbid/discourage such personal views, because this would contradict the teachings on Guru Devotion that are key to the long lineage of Mahayana Buddhism.