"In short, attaining and bringing to completion all the bodhisattva deeds, and, likewise, attaining and bringing to completion the perfections, levels, forbearances, concentrations, superknowl-edges, retentions of teachings heard, dedications, aspirational prayers, confidence to speak, and all the qualities of a buddha are contingent upon the guru. The guru is the root from which they arise. The guru is the source and creator from which they are produced. The guru increases them. They depend upon the guru. The guru is their cause."

Bodhisattva-pitaka

Bo-do-wa said:

"For attaining freedom there is nothing more important than the guru. It is sufficient to learn the activities of this life by watching others, but you will not learn them well without an instructor.
Likewise, without a guru, how can we succeed in traveling to a place where we have never been, having just been reborn from a miserable realm?"

"People degenerate by relying on those inferior to themselves;
By relying on equals, they stay the same;
By relying on those superior, they attain excellence;
Thus rely on those who are superior to yourself.

If you rely on whomever is superior-thoroughly pacified
And endowed with ethical discipline
And exceeding wisdom
You will become superior even to those who are superior."

Mitra-varga

"Some people express
The good qualities of sandalwood
Saying, "Sandalwood is like this: It is the pleasant aspect of incense."
Then some other people
Might ask them, "Do you possess
A bit of that sandalwood
Which you so praise?"
They then reply, "I do not have
The incense that I praise
To gain my livelihood."
Just so, in later times there will arise
Monks who do not strive at yoga
And make a living by praising ethical discipline.
They will have no ethical discipline."

King of Concentrations Sutra

"Just as a chariot with one wheel Will not go down the path even though it has a horse,
So too, without assistants for meditation,
People will not gain attainments.
These assistants should have intelligence, a good appearance, great purity,
Be of reputable lineage, and inclined toward the teachings.
They should have great confidence, perseverance, and have disciplined the senses.
They should speak pleasantly, be generous and compassionate,
Forbear hunger, thirst, and the afflictions,
And not worship other deities and brahmins.
They should be focused, adept, grateful,
And have faith in the three jewels.
Since those who have all such good qualities
Are very rare in this age of strife,
Mantra practitioners should rely on an assistant who has
One half, one quarter, or an eighth of these qualities."

Subāhu-pariprcchā-tantra

"If you would ask, O Lord of Secrets, how disciples should view masters, then I would answer that they should view them just as they view the Bhagavan.

If the disciples view their masters in this way,
They will always cultivate virtues.
They will become buddhas
And benefit the entire world."

"When you rely on the guru, your virtue increases and your non-virtue decreases. Understanding this, develop the idea that your abbot is the Teacher whether he or she is greatly or slightly learned, is knowledgeable or not, or has kept ethical discipline or faulty discipline. Just as you have a liking for and faith in the Teacher, so too you should have a liking for and faith in the abbot. Develop reverence for your masters and serve them. Think that you will complete the collections that lead to enlightenment and eliminate the afflictions that you still have in dependence on this. Then you will obtain pleasure and joy. With respect to virtue act in accord with the gurus' words, but do not act in accord with the gurus' words with respect to nonvirtue."

Ratna-megha-sūtra

"With each student who comes to me, my burden increases. With each who leaves, it decreases. If you stay apart from the guru, it is not beneficial. Therefore, practice for a long time at a moderate distance."

Bo-do-wa

The Sūtra on the Discipline states, "If the abbot instructs you to do what is not in accord with the teachings, refuse." Also, the Cloud of Jewels Sūtra says, "With respect to virtue act in accord with the gurus' words, but do not act in accord with the gurus' words with respect to nonvirtue."

"Since everything is but an apparition, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter."

Longchenpa

"In the world of nature there always exists an appropriate order and everything has its own function. If this order is disturbed, the functioning is interrupted and the whole order will go to ruin."

Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai

"The mind has, in general, two aspects, stillness and movement. Sometimes, the mind is quiet and free from thoughts, like a calm pool; this is stillness. Eventually, thoughts are bound to arise in it; this is movement. In truth, however, although in a sense there is a movement of thoughts within the stillness, there is actually no difference between these two states — just as the nature of stillness is voidness, the nature of movement is also voidness. Stillness and movement are merely two names for the one mind."

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

"Moral concepts practiced without understanding can be the greatest of obstacles to fulfilling the Bodhisattva's vow of uncompromising compassion. Do not cultivate virtue and renounce vice. Rather, learn to accept all things as they arise. Penetrate the essence of each experience until you have achieved the one taste.

"While medicine heals and poison kills,
Their ultimate essence is the same.
Both positive and negative qualities
Are aids on the path —
The sage rejects nothing.
Yet the unrealised fool
Five times poisoned
Is lost forever in samsara."

— Mahasiddha Ghantapa

"Misery is one truth of life. It arises because of craving and aversion, which in turn arise from taṇhā (tṛśṇā). If these causes are eradicated, then the root cause of misery is eradicated. For this, there is a practical technique, a path, and a way: an Eightfold Path, which teaches one, while living a moral and upright life, to master one’s mind and to develop paññā (experiential wisdom). If one practises paññā (prajñā), then new impurities do not arise in the mind and the old stock of impurities is automatically removed. After all, what is the eradication of suffering? It is a direct result of purifying the mind, the experience of nibbāna (nirvāṇa). Misery, its cause, its eradication and the path of its eradication are called Noble Truths of suffering. The final aim of the teaching of the Buddha is to eradicate all suffering."

Acharya S.N. Goenka

"[...] today ārya merely denotes a caste or race. However, in the days of the Buddha, ārya denoted not simply caste or race but, rather, qualities. If a person of any race, caste or class—walking on the path of the Dhamma (Universal Law) by the development of morality, mastery over the mind and experiential wisdom—attained the first of the four stages of liberation, he was called an Ārya (a Noble One). This stage is called sotāpanna (stream-enterer)—that is, this person has entered the stream of complete liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Such a person is partially liberated. One is totally freed from the possibility of future lives in the lower worlds because of eradication of all kammas (karmas) that would take one to such lower worlds even though one still has some kammas left which will result in a maximum of seven lives before final liberation from all rebirth. Hence, one is ennoscriptd to the epithet of ārya. Continuing the practice of Vipassana, the practitioner successively becomes a sakadāgāmī (once-returner), anāgāmī (non-returner) and finally attains the state of an arahat (fully liberated being). Thus, ārya-satya (Noble Truth) is a truth through the experience of which anyone can become an ārya—noble person."

Acharya S.N Goenka

"If one practises only sīla (morality), the starting point of this pure path of Dhamma, one becomes happy in this life and gets divine happiness after death. If one practises the middle part of Dhamma, samādhi (concentration of mind), one enjoys the bliss of absorption and after death gets brahmic happiness. And if one gets rid of all the kammas (conditionings) through the practice of paññā (penetrating wisdom)—the final part of the Path—then one experiences the infinite happiness of nibbāna and after death attains the eternal, permanent and deathless state. In this manner the Noble Eightfold Path is absolutely complete; there is no need to add anything to it. It is totally pure; it contains no impurity that needs to be removed."

Acharya S.N Goenka

"Deities, as we see them, are not essentially superior individuals living in faraway worlds that sometimes come to the rescue of human beings, even if their manifestations may give that impression. In truth, if we realize the true nature of our minds, the deities reveal themselves as being not different from our own minds. As long as we do not realize it and live in the duality I/other, the deities enter the play of duality and a relationship is established between these two poles of manifestation, I and the deity.

Let us suppose that in a dream we meet a deity. We would be sure of the individual existence of that deity. Also, we would be sure of the reality of the "I" who, upon seeing the deity, would feel joy and devotion. However, in truth, the person perceiving the deity and the deity would both be manifestations from the same inexpressible essence, the mind itself. In the same way, for those who live on a relative level, the deities appear on a relative level without being separated from their essence, which is none other than the essence of the mind."

Bokar Rinpoche

"We have explained that, to benefit beings, fully awakened beings, such as the buddhas, spontaneously assume, in a non-intentional way, various forms on the level of pure manifestation normally inaccessible to ordinary human beings. They are called the Body of Enjoyment [Sambhogakaya]. These forms can be diversified: male, female, peaceful, wrathful, and in several aspects. These deities come directly from the compassionate activity of the buddhas. If the deities have a feminine appearance, they are called goddesses.

From a relative point of view, however, some deities are considered the result of a human ascending to the divine. There are men or women who have embarked on the dharma path, rid themselves of all imperfections of the ordinary state, and have seen the qualities of the awakened state bloom within themselves. They have reached a divine state and become "gods" or "goddesses.""

Bokar Rinpoche

"Thus philosophy, a thing of the highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and the Sramanas among the Bactrians ("Σαρμαναίοι Βάκτρων"); and the philosophers of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called Sramanas ("Σαρμάναι"), and others Brahmins ("Βραχμάναι")."

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata

“The Buddha, the great Yogi (mahāyogī), sits on a lotus, [head] bent, listening, and wearing mendicant’s rags. [He possesses] beautiful lotus eyes, has a lotus-shaped mark, and is fixed with a jewel. [He is] established in the world, positioned in Samādhi, his hands [making the] wish-granting and protection [mudrās]. Deva holds a rudrākṣa and a lotus. Thus, [the Mantrin] should worship and meditate upon Buddha, [who] grants the fruits of mokṣa to women”.

Netra Tantra, 13.29-36

About “tantra practitioners” who employ sex as “the ultimate means” in their “tantra”:

“Those who have not been initiated (adikshita), who deny mudras and mantras, who have not done japa and puja, should not use Kula-tattvas (here panchamakara, i.e. meat, wine, fish, roasted grains, sex). Using them like this will lead the sadhaka to the hell”.

“There are a lot of people who, relying on their opinion, reject the tradition of spiritual transmission and, following false teachings, engage merely in imitation and distortion of Kula-dharma.”

“Thus, if merely by consuming wine one could achieve siddhis, then all unworthy people, who enjoy in heavy drinking, should have achieved siddhis. If merely by consuming meat one could attain spiritual purity, then all meat-eaters should have reached sainthood. If mere sexual pleasure with one’s partner could bring to Liberation, then all living beings should have reached it through the attachment to their partners”.

Kulavali-tantra, ch. 8