The guru is essential

The guru is essential: though some people think that they can practise without a teacher. We may think we know how to do prostrations, but it is the teacher who helps us understand the nature of the practice so that our practice transforms our minds. We need three things: instructions from a teacher, study and reflection. In the end, no one attains enlightenment by completing a certain number of prostrations or circumambulations!

~ Gyalwang Karmapa

How will the rise and fall of the Dharma be like in the future?

"Support and take refuge in those spiritual masters who focus their practice in solitary retreat. Before one attains enlightenment, one should also enter into solitary retreat to focus on one's practice under his or her close guidance and mentorship. If not, it will be just like now, where everywhere is flooded with Khenpos who give empty talks. Those ignorant ones, who run after fame and fortune, and establish their own factions, will cause people to have aversion for Buddhism and lead to the extinction of Buddhism sooner or later. Hence, it is said that the authentic Dharma is not in the monasteries, it is not in the books and not in the material world, but within the mind. There is a need to awaken it through practice and to realised (actualised) it, in order to be called the continuation or preservation of the Dharma."

~ Chatral Rinpoche