Dear Gabriel,

thanks for the questions.

First of all, we have to understand that while both Hinduism and
Buddhism are from India, there are significant differences between the
two. Only in this way, we can appreciate both without confusion.

The word 'guru' simply means 'teacher'. It is common in Tibetan
Buddhism to address a monk (or even a lay teacher) as a guru. Still,
Tibetans themselves don't use the word as often as we think. The word
is really 'popularised' by Western Buddhists, as a result of the
influence of the New Age movement. The word is, after all, an Indian
word. So, beyond what has been said, 'guru' finds little usage in
Buddhist circles, since these are today mainly non-Indian cultures.

As for yogi, if you refer to a person almost naked, who keeps a long
beard and buns his long hair. [see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Yogisculpture.JPG%5d Then, there is
no such a figure in Buddhism.

If, by yogi, you mean someone practising yoga, then it really depends
on the definition of yoga. In America, some 30 million people practise
yoga, so they are yogis in a way.

In Buddhism, the experience that one acquires in even the deepest
trance is impermanent. Hope that helps.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Lotsawanet wrote:

I have been studying the meaning of yogi in Buddhist tradition, its
relation with the term bhikku and guru, as in the culture and time
where Buddha born, it was used this term to designate the ascetics in
that time.