Dear Gabriel,

due to limitations in my knowledge, and little time and resources
available to me at the moment, I have to be very selective in replying.

First of all, there are many words in Pali for teacher, monk, ascetic,
priest, such as words we have seen in our exercises: aacariya,
satthar, bhante, bhikkhu, sama.na, braahma.na, etc. Another word,
garu, according to the PED, is relate to guru. There are even more
words meaning a holy man, a wise man, a sage, etc, etc. It is beyond
me to discuss this further. My opinion is that bhante is a common way
to address a monk (also possibly a nun) in the Pali tradition, and the
word bhante is already in the vocative form. It is also used to
address the Buddha by his disciples, as we read in the Tipitaka. It
should also be noted that 'guru' is a word not so common in the Pali
canon.

The Buddha is also known by his epithets, the most common ones are
bhagavant (or the Blessed One) and tathaagata. Another common way to
refer to the Buddha is sakyamuni (the sage of the Sakyas).

I have not come across a unique meaning of guru in Buddhism, the word
plainly means 'teacher'.

As for 'yogi', I doubt the Buddha was even keen to use the word for
himself or the Sangha. Buddhist monks and nuns are not yogis, as the
word is understood. Putting it bluntly, they do not meditate for the
sake of meditation, a theme that is well exemplified in Zen
literature. Buddhists are also not interested in union with the
'divine'. So, please do not apply yogi to Buddhists.

However, if the Tibetan commentaries explain the word 'yogi' as a
person cultivating samatha and vipassana, I believe that is a
late-Mahayana definition under the Yogacara school. Still, you have to
be careful when applying the word to Buddhists, as it can be easily
misunderstood as to what a yogi practices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogacara

I do not know if 'lama' in Tibetan literature is translated from
'guru'. I do know 'lama' is a word with Mongolian origins.

Hopefully, the more knowledgeable members on the list can help you
with the other questions.

Thank you.

metta,
Yong Peng.

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

Probably he also gave a different meaning or usage to the already
existent words "guru" and "yogi". I believe also that the laity (maybe
not all) would call him a guru or an accomplished yogi.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the word "guru" was translated as "lama". The
word in this days includes a wide variety of usages that was modified
during the centuries in Tibet. According with Tibetan texts "lama" is
a teacher of the tantric method, the vajrayana. The word used to
indicate a teacher of the sutrayana or Mahayana method in Tibetan is
"Geshe" or in Sanskrit kalyanamitra, a virtuous friend.

It seems that In the Tibetan commentaries a yogi is defined as someone
abiding in samata and cultivating vipassana.

The yogi by definition is someone that has accomplish yoga - the union
with God (in their many senses according with the different
philosophical schools) - through the practice of one of this four
methods just mentioned.

The second use of the word is called a yogi "in the general sense",
not by definition, where means someone practicing one of this methods.
Thus we find a Bhakti-yogi, a Raja-yogi, a Jnana-yogi and a Karma-yogi.