jenny cares 

Exerpt from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book The Heart of the Path, found in the chapter Why We Should Look At The Guru As A Buddha.
   It is not so much a question of whether in reality our guru is a buddha. As Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo mentions,
Even if the guru is not a buddha, if the disciple looks at him as a buddha, such a practitioner of guru devotion experiences no loss, but only great profit.
  The story of the old woman and the dog's tooth supports this. An old [Tibetan] woman wanted very much to have a relic of the Buddha, so she asked her son, a trader, to bring her one. Her son forgot, but on the way back home [from India] saw a dead dog by the side of the road, pulled out one of its teeth, and when he got back gave it to his mother, telling her it was a Buddha's relic.
  His mother believed it actually was the holy tooth of Buddha and prayed to it with devotion. By praying and making offerings every day, she actually got Buddha's relics from it. Tiny relic pills were born from that dog's tooth. The Buddha's blessings entered the tooth so that actual Buddha's relics came from it. The dog's tooth was merely the condition; the principle cause of the relics was her devotion. The relics were born from her devotion. Through her devotion, the old woman got what she wanted. In a similar way, we can achieve enlightenment through guru yoga practice. Even if the guru from his side is not an enlightened being, if we devote ourselves to him as a buddha, we receive the blessings of a buddha through the guru.
  Relic pills can also come from statues or the holy bodies of great yogis, even before they pass away, as a result of the power of devotion and of attainments. When His Holiness Song Rinpoche went on pilgrimage to Tsari, a Chakrasamvara holy place in Tibet, Rinpoche came to a waterfall that is regarded as Chakrasamvara's bodhicitta seed. When Rinpoche took off his robes and sat under the waterfall to receive blessings, relics appeared from the lower part of Rinpoche's holy body. 
  Lama Zopa mentions his own guru,
  Also, my kind root guru His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche would sometimes manifest relics. He would pick white relic pills from his face and give them to his disciples.
  (Note from Jenny: photographs from top to bottom, left to right, The Heart of the Path bookcover; Lucky Knot Auspicious Symbol; a Buddha image; my own beloved teacher, Geshe Thubten Dawe; Lama Yeshe; and Lama Zopa Rinpoche)