Tutor, to cultivate your mind’s nature,
Do not be content with your understanding of emptiness.
Diligently cultivate, as much as you can,
Unaltered even rest in the fresh nature of whatever arises.
I have no instructions beyond that to give.

Written by Barway Dorje at the wish of Tragyal.

When your mind is caught by recollection, it is seen.
Don’t introduce the intellect’s alterations. Leave it as it is.
If the doubt “Is this it or not?” arises, rest in that.
If the resolution “It is” arises, rest in it.
If the dissatisfied thought “It isn’t” arises, let it go.
Whatever happens, be content with naked ordinariness.
Meditate on devotion for your guru and compassion for beings.

Dechen Barway Dorje wrote this to remind Karma Jangchup.

In the teaching on the Clear Guide for the Generation Stage, Guru Rinpoche describes the various aspects of gurusadhana of means of accomplishment of the guru, and he classifies them as outer, inner, secret, and very secret. But the fundamental question is: Why practice guru sadhana? In spite of the fact that in his introduction to these practices, Guru Rinpoche describes the historical basis in which they occurred, the purpose of gurusadhana is not the commemoration of history.

In general, all vajrayana practice is concerned with one or more of the three roots: the gurus, who are the root of blessing; the yidams, who are the roots of attainment or siddhis; and the dharmapalas, who are the roots of activity. Of these, the guru is the most important and includes the other two. After all, it is said, “Before there was the guru, even the name of Buddha was not heard.”

So we practice gurusadhana because each and every one of us possesses buddha nature. In fact, the true nature of our being—the true nature of our mind—is buddha nature. It is, however, veiled by our kleshas. The purpose of practicing gurusadhana is that it is the most effective way of removing the veils that obscure our buddha nature, of gathering the two accumulations, and achieving the two siddhis in this life.

This means that if someone practices gurusadhana with intense faith, they can achieve the state of Vajradhara—the state of unity—in this very lifetime. When we say that, it sounds almost unlikely because when we think of where we are now and the state of Vajradhara, the distance between them sounds impossibly great. But remember that the actual force of this path is faith, and even one moment of intense faith can make a tremendous change in your being.

Because we have buddha nature, if we have enough faith in and devotion for our guru, and if we can practice with confidence—confidence in the fact that because we have buddha nature, we can achieve the state of result of this practice—then, we will definitely be able to do so.

If we have less confidence, if we think “Well, these are wonderful practices—this outer, inner, secret, and very secret gurusadhana—but, surely they are not meant for an ignorant person like me. They must be meant for people who are already somebody special. And no doubt it would work for them, but it won’t work for me;” in other words, if you practice with doubt about the efficacy of the practice for you, then you will achieve a doubtful result. And if you take the attitude, “Well, you know they say this stuff. But, you know, who knows? They’re just trying to get you to do it. So they exaggerate. And probably not much is going to happen,” then not much is going to happen. So the effectiveness of the practice depends on your mind, your faith, and your attitude.

Technical proficiency, clear generation stage, and lucid completion stage practice are, of course, important, but faith and devotion are far more important than any technical proficiency. After all, it is said, “Even if the yogin crying or praying with faith sounds like a whining dog, the blessings will still enter them.” Remember that.

There is no tradition in the vajrayana that you have to do a specific practice for every empowerment you have received. Traditionally, in Tibet, we receive hundreds of different empowerments. Often they are given as collections, like the Treasury of Precious Termas and so on. No one could be expected to do hundreds of different practices every day.

So how are we to regard this? Every empowerment serves to bless us, consecrate us, and reenter us into the ranks of the vajrayana practitioners. But whatever practice we are doing, all vajrayana practices contain the essence of all other practices as well. It is said, “By meditating on any one deity, you are simultaneously  meditating on all deities. By presenting offerings to any one deity, you are simultaneously presenting offerings to all deities. By realizing any one deity, you are realizing all deities.” So with this understanding, I have never heard [Bardor Tulku] Rinpoche impose any commitment based on a specific empowerment.

You need have no fear that receiving an empowerment of Guru Rinpoche imposes on you the duty of doing, either at the present or any time in the future, a specific practice of Guru Rinpoche. Since all deities are the same in nature, all empowerments bless and further consecrate your present practice, whatever it is.

We should not fear receiving empowerments, because of this misunderstanding of samaya. The more empowerments we receive, the more blessing we receive, and the more we enter the ranks of the vajrayana.

Traditionally, what is regarded among the most secret of teachings is that of the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen. And yet, my khenpo told me, “Dzogchen should be taught as widely as possible; it should be taught not just to people who are going to practice it but to everyone, even to animals.” So traditionally, where I come from, animals are allowed to receive empowerments and be present when instructions are given.

If it were harmful to receive an empowerment and not do the practice, we would not do that to animals, becasue certainly animals are not going to do any sadhana practice in that life. So why do we admit animals to the ranks of an empowerment and instruction? Because they form a karmic connection with the vajrayana teaching such that once they are free of this animal life, they will be reborn in a position to do these practices.

So never fear the imposition of commitment through empowerment.

NAMO GURU!
I bow to the supreme guru Vajrasattva.
I will provide here a little instruction for disciples
On the purification of karma.

Imagine your guru, Vajrasattva, above your head
In the form of the second Buddha, Padmakara.
In nature he is Padmakara indivisible from your root guru.
He is white and red with one smiling face.
His two hands hold a vajra and a kapala of amrita.
In sambhogakaya attire, he is embraced by white Tsogyal.
Seated in vajra and lotus posture, they blaze with light rays.
They are sitting on a lion throne, lotus, sun, and moon.
They clearly embody all buddhas of the three times.
Offer a billion mandalas, your body, and your possessions.
Confess all wrongdoing of body, speech, and mind of the three times.
In their heart on a moon is HUM surrounded by the hundred syllables.
Streaming amrita purifies wrongs and obscurations.

Recite the six syllables, the hundred syllables,
And the all-sufficient VAJRA GURU.
Pray to Guru Rinpoche and the three roots.

Your mind, awareness of this moment,
Is beyond characterization as this or that.
Without being distracted from the continuity
Of mere presence, cultivate it without fixation.
Whatever happens—birth, death, joy, or misery—
Remain undistracted yet relaxed.

Always entrust your heart to your root guru through devotion.
Turn your mind to holy dharma.
Give up as many mundane actions as you can.
If you do all this, you will accomplish much.

It would be excellent for you now to engage in purification and accumulation
according to tradition, with inviolate samaya toward both
your guru and your monastery, entrusting your whole life to the cultivation
of virtue in a good retreat in isolation or in a hermitage. Please
keep the tradition of doing so in mind. Written by Barway Dorje. May
it bring virtue!

Composed as oral instruction for women of Palkhyim Yedrong gathered in play:

From the expanse of great bliss atop your heads
Your kind root guru sings to you of dharma.
Smiling with pleasure he plants the seed
Of freedom in the fortunate with faith.
Pray with yearning and no doubt.

I am deeply saddened
By our endless bewildered planning
In this inescapable ocean of samsara.
Give up worldly actions.
Emulate the lives of siddhas of the past.
I offer the benevolent aspiration
That I lead all connected to me to freedom.

Composed by Barway Dorje for some women of Yelpa.