[From a teaching by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche on the Clear Guide for the Generation Stage. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso. Transcribed by Linda Lee. Edited by Basia Coulter. All right reserved. Please do not reprint without permission.]
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.
