A disciple of Atisha asked him “Oh! Atisha give me a good instruction.” Atisha said: “Faith and devotion, devotion, devotion. That is the instruction.” We never know devotion is the instruction, right?
Therefore, all the teachings, all the masters of the teaching, the great Vajrayana or Dzogchen [masters] request highly the devotion first and then the intelligence.
Therefore, all the teachings, all the masters of the teaching, the great Vajrayana or Dzogchen [masters] request highly the devotion first and then the intelligence.
Then to be able to recognize that kind of view, we need to practice Guru Yoga first, a lot, to establish the good, genuine, strong and unchangeable devotion to the Guru.
In fact, if one has a strong and real devotion to the guru, it will definitely slow down the individual from running here and there. Why so many people are always running some where? Of course, not enough knowledge and devotion but mostly devotion.
Guru Rinpoche is an important deity, very important person in Tibet, to Varjayana practitioners generally and especially to those who have faith in Guru Rinpoche.
I mentioned the importance of faith, believing or confidence, in the Dharma, the practice, in the Guru, or in the Three Jewels. That is the key to any Dharma practice.
The essence of Guru Rinpoche is the same as the essence of Buddha Shakyamuni. In Sutrayana there’s Buddha Shakyamuni. In Tantrayana there’s [Buddha] Padmasambhava.
To be able to remove obstacles it’s important to pray, to think of, and to practice Guru Rinpoche, to recite Guru Rinpoche mantra.
At the same time, when you meditate on Guru Rinpoche, or Guru Yoga, “yoga” also means “practice” or “meditation”. So “Guru Yoga” is meditation on Guru. It’s high meditation.
