THE EXTRAORDINARY OR INNER PRELIMINARIES The stream of his blessings will never flow So earnestly arouse devotion in your mind! And Jetsun Rangrik Repa says: Wishing for primal wisdom beyond the intellect to dawn Without fervent trust in the teacher Is like waiting for sunshine in a north-facing cave That way, appearances and mind will never merge 240 The devotional practice of Guru Yoga is the only way to awaken within you the realization of the uncontrived natural state No other method can bring such realization Naropa was a pat;u;lita, highly learned in all three vehicles, and after vanquishing all the challenges of the tirthikas, he was given the position of pat:t4ita protector of the northern gate of Vikramasila 100 But one day a wisdom 4akini told him, "You are learned in words, but not in their meaning You still need to follow a teacher." Complying with her instructions, he followed Tilopa and endured numerous trials, until one day, Tilopa said to him, "In spite of everything I have taught you, you still haven't understood!" and hit him on the forehead with his sandal At that instant, Naropa realized the natural state and his wisdom became identical with his teacher's • It is also said that Nagabodhi attained supreme accomplishment by snatching up and eating a piece of snot dropped by the noble master Nagarjuna And Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa says: When I saw the writings of that second Buddha, Longchenpa, it dawned on me that he was genuinely a Buddha, and I prayed to him with great fervour He appeared to me in a vision and accepted me Spontaneous realization was born within me and from that day forth, I have ben able to guide over a hundred disciples The diligent ones would not have advanced beyond worldly concentrations, the intelligent ones would have strayed into intellectualization; they only realized the absolute truth because they were driven by the counterbalancing force of their devotion During the period of his exile in Gyalmo Tsawarong, the great translator Vairotsana taught the old man Pang Mipham Gonpo how to take the teacher's blessings as the path Mipham Gonpo was eighty, and stiff with • For more details, see pages 157-159 312 GURU YOGA old age, so Vairotsana tied his body upright with a meditation-band and made him rest his head on a meditation support.* Mipham Gonpo experienced realization of the primordial purity of trekcho without error His body dissolved into infinitesimal particles and he attained Buddhahood.241 You can compare this teaching with any others from all the nine yiinas, but you will never find a path better or more profound than this It may be called a preliminary practice, but in fact this is the ultimate key point of all main practices This alone, if you always and in every situation make it the heart of your practice, is enough-even if you practise nothing else It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that you dedicate yourself to it from the very depths of your being II HOW TO PRACTISE GURU YOGA For the actual practice of this profound path of Guru Yoga there are three stages: visualizing the field of merit, offering the seven branches and praying with resolute trust Visualizing the field of merit To transform your perception of the world requires a strong and open mind, so begin by visualizing everything, as far as you can see, as the Palace of Lotus Light, complete in all its features Visualize yourself at the centre of the palace, and think of yourself as having the nature of the c,liikini Yeshe Tsogyal This will ensure that you are a fit receptacle for the empowerments, arouse the primal wisdom of bliss and emptiness, and create a connection with the guidance she had from her teacher 242 In form, however, visualize yourself as Vajrayogini She is red, with one face, two arms and three eyes She is gazing longingly at the heart of the teacher-"longingly" here expressing a sense of impatience to be with the teacher, this being the only source of joy With her right hand she is playing a small skull-drum held up in the air, awakening beings from the sleep of ignorance and confusion Her left hand is resting on her hip, holding the curved knife that cuts the root of the three poisons She is naked except for her bone ornaments and garlands of flowers She is visible but insubstantial, like a rainbow shining • The band is a long belt which helps the meditator to maintain a correct posture over a long period The meditation suppon is a long stick cupped at one end which serves as a chin rest 313 THE EXTRAORDINARY OR INNER PRELIMINARIES in the sky Suspended in space, an arrow's length above her head, is a lotus of many kinds of jewels with a hundred thousand petals, in full bloom Upon it is a sun disc and upon that a moon disc On this throne sits your glorious root teacher, that incomparable treasure of compassion, the embodiment of the Buddhas of past, present and future, in the form of the Great Guru of O