In our Thunderbolt vehicle, the Vajrayana, quickness of success in one’s practice depends upon the degree of trust one has in the Guru. As if in a flash of lightening, one’s attraction to the Guru—likewise his or hers for you—comes from the passion of highest discrimination. Having seen, felt, and perhaps even tasted the very agency of the Buddha within this relationship, an inner-most, determined desire to stop the pain of existence for oneself and others arises. After such a fateful, correct appraisal of the sufferings, one takes refuge in the Guru as the Buddha, Guru as the Dharma, and Guru as the Sangha. In light of this seriousness, requiring openness and vulnerability, one embraces the Guru as one might a lifesaver in a roiling sea. Generosity, and it remedial effects, which matures patience and pliability, further strengthen one’s resolve and one’s own Buddha nature becomes closer at hand with giving and the removal of adventitious defilements, faults and failings. The compulsion to be the ‘knowing’ one, the one in control of the ‘others,’ attempting to dominate through mental and physical aggressions, lessens and gradually the ego’s death-grip weakens. Then it’s time to supplicate, praying unabashedly to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and especially to one’s Guru, to completely overcome all fear, anger, and indifference from which pride and jealousy also arise. Turn your attention outwards and analyze where you and your cherished individuality end and someone else’s begins. Focus on that point of inseparableness. Reflect on the Guru’s kindness, the same as your mother’s most tender demonstrations of love for you as her baby. Amplify this love with the fullness of your own mature passions. Direct this strong desire for unification with the object of your passion onto the Guru as the objectless projection of one’s own mind. Recall the Buddha’s teachings, that all is a projection of one’s own mind, until feeling the ripening acceleration of that passion become Great Compassion, a loving kindness and commitment to help others by realizing one’s Buddha nature. Pay homage to the Guru, and resume your four modes of being, free from worry or concern about oneself, knowing your Guru loves and supports you in your aspiration to become a mind hero, greatly kind and compassionate, just like them.
His Eminence Deshung Rinpoche, Kunga Tenpay Nyima, introduced Vajra Breathing by saying something like this: ‘I know you’re interested in the highest Tantric practices His Holiness will give you in India. But I can teach right now the best one. And it’s very simple.’ The year was 1980. ‘Vajra Breathing’ is how Sonam Tenzin, I believe, translated it. Rinpoche showed us the basic pranayama rounds of ‘three-threes,’ blowing stale air out through our nostrils, left, right, (and together) center. Then he demonstrated breathing in steadily through his nose, instructing us to visualize a white OM. Then he demonstrated retaining that breath, telling us to visualize a red AH. He finished by saying to breathe out measuredly, with a blue HUNG in mind, so as not to rustle even a hair in the nostrils. I don’t remember him saying to imagine our breath going out farther and farther, with each round, as I believe is taught in the Nong Sum. But I’m certain he stre...
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