A Daily Guru Devotion Meditation: Generating Faith, Remembering Kindness, Requesting to Please, Based on Verses from Six-session Guru Yoga
[You are] every single Gone-to-Bliss One of the three times [and ten directions],
Taking the form [of a saffron-robed monk for] whomever it subdues,
In reality working for sentient beings in numberless universes by
doing the actions of Buddha.1
[Think that the Guru is] particularly working for me, doing the activities of Buddha for me, by giving refuge, granting vows, giving sutra commentaries and oral transmissions, teaching the alphabet, giving initiations and tantric commentaries, and giving instructions or advice. These are the activities of Buddha, which definitely lead me to enlightenment. To achieve enlightenment I definitely need these activities and it is the Guru who is granting them. Since I cannot see the Buddha in pure forms, the Buddha manifests in an ordinary form, in an impure aspect, and then performs all these activities that bring me to liberation and enlightenment.
In the view of ordinary beings, who don't have a pure mind or high realizations, the Guru manifests in an ordinary form.2 As mentioned in the tantras, "I who am called Vajrasattva will abide in ordinary forms in order to benefit sentient beings." Vajradhara himself said that he would manifest in ordinary forms and guide me to enlightenment by doing the actions mentioned above, which I definitely need in order to achieve enlightenment. Not only that, but the Guru does various actions to guide me, such as showing wrathful and peaceful aspects, giving instructions, and by using many other ways and many other skilful means.
Along with Vajradhara, there are numberless other buddhas: Vajradhara is one type, then there are the three types of Buddha—vajra holy body Vairochana, vajra holy speech Amitabha, vajra holy mind Akshobhya—and the hundred different types of Buddha. I don't have the pure karma to see these buddhas so they cannot guide me directly. Only the virtuous friends can guide me, so it is they who do all the actions of the Buddha. Therefore, these virtuous friends are more special than all the rest of the buddhas. They are more precious.
As Padampa Sangye said, "Regard the Guru as more precious than the Buddha, then you will achieve attainment in this life." As far as qualities, the gurus and buddhas are the same, but the kindness of the Guru is greater because by showing this ordinary aspect they can give guidance directly and I can receive guidance directly.
I request the Guru, the precious one
Achieving all the realizations general and sublime,
Depends upon correctly devoting to the virtuous friend,
Therefore giving up even my own body and life
Please grant me blessings to be able to practice/achieve only pleasing you.3
Pleasing the Guru is the most important practice that brings every success. It is the most important practice for achieving enlightenment in this lifetime. Praying like this every day creates the cause to be able to do this in future lives. Why is it so important? Why is pleasing the Guru emphasized so much? Because pleasing the Guru brings the most powerful purification. Even if mistakes were made in the past, such as breaking the advice or breaking samaya with the Guru, pleasing the Guru is the best and easiest way to purify these. Everything gets completely purified. It is also the quickest and easiest way to accumulate the most extensive merit. So it is the quickest way to receive the blessings of the Guru, the quickest way to achieve enlightenment, and the quickest way to enlighten all sentient beings.
It is very good for people to do guru devotion meditation with Six-session Guru Yoga.
Notes
1 In the Alex Berzin translation, this verse appears as: "I humbly beseech you my precious Guru, just as the buddhas of the three times and ten directions have tamed (sentient beings), you too enact the buddhas' deeds in countless realms taking the form of a saffron-robed monk." [Return to text]
2 This is a commentary to the second verse, which I am not directly translating. Berzin's translation reads: "I humbly beseech you my precious Guru, esteemed by Vajradhara, for those meager of mind, as a field of merit more holy than the endless circles of infinite buddhas." [Return to text]
3 Berzin's translation for the third verse reads: "Every supreme and mundane attainment follows upon pure devotion to you, my protector, seeing this I forsake my body and even my life; bless me to practice what will only please you." [Return to text]
