The Importance of Guru Yoga in the Dudjom Tersar Lineage

1. The Root of Blessings

Dudjom Rinpoche teaches that all accomplishments arise from devotion to the Guru. He explains that the guru is not merely a person but the living embodiment of all the Buddhas—the root of blessings. Through Guru Yoga, one connects directly with the enlightened mind of the lineage, especially Guru Rinpoche, and receives the nectar of realization through blessings.

“The root of all attainments is devotion to the Guru. When unwavering devotion arises, blessings enter the heart.”

— Dudjom Rinpoche, from his commentary on the Ngondro

2. The Swift Path of Realization

In Dudjom Rinpoche’s Ngondro commentary, he emphasizes that Guru Yoga is the swift path. It condenses the essence of all paths and allows for direct transmission beyond conceptual understanding. When we dissolve the dualistic view and recognize the guru as inseparable from our own awareness, realization dawns.

“When you see the guru as the Buddha, and devotion arises naturally, realization will come without delay.”

3. Dissolving the Illusion of Separation

“The guru is not outside you. Your own awareness, when freed from clinging, is the ultimate guru.”

— Dudjom Rinpoche, oral instructions

4. Protection from Obstacles

In the practice of Guru Yoga, especially as taught in the Dudjom Tersar lineage, one visualizes the guru (often in the form of Guru Rinpoche) above one’s head, radiating light and wisdom. At the moment of merging, the boundary between self and other dissolves. This reveals the non-dual nature of mind—the ultimate Guru is your own awareness.

Dudjom Rinpoche also explains that devotion and Guru Yoga protect the practitioner from obstacles—both outer and inner. When you are connected to the wisdom heart of the lineage, you are like a child in the arms of a mother, safe and guided.

5. Essential for the Practice of Dzogchen

In the Heart Essence teachings of the Dudjom lineage, Guru Yoga is not preparatory—it is essential. Without the blessings of the guru, the recognition of rigpa, the innate awareness, remains obscured. Guru Yoga ripens the mind so that recognition is possible.

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From A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom: Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practices ~ Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje

“Whether our teachers present in person are ordinary beings or emanations of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, if we are able to pray to them considering them as the Buddha, there is absolutely no difference between them and the Buddha or Bodhisattva or yidam deity in person, because the source of blessings is devotion. So whichever profound practice we are undertaking, whether the generation phase or the perfection phase, we should begin by making the teacher’s blessings the path. There is no more to it than that. But as long as we have not received the blessings, we will not be genuinely on the path. It is said that if disciples who keep the commitments give themselves wholeheartedly, with devotion, to an authentic diamond master, they will obtain the supreme and common accomplishments even if they have no other methods. But without devotion to the teacher, even if we complete the approach and accomplishment practices of the yidams of the six tantra sections, we will never obtain the supreme accomplishment. And we will be unlikely to accomplish many of the ordinary accomplishments either, such as those of long life, wealth, or bringing beings under one’s power. Even if we do manage to achieve a little, it will have necessitated a lot of hardship and will have nothing to do with the profound path. When unmistaken devotion takes birth in us, obstacles on the path will be dispelled and we will make progress, obtaining all the supreme and ordinary accomplishments without depending on anything else. This is what we mean by the profound path of Guru Yoga. Now in making devotional prayer the path, the objects of our prayer are the ones who actually bestow on us the greatest kindness—the teachers themselves. We can therefore meditate on them in any form. Nevertheless, if we visualize our teacher in the form of the second Buddha, Padma Thöthrengtsel, who is the speech of all the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times appearing physically as a diamond master, all unfavorable circumstances and obstacles on the path will naturally be dispelled and we will accomplish the twofold goal in accordance with all our wishes. The dakini Yeshe Tsogyal speaks of this most essential and profound point as follows: 

In general terms, and for the people of Tibet in times to come, 

The Lotus-Born is your predestined teacher. To accomplish the Guru you should strive, Perceiving your own teacher in the form of Padma. 

Thus the blessings of compassion will flow the more abundantly. 

Practice on the Teacher’s Mind in sadhanas both long and short: I promise, you cannot but accomplish Buddhahood in one life. 

And according to his own diamond words, 

“For fortunate beings who have devotion And yearningly pray to me, 

By virtue of my special prayers of aspiration— Cause and effect being connected— My compassion is swifter than that of other Buddhas.”

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