Great Treasury of Merit

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Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Great Treasury of Merit

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Great Treasury

of Merit

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Without first generating a completely new subtle body, the illusory body, there is no way we can become a Buddha. No matter how long we meditate we will never be able to transform our present gross body into a Buddha’s body. To generate the illusory body we need to train in the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra, and to do this we must practise Guru yoga, regarding our Guru as inseparable from the Deity. In other words, the only way to become a Buddha is to practise Guru yoga in conjunction with the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra. If we understand this we will realize just how precious is the practice of Offering to the Spiritual Guide. We will also see that the way of generating bodhichitta according to Highest Yoga Tantra is much more profound and much more realistic than the way of generating it according to Sutra.

We may wonder why it is necessary to rely upon a Guru to practise generation stage and completion stage. Why can we not simply practise these yogas on our own and generate ourself as the Deity? The answer is that at the moment we are completely different from the Deity, and without the Guru we have no way of establishing a connection with the Deity. For example, the Deity Heruka is a transcendental being completely beyond the realms of ordinary experience. The only way we can connect with Heruka is through our Guru. The Guru’s extraordinary characteristic is that although in reality he is a transcendental being who is the same nature as Heruka, he is nevertheless able to appear in an ordinary form and communicate with us directly. In this way he is able to introduce us to Deities such as Heruka and guide us through the stages of transforming ourself into that Deity. Thus we should regard our Guru as an emanation of the Deity. Without the Guru it would be impossible for us to receive the blessings of Heruka or any other Deity. This is why Guru yoga is called ‘the gateway to receiving blessings’. All Tantric realizations depend entirely upon the blessings of the Guru. Without the water of the Guru’s blessings our minds are like dry seeds, incapable of spiritual growth.

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