Guru yoga is a term widely used in Tibetan Buddhism to indicate how the mind of the student should be trained so that it may harmonize or link (yoga) with the mind of the preceptor (guru). It is the method by which you actualize the state of your guru. This practice was prominent in Indian Buddhist tantra and, faithful to the Indian tradition, Tibet has embraced and preserved guru yoga in its many forms. In Buddhism guru yoga is the realization that one’s spiritual friend, or guru, has the essential nature of all the buddhas. Guru yoga shows how a person can best interact with his or her spiritual guide to purify the mind at its deepest level and develop inspired realizations of the path. Because of its importance, guru yoga is emphasized throughout Mahāyāna Buddhism.
The Guru Yoga Text and Its Extensive and Condensed Commentaries
This work consists of two texts. The first is an extensive commentary of The Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita based on the tantric oral tradition as presented by Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo in his Treasury of Precious Jewels. The second is a condensed commentary to the same work based on the sūtra tradition. Each explains the guru yoga practice of Jé Tsongkhapa from a different perspective and emphasizes different meditative practices.
Tsongkhapa’s Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita
It is said that the original form of the guru yoga practice presented here was imparted by Jé Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) to select students during his lifetime. One of his students, Gyalwa Gendün Drup (1391–1474), later known as the first Dalai Lama, taught it to his own students, and it was collated by Dülkarwa and written down by Dülnakpa Palden Sangpo (1402–73), who is often named as its author. Later, more extensive versions appeared and doubt arose about the original author, but it is clear that the practice itself was inspired by Jé Tsongkhapa.
The ten verses of the original version are not ostensibly related to mantra. The first verse introduces the central figure of this guru yoga—Jé Tsongkhapa—who is visualized in Tuṣita heaven, abiding among the retinue of Maitreya, the future buddha. A white cloud issues from Maitreya’s heart, and at its crest is Jé Tsongkhapa and his two spiritual sons, Gyaltsap Jé and Khedrup Jé.
The next seven verses explain the proper means of interacting with the guru, for each verse explains a limb of the seven-limb prayer.
The ninth verse teaches the five-line Miktsema praise:
Avalokiteśvara, great treasure of nonreifying compassion,
Manjuśrī, master of stainless wisdom,
Secret Lord, destroyer of hordes of māras,
Tsongkhapa, crown jewel of scholars of the Land
of Snows,
Losang Drakpa, I make requests at your feet.
Originally this verse was composed by Jé Tsongkhapa in praise of his teacher Jé Rendawa (1349–1412), but Rendawa changedthe wording and offered it back to Jé Tsongkhapa. The tenth verse is a concluding prayer.
The ten verses are numbered ||1||, ||2||, and so forth up to ||10|| in the translation that follows. Verse 10 of the original version has been replaced in Pabongkha’s commentary with verses from the oral tradition. All ten verses of the original version are set out and explained in H. E. Chöden Rinpoché’s condensed commentary.
The Extensive Commentary
The practice of the hundreds of deities of Tuṣita is explained at length by Pabongkha Rinpoché (1878–1941) in his commentary called A Treasury of Precious Jewels, which adds detailed instruction from the oral tradition on yogic or tantric practices. Pabongkha’s commentary (described in more detail below) is indented, boldface, in either non-italic or italic type. Non-italic type—corresponding to the large letters in the Tibetan text—indicates words to be recited or contemplated. Italics—corresponding to small letters in the Tibetan text—generally marks instruction on how this guru yoga is to be practiced.
"H. E. Chöden Rinpoché brings out the deeper meaning of the text."
Pabongkha Rinpoché’s Commentary, A Treasury of Precious Jewels
Pabongkha’s commentary is called Bountiful Advice Clarifying the Oral Transmission and Explaining the Deep Meaning of How to Practice the Profound Path of Yoga of the Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita, Called “A Treasury of Precious Jewels.” Since it adds instruction from the oral transmission, it transforms the hundreds of deities of Tuṣita into a work related to tantra.
Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo Rinpoché, Jampa Tenzin Trinlé Gyatso (1878–1941), was recognized at an early age as an emanation of Jangkya Rolpai Dorjé (1717–86). He trained at Sera Mé College, where he completed his geshé degree, and later became the revered teacher of Ling Rinpoché (1903–83) and Trijang Rinpoché (1900–81), tutors of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Regarded as a brilliant orator, learned exponent of tantra, and charismatic teacher of lamrim (the stages of the path), he famously taught Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand in Lhasa in 1925 at the request of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876–1933). His collected works, in fourteen volumes, remain an important source for clarifying points of sūtra and tantra.
The Structure of Pabongkha’s Commentary
The subdivisions of Jé Pabongkha’s commentary are to be found in bold numbers within the body of his text. There are three major sections: the preliminaries, the actual practice, and the conclusion.
The preliminaries cover the standard topics: refuge, bodhicitta, the four immeasurables, and the merit field, and these are explained in chapter 2.
The actual practice deals with visualizing the merit field, offering the seven-limb prayer plus a maṇḍala, and the main practice itself. Visualizing the merit field and offering the seven-limb prayer (verses 2 through 8 of the ten verses of The Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita) teaches the way, common to both sūtra and tantra, that one should engage in guru yoga. This corresponds to chapter 3.
The main practice has three sections, in which the blessings of the four empowerments, the seven types of special wisdom, and finally the entire path are serially invoked. Receiving the blessings of your guru’s enlightened mind is at the heart of guru yoga, and here the blessings are enhanced by the addition of essential elements of the tantric path from the oral tradition.
In the first section, the blessings of the four empowerments—vase, secret, wisdom, and word—are merged with Jé Tsongkhapa guru yoga. Here the three lineage protectors—Manjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and Vajrapāṇi—and their external, internal, and secret forms are visualized at the crown, throat, and heart of Jé Tsongkhapa. Then they serially confer the blessings of the four empowerments. This corresponds to chapter 4.
In the second section, requesting the blessings of special wisdom, five rounds of visualization are also explained. First, detailed instruction is given on how to generate seven types of wisdom: vast wisdom, clear wisdom, swift wisdom, profound wisdom, and the wisdoms of explanation, debate, and composition. This corresponds to chapter 5.
Then, in the five rounds of visualization, five different visualizations are applied to five rounds of Miktsema praise in order to purify the negativities of body, speech, and mind and to receive the blessings of the vajra body, vajra speech, and vajra mind, as well as the blessings of the four empowerments. This corresponds to chapter 6.
In the third section, requesting the blessings of the entire path, Pabongkha Rinpoché gives a broad overview of the path to enlightenment, dealing first with guru yoga and then with the practices of small, medium, and great scope. It is only by constantly bringing to mind all the practices leading to enlightenment, which are themselves incontrovertibly related in a causal sequence, and nurturing their generation, that one can actually attain enlightenment. This corresponds to chapter 7.
The final section is the conclusion, in which Pabongkha gives extensive instruction on how to properly conclude meditation on guru yoga. This corresponds to chapter 8.
H. E. Chöden Rinpoché’s Extensive Commentary
His Eminence Chöden Rinpoché adds clarifying instruction to Jé Pabongkha’s inspired commentary. By doing so he brings out the deeper meaning of the text, revealing how ordinary practitioners can understand and apply Pabongkha’s instruction on the tantric oral tradition. H. E. Chöden Rinpoché’s words appear in regular type in the translation that follows.
The Condensed Commentary
In this section, H. E. Chöden Rinpoché explains the practice of The Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita from the perspective of sūtra. He explains all ten verses of the original version, which are reproduced in the appendix. His commentary has three parts: motivation, the six preliminary practices, and the actual practice and conclusion.
Chapter 1, “Motivation,” presents a brief discussion on the entire path, including the precious human rebirth, death and impermanence, karma and its result, the causes of refuge, the Mahāyāna, and guru yoga in order to incite a virtuous motivation.
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Explore the guru yoga practice of Jé Tsongkhapa with a legendary meditation master. The Hundreds of Deities of Tuṣita is an inspiring and well-loved guru yoga practice that originated from Jé Tsongkhapa himself and was disseminated by the First Dalai Lama. In this book, Chöden Rinpoché—a celebrated scholar who was chosen as a debate partner for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as an accomplished yogi who spent nineteen years in solitary retreat—offers two different commentaries to guide the reader’s understanding.
