LoveFromColorado wrote: ↑Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:03 pm
They were just the preliminaries for the text he is offering a transmission for. I *think* Vajrasattva does not require empowerment and I have studied guru yoga in a generic sense. There were no clarifications on what to practice specifically, just that they are prerequisites.
At first I was confused as to what you meant by preliminaries "for" the text. After taking a look at the text I see what you're saying is to practice the instructions in it, it says one should first do ngondro. So that means you need to establish a relationship with a lama you come to deeply trust, and receive at the very least a reading transmission for whatever ngondro text they recommend and get started with those accumulations--traditionally 100,000 recitations of each section along with 100,000 prostrations done either during the refuge or guru yoga section. To do guru yoga, one must have a guru, since the essence of that practice is to mingle one's mind with the wisdom mind of a specific human guru(s) one received the transmission from; it's not the kind of thing one begins without having formed a relationship with a teacher that one intends to continue to deeply cultivate. Generally speaking, I think one could begin the other sections as soon as one had received the reading transmission from any qualified lama, although the general thrust of ngondro teachings leans toward basically practicing all the sections similarly to guru yoga, so ideally one would do it that way. And yes, you could practice the version of Vajrasattva in ngondro with reading transmission alone, although it would be even better to receive a Vajrasattva empowerment to be able to transform the practice from an outer visualization to a self-visualization at the end. But we gotta work with our circumstances; hopefully, we have a lifetime to go deeper and deeper into practice, so getting started ASAP andmaking use of whatever time we have is best. Good luck!
