Orgyen Chowang Rinpoche
Although the pointing-out instruction of the nature of mind is, strictly speaking, the domain of trekchod (Dzogchen), by reciting the twelve-syllable mantra of Guru Rinpoche, even without having received the instructions of trekchöd, we can receive empowerment directly from Guru Rinpoche.
Through this visualization (of Guru Rinpoche to receive empowerments in the Guru Yoga practice) and recitation of the mantra, we can receive the blessing of his mind and have the realization of the nature of mind as the Dharmakaya arise within our mind.
Through practice on the path, we can have the experience of appearances as the three kayas of enlightenment. There is no difference between that experience and the experience we gain through trekchöd practice. We can call it “the blessing of Guru Rinpoche” or “the view of trekchöd” that has arisen in our mind precisely as it is in the teaching.
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If there were no presence of Guru Rinpoche, reciting countless numbers of mantras would have no effect. It would be like doing something completely impossible. But we can receive, or attain, supreme and ordinary accomplishments through reciting the mantra. It invokes the presence of Guru Rinpoche. No matter how much ordinary talk we engage in, we won’t receive the blessings of the buddha of the three times, Guru Rinpoche’s blessing. However, reciting this mantra does attract his blessing.
When reciting the Guru Rinpoche mantra, maintain very strong faith and devotion to Guru Rinpoche who appears in the sky before you. Imagine that the mantra is the manifest form of Guru Rinpoche. Keep Guru Rinpoche in your speech, in your mind, and in your imagined sight of him in the sky before you. You imagine seeing the nature of your own mind as Guru Rinpoche. If you continue to recite the mantra with that attitude, imagination will manifest as reality and there is a very great danger that you might attain enlightenment!
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Mipham Rinpoche’s commentary to the Secret Essence Tantra, the Essence of luminosity, states that the deities and their mantras are one and the same. He explains In detail how it is possible for manifestations of enlightenment to take many different forms including that of a mantra, and how the essence of the deity appears directly in the mantra.
We don’t have the fortune at this time to see or encounter Guru Rinpoche's human form, the manifest body of enlightenment (Nirmanakaya), as people did in the eighth century. However, this mantra helps us arrive at the experience, or realization, of the mind of Guru Rinpoche.
