Advice on How to Practice by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, referring to Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s Short Preliminary Practice, also called Excellent Path to Enlightenment

If for example, you are feeling hot and suddenly, along comes this breeze to cool you down, you should think of this as a Guru Rinpoche manifestation.

So to answer the question, “How do we take the guru as the path?” – It is a matter of taking everything, to be none other than Guru Rinpoche – whatever that might be. Even should you hear the sound of coughing, or any displeasing sound, that sound is taken as Guru Rinpoche’s voice, mainly in the form of the mantra: OM ÀH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHA HUM.
That’s one way.

Emptiness: the example of the Mirage
These methods might sound very theistic but there is a distinction to be made.
Theistic-minded religious people may talk in a similar way, but what is missing is the notion of mixing one’s mind with the guru’s mind. The real guru is your inner nature of mind, which is the emptiness aspect and this is what makes things different. When you have the view of emptiness as a base and then go ahead with applying these theistic methods, it works. For those who can accept emptiness, for them, everything is possible.

It’s like the example of the mirage. If you are in the desert, and see a mirage, if you know it is a mirage, it’s completely up to you how you take it. Whether you approach, escape or divert your path is of little consequence, since each of these acts will give you a certain result. Once you know it is only a mirage, to approach is merely for the sake of doing so and not because you think there is any real water there. Similarly, to divert your path is not due to the non-existence of water, but simply because you know there is a mirage there. The non-existence of water and the mirage are different.

[Student]: Could you say something about how the mirage and the non-existence of water are different from each other?

[Rinpoche]: Non-existence means it has once existed and then it has become non-existent.
It’s the water in the mirage that we are talking of here. The water in the mirage has never existed: not as a mirage nor as water. It’s a total illusion.

[Student]: So is it the seeing, the actual view that becomes existent – non-existent?

[Rinpoche]: No, if you see a mirage as a mirage then you are not wrong. It is when you see the ‘water of the mirage’ as water.

Persevering with One Path
For those without any particular practice, this ngöndro (preliminary practice), is your practice. Unless your personal teacher has designated you with a certain practice, I would urge you to keep on doing this one. It is fine to go along to all kinds of teachings, but if you want to go to initiations, perhaps you had better ask whether doing page after page of sadhanas is a requirement. If the answer is ‘Yes,’ you should definitely think twice. You might even be told, “It’s not so much,” but in reality, it all adds up to quite a lot. It depends on whether or not you have the time. Of course, if you have that kind of leisure at your fingertips, please go ahead and do it – our path is wonderful. If receiving initiations, and collecting a lot of commitments makes you feel good, and you’re the type of person who doesn’t particularly feel guilty about not really keeping the commitments, then fine!

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Guru Rinpoche (Padmansabhava) and His Mantra