We all have devotion, but sometimes it’s a little shaky or fragile. We should take care of our devotion—reactivate, restrengthen, and re-glorify it. Guru Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal prayed, “May my devotion never waver, but always remain strong and steady.” We should be like this too. Keeping devotion fresh and vital is the responsibility of every practitioner and is itself great practice.

Devotion united with bodhichitta is very important. Again, when your devotion develops to the point where you’re free from doubt and hesitation, realization comes so easily. Unshakeable devotion brings blessings. This is spoken of very explicitly in Leu Dunma.

The Leu Dunma teaching is the unity of devotion, bodhichitta, and Dzogchen meditation expressed in the form of practice on Guru Padmasambhava. Leu Dunma is a Guru Yoga practice. As the great master Karma Chagme says, the absolute Guru Padmasambhava is the innate nature of mind, and the innate nature of the mind is the innate nature of everything. This means that devotion, bodhichitta, and everything else merge back into our primordial awareness, which is the innate nature of mind without any subject or object. When we reach the absolute state of Guru Padmasambhava, we’re one with Guru Padmasambhava. We will have achieved his level of realization, which is realization of the dharmakaya. Then we relax in that state.

But to achieve this, we need to increase our devotion, joy, and bodhichitta. We visualize and supplicate Guru Padmasambhava with practices like the Seven Line Prayer, then we complete everything by resting in the Dzogchen state. After this we dedicate the merit we have accumulated for our families, friends, and for all living beings. This is the way to achieve the absolute Guru Padmasambhava. It is how we can increase our inner beauty and let it shine to the world.”