Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

wisdom-form. A person has only one yidam, either
selected by oneself or chosen by the guru, and to this
yidam one is bound by an oath taken at the time of
initiation. This requires one to practice regularly with
the yidam form and mantra according to the guru's
instructions.
One's practice must of course be based upon a secure
realization of sunyata—without this there may be
serious consequences. On this point there is a good
story.
Once there was a lama of the Yellow Sect who had
taken for his yidam the god Jig-je (Vajrabhairava), a
very wrathful deity with awesome faces and three eyes
angrily glaring. From his mouth issue fierce flames. The
lama maintained a great concentration upon his yidam
until particularly the eyes of Jig-je and his own became
identified. After this he found that everyone he met died
from his wrathful glance, and anger seemed constantly
burning within him. He became very distressed over this
and did not dare to go out or to meet anyone. Finally, he
told his guru what had happened: "I am very sorry about
this," said the lama, "for I want to save others, not kill
them." His guru told him to stop meditating on Jig-je's
eyes and explained that his ability to kill indicated that
his bodhicitta was not developed sufficiently.
However, I think it was not the lama's fault that he
lacked bodhicitta. It was the fault of the guru who
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