The white A and guru yoga: what the “Ah” practice is
In Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s community the white A guru yoga is called the essence of Dzogchen — and it is received with transmission.
Why it works
The white Tibetan letter A appears in more than one Dzogchen practice. The Atiyoga Foundation, created at Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s wish, describes guru yoga as the base and essence of Atiyoga — another name for Dzogchen — and the guru yoga of the white A as an essential practice for integrating one’s understanding of contemplation, quoting him that the most important aspect of Dzogchen is to go into the essence of guru yoga, and it is received with the teacher’s transmission. What is open to anyone is the support Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche names for all of this: devotion to the awakened and compassion for those who are not.
How to do it
- Learn what the practice is from its own lineage: read the openly published descriptions from Dzogchen communities.
- Know that the guru yoga of the white A, as Chögyal Namkhai Norbu taught it, is practised by those who have received transmission from him or his successor — ask for it there rather than assembling it from fragments online.
- In the meantime, cultivate the supports that are open to everyone: begin and end your sittings with a moment of devotion to whatever represents awakening for you, and a wish that others be free of suffering.
- If you have received the practice, do it as you were taught, and bring questions to the teacher or community that gave it.
Evidence
The Atiyoga Foundation’s retreat description calls guru yoga the base and essence of Atiyoga, describes the white A practice as essential for integrating contemplation, and requires prior transmission from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu or Namkhai Yeshi to attend. Devotion and compassion as the support of training are from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. (anecdotal)
The Atiyoga Foundation source is a retreat description, not a teaching text; this page deliberately does not reproduce the guru yoga itself. Practices with the A differ between lineages.
Sources
- Atiyoga Foundation. Guru Yoga of the White A with the Invocation of Garab Dorje (retreat description, quoting Chögyal Namkhai Norbu; participation requires his or Namkhai Yeshi’s transmission).
- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche (1999). As the Clouds Vanish — an excerpt adapted from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s Rainbow Painting (Rangjung Yeshe Publications), with an interview with Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Winter 1999.
Common mistake
Treating “Ah” as a relaxation sound or a mantra to repeat for calm. In the lineages that use it, the A is tied to guru yoga and to the teacher’s transmission, not to stress relief.
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More practices for Dzogchen: Rigpa, the Great Perfection and How It Is Practised
- Settle and rest: neither scattered nor concentrated
Let body and mind settle into an easy, uncontrived rest — the ground Patrul Rinpoche says has to be calm before anything can be introduced.
- Look for the mind: where a thought comes from, stays and goes
Examine your own mind the way the Dzogchen preliminaries do — searching for where a thought arises, where it stays and where it goes.
- Let thoughts free themselves, like writing on water
The third of Garab Dorje’s statements: neither suppress nor follow a thought, and recognise it so that it leaves no trace.
- Short moments, many times
Train in brief, genuine moments of non-distraction repeated through the day, rather than long sessions you strain to hold.
- Bring the view into conduct: view, meditation and action
Let what you understand in practice shape how you act — with the bodhisattva’s care for others, and without the hope and fear that usually drive you.
- Find a qualified teacher and understand what transmission is
Recognition of rigpa is traditionally introduced by a qualified teacher — so the honest practice before it is learning what that means and seeking one carefully.
- Understand trekchö and tögal, the two main practices
Know what the “thorough cut” and the “crossover” are, why tögal is kept for advanced students, and why neither is learned from a page.
- When open, objectless practice starts to feel unreal: ground first
If resting in open awareness leaves the world feeling dreamlike or you feeling absent, come back to the body and ordinary life first, then talk to a teacher.
Related concepts
- Non-Dual Awareness, Made Practical
Effortless mindfulness and the recognition of open, aware presence
- Shamatha: The Buddhist Practice of Calm Abiding
Training the mind to rest: the nine stages and their modern neurological parallels
- Śūnyatā: Emptiness and the Two Truths in Madhyamaka
Nāgārjuna’s Middle Way: why nothing has a fixed essence, and why that is not the same as nothing
- Bodhicitta: The Awakening Mind and How It Is Cultivated
The intention at the heart of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and the classical ways Tibetan teachers train it
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