Also see Ken McLeod
Charlie Awbery and David Chapman at The Alembic
Live-stream recording
Yidam: "meditational deity", exemplar (Daniel P. Brown's translation)
There are texts called sadhanas that describe a practice that supports the yidam visualization (visualization understood as full-spectrum sensory/proprioceptive/imaginal, not just visual)
Reminds me of Sam Webster's Calling In the Gods--it's not just because that took place in this same room, honest
The effectiveness of the practice depends on the building of energy, bliss, clarity
The function of Avalokiteshvara is to arise as compassion
The function of Vajrasattva is to arise as bliss-clarity
The urgency of mortality: Tibetan practice dramatically accelerated when it became clear the Chinese were going to invade them and their whole tradition was at risk of being lost
"Stepping into" the yidam
"They've got six arms and I don't -- how do I relate to that?" You can't make up your own--the radical alien-ness is the point. It's the contact with difference that causes transformation
Lama naljor / guru yoga: points not just to your direct human teacher but the whole lineage, the whole stack
Self-arising yidam, in anuyoga, as "minimum viable duality" before atiyoga/dzogchen -- complete synesthesia! Pervaded by the yidam -- offering up your experience to them...