Four aspects of approach and accomplishment
Four aspects of approach and accomplishment (bsnyen sgrub kyi yan lag bzhi). Approach, full approach, accomplishment, and great accomplishment. Four important aspects of Vajrayana practice, especially the recitation stage of yidam practice. These four aspects, however, can apply to any level of meaning within the tantras.
Their traditional analogy is to invite the ruler of a country, to present him with gifts and make a specific request, to obtain his permission to carry out one’s aim, and to use one’s authority to accomplish the welfare of self and others. In the context of recitation practice, ‘approach’ is to visualize the yidam deity with the mantra in its heart center, ‘full approach’ is the spinning garland of mantra syllables emanating light rays making offerings to all the buddhas in the ten directions, ‘accomplishment’ is to receive their blessings which purify all one’s obscurations, and ‘great accomplishment’ is to transform the world into the mandala of a pure realm, the beings into male and female deities, sounds into mantra and all thoughts and emotions into a pure display of innate wakefulness.
