His Holiness Shenphen Dawa Rinpoche

Short Dudjom Tersar Ngondro Teachings

March 24-25, 2013
(This is the first of two parts of teachings Rinpoche gave on the Short Dudjom
Tersar Ngondro last May. The second part will be posted here next month during
Saga Dawa).

Setting Motivation
Before the teachings begin, we have to examine our motivation. That is to say, for
the benefit of all parent sentient beings as infinite as space, in order to repay the
kindness of these gracious beings, we will listen to these teachings, and by
practicing accordingly we will relieve the suffering of them all.

Short Tersar Ngondro - Origins

So now, this short tersar comes from the Troma cycle, but if you are doing the
general practice, it will also suffice for that. This tersar is a revelation that Dudjom
Lingpa discovered for this specific moment in history because he realized that in
the future we would be extremely busy and wed hardly have time to practice.
Therefore for sentient beings of these times he revealed the Short Tersar Ngondro
thereby authorizing us to do this special short version of the Ngondro. Dudjom
Lingpa dedicated this practice for our benefit. His Holiness, my father later edited
and re-arranged it to make it easier for us to practice.

The Meaning of Ngondro

Now what does ngondro actually mean? The word ngondro means go ahead.
Our translation, which translates it as preliminary practice, is not really correct.
Rather, it means go ahead; awaken from the sleep of ignorance; go ahead to the
path of enlightenment. So actually it is the essence of the practice of the
Vajrayana. The point is that you are awakening from the sleep of ignorance. The
practice of the ngondro is based on but transcends the mundane practice. Then
the godly practice comes; then it goes into the enlightened practice. There are
three stages of conduct, but first we have to follow the mundane dharma practice,
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which, of course, we have to accomplish.

The Meaning of Ch Dharma

The mundane word dharma means giving up all negativity and holding on to what
is positive. Here dharma has the sense of understanding and holding to the
positive. In Tibetan, we call this Ch. Ch is the holding to the positive practices
that liberate the mind. So first of all, practice is based on worldly dharma, which
we have to perfect. Then we have to perfect the godly dharma; then we will come
to the buddha dharma practice. First, in the worldly dharma it is important to follow
the ten virtuous actions and to give up the ten non-virtuous actions. All this is
based on the worldly dharma. Those worldly dharmas are made up of three of
body, four of speech and three of mind, making ten in all. Dharma is not
something in which you can go straight to the highest buddha dharma practice
without first purifying your negative emotions. First, your negative actions, past
karmic impediments and karmic causes have to be pacified, purified and
subjugated. We have to go through that process to come to the buddha dharma
practice. Buddha dharma is not something that you can just jump into and follow
with a clear understanding that requires no purification. To enter the buddha
dharma practice, you need to go through a tremendous amount of purification.

Worldly Dharma The Ten Non-Virtues

Three of Body
But basically, first lets talk about the ten worldly non-virtuous actions. There is
killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. These are the three of the body. Killing, for
example, itself has to have four completed actions for it to qualify as the karma of
killing. First, the object of the action itself has to be there. Second is the intention.
Third is the actual action. Fourth is completing the action. From the side of killing
then - life is precious to everybody. There is no one who wants to sacrifice his or
her life. For an ordinary person being killed means the end of all his dreams and
the end to the accumulation of all his projects and things that hes been striving
for. So with killing, the action itself is considered to be the most negative act of all.

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The opposite of killing is giving life. The giving of life is important, just as
protecting life or extending life is also critical for those involved. These are
fundamental to all beings therefore such actions are extremely important. So the
unvirtuous action of killing is matched by its opposite in the positive actions of
giving and saving life. Even if you save the life of small animals or insects or
whatever it may be, they will appreciate that you have saved their lives and that
they have one more day, year or years to live. They appreciate that act of saving so therefore the opposite to the act of killing, is saving life. We have to turn the ten
negative actions into the ten virtuous actions, which of course, we try to develop.
As far as stealing is concerned, then of course people have strived so much to
keep their possessions and when you steal something of theirs, that loss brings a
lot of despair - it causes a great deal of concern and pain for those who loose their
belongings. So the second negative act is stealing. The positive act is giving.
Instead of stealing, you give.
The third is sexual misconduct. There are many teachings regarding this. Whether
one is having a sexual action with a partner who already belongs to somebody, or
whether it is somebody elses wife, or whether there is a sexual action done to a
minor or a sexual conduct done in a temple or an attempt to have a sexual act
with somebody who has vows - all of those are considered sexual misconducts.
With these sexual misconducts then, according to the Kriya, Upa, and Yoga
Tantra teachings, there are many, many, things that are forbidden, that is, they are
incorrect. Those have to be followed according to whatever instructions you may
receive there. The three negative actions of the body are killing, stealing and
sexual misconduct. These are ordinary things that we have to observe and we
have to do the positive actions that are needed to counteract them.

Four of Speech
Now the four of speech are lying, slander, senseless chatter and hurtful speech these are the four. Lying is when your speach is not truthful. In other words lying
for your own selfish gain - then lying comes in there. Slander is when you talk
negatively about other people, causing divisiveness in the sangha or trying to
speak badly about somebody for your own personal interest, thereby causing a

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division between two or more people who are in harmony. You try to disrupt that
harmony - then that is slandering. That is one of the negative actions of speech.
Senseless chatter is gossip - words that you use which are meaningless and
which do not have any benefit for anyone. Yet you still use them and you gossip
either to make fun of somebody or actually intending to harm that person. Gossip
can often create a kind of a disruption between people. So this senseless chatter
is generally a waste of your energy. It doesnt benefit anyone. On the other hand
senseless chatter is making you fall into a kind of state which makes you lose self
respect as well as respect for others. That is the senseless chatter. Hurtful speech
is speech that is not meant to bring any clarity to anybody - it is just to criticize. It
is just to bring hurt and pain to the other person. That is hurtful speech. It is
speech which brings emotional disruption to the other persons awareness; its
harmful to them. Those are the four of speech.

Three of Mind The Pratimoksa Vows

The three of mind are covetousness, vindictiveness and holding wrong views.
These ten non-virtuous actions that are present in the mind, and which need to be
completely abandoned. We have to consciously do their opposites. That is, we
must act in accordance with the corresponding positive actions. Then we come to
the godly conduct for the ten virtuous and non-virtuous actions. All of these ten
non-virtuous actions concern the pratimoksa vows which you can take. These are
the vows you take not to commit these ten non-virtuous actions. How many of
these vows you take depends on you. You can take vows for three of the negative
actions you want to avoid or if you want to take four or five or six or seven, you
can do so, it is up to you. The process of taking the pratimoksa vows is very
beneficial because if you are not going to commit that action and you take a vow
not to commit it and you dont commit it, then the merit of that becomes vast and
extensive. On the other hand if you dont take any of the vows whether killing,
stealing, sexual misconduct, not taking intoxicants etc, and you do not kill, steal,
engage in sexual misconduct or do any of these, it is good that you dont do it but
since you dont have a vow, then the merit of what you are not doing doesnt really
increase that much. So while you are not doing it anyhow, then it is good to take
these pratimoksa vows. Why? Because of two things; First, it makes you

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disciplined in that you have a vow that you need to keep. Second, it makes you
mindful of not committing the negative action. So it enforces your mindfulness as
well. The length of time you want to take these vows for depends on your own
strength. Whether you take it for days, weeks, months, a year or for life, it doesnt
matter. If you take it in the presence of a teacher making a commitment saying,
Oh yes, I take this vow and during this time when I take this vow then may my
vow have the essence of pure dedication to benefit all my parent sentient beings,
then by not doing the action and by having a vow with it, then definitely, definitely
you increase your wisdom. You increase your causal wisdom and you increase
wisdom itself. With these pratimoksa vows then, whether you are taking monastic
or laymans vows, there are the getsul, the genyen, there are so many different
vows that one can take according to the progress and path of your practice, then
these vows are certainly important to take and maintain because maintaining that
vow itself becomes your inspiration towards realization. Thats what that is. So if
you can take one or more of the pratimoksa vows whether it be not lying, not
killing, no sexual misconduct or whatever, then do so. How many and for how long
depends on your strength of mind. So now, this is the basis of the general, what
we call the mundane dharma, which you need to have first for the right conduct.
That is important.

The Sixteen Rules of Proper Human Conduct

The mundane conduct that we have just mentioned the ten virtues - also accord
with the sixteen rules of proper human conduct. Those are additional to the ten
mundane virtuous and non-virtuous actions. They are basically how to respect the
elders; how to repay the kindness of others; how to treat your parents; how to treat
your teachers; what is the right manner of exchange, for example, when you
exchange in business; what is the right manner of treating someone when they
are sick; what is the right attitude to see the patient; what is the right attitude to
see the medicine; what is the right treatment. All these sixteen conducts will arise
within these ten virtuous actions including how to make the right livelihood. All of
those are important. All of those sixteen conducts are important because they are
good etiquette, good behavior, good manners and good upbringing. And they are
important. The practice of dharma is having the right practice of etiquette, the right

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behavior and the right awareness. So within that, there is respect for elders,
respect for yourself, respect for others and simple honesty. All of those are also
part of the human dharma that one has to cultivate. They are some of the
mundane virtues that you need. When you speak, you should speak the truth; and
when you deal with others you need to deal with the correct attitude.

Humility - Cultivating Love for All

The most important aspect of that is respect towards the elders - repaying
kindness for kindness. Dont repay kindness with a negative act in return.
Particularly towards your parents, it is crucial to understand how to love your
parents, the need for respect towards your parents, and how to give back to them.
When you were small they looked after you and now when they grow old it is your
time to look after them. Exchange their kindness with love. Those are the
important things. You have to have humility. The mundane conduct is based on
humility. It is based on how to bring your ego under control; how to have kind,
positive thoughts about doing something beneficial, something positive for others.
Of course for your immediate family its important. And in the process of that, you
have to learn to cultivate this love - the love that is towards all.
What is the process of cultivating the love towards all? First you have to learn to
cultivate love towards the one who is immediately connected to you, whether it is
your father or whether it is your family. First find that love that you can give to your
family or those who are close to you. First learn how to give that totally - without
reservation. Once you have learned to give that kind of unconditional love to your
immediate family, extend it now to your friends. Now can you love your friends in
the same way that you love your immediate family? Once you have learned to
love your friends, extend it now to your enemies, love your enemies.
Through loving your immediate family, then your friends and then your enemies,
this is the gateway to opening the understanding that all parent sentient beings
are connected to you as your fathers and mothers. Buddha said that all sentient
beings are connected to us as our fathers and mothers. We dont have the
memory of them as our parents we dont remember. However, just because we
dont remember doesnt mean that they are not our fathers and mothers. Also in

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the teachings, it says that if you have to measure or count all the beings that have
been your fathers and mothers, if you roll each one of them into a tiny ball, even
this entire universe would not be big enough to hold all of them. So from the point
of the Buddhas teachings it is a concept to say one is my father, one is my friend
and one is my enemy - it is just a concept.

Godly Dharma
Once you have the mundane right conduct, these ten non-virtuous actions you are
able to avoid and the ten virtuous actions you are able to cultivate, then we will
take one step towards godly dharma. Godly dharma is following the Kriya, Upa,
and Yoga trainings which means there are a lot of commitments that we have to
keep; commitments that you have to fulfill; disciplines that you have to keep;
cleanliness and disciplines regarding eating, sleeping and more regarding all
forms of behavior; and more still for watching the body, speech and mind
awareness; practice of meditation and practice of compassion. There are certain
trainings that will now come in the godly conduct regarding how to keep that godly
conduct.

Buddha Dharma - Ngondro

So first practice on the mundane dharma, then on the godly dharma, and then
after that, you are going to enter into the practice of the Ngondro. Ngondro now is
really going ahead into the depth of realization. It is not a preliminary practice.
Rather it is the essential practice itself. There are people who practice Ngondro
throughout their lives. It is not a pre-requisite practice that you do and then you go
into other practices. No! Ngondro is the main practice; it is the middle practice and
it is the end practice. How is this so? Because the main point of Ngondro is
purification and we definitely do need purification - we need to purify our body, our
speech and our mind. In fact Ngondro contains the essential practices of all the
Buddhas teachings.

Ngondro Itself - Overview

In the Ngondro you have five sections. You have the Refuge and Bodhicitta, then
you have the Mandala, Dorje Sempa and finally you have the Guru Yoga. These

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five practices actually are a gradual path leading you into the wisdom. What needs
to be purified by the body is taken into account; what needs to be purified by
speech is taken into account and what needs to be purified in the mind is also
taken into account - all through this practice. So it really is the most perfect
practice that has been put together through the Kyerim and the Dzogrim, which
are the generative and completion phases - these have all been perfectly put
together in the Ngondro.

Preparation
In the process of doing Ngondro, preparation is needed. You cant just jump into
this practice - you have to understand and feel the need to do so; you have to
really want to go into the practice; you need to see the importance of going into
the purification process; the urgent need of going into the practices, not only for
your own self liberation but for the liberation of all parent sentient beings. You
must have the will to practice so that you can liberate others.

Focus on Purification not Numbers

Dont get confused over the numbers. We say that you require five hundred
thousand - one hundred thousand of this, one hundred thousand of that. Those
numbers are only numbers to make sure that you do the practice well enough so
that you dont deceive your ego mind by thinking, Oh, Ive done all the practices
really well. It is to make sure that you keep on practicing again and again, so that
you do not deceive yourself. However, if you do your recitation or visualization or
the prostrations with 100% concentration and 100% devotion and 100% feeling of
compassion, working for the benefit of others, then the hundred thousand is not an
important number to reach. Some of you may lose your mind when you think you
have to do one hundred thousand of this thinking, Oh no, this is too much! That
is you evaluating. Dont evaluate. Go into the depth with the feeling of going
through the purification. Dont look at the numbers.

Continuity Joy in Purification

In Ngondro exemption is given to those of you who have hurt yourselves who
cannot do the prostrations, so you can do these mentally. Also you can do

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whichever section you feel like doing, you can pick up from any section you feel
most familiar with at the time. It is good to feel an affinity to a practice that you
want to do and you feel encouraged to do. So you can start with the Refuge and
Bodhicitta or you can start with the Mandala or you can start with Dorje Sempa or
you can start with Guru Yoga also, it doesnt matter. You can start on any section.
But the important thing is continuity. That is important in Ngondro. Your continuity
must be there. Your continuity is the driving force - it is the inspiration that youll
continue to build on. First it will seem difficult but once you get into the flow of it,
then youll find joy in your practice. The whole point of doing Ngondro practice is
joy. There is joy in the purification.

Preparation Cultivating Motivation The Seed

By going through the Ngondro practices, then as I already mentioned, you are
going through the innermost teaching of the Vajrayana. The Ngondro practice
alone is enough for your realization. You dont have to go into elaborate practices
and things. If you just concentrate on Ngondro alone you can get total realization.
Now obviously when you begin there is preparation for the Ngondro itself - we
have to prepare. Just as when you want to plant something you have to prepare
the soil first - whether you want to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers, it doesnt
matter. You have to prepare the soil. You cant just throw the seeds on top of the
soil and hope they grow. You have to prepare the soil; you have to dig it out; you
have to weed out all that is not good in that soil. So therefore, with your mind, you
have to prepare it like the field. You have to prepare your mind with the Lojong,
(mind training). You have to prepare your mind so that it stays in simplicity and
openness. You have to weed out all your negative thoughts; negative
circumstances; all the perturbing emotions that are there. Just as in the soil there
are so many weeds, stones and impurities that we have to take out. Once you
have prepared the soil then you need a seed that has to go into that soil so that
you can get the fruit of what you are planting. And, of course, that seed has to be
a perfect seed. It cannot be a seed that is damaged or burnt by fire, or that has
already mutated. The seed that you plant must be a perfect seed. Here the seed
refers to the motivation. Your motivation must be perfect motivation - not the

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motivation just for yourself seeking enlightenment. Your motivation must be for the
benefit of all parent sentient beings by thinking, May I develop my wisdom and
skill so I can benefit infinite sentient beings. Whoever comes into contact with me,
may they be liberated. May I have that power to liberate anybody who comes into
contact with me.

So that motivation must be pure motivation and this pure

motivation that you have will be the seed - the quality of the seed is the motivation.
When you do not have a pure motivation, then there is nothing much in the seed,
so nothing much can grow. Even if something grows, it is not something worthy of
planting. Then of course, once you have the seed and you plant it, then it has to
have the right soil and the right care has to be given to the seed so that it begins
to sprout. Until the sprouting happens, there is a lot of care to be taken. That is the
mindfulness that you need in your practice now. All the concentrations must be
followed correctly. All the bodhisattva trainings must be followed correctly. The
care that you need to take, are the four joys and the six paramitas. It doesnt
matter when you take care with these, but they need to be there. That is the care
you need to give to this seed to grow. Following the thirty-seven conducts of the
bodhisattva, training to perfection is now the seed of the four joys and six
paramitas. Then there are the conditions - the weather - the rain and sunshine at
the right time are also needed. The sunshine and showers - the blessings are also
necessary for the seed to grow. Then once the seed is growing, it will go from
shoot to leaf to flower to fruit.
The process of your trying to reach enlightenment is not like you can just grab at
enlightenment and there it is. No! There is a process of development that you
have to go through. You cannot just eat fruit without first growing it. The process of
the growth happens from the shoot to the leaf to the flower to the fruit. Similarly,
you also have to go through all the trainings correctly; following your teachers
instructions so that you reach the end where the fruit is. You need to build your
foundation. If you build a house, you need to build a good foundation. If you dont
have a good foundation, the walls, the pillars and the roof will be in danger all the
time. What is the use of strong walls and strong pillars and a wonderful roof when
your foundation itself is weak? Therefore, Ngondro itself is the basis of building a
strong foundation for the Vajrayana practice. This foundation that you build now is
following the four joys and the six paramitas and then coming to the practice of the

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Mandala and then coming to the practice of the purification of Dorje Sempa, these
are the gradual steps that you need to take.

Dont Stop
Now the important thing is that once you have begun your Ngondro, then dont
stop. Once you have begun your prostrations or recitations or whatever it may be,
once you have started, dont stop it - because if you stop, your energy and
recitation - everything that you have accumulated, will discharge itself. That is not
what you want. Even if you are sick and you cannot do it, you should say your
recitation, do you practices three times or six times or whatever, at least keep a
trickle of a charge going into that practice. Dont immediately cut it off and then
think, Oh well I wont do it today or tomorrow but the day after that I will do twice
or three times more than normal. Thats not going to help anything! Once you
begin the practice - lets say prostrations - once you begin the prostrations and you
are doing say one hundred a day, fine and one day you are not so well and you
cannot do them, dont cut it off. At least do three or seven prostrations just to keep
the minimum of a trickle of energy going into the practice. Dont cut it off
completely. And certainly if you have stopped your practice for a week, two weeks,
one month or three months, then it doesnt matter how much you have
accumulated. None of those accumulations you did before can be counted again.
Youll have to go and start all over again.
So this Short Tersar Ngondro that you have, it is so short and so precise with so
much meaning and blessings, it is impossible that you wont have fifteen or twenty
minutes a day to do this practice. It is impossible. Though it is short, it is neither
short in meaning nor in blessings. On the contrary, this practice is potentially
extremely powerful. Now even if you are not able to do the Ngondro in terms of
accumulating the prostrations, Dorje Sempa, Mandala and all of that, at least even
if you just read it once in the morning and just spend a few minutes on it, at least
you can say that for those days you have bought some insurance. The protection
will be there that day. But if you can go into the practice itself, then there is nothing
swifter to remove ones outer, inner and secret obstacles.

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Expand the Vision of Practice Expand the Merit

As I said, the motivation is important. With the correct motivation then, when you
do the Ngondro you will always visualize not only yourself doing the Ngondro but
you will visualize your father, your mother and all sentient beings including all
those you think of as enemies, also doing this practice with you. From the very
beginning of the practice, have a wide, open and spacious attitude. Dont just go
into it feeling, I am doing the recitation alone by myself. No, dont do that. Feel,
on my right is my father; on my left is my mother; in front of me are my friends and
relatives and behind me are all the infinite sentient beings - they are all with me,
and were doing the practice together. That way you expand the vision; by virtue of
the fact of increasing of this vision, youll expand the merit - your merit will become
inexhaustible. So think in those terms.

Shariputras Story
At one time when Buddha was teaching in Bodhgaya, he told his disciples,
Students, at this very moment that I am teaching to you here, there are infinite
and innumerable worlds that exist around us where also all those beings there are
listening to these very teachings and they are listening attentively to the words I
am saying. When he said this Shariputra thought, Oh, I think the Buddha overdid
it here; hes over-exaggerated. He said that everybody in the infinite universes is
also listening to my teachings. Whereupon the Buddha immediately saw that
Shariputra had a doubt so the Buddha said to him, Shariputra, what I said just
now, examine it thoroughly and see whether it is true or not. Then the Buddha
empowered Shariputra to see through a vision and instantaneously Shariputra
flew to another universe. There, while he was hovering up in space, sure enough
he saw thousands and thousands of disciples listening to the Buddhas teachings.
Then in the centre of them sat another teacher who was also listening. Below
them were lots of other students, infinite in number, again, listening. Then as he
was hovering above them all, he fell into the bowl of the main teacher who was
there listening in the centre of them all - like a small bee, he fell into the begging
bowl of that teacher. Thereupon one of the students asked this teacher, Who is
that who just fell into your bowl? And the teacher answered, Oh, thats
Shariputra. He is one of the Buddhas foremost disciples. He had a doubt about
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whether the Buddhas teachings could be heard in all the other universes at the
same time, so he came to our universe to check it out and unfortunately he fell
into my bowl.
As Shariputra was spinning around like a small bee in this teachers begging bowl
he clearly heard the Buddha teaching. Then he quickly sprung out of the bowl and
fell upon his knees and called to the Buddha, Lord let me come out of this space,
let me come out of this space. I have no doubt about it anymore. Thereupon, he
was able to fly back. Therefore, it is important for us to visualize all sentient beings
with us doing the practice.

The Lama - Embodiment of all that is good

Now with the Ngondro, here it begins with - Namo lu med ten gyi gn po la ma
kyen. That is the first line. It starts with Homage! Lama, you who know, I take
refuge in you. So the first line is now taking refuge in the Lama. Lama is now the
embodiment of all the teachings; hes the embodiment of all the Buddhas. We
have not met the Buddha, yet now through the Lama you are hearing teachings of
the Buddha and you are being initiated into his teachings. Therefore Lama
becomes the embodiment of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Why is the Lama
undeceiving? Its because Lama stands for the relative and absolute truth in
union. He does not stand for one truth but rather the two truths inseparably
together. He embodies both the truths of the relative and the absolute. And he is
undeceiving because the nature is based on compassion. It is not based on selfcentered liberation. Rather it is based on the openness of the mind - the very clear
nature and vividness of the mind itself. The clarity of the mind itself is the
embodiment of the Lama. The Lama comes as the relative and the Lama comes
as the absolute truth. He embodies both the truths as relative and absolute. He is
the union of the two. Therefore he cannot be deceiving because he has no selfmotivation at all. Other gods and other deities they all have their own ego and they
have their own self motivation but in the process of the nature of the Buddhas
teachings of the tathagatagarbha, the essence of the Lama is like a vajra. It does
not hold to the nature of duality. Therefore, since he does not hold to the
phenomena of duality, that is the nature which is undeceiving. So consider, to the
Lama who embodies my clear space of mind, which does not hold to the

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phenomena of duality - which is the nature of self arising primordial wisdom itself, I
will take refuge and I will bow my head down in homage and take refuge.
Now, what is refuge? There is both relative refuge and there is absolute refuge.
We are always taking refuge - in whatever, it doesnt matter. As human beings,
since the time we were born we have been constantly taking refuge. The fact that
you are in this house and in this room now is refuge. You are inside the house
because you do not want to be caught by the storm, you do not want to be caught
by the rain and you do not want to be caught by the cold. So you take refuge in
the house here. The weaker one is always taking refuge in the stronger one, to be
protected of course. Refuge means seeking protection. Here, we take refuge in
our absolute mind and we realize the nature of the tathagatagarbha which is in us,
that is the absolute refuge. The relative refuge is understanding that everybody
has this essence. So in buddhist terms refuge means seeking protection from now
until reaching enlightenment that is the duration of your refuge. There is no such
thing as permanent refuge. This does not exist. Even the refuge that you are
taking in the Buddha is relative to the fact that you believe in the purity and
therefore the Buddha appeared as a pure arising - an emanation that is from your
own mind again. However, in the absolute sense of the thing there is no such
thing as refuge. Who is there to give refuge?
So there is refuge in the absolute and refuge in the relative. The refuge itself is to
understand that in sound there is emptiness and emptiness there is sound. That is
refuge. Refuge is your mind. Unless and until you realize your own mind then
there is the relative refuge where the buddhas will appear. They have to appear
because it is skillful means in union. So, I always say that the teachings of the
Buddha are on the nature of the mind. It is not a religion; it does not follow a
system - it does not. In fact it destroys the sense of a god that is seen to exist. If
you see him as existing, that is duality. Where there is duality there is good and
there is bad. There has to be both. There cannot be just one, there has to be both.
And yet to say this mind is empty in that it is void and therefore has no quality is
wrong. On the contrary, this mind which is void in nature, is all encompassing
primordial wisdom.

Lama Weight of Wisdom

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So the word Lama refers to la na med pa which is the understanding of there

being nothing more excellent than this. It is the combination of the father and
mother essence together in the word Lama. Lama has the meaning and
understanding of heaviness. Heaviness of what? It is the heaviness of the weight
of wisdom that the Lama has - the heaviness relates to this his wisdom
compassion. So therefore I take refuge in the Lama who is the embodiment of all
the refuges - which is the absolute nature of my mind. That is the Lama. I take
refuge in the relative Lama who appears to me now and I take refuge in the
absolute Lama which is the nature of his mind unimpeded by any obstacles. It is in
this Lama then, that I take refuge.

The Four Mind Changings:

The difficulty of finding a precious human body
Now there are four things that we have to recognize when we take refuge, that are
the truths of our nature as it is. The first is Dal jor 'di ni shin tu nyed par ka'. This
human form is extremely difficult to obtain. You may ask, Why is this human form
so difficult to obtain? There are so many people millions and trillions of people
around the world. Whats so difficult about human birth? Yes, they have obtained
human birth, these millions and trillions of people. But how many of them actually
know how to distinguish what is right from what is wrong? How many people are
there who know the higher awareness which understands bodhicitta - the nature
of the compassionate state of the mind? And how many of them have connected
to the true dharma? The extreme difficulty of obtaining human life lies in
connecting to the dharma at the right time, in the right circumstances and at the
right moment and of course, knowing what is right from what is wrong. That is
the important part of the dharma. So if you were to ask, What is dharma? The
answer is that dharma is simply knowing what is right and what is wrong. Adopting
what is right and abandoning what is wrong - abandoning what brings suffering to
others; abandoning what brings karma to you; abandoning what is an obstacle or
that creates an obstruction to your seeking peace of mind instead adopting
virtue, that which develops causal wisdom and merit. You have to develop causal
and merit wisdom. So just being a human being is not enough. You have to have
the circumstances in which you are able to realize your true nature - to really seek
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enlightenment. That is what is called a proper human being. Otherwise just having
a head, mouth, limbs and the rest of the body is not enough. The right
circumstances and situations must be there for you to connect to the path of the
dharma: - meeting the teacher at the right time; having the opportunity to be able
to practice; and having the endowments whereby you are fully gifted with ears to
listen, the body to practice, and the situation and time to practice. These are
conducive human elements that you need to have. Otherwise you could be born
during a period of time when no buddha appears; you can be born in a time when
there are only cannibals, but still, they are human beings too. However, that is
clearly not the perfect human form. So this time that you have now - time to listen
to the Vajrayana teachings, to meet the right the teacher and time you have to
practice, is extremely conducive. You will not find this situation again.
So therefore, do not take this life you have for granted, thinking, Today I am a
human being, next life Ill also be a human being. No! Next time, what youll
bewell (Rinpoche pauses) no-one can tell you what youll be. So Dal jor 'di
ni shin tu nyed par ka'this human body is not easy to find. On the contrary
finding this human body is extremely difficult. It is just like the classic example
describes, where the teachers have said it is like randomly throwing a yoke into a
great ocean and a turtle poking his head out of the water and through the hole of
this yoke. There is more chance of that happening than getting a human birth. In
the same way, this human birth is extremely difficult to obtain so do not take it
granted. Today you are able to sleep, you are able to eat, youre able to shit. Dont
take those abilities for granted because when you lose those capacities then youll
realize what youve lost. The problem with us is that we take everything for
granted. Everything is like Yeah, yeah whatever.
With this human birth, which we have managed with great difficulty to find and
now have the fortune to embody, many people ask, What is the purpose of my
life? What is the meaning of my life? What is the difficulty in knowing what the
purpose of your life is? You think the purpose of your life is just to live and earn
and to do things. No! The purpose of your life is to seek enlightenment in this very
lifetime. That is the purpose of your life. Earning - anybody can earn; Living anybody can live. These are just normal things of life. There will never be a time
where you will think that youve earned enough; there will never be a time where
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you think, Oh, I have enough riches now. There will never be a time when you
think, Enough is enough. No, never. Why? Its because you have not been able
to curb your ego and your desire. Therefore the whole thing here is how to atone
for that - how to know satisfaction - how to really know that. How to know this now,
is to know the practice of dharma - that is important.

The Truth of Suffering

Birth
Moreover, wherever you are born within the six realms, you are born within the
realms of suffering. Even at the time of the bardo when you were in the state of
the bardo and you were roaming around looking for your parents, have you any
idea how much suffering youve gone through? Do you realize that you couldnt
find the right parents while you were in your mental body and you were looking to
inject your consciousness into a union of father and mother but you couldnt get
into it? There is so much suffering involved here. Also, how many times have you
suffered in your mothers womb when you were in there? A mothers womb is not
exactly a palatial place. It was a foul smelling place that youve been in. The space
there is completely confining and you are compacted into it so you can hardly
move. Your suffering is already there from that very moment. Our birth into this
universe is totally tainted with suffering. It doesnt mean that buddhism has a
negative view of the world. Most people think that all buddhists have a very
negative view about suffering. No! Its just that we know the truth of suffering and
when you know the truth of suffering you look for an end to that suffering and
when you look for the cessation of suffering then you will find wisdom. But pain
and discomfort are our basic identification.
From the time of the bardo when you had no body, to the time when you had a
body in your mothers womb, is basically all about suffering. Then you go through
the nine to ten months of suffering inside that womb from the ovulation of the eggto dot - to nut - to oblong - all of these egg shapes - each of the stages of the egg
that develop in the mothers womb is suffering. In addition, while youre suffering
in your mothers womb, sometimes the parents may think of rejecting or aborting
you. This is another suffering that you have but your memory may not hold to

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those. However, when youre born your reaction to your parents will certainly show
your hurt feelings - those will come out.

The Four Major Sufferings

Now, within the process of being born weve already suffered four of the major
sufferings Tib. kye, Gha, Na, Che, - the pain of birth; the pain of old age; the
pain of sickness; and finally the pain of the death. We have all of these four major
pains. So we should appreciate this human birth that we have attained now, and
regardless of the sufferings that are there, we should not be distracted towards the
sufferings and emotions but rather turn the mind towards the dharma and then
seek the dharma as a way of coming out of all suffering permanently. The point of
the practice of the dharma now is that it will pacify all those obscuring emotions
that we have and it will let the natural wisdom arise. This is what we need. We
need to let the ignorance rest and to let the wisdom arise. Thats what we have to
do. With our tainted emotions we only give rise to more emotions, we do not give
rise to the wisdom.

Additional Suffering
Birth, old age, sickness and death - these are the four major sufferings that we
have. Combined with them is additional suffering - suffering on top of suffering.
Just having this life and rebirth is not enough. There are the four major sufferings
and then there are the eight extended sufferings on top of that. As I explained,
with the suffering of birth when you are born, you have to come through a very
narrow passageway. It is extremely difficult and excruciatingly painful with your
whole body getting all crushed up. Moreover. You dont know whether you or your
mother will survive you just dont know. There is already enormous pain at birth.
In addition, the first cry you make when you are born is not the cry of happiness,
hailing that you are here; rather it is the cry of pain. For the first time your skin gets
burned by the outer air; the outer air rushes to your previously protected skin and
it is immediately set on fire by the direct sensation of air for the first time. On top of
that they may spank you on the backside, just to make matters worse. This is what
happens. This is the suffering of birth. But the mental suffering has already begun
at the time of formation inside the womb.

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Sickness
As for sickness there is no need to say much, we already know what the pain of
the sickness is. In sickness you wait for the night to pass away until the day
comes, because you want the day to come - then you wait for the day to pass for
the night to come. Your mind is so agitated you dont know what you want
anymore. In addition, when you have a very contagious sickness or a critical
condition, the worries in the mind are something else.

Old Age
When it comes to old age, what is old age? This goes to the central point
concerning suffering. Here in the West, when you come to old age you want to live
like a young person again. You want to do all the things you did when you were
young. You try to fulfill all your young fantasies. No. It shouldnt be like this.
Rather, when you reach old age, it is time to have your mala in your hand and to
start reciting because you know whats coming next is your death. Old age doesnt
mean that now you are going to live longer. It means you are going to die any day.
Life is impermanent. Death can come at any time and any moment. No-one can
say, I will live longer than you or you will live longer than me. No. No-one can
say that. Death comes unannounced. So in old age what happens? You lose your
looks; your skin sags, right? The suffering of old age we all know. You cannot eat
what you normally eat. Even if you eat the food you enjoy, you get sick - you
cannot eat this anymore. Nor can you do the things that you would normally do you cannot do them anymore because you are old. Moreover, when you keep on
getting older and older at a certain point you feel cursed that you have to live so
long, thinking that you are a cause of trouble to all your family who now have to
look after you. In addition maybe you will get scolded by your immediate family, for
example they may say, What a burden you are. You are old and you cannot do
anything. We have to do everything for you. We have to do this and we have to do
that for you. And so you begin to see how they react to you. So in old age you get
hurt. You cannot say anything much because of fear of being thrown out; fear that
they will just cut you off completely. On top of that if you have money theyll put
you in an old peoples home thats the extent of their compassion! They say its
because youll be looked after better; youll get your medicine; youll get your food
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on time. But thats not the true reason. Rather, it is because they do not want the
responsibility of you in the house; that is the reason they send you away to the old
peoples home. This is not bodhicitta. When a parent gets old he should be at
home; he or she should be with the family and should die at home, not in an old
peoples home. That is not a place for somebody to die. It is not. Why not? It is
because in a hospital, many people have died and the person who is old and is
going to die soon will have a lot of interferences in such a place during his death.
Hell see and hear things that are not necessary for him to experience at this time.
Anyway, the home is the place where an old persons mind in most settled and at
peace. Why would you want him or her to leave the home? If you really love your
parents - if you really love them - you will not put them into an old peoples home.
Now is the time for you to take care of them. They have taken care of you when
you were a baby. Sometimes consider what you as a child have done for your
parents that you are so proud of. At birth you gave them problems and when you
were able to eat, you stole the food from their mouths. Finally when you have
grown up enough, you steal their wealth. The heaviest part of your karma rests
with how you behave with you parents. So in old age then, the main problem is
being rejected; not being able to do the things that you want to do, then on top of
that if the children are well behaved they may have some patience and so try to
control their emotions and temper. But if the children are not that well behaved or
well tutored, they will scream and shout and scold you at times.

Death
The fourth suffering is death. Death will come to all of us, wont it? We know death
is going to come. Who has survived forever? How many of our relatives are
already dead? How many people that we know have already died? Some young,
some old - all ages. As you are born, you are subject to die. There are no two
ways about it! So death means accepting impermanence. But do we accept it?
No. No we dont want to accept impermanence. We want to create an illusion of
our own that everything is solid and that nothing is ever going to change for us.
But death is coming. Every day death is closer, every second death is closer,
every moment death is closer. And yet from the practice point of view, if death is
coming closer every day, every month and every year, what is there to celebrate

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at the New Year? Are you celebrating that you have lived a year longer or
something like that? No, we are one year closer to death. There is nothing to
celebrate actually, in the sense and point of view of the practice. Death will come we have to accept that and we have to stop making all these wonderful plans
because at the moment of death, nothing of those plans of yours are going to be
important for you nothing. These are all dreams youve created and these
dreams will be shattered. What you will carry with you is your karma - your
negative actions. Those you will carry with you. Apart from this, you will not be
able to take a single thing. It doesnt matter that you wont be able to take so much
as a needle of your wealth, nor a hair of your body; your karma will follow you.
You will not be able to take even a single stand of hair. All your possessions youll
have to leave behind; all your friends youll have to leave behind and even the
most skillful doctor you may have or the most powerful emperor you might know none of them will be of any help to you. You will go alone. At that time, as I said,
what you must take with you is your karma your positive and negative actions.
That will follow you like a shadow. When a bird is flying up in the sky there is no
shadow. However, when the bird lands down on the ground, there is shadow.
Your karma will follow you in this way.

Fear of Death
Then at the time of dying the fear of death will come. Youll have a lot of thoughts,
a lot of unresolved events and issues will arise in your mind and your mind will get
agitated and frightened. If you have practiced the dharma, this is the time youve
been waiting for. The final test of your practice is now in front of you. But if you
have not practiced and you have done nothing much, then fear will come and
youll ask, Where will I be born? Where am I going to go? Whats going to
happen? What will happen to my relatives? What will happen to this? What will
happen to all of that? Who will take my possessions? What will happen? All these
unnecessary thoughts will arise. You will not be able to face those thoughts out
and just let them be. You wont be able to just drop them. Youll not be able to
drop anything. Instead, youll be holding on to everything tenaciously. If youve
practiced well enough you will see all these as projections and youll let go.

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Deathlessness Nature of Mind

So death will come. Yes, of course it will come. All our practice we do now is to
neutralize the fear of death because from the absolute state of the mind, the mind
has never died so what is death? Where is death coming from? And what is it that
makes mind hold to the death? Death doesnt exist. But though it doesnt exist, will
you be able to realize that it doesnt exist when it comes to it? That is the
important question. If you can understand the deathlessness of your mind and you
have reached a certain understanding and confidence, the bardo will cease for
you - the bardo will not arise for you. There is no way the bardo will arise. How
would it arise - when you have no concept about it, how could it arise?

Dissolution Recognition
So, then, death does come. And when you die, if you are lucky - if you are very
lucky - the people who love you will keep your dead body in the house for a few
days. Once you are dead, youre a corpse and generally youll just be discarded
as quickly as possible. However, in actual fact according to the bardo teachings
we need and require three days to be kept in the house undisturbed so that the
dissolution of all of our chakras can happen smoothly. The thirty-two Buddha fields
of the crown chakra, the sixteen of the throat, the eight at the heart, the sixty-four
at the navel and eight again at the secret center. All these five chakras which are
the five buddha families and the five primordial essences must dissolve. It takes
three days in general dissolution. But in a practitioner, three days may not be
necessary at it. It can happen instantly. In addition it can occur in a day but it can
also be instant. However, if you dont realize youre dead because youre running
after your habitual thoughts which you are so used to, it will be hard for you to
accept youre dead within those three days, even though the chakras are
dissolving. But on the forty-ninth day of your death, you will realize that you are
dead and youll have no choice to stay any more. You will be thrown by the winds
of karma to your next rebirth. But that takes seven weeks. Seven sevens are
forty-nine. Seven times youll have the awareness, I am dead. But whether you
get it or not is another story - first seven days, second seven days, third seven
days, fourth seven days - maybe not.

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Karma
Now if death is the end of everything, thats wonderful. That is absolutely fine then.
There are some philosophies that believe after you are dead, you are dead and
there is nothing you just turn into dust and powder and thats it. Well if that were
the case - thats great. So you die, then you are cremated and all is good. If death
was the end of everything, that would be fine. But, No! It isnt. Why? Because you
still have your karma. Due to the fruition of the karma youve caused, both positive
and negative, then there is rebirth. You could be reborn in any of the six realms - it
doesnt matter what kind of karma it is karma is karma. Why will you be reborn?
Because you have not purified your desire; you have not purified your attachment;
and you have not purified your anger. You have not purified all of those. Due to
the sensation by which you still identify phenomena, on the basis of these five
poisons, you will be born within the realms. Therefore, it is important to purify
these five poisons - it is extremely important. Even from the point of view of shin
it is important to pacify the bliss so that you are not so attached to it. But you
should aim not to be attached to any emotion at all because attachment to
anything means rebirth - and rebirth is hard.

Rebirth Projection into the Six Realms

Therefore remember this - Kye tsed mi tag chi wai ch chen yin pray, May my
mind turn towards the dharma, because dharma is the only freedom from these
rebirths. Now in the elaborate Ngondro these six rebirths are explained. These six
realms are basically the realms that are within our minds. Actually if you think of
the god realm and you think of the hell realm as they are explained in the
teachings and you think that there are beautiful palaces created by the buddha
with beautiful gardens and lakes with all the birds singing dharma songs and
where all the people are happy - do you really think that they would create a nice
beautiful garden for you up in the buddha field? You think that they have nothing
better to do? Also, then consider what they say about the hell realms, that you will
be tortured by these people who cut, boil and fry you. Buddha said, All actions
have results - karma is inescapable. If karma is inescapable, then what about the
karma of these people who are torturing, boiling and burning you? You might
think, Wont they have karma because they are hurting me? Im in pain. What
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about them? Do they have no karma or what?

Everything has to do with the mind, the projections of your mind. If in the instant
you see that these projections are nothing but arising perceptions, you are
enlightened - you are free. These will no longer hold you down because you no
longer hold to them. Theyll not be able to hold you. In fact, theres nothing to hold
and no-one holding. However, you will not be able to think like that. Youll not be
able to conceive it in that way. Youll think they are real. Youll think they are real
and that thinking will solidify the grasping. It is all to do with your own projections
and perceptions thats all it is. But to say this is easy to realize is wrong. It is not
easy - it is hard.

The Four Reflections - No Parrotting

So this now, (Rinpoche recites the six lines, Reflections that Reverse the Mind, in
Tibetan) these lines about the four reflections that reverse the mind, repeat this as
many times as you can. It doesnt mean you say it once or twice and then its
done. No. This has to hit you. These four truths must hit you. That is the reason
why it has to be repeated as many times as you can so that you dont just say
them like a parrot but you really reflect on the meaning of the words. These four
reflections relate to the four Noble Truths of the Buddhas teachings. It is the core
of those; so experience them - experience the truth in them. Dont just say it.
Youve got to experience and feel them. It is absolutely necessary to feel them.
(The teachings on the main part of the text will follow next month).
Dedication - for the benefit of all.

Copyright YesheMelong 2013. All rights reserved.

If anyone wishes to publish or distribute these teachings they must first receive
authorization from His Holiness Shenphen Dawa Rinpoche.

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