The Three Supreme Methods

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Whatever practices we do, whether the common ones of taking refuge and making prostrations, the various trainings in bodhichitta, the methods for purifying the defilements of body and speech, or the uncommon practices of the Secret Mantra (the visualization and recitation of Vajrasattva, guru yoga, or meditation on the yidam deity), all that we do—and this is very important—should be accompanied by the three “supreme methods.”

The first of these methods is the attitude of bodhichitta. All beings possess the
tathagatagarbha, the seed of buddhahood, but this is obscured and veiled. As a result, they wander in samsara. The first method is therefore to be determined to liberate them from this ocean of suffering.

The second supreme method is to have a mind free from conceptualization, which means to practice without distraction. Even if we make only a single prostration, we should not just go through the motions mechanically, with our thoughts and words elsewhere. On the contrary, we should practice with a concentrated mind, and never be carried away by distraction.

The third supreme method is to conclude with dedication. Whatever merit has been generated must be dedicated for the sake of beings, who are as many as the sky is vast. In fact, if we forget to round off our practice with the excellent attitude of bodhichitta, dedicating the merit to others, this merit could be destroyed in a moment of strong anger or defilement.

For this reason, all positive actions should immediately be followed by an act of dedication for the welfare of all beings. The benefits of this supreme method are immense; dedication renders merit inexhaustible and causes it to increase constantly.

Dudjom Rinpoche
Counsels from My Heart
Shambhala

Generate Compassion and the Mind of Awakening.

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Incomparable Lama, at your feet I pay homage.

Listen, fortunate one. Now that your spiritual connection has been forged, achieve your eternal goals. Strive on the sole path of all the victorious ones’ heirs:  Generate compassion and the mind of awakening.

The view is the great emptiness of samsara and enlightenment, concluding that your own awareness, the unformulated dharmakaya, is the sovereign view.
Meditation is to settle unconcerned within unfabricated present awareness, unfettered by grasping.
Take as the supreme kind of conduct not to fall under the negative influence of carelessness, but to have your acts accord with the Dharma.

Be diligent in undistracted practice.

I, a crazy, ragged tulku, wrote this spontaneously in response to Norbu Gyatso’s request.

Dudjom Rinpoche
Wisdom Nectar Dudjom Rinpoché’s Heart Advice
The Tsadra Foundation Series
published by Snow Lion Publications
Copyright © 2005 Tsadra Foundation

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

We reject the deceptive appearances of cyclic existence like someone with nausea seeing food. We ache with devotion and longing for the teacher, like a small child yearning for its mother. We throw ourselves enthusiastically into study and reflection, like a thirsty person longing for water. We treasure our precepts like a poor person who has found some gold or a turquoise. We delight in practicing virtuous activities like a merchant traveling to an island of gold. Our faith and interest in all the different vehicles are like those of a keen shopper arriving at a market. It is when these signs occur that the Dharma has tamed our mind and the teachings and the individual have not gone different ways.

A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom:
Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practices
Dudjom Rinpoche