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The Steps of the Gradual Path

~ DudjomTersarNgondro
Vajrayogini Thangka by Lama Pema Dorje

In light of the upcoming Dudjom Lingpa Vajrayogini Empowerment which Tulku Thadral Rinpoche will administer during the Vajrayana Foundation 2024 Annual Ngondro Retreat,  we reshare this teaching by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche which we first posted here in 2015. The Source: of this teaching is from the Vajrayana Foundation Spring Retreat 1989 Brochure.

This is the first of what will be an Annual Retreat given by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. Rinpoche has expressed his vision for these retreats as follows:

“In the West there are many Dharma practitioners and many teachers, but I feel that the students lack a real overview of the body of the Dharma teachings from beginning to end. In order to serve the Vajrayana teachings, I would like to open the road to understanding Dharma in its entirety. Since I will be staying in America for a long time, I would like to provide an opportunity for those willing and able, to practice this path to completion. I hope some will be able to teach this doctrine themselves, thus preserving and advancing the Dharma in the West in its original, pristine form.  

The Vajrayana path has four levels of practice connected with the four initiations. The first initiation is the Vase initiation, connected with the Development stage practices: meditating on the deity of the three roots – Lama, Yidam and Dakini. The practices consist of drawing the deity to oneself, accomplishing the deity by realizing the ordinary and supreme essence blessings, and then performing the four Buddha activities. The purpose of Development stage practice is to destroy belief in and grasping at ordinary appearances by realizing emptiness of appearance. The result is that one realizes Buddhahood in the Nirmanakaya Buddhafield.    

The second initiation is the Secret initiation, connected with the practice of the Six Yogas: Tummo, Dream, Bardo, Phowa, Illusory Body and Clear Light. The nerves and channels are freed from blockages. The practices destroy grasping and attachment to ordinary speech and energy, using breathing and physical exercises. The result is realizing Buddhahood in the Sambhogakaya Buddhafield.  

The third initiation is the Wisdom initiation, connected with the path of Skillful Means. One experiences the four stages of bliss and the realization of the union of bliss and emptiness. The method of practice trains the mind and tigle (vital essence) and destroys grasping at impure perceptions. The result is Buddhahood at the Dharmakaya level.   

The fourth initiation is the Precious Word initiation. One meditates according to the two stages of Dzogchen, Thekchö and Tögal. In Thekchö, the practitioner realizes the separateness of mind and awareness, and the union of emptiness and awareness. The training consists of being introduced to the View of one’s own naked awareness and Buddha mind. After understanding  this one meditates on it. Then, one is taught to develop through Action. In Tögal, four stages of experience spontaneously arise. The purpose of Tögal is to attain the rainbow light body. At this time the subtle defilements are destroyed and in this life one attains Buddhahood in the Dharmakaya Buddhafield. This is the ultimate Dharma practice, resulting in the Swabhavakaya, which is the essence of the Dharmakaya.  

Each student will participate at their own level of practice connected with one of the four initiations. At the beginning of the retreat, the three Root initiations of Lama, Yidam and Dakini will be given, along with the oral transmissions (lung) and teachings. The daily schedule will consist of four sessions. During the first session we will do Ngondro (preliminary practices), Riwo Sangcho, Guru Rinpoche, Yeshe Tsogyal and Red Tara. During the second session I will give individual instruction. The third session will consist of teaching and practice in accordance with the individual student’s level. In the fourth session we will do sitting meditation, Vajrakilaya and Dharmapala.”

1996 Pema Osel LIng Summer Retreat

About Lama Tharchin Rinpcohe: 
Lama Tharchin Rinpoche was a beloved Dzogchen master of the Dudjom Tersar tradition of the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism and the tenth family lineage holder of the Repkong Ngakmang in Amdo, the largest community of yogi and lay tantric practitioners in Tibet. The Repkong ngakpas were revered throughout the region for their realization and ability to benefit others through the power of their tantric practice.

Born on the Tenth Day of the Fifth Month of the Fire Rat Year (June 29, 1936) to highly accomplished and esteemed yogi parents, Rinpoche trained from the age of eight under the close guidance of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, completing five years of solitary retreat and a traditional three-year retreat by his early twenties. In addition to cultivating his own meditative experience and realization through Dharma practice, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche was highly respected for his accomplishments in textual study, ritual, torma making, mandala design, and sacred art, song, and dance.

In 1960, Rinpoche escaped Tibet, undertaking a dangerous six-week journey over the Himalayas on foot, guiding a small group of family and friends into India. Rinpoche continued to serve Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche in Tibetan refugee camps in Kalimpong and Orissa, India, as well as in Nepal, Taiwan, and eventually the United States. He continued mastering lineage traditions under the guidance of his root lamas, Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, and Lama Sherab Rinpoche, as well as his other distinguished teachers.

After coming to the United States in 1984, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche was asked by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche to teach Vajrayana and turn the third wheel of Dharma, planting the authentic seeds of Buddha’s teachings in the West. To establish a base for preserving and developing the Dudjom Tersar lineage for future generations, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche founded the Vajrayana Foundation in 1987 and Pema Ösel Ling retreat center in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains in 1991. Rinpoche passed into parinirvana on the Full Moon Day of the Sixth Month of the Water Snake Year (July 22, 2013), leaving the center under the guidance of Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche and Lama Sonam Tsering Rinpoche. Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s rich legacy continues to be preserved and distributed by the Lama Tharchin Rinpoche Heritage Foundation, Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, and the Vajrayana Foundation. 
Source: https://www.heartteachings.com/pages/about-us

 

March Ngondro Schedule

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

📸 2018 Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center HH Dudjom Rinpoche III Sangye Pema Shepa with precious lamas and precious sangha


Save the dates and mark your calendars for
these March Ngondro Events

Answers to your Questions with Tulku Thadral Rinpoche
For Ngondro Program Participants
MARCH 16th 11 AM Pacific

Ngondro is a Life Long Practice ~ Accumulation Session
for the Concise Dudjom Sater Ngondro
For Ngondro Program Participants
MARCH 24th 9 AM Pacific
Please come with your required implements and text.
 
Troma Ngondro Teachings Part 6 and
Troma Ngondro Oral Reading Transmission with
Tulku Thadral Rinpoche
OPEN TO ALL!!!
MARCH 13th 5 PM Pacific
JOIN HERE!
 
Dudjom Lingpa Troma Ngondro Accumulation
For Ngondro Program Participants
DAILY at 7 am Pacific
Please come with your required implements and text.

Curious about the Vajrayana Foundation
Dudjom Ngondro Program?
Check out how we can support you and your Ngondro Practice.
We support both the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro and the
Dudjom Lingpa Troma Ngondro!

The Vajrayana Foundation 2024 Annual Ngondro Retreat
March 30 ~ April 7, 2024
In person at Pema Osel Ling and by Live Stream 

Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje NEW Biography

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Taken at the time Sangharakshita knew Dudjom Rinpoche  in Kalimpong. 1958

There is a new biography of Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje that was recently released in Mid February this year, (2024). Translated by Joseph McClellan, published by The Treasury of Lives (online) and was made possible through support of the Jnanasukha Foundation. We share that biography here.

Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje was born in 1904 in Terkong Nang (gter kong nang), Pemako, southeastern Tibet. There is not yet clarity on the exact date; some the tenth day of the sixth lunar month. His father was Khengen Tulku (mkhan rgan sprul sku),[1] a son of a king of Pemako named Kanam Depa (kaH gnam sde pa) who traced his ancestry back to ancient central Tibetan kings.[2]Khengen Tulku was considered a reincarnation of Japur Lama (‘ja’ phur bla ma), the son of Katok Gyelse Sonam Deutsen (kaH thog rgyal sras bsod nams lde’u btsan, 1679–1723) of Katok Monastery (kah thog dgon) in Derge. Japur Lama had left Kham for Pemako in the early eighteenth century and established a teaching and practice center in the region. His reincarnation, Khengen Tulku, was trained as a lay lama and married a woman from Terkong Nang named Namgyel Dolma (rnam rgyal sgrol ma) of a Bhutanese family descended from Ratna Lingpa(ratna gling pa, 1403–1479). He established a monastery near her village, where Dudjom Rinpoche was later born.[3]

Khengen Tulku was away at the time of Dudjom Rinpoche’s birth, so local lamas were consulted, and the newborn was named Nyima Gyeltsen (nyi ma rgyal mtshan), since he was born on a Sunday (nyi ma, means “sun”). When Khengen Tulku returned, he said that he already had a name for the boy based on a dream he had while Namgyel Dolma was pregnant. In that dream, ḍākinīs gave him a mirror and a vajra (rdo rje), telling him that these represented the unborn child’s name. His father interpreted the mirror as representing wisdom (ye shes), and so gave him the name Yeshe Dorje (ye shes rdo rje). Thus, when Dudjom Rinpoche was a child, most people referred to him as Tulku Yeshe.[4]

Recognition and Enthronement

Two lamas, Ling Lama Chojor Gyatso (gling bla ma chos ‘byor rgya mtsho) and Puktrul Gyurme Ngedon Wangpo (phug sprul ‘gyur med nges don dbang po) identified him soon after his birth as a reincarnation of their teacher, the prominent eastern-Tibetan treasure revealer Dudjom Lingpa (bdud ‘joms gling pa, 1835–1904), whose revelations form the basis of the Dudjom Tersar (bdud ‘joms gter gsar) tradition. Dudjom Lingpa had, in the last decades of his life, expressed a strong desire to move to Pemako—an isolated and idyllic region on the border of eastern Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, and Burma—and his hagiographies claim that he discussed his aspiration in a correspondence with a nun there—a daughter of King Kanam Depa named Ani Nangsel (a ni snang gsal). In his final years, Dudjom Lingpa is said to have exhorted his students to move to Pemako, saying that he too would go there.

Chojor Gyatso and Puktrul Gyurme Ngedon Wangpo had learned of Dudjom Lingpa’s death while making their way to Pemako, and they committed to identifying his rebirth in the region. In Pemako, they encountered the Seventh Riwoche Jedrung, Trinle Jampa Jungne (ri bo che rje drung ‘phrin las byams pa ‘byung gnas, 1856–1922), also known as Dudjom Namkhai Dorje (bdud ‘joms nam mkha’i rdo rje), who had fled to Pemako from Kham to escape invading Qing troops. They inquired about potential candidates and Jedrung Rinpoche told them of Khengen Tulku and Namgyel Dolma’s child, and the three agreed that he was Dudjom Lingpa’s rebirth. Jedrung Rinpoche, who would later be an important teacher to Dudjom Rinpoche, composed a long-life prayer naming the child Jigdral Dechen Dorje Drakpo Tsel (‘jigs bral bde chen rdo rje drag po rtsal). For the rest of Dudjom Rinpoche’s life, he kept the name Jigdral and added it to the name Yeshe Dorje, which his father had given him.[5]

According to Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal‘s (mkhan po tshe dbang don rgyal) biography of Dudjom Rinpoche, before Lama Chojor Gyatso and the party from eastern Tibet came to find the young Dudjom, now a toddler, he told his parents to prepare to receive guests. When they arrived, he greeted them warmly by name in his odd accent that had always puzzled the Pemako natives, but which was later explained as a remnant of his previous incarnation’s Golok accent.

Fully satisfied with the tulku’s qualifications, the two disciples of Dudjom Lingpa presented Khengen Tulku with offerings and a recognition letter sent from Jedrung Trinle Jampa Jungne and formally declared him to be the tulku of Dudjom Lingpa.
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