Dudjom Ngondro

Finding Balance with Nogondro

~ DudjomTersarNgondro
Dordogne, France

In the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro lineage, which comes from Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, practitioners often ask deep and practical questions as they engage with the foundational practices. While specific questions may vary by experience level, here are the top three most frequently asked questions across the board:
1. “How do I balance Ngondro accumulation with daily life responsibilities?”
2. “What is the correct visualization and sequence for each section of Ngondro?”
3. “Why is Ngondro considered essential before Dzogchen practice?”

From the three which is the most frequently asked and pressing question?  It’s “How do I balance Ngondro accumulation with daily life responsibilities?”  This question comes up consistently for both new and longtime practitioners. Because Ngondro requires sustained effort and large numbers of repetitions, people often seek guidance on how to realistically commit to the practice while managing work, family, health, or other obligations.

Many of us wonder how to accumulate 100,000 prostrations or mantra recitations while raising families, working full-time, or caring for our health. Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche emphasized that consistency, sincerity, and devotion are more important than speed or numbers alone.

Rather than seeing Ngondro as a task to complete, we can view each session—however short—as an offering. Some days may allow for many repetitions, others only a few. What matters is the continuity of connection to the path, the teacher, and the ultimate goal of awakening.

When our daily life becomes the ground for practice—when every challenge deepens our compassion and every joy reminds us of impermanence—then Ngondro is not separate from life at all. It becomes the heart of it. Ngondro becomes the thread that weaves spiritual awareness into each part of our day.

Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche’s Guidance:

“Even if you do not have time to do many recitations or prostrations, it is essential to practice every day without fail. If you cultivate a constant attitude of renunciation, bodhicitta, and devotion, this alone will serve as the foundation for all further practice. These are the roots of Dharma practice, and they will spontaneously lead you to accomplish all the paths and levels.”

“Train your mind again and again in renunciation and bodhicitta. Then, whichever of the stages you are practicing—whether Refuge, Vajrasattva, Mandala Offering, or Guru Yoga—your practice will go well. If you practice regularly in this way, gradually your mind will change, your faith will increase, and your realization will grow.”


A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche
Padmakara Translation Group
Shambhala Publications

 

 

 

“Karma Can Be Very Subtle and Tricky”

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Karma Can Be Very Subtle and Tricky

On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month of the Fire Tiger year—January 14, 1987—His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje turned to those closest to him and said:

“Now I have completed everything. Every prayer that has been asked of me, I have fulfilled. Now I’m going to leave. Please be careful in the future to pay attention. Karma can be very subtle and tricky. We might think something is no big deal, but it may turn out to have serious consequences. So pay good attention to the karmic process. This is what every practitioner needs to pay attention to—even those with the highest realization. I’ve done my part.”

Some of those present thought this was a casual remark. But soon afterward, he became ill and passed into parinirvana.

As Dudjom Rinpoche’s words remind us, karma is not just an abstract concept—it is the very fabric of our experience, shaping each moment and determining the course of our path. Ngondro, the essential foundation of Vajrayana practice, is designed not only to purify karma but also to awaken us to how it operates so that we can navigate it skillfully and wisely.

Ngondro: Transforming Karma Through Practice

Dudjom Rinpoche emphasized that while Ngondro is called a “preliminary” practice, it encapsulates the entire path to enlightenment. Through its structured approach, practitioners develop the wisdom and discipline to recognize, purify, and transcend karmic patterns that perpetuate suffering.

Each stage of the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro directly addresses karma::
1.Refuge and Prostrations – Taking refuge strengthens our connection to the Dharma, ensuring that our actions align with the path to liberation.
2.Bodhicitta – Cultivating the altruistic mind of enlightenment shifts our karmic trajectory toward benefiting others.
3.Vajrasattva Mantra Recitation – Purifying past negative karma, preventing future suffering.
4.Mandala Offerings – Accumulating vast positive karma by cultivating generosity and non-attachment.
5.Guru Yoga – Receiving the Guru’s blessings to cut through karmic obscurations and recognize the nature of mind.

Dudjom Rinpoche taught that Ngondro is a profound means of directly transforming karma, ensuring that we do not remain trapped in conditioned patterns. However, such a practice requires authentic guidance, proper transmissions, and a supportive sangha—which is why the Annual Dudjom Ngondro Retreat is such a precious opportunity.

Join Us for the 2025 Annual Dudjom Ngondro Retreat
📅 April 12–20, 2025 | 📍 In-Person at Pema Osel Ling, YouTube Livestream and Zoom Livestream for the Refuge and Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony
🔗 See details and register

For those sincerely engaging in the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro, participation in the Annual Ngondro Retreat serves as a powerful accelerator of ~ offering direct transmissions, teachings, and immersive practice. This year’s retreat includes:

📿 Orgyen Menla Empowerment, Refuge Ceremony & Bodhisattva Vows

📖 Teachings with Sam Bercholz – From Confusion to Wisdom: Integrating View and Practice ~ “This April 12th ~ 13th seminar offers an in-depth exploration of key themes from Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s “Cascading Waterfall of Nectar,” focusing on the integration of view and practice as the path from confusion to wisdom. Through study, contemplation, and meditation, we will examine how mistaken perceptions and dualistic thinking obscure the natural clarity of mind. Guided teachings will illuminate the Mahayana and Vajrayana perspectives on view, helping participants recognize the interdependence of all phenomena and the innate purity of awareness. The weekend will blend practical meditation techniques with textual reflection, allowing participants to directly experience the wisdom that arises when conceptual confusion dissolves. Open to practitioners of all levels, this seminar provides a supportive space to cultivate a deeper understanding of the Dharma and embody the compassionate insight Thinley Norbu Rinpoche so eloquently presents.” ~ Sam Bercholtz

🌿 Teaching, Practice Instruction, Q & A, Focused Practice and Personal Interview with Tulku Thadral Rinpoche, Lama Sonam Rinpoche, Amy Green, Drubpon Pema Rigdzin, Choying Wangmo, Stefan Graves. This year, we welcome Lotsawa Matthew Wells to translate for Tulku Thadral Rinpcohe and Lama Sonam Rinpoche.

📜 Oral Reading Transmissions (Lungs) for the Concise Dudjom Tersar,
the Sa-Ter, and Troma Nagmo Ngondro Practices

🌟 Dudjom Ngondro Program Participants receive a 10% discount

Ngondro is how we engage with karma—not just conceptually,
but through practice that refines and transforms our experience.
This retreat is an opportunity to deepen that engagement,
under the blessings of the lineage,
in the company of sangha.

Join the Dudjom Ngondro Program

 

The Profound Path of Guru Yoga

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

“Wether our teachers present in person are ordinary beings or emanations of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, if we are able to pray to them considering them as the Buddha, there is absolutely no difference between them and the Buddha or Bodhisattva or yidam deity in person, because the source of blessings is devotion. So whichever profound practice we are undertaking, whether the generation phase or the perfection phase, we should begin by making the teacher’s blessings the path. There is no more to it than that. But as long as we have not received the blessings, we will not be genuinely on the path. It is said that if disciples who keep the commitments give themselves wholeheartedly, with devotion, to an authentic diamond master, they will obtain the supreme and common accomplishments even if they have no other methods. But without devotion to the teacher, even if we complete the approach and accomplishment practices of the yidams of the six tantra sections, we will never obtain the supreme accomplishment. And we will be unlikely to accomplish many of the ordinary accomplishments either, such as those of long life, wealth, or bringing beings under one’s power. Even if we do manage to achieve a little, it will have necessitated a lot of hardship and will have nothing to do with the profound path. When unmistaken devotion takes birth in us, obstacles on the path will be dispelled and we will make progress, obtaining all the supreme and ordinary accomplishments without depending on anything else. This is what we mean by the profound path of Guru Yoga.”

~ Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practices
Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
Shambhala Publications

Publication of Dudjom Rinpoche’s biography was
made possible through support of
Jnanasukha Foundation