Jigdral Yeshe Dorje

“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

 

In Memory of Dudjom Rinpoche

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Watch Photo Slideshow

Today, January 16, 2025,  we commemorate the anniversary of the parinirvana of Kyabje Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche*, one of the most prominent Nyingma lineage masters. Rinpoche first came to America in 1972. His arrival marked a pivotal moment in the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Dudjom Rinpoche was received with great reverence and curiosity by Westerners who were beginning to explore Tibetan Buddhism. Many of his first students were spiritual seekers drawn to his profound wisdom, humility, and the clarity of his teachings.

Listen to Dudjom Rinpoche interview with Lex Hixon during Rinpoche’s first visit to America. 

 

During Rinpoche’s time in the United States, Dudjom Rinpoche established several Dharma centers to provide authentic teachings and create spaces for Buddhist practice. These include significant center, the Seat of Dudjom Rinpcohe, Yeshe Nyingpo in New York.

The Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center was established in 1989 by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche at the request of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche. It is the primary retreat center for the Vajrayana Foundation, dedicated to preserving and transmitting the teachings of the Dudjom Tersar lineage in the West.

Explore books by Dudjom Rinpoche at Shambhala Publications: A Guide to Dudjom Rinpoche 

*Rinpoche’s  biography made possible through support of Jnanasukha Foundation.