path

Every Effort Should Be Made to Complete Ngondro

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

The difference between sentient beings and Buddhas is that the first has obscurations while the other does not. We are sentient beings because we have temporary “defilements” or obscurations to our wisdom mind. All sentient beings are inherently Buddhas, temporarily defiled by gross emotional obscurations and by the subtle obscuration of habit. When these are removed, the Buddha within naturally manifests. According to the Vajrayana path, only two methods exist for removing these two obscurations: first, accumulation of merit and wisdom, and second, the direct transmission from the guru’s mind to the student’s mind. Ngondro uses both methods and includes the essential practices of the Three Yanas (vehicles) Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The essence of Hinayana practice is refuge. The generation of Bodichitta (enlightened attitude) is the essence of Mahayana practice. Accumulation, purification and the mind transmission of Guru Yoga are the essences of Vajrayana practice. Ngondro is a preliminary practice containing all paths, including the creation and perfection stages of the Vajrayana practice.

Since it contains all paths to the realization of enlightenment, then, every effort should be made to complete Ngondro in order to fully cultivate and realize its profound benefits.“

A commentary on the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro
The Preliminary Practice of the New Treasures of Dudjom
by Lama Tarchin Rinpoche

Photo by
Willie Korman
HH Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche
with Lamas and Pema Osel Sangha
Vajrayana Foundation Annual Summer Retreat
at the Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center
Santa Cruz Mountains California USA

 

The truth of the path

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

While the causal condition for the path is the Buddha-nature, the dominant condition is the sublime teacher, because the path comes about through practicing his or her teachings, and realization of the ground as it is depends on the teacher. The actual practice of the path depends on the individual; the path itself is virtue that combines skillful means and wisdom and serves as the gateway to liberation.

It is said in the sutras:

Wisdom accompanied by skillful means is the path.
Skillful means accompanied by wisdom is the path.

And in the Abhidharma texts we find:

The path, in brief, is to fully recognize suffering, to abandon the origin of suffering, to realize cessation, and to follow the path of meditation.

It is by energetically and single-mindedly training in the general and specific stages of the path that comprise the Buddha’s doctrine, matching them to one’s own individual capacity, that one will gradually travel the paths of accumulation, joining, seeing, and meditation, all the way to the end. For the actual attainment of the result depends on practice.

~ Dudjom Rinpoche

Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom