The Small Golden Key

Water Bowl Offerings

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Before We Begin Daily Meditation

Before we begin our daily meditation, we should clean our room and prepare our altar by cleaning it and making offerings. If we have no altar, we do not need to worry, we can simply visualize Padmasambhava in front of us.

The offerings which we make on the altar are symbolic. In our minds, we offer all pleasant things that we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. We offer the light of the sun and the moon, all fresh flowers, all pleasing smells, all delicious food, and so forth, everything wonderful. Since these offerings are made to the Three Jewels and the Three Roots, who do not have any greed or desire for these offerings, they are made for the benefit of all sentient beings. After we have prepared our room and our altar, we begin our meditation with the common outer practice which is the four thoughts to turn the mind.

These are:
🔸The preciousness of human birth,
🔸 Impermanence and death,
🔸the cause and effect of karma, and
🔸The suffering of saṃsāra.
By meditating on these four thoughts, the mind is subdued and one is led to renounce saṃsāra.

Then we do the extraordinary inner preparation, which is the preliminary practice. Within the Ngondro, there are:
🔸going for refuge,
🔸generating Bodhicitta,
🔸Vajrasattva purification,
🔸maṇḍala offering,
🔸and the prayer of Guru Yoga

Thinley Norbu
Small Golden Key
Translated by Lisa Anderson
Shambala ©️2012

Making the Seven Shrine Offerings
Water for drinking (Argham)
Water for washing hands and feet (Padyam)
Flowers for adorning the head or hair(Pushpe)
 Incense for smelling to please the nose (Dhupe)
Light: candlelight, butterlampsfor seeing to please the eyes (Aloke)
Perfume water to sprinkle on the body to refresh it(Ghande)
Food to please the taste (Naividya)
Music can be an eight offering to please the ears (Shabda)

Download the Water Offering written by Traktung Dudjom Lingpa called 
An Ocean of Blessings from Pure Vision
with compliments from Bero Jeydren Publications. 
This prayer was translated and published
by Bero Jeydren Publications.



How to Make the Water Bowl Offerings


Follow the instructions as indicated by Lama Sonam Rinpoche in the Video

How to Set up a Simple Shrine.


To make the water bowl offering, begin by wiping each bowl with a clean cloth and place the offering bowls face down on the shrine.


When “opening the shrine” fill the offering bowls beginning from the left hand side to the right side for the peaceful water offerings and from right hand side to the left side for the wrathful offerings. At the end of the day, “closing the shrine”, you will start emptying the offering bowls beginning from the right side moving to the left side for peaceful offerings and the opposite for wrathful offerings, emptying, wiping dry and placing the offering bowls face down on the shrine. Note: It is very inauspicious to have an empty offering bowl face up so remember to keep them face down when they are empty. 


Water Offering Prayer written by Traktung Dudjom Lingpa called An Ocean of Blessings from Pure Vision with compliments from Bero Jeydren Publications. This prayer was translated and published by Bero Jeydren Publications.


Note: Clicking on the link will open a new page and redirect you to Shopify for a free download. If you want to make an offering for the text, Click here to make a direct donation to Bero Jeydren Publications. Note: A new page will open and redirect you to the Vajrayana Foundation’s Bero Jeydren Publications’ web page.






			

	


				
					


	

			
What to do Before Beginning Daily Meditation
		

				

						 ~ DudjomTersarNgondro								

				

		


Before We Begin Daily Meditation


Before we begin our daily meditation, we should clean our room and prepare our altar by cleaning it and making offerings. If we have no altar, we do not need to worry, we can simply visualize Padmasambhava in front of us.


The offerings which we make on the altar are symbolic. In our minds, we offer all pleasant things that we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. We offer the light of the sun and the moon, all fresh flowers, all pleasing smells, all delicious food, and so forth, everything wonderful. Since these offerings are made to the Three Jewels and the Three Roots, who do not have any greed or desire for these offerings, they are made for the benefit of all sentient beings. After we have prepared our room and our altar, we begin our meditation with the common outer practice which is the four thoughts to turn the mind.


These are:

🔸The preciousness of human birth,

🔸 Impermanence and death,

🔸the cause and effect of karma, and

🔸The suffering of saṃsāra.

By meditating on these four thoughts, the mind is subdued and one is led to renounce saṃsāra.


Then we do the extraordinary inner preparation, which is the preliminary practice. Within the Ngondro, there are:

🔸going for refuge,

🔸generating Bodhicitta,

🔸Vajrasattva purification,

🔸maṇḍala offering,

🔸and the prayer of Guru Yoga




 


Thinley Norbu

Small Golden Key

Translated by Lisa Anderson

Shambala ©️2012










Making the Seven Shrine Offerings


    

  • Water for drinking (Argham)
    • 

  • Water for washing hands and feet (Padyam)
    • 

  • Flowers for adorning the head or hair(Pushpe)
    • 

  • Incense for smelling to please the nose (Dhupe)
    • 

  • Light: candlelight, butterlampsfor seeing to please the eyes (Aloke)
    • 

  • Perfume water to sprinkle on the body to refresh it(Ghande)
    • 

  • Food to please the taste (Naividya)
    • 

  • Music can me an eight offering to please the ears (Shabda)
    • 

  • 

    

    • 



Follow the instructions as indicated by Lama Sonam Rinpoche in the Video 


How to Make the Water Bowl Offerings




Follow the instructions as indicated by Lama Sonam Rinpoche in the Video.


To make the water bowl offering, begin by wiping each bowl with a clean cloth and place the offering bowls face down on the shrine.


When “opening the shrine” fill the offering bowls beginning from the left hand side to the right side for the peaceful water offerings and from right hand side to the left side for the wrathful offerings. At the end of the day, “closing the shrine”, you will start emptying the offering bowls beginning from the right side moving to the left side for peaceful offerings and the opposite for wrathful offerings, emptying, wiping dry and placing the offering bowls face down on the shrine. Note: It is very inauspicious to have an empty offering bowl face up so remember to keep them face down when they are empty. 


Water Offering Prayer written by Traktung Dudjom Lingpa called An Ocean of Blessings from Pure Vision with compliments from Bero Jeydren Publications. This prayer was translated and published by Bero Jeydren Publications.

Note: Clicking on the link will open a new page and redirect you to Shopify for a free download. If you want to make an offering for the text, Click here to make a direct donation to Bero Jeydren Publications,

Note: A new page will open and redirect you to the Vajrayana Foundation’s Bero Jeydren Publications’ web page.




How to Make Saffron Water 




Add saffron mixture to your offering bowls a drop at a time as desired.






View and order offering bowls and shrine supplies from the

Vajrayana Foundation’s  Dharma Treasures Bookstore 

located at the Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center 

in the Santa Cruz Mountains.


Note: Clicking on the links will open a new page

and redirect you to the Dharma Treasures Bookstore website.



			

	


				
					


	

			
The object of refuge
		

				

						 ~ DudjomTersarNgondro								

				

		
Three Jewels (dKon.mchhog gsum), the inner Three Roots (rTsa.ba gsum), and the secret Three Kāyas (sKu gsum).


1. The “Three Jewels” are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha.


Buddha in Tibetan is Sangs.rgyas. Sangs means dispelled: the Buddha has completely dispelled all ignorance and has awakened from the sleep of ignorance. rGyas means increase or expand: the Buddha has measurelessly expanded all wisdom infallible qualities.


Dharma in Tibetan is Chhos. In general, Chhos means all kinds of phenomena. According to worldly ego, Chhos means all phenomena which cause saṃsāra. But in this case, Chhos is the antidote to saṃsāra and consists of all spiritual wisdom appearance. According to the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Dharma is the Buddha’s teaching of the “path to liberation” (Lam.gi chhos), which includes the Dharma of precept and the Dharma of realization, as explained in chapter 10. In particular, for the Vajrayāna, Dharma includes the “Dharma of result” (‘ Bras.bu’i chhos) which is the complete purification of perceptions so that all appearances are the Buddha’s body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities, and the maṇḍala of the deities, buddhafields, etc. All these results are attained with the realization of the Vajrayāna teachings.


Saṅgha in Tibetan is dGe.’ dun. dGe means virtue. ’Dun means to strive toward one-pointedly. The Saṅgha are those who practice virtue on the path of Dharma. There are two kinds of Saṅgha: the Saṅgha of ordinary individuals (So.so’i skye.bo’i dge.’ dun) and the Saṅgha of sublime beings (’ Phags.pa’i dge.’ dun). The Saṅgha of ordinary individuals are those who practice the path of accumulation (Tshogs lam) and the path of application (sByor lam). The sublime Saṅgha are those who practice the path of seeing (mThong lam), which is the realization of the truth of dharmatā or natural mind, the path of development or meditation (sGom lam) and the path beyond practice (Mi.slob lam), which means all study or teaching and practice have been exhausted, as they are no longer necessary. There are two systems of explaining the path beyond practice: one system says that it is the final path to reach buddhahood; the other says that it is buddhahood itself, and there is no longer any path.


The Saṅgha who follow the Mahāyāna path are called the general outer Saṅgha (Thun.mong phyi.yi dge.’ dun). The Saṅgha who practice the Vajrayāna teaching are called the extraordinary inner Saṅgha (Thun.min nang.gi dge. ’dun), or inner Vidyādhara Saṅgha (Rig.’ dzin nang.gi dge.’ dun).


2. The Three Roots are the lama, the yidam, and the khadro.


Lama (guru): La means that which is most precious, life itself. “Ma” means mother. Just as a mother has great love and compassion for her children, and acts with this love and compassion for their benefit, so the lama acts with unobstructed compassion to benefit all sentient beings.


Yidam (deva): Yid means mind. Dam means an inseparable bond through pure samaya. According to the minds of all individual practitioners, there is a special deity with whom they have an inseparable connection.


Khadro (ḍākinī; Tib. mKha’.’ dro): mKha’ means sky; not the ordinary sky, but the sky or space of the dharmadhātu. ’Gro means to go. Wisdom mind goes without obstruction in the sky of the dharmadhātu. The khadro performs the activities of the Buddha.


3. The Three Kāyas are the dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya.


Dharmakāya in Tibetan is Chhos.sku. Chhos means all phenomena. sKu means body. The true nature of all phenomena is without substance, shape, color, or form, not coming or going, not dwelling any place. It is without any reality; it is great emptiness. All phenomena are completely pervaded by or entirely contained within great emptiness: this is the emptiness-body or dharmakāya.


Sambhogakāya in Tibetan is Longs.spyod.rdzogs.sku. Longs means wealth, spyod means to use or enjoy, rdzogs means complete, sku means body. Sambhogakāya means the body of complete enjoyment of the wealth of pure perceptions.


Nirmāṇakāya in Tibetan is sPrul.sku. sPrul means to emanate or create. sKu means body. The unobstructed compassion of the buddhas is the basis of the nirmāṇakāya because the emanation bodies of nirmāṇakāya come from this unobstructed compassion.


According to the view of the vehicle of cause, concerning the Three Jewels, the only perfect refuge is the Buddha. The Dharma is the path which one follows to attain buddhahood. Once this state has been attained, the path is transcended, just as the boat in which one crosses a river is left behind when the other shore is reached. The Saṅgha are the arhats and bodhisattvas, those who have not yet reached the state of buddhahood, so they are not considered omniscient. But one must not be careless, because while one is still on the path, one must rely upon the Dharma and the Saṅgha.


According to the view of the vehicle of result, the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are from the beginning the phenomena of full enlightenment. They are the inseparable manifestation of the three kāyas, filling the dharmadhātu. The immeasurable appearances of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; the lama, yidam, and khadro; and the nirmāṇakāya, sambhogakāya, and dharmakāya are the inexhaustible, beginninglessly pure maṇḍala of Samantabhadra.


THE SMALL GOLDEN KEY to the Treasure of the Various Essential Necessities of General and Extraordinary Buddhist Dharma


THINLEY NORBU


Translated by Lisa Anderson


SHAMBHALA 2012