Tulku Thondup

The Profound Preliminary Practice

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

The actual purification of your nature: the ordinary aspects are the four changes of mind; the extraordinary ones are the refuge, generation of Bodhicitta, purification of obscurations, and the two accumulations. Having practiced each of these assiduously according to the commentaries until you have truly experienced them, you should then consider the most extraordinary Guru Yoga, as the vital essence of practice, and persevere in it.* If you do not, growth of meditation will be tardy; and even if it grows a little it will be very vulnerable to obstacles and genuine understanding will not be able to take birth in your being.

So, if you pray with simple and very fervent devotion, after some time, through the transfer of the Heart-Mind realization of the Guru, and extraordinary understanding, inexpressible in words, will certainly take birth within. As Lama Shang Rinpoche said:

“To nurture stillness, experiences, deep concentration – these are common things.
But very rare is the realization born from within through the Guru’s blessings, which arise by the power of enthusiastic faith.”

Therefore, the birth of understanding in your nature of the meaning of the Great Perfection depends upon these preliminaries. That was what Je-Drigung meant when he said:

“Other teachings consider the main practice profound, but here it is the preliminary practices that we consider profound.”

* The four changes of mind arise from the contemplation of the preciousness and rarity of the human body, of the impermanence of all things, of the ineluctable law of cause and effect and of the imperfections and sufferings of Samsara. The Guru Yoga of Lamai Nal-jor, literally union with the Guru’s nature, is not only the essence of the preliminaries but also of all practices.

Extracting the Quintessence of Accomplishment  ~ pages 5-6
by Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
Translated according to the golden explanations of  Tulku Thondup Rinpoche,
Dungsey Trinley Norbu Rinpoche, and Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche,
and with the kind assistance of many vajra brothers and sisters.
Originally published in 1979 by Orgyan Kunsang Chökhorling
Reprinted in 1998 by Vajrayana Foundation

 

 

The Meaning Of The Vajra Seven Line Prayer To Guru Rinpoche

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

POL guru rinpoche

A repost of an excerpt from Enlightened Journey
by Tulku Thondup ©1995 Shambhala Publications Inc
Buddhayana First edition 1979 Second edition 1989

THIS CHAPTER is a summary of a commentary on The Vajra Seven-Line Prayer, entitled Padma Karpo (The White Lotus), written by Mipham Namgyal (1846-1912), a celebrated scholar of the Nyingma Buddhist tradition of Tibet. The original Tibetan text of Mipham’s commentary is very profound and difficult to understand or to translate, and I have summarized the basic points of his text in this chapter. 

The Vajra Seven-Line Prayer is the most sacred and important prayer in the Nyingma tradition. This short prayer contains the outer, inner, and innermost teachings of the esoteric trainings of Buddhism. By practicing The Vajra Seven-Line Prayer according to any one of these trainings, the result of that particular training will be attained. 

In this summary there are five levels of interpretation. They are (1) the general or common meaning; the path of the hidden meaning (sBas Don), consisting of the next three levels; (2) the meaning according to the path of liberation (Grol Lam); (3) the meaning according to the perfection stage (rDzog Rim); (4) meaning according to the Nyingthig of Dzogpa Chenpo: the direct realization of the spontaneous (Lhun Grub Thod rGal); and (5) the meaning according to the accomplishment of the result. From among these levels of meaning it is proper for a person reciting the vajra prayer to learn and practice the particular level that is suitable to his or her capacity.

I have arranged this summary merely with the hope of being able to indicate that this brief prayer contains different levels of meaning and training, as many followers of the Nyingma teachings who are acquainted with The Vajra Seven-Line Prayer are often unaware of its deeper meanings, But in order to comprehend the complete meaning of the prayer, I urge the readers to read the original text of Mipham Rinpoche. 

In Tibet, the Nyingmas recite The Vajra Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche three times before reciting any other prayers, doing any meditation, or performing any ceremony. Many devotees repeat it hundreds of thousands of times, reciting it during all their waking hours, making it as their main prayer, breathing, life, and contemplation.

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