| Table
of Contents
Part One
Chapter
1. Using Daily Life as the Practice
of Dharma. This article
summarizes some of the fundamental
principles of Buddhism, who we are
and why we can turn our daily life
into spiritual training and realize
Buddhahood, the state of ultimate
peace and wisdom.
Chapter 2.
Opening the Heart with Compassion.
Compassion is a caring attitude,
an openness of mind. It is also
the omnipresent power of Buddhahood.
This article explains in simple
words what compassion is and how
we can develop it. Compassion as
a meditation not only generates
peace and harmony, but also awakens
Buddhahood in us.
Chapter 3.
A Spiritual Journey in a Turbulent
Life. Using his own
turbulent life as an illustration,
the author presents the most beautiful
and insightful teachings of Buddhism.
By giving him the strength to bear
the calamities and emotional devastation
that befell him and many others,
Buddhist teachings became his sole
means of survival in a turbulent
world. If you know how, suffering
can become a more powerful tool
than happiness to transform life
into the enlightened path.
Chapter 4.
Tibetan Buddhist Art and its
Religious Significance.
This article outlines Tibetan Buddhist
paintings of different traditions,
with an emphasis on their religious
significance. For people who are
spiritually inclined, religious
artifacts in various peaceful and
wrathful forms are a powerful tool
to develop and strengthen spiritual
experience with the various expressions
of phenomena. For realized people,
spiritual artifacts are power, energy
and light, the extension of their
own inner peace, strength and wisdom.
Art can also be wisdom itself arising
in the form of images of power and
symbols of teachings. So, spiritual
artifacts are an important means
of turning perceptions of phenomena
into the realization of peace, strength
and wisdom.
Chapter 5.
Buddhist Artifacts as the Support
of Spiritual Realization.
Using an image of Avalokiteshvara
as an example, this article explains
the symbolic significance of spiritual
artifacts as the source of teaching,
inspiration and power. It is easier
for ordinary people to use objects
that have direct spiritual significance
and power as a means of inspiration
than it is to use ordinary objects.
Objects with direct spiritual significance
include religious paintings, statues,
temples, books, teachers, meditators
and holy places.
Chapter 6.
Preparing for Bardo, the Stages
of Dying and After Death. This
article explains in detail the whole
process of dying from the moment
death begins to what happens after
death. Based on esoteric scriptures
(tantra) of Tibetan Buddhism, it
outlines the numerous stages involved
in living and dying, with teachings
on how we should view and experience
each step.
Part Two
Chapter
7. Nyingmapa School of Tibetan
Buddhism. Nyingma or
Nyingmapa (Old One) is the oldest
of the four major Buddhist schools
of Tibet. This article outlines
the unique attributes of the Nyingmapa
school in the literary, spiritual
and social history of Tibet.
Chapter 8.
The Terma Tradition of the Nyingmapa
School. Ter or Terma
means "hidden treasures."
They are spiritual objects, teachings
and transmissions concealed and
discovered through enlightened mystical
powers by great adepts. The Nyingmapa
school is the richest Buddhist tradition
in terms of teachings revealed as
Ter. This article summarizes the
different classes of Ter discoveries,
"Earth Ter" (Sa gTer),
"Mind Ter" (dGongs gTer)
and "Pure Vision" (Dag
sNang) teachings.
Chapter 9.
The Empowerment and Precepts
of Esoteric Training. This
has two aspects: empowerment (Tib.,
dBang, Skt., abhisheka) and precepts
(Tib., Dam Tshig, Skt., samaya).
Empowerment is the entrance to esoteric
[tantric] training. An aspirant
receives it from a tantric master
to initiate himself or herself into
the training. Empowerments can also
be repeatedly received as training
in the path. They can also be received
as the final attainment. Precept
is the vow, commitment, link or
causation in esoteric (tantric)
training. This article provides
a comprehensive overview of the
samayas, the obligations of various
levels of esoteric teaching.
The next four articles
are teachings on the actual practice,
which focus principally on the Ngondro
meditation itself:
Chapter 10.
Meditation of Ngondro, the Essential
Training of the Longchen Nyingthig
Tradition. This article
outlines the Ngondro practice. Ngondro
literally means preliminary. However,
the Ngondro training is in reality
far more than a preliminary practice.
It is an essential and complete
path of meditation training of Dzogpa
Chenpo. It starts by generating
inspiration towards spiritual training
and ends with uniting with or realizing
the intrinsic nature of the mind,
the Buddha nature that we all inherit.
The Ngondro meditation
involves the following trainings:
Prayers to the lineage
teachers for the success of the
Ngondro practice.
Fourfold common
preliminary practices to inspire
our mind towards Dharma meditation:
thinking about the preciousness
of human life, the impermanence
of life, the suffering nature
of the world and karma, the cycle
of causation.
The fourfold uncommon
trainings: going for refuge to
commit our mind to Dharma, developing
the mind of enlightenment to lay
the foundation of Dharma in us,
purification through Vajrasattva
to clear our conceptual, emotional
and karmic impurities with their
traces, and mandala offering to
accumulate the forces of merit.
The main practice
in the Ngondro: to realize the
world as the pure land of Guru
Rinpoche, pray with devotion,
practice the sevenfold devotional
trainings, recite the mantra,
receive the fourfold empowerments,
and contemplate in the union of
one's mind and the enlightened
mind of Guru Rinpoche.
The conclusion:
the dedication of the accumulated
merits as the cause of happiness
and enlightenment of all beings
with all the best aspirations.
The main goal of the
Ngondro meditation is to realize
the intrinsic nature of mind by
unifying our own mind with the enlightened
mind of Guru Rinpoche through the
force of devotion. The mind of Guru
Rinpoche is the union of all the
realized minds of all the Buddhas
and spiritual masters, the universal
truth. The intrinsic nature of mind
is thorough openness without limits,
total oneness without discriminations,
fully awakened-awareness with no
ignorance and fully enlightened
wisdom with no confusion.
Chapter 11.
Meaning of the Vajra Seven Line
Prayer to Guru Rinpoche.
In the Nyingmapa tradition this
prayer is considered the supreme
sacred prayer to Guru Rinpoche.
Its seven lines are the heart of
the prayers of Ngondro practice.
This article is a summary of Guru'i
Tshig bDun gSol 'Debs Kyi rNam bShad
Padma dKar Po, a famous commentary
on the Vajra Seven Line Prayer written
by Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912),
a celebrated scholar and adept of
the Nyingmapa school. It interprets
the prayer in seven different levels
of outer and inner meaning.
Chapter 12.
Receiving the Four Empowerments
of Ngondro Meditation.
Receiving empowerments (dBang Tib.,
abhishekha Skt.) is the final stage
of the Ngondro meditation practice.
This article summarizes hosts of
esoteric trainings and attainments
associated with the receiving of
the four empowerments, the enlightened
blessing powers of body, speech,
mind and wisdom of Guru Rinpoche.
Chapter 13.
A Brief Meditation on Guru Rinpoche,
Padmasambhava. This
article offers a short and simple
instruction on meditation for people
who have no time or energy to go
through the practices of Ngondro.
It is a devotional meditation on
Guru Rinpoche by visualizing him
with symbols of enlightenment, seeing
him as the source of blessings,
and receiving blessings in the form
of lights.
The final two articles
relate to the conclusion of the
meditation practice:
Chapter 14.
Evaluating the Progress of Dharma
Practice. This article
discusses how to assess our spiritual
strength, dedication and attainments
honestly and gauge true progress
in our daily life and meditation.
Before we can find our way out of
a city, we need to know where we
are.
Chapter 15.
A Prayer Song to the Absolute
Lama. This is a translation
of a prayer song to the absolute
Lama (supreme master), the intrinsic
nature of our own mind, the universal
truth. Here the intrinsic nature
of the mind is personified by one's
spiritual master.
| Foreign
Edition |
| French: (Paris: Le Courrier Du Livre) [in progress] |
| Nepali: (Samyak-Sambodhiko Yatra, translated by
Mukesh Lama (Pub,
Nirendra Lama, 2004) |
| Polish: [in progress] |
| |
|
Reviews |
| Reviewer |
Excerpt
of Review |
| Glenn
Masuchika, Library Journal,
March 1, 1995 |
"Recommended
for public and academic libraries." |
| |
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