Precious Instructions on Common Preliminaries

Precious Instructions on the Common Preliminaries

by Longchen Rabjam

In devotion, I pay homage at the feet of the noble guru!

Through the stirring of the thousand-petalled lotus of my hundredfold faith,
I pay homage to the one with knowing wisdom and loving compassion,
Whose enlightened activity is the splendour of all beings,
The precious jewel of the wisdom-mind, sign, and oral transmissions.

Among the vast secret teachings of the buddhas,
The pinnacle of all is the unsurpassable secret.
From its definitive points contained in the Copper Letters,
I here present the refined essential instruction on training the mind.

Guru Yoga

From the cycle of the unsurpassable secret, the ultimate of all vehicles, the first of the common preliminaries is training the mind in guru yoga.

Begin by taking refuge and generating bodhicitta, then visualize yourself as white Vajrasattva, holding a vajra and bell and wearing the silk and jewel adornments. Above your head, upon a lotus and sun- and moon-discs, sits your root guru, inseparable from the gurus of the lineage and surrounded by the buddhas and bodhisattvas, together with yidam deities and ḍākinīs in billowing clouds that fill the whole of space. Consider that as you pay homage and offer gifts, a stream of nectar flows from the guru’s body and pervades your own body, inside and out. Your obscurations are purified and you receive the siddhis of enlightened body, speech and mind. Recite the verses for taking refuge in a pleasant melody as many times as possible. Then, at the end, visualize the whole of appearance and existence as the guru’s pure realm and dedicate the merit. This has the purpose of directly bringing blessings.

Maṇḍala Offering

Next, there is training the mind through maṇḍala offering. For this, visualize cloud-like gatherings of gurus, yidam deities and ḍākinīs in the sky before you. Arrange the maṇḍala heaps and imagine the outer level, a pure world with Mount Meru and the four continents filled with all the abundant riches and enjoyments of gods and human beings; the inner level, a pure maṇḍala of Akaniṣṭha adorned with clouds of offerings; and the secret level, pure naturally emergent wisdom adorned with the play of samādhi in the expanse of realization. Offer The Great Maṇḍala of the Three Levels: Outer, Inner and Secret, or Adornment of the Four Continents. This has the purpose of perfecting the special twofold accumulation and bringing about a vast wave of qualities.

The Freedoms and Advantages

Next, there is training the mind in the rarity of the freedoms and advantages. Consider the realm of sentient beings and how your having obtained a precious human form complete with the eight freedoms and ten advantages is even more wonderful than a poor person’s discovery of a precious jewel, and how you must make a sincere effort to apply yourself to the Dharma. This has the purpose of generating enthusiasm and making you a fit vessel for the Dharma.

Impermanence

Next, there is training the mind in impermanence. For this, consider the outer level, the various changes of the four seasons, and how nothing stays the same over the course of a year, a month, a day, or even a moment, and how death is therefore certain. Consider the inner level, the changes in the aggregates that occur with ageing and the passing of youth and the withering of flesh and bone, hair and nails, and how death is certain. Consider the secret level, the dissolution of the four elements, and the experiences of the moment of death and the bardos, and how death is certain. This has the purpose of inspiring the practice of Dharma through a strong sense of disenchantment.

Saṃsāra and Cause and Effect

Next, there is training the mind through contemplating the joys and sorrows of saṃsāra and adopting and avoiding certain causes and effects. For this, consider the extreme heat and cold of the hells, the hunger and thirst of the pretas, the bewilderment of animals, the birth, old age, sickness and death of human beings, the conflict that is rife among the asuras, and the death and transmigration of the gods. Contemplate how, since all these various forms of suffering come about through having committed the ten non-virtuous deeds in the past, such actions must be avoided, and since all the delights of the higher realms and liberation come about through the practice of the ten virtues, such actions must be adopted. This has the purpose of bringing an understanding of the virtues to be adopted and misdeeds to be avoided.

Faith

Next, there is training the mind in faith. For this, cultivate faith based on admiration of the qualities of the Three Jewels and the masters of the past, and extraordinary pure perception based on an understanding that all sentient beings possess the essence of awakening. The purpose of this is to become a suitable vessel.

Compassion

Next, there is training the mind in compassion. For this, consider how all sentient beings have been your kind parents throughout beginningless time and how they are wandering in saṃsāra, not yet liberated and lacking the light of Dharma. Think to yourself, "How sad! May my own happiness bring joy to them all! May their sufferings ripen on me, and may my virtues cause them to be swiftly liberated from saṃsāra!" Extend this meditation from a single sentient being to them all. The purpose of this is to progress onto the path of Mahāyāna.

Dreamlike Illusoriness

Next, there is training the mind in dreamlike illusoriness. For this, contemplate how all phenomena that appear as objects are just like last night’s dream, clearly apparent yet non-existent. When they appear as they do, they are unreal. The phenomena that appear as body, speech and mind are unreal, illusory and empty by nature. All outer objects and inner states of mind are devoid of reality, dreamlike and illusory. The purpose of this meditation is to realize the absence of individual and phenomenal identity.

Non-Conceptuality

Next, there is training the mind in the special methods of non-conceptuality. This has two parts.

i. Winds

The instruction on winds is to adopt the seven-point posture with a slightly tilted neck. The lower ends of the three channels are below the navel and curve into the central channel. The upper ends are at the ūrṇā,[1] from where the white and red roma (Skt. rasanā) and kyangma (Skt. lalanā) channels pass through the left and right nostrils. They connect to the central channel at the brahma-aperture. Winds emerge from the nostrils like smoke and extend further outwards. When the winds return, the whole animate and inanimate universe becomes one with space and, as you inhale, is brought through the roma and kyangma into the central channel. Focus on this while you gently hold the wind. The purpose of this is to bring the dawn of clear, empty, non-conceptual wisdom.

ii. Essence-Drops

The instruction on essence-drops is as follows. Within the channel at the navel is the vertical stroke of a syllable a, from which fire blazes forth, melting the syllable haṃ at the crown. A stream of white and red essences then descends, filling the three channels, four chakras and all the body’s interior. In the surging bliss that ensues, focus the mind for a while on the pea-sized syllable baṃ at the heart. Finally, the syllable shrinks, becoming ever finer until nothing more is observable, and you relax in that experience of nonobservation. The purpose of this is to bring about the dawn of blissful, empty, non-conceptual luminosity.

These points of the supreme secret Great Perfection,
Which are scattered in a great many texts,
Are thus combined and set out as the common preliminaries.
Through the virtue of this, may all beings attain awakening.

This precious instruction on the common preliminaries arranged by Natsok Rangdrol,[2] a yogin of the sovereign vehicle, in the palace of Samantabhadra within the forest of radiant clouds on the slopes of Gangri Tökar by the light of a crystal moon, is hereby complete. Let it be virtuous! Virtuous! Virtuous!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2024.

Bibliography

Tibetan Edition

klong chen rab 'byams. "thun mong gi sngon 'gro rin po che’i pra khrid" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 12: 191–197 (3.5 folios)

Version: 1.1-20240812