Inner Practice of the Five Families

The Inner Practice of the Five Families

from the Khandro Nyingtik

Homage to the Ever Excellent Five Families!

The inner practice of the five families is as follows. The Luminous Expanse says:

Empty yet clear awareness, the five primordial wisdoms,
One’s very own rigpa, method and knowledge in union.

As this suggests, one’s own unchanging rigpa is Vairocana. The unceasing creative power of Ever Excellent awareness arises as the male and female buddhas of the four families and the four gatekeepers. This means there is no accomplishment from elsewhere; it is enough for the visualization to be within oneself.

Generate the following, therefore, as perfect from the very moment it is brought to mind. You yourself are Samantabhadra, dark blue with one face and two hands, indivisibly united with the consort Samantabhadrī. As insignia, you hold a vajra and bell. Your legs are crossed, and you are adorned with the precious ornaments. You are in sambhogakāya form with all the major marks and minor signs. Visualize Vajrasattva at your forehead, Ratnasambhava at your throat, Amitābha at your heart, and Amoghasiddhi at your navel. And visualize the four gatekeepers at your four limbs. All the deities are in union with their consorts and are of the colour corresponding to the family to which they belong. Visualize the samayasattva and jñānasattva as instantly indivisible, and recite the following secret essence mantras:

oṃ āḥ hūṃ
oṃ hūṃ trāṃ hrīḥ āḥ
siddhi phala hūṃ jaḥ

Know that the forms are illusory, apparent yet unreal, and recite the mantra as audible emptiness. For the perfection stage, rest in an experience of indivisibility.

As to the benefits of practising in such a way, it will bring every possible quality within the present lifetime. You will accomplish beings’ welfare by means of the four types of activity and actualize the five kāyas and primordial wisdoms. And you will attain perfect awakening within this very rebirth.

May this inner practice of the five families meet with the one who has the right karmic destiny. Samaya. Gya. Gya. Gya. Khathaṃ. Ithi. Let it be virtuous!

| Translated by Adam Pearcey with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation, 2025.

Bibliography

Tibetan Editions

"rigs lnga nang gi sgrub pa" In snying thig ya bzhi. 13 vols. Delhi: Sherab Gyaltsen Lama, 1975. Vol. 10: 110–112 (1.5 folios)

Version: 1.0-20250116