Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro
Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro (Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་སྔོན་འགྲོ།, Wyl. klong chen snying thig sngon 'gro) — the root verses of the Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro are mostly taken from the original terma of Longchen Nyingtik (‘the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse’) revealed by Jikmé Lingpa (1730-1798), and are therefore the vajra words of Guru Rinpoche himself. This profound and poetic revelation was then arranged and expanded by Jikmé Lingpa’s direct disciple, the First Dodrupchen, Jikmé Trinlé Özer (1745-1821), into its present form. Although we usually refer to this series of practices simply as the Longchen Nyingtik Ngöndro, its full title is ‘The Preliminary Practice of the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingtik: The Excellent Path to Omniscience’.[1]
Outline
The Common or Outer Preliminaries
Blessing the Speech
Invoking the Lama
Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind from Samsara
Free and Well-Favoured Human Birth
Impermanence
Karma: Cause and Effect
The Suffering of Samsara
Invoking the Lama's Compassion to Avoid Pitfalls on the Path
The Uncommon or Inner Preliminaries
Taking Refuge
Generation of Bodhichitta: the Heart of the Awakened Mind
Vajrasattva Purification
The Trikaya Mandala Offering
The Accumulation of the Kusulu: Chö
Guru Yoga
Visualization
Seven Line Prayer
Seven Branches of Devotional Practice
Maturing the Siddhi
Invoking the Blessing
The Lineage Prayer
Receiving the Four Empowerments
Dissolution
Dedication
Special Prayer of Aspiration
Translations of the Root Text
Cortland Dahl, in Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminary Practices compiled, translated, and introduced by Cortland Dahl (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2009)
Rigpa Translations, in A Guide to the Practice of Ngöndro (Lodeve: The Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2007)
The Excellent Path to Omniscience: The Dzogchen Preliminary Practice of Longchen Nyingtik
Tulku Thondup, in The Dzogchen Innermost Essence Preliminary Practice (Dharamsala: LTWA, 1982)
