Chapter 7 Chapter 3 A Brief Discourse on Preliminaries

At the beginning of 2008, many disciples prayed to Khenpo Xi'arongbo for the empowerment and inheritance of Dzogchen Dharma.Confidence in the Dzogchen Dharma is indeed precious, but Khenpo hopes that everyone will not blindly enter the Dzogchen Dharma when the foundation of practice is not solid, but follow the teachings of Dzogchen Ruyibao and other masters, strictly follow the sequence, and move forward Start to practice the Dharma and lay a solid foundation for practice. Recently, some disciples asked me for the empowerment and practice lineage of Dzogchen. Dzogchen Dharma can indeed enable ordinary people to achieve supreme Buddhahood in one life, and it is called the top ornament of the Nine Vehicles of Buddhism, which is extremely superior.Everyone's confidence in the Dzogchen Dharma must be the manifestation of the immeasurable merit and good karma accumulated in the past.According to the teachings of Guru Rinpoche and Mipham Rinpoche and other lineage masters, Dzogchen Dharma will be widely promoted in the Dharma-ending period.

Throughout the history of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dzogchen Dharma was usually taught in great secrecy.For example, when I was a teenager, in my hometown of Derge, I used to practice the Dzogchen Dharma with the mahasiddha Caiwang Jigme Khenpo.When Khenpo preached the practice sequence of "Six Bardo Practices of Guru Rinpoche", only more than 30 people were allowed to participate.Every day when Khenpo lectures, we practice the content of the lecture that day.Later, when Khenpo taught the Dzogchen instructions "Treasures of the Dharma Realm" written by Venerable Wugou Guang, only seven people could participate. Except for me who was relatively young, the other six were monks who had practiced for many years.

My family was poor and I didn’t have any Dharma books. Khenpo lent me the Dharma books he used, and repeatedly told me to practice alone in a place where no one was around.According to Khenpo's teachings, I often hide in the forest of prayer flags alone to recite and practice. A few years later, at the Larung Wuming Buddhist College, Daen Guru Dharma Wang Ruyibao taught Jiezhen the empowerment and tips of Dzogchen, and only a few disciples could hear it every time.Later, Dharma King’s business of benefiting life continued to expand. Wuming Buddhist College alone has nearly 10,000 resident monks, and there are countless disciples of Dharma King all over the world.In order to allow more sentient beings to benefit from the Dharma, the Dharma King began to preach the Dzogchen Dharma in a wider range.

I remember that one year, when the Dharma King preached the "Treasures of the Dharma Realm" by Venerable Wugou Guang, he changed the tradition of only preaching this Dharma secretly, and began to teach it in a larger area of ​​Wuming Buddhist Academy. At the same time, his old man After teaching every day, a Living Buddha or Khenpo from the Buddhist Academy is specially arranged to give counseling to all the monks.During the more than two months when His Holiness preached this theory, more than sixty khenpos and living Buddhas successively provided counseling for the monks of the college.Looking at it now, Dharma King Ruyibao's arrangement is deeply affectionate and compassionate.

His Holiness once said: "In the past, there were very few gurus who could preach the secrets of Dzogchen practice to disciples, and now there are even fewer. If I don't preach the secrets of Dzogchen practice at this time, I am very worried about the Dzogchen practice in the future. The dissemination will be affected. Originally, I could become a rainbow in this life, but because some disciples have unclean precepts, I may not be able to become a rainbow. Even so, I have no regrets at all." Starting from this, the Dzogchen Dharma has been widely promoted along with the ever-increasing career of Dzogchen Ruyibao in propagating the Dharma and benefiting living beings. This is also fulfilling the prophecy of Guru Rinpoche, the omniscient Mipham Rinpoche and other Dzogchen patriarchs.

Now, there are indeed many people who have developed faith in Dzogchen Dharma.But to learn the Dzogchen method, except for a very small number of disciples with superior intelligence and wisdom, most people must strictly follow the sequence and start practicing from the previous practice method to lay a solid foundation. If the foundation is not laid well, generally you will not get the Dzogchen empowerment, and even if you get it, it will not have much effect.It is like building a building. Without a good foundation, the building will not be strong.On the contrary, if the foundation of the preliminaries is solid, it is not difficult to realize Dzogchen.In history, many practitioners became enlightened in the process of practicing Dzogchen.

When Dharma King Ruyibao taught the Dzogchen Dharma at the Wuming Buddhist Academy, he also required all disciples who prayed for Dzogchen inheritance and empowerment to complete the preliminaries first.In special circumstances, the disciples who have not completed the pre-practice and have received the inheritance and empowerment must make a vow to complete the pre-practice in the shortest possible time.From this we can see how important the preliminaries are to our ultimate realization of Dzogchen! Dzogchen practice includes common external progress and non-common internal progress.Moving forward together is the common basis for the study of Sutra and Tantric teachings, including rare leisure time, impermanent life, troubles in reincarnation, karma, etc., also known as "four kinds of disgust".

The practice of being full of leisure and impermanence can make us cut off our greed and desire for all the pleasures of this life. In the six realms of reincarnation, beings in the three evil realms are driven by suffering, lack wisdom, and have no time to practice Dharma. In the three good realms, beings in the heavenly realm have no time to practice Buddhism because of laziness, and beings in the Asura realm are too jealous. Only human beings can truly practice the Dharma completely and comprehensively.However, it is extremely difficult to obtain a human body in the boundless cycle of reincarnation. Buddha Shakyamuni once used the metaphor of the earth and the soil on the palm to illustrate the rarity of a human body.

We can also use our wisdom to observe. Take the side growths that we can usually see as an example. In summer, the number of side growths on a small piece of grass is more than the number of people in our entire world, let alone The number of sentient beings in hell realm and hungry ghost realm.Even if reincarnated as a human being, how many people really have the predestined relationship to practice Buddhism?Although there are many eminent monks and great virtues who are widely turning the wheel of Dharma, there are only more than 300 million people who believe in Buddhism among the more than 6 billion people in the world.Among the more than 300 million people, there are even fewer people who really practice diligently for the purpose of benefiting sentient beings and pursuing liberation.

We have managed to get our precious human life, and it doesn't last.From birth, we have to go step by step towards death.In life, there are few favorable conditions and many negative conditions, and no one knows when to lose this human body.No one can guarantee that the dozens of people present here today will be alive next year.No one knows what will happen next month, not next year. I remember one time when I was on a night flight, when it was about to land, the passengers on the plane saw the beautiful night view of the city outside the porthole, and they all shouted excitedly, but I couldn't be happy at all.I heard that this city has a population of nearly 20 million. I think that within a few decades, these 20 million people will leave this world one after another, and how many of them will be able to obtain the peace of liberation?

A few days ago, a believer came to see me from other places.At the age of 30, she was diagnosed with cancer not long ago, and it was already at an advanced stage.The threat of death came suddenly, and she was very frightened, and kept repeating a sentence in front of me: "What should I do now? What should I do now?" I tried my best to comfort her, hoping that she would actively treat her and not give up her confidence in life.At the same time, I also asked her to maintain her faith in Fa-rectification no matter how her illness progressed. In fact, even if our life is smooth sailing, free from disasters and diseases, it is only a few short decades. A few days ago an old man over seventy years old came to see me.He is a famous scholar. When he was giving lectures abroad a few years ago, he got an English book introducing Buddhism by chance.After reading it, he was surprised to find that Sakyamuni Buddha had already given the answers to many questions that he had spent his whole life researching more than 2,500 years ago. Many prophecies about modern society such as scholars are accurate. "Looking at the words on the prophecy, it seems that they have personally experienced the modern society. It's incredible! Master, I have basically put down the mundane affairs and devoted myself to practicing Buddhism. Unfortunately, I am a little old and I don't know if there is enough time. Not enough?" These words of his also touched me very much. Many people only really start to pay attention to the issues of soul and life value when they are old, which is indeed a bit late, but compared with them, more people will not think about where they will go even if death is imminent. A few years ago, I was in a street park in a city. I saw many elderly people. Among them, those who were in better health played chess and cards to kill time; Helplessly waiting for death to come, very pitiful.In contrast, people with Buddhist beliefs will continue to practice good deeds in the last days of their lives after they are old.Because we believe that karma will never be wasted, and these good deeds will bring great benefits to us in this life and in the future.I have come into contact with many elderly lay Buddhists. Because they diligently practiced the Dharma when they were young, they became physically and mentally comfortable, happy and fulfilled in their later years. The purpose of telling these stories today is to tell everyone: Although we have obtained a precious human life, we may lose it at any time.Life is very fragile, and no one knows when the unfavorable fate will appear.Even if there is no unfavorable relationship, this human life is only a few decades.If we use such a precious human body to pursue fame and wealth and covet worldly pleasures, then we will have no chance of liberation.If we don't let go of our attachment to the world and practice the Dharma now, we will regret it when death comes. Next, I will briefly talk about the faults of reincarnation and the fact that cause and effect are not false.This practice can allow us to cut off our desire to be reborn in a good realm and enjoy the happiness of the human world in the next life. If we are not liberated in this life, we will definitely have to reincarnate among the six realms in the next life.Among the six realms, the cold and heat of hell, the hunger and thirst of hungry ghosts, the ignorance of other beings, the struggle between non-heaven, the fall of heaven and man, and the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death in the human realm can be said to be boundless. Take Pang Sheng Tao as an example. We often see some films introducing animals on TV. Most wild animals become food for other animals from birth. They kill each other in order to survive, and the weak eat the strong. Compared with the sentient beings in the three evil ways, humans and heavenly beings in the three good ways temporarily enjoy a little happiness, but everything they experience is actually inseparable from the essence of pain: after the blessings of the heavenly beings are exhausted, they will suffer from the degeneration; In one life, no one can escape the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, stupid or wise. Not long ago, a disciple called me from the south, saying that a well-known local person she knew had cancer and was being treated in the hospital, which was very painful.Later, I talked with this patient on the phone, and he said: "I didn't believe what others said before. I thought that life is short and living as one pleases is more important than anything else, so I created a lot of bad karma for fame and fortune in the world. Now the retribution is coming. All the pain can only be borne by one person, and the fame and fortune gained at this moment are really meaningless at this moment. I now believe that cause and effect are not in vain, and I really regret it!" Now he had to lie on the hospital bed and made a vow To take refuge in the Triple Gem, I taught him the precepts of refuge over the phone. There is no place in the six realms of samsara where we can truly attain happiness. The essence of samsara is pain. Many people once asked me: If reincarnation as taught by Buddhism exists, why can't we remember our past lives now?It is absurd not to acknowledge existence because one cannot remember. For example, when your mother conceived you, did you exist?There must be, but I am afraid that none of us can remember the experience of living in the mother's womb.In the same way, the happiness and pain that people felt when they were one or two years old were very real at the time and definitely existed, but who can recall them now?So, what is not in our memory does not necessarily not have happened.Similarly, we cannot see past and future lives now, but this does not mean that there are no past and future lives and no reincarnation.Some people don't recognize reincarnation just because they haven't observed and thought carefully.After observing and thinking, no one can really deny the Buddhist views on reincarnation and reincarnation. Speaking of reincarnation, I want to tell you a true story. In my hometown of Ganzi Prefecture, on the way from Ganzi County to Seda County, there is a holy mountain of Padmasambhava - Dongkuo Holy Mountain.According to Guru Rinpoche's prophecy, it is very auspicious to make a pilgrimage to Dongkor Mountain in the year of the rooster. 2005 happened to be the Year of the Wood Rooster in the Tibetan calendar, and a large number of Han and Tibetan believers came to Dongkor Mountain for pilgrimage.At that time, many people saw the mantras of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas naturally appearing on the stones of the holy mountain, and auspicious rainbows appeared in the sky from time to time. There are some wild monkeys living on Dongkuo Mountain.A local Tibetan family once released dozens of sheep on the mountain. One of the monkeys in the wild monkey group saw the released sheep and left the group to take care of the sheep consciously.As soon as it dawned in the morning, it drove the sheep up the mountain to graze, and gathered the sheep together at night to take care of them.If there are foreign sheep mixed into the flock, the monkeys will immediately find out and drive the outsiders away, and if someone approaches the flock, the monkeys will also block them.The situation at that time was witnessed by the believers who worshiped the holy mountain.Many people think that the monkey is the reincarnation of the family's deceased relatives, because of their attachment to their relatives and family property. At that time, Ribu Dorje Living Buddha of Wuming Buddhist Academy was in retreat at Dongkuo Shenshan, and he also witnessed this scene with his own eyes. "Looking at this monkey herding sheep every day, it really makes people feel that it is a member of this family." The Living Buddha once said to me like this. I think there is nothing in the world without a cause and a predestined relationship. We do not have supernatural powers, but those who have supernatural powers must be able to see the causes and conditions behind this event.For those who have not realized emptiness, samsara is real.If we have not given up our attachment to this life and the afterlife, it will be very difficult for us to be freed from samsara even though we are practicing the Dharma on the surface. What has been said above is about the practice of going forward together.Through the practice of moving forward together, we should develop a real dislike and renunciation towards the entire six realms of samsara, gradually give up the desire for worldly enjoyment, and seek liberation wholeheartedly. This is what we call renunciation. After entering Buddhism, if you can completely let go of everything in the world, it is of course very good.But it is not easy to really achieve this. If you can’t let go temporarily, you can practice step by step to gradually let go of your attachment to the world, so that you will have a chance to be liberated in the future. It is very important to lay a solid foundation for moving forward.In practice, the common external advance can be practiced alone, or it can be practiced together with the non-common internal advance.Be sure to carefully read the "Teachings of Samantabhadra Guru" distributed to you before practicing.This method of practice is very simple and easy to understand, and it is very important for practitioners. Therefore, in the teachings of the Nyingmapa in Tibet, no matter whether you are a monk or a layman, when you first enter Buddhism, you generally have to study the "Words and Teachings of Samantabhadra Master". ". Dharma King Ruyibao used to preach at the Buddhist Academy almost every year during the month of divine change.Now I have heard it from my master and explained it to my disciples, and I have read it at least dozens of times.I would like to make a request to everyone, that is, everyone who has obtained the Dharma book of "The Words and Teachings of Samantabhadra Guru" should make a vow to read it intensively at least ten times in this life.For those who really seek liberation, this should be very easy to do. Next, let me briefly talk about the practice of moving forward without sharing the same internal principles.The different internal advances include the five practices of taking refuge, generating bodhicitta, Vajrasattva's hundred-character mantra, making offerings to mandala and kowtow, also known as the "five additions". Refuge is to make a vow to take Buddhism as one's own belief, and to follow the Three Jewels to practice and learn the true Dharma.Refuge is not only the door to all righteous dharmas, but also the basis for obtaining all precepts.To enter the right path, to practice the Dharma, and finally to obtain liberation and peace, the only way is to start with taking refuge. A lady came to see me a few days ago, and she said: "Master, my financial situation is very good, and my social status is also good. When I am with my colleagues in the company, everyone praises each other or eats, drinks and enjoys themselves together. On the surface, we should be very happy. But after a long time, when I am alone, I always feel that life is very boring and there is no happiness at all. Why do you say this is?" "You should try to establish a spiritual belief to make your heart full and stable. Material life is easy to be boring. When the desire is not satisfied, you will not be reconciled. Once you are satisfied, you will be bored immediately. If there is no spiritual pursuit and Faith, life can easily fall into this cycle of unwillingness and boredom, and the heart becomes more and more impetuous and empty. True faith can help you dispel the negative emotions in your heart and make your life balanced and joyful.” Regarding her question, I am Answered like this. I have also met some people who have been studying Buddhism for a long time, and many of them regularly participate in the study organized by temples. They talk about Buddhism very well, but they have never taken refuge.Although some people take refuge, they don't even know the meaning of the "Three Jewels". It is hard to say that this is a true refuge. No matter how high a person's views, how deep his practice, or how mysterious his behavior is, if he does not have firm confidence in the Three Jewels and the vow to learn from the Three Jewels, he cannot be regarded as a Buddhist. 1. Before practicing refuge, one should correct one's motivation. Some people take refuge only for their own happiness in this life, and to obtain blessings in the future. This is the aspiration of the lowly way; This is Kamishidou's heart.When you practice taking refuge, you must practice according to the heart of the Supreme Master. 2. After correcting your heart, you should first ask for a thangka of the refuge state, consecrated and blessed by the master, hang it in the Buddhist hall, and start to visualize carefully.The main body in the refuge is Padmasambhava, and the noumenon is one's own root guru.If you have a virtuous guru, visualize your guru; if you don’t have a guru, you can visualize your body as the dharma king’s wish-fulfilling jewel. Why should you visualize the ontology as your guru?This is because although countless Buddhas were born in the past to preach the Dharma to all living beings, we have not been liberated because of our own karma. The interesting way and the wonderful way to open the good way guide us to the Buddha's land. The guru has great kindness to us and is closer to our karma. In addition, the guru is the source of all merits and virtues. If we cut off the cunning mind and pray to the guru persistently and sincerely, we will obtain extraordinary merits and virtues in this life. Therefore, we should visualize the noumenon as the root guru. 3. After visualizing in this way, start to recite the verses of refuge.According to the requirements of the scriptures, it should be recited 100,000 times, but considering that there may be omissions and miscalculations, it is necessary to recite another 10,000 times as an addendum, so it should be recited 110,000 times.When chanting, you must concentrate. Although the quantity is important, the quality of the practice is more important. Every time you recite, you should make a vow in your heart to take refuge in the Guru Triple Gem.If you recite this way 110,000 times, you should also make a vow in your heart 110,000 times.If you don’t make a wish in your heart, but just recite the verse of refuge 110,000 times with your mouth or mind, it will not have a good effect.Practice in this way until you have the unwavering confidence in your guru and the Three Jewels, and the determination to give up your life rather than the Three Jewels.Before you have such confidence and determination, you should practice diligently. The second practice method of the five plus lines is to generate bodhichitta.After taking refuge, whether to enter the Mahayana or the Hinayana, the most important thing is to see if you have the bodhicitta to benefit sentient beings.Venerable Atisha said: "Multiply the size by the mind." Bodhicitta is the reason for us to become Buddhas. Without Bodhicitta, no matter how advanced your insights are, you cannot become a Mahayana practitioner or become a Buddha.On the contrary, with the support of bodhicitta, even just reciting a mantra will become the seed of our Buddhahood. I have come into contact with some Buddhist practitioners who appear to have great confidence in the Madhyamaka and Dzogchen, but do not pay much attention to basic practices such as refuge and aspiration, thinking that these practices are too simple.In fact, the realization of emptiness is inseparable from the practice of bodhicitta. If there is no genuine bodhicitta in the continuum, there will be no wisdom to realize emptiness, and it will be impossible to truly sever greed and attachment, and achieve liberation and achievement. Arousing bodhichitta for all sentient beings is easy to say, but it is more difficult for ordinary beginners to actually do it.Therefore, when cultivating Bodhicitta, you must listen and contemplate seriously, and first understand the stages of practice. When practicing Bodhicitta, visualize before going to the place of refuge: None of the sentient beings who have been reincarnated in the six realms since time immemorial has never been their own parents. When they were parents, they all showed great kindness to me. Wandering in the six realms, feeling the pain.In order to let them escape from samsara as soon as possible, I must cultivate to the Buddhahood that can save sentient beings.This kind of visualization is by no means just a matter of artificiality in the mind, it must be consistent with the outside and inside! Generally, people who are beginners in Buddhism, because of their attachment to relatives and friends, find it difficult to generate bodhicitta all at once in the continuum. Therefore, when practicing, you can start by visualizing relatives and friends who are kind to you: first, arouse bodhicitta towards them ; Then there are ordinary people who have nothing to do with themselves, and bodhicitta is generated towards them; then there are enemies who have harmed themselves, and bodhicitta is also generated towards them; finally, bodhicitta is extended to all sentient beings in the six realms, hoping that all sentient beings can obtain the Tathagata's righteousness. Wait for the fruit position. When reciting the verses of Bodhicitta, it should be the same as taking refuge. While reciting, make a wish in your heart. If you recite it completely 110,000 times, you should also make the same wish in your heart 110,000 times.Even after completing the 110,000 times of reciting and practicing, you have to repeat the practice and practice repeatedly for a long time until you have a real Bodhicitta in your own continuum.If we just recite the verses 110,000 times in a distracted state, the true bodhicitta will not arise in our continuum. Without Bodhicitta, it is impossible to realize the Dzogchen Dharma. The third practice in the five additions is the Vajrasattva Hundred-Syllable Mantra.One of the main reasons why ordinary people fail to realize the true meaning of all dharmas in the six realms of reincarnation is the sinful karma and accumulated delusional habits that we have created in the reincarnation since beginningless time.Not to mention the evil karma created since beginningless time, the number of sentient beings killed in this life alone is already innumerable. "Through thousands of kalpas, the karma created will not perish." Patrul Rinpoche said: "If you kill one sentient being, you will pay for five hundred lives." This is the Vajra language of the Buddha and the lineage masters. Think about it, everyone, if the evil karma we have created is not pure, we will not be able to bear the retribution in the future. The way to purify karma is first of all to generate repentance. Among the many methods of repentance preached by the Buddha for all living beings, the practice of Vajrasattva is known as the "King of Repentance".There is no difference between the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in terms of their bodies. It is only because of the different vows of the Buddhas when they practiced in the causal place that they will appear differently in front of sentient beings.Vajrasattva once made a vow when he was in Karma: If anyone who holds my name, prays to me and makes repentance cannot be purified, I will not become a Buddha. Now Vajrasattva has already attained Buddhahood, and his vows are definitely true. It depends on whether we have full confidence and whether we are willing to practice diligently. According to the teachings of the Patriarch, as long as anyone possesses the "four opposing powers" and recites the Vajrasattva hundred-syllable mantra one hundred thousand times, all karma from beginningless eons can be purified.This is due to Vajrasattva's extraordinary aspiration, and there is no doubt about it. In simple terms, the four opposing forces are: (1) Have full confidence in Vajrasattva and sincerely rely on Vajrasattva’s dependent opposing power; (2) Aversion to genuine regret for the bad karma you have done in the past (3) the returning antidote power of vowing not to create bad karma from now on; (4) the current antidote power of performing good karma to counteract the bad karma created in the past.These four opposing forces are very important. If we do not possess the four opposing powers when practicing the Vajrasattva method, although it will help to purify our karma, it will not purify all our karma from countless kalpas.In addition, when visualizing with the four opposing forces, one must not forget to hold on to it with bodhicitta.If there is no bodhicitta, and you only practice to purify your karma and liberate yourself, it will be difficult to completely purify your karma. The practice of Vajrasattva's hundred-syllable mantra also needs to be recited 110,000 times. In addition, this time, at the request of some disciples, I recited the lineage of "Vajrasattva's practice of the wish-fulfilling jewel" for everyone.This practice is the meaning terma excavated by Dharma King Ruyibao in 1997 in the light of wisdom, and the lineage is very pure.This practice is simple, and Dharma King Ruyibao specially promised that it can be practiced without inheritance, so it is very suitable for those who are new to Buddhism.If you don’t have time to practice the five preliminaries, you can practice this method first to lay a foundation for future practice. I think you should recite the Vajrasattva mantra at least two million times first. In Tibet and other places, many lay people like you have vowed in front of me to practice the Vajrasattva mantra 100 million times in a lifetime.Two million times should be very easy for those who sincerely pursue liberation. Even after we have completed the five preliminaries, we still have to recite the hundred-character mantra twenty-one times or one hundred and eight times every morning when we do our homework.According to the scriptures such as "The Words of the Universal Worthy Guru", if you recite the hundred-character mantra twenty-one times a day, the bad karma you create in a day will not increase; if you recite the hundred-character mantra one hundred and eight times , all the karma created in one day will be purified. The practice of Vajrasattva can be said to be the most important method that we should practice in our whole life. The fourth practice in the five additional lines is offering mandalas.Our ultimate goal of practicing Buddhism is to achieve supreme Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.Without consummation of blessings and wisdom, one will certainly not obtain the ultimate Buddhahood.Among the many methods of accumulating merit that the Buddha preached to all living beings with great compassion and various skillful means, making offerings to mandalas is a wonderful and simple practice. When you repair a mandala, you can choose different offerings and offerings according to your own conditions.People with conditions can use gold and silver mandala plates, pearls, and gemstones as offerings; those with ordinary conditions can use ordinary mandala plates, and offerings such as barley and rice can also be used.I think most people should be able to do this. No matter what method of practice is used, the motivation when practicing is very important.If, when practicing mandala, we only use selfish intentions such as making ourselves fully benefited and benefited in this life, we may temporarily gain some worldly benefits, but the practice has deviated from the correct path of Buddhism and will not become our The cause of liberation and achievement.Everyone must remember this point. In fact, people who really pursue liberation don’t need to worry too much about their own worldly rewards. As long as they practice the Dharma and accumulate merits with the intention of benefiting all beings, it’s like the smoke will naturally arise when lighting a fire. At the same time, one's own blessings and happiness in this life will also be obtained naturally.The practice of the mandala offering must also be completed 110,000 times. The fifth practice is kowtow.Kowtow is best practiced together with the Seven Branches Offering, if not possible, it can also be practiced together with taking refuge, as there was a tradition of practicing like this in the past.When practicing, recite the verse of taking refuge and kowtow once, so that the conversion and kowtow can be completed at the same time. When practicing this method, the mind must be focused, and the body cannot be prostrating, but the mind is thinking about it, and even if there is only a small incident around, the head will immediately turn away.One should prostrate with one's body, praise and pray with words, focus on what one does with one's mind, and have a heart of devotion and devotion, so as to quickly purify the five poisonous afflictions in the continuum and remove arrogance. In some temples, practitioners will kowtow on a wooden board when practicing this method, until their wrists and knees are worn out and bleeding.There are also many Tibetans who vowed to make a pilgrimage to Lhasa from their hometown in the way of kowtow.Anyone who has been to Tibet may have seen them kowtow on the road.I also saw some practitioners from other places kowtow to Lhasa on a pilgrimage from Mount Wutai. The scene was really touching. But I also saw that when some disciples practice this method, they first lay a carpet on the wooden floor of their home. If they feel uncomfortable, they spread a quilt, and then kowtow there slowly, feeling a little tired. Take a break to chat now. I think, if ordinary people want to achieve liberation and achievement, they must suffer a little bit.With such profound and broad wisdom as the Buddha, he has not been able to find a way to make all living beings comfortable and quickly become a Buddha.Back then, the Buddha himself also showed us that he gave up the throne and all other pleasures in the world, and became a Buddha after six years of asceticism.Another example is Venerable Milarepa, whose extraordinary achievements were obtained through ascetic practices that ordinary people cannot imagine. As their followers, we must not be afraid of suffering or tiredness in our practice.In fact, the hardships we are suffering in our current practice are negligible compared with those of the spiritual masters, or those who kowtow to go on a pilgrimage to Lhasa.If you can't even endure this little bit of suffering, you should feel ashamed. This time, some disciples prayed to me for the inheritance of the five additions, and made up their minds to practice the five additions. When I recited the inheritance for everyone, I recited the "Dzogchen Longchen" in "The Words of Samantabhadra" written by Patrul Rinpoche. There are two lineages of "Ning to practice the Dharma in advance" and the "Opening the Path of Liberation" by the omniscient Mipham Rinpoche. You can choose one lineage to practice according to your own situation. After completing the five preliminaries, one needs to practice Guru Yoga. In the Hinayana teachings, the guru should be visualized as an arhat or a person with extraordinary merit; in the Mahayana Sutra, the guru should be visualized as a bodhisattva on the path of accumulation, the path of adding practice, or seeing the path above the path, In Dzogchen practice, one must visualize the guru as the ultimate Dharmakaya Buddha, otherwise it will be difficult to achieve the ultimate achievement. To realize Dzogchen, one can only rely on the disciple's confidence in the guru and the blessings given by the guru.If you usually just say that the guru is a Buddha and that the guru has shown great kindness to me, but you don’t develop such a fixed understanding in the continuum, and you don’t really regard the guru as a Buddha, then no matter how wise you are in the world, no matter you No matter how many profound scriptures you have mastered, you will not receive the most excellent blessing from the master, so you will not be able to realize Dzogchen. Guru yoga practice can increase our confidence in the guru, which is also the closest practice to Dzogchen.Many practitioners in history achieved success while practicing Guru Yoga. I have met many practitioners. They may not have much education, and some people do not even know the alphabet, but they rely on their trust in the guru to show the auspicious signs of attainment at the time of death.Therefore, in order to increase confidence in the guru, it is essential to recite the mantra of Guru Rinpoche 10,000,000 times.In order to practice Guru Yoga in Tibet, many people have successfully recited Guru Rinpoche's mantra tens of millions or hundreds of millions of times.I think everyone should be able to do the same. I have briefly explained to you the content of the Five Elements, and I hope that you will practice the Five Elements at least once in your life.If we can do that, the human body we get will really have meaning. Before starting to practice, you must first carefully read the "Teachings of Samantabhadra Guru", and then when you practice, you will read a chapter repeatedly.Seriously practice according to the requirements in the scriptures, so that there will be progress in practice.Some people didn't take this book very carefully, and even casually flipped through it and said that I had already read the book.Buddhism is not very easy to understand, so casually flipping through it will definitely not understand its meaning.Needless to say, the Dharma is such a thick book in the company, how much can you understand if you flip through it casually?So the reading must be careful. Some people say that it is very difficult to practice the Five Elements, and that lay people may not be able to finish it in a lifetime; some people say that I don’t have time now, and I will wait until I retire.In fact, I have told you many times before that the human body we have obtained is very impermanent, and no one can say whether we can live to retirement.If there is no time to practice the Dharma now, there will be no chance for liberation in the future. Having said that, let me tell you a story about a real practitioner. This practitioner is called Caiwang Chengli, and he is my Vajra Brother, Ganzi Rongpa Tso. Back then, we heard about "The Six Bardos of Guru Rinpoche" and "The Treasures of the Dharma Realm" under the seat of Khenpo Caiwang Jigme, a great siddha. Argument".We have a very good relationship and often joke with each other when we meet. When Dharma King Ruyibao came to Rongbacha, he once asked Dharma King for Dharma.Lama Caiwang recited Guru Rinpoche's heart mantra 100 million times, the "Repentance of the Thirty-Five Buddhas" more than 100,000 times, the 21st Mother Sutra 1.1 million times, kept the eight precepts for more than 200 times, and kowtowed. The bulk is 1.4 million.When he kowtowed, the wooden plank underneath was worn through by his flesh and blood.It can be said that the only thing he has done in his life is practice. Later, when Achok Rinpoche went to Rongpa Tso, he prayed for Achoe Rinpoche to verify his Dzogchen realm.After understanding his state, Acho Rinpoche was very happy, thinking that he had fully realized Dzogchen.Cai Wang Chengli said to his disciples: "If I die now, I will not have any fear, but will be very happy, because now I have full confidence." Later, he often told a disciple who traveled far away to ask him to return home as soon as possible: "Because this disciple wants to go abroad very much, I have a passport to give to him." In fact, Lama Caiwang didn't have any "passport" at all. Everyone didn't understand why he said that.Seeing that he is in good health, no one believes that he will die soon.Therefore, the disciple who traveled far away did not return until a few months later, on February 26, 1995. Lama Caiwang asked his disciples to write down his whole life's process of relying on the master and practicing: "Practices in the future will definitely benefit from seeing it." After explaining this, he ate and chanted sutras as usual that night without any abnormal .He felt unwell the next morning. At 6:00 pm, he asked his disciples to help him take off the extra clothes on his body, and then sat cross-legged facing the west.When the disciples approached again, they found that he had passed away.After passing away, he could not sit upright for 21 days, and his skin was fairer than before. On March 21, the temple held a Dabi ceremony for him.天空没有一丝云彩，一只白色秃鹫在空中右向盘旋良久，所有在场人都亲眼目睹了这一景况。 这时人们才明白，才旺诚利喇嘛所讲的“出国”与“护照”的真正含义：给我们留下来的“护照”应该就是记录他一生修行生活的传记。我想才旺诚利喇嘛是要告诉我们：寻求解脱的人就要像他那样去修行，这样死亡来临时，也一定会和他一样，得到一本趋入解脱的“护照”。 我给大家讲这个故事，希望大家明白今生今世修行的努力一定不会白费。只有精进修行的人才能不惧死亡，才能得到解脱的安乐。 圆满修持五加行和上师瑜伽后，大家的相续必定会有根本改变，到那时就可以在一位具德上师面前祈请大圆满的传承或灌顶，修持大圆满法。 祝大家修行进步，吉祥如意！ Chiarombo 2008年初北京开示 Arrangement of disciples' on-site transcripts