Dudjom Tersar Chimed Tsog Thik

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CHIMED TSOG THIK: THE

ABBREVIATED PRACTICE OF THE

IMMORTAL LIFE ESSENCE, THE

ESSENTIAL BINDU OF

DEATHLESSNESS

by Ven Gyatrul Rinpoche

Los AngelesMay, 1985

Translated by Sanghe Khandro

To begin with, Rinpoche would like to wish everyone Tashi Delek, which is a

general Tibetan greeting for good luck and for all to be auspicious. He is veryhappy to see everyone again after such a long time. Generally in this world,

there is no one who is not attached to the concept of 'self' or 'I' . When wethink of ourself or the existence of 'I', the individual, then that means there is

a life that we are aware of. Obviously, all human beings are very attached to

their own life and their own existence. This is the most important thing to us -- our life. If we want to have a long life, we must accumulate positive causesto produce the result of long life. Even if we are someone who is creating

negativity, we still want to have a long life.

In this text, we find the teaching on how to achieve immortality, or thedeathless state. There are many divisions of instructions that are given. These

instructions are all very important, because life is the most important thing. In brief, there is a division which explains the nature of life; a divisionexplaining the characteristics of life; an explanation of the term 'life', the

actual word 'life'; an explanation of the difference between life and death; anexplanation of the signs of death; how to avoid the obstacles which detractfrom our life and life force; and finally, the methods for extending life. As

you can see this subject is very extensive. If Rinpoche had one month to

teach, he could cover it all. In two or three days, it is just not possible.

Lets talk for a little while about the kind of person who wants to live a long

life. In Buddhism we consider The Precious Human Rebirth to be the most

difficult and precious life to achieve. If the Precious Human Rebirth has beenachieved, then it is all the more important to do the long life practices in order

to extend this life, so as to have more time to make the most of this rare



opportunity. Otherwise, if you don't have a Precious Human Rebirth, then

whether you do the long life practice or not, it doesn't matter so much. What'sthe point? However, whether you have the Precious Human Rebirth or not,

everyone is attached to their own life and considers their life to be important,

so that by doing long life practice it is important in both cases, from that pointof view.

The Precious Human Rebirth is the possession of eight freedoms and ten

endowments. You should take the time to review these eighteen

qualifications. If you possess them, then recognize that and begin to make themost of this opportunity by practicing methods to extend this precious life. If

you don't possess them, then do something which will cause you to possess

them!

Remind yourself that all of the great Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and enlightenedsaints of the past became enlightened and achieved immortality from the

Precious Human Rebirth, and that rebirth only. There is no other rebirththrough which enlightenment can be achieved. Enlightenment means

liberation from the endless round of suffering in cyclic existence. Whenliberation occurs in the Precious Human Rebirth, it is for the sake of

benefiting others. Once you've achieved liberation, then the two types of the

bodhicitta, aspirational and practical bodhichitta, are activated for the benefitof others, until all living beings are liberated. This is just one way of

recognizing your present opportunity. Another way of recognizing what a

precious rebirth you have is to try your best to extend it.

If you know that your rebirth has these kinds of qualities, then it's

embarrassing to not do a long life practice. Actually, if you don't really have

any point to your life and don't know anything about the kind of qualificationsthat you possess, then if you want a long life, it can be rather embarrassingwhen you have no purpose. Wishing to have a long life but not really

knowing why. Not knowing what the qualities and benefits of a long lifeshould be and remaining unable to recognize your own faults. This is a

neutral state where a wish exists but has no strong motivation behind it. Thisis exactly the attitude that most people have when they take Refuge vows to become a Buddhist. These days, so many people are eager to follow the

crowd and take vows, get involved, but not really knowing why. The thoughtto take refuge in the Three Jewels in order to be free from the endless cycle of

the suffering of cyclic existence and in order to free all others, never arises.

Refuge is taken in the same way that a dog follows its master -- just becauseothers are doing it. This is not appropriate.

So it is very good to recognize what the Precious Human Rebirth truly is: the

qualities that we possess and a strong wish to extend life for the right reasons.Wishing to have a long life in order to have more time to make money,



improve your reputation, receive gain, praise, become president, or for some

other worldly concern is an impure motivation. Even if it is for the sake of your children, the motivation is not pure according to dharma. Although you

may perform a long life extension practice, it will only be of benefit to you in

this lifetime, because your motivation is centered only on this lifetime and theself. We have to understand that as long as our motivation is limited, our true

happiness will also be limited. It's like exchanging one hour for one minute.In a sense, you're only concerned with this short life, rather than beingconcerned about the overall picture of being liberated from the wheel of

samsara.

One's motivation is very, very important. You need to develop bodhichitta,

which is the compassionate awakened mind, the mind that is concerned with

benefiting others, and the same mind that all Buddhas have had in the past

when they worked for the welfare of others. Whether you are listening to theinstructions, receiving empowerment, or actually practicing, you should be

experiencing the compassionate awakened mind. Please try to examine your motivation, and then we can move on to the actual teaching on life and longlife.

Most people recognize life as something that is in motion. Here we are, we're

all alive and everybody's moving, so this is life. If someone were to ask you,''Where is your life? Is it in your head? or foot? or nose? Where is it? What's

it about?" How would you answer?

Rinpoche: "I think it's in my stomach. Where is your life? Is it big, small, black, white, square, round?"

Tibetans believe the word 'life' is synonymous with consciousness and

also heat or warmth. These terms are one and the same; life, consciousness,

heat or warmth. The nature of life is without any conventional characteristic

such as form, color or shape. It has no color, no shape or form. The

characteristic of life is similar to shooting an arrow. Whatever amount of

force is used at the moment you draw the bow will determine how far thearrow will travel before it drops to the ground. Like that, according to

the force of our past karma, which is the law of cause and result, our life

will last for exactly as long as it has the karmic strength. When karma is

exhausted, that's it!

For example, if you plant something as simple as a flower, you can nurture

the flower until it blooms. The amount of time that the flower stays in bloom

is dependent upon the force and potency of that particular flower. Once theflower has bloomed, no matter what you try to do, such as apply more

fertilizer or water, it cannot be brought back to life. This is how the force of



our own life span works.

In Tibetan, the word for life is 'Tse' derived from the original Sanskrit, whichis 'Ayu.' This term means a duration of time. We can also use the term 'Bardo'

(intermediate period) which is well known to many. Also the word'temporary' can be used -- a temporary period of time; that which is not permanent. It also means 'that which continues to travel or that which is

in perpetual motion.' From the time that our consciousness is brought into

the womb of our mother, until the arrow's force is gone, it keeps on moving

towards its target. Life never stops, not even for one instant. It continues totravel towards its destination.

Next we will look at the differences between life and life force. According to

the explanation that falls under the category of the lesser or common schools

of Buddhism, it is believed that the length of one's life is totally dependentupon the karma from the past life. For instance, if you had been taking the life

of others in a past life by killing animals and/or insects, if you had beenstealing from others or taking that which was not given, this would create

negative accumulations. These accumulations would result in the shorteningof your life span in this life. This is a strong belief of the common vehicles of

Buddhist teachings.

The physical lustre (color or radiance) of the body is extremely important for

the extension of life. Physical lustre corresponds to one's general health

condition while in a particular body. We all know about this. When we go tosee the doctor he or she tells us what kind of food to eat, what kind of medicine to take, different kinds of exercise and so forth to do. This is all

extremely important for the support of our life, our physical complexion, our

lustre and our vitality.

The next division is a bit more common to the Tibetan system rather than the

Western system. Here we have three terms that are very important to knowabout for life extension. One of them is 'lha.' Lha means the spirit or life

force, as an energy that helps to keep you alive. The other term is 'life'itself, which is like the vital wind which is the support for the

consciousness. And finally, the 'channel', which refers to the life channel.

These three working together are very important.

The first of these three, the lha, is extremely important to our life. If the lifeforce goes out of the body, it may harm your life to the point of bringing on a

sudden death. Oftentimes, when the life force goes out of the body, it exits

through the channels of the ring finger. Many times this occurs in the

evening, after dark. Once it goes out, it can be carried away by other

types of spirits who actually carry it away from you, and then maydirectly or indirectly cause harm to you by possessing your life



force. They may try to harm you with your own life force. Some obvious and

direct causes for losing the lha, life force spirit: When someone is really

frightened to the point of terror, there may be a gasp or the body may

jerk at such a time. This is the exact moment when the lha exits. It may

occur if someone is really harming you over an extended period of timeand finally you just give up or give in out of exhaustion. At that time the

lha may go out. Once it's gone, you can notice that the individual may look pale, be dull of mind, become listless; and oftentimes, they may acquire somekind of illness or even cancer. Shortly thereafter, they may die. This type of

death is due to the life force spirit having exited the body.

If you were to ask, "If lha has gone out, is there any way to get it back again?"

the answer is definitely yes. There are many practices through which the life

force is hooked back in. There is so much to say about this subject.

Another extremely important support for life is blood. In America we

know a lot, already, about the importance of blood and blood pressure. In theTibetan system, we are very aware of blood and particularly of the rate at

which it moves throughout the body. This, in itself, is extremely important for the extension of life. Also the purity of the blood, the amount and so forth, all

of these points are extremely important for the support of life, since life itself

is dependent upon blood.

The next important support is heat. The degree of heat in the body

should be perfectly balanced. If the body is too hot, it harms life. If the bodyis too cool, it also takes away from life. Oftentimes people who have a very

poor quality to the color of their skin are experiencing an imbalance in their

heat.

The five elements are all important. Our body is composed of the five

elements, and what has been mentioned so far includes the five elements. In

general, all five must be in balance in order for the life to be extended. If thefive elements are not in balance, then we experience different kinds of mental

and physical suffering and misfortune.

These explanations are given according to the common vehicles of Buddhism. According to the tantric vehicle, the Vajrayana, the three most

important supports for life are the channels, the air and the essential

fluid (tsa, lung and tigley). In the Vajrayana practice of tsalung, which is the practice where one deals with the channels, the air and the essential fluid, first

of all, one must become aware of all of the channels in the inner body.

Primarily, we have three main channels to always be aware of: the

central channel, which runs up the very center of our body, and the twoside channels on each side of it. Stemming off from these three are the six



chakras in the crown, the throat, the heart, the navel and the secret

center. Stemming off from these six chakra systems are thousands of

channels running throughout the body.

According to the Vajrayana practice, it is believed that these channels aremandala centers of the deities. The practitioner of Anu Yoga would visualizethese centers as actual Buddhafields where countless deities remain. From the

point of view of air practice, the practitioner would visualize these channel

centers and then do practice to bring the airs in and out of these centers. Once

that has been accomplished, then practices to bring the essential fluids in andout of these centers are performed in order to purify and extend life.

Tibetans believe that the central channel is the root from which all other

chakras and systems branch. It is called Awaduti and is the very support of

life. It is also called the ''Life Channel." The air that is inside of thischannel is actually the air that keeps the consciousness inside of this

body. This air originates when the father and mother of this body are in

intercourse and their two seeds, the white seed from the father and the

red seed from the mother, join together. At that time the consciousness,

which is never separated from air, which is in the intermediate state, iskarmically drawn into the union of the white and red seed. That moment

is the moment when conception takes place. It is also the very beginning of the growth of the central channel, which is the very first thing that actually,

physically exists. Initially it has the shape of the syllable 'AH.' Then, over the

nine months in the womb, ten different airs develop and increase, causing thefetus to grow and develop in the womb of the mother until it has reached full

maturity. Then by the force of the tenth and final wind, it is pushed out of thewomb into the world. The central channel in the center of the body is actually

the very beginning of the growth of the fetus.

As long as your channels are healthy and the winds are able to flow freely

throughout the body without any obstacles and without decreasing in anyway, no sign of death will come.

The third thing is the essential fluid. How does that tie in? At the point thatthe sperm and the egg from the father and mother join together, then of course

this is the beginning of the child's own body. The essential fluid is the

sperm and egg. It is believed in the Vajrayana system that once the fetus

has reached a particular state of development, the original sperm and the

original egg from father and mother take two different places in the body

where they remain until the moment of death. The father's original

sperm goes into the crown chakra where it remains as a seed. This is the

very pristine, pure essence of that original seed, and it remains in the

crown chakra and takes on the shape of the syllable 'HAM'. Themother's egg goes down into the middle of the navel chakra. This is



where it remains in the shape of the syllable 'AH'. These two, the egg in

the navel and the sperm in the crown, red and white respectively, remain

there in their pure essence throughout our life until the moment of our

death.

Someone who has practiced the higher Vajrayana stages and has already

purified the channel and airs, can begin the practice where they actually

ignite or bring to life these two original seeds. This is done by causing the

heat of the navel blood, or this egg from the mother, to awaken and

produce wisdom heat called 'Tummo.' That heat travels straight up the

central channel, causing the father's white sperm seed to melt. The white

fluid begins dropping from the seed down into the central channel, filling

all of the chakras. The experience of great bliss arises, which has the

nature of emptiness. Through this kind of practice, the highest

realizations are accomplished. Not just only long life, but actually theRainbow Body is accomplished, by dissolving the physical body into its

pure essence, which is light. This is a very, very high practice and can be performed when we reach a higher level.

The essential fluid is the two original seeds but not only that. The body is

filled with essential fluid which is divided into two parts: the very pure and

the impure. There are twelve types of pure essential fluids in the body and

twenty-four types of impure essential fluids. Both of these are circulating

in the seventy-two thousand channels all over the body.

The tigley needs to circulate throughout the body without any blockage or obstruction. The twelve types of pure tigley and the twenty-four impure,

mixed together, travel throughout the seventy-two thousand channels in the

body. If the tigley fluid travels and is evenly circulated, then you will

experience a longer life, a more youthful appearance, a postponement of aging, less illness, more happiness and more merit. The quality of your life

will improve.

Some of you wonder what the pure essential fluid is? The pure essential fluidis the essential fluid in our body that causes our mental qualities toincrease. It is the essence of the mind. Bodhichitta is the experience of

pure essential fluid. Realizing the nature of emptiness and our own Buddhanature is understanding the nature of pure essential fluid. When the pure

essential fluid is alive and increasing within, there is higher understandingand higher realization. The very nature of life is the pure fluid. Impure tigley

includes all of the fluids that flow out of our orifices, such as seminal

fluid, mucous, bile, phlegm and so forth. So you can easily see we have an

abundance of impure essential fluids.

Concerning the difference between life and death, in this particular world,



which is known as the southern continent, the duration of life cannot be

measured. In other world systems, such as the eastern, northern and westerncontinents, as well as the form-God realms, the duration of life is certain. For

example, if you are reborn as a god in the God realm, then the duration of

your life in that realm is dependent upon your past karma and it will be inexact accordance with that. Whether it is to be several thousand years or not,

it doesn't matter. When the time of your death approaches, there will bedefinite signs and no way of reversing them. Long life gods wear flower garlands on their necks. Suddenly, the flowers wither and die, a very nasty

smell issues forth from their bodies, and their skin suddenly wrinkles and rots.

The other gods abandon them. Rinpoche thinks this is similar to the way

children in America ignore their parents when they grow older.

In this world, in past fortunate aeons of time, things were very different.

The life expectancy of humans was one hundred thousand years or more.As the time became more and more degenerate, then life span slowly

decreased to ten thousand, then one thousand and now one hundred

years. Although just now the life span is supposed to be one hundred years, itis really more like thirty or twenty years in most countries. If you really think

about it, most people begin to show signs of age in their twenties. A tooth

may fall out, wrinkles start to appear, energy decreases and so forth. This isanother reason why the great Indian pandit, Shantideva said, "Even though we

are experiencing the degenerate times when the life span of human beings isreaching its lowest point, no one is concerned about death. This is the time

when we must not remain idle. We must make the most of every single day of our life."

It is quite easy to understand the importance of performing methods to

increase life when the odds are so much against a long life in these dark

times. When we perform the life extension methods based on extracting

the essence of the external five elements and bringing them into the

internal being, we must do that in the same way a bee extracts nectar

from a flower. A bee can extract the honey from a flower without harming

the flower at all. If milk is poured into water, a duck can drink only the milk out of the water.

When we begin the long life practice, we should try to follow through with it,for it's not beneficial to do it only occasionally. We must not fall under the

power of laziness as we have up until now. We must begin a practice and

follow through with it when we have a chance to actually perfect it. If we putit off for tomorrow or the next day, then we will run into the problem which islike going to the doctor when it is too late. No matter how much money you

give the doctor, it's already too late. The doctor cannot help you when your

time is past.



As the great master Shantideva said, "We should abandon sloth and begin to

use every single moment of this life to our greatest advantage." If we were totry to accomplish all of the things that we want to accomplish or think that we

want to accomplish in this life, there would be no end. Rather than allowing a

lot of things to remain unfinished, it is better to finish a few. We should setour priorities and make them very few, so that we won't become disappointed

when it is too late.

Our life is like a butter lamp, which is a candle made of oil and a wick. The

life is the complete lamp, but its life is dependent on component parts such asthe oil, wick and conditions. In the very beginning, the wick and the level of

oil may be balanced when the wick is ignited. However, it may happen that

the wick runs out before the oil, putting the light out. Although there is still

oil there, when the wick is gone the light must die. Sometimes it happens that

the oil burns up before the wick, and the light goes out. Perhaps both areextinguished at the same time and the light goes out. Or, due to a condition,

even though both wick and oil are still there, the force of a strong wind can blow the light out.

In the first case, this corresponds to the end of life, because the karma of the

life span is over. In the second case, it corresponds to the exhaustion of merit

so the life ends. Or both life and merit may become exhausted, ending life. Inthe final case, due to an unexpected karmic condition, life can end. You still

have karma and merit for life, but external obstacles and conditions come

along to take the life away.

The antidote for the first case, which is the conclusion of life, is to actively

try to protect or give life. This means that in order to overcome the

exhaustion of the karmic life span, you must be active in assisting to

extend the lives of others. This can be done by freeing creatures such as fish, birds, frogs, wild animals, whatever. These different creatures are mentioned

because they are frequently killed for food and are easier to buy in order toransom their lives. It would also be excellent if you could somehow save the

life of a human being, like someone who is in jail or going to be executed.

In Tibet we would perform the practice of freeing lives. Farmers would offer

their animals to the Three Jewels and make vows to never take the life of ayak or sheep, vowing never to kill them for food. This type of practice will

definitely extend your own life.

Another way to extend your life and the life of others is to participate in

building or contributing to stupas, which are monuments that symbolize

the enlightened state of mind. Also the building of statues such as the

Long Life Buddha, Amitayus, or others will help to extend life. In Nepalmany people are selling statues and thankas and you may wonder if this is



used for extending life. Actually, it is not, because the motivation is incorrect.

The motivation is to get a lot of money from the tourists. In that pursuit theymake and sell imitations of thankas and statues. They are not made correctly

and are overpriced. This kind of practice actually shortens your life rather

than extends it.

In Tibet, many stupas and statues were erected with pure motivation. Themotivation was for the sake of accumulating merit and benefiting others. If

extra money was made by receiving abundant donations, then other statues

would be built. Once again it is dependent upon the motivation.

The second case is merit. If one's merit becomes exhausted, this is another reason for death. In order to increase merit you must be free from avarice or

the inability to be generous. There are many, many ways to increase merit

through making offerings to the Three Jewels, mandala offerings, and other practices.

Concerning the accumulation of merit through generosity, we must be carefulabout the purity of the offering. For example, many of us go to the store with

the intention to make an offering, perhaps a box of cookies. We look around

for the cheapest box of cookies we can find. We may look around for thecookies that we like the most ourselves because we want to eat a few beforewe offer them. This is not going to accumulate merit. Especially when we eat

half the cookie and offer the other half. The essence of the offering has

already been extracted into our mouth. Just open up your heart a little bitand think about possibly giving something you don't need to someone

who really needs it. There are so many poor people who are starving and

are really in need. There are many hospitals that you can donate to,

nursing homes, schools and so forth. Generosity should be expressed withtrue compassion because you wish to liberate suffering or unhappiness. Youshouldn't be generous so that you can tell someone else about it to impress

them or for the wrong motivation. Again, that is of no benefit at all. These areall ways to accumulate merit. It's actually something that is very simple.

There are many different ways to do it. When your own storehouse of merit isgone, it's like the oil of the butter lamp having become burned up.

In the case of the exhaustion of both the wick and the oil, which means your merit and life are both exhausted, then what do you do? You do what's

already been mentioned in the case of both. You should be very active in the building of statues, stupas, temples, anything that symbolizes enlightened body, speech and mind, or helps to spread the presence of Dharma in the

world. You should make donations. You should be more generous towards

any beings who are in need.

When you are able to accumulate positive karma, merit, life force and so



forth, it is accumulated not only just to benefit you, but also to benefit

those who are close to you. It brings benefit to your parents, friends, even

to your teacher. Also, it benefits us in future lifetimes, since we know that

when this life is over, it's not just like water that evaporates and disappears.

The consciousness carries on. It moves on to the next round of experiences, based on the causes and impressions that we have established. This is the way

that we can explain the fact that some people have a very long life, with goodhealth and positive circumstances and conditions, even though it may seemlike in this life they haven't done that much good. This is a carry-over from

what they've done in past lives.Whatever we do in this life to extend this

particular life and to improve it will carry through to our next life. Not

only just for life in cyclic existence, when we accumulate the two types of merit and remove the two types of obscurations, then the two kayas,

Dharmakaya and Rupakaya are achieved, which is the achievement of the

state of immortality going beyond the round of death and birth.

If it's too much for you to relate to the idea of coming out of all lifetimes andachieving immortality, if you are really just concerned about your businessand this life, then you will definitely be able to benefit yourself through these

practices. It stands to reason that if you can benefit yourself in the long run,

then of course, temporarily for certain circumstances that are existing in the present, it's going to be a benefit. That's for sure.

Abandoning the ten non-virtues and the accumulation of negative karma,

in general, is also a very profound way to extend your life, and

accumulate merit, happiness and prosperity.

In Buddhism there are many countless methods of practice for long life.

Generally they are divided into the two categories of Sutra and Tantra. In bothcategories countless sadhanas exist which are used to extend life. In thetantric category, according to the Nyingmapa School of Padmasambhava' s

tradition, there are the two divisions of Kama and Terma. The Kama is thedirect oral transmission lineage which comes from Buddha and was brought

into Tibet by Padmasambhava, which has been transmitted down to the present time. In the Terma lineage there are old treasures from way in the past, and new recently revealed treasures. H. H. Dudjom Rinpoche is not the

only Terton with new treasure revelations. There are many other newtreasures, including various methods for extending life.

Rinpoche forgot to mention before, in the case of the butter lamp beingextinguished by the external condition of a wind, this is likened to the

external conditions which come along to take our life away. In this world, we

are subject to sixteen fears. These fears rise up from the external elements of

wind, water, fire, space, enemies, wild animals, earthquakes and so forth.



When we become unconscientious in our conduct and ethics or in our

own personal activities, this also opens the door for the external

conditions or obstacles to rise up. Perhaps we may partake of poison

unknowingly by taking different types of drugs which actually take our own

life away. We may participate in a fight or uprising. Many things fall under this category. People actually take their own life away. The subject of food is

also an issue here. There are many people who watch their diet very carefully.Others may accuse them of accumulating the causes for rebirth as a hungryghost, because they're so paranoid about different types of food that they

shouldn't be eating. Then other Tibetans may argue that you should just eat

anything; that you shouldn't have any concepts, you should just eat what

comes before you and be happy to have it. You must decide for yourself and be conscientious, because obviously certain kinds of food are poisonous to

some people whereas they are not to others. There are many people who

simply over-eat themselves to death. There are others who don't eat enoughand starve themselves to death. It is very difficult for us to even beconscientious about what we put in our mouth. This in itself becomes one of

those conditions that can cause our own death.

As for the signs of death, there are many different signs. The more obvious

ones include a change in a person's general disposition and character, whichcould be a gradual change occurring over a period of one year before a

complete change takes place. They may loose their lustre and vitality. Other obvious signs include the whitening of the hair, wrinkles, losing

teeth. Dreaming that you are naked and running, although Rinpoche said

in America, maybe if you lived in Hawaii, that you did that so much that

if you dream about it it might not matter, by the force of habit. Dreaming

that you are riding a donkey into the southern direction. Dreaming that a

lot of bad things keep happening to your house. For example, that things

break down in your house, your house catches on fire, or you lose your

house. These are signs because the house corresponds to your body.

Another practice that you can do to check is to make a fist and to place it

on your forehead looking up into the sky. If the arm is broken off, in thatthere is a blank place where your arm is, it is a bad sign. If there is no

steam coiling from your feces, it's a bad sign.

Next we will begin with the teaching on the actual method for extending life.

This method belongs to the Terma tradition, and is a new terma of H. H.

Dudjom Rinpoche. It originated at the time of Padmasambhava, who traveledto Nepal with his Indian consort, Mandarava, in order to accomplishimmortality. They went to the cave way up in the mountains in Nepal, the

famous long life cave of Maritika. There in the cave they practiced for three

years this particular method that Rinpoche will teach. After three years theyachieved immortality, passing beyond death. The practice is very, very



profound.

While Padmasambhava and Mandarava were in the cave practicing, BuddhaAmitayus, the Buddha of Long Life, actually came and gave the

empowerment, transmissions, and teachings to them directly. The directnessof his presence was just like pouring water from a full vase into an empty one.It was not a dream. After three years of retreat, practicing the long lifemethods in the cave, the two of them, Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) and

Mandarava his consort, both achieved the state of Buddha Amitayus:

immortality. They passed out of the round of cyclic existence through theforce of the practice to become fully enlightened.

After this Guru Rinpoche traveled to Tibet, taking with him the scripture of

the teachings that had been given to him by Amitayus. In Tibet he then

decided to bury the teachings as a terma, and prophesized the time of itsrevelation, and the details surrounding that revelation. He gave the full

transmissions to two of his main disciples, who were two of the originaltwenty-five disciples. One of them was Berotsana, and the other Dorje

Dudjom. Afterwards, the termas were concealed physically as well as withinthe minds of the disciples.

Later on, at the end of the 19th century, these two disciples reincarnated in theform of one lama who was a great treasure revealer, known as Zilnon Namkai

Dorje. Zilnon Namkai Dorje went to Bhutan to the practice cave of Dakini

Yeshe Tsogyal where he found this treasure by pulling it out from behind arock in the cave. This was not done in secrecy, but rather as a public treasure.This means thatwhen it was revealed, it was revealed in the presence of

many hundreds of people. All the people came to witness the revelation,

at which time rainbows appeared in the sky, the sound of roaring

dragons reverberated throughout space along with countless otherwonders. Then for many years he kept the terma secret. It was meant to be

revealed for the first time to the terma' s owner. That owner was H. H.Dudjom Rinpoche.

Waiting until the appropriate time, according to the prophecy, it was in H. H.Dudjom Rinpoche's twenty-first year that the Terton and the Treasure Owner

came together for the first time. The Terton bestowed upon him allempowerments, transmissions, and teachings. Then Dudjom Rinpoche kept

the practice secret for many years, in particular from the majority of laymenor ordinary people. The Terma was transmitted only occasionally to lamas

and strong practitioners so as to insure the purity and profundity of the

blessings. These days His Holiness is actually giving the transmission more

openly, yet still it is a rare transmission to receive.

The Maritika long life practice cave is a power spot in Nepal. Over the



centuries, many, many practitioners have gone there to do the long life

practice. Even today many pilgrims go there. Dudjom Rinpoche himself wentthere in a helicopter. It is a very difficult journey to embark on if you are not

able to trek in the Himalayas for several days. His Holiness was only there for

three hours. Later, he said the three hours had extended his life for ten years.H.H. Dilgo Khentsey Rinpoche, and a group of thirty to forty lamas and

tulkus, just finished making the trip to the cave. Rinpoche also traveled therethis past year. In the cave there are a lot of bats, and his experience was

one of sitting under bats and being defecated upon.

The extensive practice has not yet been translated into English; however, the

condensed version that is available in English is profoundly to the point. It is

the pith practice, simple and clear. This practice is performed daily by many

high and great teachers. If the practice doesn't work for you, it's not the

fault of the practice but the fault of the practitioner.

As with every Sadhana practice, there are three sections. First the preliminaries, second the actual practice, and third the completion. The first

section begins with the lineage prayer. This explains the line of transmission.It is down to our root teacher. When you do the practice it is important that

you relax by taking a comfortable seat and giving yourself time to practice

without distraction. The very best time to do the long life practice is in themorning. If you don't have time in the morning, does that mean you can't do

it? No. You can practice at any time, and it will always be beneficial. It is

more auspicious to practice in the morning. It's also more auspicious to

do more of the practice while the moon is waxing. This would be from the

first to the fifteenth of the lunar month.

Of the four types of miraculous activity (peaceful, expanding, powerful,

and wrathful), this is an expanding or increasing practice. Therefore it's

auspicious to perform it during an increasing time, which obviously is the

time when the moon is increasing, not decreasing.

Before you do the lineage prayer, if you know the Seven Line Prayer to GuruRinpoche, it's good to insert that three times at the beginning. Then after thelineage prayer, you can also insert specific prayers that you might have to

your root teacher.

This particular practice is quite simple. There is no need to make the tormaoffering to expel negative forces. Just go straight into Refuge and

Bodhichitta.

Visualize the field of Refuge in the space in front of you. Then begin the

Refuge prayer with NAMO, and recite the four lines three times. Think verycarefully about the verses you are repeating that have the following meaning:



Myself and sentient beings without exception, who are equal to space -- here

you consider yourself and all living beings who are numberless. From nowuntil attaining complete enlightenment or freedom from cyclic existence, we

all take Refuge with great devotion from our body, speech and mind, in the

deity who is the Long Life Protector, who embodies all objects of Refuge.Refuge is taken from that moment until cyclic existence is empty or over.

After Refuge you develop the Mind of Enlightenment. Again there are four

lines repeated three times, beginning with HO, an exclamation. May all

beings who are sunk in the boundless ocean of suffering, the suffering arisingfrom their delusive appearances of duality, may they all be able to achieve the

youthful vase body of primordially liberated deathlessness. What this means

is, may they all be able to achieve the state of immortality and establish the

great one taste of the Mind of Enlightenment. This is a prayer for all beings to

accomplish the practice. You're actually making a promise, or commitmenthere, that you will work for the benefit of others, and do the practice so others

can receive this accomplishment.

Then you repeat the Seven Limb Offering Prayer to the mandala of theimmortal Victorious ones, which means the Buddhas: I prostate with

devotion, and offer pleasing offerings. I confess all damaged and broken

samaya, and rejoice in all virtues. I request you to turn the wheel of theDharma, and remain firm. I dedicate all merit in the Dharmakaya. May I

obtain the wealth of the permanent and firm Vajra Body.

The reason for doing the Seven Branch Offering Prayer is very important.The first branch is prostration. Prostration of homage is an antidote for pride,

which is an important point since we have such strong pride. The second

branch is generosity or offering. This is an antidote for avarice and craving.The third branch is confession. Confession is extremely important becauseuntil we are able to confess and purify our past mistakes and negative karma,

it's impossible to move onward. We will always be obstructed by our badhabits. The fourth branch is rejoicing -- rejoicing in the accumulation of all

virtue and goodness. This is an antidote for jealousy. Usually when someonedoes something good, rather than rejoicing we feel jealous or competitive.This is something that we have to get away from. The fifth branch is the

request for the Wheel of the Dharma to turn. This is very important since ateacher is unable to teach unless there is someone to request the teaching. And

through the turning of the Wheel of Dharma, or the giving of teachings,

Dharma remains present and alive in the world. The sixth branch is requestingthe lama to live a long life, and to remain firm in the world. The seventh

branch is the dedication of all merit for the sake of benefiting all sentient

beings. Finally, in this particular Seven Branch Prayer, the last line is the

prayer to be able to attain the Vajra Body, the state of immortality.



Everything up until this point is the first section, the preliminaries. Next, the

actual practice begins, which is the Deity Generation. This begins with HRI.Repeat aloud HRI, the seed syllable. Then give rise to the three Samadhis.

Rinpoche has taught before about the importance of the three Samadhis.

Initially you must enter into a state of awareness of the empty nature of allthat is, and from that experience all appearances naturally arise. Many of you

have heard of the three terms, Dharmakaya, Sambogakaya and Nirmankaya.Often times these are just terms or words. Even though they are hard tounderstand without practice, they correspond to the three Samadhis.

The Dharmakaya is the Sphere of Truth which has no form and no

characteristic. It's just the nature of reality as it is, free from characteristics.

Everything arises from that. In the subtlest sense, the Sambogakaya arises as

the spontaneous arising of appearances and phenomena. The Nirmanakaya

arises as the intentional display of form or body for the sake of benefitingothers as unobstructed compassion. This is the meaning of Tulku. A Tulku

displays himself or herself in an ordinary body of five aggregates for the sakeof guiding and liberating all parent beings. You should consider that after yousay HRI, all ordinary appearances become the spontaneous arising of the pure

land. This is the arising of the Three Kayas spontaneously. Then you must

specifically imagine a lotus, sun and moon, upon which appears your own

consciousness or pure awareness as the syllable HRI.

After you've focused on the syllable HRI, light rays radiate from HRI. First of

all, the light rays go out in the form of offerings to all the Buddhas andBodhisattvas in the ten directions, and in particular making offerings to all of

the Long Life Buddhas. Then these light rays reabsorb into HRI, your ownmind. Then the light rays radiate out again to all living beings giving them

energy, vitality, and blessings. The light rays then come back into HRI and

HRI transforms into yourself as the Long Life Buddha Amitayus. Your color is red. You are smiling and possess all the signs of a Buddha. Your hands are

in the mudra of equanimity in your lap, and you are holding a long life vase.

You are embraced by your consort, Mandarava. She is holding a long life

arrow and a vase. The two forms, yourself and Mandarava, are the union of method and wisdom. Both are not ordinary, such as a corporal body

composed of flesh, bones and blood.You should think of yourselves as

rainbow bodies, transparent, clear and lucid with no true, inherent

existence. You are both seated in the expanse of whirling, boundless light

rays of the five colors, surrounded by all of the other Long Life Buddhas

and the Long Life Deities above the crown of your head like massing

clouds.

In other generation stage practices, after you have achieved a clear

visualization of yourself as the deity, you begin to visualize the differentBuddha families in the different chakras. In each of the five chakras exists the



mandala of each of the five Buddha families. In this particular practice, you

should consider that just above the crown of your head the mandala of

long life deities remain. Then, you focus on the central channel. Within

the central channel, visualize the Dharmakaya Long Life Buddha with

consort. This is Amitayus in Dharmakaya aspect. All deities are red in color.To the right of the central channel is Rhoma, the right channel. In

Rhoma is the Sambogakaya aspect of Buddha Amitayus. Inside of the left

channel, Kyangma, on the left side of the central channel, is the Long

Life Consort, Sangwa Yeshe. In the throat is the Buddha of Long Life

Amitayus with consort. In the vein petals are the eight goddesses of

beauty and so forth. These are offering goddesses. In the heart chakra is

the Vajra Buddha family Amitayus with consort. In the petals

surrounding are the six goddesses of desirable qualities. In the navel

chakra is the Ratna family Buddha Amitayus with consort. And in the

vein petals around that are arranged the Long Life Deities, protectors,and all of their entourage. In the secret place, is the Karma family

Buddha Amitayus with consort. In the vein petals around that are the

gate keepers, male and female deities in union.

It is very difficult to visualize all of this; therefore, it's written in the text that

one does not have to visualize all of this, but rather to know that the presenceis there. Visualize yourself clearly as Amitayus with consort. The chakras

inside of your body and all those deities are within you.

All of these images are primordial wisdom forms. This means they arise

like reflected images in a clear mirror. They're not made of flesh, bones

and blood. Primordially, all appearances are equally pure, so just try toimagine and be aware of the visualization. If you understand the nature of

your own mind, which is called reciting the mantra that concludes the second

section (HRI), the actual practice itself, you enter into the conclusion with thedissolution stage and reemergence as the deity.

In the first stage of dissolution, you dissolve the visualization that you just

created. The main reason for doing so is because it is an antidote for theextreme of externalism. Then as soon as you dissolve into emptiness again,you reemerge as the deity. You give rise to the visualization once again,

which is done as an antidote for the tendency to fall to the extremes, which isextremely important.

To begin the dissolution, say AH. The force of illusory primordial wisdom,fully liberated from the beginning, is the unobstructed, continuous display of

the mandala, the nature of the great, boundless Dharmakaya. Right there, you

are avoiding the two extremes. In a sense, the fact that the play of

primordial wisdom is emptiness, which is liberated from the beginning,could cause one to the extreme of nihilism, yet from that illusory



primordial wisdom ground, the unobstructed, continuous display of the

mandala comes out, which is all appearances. and that might cause you

to go to the extreme of eternalism. When both are together, there is no

chance of falling to either extreme. You avoid the four extremes of

eternalism, nihilism, both and neither. You arrive in the middle, the great, boundless Dharmakaya, the pervasive expanse of unchanging clear light, the

immortal lama, which is the Long Life Lama or Amitayus, the unchanginglight of the Dharmakaya, the view of the uncontrived Kuntuzangpo, which isthe Primordial Buddha. Then say the mantra and relax in pure awareness.

Q: Before you begin the dissolution, how many times do you recite HRI after

the long mantra?

A: As many times as you can. In groups of three, you recite: HRI-HRI-HRI,

HRI-HRI-HRI and so forth. Think that the world becomes filled with HRI.

Those of you who want to be fancy and who know about the vowels,

consonants, hundred syllable mantra, and the mantra of interdependentorigination, can insert that at the end of doing the mantra at the end of page

eight. Do that three times through, and then repeat the offering and the praise

again and go on to the dissolution.

Because this is a short practice, it's also a practice where the method calledgenerating the deity instantly upon recollection is used. Then it is dissolving

the deity instantly upon recollection as well. This means that as soon as youthink of the deity, you're the deity. As soon as you think that you are not the

deity, you're not. When you say this mantra PEMA AYUJNANA

DHARMADHATU AH, you are no longer aware of yourself as the deity.Everything becomes emptiness, the Primordial Ground. If you want to bemore elaborate, you can do the longer version, where the universe which is

the mandala dissolves into your mandala of deities, the mandala of deities

dissolve into you as the main deity, and your consort dissolves into you, youdissolve into the mantra, which dissolves into the seed syllables, which

dissolve one by one into emptiness. You can practice in this way as a mentalexercise also, if you wish.

To begin the reemergence, you say OM AH HUNG, which are the three vajra

syllables for body, speech and mind. Give rise to the awareness of your body

as the deity, speech as the mantra, and mind as the play of primordialwisdom. The vessel and its contents are the all-pervasive vajra body, speech,

and mind. Vessel and contents means this world and all living beings, which

are the state of the great display of the deity, meaning the Long Life Buddha,the mantra, and primordial wisdom. Without excluding any sentient beings

who are equal to space, may my action of guidance be for the benefit of all.So again, you've just given rise to yourself as the deity and the mandala. Then



you say the mantra BENZRA SAMADHI ATMA KO HAM. If you are really

a good generation stage practitioner, you will thereafter carry out the post-meditational awareness of all form as the deity, all sound as mantra, and all

thought, or all states of mind, as the play of primordial wisdom.

Rinpoche: At least in a way we don't want to think about, oh, all the forms areenemy, all the sounds are nasty, all the thoughts negative. All the phenomenais absolutely arising and passing. This we have to think about. Anyway, we

don't want to argue.

Finally, in conclusion on page ten are the prayers for good will and

auspiciousness. Through this merit for myself and other beings equal tospace, may the complete purification of the two defilements and the

empowerment of immortal life be obtained. May the great cloud of riches and

excellent virtues of the three times pervade all realms with the magnificentradiance of auspiciousness. After repeating this, you may also insert whatever

other prayers that you would like in order to dedicate the merit and pray for the long life of the teachers and so forth.

Next is a brief question and answer period:

In order to understand the first Samadhi of understanding the nature of reality

as it is, you have to understand identitylessness of all things. You have tounderstand the empty nature of self, and everything that is an object of self,

which includes all perceptions. That's very difficult. The second Samadhiarises from the first. Assuming that you recognize identitylessness of self and

things, then you've understood the empty nature of reality. The second

Samadhi is the arising of all appearances from that. This means recognizingor knowing how it is that all of this can exist, even though its nature isnonexistent. By actualizing the first Samadhi, one does not fall to the extreme

of eternalism. In the second Samadhi, the extreme of nihilism is transcended,

thus balancing the two in the middle way. If there is the view of eternalism,what's the problem? The problem is that you believe that all of this,

everything that you see, including yourself, is permanent. This is an extremeview. And as long as you remain in that kind of a view, it is impossible to goany further. This is like the Communist view.

If you have understood the first Samadhi, then there still exists a danger of

thinking that everything is empty. If you don't believe in karma, you may startdisbelieving in anything that exists, period. This is incorrect. As an extreme

view it limits you so that you can't progress any further.

The third Samadhi brings the two together. It is like understanding the

sun and the sun's rays to be the same thing. Both have the power toilluminate darkness. Although the three Samadhis are three stages of



practice, they are really one display. All appearances arise as the threeSamadhis. The deity and all visualization also arises in this same way.

In the God's realms and the other realms aside from our planet earth, the life

expectancy is determined, certain and set. In the human realm, the life span isnot certain but dependent upon causes, conditions and circumstances. Our lifeis like a candle in a wind storm. There are many more causes for it to beextinguished than for it to remain. Even the simplest event can just take our

life away unknowingly. The causes for the loss of our life are actually

countless.

Also due to sudden conditions and obstacles, formless spirits and form

enemies can come to take our life force away. This can occur due to the

force of negative mantras and black magic. Our life force and spirit can

be stolen, our energy can decrease, and we can be harmed in subtle wayswithout being aware of it. This definitely does happen.

Therefore, in order to protect our life, it is very important to make use of oneof the many boundless long-life practices which are available to us. You are

actually able to extend your life to the ultimate measure if you perform on a

regular basis a long-life extending method. The method you will find or relateto will also be in dependence upon your karma. Karmically, that's the methodthat will come to you, or that you will be attracted to. By performing the

method correctly, temporarily you will be able to rid yourself of these many

obstacles, extend your life, and be free from illness. Even more importantthan that, ultimately, just like Guru Rinpoche did, you will be able to actuallyhave a vision of the Long Life Deity Buddha Amitayus, to receive direct

blessings and the state of immortality.

Q: Rinpoche, this is a way of changing our karma, isn't it?

A: You can say that. If you become enlightened, then definitely you've

changed your karma.

Q: I don't mean that. I mean, in samsara.

A: Yes, it's a way to change negative karma and to also improve positivekarma. If you were to ask, is there any good quality that negative karma or non-virtue has at all, the best quality is that it can be removed. It's not

permanent and therefore can be changed. That in itself is a quality.

Also, as Guru Rinpoche has said, in this world of samsara, of all the thingsthat human beings treasure such as wealth, dear ones, possessions, and so

forth, life is definitely treasured the most. If we were to try to point out thatwhich we are the most attached to, it would always be our own life.



Especially for people who practice Dharma and are on a spiritual path, such a

person must definitely recognize the preciousness of life and be veryconcerned about the extension of life, so that they will have the maximum

amount of time to practice. In order to accomplish the two purposes,

enlightenment for the sake of yourself and enlightenment for the sake of benefitting all others, it's dependent upon this human body. This human body

needs to last as long as possible so you can do that. Also, to repeat again, youmust abandon taking the life of any living being intentionally and you shouldinstead try to protect the life of other living beings in any way that you

possibly can, such as buying or purchasing sentient beings who are going to

be killed and freeing them. This is a very important practice to do.

Rinpoche is saying that we like to lie. Here's a practice where we can lie and

it's actually virtuous. For instance, if somebody comes along and says,

"Where is so and so, I'm going to kill him," then if you know where he is, youust lie and say that the person went in that direction and you send them the

wrong way. You can steal. If you see someone who is trying to kill a chicken,you can steal the chicken and run, and that would be doing the practice.

Q: Rinpoche, there are a number of organizations who are trying to prevent

the using of animals for laboratory experiments and the taking of animal's

lives for this purpose.

Rinpoche: How about humans?

Q: Rinpoche, they claim that they are doing this in order to save human

beings. Now, which is more important? The research that they do on the

animals can save the lives of human beings.

Rinpoche: Ignorant.

Rinpoche personally thinks that it's an ignorant thing to kill an animal with

the intention to find out something to save a human.

Rinpoche: 'When we kill an animal, we say that a human being is moreimportant. But how do we know? But I'm not a doctor, and I can't say

anything. I don't know anything.

If we do these practices, such as protecting the lives of others who are going

to be harmed or killed, and if we are generous towards projects that are veryworthy, such as the building of statues and temples and so forth to keep the

teachings alive in the world, then absolutely it produces causes which extendour life. Even if it may seem that it's not really producing causes in this life, it

has already created a karmic impression which carries on with theconsciousness into the next life. In this life and future lives we experience less



illness, our mind will be less tormented with discursive thoughts and

suffering, we'll have better luck, and better conditions around us. However,the motivation is really important. If you do it with a worldly concern, it

doesn't create the causes for long life.

Things that really harm life and the life span include destroying or being partof any destruction to a temple or statue. Try to do this long life practice asmuch as you can.

Rinpoche: Ask yourself: Is this something you need and would like to do? If

so, do it!

Rinpoche encourages everyone to try and do this practice, especially those of you who are students of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche. This is the practice

that he is encouraging all of the students all over the world to do right now for his own long life. For yourself, doing the practice also extends the life of your teachers, and it gets rid of illness and obstacles, and brings vitality and

meaningfulness into our life. It extends our life. This is really a guru yoga practice, especially now for His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, since this is the

practice he has instructed everyone to do. Rinpoche would encourage

everyone to do it, and he is also very sorry that he wasn't really able to giveteachings on this practice because we don't have enough time. This was just,you could hardly even call it a teaching on how to do the practice. It was

more like a transmission. Maybe next time he can give a real teaching on how

to do it.

Rinpoche: Next time, next time, next time.

Q: How much time would it take you to give us a teaching on this, Rinpoche?

A: I think, really, one month. Because, you know, I have the time but you

don't have the time. You have the time but I don't have the time. So we have,

you know, a teeter totter. Therefore, we make, you know, really acommitment. Teacher and student together commitment, and then I think it's

one month, every night at least. It's a large volume. For the extensive teachingyou need much more than a month.

Q; Should we do the practice in English or Tibetan?

A: Do it in English first, and then when you know the meaning of what you'redoing, you can chant it in Tibetan.

Q: Should we do this practice before or after ngondro?

A: First ngondro, then this. After you do the guru yoga in your ngondro, then



you can insert this, and then do the final dedication part at the very end. If you

don't have enough time to do all that together, then you can do themseparately.

Q: If you're doing the practice to direct the force of it to help someone else,how do you do that? Do you just do it the way you would normally do it?

A: Just like you're sending the light out from yourself and it's collecting

all the essence of all the elements and the life force of all sentient beings,

bringing it into you, so imagine that it's bringing it into that person, too.

Any other questions?

Q: Rinpoche, if for some reason you don't have the time to do it in the

morning, is it okay to do it at night?

A: Even the middle of the night is still fine. Special is the morning, so theysay, but I feel, special one, really special one is for you to keep it continuing

at all times.

Rinpoche is saying that it's more special, rather than being concerned about it

being better to do it in the morning, it's even better to do it regularly at thetime that you can, rather than getting uptight about not being able to do it in

the morning, so not doing it. Do it to benefit yourself and all others.

Rinpoche: You know, we have a problem. What is problem? Our teacher giveus, you have to do a certain number, a hundred or thousand, or whatever, onsuch a day, at such a time, morning or blah blah. Sure, if we can do, very

good. If we can't, then do you have to give up? No, you don't need to give up,

you don't need to upset, you don't need to uptight, you know, anything. You

can make it flexible. Because why? Buddha and Guru Rinpoche they give toeach sentient being what belongs to their own quality, wisdom or scope,

whether it is high scope or low scope, Whatever measured that way they teach

us. So we must measure that way. If you can practice in the morning, then do

whatever you can. If you don't get a chance in the a.m., then maybe you canget one in the afternoon or tomorrow. Today you didn't get one hundred OM

MANI PADME HUNGs for example, tomorrow, you can do two hundred for today you didn't. Next day you can do it. Don't forget, more than uptight,upset for yourself, then upset your family, your friend, creating the whole

negativity, more than that, you know, relax. Oh, I didn't do it today, must be

tomorrow you give yourself courage. Tomorrow I want to do it. And do it.

Today I didn't get breakfast too much. So I get lunch big one. We have inAmerica here Thanksgiving. We don't eat in the morning breakfast, and lunch

we don't have anything. We saved for tonight -- dinner -- and now we eat,think about that. You don't have money, you don't have chance today or



tomorrow. Filled up. If you are retreat and then you have a schedule, you

have to follow that. Maybe you got sick, you don't give up your retreat.Tomorrow again, you do know. More than we trying to practice or

visualization, or blah, blah, blah in the mouth is ma ma ma ma ma ma, and the

body is sitting like a rock, but our mind, one hundred miles is runningeverywhere. You don't even know what you're saying. And more than that,

think about slowly calming down. That's important.

Sangye: Although it's very good to be able to do the mantras and practice, it's

more important to have kind thoughts towards others, which is really the practice of Buddhism. So Rinpoche thinks that it's better to accomplish that

first. Then you can worry about doing practice, like specific practice with

mantras. If you don't have kind thoughts towards others, then you miss the

point. Everybody is concerned in the world right now about peace and

pointing outside of themselves. We have to have peace with all theseother countries. First of all, we have to have peace within ourself. If you

have peace in your own mind, then it rubs off on other people and they

become more peaceful. Then, one by one, when we become peaceful, the

world becomes peaceful. If you the subject are not peaceful, then the object

is not going to become peaceful either.

Rinpoche: That's my phenomena. I don't know. Now we go.

HIS HOLINESS DUDJOM RINPOCHEJigdrel Yeshe DorjeSupreme Head of the Nyingmapa School

THE ABBREVIATED PRACTICE OF THE IMMORTAL LIFEESSENCE: THE ESSENTIAL BINDU OF DEATHLESSNESS

YESHE NYINGPO

Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center

http://www.american-buddha.com/lifeparacelsusfranz.32.gif



NAMO GURU BENZAR AHYUJNANA YE

To achieve the ripening of liberation according to the method of this path,

there is the abbreviated daily practice for pure practitioners keeping Samaya.There are three sections: First is the preparation of the preliminaries.

The Lineage Prayer

CHI MED GON PO SANG YE TSENDALI

To the Immortal Protector (Amitayus) and the secret primordial wisdomTsendali,

PEMA JUNGNEY MANDARAWA YUM

Padmasambhava and his consort Mandarava,

BERO TSA NA DORJE DUDJOM SOK Vairotsana, Dorje Dudjom and so forth,

TSEY YI RIK DZIN TSA SUM RAB JUM LATo the boundless Three Roots, the Vidyadharas of Life,

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SOL WA DEB SO TSE WANG NGO DRUB TSOLI pray to receive spiritual attainments and the empowerment of life.

Refuge

NAMO: DAK SOG KHA NYAM SEM CHEN MA LU PAMyself and sentient beings without exception, equal to space,

DENG NEY ZUNG TEY CHANG CHUB MA THOB BAR

From now until attaining complete enlightenment,

KYAB YUL KUN DU GONPO TSEY YI LHAR

In the deity who is the protector of life, the embodiment of all refuges,

GO SUM GU PA CHEN PO KYAB SU CHITake refuge with great devotion from the three doors.

(repeat three times)



Developing the Mind of Enlightenment

HO: ZUNG DZIN TRUL PAY NANG WAY KYEY PAY DRO

May beings, the arising delusive appearances of duality,

THA MED DHUG NGAL GYA TSOR CHING WA NAMSunk in the boundless ocean of suffering,

YEY DROL CHI MED ZHONNU BUM KU LONG

In the expanse of the youthful vase body of primordially liberated

deathlessness,

RO NYAM CHEN POR GOD PAR SEM KYED DOEstablish the great One Taste of the mind of Enlightenment.

(repeat three times)

The Seven Limb Puja



CHI MED GYAL WAY KYIL KHOR PAR To the mandala of the deathless Victorious Ones,

GOU PAY CHAG TSAL GYEY CHOD BULI prostrate with devotion, offer pleasing offerings,

NYAM CHAG KUN SHAG JEY YI RANGConfess all damaged and broken samaya, rejoice in all virtue,

CHO KHOR KOR SHING ME DA SHUG

Turn the wheel of the Dharma and remain firm.

GEY TSOG CHO KYI YING SU NGOI dedicate all merit in the Dharmakaya.

TAK TEN DORJE YIG THOB SHOGMay I obtain the wealth of the permanent and firm vajra body.



The second section is the main practice:

Deity Generation

HRI OD SAL LHUN DRUB RANG SHIN SHING KHAM CHEY

Spontaneous clear light being the nature of the Great Buddhafield,

KHOD PA TSEY MED PEMA NYI DAY TENG

Immeasurably arranged, on top of a lotus, sun and moon

RANG RIG HRI YIG LAY JUNG OD ZER TRINIs one's own awareness, the letter Hri, from which arises a cloud of light rays.

RAB BAR DON NYI JAY DU YONG GYUR PAMagnificently radiating, the two purposes are accomplished, gathering back ittransforms into

CHOM DEN GON PO RIK DZIN TSEY PAG MED



The Victorious Protector, the Vidyadhara of Boundless Life.

MAR SAL SHI ZUM TSEN PAY DRA WA TRIG

Clear red, smiling, displaying the net of major and minor marks,

NYAM SHAG CHAG NA CHI MED TSE BUM DZINHis hands are in the mudra of equanimity, holding a long life vase.

MANDARAWA DA DAR BUM DZIN KYUD

Embraced by Mandarava holding a long life arrow and a vase.

DEY CHEN NYAM JOR NYI KA LONG CHOD ZOG

Both are united in equanimitous Great Bliss, the complete Sambhogakaya.

THA YEY OD PHUNG KYIL WAY LONG DU SHUG

They sit in an expanse of massive, swirling boundless light.



OU TSUG CHI MED TSEY LHA TRIN TAR TIP

Above the crown of the head are gathered clouds of deathless life deities.

RANG JUNG DORJE LU KYI KYIL KHOR DUIn the mandala of the self-arisen vajra body,

TSEY DAK RIG SHI YAB YUM LHA MO DRUK The four Lords of Life Yab Yum, the six Goddesses,

The foundational body of the Padma Lord of Life Yab Yum possesses thefive chakras of the Three Roots. At the top of the head within the central

channel is the Dharmakaya Lord Yab Yum. In Roma is the Sambhogakaya

Lord and in Kyang Ma is the Life Consort Sang Wa Yeshe. In the throat is theBuddha Life Lord Yab Yum, in the vein petals are the eight goddesses of

beauty and so forth. In the heart is the Vajra Life Lord Yab Yum, in the vein

petals are the six goddesses of desirable qualities. In the navel is the Ratna

Life Lord Yab Yum, in the vein petals are arranged the life deities, DamChen, protectors and their entourages who have compassion and good will. Inthe secret place is the Karma Life Lord Yab Yum, in the vein petals are the

Gate Keepers Yab Yum and so forth. One does not need to clearly visualize

how the deities are arranged within the veins.

GEG SOG GYED DANG GO WA YAB YUM CHEY




The eight goddesses of beauty and so forth and the Gate Keepers Yab Yum

and entourages

MELONG DANG PAR ZUG NYEN CHAR WA SHINArise like reflected images in a clear mirror.

NANG SID DOD NEY DAG NYAM DAMTSIK DANG

Primordially, all appearances are equally pure. Samaya and

YESHE YER MED LHUN DZOG CHEN POR GYUR

Wisdom are inseparable in the spontaneous Great Perfection.

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEMA AHYUJNANA SARWA

MANDALA HRI DHRUM SARWA ABHI KEN TSA HRI

(clearly visualize this)

The Recitation






CHI MED JA LU YESHE DORJE TSEYThink that you have attained the result of the immortal rainbow body, the

vajra life of primordial wisdom,

TAG TEN GYUR WA MED PAY IK THOB SAM

Unchanging, permanent and firm.

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEMA AHYUJNANA SIDDHI HUNGHRI OM AH MA RA NRI DZI WIN TI YE SO HA

After reciting this, then recite Hri. Apply the ability of the practitioner by the

visualization of emanation and gathering according to the main sadhana. Thethird section is the conclusion.

The Dissolution and Re-Emergence

AH DOD NEY NAM DROL YESHE GYU MED TSALThe force of illusory primordial wisdom fully liberated from the beginning, is





MA GAG ROL PAR SHAR WAY KYIL KHOR PAThe unobstructed continuous display of the mandala,

THA DANG DREL WA CHO YING CHEN PO NGANG

The nature of the great boundless Dharmakaya.

OD SAL PHO GYUR MED PAY LONG DU DAL

The pervasive expanse of unchanging clear light is

CHI MED LAMA CHO KU OD MI GYUR The immortal lama, the unchanging light of the Dharmakaya,

MA CHO KUN TU ZANG PO GONG PA-OThe view of the uncontrived Kuntu Zangpo.

PEMA AHYUJNANA DHARMA DHATU AH



OM AH HUNG

NOD CHUD THAM CHED KU SUNG THUG KYI KHYAB

The vessel and its contents are the pervasive body, speech and mind,

LHA NGAG YESHE ROL PA CHEN PO NGANGThe state of the great display of the deity, mantra and primordial wisdom.

KA DANG NYAM PAY DRO WA MA LU PAWithout excluding any sentient beings, comparable to space,

DREN PAY DON LA YONG SU JOD PAR JA-O

May (my) action of guidance be for the benefit of all.

BENZAR SAMATI ATMA KO HAM

(saying this, continue the view)



Prayers of Good Will and Prayers of Auspiciousness

GEY DI DAG SHEN KHA NYAM DRO WA NAMThrough this merit, for myself and other beings, equal to space,

DRIB NYI KUN JANG CHI MED TSE WANG THOB

May the complete purification of the two defilements and the empowerment

of immortal life be obtained.

DU SUM GE LEK PAL JOR TRIN CHEN PO

May the great cloud of riches and excellent virtues of the three times

SHING NAM KUN KHYAB TRASHI PAL BAR SHOG

Pervade all realms with the magnificent radiance of auspiciousness.

Thus adorn the end with prayers of dedication and auspiciousness. This short

daily recitation of the profound life essence of immortality was urgently




requested by some practitioners. Therefore, I, Namkha Dorje, so called a

Terton, wrote this down at Ogmin Tsur Do Monastery, combining andcondensing the meaning of the main text. Through the power of this may the

lotus feet of the supreme protector of the doctrine and beings remain for a

hundred kalpas.

BENZAR AHYUJNANA BHA WEN TU

Blessing the mala: using a red coral, red sandlewood, Bodhiseed or another suitable mala type, hold the mala in the palm of your left hand to purify it.

From within the nature of Emptiness each seed on the mala is HRI from

which Tsepagmed (Amitayus) is born. Identical to oneself the Yeshepa(Primordial Wisdom Beings) are invoked with:

BENZAR SAMAYA DZA DZA HUNG BAM HO

to become nondual. By the condition of bliss caused from the union of Yab-Yum (Method-Wisdom), they melt into light to become a mala of precious

ewels. Then repeat:

OM RU TSI RA MA NI PRA WA DHA NA YE HUNG

7 or 21 times and blow on the mala after which you recite the vowels,

consonants, 100 syllable mantra and essence mantra of interdependent

origination, 3 times.

During the time of recitation, specific visualizations are as follows:

Visualizing self nature as the root deity, in your heart center is a

variegated crossed vajra laying flat, in the center of which is a conjoined

sun and moon (sun on the bottom) gau, slightly open. In the center of this

is the nature of life of one's own mind as a clear red ( ) HRI, just in

front of one's spinal cord. The HRI remains erect and unmoving. Within

the ( ) HA of HRI is the unchanging nature of one's lha (spirit force)

as ( ) NRI, green in color. Within the circle of the NA of NRI is the

unchanging nature of life itself as ( ) AH, clear white.





In front of the letter HRI is the OM of the root mantra with the remainingsyllables of the mantra lined up behind it counter clockwise. The mantric

syllables do not move and as they remain motionless, allow your mind to

focus only upon them. When the clarity of your visualization begins todiminish, in order to increase and elucidate the experience, cause the mantrato begin circling clockwise with OM leading in an unbroken circle of light.

Boundless light rays radiate from these syllables in your heart to encompassthe vast multitudes of the three thousand myriads of universes. All the

remaining negative classes of gods and spirits who have carried away

one's spirit force and life, stolen, or grabbed it through black magic orexorcisms, in dependence upon substance, mantra and/or samadhi,like a

magnet the light rays completely reabsorb it all back into you.

Again the light rays penetrate into the five elements. Penetrating into thelower foundational golden ground, the king of all mountains, Mehru, theseven golden mountains, the four continents and eight subcontinents, the

encircling ring of iron mountains and wherever theessence of the element

earth can be extracted, it is reabsorbed as melted gold back into you.

Penetrating into the lower foundational great water mandala, the externaloceans, the inner lakes and bodies of water, the four great rivers including the

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Ganga, ponds, pools, mouth water, eye water, wind water and the essence of

all moisture is extracted and reabsorbed as a heap of moon water crystal

back into you. Penetrating into the lower foundational fire mandala, the great

submarine fire below the limits of the ocean, fire puja fire, fireplace fire,

intentionally created fire, the light of the sun, moon, wish fulfilling jewels andso forth, the essence of all warmth, heat and fire is extracted as ruby red

light and reabsorbed back into you. Penetrating into the lower foundationalwind mandala, all vibrations, buoyant winds, dispersing explosions, karmicwinds, ordinary air within bodies, primordial wisdom air and the essence of

all wind and motion, as sapphire colored nectar is extracted and

reabsorbed into you. Penetrating into the all encompassing principal element

of space, all the essence and potency of space as drops of lapis lazuli nectar

and light rays is reabsorbed into you.

Once again, the essence of the light rays penetrates into all sentient beings of the six realms, extracting their life force, merit, virtue and primordial wisdom.

In particular, the light rays extract the essence of the life force of gods, rishis,vidhyadharas and siddhas, the merit, power and glory of the Brahmins and the

principal god rulers of the world, the knowledge of the Panditas, the power of

the Vidyadharas, the wisdom, power, compassion and radiance of

Chakravartin rulers and kings. All of their life force, glory, endowments

and pure qualities are extracted as light rays in the aspect of ( ) AH, (

) NRI, and ( ) HUNG. Especially from the protectors of life and

possessors of boundless primordial wisdom, the Buddhas and

Bodhisattvas, the essence of all of their power, blessings and spiritual

attainments as five-colored light rays in the aspect of ( ) OM, ( )

AH, ( ) HUNG is completely consumed to dissolve into your body and

seed syllables in your heart.

The inner accomplishment is as follows:

This is the uncontrived unending Yoga which is connected to the completionstage. This manner of practice comes from the immortal tigley nectar speech

of the Terchen Lama himself. The main recitation is HRI and the manner of

visualization is uncommon. From the ( ) HRI in your heart countless clear red HRIs like massing molecules in the sun's rays radiate to completely fill all

myriads of universes. All the HRIs naturally emit their own sound, like a

bee swarm. Five-colored light rays prevail to inconceivably encompass the

Universe and its Contents. Outerly penetrating into the essence of the fiveouter elements of the universe, that essence is extracted as five colored










light rays. Innerly penetrating into the contents, all beings of the three

realms of existence, their life force, merit and all endowments are

extracted as ( ) AH, ( ) NRI ( ) and HUNG. Secretly penetrating

into all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, the essence of their enlightened body,speech, mind, pure qualities, miraculous activities, power, blessings, siddhis

and long life is extracted as ( ) OM ( ) AH ( ) HUNG ( ) SO (

) HA and magnetically pulled into all the HRIs where it dissolves. Allthe HRIs take on the brilliance of the sun as they blaze with light. Then, like

rain pouring into the ocean, all the HRIs pour into and gently merge with

one's body.

One's life force, spirit and breath of life are equally and fully restored. Thatwhich was already possessed, increases. You become a sixteen year oldyouth, with immortal life, undiminishing youth, unfailing strength,

unobscured merit, firm, permanent and free from decay or destruction. All of

this pure essence enters into the opening of the conjoined sun and moon gau

where one's life force remains indestructible as vajra life is bestowed.

Then the conjoined sun and moon gau closes and the horns on the

variegated crossed vajra fold up as the five colors melt into and join to

the gau, sealing it. From above, a ruby red five-horned vajra stands

upright on the gau with fire sparks shooting out from the vajrahorns. Consider that the gau is sealed off and remain naturally in the greatoriginally pure, indestructible state, free from thoughts or words.













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Dudjom Tersar Chimed Tsog Thik