Download The Preliminary Practices of Tibetan Buddhism

The Preliminary Practices of Tibetan Buddhism:
A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO VISUALIZATION
Dr. Miles Neale
THE NALANDA INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPLATIVE SCIENCE
Prologue
We begin our journey with an excerpt from the Jewel Tree of Tibet by Professor Robert Thurman (2006), recalling
his early encounter with the world of Tibetan Buddhism, specifically through a sacred text known as the Mentor
Devotion (lama chopa). His own Mongolian mentor Geshe Wangyal, a living embodiment and exemplar of the
transformation proclaimed within its ancient passages revealed the text to him.
“…Yet there I also met my teacher and went to work with
him in the Jersey Pine Barrens, in a Russian Mongolian
refugee community. Through him I met the path to enlightenment. I met a true mentor. I had come home to
myself and my soul – through this great teacher and the
jewel tree text he revealed to me.
philosophers from all the world’s spiritual traditions. I beheld
the shinning tree of jewels, decked with living jewel beings.
I recognized the jewel tree as the world tree Yggdrasil, the
great ash tree extending over the entire earth, growing from
a well of wisdom, where Odin, the highest God, had cast one
eye as a sacrifice in order to receive the eye of wisdom from
And it was not just the text and the teachings that affected
the goddess of the tree. The jewel tree is the tree of life, the
me so deeply. It was the special context in which Tibetans
tree of wisdom, and it is also the giant fig tree under which
meditate and use their teachings. I learned to look up with
the Buddha attained perfect enlightenment, the Bodhi tree.
my inner eye of imagination, which lies in the middle of our
It grows from earth to heaven and is filled with the wish-
foreheads and opens a channel of vision into a subtle realm of
granting jewels that make up the family of living mentors
reality. In this inner sky revealed by my third eye, I discovered
who have reached immortal life and can share their bliss
mystical beings, Buddhas, bodhisattvas (persons who strive
with you, protect you, bless you, and help you open up your
for enlightenment in order to help others on their quest for
own inner door-way to peace and fulfillment. The Jewel Tree
their highest development), historical lama mentors, angles,
opens its loving embrace to everyone and promotes happi-
deities mild and fierce, and all the saints and teachers and
ness – which is our natural state and birthright.” (p. 3–4)
Introduction
I was so amazed and grateful to have met Joe in the late
1990’s, working out of the Department of Psychiatry at
Columbia Presbyterian hospital, equipped with Tibetan
bells, texts translated from the Tibetan and Sanskrit,
and leading a group of patients through a visualization
of the healing mother White Tara. Joe, Bob, and many
other great teachers from His Holiness the Dalia Lama
up to Je Tsongkhapa and Shakyamuni Buddha form my
personal Jewel Tree Refuge of blessing and inspiration,
and I am grateful to them all. It is my hope that by
defining and presenting the pith instruction contained
within this set of ancient preparatory practices that you
too may derive the benefit, as I have, of their healing
and transformative potential.
The Six Preliminary Practices (jorchö) of Tibetan
Buddhism presented in this handout are based upon the
teachings of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), the awakened
scholar-yogi-monk of 13th century Tibet, founder of the
Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and root teacher
to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. Je Tsongkhapa was
author of the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path
to Enlightenment (lam rim chen mo), one of the greatest jewels of world spiritual literature, which illuminates
the entire evolutionary path of human development
from misery to liberation. Also influential were commentaries on this practice from the modern scholar Geshe
Rabten (1921–1986) who was a graduate of highest
order from Sera May Monastic Collage in Lhasa, Tibet
and beginning in 1969 taught many Westerns at the
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala,
India. Finally, I drew inspiration from my two Western
mentors, Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman, PhD and
contemplative psychiatrist Joseph Loizzo, MD, PhD.
It is through his unbridled passion and creative genius
that Bob Thurman translated these practices, making
them accessible to a wider Western audience without
loosing their philosophical essence, particularly through
his book Jewel Tree of Tibet. Finally, and perhaps most
significantly due to our personal relationship over the
years, is the influence of Joe Loizzo, who brilliantly
integrated these practices with current neuroscience,
psychotherapy and health research, making them
accessible to those within clinical and medical context.
DR. MILES NEALE / THE NALANDA INSTITUTE
Joe Loizzo, Bob Thurman, and Miles Neale
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
The Six Preliminary Practices
I
II
Purify Space and Time
Make Offerings
III
Posture, Four Thoughts, Refuge and Bodhicitta
IV
Evoke the Mentor and Jewel-Tree Refuge
V
VI
APPENDIX
Eliminate Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
Offer Mandala and Request Inspiration
Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayers
The six steps comprise what are known as the
“ordinary preliminaries” that prepare one’s mind for
more advanced practices including the “extraordinary
preliminaries” (ngondro) and finally the two stages
of the esoteric system of tantra. As such, the preliminaries are a very suitable system of meditation
for beginners and offer more benefit than a simple
practice of mindfulness meditation. One may practice
all six preliminaries straight through or pause between
steps 5.5 and 5.6 to insert additional specific meditation
techniques such as tranquility (shamata), compassion
(tonglen), analytic insight (vipassana), or even study a
sacred text, listen to Dharma or practice yoga poses.
The Six Preliminary Practices of Tibetan Buddhism
comprise a comprehensive meditation system for
psychological development. They provide a structure
and set sequence of daily practices, visualizations, and
contemplative themes that one rehearses in a similar
way to a sequence of yoga poses flowing gracefully
from one to the next. The aim of the preliminaries is
to create the neuropsychological conditions necessary
for achieving happiness and liberation. This process
allows one to decondition negative mental habits,
rewire positive tendencies, prime a compassionate
motivation, establish a realistic view of reality and
internalize the inspiring qualities of a spiritual mentor.
Each step is indispensible and build’s upon the last.
DR. MILES NEALE / THE NALANDA INSTITUTE
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE FIRST PRELIMINARY
Purify Space and Time
Purify Space and Time
Designate a quite space in your home for regular
meditation. Clean and tidy the space, as this will help
put your mind at ease. As you tidy your surroundings,
imagine you are cleansing your mind of negative imprints that obscure your natural clarity and compel you
to fall prey to erroneous perceptions. The physical act of
cleaning a space has the secondary benefit of helping to
waken and arouse your sense, especially when done first
thing in the morning. Time is a manifestation of space,
so think about ‘cleaning up’ your time as well. You do
this by clarifying your intention to practice – now in the
present moment – as opposed to doing things mindlessly,
ritualistically or on automatic pilot. Then commit to
your meditation period with single pointed focus and
determination. Space and time are purified with our
respect. Take nothing for granted.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE SECOND PRELIMINARY
Make Offerings
Make Offerings
Begin by physically transforming your
meditation space. Make the space pleasing to
the senses, mean-ingful or sacred by setting up
an altar, arranging flowers, lighting candles and
incense, setting up pictures or statues of inspiring
people or places and making other gestures
of gratitude. Creating a special environment
requires attentiveness, and helps train your mind
to differentiate ‘meditative’ or conscious activity
from ‘ordinary’ or compulsive activity.
Multiply your offerings, creating the feeling
of abundance. One flower becomes a pleasure
garden, an offering bowl of water becomes a
tranquil stream, a single candle becomes a clear
sky illuminated by rainbows, and a cool breeze is
perfumed by incense and sweet fragrance. The
sound of the gong becomes a deep primordial
hum reminding you of your imminent liberation.
All your senses are recruited for the purpose of
creating delight and wonder.
Now mentally transform the space. Return
to the active imagination of a child, relaxing
beyond limits of what you think is real or
possible. Imagine that you are in a safe-healing
environment of your choosing. Rather than
a bedroom or corner of your house, imagine
you are in a sanctuary, temple, palace or
other inspirational place. Active imagination
leverages the potential of your brain and
nervous system to activate positive responses
such as physiological relaxation, psychological
receptivity and neurological regeneration.
Then imagine that the space is well-protected
by a force-field of awareness created by any
spiritual mentors and guides of your tradition
or lineage. They hold you in their tender embrace, watching carefully over you. They are
delighted by your activities. The force-field
acts as a filter for any stresses and toxic elements, thereby sanctifying your surroundings.
Allow yourself to feel safe enough to disarm,
and relaxed enough to enjoy.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Make Offerings
EXAMPLE: ALTAR SET UP WITH OFFERINGS
• Images or representations of the sacred body, speech
and mind of a Buddha, or an Awakened One in a
tradition with which you resonate
1. Picture of the Mentor (Guru)
2. Painting (Thangka) of a Buddha
3. Bowl of fruit offering
• Buddha Statue (represents Awakened Body) placed in
the centre
4. Statue of Buddha
• Scriptural Text (represents Awakened Speech) placed
on Buddha’s right
5. Tibetan text
6. Light offering
• Stupa/Shrine (represents Awakened Mind) placed on
Buddha’s left
7. Shrine (Stupa)
8. Water offering bowls
• If you don’t have these actual objects you can use a
photograph or merely imagine them
9. Traditionally table at hip level
• Offerings imbued with symbolic meaning such as
candlelight, water bowls, incense, flowers, fruits or
items of sentimental value.
10. Incense pot
• Photos of your mentors and their teachers
• Arrange objects so that just looking at the altar makes
you feel uplifted, inspired, and motivated to practice
• You can set the altar permanently and make offerings
each day
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Make Offerings
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE THIRD PRELIMINARY
Posture, Four Thoughts,
Refuge, and Bodhicitta
Posture, Four Thoughts, Refuge, and Bodhicitta
POSTURE: ACCORDING TO THE INDO-TIBETAN
SEVEN-POINT VAIROCHANA POSTURE
In the beginning comfort is more important than form.
The proper form includes:
FULL LOTUS
HALF LOTUS
1. If seated on the floor, place your legs in full or half lotus position
or just crossed them in front of you. The right hand is placed in the
left hand, palms facing upwards, with the tips of the thumbs gently
touching. If seated in a chair, place your feet flat on the ground and
hands folded in your lap.
BURMESE
2. Eyes are half open gazing softly at the space a foot or so in front of
you. This will help prevent you from falling asleep. If restless, trying
closing the eyes completely to help the mind begin to relax.
3. Keep your spine erect like a stack of coins, upright but not ridged.
This will help keep you stay alert. Position your meditation cushion
beneath your rear to raise the spine and tilt forward the pelvis.
If sitting in a chair come forward slightly with your back away
from the chair and your rear at the front half of the seat.
4. Shoulders are even and relaxed. Be mindful of hunching and slouching.
5. Dip you chin down slightly.
6. Keep a relaxed space between lips and teeth, and do not clench the jaw.
ON A STOOL
SEIZA
7. Rest you tongue softly on the roof of your pallet.
ON A CHAIR
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Posture, Four Thoughts, Refuge, and Bodhicitta
THE FOUR THOUGHTS FOR TURNING THE MIND
TOWARDS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Once the environment is purified and you are seated in meditation posture, begin
to prepare your mind for meditation. This is done using a two part sequence of
reflections including Taking Refuge, and Generating Bodhicitta. Prior to these I
have added the contemplation on the Four Thoughts for Turning the Mind, another
powerful method for galvanizing mental energy and clarifying motivation.
Reflect deeply on:
1. The preciousness of human life endowed with liberty and opportunity.
2. The certainty of death; uncertainty of the time of death; and, the only thing
that will be of any help at the time of deathis your spiritual practice.
3. The inexorability of causality (karma); that every action of body, speech
and mind has a ripple effect, both positive and negative, on ourselves, others
and the planet.
4. The disappointment and unreliability of living an unconscious, compulsive
existence (samsara).
The aim of such reflections is to help reprioritize your efforts towards spiritual
practice and redirect your energies towards the monumental opportunity for
freedom pregnant in this present moment.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Posture, Four Thoughts, Refuge, and Bodhicitta
REFUGE: GOING FOR SAFE DIRECTION
TO THE THREE JEWELS
The second reflection is Refuge. In the Buddhist
tradition the concept of taking Refuge is like seeking a harbor from a storm or the advice of a doctor
when sick. We are driven to seek refuge motivated
by two factors: fear and confidence. Fear is a direct
acknowledgment of our existential predicament of
human fragility and suffering, and that we are ill
equipped to actually face our human condition on
our own. Confidence is the acknowledgment that
a viable solution exists, that other human beings
have achieved the state of freedom and happiness,
and can help us to radically transform our lives.
There are three outer refuges that mirror three
inner ones, but ultimately there is only one true
refuge as will be explained.
The first refuge is the Buddha. We train to surrender our compulsive ways and limited sense of
self to the safety, care and reassuring presence
of the Buddha, an Awakened One. This Buddha
encapsulates the ideal mentor, role model, guide,
teacher or prototypical parent who has awakened
to reality-as-it-is such as the Great Mother, Moses,
Christ, Mohamed, Krishna, or Lao Tzu. At the
same time we take refuge in the inner Buddha,
recognizing that the outer teacher is just a mirror
for our own enlightened potential, vicariously
known as Buddha nature, natural clarity, basic
sanity or fundamental goodness. Therefore, the
act of taking refuge in the Buddha is nothing
other than an acknowledgment of our own potential for change, the innate possibility within us to
be completely healed of traumatic imprints and
to maximize all positive qualities.
The second refuge is the Dharma. The Dharma
specifically refers to all the teachings that lead to
liberation. It represents the methods one learns
to maximize our evolutionary development and
achieve our ultimate goal. More fundamentally,
the inner Dharma represents our encounter with
or direct realization of reality itself. Our direct,
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unmediated encounter with reality, various called
nirvana, or God, is itself the freeing, joyful, and
luminous experience described by the sages of all
perennial philosophies. While the inner Buddha
represents our potential, the inner Dharma represents actualizing that potential. For this reason, of
all the inner and outer refuges, the inner Dharma
is the ultimate and most crucial.
The third refuge is the Sangha. Generally speaking, the Sangha refers to the community of
like-minded practitioners embracing the contemplative life and abandoning an unconscious, compulsive life (samsara). When you feel distressed
on your journey towards awakening it can be
helpful to rely on your fellow companions to keep
you uplifted and on target. In traditional contexts
Sangha refers to the community of monks and
nuns, who are considered “professional” spiritual seekers. More accurately, Sangha are those
individuals actually present around you who have
already experienced some degree of realization,
and thus offer inspiration that it is possible for
the rest of us. The inner Sangha is the selfless
love and compassion that connects us to all living
beings, and ignites the desire for a universal evolution of consciousness known as Bodhicitta.
T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Posture, Four Thoughts, Refuge, and Bodhicitta
BODHICITTA: THE ALTRUISTIC INTENTION
The third reflection is Bodhicitta or the Altruistic Intention. It relates to and extends the
contemplation on inner Sangha. Once we fully
appreciate our existential predicament of suffering born of compulsive existence, and we
seek refuge in the Three Jewels as the ultimate
remedy, then we naturally remember the plight
of all our fellow sentient beings caught up
in the waves of trauma, fear and doubt. How
could we enjoy the fruits of freedom, when
others remain in the bondage of misperception,
disconnected from their own innate potential
for happiness? Bodhicitta is an aspiration; it’s
the highest of intentions, which is to direct the
course of our day-to-day actions towards fulfilling our potential in order to help others do the
same. This becomes the sole reason for our
lives. Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is? Why are you here? Bodhicitta answers those perennial questions.
Bodhicitta has two parts: the first part is the
extraordinary intention – the wish to help
all beings awaken from suffering and access
bliss within. It is a messianic intention, courageously aspiring to becoming Christ-like. The
second part of Bodhicitta is the extraordinary
action – based on the realization that the only
way to fulfill your wish to help others is to
become fully awakened yourself, then you set
out to actualize the goal of the spiritual path
in your own heart and mind. Achieving our
highest potential will then make it possible to
really help others, like a doctor who can clearly
discern the need of a patient in order to treat
their illness effectively. Until we ourselves
know freedom from self-imposed suffering,
our ability to teach others how to shift their
perspective is severely limited.
actually practicing at the level of self-care. As
you grow, heal and change, your sense of capacity and the scope of your motivation and ambition will grow accordingly, and organically your
actions will likely follow.
At the beginning stages of this practice it’s
quite normal not to feel up to the task of
extraordinary action, and there is no need to
over stretch yourself. Rather stick to helping
yourself first, to whatever degree seems reasonable and appropriate. You can at least simulate,
perform, or plant the seeds of bodhiciita by
generating your intention to help others, while
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE FOURTH PRELIMINARY
Invoking the Mentor and
The Jewel Tree Refuge
Invoking the Mentor and the Jewel Tree Refuge
LAYA YOGA: DISSOLVING THE
TRAUMATIC SELF-WORLD
Begin by identifying your sense of self. From
beginningless time, our attachment to an erroneous sense of self as being permanent, unitary
and independent has been the primary cause
for all our suffering. In order to proceed with
the visualization, begin, at least conceptually,
to loosen your reification and fixation of a core,
autonomous, self-sense. Find your internal narrative, “I am such and such a person, with this
and that history.” Distill you traumatic narrative down to the “I am…”, which you hold to be
intrinsically you. Experience how absolutely
real, fixed and familiar this ‘you’ feels. Upon this
sense of self, you can then go through the dissolution process known as laya yoga, in which the
reified, fabricated self is exposed and the intuitive fixation or self-clinging dissolves in increasingly more subtle stages until you reach your
clear light nature of radical openness.
Laya yoga begins by imagining your inner
elements systematically dissolving. You first
imagine the earth element dissolves into the
water element. You loose your sense of solidity, and you see the appearance of a mirage.
Then the water element dissolves into the fire
element. You loose your sense of fluidity, and
there is the appearance of smoke. Then the fire
element dissolves into the air element. You
lose your sense of heat, and there is the appearance of the sparkling of fireflies. Then the
air element dissolves into the space element,
you loose your sense of motion, and see the
appearance of a still candle flame in a windless
room. Then the space element dissolves into
luminous white light, which appears like a clear
milky moonlight on an autumn evening. Then
the white light dissolves into a red light, like a
rust colored sun rising at dawn. Then the red
light dissolves in to pitch blackness, utter darkness, at which point your remaining subtle consciousness searches for the inherently existing
self it has mistakenly identified with throughout life. Finding only a spacious absence of this
separate self, an intuitive freedom, a pregnant
vastness, the blackness gives way to the luminous clear light of emptiness, sheer potentiality. Now you experience the ‘real you’ that has
always been inseparable from the bliss of being
open to, and interconnected with, all reality.
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This dissolution process is meant to be a rehearsal for death itself. The elements of earth,
water, fire, air and space dissolve into subtle
states of consciousness of white, red, black light,
until your reach pure, nondual, awareness itself.
It is said that death, like deep sleep and orgasm,
are transitional states of consciousness optimal
for achieving advanced realization, if one trains
thier awareness to remain clear and calm in
order to discriminate appearances from reality.
Because the time of death is ordinarily chaotic,
disturbing and terrifying, the Tibetans prescribe
a daily practice of simulating death and the clear
light realization of selfless-interconnectivity,
suggesting it can be crucial aid in our spiritual
development. For the purposes of this meditation, the dissolution process helps us rehearse
letting go of our fixation to a reified, and traumatized, sense of self, exchanging it with a sense
of openness and receptivity, which will help us
learn, grow and change from the ensuing steps.
T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Invoking the Mentor and the Jewel Tree Refuge
REARISING IN A DREAM BODY
AND HEALING PARADISE
Once we complete the dissolution into the
clear light of pure awareness, we can imagine
ourselves taking on the form of a body made
of light, a transparent body, also known as
a dream body. It is called the dream body
because it no longer made of matter, but rather
it is made of mind, like a body in a dream. Joe
Loizzo likes to refer to this as a “person shaped
bubble, floating on a stream of pure awareness,
with all the other breath bubbles.” Experience
this body as unencumbered and clear.
others and actually manifests our worst-case
thinking. Just as you have accessed your clearlight nature by letting go of the illusion of a
separate self, you can now let go of your fearbased projection of the world and re-envision
it as a safe and healing paradise. Accessing
our optimal learning potential is dependent on
feeling safe and uplifted so imagining our self
in a healing environment activates a positive
brain-self-world feedback to accelerate our
individual and collective development.
Once we’ve taken on the dream body we can
then dissolve our world picture. First identify
how you see and experience the world around
you. Typically we experience the external
world as stressful, threatening, mired with
pandemics, violence, instable governments
and natural disasters. From the Buddhist
perspective, this experience of the world
is merely a projection from a mind that is
alienated and therefore fearful, insecure, and
helpless. This is the projection of a confused
mind, which conditions our interactions with
In order to re-envision the world, dissolve it into
emptiness, the pure light of primal or potential
energy. Let the forms, colors and concepts go.
Let the whole picture of the world melt, like
butter into broth, into luminous clear light. Then
recreate the world into an optimal enriched
environment of your choosing. It could be a
specific sacred environment (mandala) from a
traditional source, or any setting that inspires
tranquility, safety, and receptivity. It could even
be a place from your childhood, a place where
you felt protected and free.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Invoking the Mentor and the Jewel Tree Refuge
INVOKING THE MENTOR,
AN IDEAL-HEALER ARCHETYPE
Now that you feel light, clear and safe, invoke the
presence of your mentor, the healing archetype.
Traditionally the mentor is a called a ‘merit-field’
because within the presence of an awakened
being you create enormous amounts of positive
energy and virtue (AKA merit). The mentor-merit
field can be a host of enlightened beings (as in
Bob Thurman’s Jewel Tree Refuge) or single
figure archetype that encompasses them all, such
as the Buddha, Christ or Krishna. They can arrive
in full form spontaneously or progressively in
stages.In order to envision the mentor in stages,
imagine a lotus arising from open potential
(emptiness) in the space before you and unfolding
its petals to reveal a luminous sun and moon
disk representing the Awakened Mind of non
dual wisdom and compassion, and functioning
as a base or cushion. Out of the luminous disk
then arises a seed syllable (mantra) or symbol
representing the Awakened Speech of non dual
wisdom and compassion. This seed symbol could
be as simple as an exclamation point (!) imbued
with the affirmation, prayer or positive message,
representing the essence of your mentor. You
may use generic affirm-ations such as “I am
connected with life,” or “Everything is workable.”
A single word like “Peace,” or “Love,” or a more
personal affirmation relevant to your own healing
and development. With the seed syllable or
affirmation, feel the presence of your mentor
archetype, like a friend sitting close with you in
the dark. Let the affirmation resonate with your
being before asking the mentor to physically
appear for a more full encounter.
Seed Syllable TAM of White Tara, The Healing Mother
Now imagine the seed symbol emits an aura that
transforms into the actual emanation of your
mentor-archtype, representing the Awakened
Body of non dual wisdom and compassion. Begin
with the face and then zoom out to include the
body, filling in the details to enliven his or her
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presence. Breathe into the image until it is fully
constructed, appears to you as real, and feels like
your mentor is right there with you. Recognize it
takes time and practice to stabilize these images
and to enhance their vividness. Constructing and
sustaining a visual image is how the Tibetan’s
train their concentrative ability, and is equivalent
to the South Asian tradition of focusing on the
breath. The added benefit is that these images
are encoded with meaning. As they bypass the
linguistic regions of our brain, they optimally
regulate our emotional and arousal systems.
Now with the full image of the mentor before
you, invite the spirit of somebody real to inhabit
the form of your ideal-archetype. Traditionally
this would be a personal teacher (guru, lama),
but Bob Thurman suggests any actual person
you are close to who represents some of the ideal
qualities you aspire to cultivate yourself. Identify
someone who is “on their way” to growing
towards awakening, who can act as a bridge
and help you better relate to the ideal. Allow
the energies and spirit of your real person and
those of the mentor archetype to intermingle and
become one. Joe Loizzo refers to this process of
merging as “imbuing the image with the warmth
and moisture of someone whom you admire.”
T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Invoking the Mentor and the Jewel Tree Refuge
C. INVOKING THE MENTOR, AN IDEAL-HEALER ARCHETYPE
Je Tsongkhapa
Jewel Tree Refuge
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Buddha Shakyamuni
T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE FIFTH PRELIMINARY
Eliminating Negativities
And Accumulating Virtue
Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
The most crucial component of the Six Preliminaries is contained in Step Five. Essentially the visualization
shift towards an “inner therapy” with the mentor designed to rewire the brain by deconditioning negative
mental habits and initiating positive ones. The mentor-bonding process leverages the influence of loving
human relationships and recruits the associated neural networks unique to mammals in the service of
consciously expediting evolutionary development. From a psychological point of view, the Tibetan mentor
role-modeling visualization combines the natural developmental mechanism involved in parenting, the
power of human imagination to shape the mind-brain, and the subtle neurochemistry of love and openness
to create one of the world’s most effective organic flight-simulators of positive growth. Loizzo (2012) adds
“The newest layer of brain behind our foreheads, called the
munication and teamwork… Not only does Tibetan
prefrontal cortex, includes “mirror neurons” and other ele-
Buddhism revolve around close mentoring bonds that
ments that help us read and imitate the facial expressions,
remind us of bonds to imams, priests and rabbis, but its
vocal tones and bodily actions of others. These same neu-
practice involves archetypal images, prayer-like affirmations,
rons form “resonance circuits” with deeper brain layers that
ritual gestures and an ecstatic tone that seem more like old-
call up in our own hearts the emotions we read behind oth-
time religion than meditative practice. Leaving aside how
ers’ body language. Other parts of this newest cortex, unique
this tradition relates to more familiar forms of Buddhism,
to humans, allow us to exert a higher degree of control over
I see it as a natural expression of Shakyamuni’s mission.
bodily functions and primal emotions, helping us integrate
Just as Freud made ministering to the soul a science-based
neural functions around a conscious intention. Beyond just
practice and Jung made religious imagery a psychothera-
“reading minds,” this new layer of brain allows us to tune
peutic art, so the Process Oriented “Tantric” Buddhism of
our mindset, motivation and actions to meet those of others,
Tibet makes a contemplative science of spiritual mentoring,
sustaining higher social forms of life based largely on com-
archetypal imagery and altered states of communion.”
DR. MILES NEALE / THE NALANDA INSTITUTE
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
1
ADMIRING QUALITIES
Admire the positive qualities of your ideal mentor that you seek to
cultivate in your own life, such as love, peace, wisdom, calm, equanimity and courage, and so on. Think “how nice it would be if I had
those qualities.” Admiring virtuous qualities, is the psychological
equivalent of the physical act of prostration or bowing out of respect.
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
2
MAKING OFFERINGS
In the spirit of generosity and admiration, imagine making offerings to
your mentor by giving him or her something as simple as flowers all the
way up to your body, life, and the fruits of your Dharma practice. Think
“what I would give up to be like that, I would give anything.” Imagine
your mentor accepts these gifts with gratitude and delight. Allow the offerings to seal a kind of contract, making you feel close to your mentor
and entitled to ask for support.
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
3
DISCLOSING
Feeling close with your mentor, allow yourself to disclose any real or imagined limits, blocks, or failures.
Review your recent actions of body, speech and mind, and identify any indiscretions you have made, particularly those of harming others, lying, stealing, being sexually inappropriate or acquisitive. Go through the
Four Opponent Powers to decondition programing on your consciousness resulting from these past actions.
The Four Powers are:
After these four reflections allow yourself
to experience a visceral sense of feeling
purified and cleansed of any shortcomings.
Now completely let go of any guilt or shame.
1. R E F U G E , seeking safe direction in your higher
potential for change.
2. R E M O R S E , for your habitual missteps and
empathy for any harm caused.
3. R E S O L V E , for a specific period of time not to
recommit the negative action and be mindful
to keep your commitment.
4. R E P A I R , by consciously imagining or actually
performing an opposing positive action, you
begin to rewire the brain in a new direction.
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
4
REJOICING
first glimpse of actually achieving your highest potential, becoming free and happy. It is a wonderful
vision, and the basis for guiding the rest of your life.
Recognize that in essence the mentor and you are
made of the same elements, like two waves in the
ocean, only he or she is just a little further along the
path. Imagine the sky above opens with wonderful
lights, beautiful sounds, and rainbows reflecting
the celebratory nature of this realization.
After you’ve identified and worked with your shortcomings, identify and rejoice in your spiritual accomplishments. Take some healthy pride in the effort
you have put into changing your life and the lives
of others for the better. Be happy about your
Dharma practice and your rewiring process. Take
delight in becoming a more peaceful, conscious
and interconnected being. Because our nature is
open, and our current condition is based on habit,
remember that it is always possible to change to
become more like your mentor. This stage marks
a turning point in the dialog, when you have your
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
5
REQUESTING GUIDANCE
ignites a wellspring of positive energy within you, filling
your entire dream body like a flame fills a lamp until you
are completely illuminated. The positive healing energy
begins to overflow and ripple outwards from your three
points (or simply from your heart) to the surroundings,
spreading like a tsunami of love outwards to the ends
of the universe. Along the way it touches the hearts
and mind of all living beings, kindling their own innate
wisdom and compassion, until all life is brought into
a jewel embrace of loving interconnectivity. Finally,
the positive energy progressively draws back from the
periphery, back into your heart center, where it coalesces
like a white pearl or teardrop of warmth and moisture,
the essence of your personal affirmation. Let this positive
energy resonate at your heart, humming there in the
depth of your being, like the sound of OM. Imagine every cell and fiber of your being absorbs the affirmation
and feels completely connected with all of life.
Now acknowledge that the step of Rejoicing is just a
preview of coming attractions, just a taste of possibility,
and that your psychological development will take
time, energy, guidance and actual change. With deep
sincerity, ask your mentor for the help and guidance
you need to fully realize your optimal capacity. Delighted to be asked, imagine the mentor sends all the
blessings and intuitive realizations you need to actualize your potential straight from his or her heart.
Envision rainbow waves of positive energy emanating
from your mentor’s crown, throat and heart (symbolic
centers of awakened body, speech and mind) or just
from their heart-center and entering your heart, filling
you with optimism, energy and hope. If you’re ill, imagine the blessings eliminating toxins in your body,
or melting fears and insecurities in your mind.
Imagine that the mentor’s intuitive realization kindles
your own innate nondual wisdom and compassion, like
a candle flame igniting another. This kindling effect
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
OPT
OPTIONAL PAUSE
If you would like to pause the sequence of the Six Preliminaries and insert any additional meditation techniques or personal activities, this is
where you would do so. For example, you could add resting meditation
in the mind’s natural state (open presence), mindfulness of an object
(form, sound, sensation, emotion, thought, etc.), compassion practice
(giving-and-taking or the seven fold cause-and-effect practice), analytic
meditation (on the emptiness of self) or you could do your yoga postures, study a text, listen to a dharma talk, or, if in class, break for the
lecture. The idea here is that the mind is now receptive and optimally
primed, within the Jewel Tree Refuge, to benefit, learn, grow and change
for any ensuing activity.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
6
REQUESTING PRESENCE
body, speech, and mind. It dissolves at the heart,
mixing with your own inner chemistry and intuition, like a drop of water merging with the ocean.
After the optional break period ends, revive your vision of being connected and in dialog with the mentor.
Reflect on the inspiration and guidance you received
so that they become metabolized. Now recognizing
that the mentor has already completed the path and
could easily abide in their own happi-ness, make
a sincere request for their continued presence in
your life and that they continue to guide you always.
Thrilled to be asked, and respecting your request,
imagine the mentor begins to dissolve into pure
light. From their crown to the tips of their toes, they
dissolve inwards towards their heart, until all that
remains is a luminous pearl drop that coalesces their
entire awakened being. Now imagine that that drop
floats above your head, slips into your crown, past
your throat and melts into your heart, kindling your
DR. MILES NEALE / THE NALANDA INSTITUTE
Imagine that your mentor essence dissolves inseparably with your own inner guide and healing wisdom. You and the mentor are of one taste. In fact, you
and the mentor were never two. Allow that merger to
resonate with an optimism that inspires, reassures
and uplifts you. Again, the healing energy of nondual
wisdom and compassion ripples out from your heart
center to the ends of the universe. It touches all living
beings in an endless kindling process, then ripples
back to your heart where it dissolves again.
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Eliminating Negativities and Accumulating Virtue
THE 7-FOLD MENTOR-BONDING PROCESS: HEART OF THE INNER THERAPY
7
DEDICATING
Now that you have imagined activating your potential, and rehearsed
communing with all of life, recommit yourself to actually manifesting
that potential and actually sharing it with others. Dedicate all the positive
energy that you have generated throughout this entire practice towards
becoming a mentor guide for the benefit of others and the planet.
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
THE SIXTH PRELIMINARY
Offer Mandala and
Requesting Inspiration
Offer Mandala and Request Blessings
A mandala is a symbolic, visualized environment, as well as an offering one makes at the conclusion (and
sometimes at the beginning) of one’s meditation practice in order to honor the mentor and the jewel tree
refuge. Remember, psychologically (karmically) speaking, the practice of gratitude and generosity primes
the mind to perceive abundance. Imagine making a final gesture of gratitude to the lineage of awakened
beings who have realized, preserved and disseminated the methods of awakening for the benefit of all whom
approach them. Feeling grateful, place your hands in the mandala gesture (mudra), and imagine giving away
the mandala, in its four levels of meaning:
1. The Outer Mandala is one’s visualized environment, typically
conceptualized as a purified universe, paradise, healing space,
or divine palace.
2. The Inner Mandala represents one’s good virtues and positive
activities: past, present and future.
3. The Secret Mandala represents one’s own happiness and
biochemistry of bliss.
4. The Suchness Mandala represents one’s intuitive realization
of reality itself, bliss indivisible with emptiness.
Mandala Offering Mudra (hand gesture)
Then recite the mandala mantra:
IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI
To the Mentor I Offer this Jeweled Paradise!
Finally, make a sincere request or prayers to the mentor and jewel tree refuge for ongoing inspiration, so
that a full ripening of all your positive imprints and rewiring will quickly occur, accelerating your evolutionary development for the benefit of all.
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APPENDIX
Traditional Tibetan
Buddhist Prayers
Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayers
PROSTRATION
REFUGE
I pay homage to the Buddha
I go for refuge in the Guru
I pay homage to the Dharma
I go for refuge in the Buddha
I pay homage to the Sangha
I go for refuge in the Dharma
I go for refuge in the Sangha
(Repeat 3 times)
(Repeat 3 times)
Om namo majushriye
Namo sushuriye
Lama la kyap su chi wo
Namo utamma shriye soha
Sangey la kyap su chi wo
Chö la kyap su chi wo
(Repeat 3 times)
Gendun la kyap su chi wo
(Repeat 3 times)
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Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayers
GENERATING BODHICITTA
THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES
I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the
Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha. From
the collections of merit that I create by practice
of generosity and the rest, may I attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
May all sentient beings have happiness and the
causes of happiness.
May all sentient beings be free from sufferings and
the causes of suffering.
(Repeat 3 times)
May all sentient beings never be separated from the
bliss that is awakening.
Sangey chö dang tsok kyi chok nam la jang chup
par du da nyi kyap su chi dak gee jin sok gyi peh
so nam kyi drol la pen chir sangey drup par shaug.
May all sentient beings abide in equaminity, free
from attachment and anger that hold some close and
others distant.
(Repeat 3 times)
(Repeat 3 times)
Sem jin tom jay dey wa dang dy way kyur dang den
pur kyur chik.
Sem jin tom jay duk ngul dang duk ngul kyi kyur
dang drul war kyur chik.
Sem jin tom jay duk ngul meh pey dey wa dang mi
drol war kyur chik.
Sem jin tom jay nyeh ring chak dang nyee dang drol
way tang nyom la ney kyur chik.
(Repeat 3 times)
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayers
THE SEVEN LIMB PRAYER
MANDALA OFFERING
Respectfully I prostrate with my body, speech,
and mind, and present clouds of offerings actual
and imagined. I confess my negativities since
beginningless time, and rejoice in the merits
of all ordinary and enlightened beings.
Here is the great earth, filled with the smell of
incense, covered with a blanket of flowers, the
great mountain, the four continents, wearing a
jewel of the sun and moon.
In my mind, I make them the paradise of a Buddha,
and offer it all to you.
Please mentor remain as our guide, and turn the
wheel of dharma until samsara ends. I dedicate
all these virtues to great enlightenment.
By this deed may every living being experience
the pure world.
(Recite 1 time)
Idam guru ratna mandalakam niryatayami
Chak tsal wa dang chö ching snak pa dang jay su yee
rang kul shing sol wa yee kay wa chung she dak kyi
chi tsak pa tom jaydak gyi jang chup chen pur ngö.
(Recite 1 time)
Sa shee pö kyi juk shing may tok tram ree rap ling
shee nyee da gen pa dee sangey shing la mik deh
bulwar yee dro kün nam dak shing la chö pur shaug.
(Recite 1 time)
Idam guru ratna mandalakam niryatayami
(Recite 1 time)
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Traditional Tibetan Buddhist Prayers
DEDICATION
Yang pey gyäl kam kun dang sa chok dir ney muk truk
tsö la sok mi jung shing dro nam chö jur dey kyid tso
wa dang pun tsok peljur lek tsok gey gyur chik.
May there be no illness, dispute, or war at all existing levels, from home to the universe may everyone experience joy, peace, and spiritual splendors,
may the glory and riches of goodness ever increase
(Pause for Reflection on the meaning of the Verse)
(Pause for Reflection on the Meaning of the Verse)
Sem jin ney pa chee nyih pa nyur du ney leh tar
gyur chik drö wey ney nee ma lu pa tak du jung
wa mey pur shok.
May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from
their ailments.
Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they
never occur again.
(Pause for Reflection)
Gey wa dee yee key wo kun sonom yee shee tsok rap
sak so-nam yee shee ley chung wey dam pa ku nyee
top putr shok.
(Pause for Reflection)
By the goodness of what I have just done, may all
beings complete the accumulation of merit and
wisdom, and thus gain the two ultimate bodies that
merit and wisdom make.
(Pause for Reflection)
(Pause for Reflection)
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T H E P R E L I M I N A R Y P R A C T I C E S O F T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M
About the Author
Dr. Miles Neale is a Buddhist psychotherapist in private practice, and
Assistant Director of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science in
New York City. A graduate of the doctoral program in clinical psychology
at the California Institute of Integral Studies, he has taught and conducted
research on meditation at the integrative medicine programs of Harvard,
Columbia, Cornell and Albert Einstein. Miles began his contemplative journey in India in 1996 and has studied in the lineage of the Dalai Lamas with
American Buddhist scholars Joseph Loizzo and Robert Thurman and
Tibetan masters Gelek Rimpoche and Lama Zopa.
For more information, visit
www.milesneale.com and www.nalandascience.org
References and Sources
Dakpa Tagyal, Geshe. (2010). Guide to Daily Meditation. Charleston Tibetan Society. Website: http://www.
scdharma.org/portal/resources/meditationguide.doc
Lati Rinpoche and Hopkins, Jeffery. (1981). Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism.
New York: Snow Loin.
Loizzo, Joseph. (2012). Faces, Voices and the Brain-Heart Brake: The Divine Science of Tibet. Religion
section fot he Huffington Post Blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-loizzo/divine-science-of-tibetanbuddhism_b_1471566.html
Loizzo, Joseph. (2010). Visualization Scripts and Images. Nalanda Institute Website: http://www.nalandascience.
org/pages/r-visualizations.html
Neale, Miles. (2011). Creative Visualizations for Self-Transformation. New York: Inner Splendor Media.
Neale, Miles. (2009). Wisdom Contemplations from the Gradual Path (Lam Rim). New York: Inner Splendor Media.
Rapten, Geshe. (1984). The Ocean of Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path. London: Wisdom.
Rapten, Geshe. (1974). The Preliminary Practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works
and Archives.
Thurman, Robert. (2006). The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism. Atria Books.
Tsomo, Karma Lekshe. (2001). Jorcho: The Six Preparatory Practices Adorning the Buddha's Sublime Doctrine.
Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Tsongkhapa, Je. (2000). The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Vol. 1. Ithaka.
New York. Snow Lion.
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