Three Essential Practices in Daily Life

Chgyal Namkhai Norbu

Final day of the Zhilam Drasbui Nadyig retreat at Merigar West September 13, 2013
This is the last session of this retreat so we try to concentrate on what we should do when
the retreat finishes. During the retreat we learned a little about how to do the practice: the
main practice and the secondary practices. We should distinguish between them.
Sometimes when I explain different topics in great detail, you shouldnt concentrate on
them because they are relatie things. If you understand eerything, that is fine, but if you
dont you can read about it in a boo!, for example. There are many ways in which you
can go deeper into that !nowledge.
"oweer, the main point of any !ind of teaching we hae receied, directly or indirectly,
is going in the direction of our real nature. #or that reason, at the beginning we explain
the distinction between mind and the nature of mind. It does not mean that we are being
in mind, in thought, but with this we !now how to go to discoer our real nature. We need
to concentrate on it. This essence is, as I hae already said, the practice of $uruyoga.
Today we hae finished the retreat and thin! that we hae learned something. %ut in a
practical way, what should we do& I am as!ing you to do $uruyoga, in any moment, if
you hae that presence, particularly in the daytime and the night time which is our life.
So this is the first point.
We hae also learned ery well how to apply $uruyoga, going into the essence, which
means into !nowledge of the three a!ras because eerybody has body, speech and mind.
Their real nature is connected with what we call semnyi "sems nyid#, the nature of the
mind. In $uruyoga we unify the states of all the enlightened beings and particularly of all
our teachers, their three a'ras, (m ) and "um, body speech and mind. If we do
$uruyoga in a formal way such as in a tun practice, we hae indications on how we
should apply it. If we go to the essence, the isuali*ation of a single ) within a tigle in
which all the aspects of body, oice and mind of all our teachers are unified, it isnt
necessary to go into detailed isuali*ations mentally one at a time. This is called )ti
$uruyoga.
Ati Guruyoga
$uruyoga is a ery general name and we can find many different types of $uruyoga. %ut
what I as! is that we try to do mainly )ti $uruyoga. It doesnt mean that we dont do
other styles of $uruyoga. We dont need to hae these types of limitations. %ut we do
hae to understand how our situation is and we do not hae many possibilities to do
complicated $uruyoga with isuali*ations, long inocations and mantras. It is only
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occasionally that we hae the opportunity to dedicate ourseles to this !ind of practice
and that is why we hae a practice li!e the tun. %ut I am not as!ing you to try to do a tun
eery day because I !now ery well that it is not easy. It is much better to go to the
essence of )ti $uruyoga. We cannot say that we hae no time for that because we only
need a few seconds to do it. It is ery easy and we can always apply it.
,ow that we hae finished the retreat, some people as! me which practice they should do
personally. Sometimes people as! me that -uestion because they hae some relatie
problems and there may be secondary practices to oercome them so when they as!, they
can receie some adice. #or example, if we hae many negatie proocations, we can
do $uru Dragphur practice to protect ourseles and oercome them because $uru
Dragphur is the unification of many manifestations. %ut the first thing we should do in
daily life is $uruyoga.
Being present
)nd after $uruyoga what should we do& This means that we are not in the state of
$uruyoga, but in time and space, in the relatie condition. Then we must be present. This
is the second most important practice in the D*ogchen teaching. .eryone !nows what
being present means because most people !now how to drie a car. Whether we drie for
half an hour, an hour, or two hours, we are continually present because if we are not
present when driing we end up off the road. When we drie, we dont hae this !ind of
problem because we are present.
/any people hae the idea that if they hae to be continually concentrated on being
present that they cant thin!, they cant wor!, they cant do anything. This is not true
because when we become a little familiar with driing we dont hae any problem to tal!
with our friends. We can also thin! using our minds. If somebody as!s me something, I
can thin! about it and reply, I dont hae to stop the car, thin! about it, reply and then
start driing again. So you can understand what being present means.
"oweer we hae only learned this presence for driing a car and it too! -uite a long
time to learn. )t the beginning before the exam, it was -uite difficult, not at all easy. If
we want to be present for eerything, not only driing a car, we should understand that it
is not easy to hae that presence immediately. %ut we can train and learn to become
present that way if we are D*ogchen practitioners.
) good D*ogchen practitioner must always be present, 01 hours a day. This means that
een if we are not totally in the state of contemplation, it is a high leel, a good point in
D*ogchen practice. This is one of the reasons why in the D*ogchen teaching we say we
should integrate our practice in daily life. What do we do in our daily life& We go to
school, to the office, go shopping, we coo!, etc. We are dealing with people, we are
wor!ing and at any moment if we are present, een in the relatie condition, our wor!
and so on goes much better.
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