CHIMED TSOG THIK: THE

ABBREVIATED PRACTICE OF THE

IMMORTAL LIFE ESSENCE, THE
ESSENTIAL BINDU OF
DEATHLESSNESS
by Ven Gyatrul Rinpoche
Los Angeles
May, 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 very
happy 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 we
think 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 causes
to 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 the
deathless 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 division
explaining the characteristics of life; an explanation of the term 'life', the
actual word 'life'; an explanation of the difference between life and death; an
explanation of the signs of death; how to avoid the obstacles which detract
from 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 been
achieved, 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's
the 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 point
of 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 the
most 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 enlightened
saints of the past became enlightened and achieved immortality from the
Precious Human Rebirth, and that rebirth only. There is no other rebirth
through which enlightenment can be achieved. Enlightenment means
liberation from the endless round of suffering in cyclic existence. When
liberation 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 benefit
of 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 qualifications
that you possess, then if you want a long life, it can be rather embarrassing
when 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 life
should 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. This
is 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 thought
to 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 because
others 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 the
self. 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 being
concerned 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 the
instructions, 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 long
life.
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 the
arrow 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 the
flower 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, which
is '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 to
travel 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 dependent
upon 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 been
stealing from others or taking that which was not given, this would create
negative accumulations. These accumulations would result in the shortening
of 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 to
see 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 know
about 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 life
force 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 may
directly 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 time
and 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 some
kind 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 the
Tibetan 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 body
is 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 the
five 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 two
side 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 are
mandala centers of the deities. The practitioner of Anu Yoga would visualize
these 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 and
out 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 this
channel 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, is
karmically 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 the
fetus 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 the
womb 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 any
way, no sign of death will come.
The third thing is the essential fluid. How does that tie in? At the point that
the 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'. The
mother'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 the
Rainbow 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 fluid
is the essential fluid in our body that causes our mental qualities to
increase. It is the essence of the mind. Bodhichitta is the experience of
pure essential fluid. Realizing the nature of emptiness and our own Buddha
nature is understanding the nature of pure essential fluid. When the pure
essential fluid is alive and increasing within, there is higher understanding
and 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 western
continents, 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 in
exact 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 be
definite 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, it
is 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 is
another reason why the great Indian pandit, Shantideva said, "Even though we
are experiencing the degenerate times when the life span of human beings is
reaching 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 put
it off for tomorrow or the next day, then we will run into the problem which is
like 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 to
try 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 set
our 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 as
the 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 are
extinguished 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. In
the 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 to
ransom 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 a
yak 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 Nepal
many 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 they
make 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. The
motivation 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 careful
about 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 the
cookies that we like the most ourselves because we want to eat a few before
we 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 bit
and 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 with
true compassion because you wish to liberate suffering or unhappiness. You
shouldn'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 are
all 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 is
gone, 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 good
health and positive circumstances and conditions, even though it may seem
like 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 and
achieving immortality, if you are really just concerned about your business
and 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 both
categories countless sadhanas exist which are used to extend life. In the
tantric category, according to the Nyingmapa School of Padmasambhava' s
tradition, there are the two divisions of Kama and Terma. The Kama is the
direct 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 new
treasures, including various methods for extending life.
Rinpoche forgot to mention before, in the case of the butter lamp being
extinguished 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 hungry
ghost, 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 enough
and starve themselves to death. It is very difficult for us to even be
conscientious 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, which
could 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 that
there 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 traveled
to Nepal with his Indian consort, Mandarava, in order to accomplish
immortality. 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 they
achieved immortality, passing beyond death. The practice is very, very

profound.
While Padmasambhava and Mandarava were in the cave practicing, Buddha
Amitayus, the Buddha of Long Life, actually came and gave the
empowerment, transmissions, and teachings to them directly. The directness
of 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 life
methods 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 the
force 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 its
revelation, and the details surrounding that revelation. He gave the full
transmissions to two of his main disciples, who were two of the original
twenty-five disciples. One of them was Berotsana, and the other Dorje
Dudjom. Afterwards, the termas were concealed physically as well as within
the minds of the disciples.
Later on, at the end of the 19th century, these two disciples reincarnated in the
form 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 a
rock 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 other
wonders. 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 all
empowerments, transmissions, and teachings. Then Dudjom Rinpoche kept
the practice secret for many years, in particular from the majority of laymen
or 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 went
there 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 there
this 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 the
morning. 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 Guru
Rinpoche, it's good to insert that three times at the beginning. Then after the
lineage 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 torma
offering 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 very
carefully 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 now
until 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 arising
from 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 commitment
here, 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 the
immortal 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 the
Dharma, 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 because
until 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 bad
habits. The fourth branch is rejoicing -- rejoicing in the accumulation of all
virtue and goodness. This is an antidote for jealousy. Usually when someone
does 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 a
teacher 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 requesting
the 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 all
that 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 to
understand 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 benefiting
others as unobstructed compassion. This is the meaning of Tulku. A Tulku
displays himself or herself in an ordinary body of five aggregates for the sake
of guiding and liberating all parent beings. You should consider that after you
say 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 and
Bodhisattvas in the ten directions, and in particular making offerings to all of
the Long Life Buddhas. Then these light rays reabsorb into HRI, your own
mind. 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 different
Buddha 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 presence
is 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 to
imagine 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 the
dissolution 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 the
extreme 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 is
extremely 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 unchanging
light of the Dharmakaya, the view of the uncontrived Kuntuzangpo, which is
the 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 interdependent
origination, 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 called
generating the deity instantly upon recollection is used. Then it is dissolving
the deity instantly upon recollection as well. This means that as soon as you
think 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 be
more 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, you
dissolve into the mantra, which dissolves into the seed syllables, which
dissolve one by one into emptiness. You can practice in this way as a mental
exercise 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 primordial
wisdom. 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 postmeditational 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 are
enemy, all the sounds are nasty, all the thoughts negative. All the phenomena
is 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 to
space, 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 magnificent
radiance 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 to
understand the empty nature of self, and everything that is an object of self,
which includes all perceptions. That's very difficult. The second Samadhi
arises 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 recognizing
or knowing how it is that all of this can exist, even though its nature is
nonexistent. 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 extreme
view. And as long as you remain in that kind of a view, it is impossible to go
any 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 start
disbelieving 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 to
illuminate darkness. Although the three Samadhis are three stages of

practice, they are really one display. All appearances arise as the three
Samadhis. 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 is
not certain but dependent upon causes, conditions and circumstances. Our life
is like a candle in a wind storm. There are many more causes for it to be
extinguished 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 ways
without being aware of it. This definitely does happen.
Therefore, in order to protect our life, it is very important to make use of one
of 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 relate
to will also be in dependence upon your karma. Karmically, that's the method
that 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 important
than that, ultimately, just like Guru Rinpoche did, you will be able to actually
have 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 positive
karma. 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 things
that 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 that
which 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 very
concerned 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, you
must abandon taking the life of any living being intentionally and you should
instead 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, you
just 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 more
important. 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 very
worthy, 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 extend
our 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 the
consciousness 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 part
of any destruction to a temple or statue. Try to do this long life practice as
much 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 give
teachings 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 a
commitment. 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 teaching
you 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're
doing, 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 them
separately.
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 they
say, 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 the
time 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 give
us, you have to do a certain number, a hundred or thousand, or whatever, on
such 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 to
each 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 can
get 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 in
America 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 running
everywhere. 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 these
other 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 RINPOCHE

Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje
Supreme Head of the Nyingmapa School

THE ABBREVIATED PRACTICE OF THE IMMORTAL LIFE

ESSENCE: THE ESSENTIAL BINDU OF DEATHLESSNESS
YESHE NYINGPO
Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center

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 wisdom
Tsendali,

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 LA

To the boundless Three Roots, the Vidyadharas of Life,

SOL WA DEB SO TSE WANG NGO DRUB TSOL

I pray to receive spiritual attainments and the empowerment of life.

Refuge

NAMO: DAK SOG KHA NYAM SEM CHEN MA LU PA

Myself 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 CHI

Take 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 NAM

Sunk 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 DO

Establish 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 BUL

I prostrate with devotion, offer pleasing offerings,

NYAM CHAG KUN SHAG JEY YI RANG

Confess 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 NGO

I dedicate all merit in the Dharmakaya.

TAK TEN DORJE YIG THOB SHOG

May 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 TRIN

Is one's own awareness, the letter Hri, from which arises a cloud of light rays.

RAB BAR DON NYI JAY DU YONG GYUR PA

Magnificently radiating, the two purposes are accomplished, gathering back it
transforms 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 DZIN

His 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 DU

In 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 the
five 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 the
Buddha 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, Dam
Chen, protectors and their entourages who have compassion and good will. In
the 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 SHIN

Arise 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

HRI DAG NYID CHI MED GON PO THUG KA RU

In the heart of myself as the Deathless Protector;

GYA DRAM TEY WAR NYI DAY GA-WOU OU

In the center of a double vajra is a conjoined sun and moon marked in the
center by the

DANG MA HRI MAR AH KAR NRI MAR JANG

Clear essence of the red Hri, the white Ah and the red-green Nri.

GYI TSEN THA MAR NGAG KYI KOR WA LEY

These syllables are encircled by the mantra

OD TRO SID SHI TSEY CHUD DANG MA DU

From which light emanates forth collecting the life, essence and vitality of the
appearance of all phenomena;

LU GANG LA TSEY SOG OUG NYAM PA SO

Filling one's body, restoring the weakened life force, span of life, life and air.

CHI MED JA LU YESHE DORJE TSEY

Think 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 HUNG

HRI 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. The
third section is the conclusion.

The Dissolution and Re-Emergence

AH DOD NEY NAM DROL YESHE GYU MED TSAL

The force of illusory primordial wisdom fully liberated from the beginning, is

MA GAG ROL PAR SHAR WAY KYIL KHOR PA

The 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-O

The 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 NGANG

The state of the great display of the deity, mantra and primordial wisdom.

KA DANG NYAM PAY DRO WA MA LU PA

Without 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 NAM

Through 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 and
condensing 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 YabYum (Method-Wisdom), they melt into light to become a mala of precious
jewels. 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 (
as (

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

) 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 remaining
syllables 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 to
diminish, in order to increase and elucidate the experience, cause the mantra
to begin circling clockwise with OM leading in an unbroken circle of light.
Boundless light rays radiate from these syllables in your heart to encompass
the 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 or
exorcisms, 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 the
lower foundational golden ground, the king of all mountains, Mehru, the
seven 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 external
oceans, the inner lakes and bodies of water, the four great rivers including the

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 and
so forth, the essence of all warmth, heat and fire is extracted as ruby red
light and reabsorbed back into you. Penetrating into the lower foundational
wind mandala, all vibrations, buoyant winds, dispersing explosions, karmic
winds, 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 completion
stage. 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 five
outer 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. All
the 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. That
which was already possessed, increases. You become a sixteen year old
youth, 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 vajra
horns. Consider that the gau is sealed off and remain naturally in the great
originally pure, indestructible state, free from thoughts or words.