Buddhist Fasting Practice

The Nyungne Method of Thousand-Armed Chenrezig

Introduction of Nyungne Practice

The fasting practice of Nyungne is a well known, very popular, and profound puri cation practice
that is widely performed in Tibet, Himalaya regent, and Bhutan.

One set of Nyungne consists of two days of practice. The rst day is the preliminary day, and the
second day is the actual fasting day. One takes what is called the Tekchen Sojong vow, the
mahayana vow of Restoring and Purifying Ordination, with a total of eight precepts, and on the
preliminary day one eats only one meal with drinks for the entire day. The meal is completely and
purely vegetarian, which means it is free from any meat sub- stance as well as onions, garlic,
eggs, etc. The next day is a complete fast with no meals or drinks, and one must also be silent.

This important and well cherished fasting practice can be done by any- one. The only requirement
is that if you are not a Buddhist, you must take the vow of refuge as well as the bodhisattva vow,
and you must receive the empowerment for Thousand-Armed Chenrezig. As long as one is willing
to receive these teachings, one is welcome to participate in the practice.

Source of the Practice

The source of this practice is a revered historical Buddhist gure known as Gelongma Palmo. She
was actually an Afghani princess during a time when Afghanistan was a great Buddhist nation.
Padmasambhava, who is considered second only to Lord Buddha, is also known to have come
from that area. In Buddhist history books this place is known as Oddiyana, in what is now
northwest India. Gelongma Palmo was a very learned, fully ordained Buddhist nun who overcame
the dreaded disease of leprosy

General Bene ts of the Practice

Those who wish to make their human life meaningful must do one Nyungne practice at the very
least. One practice is just two days, but those two days go a long way as far as your unending
future is concerned. Because of the enormous bene ts of the practice,

According to the Great Bene ts of Nyungne text,

Oh, sons and daughters of noble family, if you practice Nyungne just one time, you will purify
negativities of forty thousand kalpas (eons) and will be born as either supreme among men or
have a godlike birth. The spiritual achievement of those who complete eight continuous Nyungne
practices will equal the stage of a stream-enterer, and they will be able to be born in the pure land
of Amitabha Buddha. If one completes twenty- ve Nyungne practices, this equals the spiritual
achievement of the stage of a once-returner and the puri cation of eighty thousand kalpas. If one
were to do fty Nyungne practices, this is the equivalent of achieving the path of no more
returning and the puri cation of eight hundred thousand kalpas of negativities. If one were to
complete 108 Nyungne practices, it is equivalent to achieving arhat hood; one hundred million
kalpas of negativities are puri ed, and one will de nitely be born in the pure land of Great Bliss in
the presence of Buddha Amitayus (Long Life Buddha).

In the Sutra of Great Liberation, one of the most profound puri cation prayers, Lord Buddha
mentions that if someone were to recite this sutra, such enormous puri cation could take place
that even if they had the karma to be born in the hell realm, they might only experience a little
headache instead. The bene ts of Nyungne practice are very much like that, meaning that if you
su er at all, it goes a long way toward your own karmic puri cation.
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