Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook
    The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook
    The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook

    By FPMT

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Prostrations to the Thirty-five (35) Confession Buddhas with recitation of the "Bodhisattva's Confession of Moral Downfalls" from the Sutra of Three Heaps, is one of the most powerful methods available to purify harmful actions we have done in the past. By doing this practice mindfully, we can prevent unwanted sufferings from occurring in the future. In addition, this practice clears away obstacles to our practice and opens the mind to gain realizations on the path. It is said that if you do this practice first thing in the morning, all your other prayers and activities of the day will be empowered.

    This recently revised version contains new extensive commentary on the practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (from the Lama Tsongkhapa retreat in 2004), as well as teachings on karma, options for extended practice, and instructions on how to complete a 100,000 prostration retreat.

    Contents Include:
    - The Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
    - Putting and End to Suffering: A Teaching on Karma by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
    - The Benefits of Making Prostrations
    - Commentary on the Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
    - Options for Practice
    - Guidelines for Completing the Preliminary Practice of 100,000 Prostrations to the Thirty-five Confession Buddhas
    - Appendix: How to make Prostrations
    - Helpful Resources

    "There is so much hope in our lives. Our lives are so full of opportunity. It is so easy to purify, so easy to become free from samsara and achieve enlightenment. Even with just prostration, we can achieve all of this." - Lama Zopa Rinpoche

    2011 Edition.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFPMT
    Release dateJun 20, 2018
    ISBN9780463522899
    The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook
    Author

    FPMT

    The FPMT is an organization devoted to preserving and spreading Mahayana Buddhism worldwide by creating opportunities to listen, reflect, meditate, practice and actualize the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha and based on that experience spreading the Dharma to sentient beings. We provide integrated education through which people’s minds and hearts can be transformed into their highest potential for the benefit of others, inspired by an attitude of universal responsibility and service. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion. Our organization is based on the Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught to us by our founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe and our spiritual director, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche.

    Read more from Fpmt

    Related to The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook

    Related ebooks

    Buddhism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Going Around In Samsara

      Jan 19, 2021

      Going Around In Samsara
      4 min read

    • Article

      Comparing Mahamudra and Dzogchen

      Aug 4, 2020

      Comparing Mahamudra and Dzogchen
      8 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      Feb 6, 2018

      Should Vajrayana practitioners eat meat? Tibetans have long wrestled with this question, as Geoffrey Barstow elucidates in FOOD OF SINFUL DEMONS: MEAT, VEGETARIANISM, AND THE LIMITS OF BUDDHISM IN TIBET (Columbia 2017). In their discussions of ethica

      4 min read

    • Article

      Why Meditation Isn’t Enough

      May 21, 2019

      IN THE TIBETAN tradition, the study of Buddhist philosophy is known as “learning and reflecting on the view.” Through a process of sustained inquiry, we can become free from all doubts about the true nature of reality as described by the Buddhist tea

      4 min read

    • Article

      You Are Already A Buddha

      Nov 22, 2022

      My first experiences learning to meditate were with my late father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He was a revered meditation teacher, but he lived a very simple life, spending most of his time in a small hermitage on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley.

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat

      Mar 11, 2024

      The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat
      9 min read

    • Article

      Advice to a Young Woman Teacher

      Jul 23, 2019

      Myokei Caine-Barrett (Bishop of the Nicheren Shu Order of North America): I would say to follow your heart, because we are all uniquely equipped. Rather than looking elsewhere, you’ll need to go deep into yourself, find your own strengths, and learn

      3 min read

    • Article

      Ayu Khandro

      Jan 21, 2020

      Ayu Khandro
      2 min read

    • Article

      Along Came a Tigress

      Aug 13, 2019

      Along Came a Tigress
      7 min read

    • Article

      Beginner’s Mind

      Mar 19, 2019

      WITH SO MANY lineages, practices, and unique terms, the world of Tibetan Buddhism can be confusing. Here is a short primer on the four main schools and some of their key practices. Gelugpa: Established in the fifteenth century, the Gelugpas are the n

      4 min read

    • Article

      Welcome To The Charnel Ground

      Nov 3, 2020

      Welcome To The Charnel Ground
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Vipassana Revolution

      Jul 20, 2021

      The Vipassana Revolution
      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      May 8, 2018

      Without tsewa, is there any other source of happiness?” This is the question posed by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche in TRAINING IN TENDERNESS (Shambhala 2018). Always circling back to this Tibetan word meaning love, tenderness, or warmth, Kongtrul pushes

      4 min read

    • Article

      Freda Bedi

      Jan 21, 2020

      FREDA BEDI WAS BORN Freda Houston above a quaint watchmaker’s shop in Derby, England, in 1911. Tall, blue-eyed, and with an imposing manner, she wore many hats: Oxford scholar, professor, social worker, champion of women’s rights, wife and mother of

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Magic Of The Heart Sutra

      May 18, 2021

      Among the various genres of Mahayana sutras, perhaps the most famous are the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita) texts, renowned for their exposition of emptiness. Rather than having ornate names like so many Mahayana sutras, these tend to be known

      5 min read

    • Article

      Pema Khandro

      Jul 18, 2023

      Pema Khandro
      2 min read

    • Article

      Forum: Is the Guru Model Broken?

      Nov 6, 2018

      Forum: Is the Guru Model Broken?
      18 min read

    • Article

      The Fine Art of Conscious Dying

      Mar 11, 2024

      The Fine Art of Conscious Dying
      9 min read

    • Article

      Magical Emanations

      Jan 19, 2021

      Magical Emanations
      13 min read

    • Article

      Awakening Fueled by Rage

      Nov 12, 2019

      Awakening Fueled by Rage
      5 min read

    • Article

      Forum: Unseen Realized Beings

      May 8, 2018

      Forum: Unseen Realized Beings
      21 min read

    • Article

      Looking Into Vajrayana Buddhism’s Future

      Mar 11, 2024

      Looking Into Vajrayana Buddhism’s Future
      20 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Preliminary Practice of Prostrations eBook - FPMT

      The Practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas

      How to Meditate Before the Practice

      The purpose of my life is to free the numberless sentient beings who are the source of all my past, present, and future happiness, temporary as well as ultimate happiness - including all the realizations of the path, liberation from samsara, and enlightenment - from all the oceans of samsaric suffering, including the causes: delusion and karma. In order to do this, I must achieve full enlightenment. Therefore, I need to actualize the path. Therefore, I need to purify the defilements.

      If I were now born in hell, it would be so unbearable. Even one tiny fire spark on my body is hundreds of thousands of times hotter than the whole entire fire energy in this world. It is so unbearable that experiencing it for even an instant is like suffering for many eons. I have created numberless causes to be born in the hell realms by creating the ten non-virtuous actions countless times in this and beginningless past lives. I have created numberless causes to be born in the hell realms by breaking the pratimoksha vows, by breaking the bodhisattva vows, and by breaking the tantric vows countless times in this and beginningless past lives. And I have created numberless causes to be born in the hells by creating the heaviest negative karma in relationship with the holy virtuous friend, which includes harming the holy body, breaking the advice, disturbing the holy mind, having non-devotional thoughts, and rising heresy and anger, which produce the greatest obstacles to achieve realizations and create the greatest suffering.

      Every single one of these negative actions has four suffering results: the ripening result (a rebirth in the lower realms), the possessed result (the type of environment I'm born into when again a human), the result similar to the cause in my experience, and the worst one, the result similar to the cause in my actions, which means that again and again I am driven to create the same negative actions in the future, and so again and again I have to experience the four suffering results. In this way, samsara has no end.

      Not only that, but karma increases, so from even a small negative action can come huge suffering results. And karma is definite to be experienced, so every negative action I have created will definitely bring its result, no matter how long it takes, until it is purified. So from one negative karma, I have to experience the result over and over again for so many hundreds of life times. Understanding this, how can I stand to live life without purifying myself and getting rid of all these negative karmas, just as I would try to get rid of a deadly poison in my body?

      Not only that, but I'm going to die, and death can come even today, any moment. Therefore, I must purify all my negative actions right this second. In order to do that, I am going to do these prostrations with the practice of confessing downfalls, and I'm going to do this so that I can develop myself in order to work for the happiness of all sentient beings.

      Visualization

      How to Meditate During the Practice

      Now imagine that you emanate numberless bodies, and that as you prostrate, all these bodies prostrate along with you from all directions, covering every atom of the earth.

      Now recite the increasing mantras, refuge verse, and the Confession of Downfalls to the Thirty-Five Buddhas, repeating each buddha's name over and over as many times as you can with each prostration. It is the recitation of the name of each buddha that brings the purification, so there is a big difference when you recite just a few times or many. Even if you do the recitation by listening to a recording, still recite the name yourself as much as you can. Either recite the prayer three times straight through making one prostration to each buddha each time, or do three prostrations to each buddha as you go through the prayer once. At the end, recite the names of the Medicine Buddhas. This can be followed by Vajrasattva mantra and the Po Praise to Chenrezig, according to time [see Options for Practice]. Then recite the Confession Prayer, followed by the General Confession.

      Reciting the Names of the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas

      First, recite the mantras for multiplying the merit of making prostrations:

      OM NAMO MANJUSHRIYE / NAMAH SUSHRIYE / NAMA UTTAMA SHRIYE SVAHA (3x)

      CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ RINCHHEN GYÄLTSHÄN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO (7x)

      OM NAMO BHAGAVATE RATNA KETU RAJAYA / TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE SAMYAK SAMBUDDHAYA / TADYATHA / OM RATNE RATNE MAHA RATNE RATNA BIJA YE SVAHA (7x)

      NA MO JANG CHHUB SEM PÄI TUNG WA SHAG PA

      Homage to the Confession of the Bodhisattva's Downfalls!

      DAG [MING] DI ZHE GYI WA / DÜ TAG TU LA MA LA KYAB SU CHHI WO

      I, (say your name) throughout all times, take refuge in the Guru;

      SANG GYÄ LA KYAB SU CHHI WO

      I take refuge in the Buddha;

      CHHÖ LA KYAB SU CHHI WO

      I take refuge in the Dharma;

      GE DÜN LA KYAB SU CHHI WO (3x)

      I take refuge in the Sangha. (3x)

      TÖN PA CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ PÄL GYÄL WA SHA KYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To the founder, bhagavan, tathagata, arhat, perfectly completed buddha, glorious conqueror Shakyamuni Buddha, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA DOR JE NYING PÖ RAB TU JOM PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Thoroughly Destroying with Vajra Essence, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA RIN CHHEN Ö THRÖ LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Radiant Jewel, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA LU WANG GI GYÄL PO LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata King, Lord of the Nagas, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA PA WÖI DE LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Army of Heroes, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA PÄL GYE LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Delighted Hero, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA RIN CHHEN ME LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Jewel Fire, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA RIN CHHEN DA Ö LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Jewel Moonlight, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA TONG WA DÖN YÖ LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Meaningful to See, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA RIN CHHEN DA WA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Jewel Moon, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRI MA ME PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Stainless One, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA PÄ JIN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Bestowed with Courage, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA TSHANG PA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Pure One, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA TSHANG PÄ JIN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Bestowed with Purity, I prostrate.

      DE ZHIN SHEG PA CHHU LHA LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO

      To Tathagata Water God, I prostrate.

      DE

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1