Following a spiritual path requires a genuine commitment and a deep certitude, which are necessary to go beyond doubts and fears. The practice of the Vajrayana specific preliminaries helps us to establish in ourselves a right motivation and the trust in our ability to transform the way our expiremnts situations. The four Vajrayana specific preliminaries are the foundation to all other Vajrayana practices. They are:
• refuge and bodhicitta (mind of enlightenment) based on the compassion for all other beings
• the meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva which purifies negativity and veils
• the mandala offering which completes the two accumulations of merits and wisdom and gets rid of the egotic grasping
• the guru yoga which allows us to quickly receive the blessings of the lineage
In 2006, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje has composed a new, shorter version of the kagyu ngondro text especially dedicated to his westerner disciples. His Holiness has given the transmission of this text in both Tibetan and English and has encouraged everybody to perform the practice in his/her own mother language.
These two meditations are common to every buddhist school. Shine (tibetan) or Samatha (sanskrit) can be translated as «non-distraction». It helps the practioneer to calm his mind and, with a bit of training, this quiet state of mind will become more and more stable, undisturbed by the situations and the emotions they may cause.
Lhagtong (tibetan) or Vipassana (sanskrit) means «penetrating view». This meditation allows one to have a direct experience of the nature of every phenomena, including ones own mind.
These meditations can be practiced by both buddhists and non-buddhists. In order to practice them it is however necessary to receive the gradual instructions from a qualified meditation teacher.
Briefly speaking, mahamudra is the union of Shine and Lhagtong. It is a synonymous for liberation and enlightenment. The instructions to reach this state have been given by the Buddha Sakyamuni and have then been transmitted for several centuries by the indian yogis and mahasiddhas. These instructions have then been brought to Tibet by Marpa the Translator who traveled to India several times and passed them on to the first Masters of the Karma Kagyu lineage: Mlarepa, his main main student and well known Tibetan yogi, Gampopa, Milarepa’s main student. These instructions have been preserved until today by an uninterrupted lineage of masters, including the karmapas.
« In Tibetan, Mahamudra is said Tcha Gya Tchenpo.
Tcha means gesture or symbol and designates the primordial emptiness, the ultimate way of being of the mind and also what results of its ability to create, the world. Both are empty in essence. Gya means vast and shows that nothing exists beyond this primordial emptiness. Tchenpo means big and shows that this realisation is the highest possible. »
Kalou Rinpoché