Ngöndro · Tibetan: sngon 'gro

Ngöndro (also spelled ngondro; Tibetan sngon ‘gro) is usually translated “preliminary practices”. The translator Alexander Berzin reports his teacher Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche’s point that, although the word literally means “to go before”, its primary connotation is “preparation”. Berzin describes the next step it prepares for as tantric practice, though in the Gelug school, he notes, ngöndro is done “along the way” to enhance both sutra and tantra.

It has two stages. Berzin explains that the Nyingma speak of “external” and “internal” ngöndro, while other Tibetan traditions say “common” and “uncommon”: common practices are shared with sutra and tantra, and uncommon ones prepare specifically for tantra. The common stage is a set of contemplations, which in Berzin’s account the Kagyu call the four thoughts that turn the mind to the Dharma; the Gelug teach the same ground as the lamrim, and the Sakya also present it as the separation from the four clingings. The uncommon stage varies more. Patrul Rinpoche’s guide to the Nyingma Longchen Nyingtik ngöndro moves through refuge, bodhicitta, Vajrasattva purification, maṇḍala offering, the Chöd “accumulation of the kusali”, and guru yoga. Berzin gives the standard Kagyu set as prostration, the Vajrasattva hundred-syllable mantra, maṇḍala offerings and guru yoga, and lists nine Gelug practices.

The counts differ too: Berzin gives 100,000, 108,000 or 130,000 repetitions, and adds that “teachers can modify the standard ngondros and design individual practices for specific students.” Lotsawa House publishes many ngöndro texts openly but marks some Restricted, and in the Gelug, Berzin notes, students take the practices up “at the advice of their teachers or under their own initiative”. Our guide to ngöndro compares the lineages, their texts and counts, and what each asks of a teacher. Some sets go further: Lotsawa House’s summary of the Dudjom Tersar root text adds transference, phowa.