Preliminaries in Another Tradition

Preliminaries in Another Tradition

Date Posted:
June 2006

A student wrote asking Rinpoche for advice about her preliminary practices. In the past, Rinpoche had given her preliminary practices to do throughout her life, but she started practicing with another lama, who asked her to finish particular preliminaries in order to receive Dzogchen teachings. She wrote to Rinpoche asking if she could focus on these preliminaries so that she could receive these teachings.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I just want to tell you frankly that when I heard you are now practicing in another tradition it did disturb me in the beginning. Not trusting Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings or thinking that Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings are not complete or missing something did affect my mind, but now it’s OK. Of course, you should understand I have gurus from other traditions like Trulshig Rinpoche, His Holiness Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche, and Sakya Trizen. I took initiations and teachings from these lamas. I am just letting you know what I felt and thought. Anyway, I am not holding a grudge. I am very happy that you have been able to develop a good heart these past years; that is a great thing. Of course, I wanted to meet you very very much in Arizona, but couldn’t because of the lack of time. It is great news to hear that you have been able to develop a good heart, so please continue.

So, as you are already doing the preliminary practices, go ahead and finish the Dzogchen preliminaries. If you become enlightened before you finish the preliminaries, that’s OK, it is not a rejection. You will become the first champion in history. Also, you can do preliminaries after you become enlightened as well.

With much love and prayers...

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