Explanation of Rigzin Godems Jangter Ngondro Zer Nga (byang gter sngon gro gzer lnga) according to the commentary by Rigzin Pema Tinley Byang gter bla rdzogs thugs gsum sogs spyi khyab kyi sngon gro gzer lngai khrid yig yang tig gces sgron gzhung don rab gsal gyi zhabs degs yang gsal gyi tshul du bkod pa cha lag dang bcas pa translation and oral transmission by Khenpo Chowang edited by Martin Boord.

Born in a period of political uncertainty and religious efflorescence, the late seventeenth-century master of the Northern Treasures (Byang-gter) tradition, the mahavidyadhara Pema Tinley (Padma phrin-las) is widely renowned for his perceptive insight, his boundless concern for the welfare of others and his scholarly excellence. The Great Fifth Dalai Lama himself repeatedly refers to Pema Tinley in his autobiographical writings, calling him the best of reincarnations and spiritual son of supreme virtue.

In this masterful guide to the full spectrum of vajrayana practice, Pema Tinley leads the reader along an exciting path of self re-discovery towards the all-encompassing state of deep natural awareness the completely perfect condition of buddhahood, endowed with wisdom, compassion and abundant joyful energy. Moving from a simple series of daily contemplative practices that gradually bring the errantly wandering mind under control and train it to focus upon the true meaning of life, the author skillfully encourages his audience eventually to abandon all meditation on objects with signs until it can rest easily without supporting props in the vast expanse of blissful awareness in which all appearances are recognised as the spontaneous display of non-dual emptiness.

All Buddhists have something to learn from this book, a complete guide to the innermost path of secret mantra, written by one of its foremost authorities.

This book does not only contain a detailed practical explanation of the Five Nails, but also an introduction to meditation practice through the yogas of waking, sleeping, bathing, eating and daily practice as well as the preliminary practice of body, speech and mind. It explains in detail how to do the Five Nails practice, which is the Northern Treasure entry into the path of secret mantra, and gives explanation of its deeper meaning. The book also explains the extraordinary preliminaries, which consists on focussing the mind on ones body as the deity, focussing the mind on ones speech as mantra and focussing on the mind itself as the deity's insignia. In the end of the book the main practice will be explained as achieving the view through meditation and achieving meditation through the view and finally various modes of empowerment for the direct introduction and oral instructions for those who have received the direct introduction. This book is a wish-fulfilling gem for any serious practitioner and a reliable companion an this path to give meaning to ones live.

Path of Secret Mantra: Teachings of the Northern Treasures Five Nails Pema Tinley's Guide to Vajrayana Practice, Edition Khordong, Paperback, 257 Pages, $20.00

Khenpo Chowang, is mainly known through his visits to Darnkow during the summer retreats where he accompanied and translated for H.H. Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche. He did this also during the transmission of this specific teaching. He is a teacher in two Shedras in Gangtok, Sikkim, where he also teaches in detail about the Five Nails with the help of Pema Tinleys text. He lives at the Gonjang monastery, above of Gangtok. Khenpo-la is a sovereign scholar and teacher and most helpful during the Jangter Summer Retreats at Drophan Ling in Poland.

Martin Boord is well known as a western expert of the vajrakila practice. He has translated many texts of Pema Tinley and is well versed with this teaching of the five nails. More about Martin Boord on our website

Contents: Path of Secret Mantra: Teachings of the Northern Treasures Five Nails Pema Tinley's Guide to Vajrayana Practice
General Introduction
Five categories of skilful practice
(1) Yoga for waking	3
(2) Yoga for sleeping	7
(3) Bathing yoga	17
(4) Eating yoga	18
(5) Yoga of daily practice	18
Two Aspects of practice
(a) During meditation sessions	9
(i) Preliminary practices of the body	10
(ii) Preliminary practices of the speech	11
(iii) Preliminary practices of the mind	16
(b) Creating a suitable vessel	19
Praying to one's root guru as Padmasambhava	19
PART ONE
A commentary on the Northern Treasures Five Nails ESTABLISHING THE ESSENTIAL POINTS OF THE ROOT TEXT WITH CRYSTAL CLEAR MEANING
The preparation
(a) The special reason for doing prostrations	30
(b) The kind of person that should do the practice	30
(c) The qualities of the suitable place for practice	33
(d) The necessary items that should be gathered	35
(e) The proper posture in which to sit	36
The main practice
(a) A brief overview of the general points	37
(b) A detailed discussion of the specific practices	38
(1) The nail of refuge and bodhicitta
(i) The indispensible nature of the practices of going for refuge and generating bodhicitta, which are the root of the path and the foundation of all good qualities	38
(ii) The manner in which one should meditate upon the assembly tree of the sources of refuge	39
(iii) The manner in which one contemplates the living beings of the six realms when taking refuge	44
(iv) The manner in which one actually goes for refuge	45
(v) Having taken refuge, the manner in which one proceeds in training	49
(vi) Contemplating the benefits and advantages of taking refuge	52
(vii) The manner in which one meditates upon the development of bodhicitta in connection with taking refuge	53
Relative bodhicitta
Aspirational bodhicitta	53
The bodhicitta of active engagement	55
Ultimate bodhicitta	56
(viii) The manner in which one trains in the development of bodhicitta
The precepts of training in aspiration
Meditations on the four boundless minds
Immeasurable equanimity	58
Immeasurable love toward all living beings	59
Immeasurable compassion	59
Immeasurable rejoicing	61
The precepts of training in engagement
The practices of the six perfections
The perfection of generosity	63
The perfection of good conduct	66
The perfection of patient forbearance	67
The perfection of enthusiastic forbearance	70
The perfection of deep meditation	72
The perfection of wisdom	73
(ix) The benefits and advantages of developing bodhicitta	76
(2) The nail of offering the mandala
(i) The outer mandala	77
(ii) The inner mandala	92
(iii) The secret mandala	93
(3) The nail of confession with Vajrasattva recitation
(i) The ordinary method	97
(ii) The extraordinary method	101
(4) The nail of meditation upon impermanence
(i) The difficulty of attaining a precious human body	107
(ii) Death and impermanence	112
(iii) The infallibility of cause and effect	117
(iv) Perceiving the faults of samsara	130
Suffering in the hell realm	132
Suffering in the realm of hungry ghosts	141
Suffering in the animal realm	143
Suffering in the human realm	147
Suffering in the realm of the anitgods	150
Suffering in the realm of the gods	150
(5) The nail of guruyoga
(i) Qualities of the teacher and disciple	154
Qualities of the guru	154
Qualities of the disciple	157
(ii) Importance of the path of guruyoga	161
(iii) The actual method of guruyoga meditation	162
The extraordinary preliminaries
(i) Focussing the mind on one's body as the deity	168
(ii) Focussing the mind on one's speech as mantra	174
(iii) Focussing on the mind itself as the deity's insignia	183
PART TWO A sequential explanation of the main practice
The dharmata mandala of the mind
(i) Achieving the view through meditation	196
Removing obstacles to meditation	202
Taking suffering and death as the path	219
(ii) Achieving meditation through the view	222
Direct introduction to the nature of the mind	226
PART THREE A brief clarification of some words in the main practice
Various modes of empowerment for the direct introduction
(i) Pointing at the sky	234
(ii) Showing a clear crystal	239
(iii) Touching the student's heart with a finger	242
Oral instructions for those who have received the direct introduction	245
Afterword	250