Contents 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 the 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 indispensable 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 ?viii The Path of Secret Mantra (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 perseverance 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 man?d?ala (i) The outer man?d?ala 77 (ii) The inner man?d?ala 92 (iii) The secret man?d?ala 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 (ii) Death and impermanence (iii) The infallibility of cause and effect (iv) Perceiving the faults of sam?sa¯ra Suffering in the hell realm Suffering in the realm of hungry ghosts Suffering in the animal realm Suffering in the human realm Suffering in the realm of the antigods Suffering in the realm of the gods (5) The nail of guruyoga (i) Qualities of the teacher and disciple Qualities of the guru Qualities of the disciple (ii) Importance of the path of guruyoga (iii) The actual method of guruyoga meditation The extraordinary preliminaries (i) Focussing the mind on one's body as the deity (ii) Focussing the mind on one's speech as mantra (iii) Focussing on the mind itself as the deity's insignia PART TWO A sequential explanation of the main practice The dharmata¯ man?d?ala of the mind (i) Achieving the view through meditation Removing obstacles to meditation Taking suffering and death as the path (ii) Achieving meditation through the view Direct introduction to the nature of mind 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 (ii) Showing a clear crystal (iii) Touching the student’s heart with a finger Oral instructions for those who have received the direct introduction Afterword