Western students often think of ngondro as preliminary. As if the real practice is later. This is a mistake. The 100,000 prostrations are the practice. The mandala offerings are the practice. The Vajrasattva is the practice. If you wait for the real practice to begin, you will wait your whole life. It begins on the first prostration.
I am increasingly teaching Western students at Sera. The word emptiness is misleading. Voidness is worse. Some teachers say openness. Some say spaciousness. None of them quite work. What translations have you found useful in your own teaching or learning?
I am working on a new English translation of the Longchen Nyingthig ngondro for my study group. The existing translations are accurate but feel stilted. Anyone with experience in this — what do you wish someone had told you before you started?
"In post-meditation, be a child of illusion." Geshe Chekhawa wrote this 900 years ago and it still cuts. Off the cushion, do not solidify the world. The conversation you are about to have, the email you are about to send — treat them as dream-like. They are. Notice the freedom this opens.
A Western student told me recently that he was looking for the right teacher. I told him: be careful what you ask for. The right teacher will not flatter you. The right teacher will not protect your self-image. The right teacher will dismantle you. If you want to be made comfortable, find a coach. If you want liberation, find a teacher.