Common Preliminaries

Common Preliminaries

Venerable Master Gampopa

The Four Common Preliminaries are a deep reflection that we need to integrate because it allow us to turn away from the ordinary concerns of this life. Thanks to this integration and to the renunciation which ensues, the mind naturally abides in peace. This natural peace will allow the mind to penetrate its fundamental nature.

These four reflections are:

• “The Precious Human Body,” which gives a fair appreciation of the unique value of human existence and the difficulty of obtaining it.
• “Death and impermanence” confront us with the imminence of death and with the mere fact that our hopes of making our present enjoyments last beyond the present moment are unfounded.
• “Action, cause, and effects,” show that “action” is all that one does, says, or thinks; that “the cause” comes from the emotion or intention that motivates an action; that “the effect” produces an experience that comes from the action and its intention. The effects can be experienced in this life, in the next one or even much later. It is with this understanding that we are encouraged to adopt the virtues and abandon nuisances.
• “The defects inherent to the cycle of existences”, which reinforce us in the growing conviction that Liberation is the only valid aim, that the cycle of existences is suffering and that it lacks any lasting satisfaction.