Refuge and the Enlightened Attitude is the first practice of the Karma Kagyu Chag Chen Ngondro — 111,111 full-body gestures of surrender, devotion, and purification that lay the foundation for the entire Vajrayana path. This page describes what the practice is, what it requires, and what it feels like from the inside. For the complete oral instructions, a personal transmission from a qualified lama is required.
You have received the lung. Your lama has given the transmission. Now the renovation of the house of your mind is about to begin. If you have not yet received the lung but feel called to begin — this too is traditional. Students sometimes start in anticipation of the transmission, with their lama’s knowledge and encouragement. The sincerity of the intention is the ground. The lung, when it comes, deepens and confirms it.
Taking Refuge — Why the Practice Has Two Names
The practice is not called Refuge alone. It is called Refuge and the Enlightened Attitude — Refuge comes first for a reason. In Tibetan, refuge is Chab sun chio — I go for protection. Not protection from difficult people or turbulent circumstances, but from the confused mind that keeps generating its own suffering. When we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha — the Three Jewels — we give the mind a direction. We are saying: there is a way through this, someone has already found it, and I am orienting myself toward it.
In the Vajrayana we go further still. Beyond the Three Jewels of the outer refuge, we take inner refuge in the Three Roots — the Lama, the Yidams, and the Protectors. The Lama is the root of blessing. The Yidams are the root of accomplishment. The Protectors are the root of activity. The refuge tree visualised above and in front of the practitioner throughout the prostrations holds all of these simultaneously — the entire field of awakened support, assembled in light, received with every prostration.
The prostration is the body enacting what the refuge vow declares. The outer movement is the inner commitment made visible. This is why the two cannot be separated, and why the practice carries both names.
What Are Refuge and Prostrations?
A prostration in the Karma Kagyu Ngondro tradition is a full-body gesture of surrender and devotion. From a standing position with hands pressed together at the forehead, throat, and heart — touching the three chakras of body, speech, and mind — the practitioner slides forward onto the floor and extends fully flat, arms stretched overhead, forehead touching the surface. Then rises and repeats. One hundred and eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven times.
Each prostration is preceded by a mudra sequence that is not merely symbolic. The hands at the forehead purify the karma of body. At the throat, the karma of speech. At the heart, the karma of mind. The full prostration enacts the complete surrender of all three. In the Vajrayana, gesture and inner transformation are not separate — the outer movement is the inner movement made visible.
Throughout the practice, the refuge tree is visualised above and in front of the practitioner — the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the lamas of the lineage, the yidams and protectors, all assembled in a field of light. The mantra is recited. The mind, the body, and the visualisation are held simultaneously. This is Shiné — calm abiding — not on a cushion but in motion, in sweat, under load. It sounds hard to believe that exercise like this can be calming, but it is. The Tibetans say that mind and body are like two stones tied together with a string — throw one and the other follows. When the body releases extra energy it calms, and naturally so does the mind. Rotating through the refuge tree, one familiarises oneself with all the interesting Buddha aspects and lamas in the tree. You say hello. They say welcome to the club.
A word on instructions: this page describes and contextualises the practice. It does not replace a personal transmission. The actual instructions — the precise visualisation, the mantra, the sequence — must be received from a qualified lama in person. This has been the method of transmission for over a thousand years and it remains the method today. Please find a Karma Kagyu centre near you and ask.
The Development of Bodhichitta — The Enlightened Attitude
The meditation is formally called Refuge and the Enlightened Attitude — Bodhichitta. Not Refuge and Prostrations. Prostrations are the vehicle. Bodhichitta is the destination. Every bow, every repetition of the mantra, every session on the floor is in service of one thing: the development of a mind that genuinely, not theoretically, places others before itself.
This begins with a simple and uncomfortable observation. Self and others — I am one. Others are many. By any reasonable calculation, others are more important. Not as a concept, not as a spiritual aspiration, but as a straightforward arithmetical fact. The happiness and suffering of others outweighs mine by every measure except the one my ego uses.
Equality amongst all beings is guaranteed by law in most countries — but not necessarily in our hearts. Beneath the social agreements, beneath the polite behaviour, most of us carry an unexamined conviction that our suffering matters more, that our happiness deserves more protection, that our perspective is the one that gets to be right. The prostrations work directly on this. One hundred and eleven thousand bows in the direction of something larger than the self is not a small intervention.
Humility is the natural result — and it is worth being precise about what humility actually is. It is not self-deprecation. It is not low self-esteem. It is a realistic, often humorous, view of one’s own limitations while still maintaining self-respect. A truly humble person does not fear criticism but welcomes it as an opportunity to recognise faults and grow. I bow. I am not the most important thing in the room. And somehow that is a relief.
Kindness follows naturally. One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received came from a close non-Buddhist friend: “Do good things and make others happy.” Sage advice for anyone who also wishes to be happy themselves. Happiness is a decision, and the decision here is choosing how to create happiness in others — for the most amount of beings, for the longest amount of time possible.
And then there is the transformation of enemies into teachers — perhaps the most powerful and least discussed aspect of the entire practice. A difficult ex, a troublesome parent, a colleague who reliably brings out the worst in you — when seen as teachers, as those who show us our own shadow, they offer an immensely rich development opportunity. During the refuge and prostrations we can place our parents on either side of us as we bow. If our concentration is strong enough, we can imagine the difficult person in front of us.
We all prostrate together.
This is the teaching. That small mental trick is one of the best examples of skillful means I can think of. The person who made us suffer the most becomes, in the space of a single session, a co-practitioner on the path to enlightenment. The resentment that seemed permanent dissolves in the repetition of a gesture that says: I bow to the Buddha nature in you too.
Bodhichitta is the strongest antidote to pride that one can imagine. It is not all about me. It is about what I can do for them. Ego pride — bad. Look what we did together pride — good.
The Setup — What You Need to Begin
The proper gear for the job makes everything easier. Experience is the best teacher — and 2.5 Ngondros teaches you a few things about what works. Here is what I use and what I recommend. None of this is expensive. All of it matters.
A soft, forgiving mat for your knees is the most important item. I use 2cm of neoprene, 30cm wide and 80cm long. I fold it in the middle for extra protection when my knees need it. The floor is cold in winter and wet from sweat in summer — the mat solves both.
A counter is essential. Some practitioners use a small quarter-mala. I prefer an electronic counter that sits on a finger — a touch of the thumb registers each repetition. No counting, no losing your place, no interrupting the meditation to track the number. Your attention stays where it belongs. Such counters are available at your local dharma shop or online. I have in a pinch used coins on the floor. The concentration of moving them from place to place was not my thing.
A towel on the floor lengthways — 170cm minimum. The floor is cold, and as the practice develops the sweat that pours out carries toxins your body is happy to be rid of. One woman I know said her towel started to smell like cigarettes. The smell began to make her sick as her face came near it during practice. She quit smoking for good shortly after.
Sliders for your hands — this depends on your floor. On a hardwood or tiled floor, you need something under your hands to slide forward smoothly. Some practitioners use socks, but they get warm. I use thick mittens designed for dusting the home — comfortable, and they slide well on hard floors. Cut carpet squares (roughly 15x25cm, two pieces) also work well. If you practise on carpet, the opposite problem applies — you need to reduce friction, not add it. A small piece of smooth plastic or a thin neoprene pad works here. If your practice space has heavy carpet, a prostration board — approximately 80-100cm wide and 200cm long, smooth on the top — is the traditional solution and genuinely the best one for carpet. It is a modest investment and can be passed on to your sangha when you finish, or kept for the second round if you dare.
Head protection. You do not need a helmet, but a soft surface for your forehead when fully prostrate is essential. For weeks I wondered why I had a red spot developing on my forehead — until it started to hurt. A folded cloth or thin cushion at the end of your towel solves this immediately.
The common rule across all of this is self-compassion. Protect yourself effectively so that you can and will complete the practice. This is not negotiable. Your body says thank you. And as my lama once reminded me with a smile:
Having an experienced practitioner show you the physical movements in person is not just recommended — it is absolutely necessary. Every Buddhist needs a sangha, and the sangha is part of the refuge. Seek their help here. Ask, and they will come.
Your prostrations don’t finish by themselves.
Prostration Procrastination
The mat is out. The counter is on your finger. The intention to practise is genuine. And yet somehow the kitchen needs cleaning, the inbox needs checking, the cat has never seemed more in need of attention. This is Prostration Procrastination — and every practitioner knows it.
It is not laziness. It is the ego’s last line of defence before the practice begins. Something in the mind knows that once you start, something is going to change. And change, even welcome change, triggers resistance. The procrastination is not an obstacle to the practice. It is the first practice. Many never make it past this first challenge.
My solution was simple and it worked every time. Before deciding whether I was going to practise, I put on music. Specifically: Tibetan Mantras for Turbulent Times — the 2010 collaboration between Deva Premal and the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. By the time the Gyuto Monks began their deep multiphonic chanting, my body was already moving. The decision had been made by sound, not by will. Somehow I even moved faster as well. Music does this naturally.
Prossies can be turbulent. The album title is not a coincidence. That music was made for exactly this moment — the agitated mind, the reluctant body, the practice waiting on the other side of inertia. Let the music start before you decide. The body follows sound in a way it will not follow intention alone.
My lama did 3,000 a day for a little over three months. Do the maths and plan accordingly. This teaching dissolves procrastination at its root. The perfectionism that feeds the hesitation — the sense that if you cannot do it perfectly you should not do it yet — is released in one sentence. The transformation is in the accumulation. Get on the mat. Do the numbers. The quality will come in its own time, and it will come precisely because you did the numbers.
The Science — What Neuroscience Has Found
Refuge and prostrations are not a physical practice with a spiritual dimension. They are a complete psychophysical technology in which the body, the nervous system, the breath, the visualisation, and the mind are all engaged simultaneously. Contemporary neuroscience has arrived, from multiple directions, at findings that illuminate why this specific form produces the transformations the tradition describes.
Shiné in the Prostrations
Have you seen the Theravadans doing walking meditation? That is their Shiné. In Vajrayana Buddhism our Shiné is walking on steroids. Calm abiding is not a practice you do before the prostrations. It is what the prostrations train — in motion, under load, in a context that makes distraction almost impossible because the demands on attention are total.
Holding the refuge tree visualisation while reciting the mantra while coordinating the physical sequence requires a quality of one-pointed attention that sitting meditation builds slowly over years. The prostrations force it. There is no room for the mind to wander into planning or fantasy when the body is fully engaged and the mantra is running and the lineage is assembled above your head. The attention has only one place to go.
This is why practitioners often report that their sitting meditation improves during a period of intensive refuge and prostrations. The Shiné being trained on the floor carries directly into the cushion. The two practices are not separate — they are the same quality of mind expressed in different postures.
→ What do Shiné and Laktong mean?
→ What do Kyerim and Dzogrim mean?
Prostrations and Anxiety — A Personal Account
Hey, I am only human just like you. Yes, I meditate a lot, but from time to time I get nervous. Really nervous — so nervous my hands shake. Without fail, I find when I have anxiety that it’s gone after the prostrations. This technology works better for me than a pill does, and it is healthier. I am not writing a prescription here, but any doctor will tell you that one of the most common benefits of walking or running is ease and calm. This is how I manage.
I did not expect this when I began. I was told the practice would purify karma, develop devotion, open the chakras, and prepare the mind for deeper practice. All of that is true. But the anxiety piece surprised me, and it has been consistent across years of practice and both of my Ngöndros.
The mechanism, as I understand it from the inside, is something like this. Anxiety and its energy lives in the thinking mind — in the future, in the story, in the gap between what is and what might be. The refuge and prostrations leave no room for that gap. The body is completely occupied. The mantra fills the speech channel. The refuge tree requires what remains of the mind’s attention. For the duration of the session, the anxious narrative has nowhere to run. And when the session ends, it has lost its momentum. The gap has closed. The present is simply where you are. I just channel that energy better now. It fuels my goal of enlightenment.
I have spoken to other practitioners who report the same thing. It is not discussed in the traditional texts in these terms, but it is consistent enough across practitioners that it deserves to be named.
If you are experiencing significant anxiety or mental health difficulties, please speak with a qualified professional alongside any contemplative practice. The two are not mutually exclusive — and your wellbeing matters more than the count.
What does Refuge and Prostrations Purify?
The refuge and prostrations purifies the three doors — body, speech, and mind — are the three channels through which karma is created and through which it can be purified. The prostrations are designed with surgical precision around this understanding. Every mudra, every movement, every repetition targets one or all three simultaneously.
In the framework of the Karma Kagyu Ngondro, the prostrations purify the accumulated weight of physical karma — actions of the body across this and previous lifetimes. Difficult experiences held in muscle memory can be released. Tears normally follow — tears of relief. Combined with the mantra and the refuge tree visualisation, they purify speech karma and the karmic imprints held in the store consciousness. The Bodhisattva vow renewed in each repetition works on the subtlest level — the habitual tendency of the mind to turn toward the self rather than toward others.
The renovation metaphor from the hub page is worth restating here in full. When a house needs total renovation, you tear down the walls first. You rip out the old wiring. You expose the pipes. It is loud, dusty, exhausting work, and there is a period where the house looks worse than when you started. This is the prostrations. Do not be alarmed if things surface that you were not expecting. The practice is working.
What to Expect — A Practitioner’s Account
The first weeks are almost entirely physical. The body has never done this before. The muscles, the connective tissue, the cardiovascular system — all of them are adapting simultaneously. You will be sore in places you did not know could be sore. You will also, gradually, become stronger than you have been in years.
Somewhere in the first few months — and this varies considerably between practitioners — the practice shifts. The physical difficulty does not disappear, but it moves to the background. What emerges in its place is harder to describe. A quality of presence that is not quite emotion and not quite thought. A deepening of something that feels like devotion but is less personal than that word usually implies. The refuge tree begins to feel inhabited rather than imagined. There is a mental and physical strength that grows — it is hard to explain and even harder to understand, unless of course you experience it yourself.
There will be sessions that feel completely dry — mechanical repetition with no inner quality, the mantra running on its own while the mind is elsewhere. These sessions count. Do not dismiss them. Your lama is right. The quantity is the practice. The dry sessions are doing work that the vivid sessions are not. It is when you have to work the hardest to come to focus that you are really learning new thought patterns and building new neural pathways in your brain.
There will also be sessions — perhaps rarely at first, more often as the practice matures — where something releases. Old emotion surfaces and passes. The body softens in a way it has not in years. The phrase “purifying karma” begins to mean something experiential rather than doctrinal. This is the practice working at a level the counting mind cannot access. Trust it.
I have done this twice now, and I am doing it again for a third time. The Ngöndro does not finish when the count is complete. Something that began on the floor continues long afterward. The house, once renovated, has different acoustics. You notice things you did not notice before. This is what it was for.
The Bodhisattva Vow — Practising for Others
The most important benefit of the prostrations is not physical, not karmic, and not even meditative in the conventional sense. It is the renewal, with every repetition, of the Bodhisattva’s promise. May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness. May all beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. May they always experience happiness which is totally free from suffering. And may they remain in the great equanimity which is without attachment and aversion. We plant the seeds of all four types of compassion and begin to watch them grow.
One hundred and eleven thousand repetitions of that intention. Not as a wish from a distance, but as a bodily act. The prostration is the vow made physical — the ego bowing down, again and again, in the direction of something larger than itself.
I have personally met a yogi who travelled 500 kilometres doing prostrations as he went — every step of the journey a full prostration, all of it dedicated to those who could not practise for themselves. That image has stayed with me throughout my own Ngondro. When the practice feels difficult or tedious, I remember him. The boards, the mat, sliders, and the padding become a small thing.
🎧 Listen — The Prostrations Episode
[ SPOTIFY EMBED — Ngöndro Episode 1: Prostrations (add when recorded) ]
[ YOUTUBE EMBED — same episode ]
This episode goes deep into the first practice of the Karma Kagyu Chag Chen Ngöndro — the tradition, the lived experience, and what contemporary neuroscience has confirmed about why 111,111 prostrations transform the mind.
The boards are waiting. The lineage is assembled. The lung has been received. There is nothing left to do but begin.
QP
Continue Reading:
The Ngöndro sits at the heart of the Karma Kagyu path. Every link below carries the thread further.
The Four Practices — Deep Dives
What is Ngöndro? — The hub page. All four practices, the full context, the path from bachelor’s degree to doctorate.
Vajrasattva — Diamond Mind — The 100-syllable mantra, the nectar descending, the subtle anger arising and releasing. The most discussed and most misunderstood of the four practices.
Mandala Offering — Universes of offering, wiped away with a breath. The practice of giving without retention — and what neuroscience says about generosity as a rewiring of the brain.
Guru Yoga — The lineage above the crown. More than twenty masters, each one a link in an unbroken chain from Vajradhara to your own lama.
Where Ngöndro Leads
What is a Yidam? — The master’s degree. After Ngöndro, a Yidam practice is given — not chosen — by your lama. The mind-bond, the development stage, and why the Yidam is not a deity but a mirror. /what-is-a-yidam/
Chakrasamvara — Korlo Demchok — The principal Yidam of the Karma Kagyu. Every detail of the thangka decoded.
The Six Yogas of Naropa — The doctorate. Tummo, Gyülü, Ösel, Milam, Phowa, Bardo. The subtle body as the laboratory.
The Ground Under the Practice
What is Ngöndro? — The hub page. All four practices, the full context, the Kalu Rinpoche sock teaching.
What do Shiné and Laktong mean? — The two modes of mind running through every practice on this page.
What do Kyerim and Dzogrim mean? — The development and completion stages that structure every session.
What is Buddhist Refuge? — The full treatment of the Three Jewels, the Three Roots, and the lama as the union of all refuge.
The Lineage
Mahakala Bernagchen Decoded — The Karma Kagyu protector who guards every practice on this page.
The Black Crown of the Karmapa — The ceremony that connects the practitioner to the living lineage.
External Resources
Karmapa.org — Official teachings on Ngöndro, Vajrasattva, and the Torch of Certainty.
Find a Sangha – In your local area