In Tibetan Buddhism, Ngöndro (Tibetan: སྔོན་འགྲོ།, Wylie: sngon 'gro, Sanskrit: pūrvaka[1]) refers to the preliminary, preparatory or foundational practices or disciplines (Sanskrit: sādhanā) common to all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and also to Bon. They precede deity yoga.

Ngondro contains the essential principles that reemerge through all Buddhist teachings, such as those regarding no-self, impermanence, and suffering. It can transform concepts about compassion, karma, and emptiness from interesting theories into direct experience.

What is the Ngöndro? The Ngöndro is a series of what are known as “preliminaries” or “preliminary practices,” which form the base of practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It helps practitioners clear away mental obstacles and build essential qualities like letting go of attachments, self-discipline, meditation, and wisdom.

Ngöndro (T. sngon 'gro) is the Tibetan term for the preliminary or foundational practices within the Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The term ngöndro literally denotes "something that goes before, something which precedes."

སྔོན་འགྲོ་, Wyl. sngon ‘gro) — the preliminary or ‘foundation’ practices of Vajrayana Buddhism. The ngöndro practices are profound and powerful means for effecting a deep purification and transformation, at every level of our being.

As Patrul Rinpoche says, ngöndro is the very foundation of vajrayana practices. It is extremely important to understand how the powerful methods of the preliminary practices bring about a much more realistic approach to severing our delusions, and how, beyond just visualizing and reciting, they enable us to actually realize the view of mahayana.

The Ngondro course spans twelve modules and will take you deep into the underlying principles and practical instructions of the Tibetan Buddhist foundation practices, or ngondro, as they are known in Tibet.

The standard Kagyu ngondro entails prostration, Vajrasattva 100-syllable mantra, mandala offerings and guru-yoga. Each Nyingma treasure text ( terma ) tradition has its own set of ngondro practices. But teachers can modify the standard ngondros and design individual practices for specific students.

Ngondro, or Foundational Practices, are the specific contemplative trainings that Tibetan Buddhists traditionally do before receiving teachings on tantra and Dzogchen or other esoteric practices. (For more detail, please click here for Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche’s excellent introduction to …

Ngondro is the gateway to the advanced practices of Dzogchen, as well. The lamas of the Vajrayana Foundation have required students to finish their Ngondro in order to participate in Rushen (a secret practice that comprises the Dzogchen preliminaries), our annual Trekchӧd (Cutting Through Solidity) teachings, and in other advanced practices.