You can choose to practice the Longchen Nyingtik Ngondro (LNN), the Chetsun Nyingtik Ngondro (CNN), Kagyu Mahamudra Ngondro (KMN) or to continue a Ngondro that you are currently practicing. If you are currently practicing a different Ngondro, Rinpoche has said that “there is no need to switch, but if you want to switch (to the LNN, CNN or KMN) you can if you want”.  Once you have committed to a Ngondro in this Ngondro Gar, it is best not to switch to a different Ngondro until you have completed the first one.

Yes. You will have an account on the Ngondro Gar website and will be required to report your hours in the previous month there during the first 3 days of each month. So that, Rinpoche, the Administrator and the instructors will be able to see your progress.

If you fail to report your practice hours for 12 consecutive months, your NDG account will be suspended. 

Yes, new students can join at any time.

You can access to NDG website at ngondrogar.org and fill out the registration form on line. Before you fill the application form, please read “Things that you should know before applying Ngondro Gar” carefully. After you submit the form, the Administrator of the NDG will contact you. If you don’t hear back in 48 hours, please check your spam folder before contacting the Administrator.

The purpose of the NDG is to provide a platform and online community to support consistent daily practice. Consistency is the key to progress in practice. If you cannot keep up with the required minimum hours of daily practice, you can lower your daily commitment. However you should practice at least 30 minutes a day. The instructors will help you as much as possible to avoid this happening.

No, since it is a community dedicated to Ngondro practice, only Ngondro practice will count in your total hours.

We put together a Practice Resources section on the website with liturgies and instructions in text, video and audio formats about each of the Ngondro sections. In addition, all students are recommended to read two books: “The Words of My Perfect Teacher” by Patrul Rinpoche and “Not For Happiness” by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

Yes. If you can accumulate practice hours in retreat, but it would have to be a Ngondro retreat..

Here are the rules for that:

• If you do retreat for less than 7 days, you count the hours you have actually practiced.
• If you do retreat for 7 consecutive days that has 4 sessions and over 8 hours of practice per day, you can count all 24 hours of the 7-day period, so that is 168 hours.
• The 24-hour per day option is ONLY for 7 days.  If you do a retreat for longer, then after the 7 days, you can only count the actual hours you practice.  Example: for a 10-day retreat, you would count 7 days x 24 hours (168) plus the actual hours you practice in the additional 3 days. So, 168 hours + 3 days of actual