Three noble principles

Three Noble Principles (Tib. dam pa gsum) - there are three things that make all the difference between your practice being merely a way of bringing temporary relaxation, peace, and bliss, or of becoming a powerful cause for your enlightenment and the enlightenment of others. They are:

• good in the beginning: arousing bodhichitta as a skilful means to ensure that your practice becomes a source of merit for the future
• good in the middle: maintaining the view of the nature of mind, the attitude of non-grasping free from conceptualization, that secures the practice so that the merit cannot be destroyed by circumstances, and
• good in the end: sealing the practice properly by dedicating the merit, which will ensure that it continually grows ever greater.

The three are referred to in a popular quotation from Longchenpa:

"Begin with bodhichitta, do the main practice without concepts,

Conclude by dedicating the merit. These, together and complete,

Are the three vital supports for progressing on the path to liberation."