The Five Nails, also known as Zer Nga: the preliminary practice [Ngöndro] of the Northern Treasures [Changter]

Translated by CR Lama and James Low.

Download the text and translation in English and Tibetan

Download the text and translation in Portuguese and Tibetan translated by João Vale Neto.
The Necessary Conditions for Practice
“This is a tantric practice text and as such, according to the lineage, it requires initiation and transmission before it can be practised. This should be an appropriate Changter initiation from the cycle of three practices [Chenrasi Drowa Kundrol, Padmasambhava Rigdzin Dungdrub, and Thugdrub Dragpo Tsal].
If you have not received the initiation and transmission [lung], if you have a sincere desire to do the practice and feel a connection with CR Lama, then you can pray to him using the Seven Line Prayer, and on the basis of that, start the practice with a clear intention to make efforts to gain the necessary initiation as soon as you can.
The Five Nails is the preliminary practice for the above three practices and it follows the standard format of a ngöndro preliminary practice. It is arranged here according to the instructions I received from C. R. Lama. If it is to be used with the Chenrasi or Thugdrub practices then the visualisation is changed accordingly.
There may well be other traditions of practice within Changter.”

James Low