Going for refuge

Going for refuge” is done by reciting a short prayer while prostrating to a visualized “assembly tree” (tshogs shing), a maṇḍala-like vertical array of one’s lineage. The refuge prayers themselves often encode specifically Tantric versions of the three jewels of Buddhism—the Buddha, his community, and his teachings.

In the context of this being part of the “extraordinary preliminary practices” (sngon ‘gro) one is required to do before engaging in advanced tantric contemplation, one is expected to do this 100,000 times.