Daily Practice Advice
Daily Practice Advice
Click on the links below to read more advice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on this topic:
A young girl, whose whole family was very dedicated to Rinpoche and the Dharma, asked for advice for her mother.
My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. Regarding your mother, I checked regarding her practice. Please pass this on to her.
Every day, she can practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha daily meditation practice, before absorbing the merit field into her (of Lama Tsongkhapa or Shakyamuni Buddha). She should do one lam-rim prayer and meditate on each section of the lam-rim for two weeks, so, for instance, spend two weeks on guru devotion, then two weeks on death and impermanence, then two weeks on karma, etc. In this way, she can work through the lam-rim, and then go through it again, starting from the beginning, until she has stable realizations. She can follow the outline in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Essential Nectar. Read slowly through these books. At least read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand completely twice.
In the morning, she should generate a bodhicitta motivation. She can do this while reciting OM MANI PADME HUM. She can find a good bodhicitta motivation from one of my talks or from the Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun.
Then, if possible, if she can do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas by reciting their names. She should prostrate to her altar, to many pictures of the merit field, and holy objects. If she can do thirty-five prostrations once, twice or three times a day, that would be best.
Before going to bed she should recite one mala or half a mala of Vajrasattva and remember the four opponent powers. It would be great if she can do this.
With much love and prayers to you and the whole family, and I hope to see the whole family soon.
A student wrote to Rinpoche asking for advice on her practice and on how to achieve success.
My very dear Lauren,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. It is extremely important to practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga every day. There are many special benefits. There is a guru yoga practice with every deity: Manjushri, Chenrezig, Tara, and so on. But here, there are special advantages: whatever listening, reflecting, or meditating practices we do it is very effective for the mind, to transform the mind to achieve realizations. Also, it protects from dangers caused by the spirit king crises that you experience on a certain day, when you might experience certain sicknesses. Of course, that’s not the main benefit of practicing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. You develop six wisdoms by practicing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, but the main advantage for meditation is clear, quick, profound wisdom.
Also, if you practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, when you die you will be born in Lama Tsongkhapa’s pure land: Tushita. Then you come back to the world manifesting billions and billions of emanations with all good qualities.
The other advantage is that you are able to meet with Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings in future lives. That’s the most important thing, even more important than going to the pure land and never being reborn in the lower realms. Meeting Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings is even more important than being reborn in the pure land.
Why Lama Tsongkhapa? Because the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa happened later, after the other traditions had developed: Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya. Lama Tsongkhapa studied thoroughly Buddha’s teachings, the pandits’ and yogis’ commentaries, the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya, and examined everything, so therefore in his teachings there is nothing missing in the path to enlightenment. Especially, his teachings have the clearest explanation of emptiness, the right view, the Prasangika view. It is explained more clearly than the other views. That means there is the opportunity to realize as quickly as possible, without taking much time, the right view of emptiness according to the Prasangika Madhyamaka schools. By developing that, you have the opportunity to have direct perception, to directly eliminate the causes of samsara – the delusions and karma – even the seeds of delusion, the imprints. Then, it’s impossible to reincarnate and to experience suffering in samsara again. This can happen quickly. As you achieve this path, liberated, then you know how to liberate others: countless sentient beings. By developing bodhicitta with wisdom, and wisdom with bodhicitta, you eliminate even the subtle defilements and achieve enlightenment. Lama Tsongkhapa also gave the clearest explanation of the Highest Yoga Tantra path and the illusory body and how to achieve shamatha (calm abiding) by releasing the subtle sinking thought that some great meditators believe is correct meditation. If you don’t achieve shamatha, you can’t achieve great insight, which derives from great ecstasy of the body and mind by meditation on emptiness unified with shamatha. Without that you can’t achieve the arya path of wisdom realizing emptiness, liberation, and enlightenment.
For your quickest enlightenment, I suggest Heruka. To meditate on the path of Heruka you need to receive a great initiation of Heruka. Only then are you empowered to receive the commentary and do the retreat.
Please meditate on the lam-rim as follows:
- three months on the lower path, the gradual path of the lower being
- one month on the middle path
- two months on bodhicitta
- three months on emptiness
Every day, please read the Arya Sanghata Sutra. It doesn’t mean you have to finish reading it every day, of course that would be very good, but if you don’t have time just read some of it every day.
You asked about what practices can be done to achieve success. Bodhicitta and right view generate vast amounts of merit and help you to develop quick realizations. They are the most important things for realizing the path – that’s the best success. Then, in other activities you will have success. Read the Sanghata Sutra until you die, and in future lives, if you remember. In daily life, you must perform Compassion Buddha practice; recite OM MANI PADME HUM to develop compassion and bodhicitta, and to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. You must also practice Medicine Buddha.
For success, you need to create a lot of merit and good karma, so there are other things you can do. If you can, practice the short English version of Medicine Buddha puja: perform the seven limb practice and praises, then recite the name of each Buddha seven times. This is very good. As much as possible, you can set up offerings, very clean and neat, without breathing over the offerings, making them dirty. Perform as many as you can at home. When you make offerings to Medicine Buddha or to the merit field, when you practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, you can think of all the offerings at my house in Aptos – there are so many flowers and lights outside and inside, so many hundreds of water offerings, food, and tea. Also, in Washington at Amitabha Buddha Pure Land retreat land, there are many offerings that you can visualize. You don’t have to see each offering clearly. Just think of them in your heart: “I’m making all the offerings there: flowers and lights outside and inside, water offerings, food, and tea, which generate great bliss.” Then offer them. Each time you do the seven-limb practice, there are offerings to make. At that time, think that Medicine Buddha is all the gurus, buddhas, Dharma, Sangha, and offer all the holy objects in the ten directions – statues, scriptures everything. You can also offer all the extensive offerings in all the FPMT center gompas. I can allow you to offer them because I am the spiritual director of the centers.
After you have made offerings to Medicine Buddha by thinking of all of this, then make offerings immediately after that to all the buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha in the ten directions, who are the essence of the guru. After that, make offering to the statues, stupas, and scriptures in the ten directions, who are the essence of the guru. If you do this, then with each light, water bowl, tiny flower, and the rest, you create countless causes of enlightenment, liberation, happiness in future lives, happiness in this life, and success.
So, what greater happiness is there in life to enjoy than this? It is an incredible opportunity. It is so easy to create causes for happiness, liberation, and enlightenment. There’s no point in being depressed. While life is so full of opportunity, if you don’t take it, then you are making a big mistake. You are cheating yourself.
You can perform Medicine Buddha puja every ten days. If you can perform Medicine Buddha practice/puja every day, that would be wonderful.
The purpose of our meeting each other in this life is to practice, to liberate yourself, to liberate all those sentient beings from the oceans of sufferings and bring them to enlightenment. This is the happiest life.
At other times, while you are doing jobs, when there’s a break from sitting meditation, then live your life with bodhicitta as much as possible. Also, watch your mind, what it’s doing. Is it creating negative karma or virtue? Whatever you’re doing, do it with bodhicitta as much as possible.
With much love and prayers. Take care of your life.
A student asked for Rinpoche’s advice on what practices he should engage in, to quickly clear his mind stream from obscurations to the path and to make his practice most effective and pure for the benefit of all sentient beings.
My dear Anthony,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I must apologize that I did not come to Kopan Monastery for the course. I will accept you as my disciple. Since you have taken the Chenrezig initiation and the Highest Yoga Tantra teachings, you are already my disciple.
Regarding your question about the quickest way to achieve realization and enlightenment for sentient beings, first of all, Lama Tsongkhapa asked Manjushri, “What is the quickest way to achieve realization and enlightenment?” Manjushri answered, “Pacify the obstacles to achieving realization, through Vajrasattva practice and so forth. Then, collect the necessary conditions, the merits to achieve realizations, such as through mandala offerings and so forth. Then, one-pointedly request to the guru, receive blessings from the guru. Then, use action of the body, by meditating on the path to enlightenment.”
One answer to your question about the quickest way to achieve enlightenment is through compassion for other sentient beings. You will be able to achieve enlightenment quickest by having the strongest compassion. Maitreya Buddha generated bodhicitta and became a bodhisattva much earlier than the Buddha, but the Buddha became enlightened before Maitreya. Why? Because the Buddha’s compassion was much stronger than Maitreya Buddha’s. When they were brothers, they went to the forest and saw a tiger dying from starvation. Both of them saw it, then they went back home. Guru Shakyamuni then went back and gave his body to the tiger to eat to stop its suffering of starvation. Maitreya Buddha saw the tiger, but did not offer his body to it. Therefore, because the Buddha’s compassion was much stronger, he became enlightened earlier than Maitreya Buddha, even though Maitreya Buddha had generated bodhicitta earlier than the Buddha. There are many other stories to prove this. If you have stronger compassion, it means that whatever you do is of greater service to others. It becomes more powerful purification and also the means to collect extensive merit in a short time. This is how it becomes the quickest way to achieve enlightenment.
Another answer is correctly devoting yourself to the virtuous friend—with devotion and effort for a long time, looking at the guru as the Buddha, with the correct reasoning, which is explained in Buddha’s teachings, as well as commentaries by great Indian pandits, holy beings, and also Tibetan holy beings. With that devotion, seeing the guru as Buddha, you do whatever the guru advises, and correctly devote your body, speech, and mind to the virtuous friend, cherishing the guru as much more precious than one’s own life. The minute you have that thought, seeing the guru as Buddha, you have no difficulties at all, and it is so easy to fulfill his or her advice. One is able to put all the advice into practice, whatever is given, and there are no difficulties, just bliss all the time, when you are able to do this. You don’t feel it as a burden. You feel so willing and happy. This is why Milarepa achieved enlightenment in a few years—through strong guru yoga practice, cherishing the guru and the guru’s advice more than his own life. Not only Milarepa, but Naropa, Tilopa, Gyalwa Ensapa —the disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa’s disciple—the great yogi Chökyi Dorje, and so many others also achieved enlightenment in one brief lifetime. All of this was due to their strong guru yoga practice, guru devotion, and cherishing the guru’s advice more than their own life. This becomes the most powerful purification, and the quickest way to collect extensive merit. You receive blessings from the guru. So, this is the other answer to the quickest way to achieve enlightenment.
You must study well the chapter on guru devotion in the Lamrim Chenmo, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and other texts. You should do meditation every day on guru devotion, no matter how many lifetimes it takes, until you achieve a stable realization that every single buddha is all the gurus and each guru is all the buddhas, seeing them as one. Every day, continue your guru devotion meditation based on the lam-rim outline. Do some part of the outline one day, and then another part of the outline the next day. When you have finished, then go back to the beginning again. As much as possible, always abide in the guru’s advice. Always practice mindfulness. Whenever there is a danger for heresy and anger to arise, recognize that by thinking of it as your biggest enemy. Try to pacify it.
So, you should realize that obtaining and following the guru’s word is really wish-fulfilling, because by following his or her advice then you achieve everything, including enlightenment. How many times you fulfill his or her advice, the quicker and easier it will be to achieve enlightenment. Each word of your guru that you follow is more valuable than wish-granting jewels filling the whole sky. Remember always how precious and how important it is. Do not allow your mind to be under the control of delusion. And, as I mentioned before about compassion, practice having a good heart with everyone.
Regarding daily practice, if you have taken a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation, you must do six-session yoga. As daily practice, first generate a bodhicitta motivation toward all sentient beings, and, at the same time, you can chant the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. In this way you have fulfilled your commitment. You can also do tong-len practice, taking on other sentient beings’ sufferings and giving one’s happiness to them, and you can recite OM MANI PADME HUM at the same time if you can. Then, do the practice for blessing speech. Then, perform prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names. That is extremely beneficial. Then, perform the Guru Puja, if you can, otherwise practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. That would be very, very good. The Guru Puja contains so many important practices of sutra and tantra. You are unbelievably fortunate in being able to practice the Guru Puja. Every day, recite one lam-rim prayer and one prayer of the graduated tantric path. These plant the seeds of the whole path to enlightenment every time you recite these two prayers. So, it is very important to read these two prayers. It prepares the mind for realization and to achieve the two kayas in the future. In the evening, recite Vajrasattva mantra, if possible one mala, half a mala, or 21 times, to purify the day’s negative karma, so that it does double by the next day. One should also take the lay vows. After finishing the lam-rim prayer and Lama Chöpa, do lam-rim meditation based on the Lama Chöpa lam-rim prayer, expanding each topic from within that context.
First, study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, if you have not studied it. The daily text to use is Advice from the Spiritual Friend: Essential Nectar. You should use that for daily lam-rim meditation practice.
Please practice the following:
- five months on the graduated path of the lower capable being
- eight months on the middle path of lam-rim
- 11 months on bodhicitta
- eight months on emptiness
This does not mean that you cannot meditate on other topics, but these are the main focus for some months of study before meditating. Then, consider your daily life as constituting break time, “break” here meaning a break from sitting meditation, not a break from Dharma. Also, try to live your life with the mind of bodhicitta, and with that, offer service to others.
With much love and prayer...
A student wrote asking for advice on her practice and Rinpoche sent the following response, advising daily meditation on the lamrim (the graduated path to enlightenment.)
You must do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. That contains the steps of the path to enlightenment (lam-rim). You must recite mindfully, so that it becomes a direct meditation. Each day when you do this, it brings you closer to the path. That means each day it brings you closer to enlightenment, and closer to enlightening all sentient beings. Why should you do that? Because this is the purpose and meaning of your life.
Every day, read the text of the stages of the path called The Essential Nectar. That is like a pocket lam-rim meditation. When you have finished, read it again. Do that for your whole life. This makes your life most fruitful and meaningful. It is not just reading, think of the meaning and how it relates to your life, OK? After sitting meditation, in the break time, think about the topics. One day, relate everything to guru devotion practice. When you encounter problems, think: this is the blessing of the guru and the quick way to finish many heavy negative karmas now, that I would have to experience in this life and also in the future, to have happiness in the future. Think that any good thing that happens is the kindness of the guru.
The next day, focus on the topic of renunciation in the break time, thinking about impermanence and death, the suffering of samsara, everything that cuts attachment and overcomes delusion. When you are working or whatever you are doing, think of these topics so you can overcome your delusions. This becomes the cause for achieving liberation from samsara for yourself and all sentient beings.
The next day, try to focus on bodhicitta and the four types of kindness: the kindness of others, animals, people, and thinking how all beings have been our mother. The next day, think of extensive kindness, how all past, present, and future happiness is received from sentient beings.
The following day focus on emptiness, and think about what is the false view. When you go out, whether you are walking, sitting, or eating, think: Why do I say I am walking? There is no reason at all except for the base aggregates sitting and the mouth talking; there is no other reason at all.
After this analysis, check if you can see the “real I” appearing. If you felt the “real I” appearing strongly before and not so much after the analysis, this is an excellent sign. If that I is totally lost, then that is realizing emptiness, the middle way. In conclusion, the I that exists is what is merely imputed by the mind because the base aggregates exist. The “real I” is the false I. The total absence or non-existence of that is emptiness, the ultimate nature of the I. This is one technique you can use.
Rinpoche wrote this letter to a student advising how to make every daily activity the cause for enlightenment.
I think it is good if you can spend more time on practice earlier in the morning, like 4 to 5 am. First, do the blessing of your speech and mala and then do the motivation. Then chant one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM. If you can chant the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM while you are doing the motivation that would be good. This is very important for developing compassion for sentient beings.
Then you can wash if you haven’t already. Before washing, remind yourself that the purpose of your life is to benefit sentient beings, “Therefore I am performing the yoga of washing, in order to have a clear mind for meditation.” (When you are making offerings it is important not to have bad breath, so rinsing the mouth and washing the body is important for this reason.) When you wash, visualize Vajrasattva on your crown sending nectar into your body and mind, and washing away all defilements and degenerated samayas. If possible visualize all sentient beings at your heart being purified at the same time. When you have finished washing, think “I am completely purified” and then recite the long Vajrasattva mantra, or the short one. Generally, for washing your body there are outer, inner, and secret meditations. You can do the same thing when you take a bath. When you have received a great initiation then you can visualize yourself as a deity, but at the moment you can’t do this.
Set up offerings on your altar, making sure your motivation is present by thinking as before: “I must achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, therefore I need to purify and collect merit, and therefore I am going to make these offerings”. If the offerings are performed with bodhicitta then the action becomes a cause of enlightenment. With the bodhicitta motivation, even with one light offering or water bowl one can create a lot of merit.
Generate bodhicitta: “The purpose of my life is to benefit all sentient beings, therefore I need to purify, and therefore I am going to do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas to purify all the sufferings and defilements.” With this motivation you begin the prostrations, and then practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. When you make prostrations recite the Buddhas’ names a few times as you prostrate. The other way of doing the prostrations is to recite the Buddhas’ name once with each prostration, at the end recite the confession prayer, then sit down and practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, including lam-rim. Practice the lam-rim very slowly with your full attention, read the whole lam-rim prayer, and then read a bit from The Essential Nectar, specifically the section on the benefits of correctly devoting to the virtuous friend; read as much as you can on this subject.
When eating food or drinking again generate bodhicitta as before: “I must achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, therefore I am going to partake of this food to take care of my body, and therefore I am going to perform the yoga of eating”. This becomes guru yoga practice and one collects extensive merit with each action of offering, creating vast amounts of merit, like the sky. Your eating and drinking becomes the most important kind of generosity. It becomes the cause for liberation and enlightenment.
It is important before going to bed to do three prostrations to Guru Buddha with a good motivation: “The purpose of my life is achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, therefore I am doing three prostrations and practicing the path.”
When you lie down in bed it becomes the yoga of sleeping, and with the thought of bodhicitta this becomes the cause of happiness for oneself and others. Also, you can do a special meditation on tong-len and then fall asleep, or think of the guru in front or in your heart and have the mindfulness that this is all the buddhas. Another meditation is to meditate on the object as a subtle dependent arising.
These instructions are for everyday life, how to make best use of any activity, even talking becomes a cause for enlightenment. Everything becomes pure Dharma and becomes a cause of enlightenment and you can collect so much merit because of your motivation. When offering objects think of the guru. This way you collect so much good fortune and become incredibly fortunate. When setting up offerings bless the offerings. Each offering should be blessed in order to dispel interferences. Bless them with Buddha’s body, speech, and mind: OM AH HUM.