My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind email, and I am very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.
Please find attached the instructions on how to do the preliminary practices and what came out most beneficial for you to practice, for your quickest enlightenment.
As well as these practices, the most important practice is lam-rim. If you have already studied the lam-rim then you have some idea of what to do. Every day do some meditation on the lam-rim. The point is to develop the realizations on the path to enlightenment. So, put effort into actualizing the lam-rim. No matter how many months or years it takes, go through the lam-rim, put your effort into this, until you have realizations.
Every day you should do one meditation on guru devotion, until you see all the gurus as the Buddha and all the buddhas as your guru, from the bottom of your heart, one hundred percent, and so that it lasts a long time. Until that time, then keep meditating on guru devotion; you must carry on.
Every day, try to do one meditation on renouncing this life. Start with sufferings in samsara, the perfect human rebirth, its usefulness, the difficulty in finding it again, up until karma. Keep coming back to this until you have realizations. Also, every day, do one meditation on emptiness, using different teachings, quotations, and techniques. Or, if you find one technique that is very beneficial, then you can use that. Try to have realizations on each part of the lam-rim, step by step. It is only then that some change will happen in one’s mind and only then can you develop the experiences.
Continue like this, putting your main effort into actualizing the lam-rim. When you have break time from doing sitting meditation, then you can still apply these things, especially when problems arise. You can use them to develop renunciation, to realize emptiness, to actualize bodhicitta. Also, you can use them to develop guru devotion. In this way, your every action becomes Dharma, if it is performed with these attitudes. The most important thing to do is practice Dharma in your break time from sitting. This way your whole life is practicing Dharma.
Generally, it comes out very good for you to do social service. This could mean in a Dharma center. Actually, a Dharma center is the best form of social service because this is the only thing that really stops the sufferings forever. Dharma centers actually bring much deeper benefit to sentient beings. So, you can help in some way. Also, any social service is very good for you to do, to help others. To have direct physical involvement in benefiting others is very good for you.
With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa
Prostrations: 300,000, by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas' names
Mandala offerings: 100,000
Vajrasattva: 100,000
Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 200,000
Guru Yoga: Every day do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga or Guru Puja
Golden Light Sutra: Read a little every day; this is to do forever. This will direct your life towards enlightenment and fulfill all your wishes. It will bring unbelievably great benefit to the world, bless the earth, and heal all the sick people. It will bring protection to your home, your town, your city, your country, and to the whole world. This is the best thing for world peace.
Tong-len: 100,000 tong-len bodhicitta practice – See the attached sheet on how to do this. You can recite either the Nagarjuna prayer or the verse from the Guru Puja. The main thing is to do the meditation – you recite and also do the meditation. You can study more about this in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, in the section on tong-len. You can recite the short, middle, or long tong-len verses, it is up to you to which one you do, or you can do some of each.
