Purifying Obstacles to Dharma Practice

Purifying Obstacles to Dharma Practice

Date of Advice:
August 2014
Date Posted:
February 2016

A student had many obstacles when trying to practice Dharma and she asked Rinpoche what she could do to purify this.

My very dear one,
To purify the obstacles, try to do 5,000 Vajrasattva mantras. Also do prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, but mostly do the Vajrasattva mantras. If you can, do some [mantras] every day, in a Vajrasattva session.

Please read some books on Vajrasattva before you start doing the Vajrasattva sessions. Make sure to do the practice with the remedy of the four opponent powers, but you have to know what they are. It is explained in the Vajrasattva books. This is what I am advising now, so please do this.

If you have time, read a little lam-rim from beginning to end, so that means each day read some pages and like that, slowly finish. Especially focus on the perfect human rebirth, its usefulness, how it is difficult to find again, and on impermanence and death. Meditate on the lower realms, suffering and karma. Of course the most important part is the suffering of samsara.

Please enjoy the life with bodhicitta, not only when meditating, but also when you are eating, walking, sleeping, and doing your job. As much as possible, do everything with the good heart, bodhicitta. Try to make your actions become Dharma and especially the cause of enlightenment, as much as possible. Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers...