Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Online Advice Book
Lam-rim Topics :
Preliminary Practices
- Preliminary Practice Advice
- The Purpose of Preliminary Practices
- Tong-len and the Four Immeasurable Thoughts
- Mandala Offerings
- Prostrations
Preliminary Practice Advice
| Practices to Purify Negative Karma | |
| A student wrote to Rinpoche to check what practices she should do to purify negative karma and to clear obstacles to her Dharma practice, in order to benefit sentient beings. | |
My very dear Julie,
Your main deity for quick enlightenment and to be able to enlighten sentient beings soon, is Chakrasamvara (Five Deities). Kalachakra also came out well. It is very good to take Kalachakra initiation and do the Kalachakra Guru Yoga practice or at least chant the mantra every day after the initiation, if you wish. If you feel a stronger connection with Chakrasamvara, then do Chakrasamvara practice, because that is your main deity.
The following number of preliminary practices is to purify negative karma collected from beginningless rebirth and to collect extensive merit, so that you have the conditions for realization on the stages of the path to enlightenment for sentient beings.
- Refuge: 300,000
- Prostration: 1,700
- It is very good to do some prostrations every day. Many practitioners do 100 prostrations every day. This is an unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable way to collect extensive merit. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, most powerful purification.
- Vajrasattva: 600,000
- You can do a large number of mantras in a retreat, otherwise at other times recite some in daily life, then again do retreat, to finish a larger number, then again do some mantras in daily life. You can do the mantras like this, or if you want to do everything in the form of retreat, this also can be done.
- Dorje Khadro Fire Puja: 3,000
- Water bowls: 7,000
- Tsa-tsas: 100,000
- The tsa-tsas can be divided among Mitukpa, Kunrig and Kalachakra.
- Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga: 300,000
- Recite and count migtsema, therefore I hope you are here at the teachings.
Lam-rim meditation:
- Two months: lower path of lam-rim meditation
- Four months: middle path
- One month: bodhicitta
- Four months: emptiness
Then after that, meditate on the graduated path topics, one-by-one, starting from the precious human rebirth. Try to achieve the realizations one-by-one, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes.
With much love and prayers…
| Preliminary Practices | |
| A student wrote to Rinpoche requesting advice about his preliminary practices and for Rinpoche to be his guru. The student is an active member of the Mexico center. He met Rinpoche in Washington then saw him again at a retreat in Mexico. | |
My very dear Javier,
Regarding your request, I don’t have any qualities, but I accept. You try and I will try, OK? I have advised some preliminary practices (see attached).
Tong-len practice with bodhicitta is the most incredible practice for you, the greatest purification, collecting the most extensive merits and bringing you closer to enlightenment each time. You should also recite 300 million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras. This is the most important practice. Do it with tong-len meditation, not just chanting the mantra. Purify yourself with Chenrezig and then purify all other sentient beings, mostly with tong-len.
Motivate for numberless sentient beings in all the realms to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its causes, karma and delusions, and to attain liberation and enlightenment, by actualizing bodhicitta and the whole path to enlightenment.
When you do the lam-rim meditations, also meditate each day on guru devotion, for as much time as is convenient, even ten to fifteen minutes is OK, or longer. When you have completed one lam-rim cycle according to my advice, repeat the cycle. When you do the next cycles, you don’t need to spend too much time on the realizations that you have stabilized, but continue with the subjects that you haven’t realized yet.
For example, first you have the realization of renunciation of this life, then realization of the perfect human rebirth, which is so difficult to find again, then the lower realms, delusion and karma, impermanence and death, etc.
Meditate for one day on the perfect human rebirth and its great meaning; the next day: how difficult it is to find; the next day: impermanence and death; the next day: the suffering of the lower realms; and the next day: karma. Then repeat.
Then do the same with the next level of the middle capable being. Meditate on the general sufferings of samsara, the six types of suffering, the four types of suffering, the three types of suffering, the suffering of devas and humans, and the shortfalls of delusions and the twelve links.
You can do a few cycles like this. Or, after one cycle, you can do each meditation one by one until you achieve that realization. For example, meditate on the perfect human rebirth continually, no matter how long it takes, how many weeks or months.
Start each morning with prostrations, meditation on impermanence and death, then meditation on bodhicitta, generating the motivation for life, and chant OM MANI PADME HUM mantras.
The first main practice is lam-rim. The second practice is tantra.
You can read many lam-rim books, but mainly Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and the Lam-rim Chen-mo. For daily meditation, it is good to use the lam-rim outline from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Essential Nectar. It is good to do a few nyung-näs each year. Offering social service is also good.
With much love and prayers...
- Refuge: 300,000
- OM MANI PADME HUM recitations: 300 million
- Tong-len: 40,000
- Guru devotion: daily
- The graduated path of the lower capable being: one month
- The graduated path of the intermediate capable being: ten months
- The graduated path of the highest capable being: bodhicitta - eight months; emptiness - eight months
| Preliminary Practices |
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| A student wrote asking about preliminary practices and Rinpoche sent the following advice. | |
My dear Tim,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. You are a stable and growing inspiration – not only for practicing Dharma but for dedicating your life to goodness – to liberating yourself and all other sentient beings. Also, you want to engage in ordination, which is taking strong responsibility to liberate yourself from the ocean of samsaric sufferings. It is especially taking responsibility to liberate countless sentient beings from the ocean of samsaric sufferings, the continuation of which has no beginning.
My advice is when making important decisions in your life, the most important thing for you and all other sentient beings is to think well. One must see it thoroughly. One must look at it thoroughly – not just for a few days or a few months. Here in the Tibetan tradition, ordination is until death. It comes down to the point of what happens to oneself by following attachment. Delusion can harm us and all sentient beings. This is how it has been since beginningless rebirths. This effort, (of following attachment), has been with us from time without beginning, from beginningless rebirths. So, by not following desire and delusion, you achieve liberation – everlasting happiness – and, of course, with bodhicitta, you reach enlightenment.
Not only that, but you will be able to liberate countless sentient beings, from whom you have received all your past, present, and future happiness, from the oceans of samsaric suffering – delusions and karma.
The objective or purpose of this life decision you are making is not just for the temporary happiness of this life and not for the samsaric happiness of future lives. Of course, the benefit of practicing Mahayana Buddhism has vast amounts of benefit. Living in ordination correctly, living in the vows of the precepts of the high ordination, makes it much easier to achieve this goal.
Your main deity to achieve the quickest enlightenment is Tara Cittamani – the highest yoga tantra aspect, also, Kalachakra. You can take the Kalachakra initiation and do some practice with that, also some retreat, but the main thing is on the basis of Tara, practicing mind training, lam-rim and the three principal paths. Try to learn as much as you can and then focus on that – the generation stage and completion stage. First, the main thing is lam-rim. After a few years, then, the main focus is the generation stage.
Your preliminary practices to do to purify obstacles and generate realizations, purify negative karma and delusions, and create the necessary conditions to achieve realizations and to receive the blessings of the guru in your heart are as follows:
20,000 guru yoga – for blessings of the guru for the common realizations of the lam-rim, and the uncommon realizations of the tantric path.
300,000 tsa-tsas – mostly Mitukpa, but then also do a few of the seven Medicine Buddhas, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and the 35 Buddhas.
Also, read the Golden Light Sutra.
Take care of your life with Dharma, in the Dharma (bodhicitta),
With much love and prayers...
| Different Ngondro |
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| A student wrote to Rinpoche saying she had decided to do another lama’s ngondro and wanted to be clear about her commitments regarding the preliminary practices that Rinpoche had given her. She had asked for some preliminary practices and Rinpoche had given her a number prostrations, mandala offerings, and Dorje Khadro fire offerings to do. Her question was whether she had a commitment or not to still do those preliminaries while doing the other lama’s ngondro. Rinpoche responded as follows. | |
[Rinpoche laughed when he read the question.]
Now it’s up to you, not me. [Rinpoche smiled.]
If you can live for 100 or 200 years you can do the preliminaries of all four traditions. [Rinpoche smiled again.]
As long as you are taking refuge in the guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, it is OK.
The path to enlightenment is the same in all traditions, without the root it is not possible. In regards to the three principles of the path, it is the same in all four traditions, but some have a little difference in presentation.
However, it is very important in daily life to pray to have realizations and complete the path.
As far as the preliminaries go, do whatever you can, but remember preliminaries are not just to be done one time, and then not again. Even eighth and tenth-level bodhisattvas, who have vast amounts of qualities, continue with the preliminaries, performing them with countless manifest bodies. Even one so close to enlightenment is still performing preliminaries. You need to create merit and do purification to achieve enlightenment.
With much love and prayers...
| Which Preliminaries to Do |
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| A student wrote asking Rinpoche for advice about her preliminary practices. In the past, Rinpoche had given her preliminary practices to do throughout her life, but she started practicing with another lama, who asked her to finish particular preliminaries in order to receive Dzogchen teachings. She wrote to Rinpoche asking if she could focus on these preliminaries so that she could receive these teachings. | |
My very dear Charlotte,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I just want to tell you frankly that when I heard you are now practicing in another tradition it did disturb me in the beginning. Not trusting Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings or thinking that Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings are not complete or missing something did affect my mind, but now it’s OK. Of course, you should understand I have gurus from other traditions like Trulshik Rinpoche, His Holiness Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche, and Sakya Trizen. I took initiations and teachings from these lamas. I am just letting you know what I felt and thought. Anyway, I am not holding a grudge. I am very happy that you have been able to develop a good heart these past years; that is a great thing. Of course, I wanted to meet you very very much in Arizona, but couldn’t because of the lack of time. It is great news to hear that you have been able to develop a good heart, so please continue.
So, as you are already doing the preliminary practices, go ahead and finish the Dzogchen preliminaries. If you become enlightened before you finish the preliminaries, that’s OK, it is not a rejection. You will become the first champion in history. Also, you can do preliminaries after you become enlightened as well.
With much love and prayers...
