Arya Sanghata Sutra

Complete a full recitation of the Arya Sanghata Sutra each week. You can do this all at once or recite some each day and in one week complete one recitation. This is a quick way to achieve success and to actualize the path; to achieve every success in working for sentient beings and for the teachings of Buddha. It is a most unbelievable way to collect merit and purify negative karma. Just hearing a few words from this sutra purifies the five heavy negative karmas without break [five immediate negativities.]

This is the most important thing for success, to be free from samsara and achieve enlightenment and to benefit all sentient beings and bring them to enlightenment, as well as for purification and everything. Also, if you can, dedicate that FPMT may bring all sentient beings to enlightenment as quickly as possible.

Life is very short and death can happen at any time. We are unbelievably lucky to find Buddha’s texts and sutras such as this and also to be able to read the texts in foreign languages. We are very lucky.

Lamrim Study and Practice

To gain effortful lamrim experience, meditate on the lamrim outline, going through the cycle four times. Then do effortless meditation.

The main lamrim text for you to read is the Red Commentary, but there is no translation yet. If you’re able to study with a geshe or something, then you can request teachings from this lamrim text. Study this text five times from beginning to end if you can.

When reading, this itself is a form of meditation. When you relate it to yourself, such as the sections on suffering, it helps to generate renunciation, and when you relate it to others, it helps to generate compassion. In this way it becomes meditation to develop renunciation, compassion and bodhicitta and so forth.

After studying the commentary you can use The Essential Nectar or another lamrim outline as a guidebook. Of course, you can also read other lamrim texts, such as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Lamrim Chenmo.