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 lamrim. Practice the lamrim very slowly with your full attention, read the whole lamrim 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.
