Lamrim Study and Effortful Meditation Practice

Lamrim Study and Effortful Meditation Practice

Date of Advice:
March 2015
Date Posted:
December 2015

A new student asked Rinpoche about long-term practices for this life.

My most dear, most precious, most kind one,
Thank you very much for asking for life practices. Probably at Kopan last time you gave me a letter requesting practices for outside. It could be yours. I’m so sorry it didn’t get done earlier.

  • Refuge: 10,000
  • Generating four immeasurable thoughts: 90,000
  • Water bowl offerings: 100,000
  • Mandala offerings: 30,000

You can choose one lam-rim text, for example, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Great Lam-rim, Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Manjushri’s Own Words or The Essence of Refined Gold. You can choose any lam-rim text in English and study it from beginning to end three or four times, but not just reading fast like a puja, no. By thinking, using it for meditation.

Practice effortful meditation, following the lam-rim outline twice through. The first time, spend fifteen months on emptiness, but the second time you can do five or ten months on emptiness. Then do effortless meditation.

Your deity is Heruka Five Deities or Kalachakra. Whichever you have stronger faith for and feel closer to, decide on that and meditate.

Thank you very much for spending your life practicing lam-rim.

Put effort into doing nyung-näs. It is for two days and is a very intensive, very powerful, quick way to generate compassion. It is a quick way to get enlightened and a quick way to be born in the pure land. If you can, do at least four nyung-näs each year, but more is better. Try to do that.

With much love and prayers...