My very dear Wenyu,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. As your letter is not dated I am not sure how old it is—I apologize if there has been a delay.

The ultimate goal in life is to liberate countless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. For that you need to attain enlightenment, and for that you need to actualize the graduated path to enlightenment. So, this is a serious project, from life to life.

To have successful realizations of guru devotion, which is the root of the path, and the graduated path of the lower, middle, and higher capable being, you need to receive blessings from the guru in your heart. What causes this is guru devotion: seeing the guru as Buddha from your side, with all your effort, no matter how difficult it is, and no matter how long it takes. So, every day you need to perform one guru yoga practice—my suggestion is Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. Within that is a lam-rim meditation and prayer. You should do that and meditate on the lam-rim. After you finish that prayer which is called Foundation of Good Qualities, you can recite another prayer called Calling the Guru from Afar by Pabongka, or Hymns of Experience of the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa. After finishing this, or within this prayer at the right point, then recite the ending of Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga. If you have a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation then the guru enters your heart. If you don’t have a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation then you can’t do that visualization. In that case, the guru melts into light and dissolves into the center of the forehead between the two eyebrows, then blesses the body, speech, and mind.

In order to have realizations of the lam-rim you need to purify defilements and collect merits, so here follow your preliminary practices:

• 7000 mandala offerings

• 300,000 Vajrasattva mantras

• 300,000 Samaya Vajra mantras

• 400,000 Guru Yoga mantras: This is the number of “Migtsema” mantras based on Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga. You can also do these during Guru Puja. Sometimes you can do these on the basis of the Guru Puja, or begin each session with Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga, then count the “Migtsema” mantras. You should study the instructions for the preliminary practices. You don’t have to do all of them in retreat. You can do a big number in retreat then the rest in daily life, then do retreat again to accumulate more numbers. You can do retreat, then your job, then retreat again. That way it doesn’t interfere with your job.

• 20,000 Refuge prayers

• 40,000 Bodhicitta practices—Taking and Giving. If you are not familiar with this practice, then study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. There is a section on “Exchanging Self for Others—Techniques of Bodhicitta,” which discusses the bodhisattva practice of taking and giving.

For you, service to the Dharma center is very beneficial.

Every day, practice Chenrezig meditation and recite OM MANI PADME HUM. Medicine Buddha meditation and mantra recitation is also very important.

In the morning perform prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names. Prostrate toward all ten directions’ buddhas, Dharma, Sangha, statues, stupas, and scriptures, who are manifestations of the guru. For example, think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is what you think of when you start to lie down in the prostration. When you put your palms together on your head, then prostrate to all the buddhas, Dharma and Sangha who are manifestations of the guru. When you put your palms together on your forehead—in the center of the two eyebrows—then prostrate to the ten directions’ statues, stupas, and scriptures who are manifestations of the guru. When your palms are together at your throat, then prostrate to the ten directions’ buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha who are manifestations of the guru. When your palms are together at your heart, think of the ten directions’ statues, stupas, and scriptures, which are manifestations of the guru.

The following is how much time to spend on lam-rim meditation:

• 8 months for the lower path, from perfect human rebirth up to karma. Practice that over and over until you achieve realizations of those meditations—especially impermanence and death.
• 11 months on the middle path
• 9 months on the higher path—bodhicitta
• Meditate on emptiness a little bit every day. You can recite the Heart Sutra or another short prayer. You will find different techniques in texts on how to meditate on emptiness. One day try one technique, the next day try another technique, or you can try the same technique for some days.

Your main deity for your quickest enlightenment is Vajrayogini. Also, Hevajra seems beneficial. But the main one is Vajrayogini. You can receive the commentary on this and practice the meditation on this only after you receive the initiation of the deity.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa

The most important emphasis in life is mind training in the lam-rim and to benefit sentient beings—offering service as well.