My very dear one,
Thank you for your kind letter.

Regarding the lam-rim meditations (see below) – this means for these numbers of months you study texts related to those specific subjects. Then, no matter how many months or years it takes for you to have stable realizations, continue until then. This means when you have a stable realization on the perfect human rebirth and karma, then move on to the next section, then after you have a stable realization on that, then move on to bodhicitta. However, each day also practice some meditation on emptiness. Maybe you can study different books on emptiness that have different techniques on how to do this meditation. Some suggestions are:

• Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche
• Virtue and Reality, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
• Echoes of Voidness, by Geshe Rabten
• Essence of the Heart Sutra, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

There are also some teachings I have given on emptiness. You can get these from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. From these, find different techniques on how to meditate on emptiness. You can write the different techniques down in a little notebook and use that each day, using different techniques.

You sound like you have a very determined mind to take ordination; that is excellent. These practices are what you need to do as preparation for ordination. These practices purify your mind, negative karma, and defilements, and also help you to collect extensive merit, to have realizations on the path to enlightenment, and to be able to enlighten numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demi gods, gods, and intermediate state beings, so they can achieve enlightenment. That is the goal: to do all your practice, every mantra, every prayer you recite, every text you read, everything, with that in your mind. It also creates the causes for your ordination.

I am making prayers for your father and also I have asked the nuns in my house to make tsa-tsas dedicated to him (three stupas, thirteen Mitukpas, seven Medicine Buddhas, and three longlife tsa-tsas).

With much love and prayers...

Practices given:

• Refuge: 10,000 
• Mandala offerings: 100,000
• Vajrasattva: 10,000
• Water bowl offerings: 300,000
• Tsa-tsas: Thousand-arm Chenrezig (some can be large, but mostly small): 400,000
• Tong-len: 10,000, using the prayer from the Guru Puja. If this is difficult then just do the meditation that is bodhicitta.
• Diamond Cutter Sutra: 400
• Sanghata Sutra: twice a month and carry on like this. You can read a little each day and in this way finish reading it twice a month.
• Golden Light Sutra: 100
• The graduated path of lower scope: five months
• The graduated path of intermediate scope: four months
• The graduated path of highest scope:
  - bodhicitta: three months
  - emptiness: four months
• Main deity: Tara Chittamani, Kalachakra, and Hevajra. From these choose which one you feel closest to.
• Other deities: Most Secret Hayagriva and Secret Hayagriva

This means you can take all these initiations, as you have a karmic connection to all these deities. You can practice these deities if you want to, and also do retreat, etc.