My most dear Julia,
Thank you very much for your beautiful, sincere, down-to-earth letter. You are practicing the most important things. I am very happy to hear from you, explaining what you have been doing, making your life meaningful, your awareness of life, that it is of an impermanent nature, and that you can’t delay practicing Dharma. It is also good to hear how the vows help you, give you a clear direction, make your life meaningful, and have helped you progress in your spiritual practice, how they help stop the distractions of the mind and enable you to put effort into what is most important.

I am extremely happy and surprised that you went to the website for my advice on daily practice and that your main emphasis is on guru devotion practice, meditation, and 35 Buddhas practice in the morning, Vajrasattva in the evening, also the 21 Taras practice, as well as Chenrezig and Medicine Buddha daily practice, and tong-len. On top of that, you are reciting the Sanghatasutra and Vajra Cutter Sutra. I think you will become a wish-fulfilling jewel for all sentient beings: for the numberless hell beings, whose suffering is so heavy that one second is like suffering for eons; the hungry ghosts, who do not find even a drop of water or morsel of food for hundreds of thousands of years; the animals, who have incredible suffering; and the human beings, who experience so much suffering in the world. By doing all this practice, you are becoming a wish-fulfilling jewel for all sentient beings. I am VERY, very impressed.

According to my observations, for your quickest enlightenment, your main deity practice is Most Secret Hayagriva. Other practices would also be good, like Guhyasamaja and Tara Cittamani. This means you can also take these initiations and can do some practice, but the main one is Hayagriva.

So, when the opportunity comes, you can take the Most Secret Hayagriva initiation. If you hear that I am giving this initiation, if you can manage, then you can come. Otherwise, you can take it nearby.

It would be quite good to practice shiné, and your focus should be on the Six Yogas of Naropa, on tum-mo, but there is no rush with that. At the moment, train your mind in guru devotion, the three principal paths, and then, afterward, do tantric practice—the tantric path of the two stages of generation and completion. You need an initiation for that.

Your preliminary practices are as follows:

• Dorje Khadro fire puja—7000
• Refuge—50,000
• Guru yoga—80,000
• Tsa-tsas—200,000 (Guru Shakyamuni Buddha)

You should also recite, at least once each week, the Diamond (Vajra) Cutter Sutra. This will bring incredible purification and you will collect vast amounts of merit. Your success will be based on this.

Lamrim Meditations:

• Five months—lower path
• Eight months—middle path
• Five months—bodhicitta
• Eleven months—emptiness

These topics will be your main focus for those months. Please study these. It doesn’t mean you can’t do other practices.

I think you are a very stable, good, and inspiring sentient being. Billions of thanks not only for your practice, but for your service to the Dharma center.