My very dear Mark,
Thank you very much for your kind letter and for your practice, for taking the initiation and doing retreat. The only thing left is enlightenment! It is gigantic, I can’t believe it! I fainted, but not on the cement floor, on the spring bed, so I could jump up again. It is unbelievable to continue with the preliminary practices. That is what purifies obstacles to achieving realizations of the path to enlightenment—the negative karmas collected during beginningless rebirths—and collects merit and the conditions to achieve realizations of the path to enlightenment.

Recite the Heart Sutra, the most powerful teaching, the heart of the 84,000 teachings that come in three levels—Hinayana, Mahayana Sutra, and Mahayana Tantra. Also, meditate on emptiness, because this is what directly cuts ignorance, the root of samsara. During beginningless rebirths we dedicate our lives and offer service to ignorance. As a result, we are suffering in the six realms, but we can’t stand to be in samsara for even one second. Whatever samsaric happiness we experience is nothing new—we have experienced it numberless times and when we analyze it, it is only suffering. That is why it cannot continue and completely develop. Samsaric happiness cannot increase the more we work for it, because this pleasure is only in the nature of suffering. It is not ultimate happiness—liberation from samsara—and it is not enlightenment, which is the complete cessation and complete realization of the path to enlightenment.

We cannot imagine being reborn in samsara again; it is unbelievable. We cannot eat, sleep or even have a heart attack, even if we are reborn just once. The practice of Dharma is just once, and when we achieve enlightenment, we don’t come down or lose it. We don’t have to repeat this over and over, so, it is unbelievably important in life. Even if we have only one second left, we must practice Dharma. Then we will have happiness at the time of death and in our future lives, and we will achieve liberation and enlightenment. Not only that, we will also liberate all sentient beings and bring everyone to enlightenment. When everyone is brought to enlightenment by us—when nobody suffers—our purpose for practicing Dharma is complete. No matter how long it takes or how difficult it is, it is most important and most worthwhile to achieve realizations, no matter how many eons and lifetimes—not just years—it takes.

If your deity is Vajrayogini or Heruka, keep that as your main deity and tantric practice, but that is second. In daily life, the first thing is meditation on the lam-rim, laying out the foundation in your heart for renunciation, bodhicitta and right view. Our project in life is to accomplish this, and of course, the root of success is guru devotion. By meditating on these in this life, we can achieve all the realizations; even three, two or one realization makes our life very worthwhile and our life is not wasted every day.

If we live with a bodhicitta motivation, this makes our life most beneficial for sentient beings every day. Then all practices—walking, eating and sleeping—become a cause of happiness, not just temporary happiness, but enlightenment.

I don’t remember whether I have given you the whole package. Please meditate on the following:

• Renunciation of this and future lives: seven years
• Bodhicitta: three years
• Emptiness: six years

The idea is to do as much as you can every day. Of course, the lam-rim doesn’t have to be practiced only in the meditation room or on the cushion. It can be done even at work or outside, when you are traveling. Meditation is action of the mind, so you can meditate anywhere. I am not sure if you are flying, but if you are, you can still meditate. I do not mean flying with the two wings on an airplane, but flying without those, with mental powers or realizations.

Do guru devotion every day, as much as you can. The length of the session is up to you. Make it shorter if you are busy and longer if you have time. I am not saying you can’t meditate on other things, but this is the main focus during these years, in order to have realizations in this life. At least it brings the potential for having realizations in future lives closer. Please understand that the more you listen to and meditate on the lineage lamas and how they practice correctly, the more you will achieve realizations, because mind is a dependent arising—it depends on causes and conditions. Due to another cause, the mind suffers, and when conditions change, the mind becomes virtuous, and you achieve happiness from that.

If we live our life this way, meditating on the lam-rim, we will have no regrets now and no regrets in the future when death comes. We can rejoice all the time. Tong-len brings us closer to enlightenment and closer to enlightening sentient beings. Maybe try shiné in the future. The most important thing in life is pleasing the guru.

With much love and prayers...