Some nuns were starting a nunnery and had gathered to stay there for one month. They asked Rinpoche what practices they should do as a group.
A Tibetan student who had cancer took ordination, following Rinpoche’s advice. The student wrote to let Rinpoche know.
My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
You are so fortunate. You are unbelievably, most unbelievably, most unbelievably fortunate to be a nun before your death. It gives you an incredible opportunity to collect more virtue and it becomes so easy to practice Dharma.
Then your life becomes a Dharma life, free from the lower realms; then it’s so easy to be free from samsara and easy to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings.
So thank you very much for doing this, for taking the opportunity. Do everything as much as possible with bodhicitta motivation and live your life for sentient beings as much as you can. That means doing everything for sentient beings as much as possible, in order to free them from suffering and to achieve enlightenment.
I’m sure you must be doing this, but if not, at the end of every day do the King of Prayers, that would be so good. This is an extensive dedication practice for sentient beings.
Perhaps you may be doing Medicine Buddha practice already. That is a very important one for you to do, even the very short one. If you can, do the short Medicine Buddha practice written by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyältsen or the slightly longer one written by Kanchen Yeshe Gyalten. This is slightly longer, but there is a shorter one. We have the shorter one in English, but it is also in Tibetan.
I have a new practice of Medicine Buddha, but it’s not quite finished. I have it in Tibetan, but it’s not translated into English yet. When it’s finished, I will send it to you.
Please take care with bodhicitta. Thank you very much.
With much love and prayers ...
Rinpoche advised why Sangha communities need to participate in so-jong, a twice-monthly formal confession ceremony.
My very dear, kind and devoted one,
So-jong is part of the practice. It is not a custom, it is a practice. The existence of the Buddha’s teachings depends on whether the Vinaya teachings exist or not, therefore Sangha need to do the practice of so-jong.
If there is a community of monks, then so-jong practice needs to be done. This is very important because it defines whether the Buddha’s teachings exist or not, and it’s importance for the teachings to exist in the country and also in the world.
Also so-jong is to bring the Sangha together, hence it is their practice. This is what they need to practice so-jong; it isn’t just a custom.
My greetings to you all. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you very, very much from my heart for serving sentient beings through the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Thank you very much for all your service...
A letter to nuns at Bigu Nunnery in Nepal, who have been doing 100 million mani retreats sponsored by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT every year since 2009. In this letter Rinpoche gives advice on beneficial practices and on their new school. He also offers a donation of 300,000 Nepalese rupees for the nuns' education. The letter was written in Tibetan; English translator unknown, possibly Ven. Pemba Sherpa.
Greetings to the Bigu nuns who are practicing the three trainings,
My concern is that Dharma knowledge alone and experience to tame the mind does not produce a good heart. One does not get realizations of paths and grounds that are needed through meditating on the path, along with collecting merits and purification of obscurations. Even if one does get a little education, then leaves the nunnery and goes on to work for money. Then one gives up the ethics of the individual liberation vows that lead to the state of liberation. I hope it won’t happen like that.
Each year, if the nuns can study texts such as The Jewel Ornament of Liberation [Tib: dak po tar gyen], The Oral Teachings of the Ever-excellent Master [Tib: kün zang la mé zhel lung] and lamrim etc as much as possible, and make an effort to put the teachings into practice as much as you can.
Generally in the school, it is sufficient just knowing [the texts] and at the end being able to [sit] an exam, but more important is residing in the monastic environment, especially having taken and practicing the training in the supreme discipline. It is very important to study well the meaning of the Dharma and put it into practice. This will benefit those extremely dear sentient beings who are limitless as space; who are our kind mother and who have taken care of us with kindness from beginningless time up to now. This is where Buddha, Dharma and Sangha arise from. From this we will accomplish our own objective indirectly and help all beings attain the state of completely perfected qualities of abandonment and realization. So focus not only on the school discipline, but also on the daily practices.
In addition it would be very good to follow traditions annually, such as:
It is amazing if you are able to do all these, then year by year your mental continuum will be closer to getting realization of the grounds and paths. Likewise, practice the essence of the holy Dharma as much as possible, so whatever daily activities are done with the three doors will become Dharma. Leisure and fortune become extremely worthwhile and you are able to attain the state of buddhahood quickly. With this, all mother sentient beings that have taken care of you with kindness will not need to suffer the samsaric suffering. Especially, hold the guru yoga practice dearer than your own life and develop compassion towards sentient beings so they will quickly be able to attain enlightenment. This is just the opinion of me, the ignorant one.
It is very wonderful that you are reciting the Vajra Guru mantra and reading the Kangyur text for the purpose of long life and fulfilling all wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the sole refuge of all transmigrating sentient beings. Thank you very much. With this intention, whoever makes prayers and chants the practice for the welfare of oneself and others, it will benefit both oneself and others. If His Holiness has a long life and his holy wishes are fulfilled, then the teachings of the Buddha will remain for a long time and pervade all directions of this world. Not only that, all mother sentient beings equal to the extent of space will receive enormous benefits. This we all know. Subsequently, this life and future, and all our future rebirths, we will be taken under the care of Arya Avalokiteshvara.
It is really amazing to be able to do a set of one thousand, five hundred, one hundred or many sets of nyung nä practice. You and all others can rejoice. Still, if you could continue such practice, then it is really wonderful. It will bring benefit, religious harmony, peace and happiness in many locations, it will pacify famine, warfare and arguments in this world and in general to all sentient beings, and Buddha’s teaching will be able to flourish. I will make an effort to report all this to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Keeping the advice and practice layout by previous Drukpa Rinpoche Sherab Gyatso as the base, if you could develop further that will be very great. I too will pray all of your minds turn towards the Dharma, so Dharma becomes the path and not to have an obstacle in the practice of that path. Since the start of reciting 100 million mani mantras, because of this all the surrounding areas will have rain on time and good harvests. It happens just like the story of the four harmonious friends. This is the sign that you all did good practice by reciting the 100 million mani mantras. And also it is the blessing of Arya Avalokiteshvara.
Thank you for unsurpassable kindness.
I, birth name Thubten Zopa, offer this along with 300,000 Nepalese rupees, as a support for the nuns’ education.
A nun asked Rinpoche about a prayer to be recited by Sangha after meals to purify pollution. She asked Rinpoche to explain what kind of pollution this would purify.
Quite some time ago, it might have been the last time Geshe Rabten Rinpoche was in Dharamsala, he was doing a sadhana and prayers, and he was trying to define what pollution means. Geshe-la thought that if somebody makes an offering with devotion to a monk who doesn’t study or practice well, there’s the risk of pollution by living off the things that have been offered, however, if the offerings are made without the mind of devotion and the monk doesn’t practice well, there may not be pollution. Therefore, if Sangha study and practice hard, and also do service for the monastery, that helps the mind not become polluted.
This pollution can become a very heavy obstacle to achieving realizations. There is a story about Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen or one of the Panchen Lamas, who stopped accepting offerings given by many people with devotion, in order to have realizations more easily. So, for the Sangha, if you don’t study and keep pure morality; if you don’t study hard and practice, then [accepting these offerings] can become an obstacle for realization. So, there may be pollution when things are offered by people out of devotion.
When things come from the Sangha, there is also the guru’s pollution. It’s not saying that you are receiving negativities from the guru; that it is caused by the guru’s mind. It’s not saying that. Some meditators, for example in Dharamsala, try not to accept a salary, because this is making money problems or something like that. However, the main thing is to purify—to practice hard and to keep your morality pure.
There is also pollution of the stupa, at the places where people make offerings. When money is used to buy light offerings at the temple or stupa, or to make any offering to the holy objects, then abusing that. That is pollution of the stupa. If that is the way of earning a living, then you have to live in pure morality and practice hard.
Within the practice of purification by Shakyamuni Buddha, there is the Thirty-five Buddhas practice, so you can purify pollution by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas. By reciting the names seven times, you can probably purify mountains of pollution; big, huge piles of pollution. Recite the names, then think that the pollution received from beginningless rebirth until now is purified.
If you find your mind is not clear when you meditate; if it was OK before and then there is a change; or if your visualization is unclear or you can’t even visualize Buddha; or if you can’t grasp or remember the words when you listen to teachings, all of this is a sign of pollution and a way to recognize pollution.
If you are unable to remember the words; if it is difficult to understand the meaning and you feel distant when you listen to the teachings; if your mind is foggy and very drowsy when you meditate, recite mantras or read Dharma texts; if it is easy to fall asleep when you listen to teachings, meditate or read Dharma texts, this is also a sign of pollution.
One method you can use if this sleepy, drowsy mind comes when you practice and do meditation, is to offer a bath to the buddhas. The actual practice is the guru yoga practice of serving the guru, washing the holy body, cleaning the place and washing the guru’s clothes, but when it’s not possible to do the actual guru yoga practice, then visualize offering the bath to the merit field in the reflected mirror. The main thing is to practice purification and as much as possible to live in pure vows.
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student about Dharma study and practice. Rinpoche also commented: “Actually this is very, very, good advice for other monks and nuns who are studying at Sera, Kopan, Nalanda, Istituto Lama Tsongkhapa, etc. and for other students. This explains how to make the life Dharma. One thing is how to study, but it’s also how to make the life Dharma.”
My very dear one,
Thank you for your very kind letter and sorry for the long delay.
Motivation is the most important thing. You must have a bodhicitta motivation—not just wanting to be free from the lower realms and born in higher realms or to be free from samsara and achieve liberation. You must have the bodhicitta motivation for eating, walking, sleeping and studying Dharma—especially for studying Dharma. This is very, very important.
Now, the purpose of your life is for the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings.
All your past happiness from beginningless rebirths, all your present happiness and all your future happiness including the ultimate happiness of nirvana and the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment are received by the kindness of the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. Therefore, they are most kind, most important, most precious and most dear. Not only that, but they have also been your mother and kind numberless times. They have not only been your human mothers but all kinds of different mothers numberless times from beginningless rebirth.
All sentient beings have been your mother but due to ignorance not knowing the Dharma they have been suffering in the oceans of sufferings of the hell realms, the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. Therefore, you are responsible to help.
You are responsible because you have received a perfect human rebirth just this one time and with that you can help the sentient beings. You have met the Dharma that is extremely rare to meet and you have met the guru revealing the unmistaken path to enlightenment. The majority of sentient beings have not and due to ignorance they are experiencing the oceans of sufferings of the hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras, asuras and intermediate state beings. Just like you, they have not practiced and not realized the four noble truths and therefore they have to experience the oceans of samsaric suffering endlessly. Just like that, there are numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras and numberless intermediate state beings. If they are not guided, they will have to experience all these sufferings endlessly. Now here, each one of them is numberless.
So you have the responsibility to free the numberless precious kind mother hell beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering, to free the numberless precious kind mother hungry ghosts from the oceans of samsaric suffering and to free the numberless precious kind mother animals from the oceans of samsaric suffering. It’s the same for the human beings, suras, asuras and intermediate state beings. They have all been your kind mothers and you are responsible for freeing them from the oceans of samsaric suffering. You are responsible for freeing each one of them from the oceans of samsaric suffering and to bring them to full enlightenment.
You have the responsibility to bring the numberless hell beings to full enlightenment, to bring the numberless hungry ghosts to full enlightenment, to bring the numberless animals to full enlightenment, to bring the numberless human beings to full enlightenment, to bring the numberless suras to full enlightenment, to bring the numberless asuras to full enlightenment and to bring the numberless intermediate state beings to full enlightenment. Therefore, you need to achieve enlightenment. Therefore you need to actualize the path and also to purify defilements and collect extensive merits. So therefore you are going to do the studies, you are going to attempt to study.
The other thing is that you have to think that you are fulfilling His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s wishes, Guru Chenrezig’s holy wishes. That’s the purpose of your life. That’s why you are here. Think that you are fulfilling His Holiness’ wishes in the daytime and at nighttime again and again. You are His Holiness’ disciple, therefore you are so fortunate. When you study and practice day and night by thinking that you are fulfilling the guru’s wishes, it makes the life most meaningful. You are doing the greatest purification, you are collecting the greatest merit and you are also ripening your mind—this is the quickest way to open your mind and have realizations so that you can understand what you are studying.
So it is very, very, good to think about obtaining the guru’s advice as the purpose of your life being there. This way you don’t waste your life: you are always practicing Dharma and because everything is done with bodhicitta and following the guru’s advice, it all becomes the cause of enlightenment day and night. This way you can see how fortunate you are and that what you are doing is the way to help the six realms’ sentient beings. So you are living a really meaningful life, and this way your mind is always happy. You are always happy whether you can understand what you are learning or not, because you are living with bodhicitta collecting merits filling the sky all the time and following His Holiness’ wishes. So you are very happy every day and especially when you die—VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY HAPPY.
It might useful if you practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, seeing your guru as oneness with Lama Tsongkhapa. This practice has the special advantage that it helps to develop the seven types of wisdom: great wisdom, clear wisdom, quick wisdom, profound wisdom, teaching wisdom, debating wisdom and writing wisdom. This is the common meditation. Then there is the uncommon meditation. I started to give the lung for the uncommon meditation to some Chinese people here in Dharamsala, but I did not finish it. Even if it is not possible for you to do the uncommon meditation, still you can do the common one. The library has a good book that explains the visualization. For example, if you are going to do three malas of migtsema mantra, then do two malas to purify all the negative karmas collected with the guru since beginningless rebirth and do one mala to receive the wisdom. This is a very good practice to change your mind, so that your mind becomes Dharma and the Dharma becomes the path, and the path becomes free of obstacles to achieve liberation and full enlightenment. So it is very good to help your studies.
Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga has nine benefits:
Then every day, day and night, pray,
May I be like Lama Tsongkhapa all the time and in all the lifetimes offer extensive benefit to sentient beings and to the teachings of the Buddha.
This is a very important prayer. It helps you to become learned, pure and good-hearted, like Lama Tsongkhapa, as much as possible.
I have a text to transform your mind into Dharma and bodhicitta and lamrim and the two stages of tantra. This is a very, very, very good lamrim text.1 I received the lung of this text from Geshe Senge Rinpoche, the Mongolian lama, who was the abbot of Sera Me and Sera Je in Tibet. If you can get the copy of this text, it’s very good, very good, very good, if you can read this every day. If you can’t get it, let me know.
Studying the Dharma and the extensive scriptures is good, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your study and debate becomes Dharma practice. For all these things to become Dharma, your mind has to become Dharma. If your mind becomes Dharma, then everything becomes Dharma, even eating, walking, sitting and sleeping.
So in the Gelugpa tradition we have the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment. Buddha revealed the Hinayana teachings, the Mahayana Paramitayana teachings and the Mahayana Tantrayana, or Vajrayana, teachings. All of this comes in the Kangyur, that has more than one hundred volumes taught by the Buddha and in the Tengyur, that has more than two hundred volumes taught by the pandits. Now all of this is included in the lamrim, the graduated paths of the lower capable being, middle capable being and higher capable being. And all of the lamrim is included in the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment—renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness.
Renunciation means renouncing attachment to this life, such as the eight worldly dharmas, and renouncing the future lives’ samsara and samsaric perfections. Both of these renunciations count as one in Lama Tsongkhapa’s tradition, the three principal aspects of the path (lam gtso rnam gsum). In other traditions they are explained separately as renouncing this life and renouncing future lives. In the Nyingma tradition they have the four aspects that change the mind (blo ldog rnam bzhi) and in the Sakya tradition they have cutting the four clingings (zhen pa bzhi bral) by Manjushri or Sakya Pandita:
Also, Lama Dromtönpa would go walking in the bushes from time to time. One day there was an old man sitting and meditating. Dromtönpa said to him, “What are you doing?” And the old man said, “I’m meditating.” Dromtönpa said, “It’s good that you are meditating, but it’s better to practice Dharma.” Then the old man started to read texts because he thought that was what Dromtönpa meant by practicing Dharma. Then Dromtönpa came and said, “What are you doing?” The old man replied, “I’m reading texts.” Dromtönpa said, “It’s good that you are reading texts but it’s better to practice Dharma.” Then the man started to circumambulate the temple thinking that must be Dharma. Again Dromtönpa asked him, “What are you doing?” The old man replied, “I am circumambulating the temple.” Dromtönpa said, “It’s good that you are circumambulating the temple, but wouldn’t it be better to practice Dharma?” Only then did the old man finally ask Dromtönpa, “What do you mean by practicing Dharma?” And Dromtönpa said, “Renounce this life.”
As I explained before, to renounce this life means to give up attachment in all four traditions. If you do this, then all your studying, debating, and even walking, sitting, sleeping and eating, everything becomes Dharma. Otherwise none of these things become practicing Dharma. Even if you are a lharampa geshe and you are the only expert in sutra and tantra in this world it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are practicing Dharma.
And then each time you go to study and take classes or debate always remember the motivation of bodhicitta. When you debate, your motivation is bodhicitta—to achieve enlightenment and destroy the ignorance of yourself and others. If your study and debate don’t become Dharma then it is non-virtue. Then everything becomes non-virtue and the result is the lower realms. For example, in Tibet there was even a Ganden Tripa who was born as a cow and the cow went and sat on the throne. This happens when your actions don’t become Dharma.
One particular thing is that of course when you go for teachings you should generate strong bodhicitta wanting to free the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras and asuras from the oceans of samsaric sufferings that they have been experiencing from begininngless rebirth, and bring them to full enlightenment. Think,
I must achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible therefore I’m going to take the teachings.
Then when you are taking the teachings, whoever the teacher is, think,
I am receiving this teaching from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, Tara, Manjushri, Guhysamaja, Yamantaka, Heruka and all the numberless buddhas. I am taking these teachings from all of them.
Then think,
Each word I listen to frees me from the oceans of samsaric suffering by leaving an imprint on my mind and causing realization. Even more than that, each word frees me from the oceans of each realm’s suffering and brings me to full enlightenment and that means I can free every single sentient being—every single hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura and asura—from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment. Therefore each word I listen to is so precious and wish-fulfilling. Each of these words is so precious for me.
That might also help you not to fall asleep and not to get distracted. Okay. Thank you very much.
With much love and prayers...
1 Rinpoche is referring to A Direct Meditation on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, a short lamrim prayer composed by Vajradhara Losang Jinpa. The Tibetan text is also available for download as a pdf file. [Return to text]
