General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

The main thing is the lamrim—to practice the preliminaries to have lamrim realizations. First, gain the realizations of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, then tantra.

With tantra, first train in seeing yourself as the deity in your mandala. Start with the image of yourself as the deity in the simple aspect. Start with your face, then arms, then go on to each of the details. When you visualize the face, hold that with one-pointed concentration. Later on, add the consort and then the mandala. When you add on each detail, you should not forget the earlier ones.

First, try to develop concentration. When that becomes more stable, try to see the image more clearly, and hold that. If whenever you visualize, it comes like that, then that’s the sign of being trained. In the completion stage, you can hold that visualization for many hours.

On the 10th and 25th of the Tibetan month you should perform tsog—that is very important for going to the pure land.

In the morning, make prostrations to the 35 Buddhas. As you prostrate, recite the Buddhas’ names many times. In the evenings, recite each name once with each prostration.

Regarding what you said about not being able to keep awake during your prayers, remind yourself that you cannot know which will come first: tomorrow or your next rebirth. Or recall the other meditations on impermanence. In the Lama Chöpa it says: “Even if I must remain in the hells of Avici for the sake of one sentient being, please bless me to complete the perfection of joyous effort, not to be discouraged.” So, if you are going to work in the Avici hells, think how much more you can do now? Think: “I have this precious human rebirth just this once, I must not waste it for even a second.” You can copy the verse from the Lama Chöpa and put it on your table. Or maybe you can put a cold towel on your head to stay awake. It may too warm.

Regarding what you said about not being able to do the prostrations to Vajrasattva because of continuing problems with your arm, you can visualize the prostrations, you don’t have to do the actual prostrations.

Also, regarding your problem of not knowing whether to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts because of your history of health problems, take seven precepts and don’t take the one about food.

Regarding your question about trying to visualize the guru at your heart, is he in the aspect of Lama Tsongkhapa, and how to visualize the guru when you do different sadhanas with different visualizations, the guru does not have to be in the aspect of Lama Tsongkhapa. It is very beneficial to visualize Lama Tsongkhapa, because he did so many great things to benefit sentient beings, but the guru does not have to be visualized in that aspect. Whatever sadhana you are doing, you are the yidam and the guru is the seed syllable at your heart, so there is no contradiction. The guru can be any deity, he does not have to be Lama Tsongkhapa.

In the sadhana, if you have to visualize the guru and you have received the same initiation from many gurus, think of the guru from whom you have received the most benefit. Lama Tsongkhapa and all the gurus are one.

Regarding how to recite longlife mantras, I wanted to talk about this at the Namgyalma initiation, but I forgot. When you do the practice, dedicate especially for the long life of the gurus, the Sangha, and those who bring benefit to others. At the end of the mantra recitation, visualize all the buddhas and bodhisattvas dissolving into you, and your guru’s blessings entering your heart. Feel strongly that you have been purified of all disease, sickness, spirit harm, and obstacles—those four things are stopped.

It would also be good if you could print the Amitayus Longlife Sutra. Printing some every week is very beneficial. Give the copies away or place them in statues.

 My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind emails, and I am very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying. My assistant told me you emailed a number of times, so I am sorry it took so long to reply. I hope you didn’t get angry. I am very happy to hear from you, to hear you express your good heart, and that you really want to make your life most beneficial for sentient beings.

My suggestion to you, what is most important to develop, the best way to benefit others, is to develop your heart and to develop your mind on the path to enlightenment. If you are able to complete the path to enlightenment, then you are fully qualified to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara’s sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. This is what sentient beings need. This is what is most beneficial for them. There is no greater success than this. This depends on your actualizing and completing the path to enlightenment.

Therefore, what I suggest is for you to meditate on the lamrim, really meditate on the lamrim. Each week focus on a different subject by following exactly the lamrim outlines, up to emptiness. Then, go back to the beginning again and do this for a few years. This means to meditate every day on the lamrim. You can do two sessions a day. This doesn’t mean you only do meditation when you are sitting down, you can also do meditation on the lamrim outside, on your way somewhere, at the beach, etc. It does not have to be only on your cushion, but you can do one or two sessions a day on your cushion. The rest of the time you can meditate on the lamrim when you are walking, driving, when you are doing your job, so all the time your mind can be in meditation. Whatever you were focusing on in the morning, you keep your mind in that the whole day. In this way, you protect your body, speech, and mind from engaging in negative karma. It is very easy to create negative karma, so, in this way, whatever you do becomes a very easy way for all your activities to become virtue. This helps make your meditation sessions more effective, so your sessions help you in your break time. It makes them more effective and helpful in order to achieve the realizations more quickly. Each week take a different lamrim meditation – follow the outline. This means you don’t just make up the meditation, you need to follow the outline as it is laid out.

Follow the outlines, starting with the perfect human rebirth for one week, then the usefulness of it for one week, and how it is difficult to find again for one week. Like this, go through the entire lamrim. That would be extremely good.

I don’t know if you have received a great initiation. If you have, then you need to do six session guru yoga. You can stop within the six session, before the guru absorbs into you, and begin the lamrim meditation. Or you can do it based on guru yoga. You can also do your lamrim meditation within a lamrim prayer, such as the Foundation of all Good Qualities, the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, Calling the Guru from Afar (Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo composed this), or the Hymns of Experience (Lama Tsongkhapa).

Each day you can recite a different lamrim prayer or, if you prefer, you can recite the same one each day (like the Foundation of All Good Qualities). Then, before the guru absorbs into you, you do your lamrim session.

No matter what lamrim outline you are up to, you still need to do one meditation on guru devotion every day, regardless of the other lamrim meditation. It could be for 25 minutes, 30 minutes, or one hour, the time is up to you. Every day, if possible, meditate on guru devotion by following the outline. When you finish the guru devotion outline, then go back again and start from the beginning until you achieve stable realizations that all the buddhas are one’s gurus, including however many gurus that you have a Dharma connection with, that you have received teachings from, received refuge vows, pratimoksha vows, bodhisattva vows, tantric vows, or taken initiations from, whoever you have a connection with, thinking of the teacher as a guru and oneself as a disciple. You feel from the bottom of your heart that all one’s gurus are all the Buddhas, one’s guru is numberless buddhas. It is a stable realization, not only for a few hours or days, but is stable.

One thing is to develop your mind so you can benefit other sentient beings. As you achieve the realizations, you are more able to benefit other sentient beings. This is why it is most important to have the realizations. This is what you need to achieve, from the perfect human rebirth up to enlightenment, the graduated path of the lower capable being, the graduated path of the middle capable being, and the graduated path of the higher capable being. You must develop your heart into these three. It is extremely important to attain renunciation, the determination to be free from samsara, bodhicitta, and right view.

Your goal is to benefit so many sentient beings by having the realization of renunciation of samsara, then you enter the path to liberation. By having the realization of bodhicitta, you enter the path to full enlightenment (this is the total cessation of all the suffering in samsara and the causes – karma and delusion). With this realization you are able to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and the causes: karma and delusion. By having the realization of emptiness, then you eliminate the very root of samsara, which is ignorance. Now you can see here that it is very urgent that you achieve the realizations, and achieve liberation and enlightenment. If you are not free from samsara, then you can’t liberate others, so what is needed is for you to achieve enlightenment quickly.

The way to achieve liberation and enlightenment quickly, so that you can liberate numberless sentient beings, is to practice highest tantra. This is extremely important, unbelievable, and most beneficial, not only for yourself but for all sentient beings.

So, to go over the main points:

1) Every day you need to study Dharma, and you can do this not only when you are sitting but when you are doing your job. You can perform your actions with your mind in renunciation of samara, with a pure motivation, non-attachment to samsara and its perfections, so that all your actions become the cause to achieve liberation from samara, from all the sufferings and the causes. If you perform all your actions with your mind in bodhicitta, then all your actions become the cause to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. If you perform all your actions with your mind in right view, then all your actions become an antidote to samsara and an antidote to karma, delusion, and ignorance.

2) Every day it is important that you practice one guru yoga, it can be Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa) or Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. Do this early in the morning. You can do your lamrim meditation on the basis of the guru yoga. Also, if you want to, you can do the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha daily meditation practice that I put together, as your guru yoga practice.

3) Every day you must recite one lamrim prayer. Each day you can do a different one, or you can recite the same one each day.

4) In the morning generate a strong motivation; you can use the one His Holiness the Dalai Lama composed (“never give up…”). My assistant can send you this if you do not know it. Also, you can make different prayers to generate your morning motivation.

5) Then do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas. This is extremely good to practice. Doing this practice is like an atom bomb to purify one’s negative karma, which is the main obstacle to attaining the realizations.

6) In the evening do Vajrasattva practice. You can do one mala of the Vajrasattva long mantra or half a mala, but you must recite at least 21 mantras. This purifies one’s negative karma. You need to do the practice with the four remedial powers. There is a big book of teachings that I gave during the Vajrasattva retreat in the USA. Also, there is a book by Lama Yeshe on Vajrasattva, and it would be very good if you were able to read these. This is so you can understand the practice more deeply. Since you asked how you can benefit others, this is extremely good to do for your own liberation and so that you can liberate all other sentient beings.

You can do the prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas in the morning and at night; it depends on your time in the morning. You can go through them once or, if you have time, three times, five times, or ten times. It would be incredible if you can do them three times in the morning and three times at night (this means prostrating to each Buddha and reciting the name three times, so it comes to 100). Doing prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names is extremely good to do, even once, so if you can do it more it is even better. You need to read a little how to do prostrations well, how to think and visualize, etc.

As well as doing daily meditation on the lamrim, you must first read a book on the lamrim. You must study this first, such as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Read it from the beginning to the end. I don’t mean to read fast, you read it slowly by thinking of the meaning. Anything that you don’t understand or that you have questions about, you write that down and then discuss your questions with an older student or geshe.

7) The other thing that is very beneficial for all sentient beings is nyung nä retreats. This is an unbelievably powerful practice to develop compassion and bodhicitta, so that you can achieve enlightenment quickly. If you can, do 500 nyung näs throughout your life. This doesn’t mean all at one time, you can spread them out over your whole life. This is to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment.

There is a Brazilian nun who has now done 200 nyung näs and is continuing to do another 100. This practice is unbelievable; it is the best practice to purify, collect extensive merits, and particularly to develop compassion. If you develop compassion, that is the root of enlightenment, and you have no regrets now or in the future. If you can do 500 in your life, you can do some on the Buddha days, as the merit is multiplied then. Many centers do three in a row. So, like this, continue throughout your life. Do some each year and later you can do many together.

I am posting you some photos and cards. Also attached is some information on these practices; it is a lot, but it can help you. You can print it out and slowly go through it, so you learn more about the different practices.

Please practice as much as you can. Life is not long, the nature of this life is impermanent, and death can happen at any time. This is the foundation of the Buddha’s teachings, and this was the last advice Buddha gave before showing the aspect of passing away.

What makes your life most meaningful is meditation on the lamrim, then to live your life with a bodhicitta motivation. This is the best.

With much love and prayers... 

Thank you for being a good example of a human being—good-hearted, helpful, responsible for others, and kind to others every day of your life. Also, you are devoted to developing wisdom, the important wisdom, which is wisdom understanding what is right and what is wrong. That means understanding about karma.

To read and to learn as much as possible is very important. You can enjoy that for many lifetimes, up to enlightenment, because the positive imprints that are left on your mental continuum are always there, even just from reading. This applies to the good, pure teachings of Buddha, not just to anything that is called “Buddhist meditation or practice.”

With love and prayers...

 My very dear one,
I am very happy to receive your kind letter about the advice you received from the monk you met with. It’s good that you have been attending teachings at the Dharma center.

If you haven’t regarded the two geshes you mention as your guru, then there is a choice, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t study with them. You can still study with a teacher without regarding him or her as a guru, for example, lamrim teachings and other sutra teachings—like a schoolteacher or a professor in a university. When we devote ourselves totally with our body, speech, and mind, we look at the teacher as a Buddha with total devotion. Then we devote ourselves to that object from now on. Even after enlightenment, still you respect the guru, because enlightenment happens through the kindness of the guru, so still you respect him or her.

If you haven’t regarded either of the teachers you mention as a guru so far, then I would suggest maybe that you follow the first geshe you mentioned as a guru. But it doesn’t mean that you can only have one guru. You can have many gurus. Lama Atisha had 157 gurus. The root guru is the one from whom he received complete teachings on bodhicitta. He studied bodhicitta for twelve years with Lama Serlingpa.

As far as me, then it is up to you. If you check, and you get strong feelings of a past connection, like not something new, but some strong connection, then that shows some past connection—even though, of course, I’m not qualified. So, if that is the case, from your side, and from my side, we do what we can to achieve enlightenment. But if you don’t have any feelings like that, then you don’t need to follow me as your guru.

Your letter was sent to me. I’m not sure whether you came to Kopan Monastery or not. Perhaps I may have met you outside when I came to Kopan. I have a very vague memory—I thought there was somebody from your country that I was introduced to. It could also be my hallucination.

When doing practices I want to highly emphasize doing the practice of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga every day—to recite the migtsema prayer, with meditation. There is a common visualization with that which is regarding purifying and attaining the six wisdoms. From those wisdoms, you can do mainly the four wisdoms, unless later you teach Dharma, or write a book, or debate, then you do those particular meditations to achieve those wisdoms. Normally these four meditations are the most important: great wisdom, clear wisdom, quick wisdom, and profound wisdom. Every day you can do some meditation like this. Also, sometimes you can do a guru yoga retreat. That would be very very good. There is a commentary that I gave a long time ago in Dharamsala, where His Holiness lives, and in Taiwan. There is also a teaching I gave in Taiwan on different techniques of meditation on guru devotion.

Here I want to give a brief introduction to certain topics. The purpose of our life, why we were born a human being, why we have a precious human body—not having been born this time as a cockroach, crocodile, slug, leech, or mosquito—is to benefit other sentient beings. The purpose of this life is to help other sentient beings, causing happiness in this life, happiness in the long run, a good rebirth, liberation from samsara, and enlightenment for others. It is also to achieve all happiness in future lives, total liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, delusions and karma, and then the great liberation of full enlightenment, that which is the cessation of all mistakes of the mind and completion of all the qualities. So, our purpose is the highest benefit for sentient beings, what they need. The most important thing for sentient beings is to bring them to enlightenment.

These are the objectives of our life, what our life is for, why we survive each day, hour, minute, second—why it is so important, why we spend so much money on shelter, food, clothing, so many needs and treatments. So all this, why we have education, starting from kindergarten up to university, so many expenses, is to benefit others, to help others. In the world, so many people use all of these things to harm others, to create negative karma constantly, which causes us to be born in the lower realms again and again for endless suffering, rebirths, and suffering in the lower realms. So, the highest benefit for sentient beings is to bring them to full enlightenment. For that, first one needs to achieve enlightenment. Without achieving enlightenment, omniscient mind, you can’t serve others perfectly without any mistakes.

Therefore, you need to actualize the path, the steps on the path to enlightenment, lamrim. lamrim is the heart of all 84,000 teachings of the Buddha. Every single teaching, the Hinayana—the lower path teachings; the Mahayana sutra—the paramita teachings; and Mahayana tantra—the teachings of the vajrayana, any words from these teachings were taught by Buddha for one person’s gradual path to achieve enlightenment. Of course, there are certain practices that you can’t do now. You take different advice as your mind develops to higher levels of the path. It is like medicine, you can’t take some medicines at the beginning of an illness, then when the person is more recovered, you can take different medicines. When you study lamrim from the beginning, Lama Tsongkhapa lamrim, or any, like in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, you will understand all these points.

To have realizations on the gradual path to enlightenment depends on receiving the blessings of the guru. That is the cause of realizations. The cause in order to receive the blessings of the guru is guru devotion. With guru devotion, a pure mind, you see the guru as buddha, not an ordinary being, free from all the gross and subtle mistakes, all the defilements, karma, having the dharmakaya omniscient mind, a perfect pure mind. You look at it in this way, no matter how many weeks, months, years it takes, even lifetimes, by always putting all your effort into seeing the guru as a buddha. In all the quotations and reasonings from Buddha Vajradhara—this is the most important

So, you are right about your concern over looking for a guru, because that is the first thing. On this basis you need realization of the gradual path of the lower capability, then the middle capable being, then the higher capable being—the bodhicitta realizations. You need to have these realizations step by step, you can’t jump ahead. The basis is the three principal paths: renunciation of samsara; right view—the right realization of the Prasangika-Madhyamaka view of emptiness. Even though all the four schools of Buddhist philosophy taught on emptiness and the root of samsara, the most unmistaken one is the Madhyamaka Prasangika school.

Before you have a realization of bodhicitta, you do tantric practice, but without putting all your effort there—that wouldn’t make much sense. Without the ground you cannot complete the path. On the basis of bodhicitta you have the realization of emptiness, then you can complete the tantric path—the generation and completion stages. Then you are able to achieve enlightenment quickly, and to explain the path to countless sentient beings who rely on you to meet the Dharma, for them to follow the path and to achieve enlightenment. Those countless sentient beings don’t have to suffer for a long time, they can immediately begin the practice and follow the path.

Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is extremely important. If you get the book where I gave different meditations on guru devotion, that should help you. Also, you should use different techniques, which ever ones are most effective for you to see the guru as a buddha. Then I think you will enjoy this meditation. You may have strong karma with it, it is possible.

In the morning you should make prostrations to the merit field: to the gurus, deities, buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, dakas, dakinis, and Dharma protectors, by reciting the 35 Buddhas’ names. In the evening, at night, before you go to bed, you must practice Vajrasattva. There is a whole purpose for Vajrasattva practice.

Within Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, there is lamrim. That is extremely important. It contains the gradual path to enlightenment. You must do that every day at least once. If you go straight through without stopping but remaining mindful of the meaning, that’s called direct lamrim meditation. If you have more time, you can stop after each verses and do more expansive analytical meditation on each topic. That is very, very important. You are planting the seed of the whole path, which means each time it is bringing you closer to enlightenment.

On the basis of the guru yoga and lamrim prayer, you perform the preliminary practices there one-pointedly: refuge, bodhicitta, the seven limbs, mandala offering, and requesting prayers to the guru. You need to practice that. Then recite the dedication prayer.

Every day you must do meditation. There is no particular time, it is up to you: 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour, or one hour, even longer; it is up to you.

Here I am going to give you a list of the preliminary practices to do from now until the end of your life, according to my divinations:

1. 60,000 Dorje Khadro

2. 70,000 mandala offerings, to collect extensive merits. There is a teaching I gave on mandala offerings and also in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.

3. Every week you must recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra. This is to quickly realize emptiness. You will enjoy it. This is really wonderful. If you want to be free quickly from the oceans of samsaric suffering, this is what you should read. It is so powerful for purification, the completion of extensive merits, and the quick realization of emptiness, then from that bodhicitta, to complete the path and quickly achieve enlightenment.

First, study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, the lamrim. Study it completely from beginning to end, and whatever you don’t understand write in a notebook. Then you can study those points with geshes who are available and who can give clear explanations.

There is also Lama Tsongkhapa’s beginning, middle, and great lamrim—you can read those. Maybe you should start with Lama Tsongkhapa’s middle lamrim. Of course, you can read other lamrims, such as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. It is very clear, with more explanations.

Here is some guidance for your realizations:

1. After you finish the whole text, then train your mind in the gradual path of the lower capable being for two months. That is from the perfect human rebirth up to karma.

2. Practice for one month on the middle path

3. Three months on bodhicitta

4. Two months on emptiness

5. Then you practice it all over again until you have realizations of each one

Those practices are mainly for trying to achieve realizations of guru devotion and renunciation, bodhicitta, and emptiness. At the moment this is the main objective.

After you receive a great initiation then you can do some tantric practice, but that should not be the main focus of your time. You can do some practice, but most of your time should be on lamrim. If there is a good foundation then you can build a house. If there is not a good foundation, then there is nothing you can do. It is like that.

The main deity for your quickest enlightenment is Guhyasamaja, the king of tantra. This is extremely precious! After you receive a great initiation, you have a commitment to do the long, middle, or short version of the sadhana. It is up to the lama whether there is a commitment to practice the sadhana. You practice this every day of your life, and after some time you actually become one with it. That is enlightenment. Countless sentient beings are waiting for you to guide them to enlightenment, so they don’t have to suffer for a long time.

Regarding where to live, Vietnam comes out much more beneficial than continuing to live in Australia. Vietnam is more beneficial. There you can help other people more.

One very important practice to do is Chenrezig. Recite as many OM MANI PADME HUM mantras as you can, and practice the meditation. That is to develop compassion for all sentient beings—bodhicitta. From there you complete the whole path, and are able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment.

I hope to see you soon.

With much love and prayer...

My very dear one,
How are you? I have seen you many times at the teachings this time. I am sure you are very busy, you have many things to do. It is good if you can do some practice at home, even if you don’t have time, try to create some time. If you are able to give more time for Dharma, that means you are really trying to do something worthwhile for yourself. The rest of the use of our time is not really the most meaningful use. If there is benefit it is only a small benefit, and we don’t achieve the bigger benefit for ourselves and especially for others, who are countless, who are deluded and suffering so much, and need our help to free them.

Much of our day and much of this life is spent or used in harming oneself by harming others, like the ten nonvirtuous actions. Some actions accidentally harm others, like heresy. It looks as if it is your own or that person’s business, with no effect on others, but it indirectly harms others because it destroys your merits and good karma, which means it destroys the cause of your happiness, which includes ultimate happiness (liberation from samsara, full enlightenment) because it prevents you from having realizations. That is the worst, biggest enemy of realizations of the spiritual path. It makes you unable to liberate and enlighten other sentient beings, who are countless. Actually, it is the greatest harm, even though there is no injury to the body or mind of others.

Heresy means heresy against Buddha’s qualities, saying or believing that Buddha doesn’t have that quality while Buddha does have it or saying there is no Buddha or nirvana, no cessation of suffering and path to achieve that, no sangha having these realizations, no karma, renunciation, and saying what Buddha said in the teachings, such as stories of karma or realizations and experience of the path, is not true.

I was very very happy to see you at the teachings this time. Maybe one or two times you were not there, at least one time. Of course, I am still very happy at the memory of seeing you at the teachings. I have faith that you are very good human being, and are trustworthy. For example, even though there has not been much change in the prosperity of your life, you still recite the Tara prayer after so many years. This shows that you are a reliable person, not like a yo-yo, changing this way and that way.

Especially, Dharma practice is the most important thing, and the root practice is guru devotion, relying on the guru, following the guru, obeying the guru. It should be like that, not a changing mind. It should be indestructible, like a mountain, a vajra, only then can you achieve enlightenment, liberate others from suffering, and enlighten countless other beings. I definitely want to come and see you, your husband, and family at home next time, okay?

You are a wonderful person; it is also very nice to see your husband.

With big love and prayers...

P.S. These letters and cards cover the past years of communication to you.

The main thing is to read. So much of your understanding is dependent on your own study. Of course, when you receive teachings you also receive the lineage and the blessing, but unless you develop an understanding during the teaching, you can forget what you have heard. So, it is very important to read continuously. If you don’t read for a while, then there is so much to catch up on, and you may not be able to get it all done. Studying a text before the teaching and the class is the best.