General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

My very dear Charles,
Thank you very much for your kind email, and I am sorry for the long delay in replying.

Regarding your practice, in the morning start with generating the correct motivation, you can use different motivations that I have put together, then begin the day by doing prostrations and reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas. This doesn’t mean you only visualize the 35 Buddhas, you can visualize that you are prostrating to numberless Buddhas. Do it as many times as you can. If you recite fast, then that way you get to recite the Buddhas’ names three to four times for each prostration, so this has incredible benefits. This is more important than reciting slowly. In this case, it has incredible benefit to recite fast. In this way, so much negative karma gets purified so quickly.

Then, in the evening it is very important to do Vajrasattva practice, with the four opponent powers.

Then, on the basis of doing a guru yoga , which can be either long six-session guru yoga, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, or Guru Puja, practice lamrim meditations.

If you are doing either six-session guru yoga or Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, then you need to include the recitation of a lamrim prayer, such as the Foundation of all Good Qualities, Calling the Guru from Afar, etc. As you recite, meditate on the meaning, and in this way receive blessings from the guru.

When you meditate on the lamrim, such as guru devotion, seeing all the buddhas as one’s guru and all one’s gurus as all the buddhas, it is important to use reasonings, by using quotes, etc. Do guru yoga practice and meditate on guru devotion every day. Then, whatever lamrim prayer you recite, do it mindfully. In this way, each day you are making your life highly meaningful, planting the seeds of the path to enlightenment, and each day brings you closer to achieving all the realizations, to achieving enlightenment, and closer to liberating all sentient beings from the oceans of samsara’s suffering and bringing them to enlightenment. So, every day that you recite a lamrim prayer makes your life so meaningful.

The other thing is to recite the gradual tantric stages of your deity. This is usually the prayer at the end of the long sadhana, which goes through the stages of the path of the deity. Reciting this each day leaves incredible imprints of the generation and completion stage, the whole path to enlightenment.

It would be very good for you to read the Lamrim Chenmo from beginning to end, not just like reading a book, but relating it to your own life. If it brings up questions you can write them down and discuss them with other students from time to time. Read it thoughtfully so that it actually becomes a meditation. Then read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand in the same way, as a meditation.

It is important to start this right away. After you have finished these books, then you can either start again, or you can then read The Essential Nectar. Use this one as a daily meditation practice, reading a few pages each day, slowly, meditating on the meaning, thinking how it relates to your life. You could also use The Essential Nectar even now, while you are reading the other two books. The point is to read a little lamrim every single day, think about what you read, and use it in your life. This way, slowly, you come to know the lamrim outlines by heart. It is important to do one meditation every day on guru devotion and then, on top of that, one other lamrim subject (you can base that on where you are up to in the books), such as perfect human rebirth. The point is to have realizations, so continue to do the meditations until you achieve stable realizations. If you can, do lamrim meditation every day for 10 or 15 minutes – longer is better.

The other meditation that is important to do every day is to do some direct meditation on emptiness. You can use the Heart Sutra or different teachings, using quotations, different reasonings, and logic, and use those to meditate on emptiness.

It is also very important, depending on who your deity is, which initiation you have received, to do that sadhana – the long or medium version. For other initiations you have received, you can just do the short sadhana or the essence. Then, do whatever other commitments you have.

Regarding your practices, I checked, and this is what came out most beneficial for your quickest enlightenment. I am listing them here and also I have incorporated them into the attached document that has more information:

• 200,000 refuge
• 50,000 Vajrasattva (you should also do this each evening)
• 200,000 prostrations by reciting the 35 Buddhas’ names
• 100,000 Dorje Khadro fire burning practice
• 10,000 water bowls
• 30, 000 tsa-tsas of: Buddha, Padmasambhava, Vajrapani (divide the number between these)
• 100,000 tonglen – This is your bodhicitta practice. With meditation, recite the words, and mainly meditate on the meaning. You can use the verse from Lama Chöpa on bodhicitta (that is recited three times in the lamrim prayer) or you can use the Nagarjuna verse: “Whatever suffering sentient beings have, may it ripen on me….” etc.

Tonglen will be an unbelievable preliminary practice. This is the most powerful purification and way to collect extensive merit, develop one’s heart in bodhicitta, and bring you and all sentient beings closer to enlightenment by actualizing tonglen.

Please read the Sanghata Sutra a little each day, even just a line or two, more of course is better, but keep this going. Also, try to read a little of the Golden Light Sutra each day. This will take care of you completely, forever, bringing all good wishes for yourself and bringing you to complete enlightenment for yourself and all sentient beings.

Regarding your deity, whichever you feel you have the closest connection to, then do that deity’s practice. If you feel you don’t have your yidam, then let me know, and I can check which deity you have the strongest connection with. But you already may know this.

The most important thing in your life, what makes your life most meaningful, is to have a bodhicitta motivation in everything you do, whether it is working, talking, on the beach, etc. Whatever activity you do, do it with a bodhicitta motivation. In this way, whatever you do brings you closer to enlightenment.

Lamrim meditation doesn’t only mean it has to be done when you are sitting, you can do it any time; you can make every moment a meditation on the lamrim – remembering guru devotion, bodhicitta, renunciation, emptiness, etc. Whatever section you are up to in the lamrim, use that throughout the day. Meditation when sitting is just one aspect, it is not the whole thing. It is important to start the day by setting one’s motivation carefully so all activities are based on that.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter and sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.

Regarding your work situation, whether you should continue working for your friend, for me to check this I need a few other options to check against, in order to see what is more beneficial. Without a choice, I don’t have that knowledge to see. Generally, it seems it is difficult. This is what comes out in my observation:

1. Recite the long Medicine Buddha mantra 2,000 times.

2. Do the most elaborate Medicine Buddha puja five times. This can be done at Tsawa Khangtsen (Lama Yeshe’s khangtsen). It has to be the elaborate Medicine Buddha puja, not the normal one. If there are others working at the same business, then they can share the costs with you for this. This comes out as the best practice to do.

Regarding your practice question, you should do your practice on the basis of guru yoga. If you can do guru puja, then that equals one recitation of six-session guru yoga. It is an extensive way of doing six-session guru yoga.

Do it with meditation on guru devotion; this should be the foundation of your practice. Then, within the guru puja there is the seven-limb prayer, etc. Within this practice, do meditation on guru devotion until it is stable. It should be a stable realization that lasts a long time, where one sees all the buddhas as one’s guru and each of one’s gurus as  all the buddhas, having definite understanding from the bottom of one’s heart, unchangeable and stable.

Then, continue each day with one meditation on guru devotion, then include another lamrim topic. Start from the beginning of the lamrim, take one subject each day, and elaborate on this and do meditation on it. The point is to have realizations. So, for instance, start with renunciation of samsara, in order to renounce future lives. Then, the next day, practice the perfect human rebirth, as well as its benefits and usefulness, then death and impermanence, bodhicitta, etc.

Another meditation you should do each day is on emptiness, using different techniques, different prayers, such as reciting the Heart Sutra, etc. The main thing is to meditate on it. You have to put some effort in, in order to achieve the realizations and to have stable realizations. Doing this meditation helps direct realizations to come quickly and for you to have less obstacles.

Then, at the part with the mandala offering in the Guru Puja, offer a mandala and make strong requests for the three great purposes. Also, to create merit, you can make a few mandala offerings.

Then, at the part with prostrations, you can stop and do prostrations, reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names. Or you can start in the morning by making prostrations as well.

In the evening, do Vajrasattva practice, with meditation.

Also, within the Guru Puja, you can do Samayavajra practice.

If some days you are unable to do guru puja, then you can do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, but add in the essential bits I have mentioned (meditation on lamrim, mandala offerings, prostrations, etc.).

Also, you can add the essential parts I have mentioned and incorporate them into one long version of six-session guru yoga.

If you do six-session or Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, then you need to include a lamrim prayer, such as the Foundation of All Good Qualities, etc.

Then, the rest of your life, until death, as you know, what makes life most meaningful, what turns iron into gold, is, in every moment, to do everything with bodhicitta, to do everything, as much as possible, with the motivation of benefiting others. This means your work, eating, sleeping, walking, etc.

You can do everything using different lamrim topics, such as focusing on guru devotion, especially the guru’s kindness, then another day you can do everything focusing on renunciation, relating more to renunciation of samsara, then the next day with emptiness. This is how you bring lamrim into your life. Remember whatever topic you are focusing on that day while doing your job, talking, eating, etc.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

P.S. Please give my love to your whole family. It is very good to guide your daughter with Dharma. Recently, there has been a lot of work done on Universal Education. There are the sixteen human dharmas. These help children to become good human beings by developing the practices of tolerance, contentment, rejoicing, forgiveness, forgiveness when someone else apologizes, and also requesting forgiveness if you have hurt someone. So, there are sixteen dharmas, and it would be very good if your daughter could follow these points. Also, she can help others and educate other children to practice like this. This is what she can do to bring peace for the world. This is also what you can do to help bring peace for the world, by guiding your daughter in this way.

I hope you can enjoy this card, find peace in your mind, especially when your mind gets disturbed or unhappy. By looking at this view, and concentrating, all superstitions go away, and the mind is clear, which is the nature of the mind, because the mind is not one with suffering or delusion. That’s why the mind can be totally free, liberated, enlightened, with everlasting bliss and peace, forever, and can also bring everyone who is suffering into that state.

My very dear Keith,
Thank you very much for practicing Dharma and opening your heart to sentient beings. You are turning toward enlightenment.

Please study well these instructions (attached), then you will understand well how to follow the path. Please make your life most beneficial with bodhicitta.

With much love and prayers...

With whatever virtuous action you create, please dedicate like this:

This is the year of obstacles for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, so please dedicate strongly for His Holiness to have a healthy, stable life and for the quick success of all His Holiness' holy wishes.

Please also pray for the success of all the FPMT Dharma projects, especially that the building of the Maitreya Project can start very, very soon. May all the FPMT projects that cause sentient beings to create merit and receive purification and achieve enlightenment quickly be successful.

May our service to all the monasteries, large and small, the support of all our Sangha, the building of monasteries, nunneries, centers, retreat places, holy objects, and so on, in all parts of the world, be without obstacles and completed very soon.

May all our social services be developed in the best way and be of most benefit to sentient beings.

May Essential Education (UCWP) be developed in the best way possible, receive all the finances that it needs, and be of most benefit to all, especially in those parts of the world that are experiencing great violence and turmoil.

May our Dharma publications spread all over the world and in every corner of the world.

May the Liberation Prison Project be of most benefit to all prisoners, and may they all be liberated from the prison of samsara.

In Mongolia, may all our efforts in helping with the revival of Buddhism be quickly successful and without obstacle, may our social services there be as beneficial and successful as possible.

May our Dharma and social work in the Bodhgaya area be most effective and helpful; may all Maitri’s work, the Shakyamuni Buddha Clinic at Root Institute, etc, be most effective and able to bring not only benefit in this life, but also in the next lives.

May all those who come in contact with the Dharma through these social services and so on receive a perfect human rebirth, meet the Dharma, attain a pure land, and achieve enlightenment quickly.

May all our service to fulfill His Holiness’ wishes succeed as quickly as possible.

May all the FPMT centers be of most benefit to all sentient beings, liberating them from the oceans of samsara and bringing them to enlightenment as soon as possible. May all the projects of all the centers be of most benefit and be successful. May those who need to buy new facilities or whatever needs they have, may they be quickly and instantly received. May all the teachers in the centers have long and healthy lives and be without obstacles in teaching the Dharma.

May the FPMT International Office receive all its needs instantly, and may it be able to give the best service possible.

May all the wishes and work of the FPMT Board of Directors be successful.

May all the directors and organizers of all the FPMT centers and projects in all the different parts of the world, who are sacrificing and giving their life to serving sentient beings, Lama Yeshe, and myself, have long lives, healthy minds, and may they actualize Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings, which are like refined gold, in this very life.

1. Losar: Four sessions a day. Do Chenrezig guru yoga, with meditation on the Eight Verses, in the first two sessions in the morning, and do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, with meditation on the Three Principal Aspects of the Path in the last two sessions. We will do these practices in retreat mode at Shakyamuni Center during Losar. Also, we invited all FPMT nuns and monks in Taiwan to attend the retreat.

2. Saka Dawa: Shakyamuni Buddha Puja with extensive offerings.

3. First Dharma Wheel-turning Day: Morning—Lama Chöpa with tsog, plus Praise to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha.

4. Buddha's Descending Day: Tara Puja (Four Mandalas) with Praise to the Twenty-one Taras (as many as possible).