Daily Mantras for a Meaningful Life

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,

Thank you very much for your kind email. I’m sorry for the long delay.

Keeping our life in Dharma is the most important thing, because as Lama Tsongkhapa said in The Foundation of all Good Qualities, we have this perfect human rebirth just about one time, and not only do we have this, but we can be free from the lower realms and achieve the higher realms. We can be free from samsara and achieve nirvana; we can be free from lower nirvana and achieve enlightenment for sentient beings and free the sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. This is most unbelievable, most precious. This perfect human body is more precious than wish-granting jewels; this is not talking about diamonds and gold, but wish-granting jewels.

This perfect human body can be stopped at any time. Every day in the world, people die—after conception, after birth, while still young, middle-aged or old. Young people die all the time, and we don’t know if we will be in our next life in the next minute. Death can happen even in the next minute; we can’t say when. It is very easy to perish. Therefore, the best, most important thing is to practice Dharma. Nothing else is more important than this in every minute, in every second. And especially to generate bodhicitta, whether we practice tantra or do not practice tantra. This is the foundation.

In terms of daily practice and generally, two very important practices are reciting OM MANI PADME HUM mantra and the Medicine Buddha mantra and names. These two are very important.

Regarding Chenrezig, by reciting OM MANI PADME HUM it purifies our negative karma and obscurations collected from beginningless rebirths and we collect extensive merit. This is even without bodhicitta. Even reciting one mala purifies the negative karma created from beginningless rebirths, as well as all the obscurations. We collect merit more than the drops of water in the Pacific Ocean, more than the sand grains of the Pacific Ocean, more than the grasses growing on the mountains and on the lands of the earth.  It is unbelievable.

If we recite this mantra OM MANI PADME HUM just one time, we collect more than skies of merit. In particular, if we generate compassion for the sentient beings, the particular benefit is that it causes us to achieve enlightenment more quickly, the stronger the compassion we generate.

To achieve enlightenment quicker is not just for our own happiness, like taking drugs, it is not like that, just to have some sort of bliss out. It is not like that. It is so that we can free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings of the six realms and bring everyone to full enlightenment, buddhahood, the peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations. This is unbelievable, unbelievable, the greatest benefit. This is what we need in our life.

If we recite OM MANI PADME HUM every day, however many mantras we can recite, it is most unbelievably, unbelievably meaningful. It makes our life most beneficial for the numberless sentient beings—the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, so this means every single animal living in the ocean, large like a mountain and so small that we can't see them, only through a machine (a microscope) and then every single ant that we see on the road to the house. So our life is benefiting every single maggot, every single tick, every single mosquito, every single worm, like that, then also we’re benefiting every single human being, every single sura and every single asura being. Also I’m not just talking about only in this world, but in numberless worlds. It is unbelievable.

Please recite OM MANI PADME HUM and generate compassion for every single one of these beings. Generate the motivation, whether you have realized bodhicitta or not, generate strong compassion and then dedicate the mantras for every single sentient being, even if you don't have the actual realization of bodhicitta.

My mother didn’t know the Tibetan alphabet, for example, she couldn't read the texts, so when lamas explained commentaries from the texts, she didn’t understand, she only knew the simple advices like how to sit in front of a lama with your hands in your lap, or to not pass over two beads on the mala, but count the mantra one bead by one bead, etc., so things like that. This is what she told me. So when the lamas gave commentaries on the texts, she would recite OM MANI PADME HUM. This is what she did in Tibet, when Tibet was free. She went to Tibet to listen to teachings from the root guru of Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche.

Even though she couldn't read the texts, she had a hundred times greater compassion than me, who can read texts and speak a little bit about Dharma. Not only her, I also saw older ladies who normally do nyung näs, the two-day Chenrezig retreat. I am sure they can't read texts, but they have strong faith in the guru, Chenrezig, and they recite mantras. The ceremony is done by the monks who lead the nyung näs or by the ngagpas, who read the texts. Most of the ladies and men who attend cannot read the letters or the texts, so they recite OM MANI PADME HUM. This is how they do nyung näs. I met one old lady who normally does nyung näs and she recites many mantras every day, so even just speaking one or two times to her, I felt she had great compassion. So we can see how important it is to recite OM MANI PADME HUM.

I'm thinking to write a book that has different Chenrezig prayers, maybe seven or eight different prayers and practices, so it can be used every day to recite different prayers to Chenrezig before reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, to inspire devotion for Chenrezig. I haven't written it yet, but I hope to soon. It will be in Tibetan and English as well as in other languages. I think this is very, very important. In the meantime, you can recite whatever short prayer to Chenrezig that you know before you recite the mantras every day.

The other very important practice is Medicine Buddha, for success. The most important, highest success is achieving enlightenment for sentient beings; that is the most important thing.  Actualizing the path brings other success in our life—it happens just by the way. This practice is helping for any success, such as helping the Buddha’s teachings and sentient beings, so it is very important to recite the seven Medicine Buddha names and if you include the name of Buddha, then it is eight names. You can use the Medicine Buddha sadhana. This practice is unbelievably powerful, as the Medicine Buddhas have made prayers for all the success and to overcome all the problems, so then it happens to you.

So these two practices are very important to do every day: reciting OM MANI PADME HUM mantra and Medicine Buddha mantra. Also, recite the seven names of Medicine Buddha seven times each day, if you can. Recite one mala of the Medicine Buddha mantra, and of course, you can do more if you like. And do one mala or ten malas of OM MANI PADME HUM mantra every day if you can.

Reciting ten malas of OM MANI PADME HUM carries blessings for every generation of our family up to seven generations to not get born in the lower realms, to have higher rebirths and to meet the holy Dharma again. Then when we die, when our body is burned, any sentient being who is touched by the smoke from that, it purifies their negative karma.

When we go in the ocean, like for a swim, when our body touches the water, then any sentient being in the rest of the ocean receives blessings. So that means any sentient being who drinks the water or touches the water, even human beings playing in the water, all their obscurations and negative karmas are purified and they don’t get reborn in the lower realms, they don’t have a rebirth in a womb, from an egg, heat and so forth. This is what is mentioned. Then all those sentient beings from life to life are always with the buddhas and bodhisattvas. All those whom the water touched. This is after a person who recites ten malas a day goes into the water, just from the water touching their body. So it is an unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable blessing.

It’s the same thing if the wind touches a person who recites ten malas a day, if that wind then touches any other being, it has blessings, it purifies obscurations and negative karma and they don’t get reborn in the lower realms. This includes the breath. When the breath goes out, if it touches anybody, like, for example, if we blow on animals or insects, by our breath touching them it purifies their negative karma and they get a higher rebirth.

The life practices I am sending you are all to help you actualize the path to enlightenment, to achieve full enlightenment yourself and then to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to the peerless happiness, buddhahood.  

Thank you very much. Don’t worry, this is to plan well what to practice for however many years, months, weeks or hours that you have left to live, so it’s how to make your life most beneficial for sentient beings.

The Kadampa geshes advised to aim far to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. So not just thinking about this month or this year and then not having long-term patience. For example, thinking about this year only, so we try very hard now, but sooner or later we completely stop because it is taking a long time. Not thinking like that. It is like the Tibetan example of a flea jumping up and down, but it is the turtle that goes very slowly and steadily. It is the turtle that reaches the mountain by continuing on.

The Kadampa geshes also advised to extend the mind. This means to do all the preliminary practices, meditation on the lamrim and all these practices, studying Dharma and so forth, to extend the mind. At the same time, do not squeeze the mind, relax the mind. A third advice is to relax the mind, so not to get uptight, then getting lung disease and so many problems happen and we can't continue, so then completely stopping everything until some catastrophe happens and then we remember death and we remember the practices.

Regarding your question about doing Vajrasattva practice without the initiation, yes, that’s OK, because you are visualizing the deity above your crown. When you can get the initiation, it is very good.

With much love and prayers ...