General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

With regard to your meditation, you can train your mind in the generation stage, until one sees all gurus as buddha and all buddhas as the guru, until one has very strong, stable devotion, not the devotion that arises after just a few hours or days, but devotion spontaneously arising from the heart. You must work every day on guru devotion. This should be your fundamental practice. In addition to that, until you feel that all the works of this life are not important and you have no wish to acquire these (good reputation, comforts, material goods, happiness in this life, etc.); until the understanding arises that death can happen any moment, any day, and therefore works for this life have no meaning and are nonsense and childish; until these understandings spontaneously arise in your heart, until you have these realizations, you should meditate on the general lower path of the lamrim, the path of the lower capable being.

When you feel about samsara the same way that prisoners feel about being in prison, day and night, naturally wanting to be free with an intense will to get out; when you feel as if your naked body is sitting on a thorn bush; when you feel as if you are in a nest of poisonous snakes; when you feel as if you are on fire; when you feel in these ways that samsara is unbearable and you don't have the slightest attraction to samsaric pleasures, even in your dreams, but only the wish to be free spontaneously arises in your heart day and night, then you have realized renunciation in your mind. You should also meditate on the true cause of suffering, the shortcomings of samsara (delusion and karma). Also, meditate on the three, four, and six types of general sufferings of samsara, the 12 links, and the sufferings of the individual samsaric realms.

One should come to feel as a mother feels toward her beloved child, as if that child is the most precious one in her heart—whatever problem the child has, even if the child were drowning or in a fire, the mother herself would jump in and rescue her child by herself alone. Meditate until that strong stable feeling simultaneously arises from the bottom of your heart toward all sentient beings without exception, not only wishing sentient beings to be free but wishing to cause it by yourself alone, to free all sentient beings from suffering and achieve full enlightenment for all sentient beings by oneself alone. For that purpose we achieve enlightenment. So, this thought needs to arise spontaneously and effortlessly day and night, all the time. You must meditate on bodhicitta until you gain this realization. Finally, the unmistaken realization of emptiness is when you can see subtle dependent arising and emptiness as one object, when you can see that things exist depending on their base and on thoughts as labels.

When you have the realization that anytime you want to see yourself as the deity and the mandala, it automatically happens, as explained by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, without the slightest effort, this is the generation stage. Everything, every detail, is very clear. This also entails being able to concentrate for hours without a single thought entering (attachment or scattering thought). Thus, this is how to go about meditating on these realizations. Without realizations of renunciation you cannot attain bodhicitta realizations. Therefore, one needs to work on attaining renunciation, doing analytical meditations on renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness, guru devotion, and the generation stage. This is what you can do from now on. You can do as many of these meditations as you can each day.

My dear Lesley,
My advice is to do 20,000 Samayavajra. Do the same visualization as for Vajrasattva, on the crown of your head with nectar flowing down, and the three purifications: downward, upward, and instantaneous. According to my observations, this is what you should do. Especially, you need to purify negative karma with the guru. If you have received a highest tantra initiation, you should do Lama Chöpa every day. Study His Holiness's commentary. The rest of the day you should live with a bodhicitta motivation. Live life to serve others, thinking I’m here to free all sentient beings from samsara and lead them to enlightenment, happiness in this life and in all future lives, and liberation from samsara.

The other practice is to integrate your life with the five powers. That is the fundamental practice. It makes life most meaningful and beneficial for all sentient beings and does not create obstacles on the path.

One can do other practices, sadhanas, and mantras, but this is the foundation. You should also know the five powers for the time of death. If you are able to practice the five powers in daily life, you will be able to practice them at the time of death. First, one must know the outline of the two sets of five powers. But the key thing is always, early in the morning, to make the resolution not to be controlled by the self cherishing thought. From now on until death, especially today, vow never to be separated from bodhicitta. The rest of the day, by applying all the effort you can, try to perform all your activities with that thought. When you collect merits every day, dedicate them to actualizing bodhicitta for you and all sentient beings, to be able to generate bodhicitta in this life and all future lives. Study teachings on bodhicitta to see that it has great meaning in one's life. By knowing the extensive benefits, one can enjoy life practicing bodhicitta.

You should check in the teachings of the Seven Point Mind Training for the five powers in daily life and the five powers at the time of death. It is very good to think every morning, “I will die today.” Then, the day you die you will not be shocked. This helps you to accept death. When you find out you are going to die, put all your effort into practicing bodhicitta, giving sentient beings all your happiness, merit, and possessions. Their receiving all of this causes them to actualize the path and achieve enlightenment. Do this by generating great loving kindness, wishing them to have happiness and for you to cause them to have it. Then, generate compassion and take their suffering, sickness, and especially death onto yourself. Take all these into your heart as you breathe in and give them to your ego to destroy it, so that it becomes non-existent. Also, the emotional “I,” which appears to exist from its own side, is non-existent. Try to die with this motivation. Live life with this precious thought, which is all-fulfilling, and which is all-fulfilling for all sentient beings. If you die with this thought, your death becomes a cause of your enlightenment and the cause for the enlightenment of all sentient beings.

Before going to bed, if you can, perform the Thirty-five Buddhas practice by reciting their names and doing the prostrations, if possible. If you can, do this three times or more. Recite Vajrasattva mantra a minimum of 21 times. Make the elaborate dedication by reciting the King of Prayers. It is easy to recite the King of Prayers. If you can't, then dedicate to actualize bodhicitta "by the merit of myself and others" and make the Samantabhadra dedication, to actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s stainless and complete path which unifies sutra and tantra in one's mind, for the students and benefactors of the organization (FPMT) and all sentient beings to flourish forever. If possible, please make this dedication after each merit you collect. If that is not possible, then dedicate in the morning after your practice and when going to bed.

You should do the commitments you have received from Lama, they are there to purify your mind and help you gain realizations.

When you do Lama Chöpa in the morning, there is a lamrim prayer with it, so you must concentrate well while doing it. It is a very skillful means for planting the seeds of the whole path in just a few minutes and it becomes a meditation on the lamrim.
With much love and prayers...

My very dear Wenyu,
Thank you so much for your kind letter. As your letter is not dated I am not sure how old it is—I apologize if there has been a delay.

The ultimate goal in life is to liberate countless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. For that you need to attain enlightenment, and for that you need to actualize the graduated path to enlightenment. So, this is a serious project, from life to life.

To have successful realizations of guru devotion, which is the root of the path, and the graduated path of the lower, middle, and higher capable being, you need to receive blessings from the guru in your heart. What causes this is guru devotion: seeing the guru as Buddha from your side, with all your effort, no matter how difficult it is, and no matter how long it takes. So, every day you need to perform one guru yoga practice—my suggestion is Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. Within that is a lamrim meditation and prayer. You should do that and meditate on the lamrim. After you finish that prayer which is called Foundation of Good Qualities, you can recite another prayer called Calling the Guru from Afar by Pabongka, or Hymns of Experience of the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa. After finishing this, or within this prayer at the right point, then recite the ending of Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga. If you have a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation then the guru enters your heart. If you don’t have a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation then you can’t do that visualization. In that case, the guru melts into light and dissolves into the center of the forehead between the two eyebrows, then blesses the body, speech, and mind.

In order to have realizations of the lamrim you need to purify defilements and collect merits, so here follow your preliminary practices:

• 7000 mandala offerings

• 300,000 Vajrasattva mantras

• 300,000 Samaya Vajra mantras

• 400,000 Guru Yoga mantras: This is the number of “Migtsema” mantras based on Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga. You can also do these during Guru Puja. Sometimes you can do these on the basis of the Guru Puja, or begin each session with Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga, then count the “Migtsema” mantras. You should study the instructions for the preliminary practices. You don’t have to do all of them in retreat. You can do a big number in retreat then the rest in daily life, then do retreat again to accumulate more numbers. You can do retreat, then your job, then retreat again. That way it doesn’t interfere with your job.

• 20,000 Refuge prayers

• 40,000 Bodhicitta practices—Taking and Giving. If you are not familiar with this practice, then study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. There is a section on “Exchanging Self for Others—Techniques of Bodhicitta,” which discusses the bodhisattva practice of taking and giving.

For you, service to the Dharma center is very beneficial.

Every day, practice Chenrezig meditation and recite OM MANI PADME HUM. Medicine Buddha meditation and mantra recitation is also very important.

In the morning perform prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names. Prostrate toward all ten directions’ buddhas, Dharma, Sangha, statues, stupas, and scriptures, who are manifestations of the guru. For example, think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is what you think of when you start to lie down in the prostration. When you put your palms together on your head, then prostrate to all the buddhas, Dharma and Sangha who are manifestations of the guru. When you put your palms together on your forehead—in the center of the two eyebrows—then prostrate to the ten directions’ statues, stupas, and scriptures who are manifestations of the guru. When your palms are together at your throat, then prostrate to the ten directions’ buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha who are manifestations of the guru. When your palms are together at your heart, think of the ten directions’ statues, stupas, and scriptures, which are manifestations of the guru.

The following is how much time to spend on lamrim meditation:

• 8 months for the lower path, from perfect human rebirth up to karma. Practice that over and over until you achieve realizations of those meditations—especially impermanence and death.
• 11 months on the middle path
• 9 months on the higher path—bodhicitta
• Meditate on emptiness a little bit every day. You can recite the Heart Sutra or another short prayer. You will find different techniques in texts on how to meditate on emptiness. One day try one technique, the next day try another technique, or you can try the same technique for some days.

Your main deity for your quickest enlightenment is Vajrayogini. Also, Hevajra seems beneficial. But the main one is Vajrayogini. You can receive the commentary on this and practice the meditation on this only after you receive the initiation of the deity.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa

The most important emphasis in life is mind training in the lamrim and to benefit sentient beings—offering service as well.

My most dear Julia,
Thank you very much for your beautiful, sincere, down-to-earth letter. You are practicing the most important things. I am very happy to hear from you, explaining what you have been doing, making your life meaningful, your awareness of life, that it is of an impermanent nature, and that you can’t delay practicing Dharma. It is also good to hear how the vows help you, give you a clear direction, make your life meaningful, and have helped you progress in your spiritual practice, how they help stop the distractions of the mind and enable you to put effort into what is most important.

I am extremely happy and surprised that you went to the website for my advice on daily practice and that your main emphasis is on guru devotion practice, meditation, and 35 Buddhas practice in the morning, Vajrasattva in the evening, also the 21 Taras practice, as well as Chenrezig and Medicine Buddha daily practice, and tonglen. On top of that, you are reciting the Sanghatasutra and Vajra Cutter Sutra. I think you will become a wish-fulfilling jewel for all sentient beings: for the numberless hell beings, whose suffering is so heavy that one second is like suffering for eons; the hungry ghosts, who do not find even a drop of water or morsel of food for hundreds of thousands of years; the animals, who have incredible suffering; and the human beings, who experience so much suffering in the world. By doing all this practice, you are becoming a wish-fulfilling jewel for all sentient beings. I am VERY, very impressed.

According to my observations, for your quickest enlightenment, your main deity practice is Most Secret Hayagriva. Other practices would also be good, like Guhyasamaja and Tara Cittamani. This means you can also take these initiations and can do some practice, but the main one is Hayagriva.

So, when the opportunity comes, you can take the Most Secret Hayagriva initiation. If you hear that I am giving this initiation, if you can manage, then you can come. Otherwise, you can take it nearby.

It would be quite good to practice shiné, and your focus should be on the Six Yogas of Naropa, on tum-mo, but there is no rush with that. At the moment, train your mind in guru devotion, the three principal paths, and then, afterward, do tantric practice—the tantric path of the two stages of generation and completion. You need an initiation for that.

Your preliminary practices are as follows:

• Dorje Khadro fire puja—7000
• Refuge—50,000
• Guru yoga—80,000
• Tsa-tsas—200,000 (Guru Shakyamuni Buddha)

You should also recite, at least once each week, the Diamond (Vajra) Cutter Sutra. This will bring incredible purification and you will collect vast amounts of merit. Your success will be based on this.

Lamrim Meditations:

• Five months—lower path
• Eight months—middle path
• Five months—bodhicitta
• Eleven months—emptiness

These topics will be your main focus for those months. Please study these. It doesn’t mean you can’t do other practices.

I think you are a very stable, good, and inspiring sentient being. Billions of thanks not only for your practice, but for your service to the Dharma center.

My very dear Sylvia,
Thank you very much for your kind letter.

I want to advise you to recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra seven times and to perform 100 prostrations every day, by reciting the 35 Buddhas names. Recite the rest of the confession prayer when you finish. That is best, because every day we create so much negative karma.

If you can, perform full-length prostrations, if you have space in the house or in your room. This would be incredible. When you travel long distances by plane or are sick and so forth, then I understand it is difficult to do these. Otherwise, you should try to do them.

This is actually an emergency because with all the negative karma that we have created from birth, and especially from beginningless rebirths, it is possible to experience the result—the terrifying lower realms—any minute, any time, the moment the breath stops.

The ultimate result is the achievement of liberation and enlightenment.
With big love and prayers...

The most important thing is the motivation in life. This transforms ka-ka into gold. The motivation decides the direction of one’s life: not seeking the happiness of this life, which is just one life and so short, but the happiness of all future lives. We work for 60-70 years of happiness in order to achieve just five minutes of happiness.

Thinking of the happiness of all future lives is the virtuous motivation which makes an action beneficial. The problem is the wrong motivation of clinging to the happiness of this life. So, anything we do with this motivation—meditation, prayer, etc.—is not virtuous, even though it may look like virtue. It is not Dharma.

Just having a virtuous motivation directs your life to happiness. All the realms of suffering—gods, humans, lower realms—are all eliminated with this motivation toward the direction of everlasting happiness. Of course, bodhicitta (the awakening mind), cherishing others’ happiness and bringing them all to ultimate happiness, and bodhicitta which seeks work for others and enlightenment for their benefit is the most satisfying, happy life.

In the morning, first rejoice like this. Think: “So far I did not die. I could be in hell or an animal. Even if I was a human, maybe I would be the type of human with no connection with Buddhism, just having the shape of a human but being just like an animal, mentally completely dark, like stepping off a cliff.” Think: “I have attained a perfect human rebirth and met the Buddha in human form in His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other high lamas. The buddhas take care of me. How incredibly fortunate I am. What a great opportunity I have. I can create any happiness I want, even the Pure Land, if I don’t attain enlightenment in this life. I will be able to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all others.

“This human life is more precious than a gem because I can create the happiness of this life and all future lives for myself and others—this is the purpose of my life and my responsibility, because all the happiness I have attained is due to others. Even this body is due to the kindness of others, my parents, and so on.

“Many people don’t have a perfect human rebirth, but I do. So, I am responsible. Also, I am responsible because I have the opportunity to liberate countless sentient beings.

“From now on until I die, I will never be separate from bodhicitta. Everything I do, eating, sleeping, sitting, walking, and so on, is for others. If I do this just for myself, I just create problems for myself.” This is the most important practice.

Chanting mantras is good. Why? To develop a good heart. It is just one method. But this [above] is the most important practice. If you practice like this there will be no regret in the future. You will enjoy happiness more and more. This prayer on the motivation of life is the first practice for you to do.

Secondly, think: “Due to all my past, present, and future merits, collected by me, may any sentient being just by seeing me, criticizing me, having contact with me, never be reborn in the lower realms. May they find faith in the Dharma. May all their wishes be fulfilled instantly according to Dharma and may they instantly attain enlightenment.”

Thirdly: “Due to all the past, present, and future merits collected by me, whatever I attain—failure or success, living or dying, pleasure or pain, being reborn in the lower realms, eating, sleeping, walking—may it become most beneficial for sentient beings.”

Conclude with this prayer: “Whatever I achieve by being in this world, universe, house, place, university, may all these people never be reborn in the lower realms but attain happiness. May all beings with AIDS and all incurable illnesses be immediately healed. May those who have depression have their hearts filled with bliss. May anyone with relationship problems be filled with joy. May those who live in poverty have wealth. May those who are jobless find jobs. May those wishing to find a friend find the friend who brings only happiness instead of friends who cause suffering. May all war and famine be ceased.”

Fourthly: “Due to all my past, present, and future merits, may my family and I meet only qualified gurus in all future lives, see only enlightened beings, and do those actions that are pleasing to the virtuous friends in all lifetimes. “ This is to make the purpose of our life vast.

Fifthly, if you want to do meditation, make a light offering to Manjushri, or you can offer to Lama Tsongkhapa since he is the same as Manjushri. Then do Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga and lamrim prayer for a few minutes to increase realizations. If you can, recite 21 Mig Tsema prayers, or more if you wish, with white light purifying all obstacles so you can develop your mind. You can do 10-15 mantras with white light flowing into you, and you achieve the Clear Wisdom, the Quick Wisdom, and the Profound Wisdom. Then, for the rest you can do a short version where the light generates the Wisdom to recite Dharma and the Wisdom to Help. Also, you can generate other Wisdoms, like Debating Wisdom and Writing Wisdom. Altogether you can do one mala or you can do one mala for each wisdom.

Finally, dedicate the merit: “Due to these merits, may bodhicitta ripen within my heart, my family, the leaders of countries, violent people, and all sentient beings.” When you dedicate to all sentient beings it is like adding your money to everyone else’s. It’s like making a huge fund.

“Due to these merits may I achieve enlightenment and bring all sentient beings to enlightenment by myself alone.” Merit that is collected without bodhicitta means you receive the fruit just once. But bodhicitta it is like a wish-granting tree, it never stops granting you your wishes.

To protect the merit which we have collected extensively from anger or heresy we seal it with emptiness. Think: “These merits appear to exist from their own side. May the merit, which is empty, may the ‘I’ which is empty, attain Lama Tsongkhapa’s enlightenment, which is empty from its own side.

“Due to these merits may I have the same qualities as Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa. May my merits be dedicated exactly as they dedicated their merits. I dedicate my merits exactly the same way Samantabhadra did.

“May the teachings of Buddha, especially those of Lama Tsongkhapa, spread and enter the hearts of all people on this earth.”

When you go to bed, you can do 21 Vajrasattva recitations. You can also do the 35 Buddhas practice, visualizing that you are prostrating. Then do the dedication as stated in Vajrasattva. When going to bed, remember the meaning of your life. Also, when going to class, go with the attitude that you are going for all sentient beings. Then it brings the most happiness and joyful things. Remember why you are there.

Vajrasattva Meditation and Mantra
On the crown of your head, on a lotus and moon seat, are Vajrasattva father and mother, their bodies white in color, with one face and two arms, holding vajra and bell, cleaver and skullcup, and embracing each other. The father is adorned with the six mudra-ornaments and the mother with the five mudra-ornaments. They sit in the vajra and lotus positions. In his heart, on a moon-disc is a HUM encircled by the mantra-rosary, from which cascades a stream of white nectar, cleansing you of all sickness, evil spirits, black karmic debts, and obstacles.

OM VAJRASATTVA SAMAYA/ MANU PALAYA/ VAJRASATTVA TENO PATITHA/ DRI DHO ME BHAVA/ SUTO KHAYO ME BHAVA/ SUPO KHAYO ME BHAVA/ ANU RAKTO ME BHAVA/ SARVA SIDDHIM ME PRAYATSA/ SARVA KARMA SUTSAME/ TSIT TAM SHRI YAM KURU HUNG/ HA HA HA HA HOH/ BHAGAVAN SARVA TATHAGATA/ VAJRA MAME MUNTSA/ VAJRA BHAVA/ MAHA SAMAYA SATTVA AH HUNG PHET (recite 21 times)

Through my ignorance and delusion,
I have transgressed and degenerated my commitments.
Spiritual master, savior, be my refuge.
Lord, holder of the vajra,
Endowed with great compassion,
In you, the foremost of living beings, I take refuge.

Vajrasattva and his consort then dissolve into you, and your three doors of body, speech, and mind become inseparable from Vajrasattva’s body, speech, and mind.