Retreat Advice

Dear Keith,
You don’t need to do Lama Chöpa at the beginning of each session. In the morning session, after the offerings, sit down and do extensive Lama Chöpa with Jorchö, with prostrations. Begin by generating a bodhicitta motivation for life, and recite OM MANI PADME HUM.

You can leave the merit field during the day. Don’t do Lama Chöpa before the other sessions. For other sessions do recitation of bodhicitta and the Four Immeasurables, if you like, or just do the short seven-limb prayer and the long or short mandala offering. Then meditate, following the particular section.

With much love and prayers...

Dear Lisa,
Thank you for your letter. In this life, more than study or service for others, it is better for you to do retreat and meditation. You can do other things, but the most beneficial is retreat and meditation. Osel Ling and Kopan come out best, also the retreat place at Nalanda Monastery. You can try there.

Concerning the advice for lamrim meditation and the times for the different scopes and topics, do this cycle four times. Then, if you still don’t have renunciation of this life, go through the lamrim topic by topic to gain the realization while doing guru devotion. Follow the outlines for however many weeks or months it takes to gain the realization that the guru is all the buddhas and the Buddha is all the gurus, till there's no separation, from the bottom of your heart.

With much love and prayer...

A retreat place is not for gaining power, like black magic, it’s not for a honeymoon or holiday. Also, it is not a place to be spaced out. The whole purpose is to subdue the mind and to actualize the lamrim, up to enlightenment. It is a place for a holiday from negative karma, from the three poisonous minds, and the self-cherishing thought, a holiday from the self-grasping of the person and phenomena, a holiday from the wrong concepts: non-devotional thought towards the guru up to the subtle dual view of white, increasing, attainment.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. This is my advice for you as to what practices to do:

100,000 mandala offerings

100,000 prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas

Combine this with lamrim meditation.

In one day, perhaps do half a day of prostrations and then half a day of mandala offerings, or you can spend more on one or the other. Then, also do lamrim meditations.

First, in the morning, do Lama Chöpa combined with Jorcho.

In the evening before bed, read the King of Prayers and do protector practices.

If you can, read the Sutra of Golden Light as many times as you can, or a few pages each day. Recite it and make strong prayers for world peace, to stop war, famine, disease, sickness, and dangers of fire, earth, wind, and water.

I have just written some advice for someone else in retreat, mainly about how to think, and how to keep one’s mind in the lamrim. When that is finished I will send it to you so you can also use it.

With much love and prayers...

1. Do some nyung näs while you are there. You can finish the twenty that are left, out of the 100 you are doing.

2. Recite each of the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names 100 times daily. You can recite them thirty-five times in each session, with three sessions.

3. Do some Vajrasattva practice.

4. Recite Chenrezig mantra: one million or three million.

5. Meditate on the lamrim.

6. Every day, do tsog offering. You can combine this with Vajrayogini sadhana or Lama Chöpa, or short tsog offering.

7. Do one session of the Thirty-five Buddhas in the evening, lamrim, and the Thirty-five Buddhas in between. In the afternoon, do your other commitments.

First thing in the morning, make prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, then do Lama Chöpa, which counts as one six-session yoga, without chanting, performing it with meditation. Then, in the evening, do a short self-initiation, the one I wrote.

Regarding which deity to base the short self-initiation on, eat 100 potatoes then decide which deity (I’m joking). Sometimes you can base it on Heruka or Yamantaka. Vajrayogini doesn't have the vajra master initiation, and it is said that without the vajra master initiation, one doesn't restore broken vows. Trijang Rinpoche said you need this. So, purification happens with Vajrayogini definitely, but you need to do the vajra master initiation. Also, Cittamani Tara has incredible blessings (Trijang Rinpoche has told me this) and because of this you are purified. Sometimes you can do the tsog with the Vajrayogini self-initiation.

After finishing the lamrim prayer of Lama Chöpa, and before the guru absorbs into you, do analytical meditation on guru devotion. After that, do fixed meditation, holding the feeling. Do the first session every day like this, using the outlines of guru devotion. Whatever you do not finish, do it the next day, and like this, go through the outlines. Then, focus on the perfect human rebirth and impermanence, going through all the lamrim, but mainly focusing on perfect human rebirth and impermanence and death. So, the first session can be lamrim with guru devotion, and the second session can be renunciation, from lower capable beings up to karma. Carry on like this for the first month.

Then, in the next month, continue with guru devotion but practice the meditations of the medium capable being, the three types of suffering and suffering of the devas and humans.

In the third month, meditate on bodhicitta.

In the fourth month, meditate on emptiness.

In the fifth month, practice tonglen with mani mantras. Practice the short tonglen while counting manis (you can do Nagarjuna’s prayer, the tonglen verse in Lama Chöpa, or the more extensive tonglen meditation). While meditating on the lamrim, recite manis. You can always do that, and can still count them. When practicing tonglen take on:

• All the suffering 
• The causes: delusion and karma
• The imprints: the negative imprints, including the subtle imprints
• The unpleasant conditions.

Then give: 

• Yourself and your body
• The three time merits
• The results, up to enlightenment, to all the hell beings.

All becomes a pure land, they cease all defilements and achieve all attainments, including enlightenment. After taking their suffering, they achieve all qualities of cessation.

When they attain all the perfect qualities, you can chant OM MANI PADME HUM at any time. Also, during the lamrim meditation, you can chant OM MANI PADME HUM. Light from Chenrezig purifies all beings. Also, recite praises to Chenrezig, then recite malas. You can recite the long mantra 21 times, then OM MANI PADME HUM. After one or two malas, Chenrezig absorbs into you, then becomes emptiness. This emptiness is the emptiness of Chenrezig's holy mind. Then you become Chenrezig and beams from your heart go out and purify the six realms. You can do this in the same way as in nyung näs. So, one session should be just on Chenrezig.

If you are turning a prayer wheel, you can use the prayer wheel to purify yourself. Beams are emitted from the prayer wheel and suck all of your negative karma and defilements each time you turn it. Then, purify sentient beings in the same way. Use different Chenrezig prayers—there are many that I want to translate. These move the mind. Also, you can chant the Songtsen Gampo prayer that I translated, then the one that Jampa Chokyi translated, which purifies the six realms. You can also chant the eight verses.

The lamrim sessions can also be performed with Chenrezig practice.

After eating lunch, you can recite the Heart Sutra, which becomes a meditation on emptiness. You don't have to recite the long version, but meditate on emptiness or the Heart Sutra, spending one day on meditation on the emptiness of the I/aggregates, the next day on the five sense objects, the next on the twelve links, etc.

Also, when you recite the lamrim prayer, meditate on emptiness. It doesn't have to be the long one, it can be the short one, for two minutes. Also, you can practice the Dharmakaya meditation.

Then, if there is extra time, do more meditation on emptiness. After five months, do Vajrayogini retreat and nyung näs.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your email.

This is what comes out most beneficial for you. If you can, read the Diamond Cutter Sutra every day. Sometimes, if you are sick and are unable to finish it all in one day, then it doesn’t matter, and you can continue the next day. Otherwise, read it once every day. As you know, this is the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness and it is unbelievable! If you read it then you will understand the benefits, so I don’t need to explain. Also, there is incredible purification from reading it and one collects extensive merits.

By reading or hearing the Diamond Cutter Sutra, you don’t give up faith. The merit you collect is inconceivable, unbelievable, and unimaginable. It is far greater than, for example, offering your body in charity for one day to sentient beings. It is greater than offering your body in the morning for as many times equaling the number of grains of sand in the River Ganges. The grains of sand are not what we usually think of. They are very tiny atoms, one of the seven types of subtle atoms. Then, again at noon, you offer your body to sentient beings that many times. In the evening, again, you offer your body to sentient beings that many times: the number of subtle atoms of grains of sand in the River Ganges. Like that, you offer every day, for eons. The merits of practicing that much charity for sentient beings even for one day is simply unbelievable, let alone three times a day, or for so many years and eons. That merit is unbelievable. Even offering one’s body to sentient beings is unimaginable. The benefits are equally unbelievable just from being able to do that.

Even if you practiced charity like that each day for that many eons, it is a small amount of merit compared to reading or hearing the Diamond Cutter Sutra and not giving up faith. That means if you keep it, read it, memorize it, and study its meaning, then you collect far greater merits than from the previous actions. Reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra is an incredible source of powerful purification of all previous negative karmas collected since beginningless rebirths—all those unbelievably heavy ones. This is in addition to the extensive merit you collect by reading it or just by keeping it. Also, if you can memorize it, it would be very powerful purification.

If you can, practice your deity’s self-initiation. If you are able to, do it once a week. This would be great. See if you can do this.

If you can, do tsog offering every day. This could be within the Lama Chöpa/Guru Puja, and then offer the tsog. You don’t need to chant it unless you want to, you just need to offer the tsog. Again, this is extremely powerful purification of degenerated samaya. It also purifies all one’s negative karma and one collects merit. Doing this practice hooks all the realizations to you. If you can do these practices it will make it so easy for you when death comes, and also while dying.

At the end of each day, if you can, recite the King of Prayers. Also, you can recite the Blissful Realm prayer, the prayer to be reborn in Amitabha’s pure land. Also, there is one prayer that Lama Yeshe used to recite as the dedication to complete the whole path: Lama Tsongkhapa’s prayer for the beginning, middle, and end. These are all very good to do. At least recite the King of Prayers. This is incredible purification; also, you collect extensive merits, especially if you pay attention while reading it. By doing this you will discover all the benefits. They are unbelievable! When you read it, please check out all the benefits. If you do what I am suggesting it will be extremely beneficial for you.

Also, it is important to meditate on the lamrim every day. Meditate on guru devotion every day by following the outlines. Then, do the rest of the lamrim meditations like this: Mainly focus on the perfect human rebirth for one month. The following month focus mainly on its usefulness, and go on like this through all the lamrim outlines, except shamatha—you don’t need to focus on that. Then, mainly focus on emptiness for one month.

To clarify: focus on understanding impermanence and death for one month; the lower realms: one month; refuge: one month; karma: one month; the sufferings of the upper realms: one month; the general sufferings of samsara: one month; the twelve links: one month; the general sufferings, the three types of suffering, the four types of suffering, and the sufferings of the six realms: one month; bodhicitta: two weeks, or one month on each outline of bodhicitta. Do some meditation on emptiness every day. If I have missed any outline, then focus on each lamrim outline for one month.

If you can do self-initiation every day it would be extremely good. You can do the short one, since you have done the Yamantaka retreat along with the fire puja. So, do the short self-initiation every day, and then, if you can, do the long self-initiation once a week. If you don’t have the text, then you could ask the FPMT office, or the other two students you know who do it.

If you can, do Thirty-five Buddhas recitations, with prostrations if possible. Every night recite some Vajrasattva.

If you do the lamrim meditation retreat, that is the best thing. If you are able to do this, it is much better than just counting mantras for a billion years. The purpose of counting mantras is in order to have lamrim realizations. Also, the purpose of counting preliminary practices is to have lamrim realizations, especially realizations on the root of the path: guru devotion, as well as the three principles of the path, the common and uncommon two stages, and to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings.

In essence, the advice I am giving is to meditate and actualize the path to enlightenment. Meditating and chanting millions and billions of mantras is just for that.

According to my observation, this year looks good for you, but next year looks negative. Of course, this depends on whether one goes to a pure land or has a perfect human rebirth in one’s next life. A perfect human rebirth means to meet the Dharma again, to have a human body with the eight ripened aspects and the ten qualities, which Lama Tsongkhapa emphasized is necessary for attainments, and especially to meet the tantric teachings. If this happens then it is not negative, it is positive. Negative means having life obstacles, but if one’s rebirth is going to be opposite to being able to practice Dharma and develop one’s mind on the path to enlightenment, then it is better to keep this body, even it is old and has many problems, because still one can practice, so it is positive.

You can practice the long sadhana of your deity when you can and especially recite your deity’s graduated path (at the end of the long sadhana). This is very important. Even if you practice the short sadhana, it is still important to recite this prayer every day, as it leaves positive imprints on the mind, to have all the realizations of the tantric path.

With much love and prayers...