General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

My very dear Jennifer,
Thank you very much for your incredible practice; it is really something to rejoice in. I hope that everyone in the whole world can practice like you, so full of energy for good things.

I checked more specifically what practice you should do. According to my observations these are the practices you should do:

• 100,000 guru yoga to Lama Tsongkhapa (which means actually reciting 100,000 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras)
• 1,000,000 mandala offerings
• 200,000 Samayavajra
• 10,000 Diamond Cutter Sutra recitations

In the near future you should plan to do a calm abiding retreat, practicing the nine stages of calm abiding. It would be very good for you to try and do that.

First, study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, as well as the Lamrim Chenmo (the elaborated lamrim). It would be very good for you to read the entire Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand five times. Read it slowly, thinking of the meaning as much as you can—that in itself is meditation. Whatever you don’t finish, then start from there the next day. You can read it twice a day or whatever you can, it is completely up to you.

Please study well the Tibetan language; I hope one day you can help translate some texts. We need many good translators in order to translate the many different texts and sutras from Tibetan.

According to my observations, it would be very good for you to meditate and study philosophy and it also would be very good for you to do social service. So, sometimes you can meditate more, sometimes study more, and other times offer service.

Regarding your preliminary practices, reciting the Diamond Cutter Sutra and making mandala offerings are your main ones. This is a wonderful way to collect merit and purify karma. It also helps you to realize emptiness. It is very good if you can try to memorize the Diamond Cutter Sutra, then you can recite it while you are walking.

If you can memorize it, probably you will be the first person in the west to memorize this sutra. There is a student in Washington who works for Wal-Mart as a cashier who has started to memorize the Diamond Cutter Sutra. Also, she recites the Vajrasattva mantra while working in Wal-Mart. As you are learning Tibetan, you can also try to memorize the sutra in Tibetan.

So, first read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand five times, then do meditation. Try to have realizations on the gradual path of the lower capable being, then the gradual path of the middle capable being, then try to have bodhicitta realizations, and then realizations on emptiness. Then, in the future, you can practice calm abiding, maybe for one year. This is something for which you can plan. After that, you can try to have realizations on the two stages of tantra: the generation and completion stage.

When you meditate on shiné (calm abiding), visualize yourself as the deity. This can be your basis for shiné. Before you try to practice this you need to study all the teachings on calm abiding. You can check in different texts, so that when you start meditating you know what to do when obstacles arise, etc.

Sometimes we don’t get the opportunity to meet again and again and discuss things, so here I am explaining your practice for some time, so you know what to do and know how to make your life most meaningful.
With much love and prayers...

My very dear Lauren,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. Sorry for the long delay in replying.

I was very happy to read about your experience with reciting the Sanghata Sutra. I have heard of many miracles and amazing stories from people who have recited it. I am collecting these stories to make into a small, inspiring book. Some of our centers received large donations after students recited it more than 150 times, even the next day. All the stories are very inspiring.

Regarding your questions:

1) Regarding studying the “Foundation of Buddhist Thought,” according to my observations, it would be better for you to study in Holland.

Also, you could study the correspondence course for the basic program from Istituto Lama Tsongkhapa in Italy. Or if the geshe in Alicante in Spain, or at Atisha Center in Australia have a correspondence course, you could also follow these. I think only Italy actually has the correspondence course set up.

2) I checked regarding your special deity, and according to my observations for your quickest enlightenment, it comes out best for you to practice Tara Cittamani.

I was wondering, as you are an interpreter, whether you could maybe translate either the Sutra of Golden Light or the Sanghata Sutra? This is an incredible way to use your skill. If this is something you feel you can do, then please contact the director of the Education Department in the FPMT. She can help you to get the texts and also help to make them available as widely as possible after they are translated.

There are three volumes of the Sutra of Golden Light. Reading them brings great purification and one collects an incredible amount of merit. Also, it brings peace to the place where one reads it: the house, city, and even the country. Reading it is a great contribution to world peace. I am wondering if you could translate it into a language that is rare to find, like West African.

Regarding your practice, I checked what is most beneficial for your quickest enlightenment (see below). Please do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas before you go to bed, as well as Vajrasattva practice. Also, if you are able, please practice Guru Puja each morning. As you read this practice you will develop all the realizations of the path.

There are some books regarding the benefits of doing Lama Chöpa (Guru Puja). Also, I have explained this during some retreats (Milarepa Center and Land of Medicine Buddha). It would be very good if you can read about some of the benefits.

Please make your life most meaningful with the thought of bodhicitta.

With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa

Practices Rinpoche suggested:

• Refuge: 300,000
• Prostrations: 300,000 to the Thirty-five Buddhas
• Vajrasattva: Before going to bed each night
• Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 400,000
• Guru Yoga: If you can, practice Guru Puja in the morning
• Lamrim Meditations:
  • Guru Devotion: Two months
  • Graduated path common to the lower capable being: Eight months
  • Graduated path common to the middle capable being: Three months
  • Graduated path common to the higher capable being: Bodhicitta 6 months
  • Emptiness: Seven months