General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

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.

Namgyalma mantra is very good, very powerful purification. One day Lama Yeshe and I were in south India and we went to see my root guru, His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche. During the interview His Holiness was constantly reciting Namgyalma mantra. His Holiness told us that he was doing this because he receives the names of many people from all over the world to pray for, and sometimes they send offerings, but there is a lot of pollution from the offerings, therefore he was reciting Namgyalma mantra. He said people think Namgyalma mantra is only for a long life but actually it is very powerful for purification.

In the past I used to recite Namgyalma for people who had died. So the fact that you recite it is very good, that helps you very very much. By reciting Namgyalma mantra you will never be reborn in the lower realms because there is so much benefit and so much power from the Namgyalma mantra.

Guhyasamaja is your main deity to practice the tantric path, for your quickest enlightenment, so that is your object, your goal. Each deity’s sadhana has its own graduated path (lamrim prayer) at the end, so after you have received the Guhyasamaja initiation you should recite the deity’s lamrim prayer every day, even if you are doing the very short sadhana. Whichever version you are practicing, still you should recite the gradual path (lamrim prayer) every day. Presently, you are performing Guru Shakyamuni Buddha daily meditation practice. Within that practice there is a lamrim prayer. Also, there is guru yoga practice in it. The lamrim prayer of the deity, which also contains guru devotion, is the foundation or preliminary for tantra.

Lamrim is the fundamental practice. You should recite one lamrim prayer like this every day, as it leaves an imprint on your mental continuum of the whole path to enlightenment. So that means you become closer to realizing the path to enlightenment every day. Each day you are closer to enlightenment, closer to the ultimate goal, to liberating countless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bringing them to enlightenment. It is like planting seeds every day of the whole path. By reciting the deity’s lamrim prayer every day it also plants seeds of the tantric path. Reciting any lamrim prayer every day plants seeds to realize the three principals of the path.

By planting these seeds in your mental continuum, either in this life or your next life it makes it much easier to realize the lamrim, guru devotion, and then the tantric path. It also eliminates all the defilements, gross and subtle, and enables you to enlighten countless sentient beings, which is the ultimate goal of one’s life. This is like laying the foundation of a house, or like removing the rocks and planting seeds in a field. This is very, very important for one’s spiritual growth, with guru devotion as the basis to receive blessings.

The next most important practices are purification practices and to collect extensive merit. The next most important practice is to meditate on the path. So, the basis is like planting seeds and this is done by reciting lamrim prayers every day. Then one needs to meditate on the path (lamrim), starting with guru devotion, then the graduated path of the lower capable being, trying to have realizations step by step. This is how to get enlightened.

Whether one has an extensive understanding of Dharma or a little understanding of Dharma, this is the best way to go. This should be the plan for your whole life, how to go about reaching enlightenment, in this life and in future lives, until you reach enlightenment. The more you learn Dharma, lamrim, sutra, and tantra, the closer you are to enlightenment. Even if one does not know the entire sutra and tantra extensively, this is the way to go about your life, what practice to do. Even if you study Dharma your whole life it is no use if there is no integration of Dharma into your life. Maybe you study many things, but you are not practicing, not integrating the lamrim into your life. Without lamrim the mind can’t really develop, and you can’t really achieve the realizations of the path. So one’s mind would always be empty of realizations. To get realizations you need to integrate the lamrim.

I mentioned four things:

1) Guru yoga (devotion)
2) Purifying obstacles
3) Collecting merit
4) Meditating on the path, meaning lamrim

These four things are the basis and the direction for your life: to meditate on the lamrim and the tantric path on the basis of guru devotion, purification, and collecting merits.

Start with guru devotion, meditate on this every day, regardless of which section of the lamrim you are focusing on. Continue guru devotion meditation every day. Sometimes, when you have more time, then meditate a little longer, however try to do even 10-15 minutes every day to have some experience of that subject.

So, meditate on the eight benefits for two weeks, the advantages of correctly devoting to the guru, and two weeks on the shortcomings, the disadvantages of not devoting correctly to the guru. Then, for a month, meditate on the four basic outlines to transform the mind to see the guru as Buddha. There are four outlines for training the mind in guru devotion. Meditate on the four outlines for one month. Then, for one month, start again from the eight benefits of correctly devoting to the guru for three weeks and then the shortcomings of not devoting correctly for maybe just one week.

Then, again, the next month meditate on the four outlines. Continue like this until you see the guru as all the buddhas, from your side, and the Buddha as all the gurus. You feel this spontaneously from your heart 24 hours a day, every day, not just for a few hours or days, but a stable realization that lasts weeks, months, and years. Once the realization is stable then you don’t need to put in much effort, or spend much time, just a little bit so that the realization does not degenerate. You need to meditate like this until you have stable realizations, no matter how many lifetimes it takes; there is no other way to have successful realizations.

Also, you have to practice the other meditations in the lamrim, to train the mind. Beginning with the graduated path common to the lower capable being, this starts with meditating on your perfect human rebirth and goes up to karma. It doesn’t mean you have to go over each section of the lamrim extensively, you just do a little bit each day. On one day meditate on the lower realms for 15-20 minutes, then whatever part of the lamrim you did not finish, you can do it later in the evening or the next day. Each day you scan the entire lamrim, but you spend more time on the section that you are focusing on (like guru devotion) and in that way move through the entire lamrim over the months.

Meditate for four months on the graduated path common to the lower capable being. It can be 10-15 minutes each day if you are very busy. Then, when you have finished up to karma, go back again. After four months then meditate for five months on the graduated path common to the middle capable being, on delusions, karma, the three types of sufferings, the six types of suffering, the Four Noble Truths, etc. When you have finished each subject, then start over again until the five months is finished. Then meditate for five months on the graduated path common to the higher capable being. After that meditate for two months on bodhicitta, in the same way, and then after that meditate for three months on emptiness.

To make this a little clearer:

• Four months on the graduated path common to the lower capable being
• Five months on the graduated path common to the middle capable being
• Five months on the graduated path common to the higher capable being
• Two months on bodhicitta
• Three months on emptiness

When you finish, if you have already realized the first part of the lamrim, the lower path, then you don’t need to spend much time on that part, and instead focus on the middle path, etc. If you have not realized it, then start again from the graduated path common to the lower capable being. This is how to go about your whole life in order to become enlightened. Whether you are learning vast amounts of Dharma or not this is the way to go about it. Without doing this, without going over the lamrim, you are lost, you have no path.

Regarding what you said about your parents and how you do not have much time, your parents are teaching you how precious the human rebirth is, and how their opportunity has gone. While you are healthy, mentally and physically, you should do the practices, the meditations, and virtuous actions of the body, as much as you can. You can use your parents to remind you of Dharma, to remind you of suffering, the cause of suffering, that suffering can cease because there is a path. Your parents can remind you of this all the time.

You are doing Namgyalma and Medicine Buddha practice, so that is great. You mentioned about the pigs being slaughtered. When you practice Namgyalma you can include them. When I went to Taos, New Mexico, I passed a giant field with thousands of cows that were going to be slaughtered, so I made prayers for them.

Regarding the picture I am sending you of Medicine Buddha and the merit field, when you make one light offering to the thousands of merit fields, then you create thousands of causes for enlightenment.

Regarding the picture of the 35 Buddhas that I am sending you, when people prostrate, sometimes they only think of the 35 Buddhas, but you should prostrate to all the buddhas, however many you can think of. You can prostrate to all buddhas, Dharmas, and Sanghas in the 10 directions. When you think of the 35 Buddhas and prostrate then you create vast amounts of merit, even if you prostrate to only one Buddha. But if you think of the buddhas, Dharmas, and Sanghas in all 10 directions, as well as all the statues, stupas, and scriptures in the 10 directions, then even if you only prostrate one time it creates so many causes of enlightenment, as well as so many causes to be free from suffering. Think that there are countless stupas, buddhas, Dharmas, and Sanghas, so you are creating so many causes of liberation and enlightenment. If you think of only one Buddha then the merit is smaller.

If you can’t do the actual prostrations then you can put your palms together. When you put your palms together to one statue of Buddha that immediately creates eight benefits. The last of the eight benefits is liberation from samsara and enlightenment. So each time you prostrate to countless buddhas, Dharmas, Sanghas, statues, stupas, and scriptures it creates countless causes for your enlightenment, for you not to suffer, for happiness for future lives, and ultimately enlightenment. This is such an easy way to collect extensive merit, to achieve liberation from samsara, and to achieve enlightenment.

On top of this, you visualize thousands of your body prostrating, covering the whole ground in the four directions. The ground is covered with your body prostrating in the four directions, and they are all prostrating to all the holy objects. So, even if you are not able to prostrate physically, still you can visualize in this way. If you visualize even only one more body making prostrations, you collect double the amount of merit. So if you visualize billions of bodies prostrating (even for only one prostration) you receive the benefits of making one billion prostrations, and you receive the same amount of merit.

By prostrating to the Buddha 100 times you create the merit to be born 100 times as a wheel turning king. To be born as a wheel turning king one time you have to collect vast amounts of merits. The more atoms you cover on the ground when you prostrate, that many causes you create to be reborn as a wheel turning king, equal to the number of atoms.

Of course, the important thing before prostrating is to first motivate with bodhicitta. Each time when you look at Buddha so many defilements are purified, so do not close you eyes when you are prostrating. Also, think each Buddha is a manifestation of your guru, that this is your guru manifesting here. Then prostrate also with your mind, not only your body, thinking that the Buddha is the manifestation of your guru.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. You mentioned you work in Sikkim. I recently visited Sikkim to see the very large Padmasambhava statue there. It was amazing. It is very good that those people have been able to collect incredible merit and benefit sentient beings by making that statue. I am not sure if you were there in Sikkim when I was there recently. I gave a Chenrezig initiation: “Chenrezig Liberating from the Lower Realms” at the Sera Je Monastery in Sikkim. They built such a beautiful monastery and I heard that maybe 1,200 people came to the initiation. I gave some teachings and advice. I couldn’t do much as it was just one afternoon and there was translation into Nepali. Maybe you were there, I am not sure.

I was very impressed by the people because it seems that many young people there have faith and devotion. That was my first time meeting the people of Sikkim. It seems that many Sikkimese came to that initiation. The monks were very happy because usually they don’t come much. There were Tibetans there, too, and also, of course, Sherpas. Then I went down to Siliguri. There is a Segyu Monastery there. I have been offering food to them since almost a year ago, maybe for about 100 monks by now, so they wanted me to go there. I had lunch there and they asked for some advice. I saw so many people, and there was so much devotion, especially the young people showed devotion. It inspired me to go back there, and also to do more Dharma activities for them.

For your quickest enlightenment, to be able to enlighten sentient beings most quickly, you need a deity of highest yoga tantra to practice. For you, that is Secret Vajrapani (Vajrapani Great Wheel). It doesn’t mean you can’t take other deities’ initiations and practice them, but this is the main one to practice being one with day and night. Then, through this practice, you actually become the deity (which means enlightenment, which means your body, speech, and mind become the deity’s body, speech, and mind) and then through this, you can enlighten all sentient beings. Through this practice, you bring all sentient beings to this deity’s enlightenment. You are able to free all beings from the ocean of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment.

Here are your preliminary practices to do to collect the necessary conditions—the merits to have realizations of the path to enlightenment and purification of the obstacles and defilements:

400,000 Vajrasattva mantras: 
You can do this in the form of retreat (when there is a big number to finish), but also you can continue at home, wherever you are. You can do a few malas each day: one, two, three, four, five, whatever. So, you can count like that. Then, again, finish some in the form of retreat, being more strict and formal. If possible, also do retreat with the Eight Mahayana Precepts. It is the most powerful way to do it. This way, you are doing two very powerful practices combined. It is incredible purification. It is like one small flame can burn down a whole mountain, many thousands of acres of land, or can burn a whole city. If you let the fire burn and spread, it can burn the whole city. One small flame burns a house. Then it reaches the next house, and the next house, and the next, like that. With the Eight Mahayana Precepts, you collect so much merit and bring so much peace and happiness to the country where you are, to that area, so there is no question about yourself, about your benefit, and the happiness of this life. From that, all happiness comes. You achieve enlightenment, liberation from samsara, and the happiness of future lives, including the happiness and fulfillment of your wishes in this life. In the FPMT, usually we do the practice of taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts many times in retreat, not necessarily every day, but as much as possible. Also, doing it in retreat in a group is a very wise thing to do. It is also performed to stop war, famine, disease, dangers, poverty, and dangers from water, fire, and air. In the motivation, when you take the vows of the precepts, it contains that purpose for taking the vows, and you can also motivate in that way.

It is great that you have already done three months of retreat, but it still comes out in my observations for you to do this. That means, even if somebody had already recited the mantra one billion times, if it still comes out in the observations, then they still need it. That is the idea; that is the point.

Also, it comes out in my observations for you to do 50,000 tonglen. That is the preliminary of bodhicitta. This is the most powerful one to do (the requesting prayer together with the meditation of giving and taking). Here, you take sufferings and the causes of sufferings, including the negative imprint—take all sentient beings’ sufferings, including the delusions and karma, together with the negative imprints, and also the undesirable environments. For example, in hell, there is the ice fire, the ice mountain, the burning ground, the iron house; then for the pretas, the environment is a very depressing place with no water, and is so hot and cold; and for the human beings, the environment is a very dirty place full of thorn bushes. You take the environmental sufferings as well, those kinds of things, in the form of black pollution, and you give it all to the ego and destroy the ego—one’s own worst enemy. This is the greatest demon that has interfered so far with your being able to achieve enlightenment. It hasn’t allowed you to achieve enlightenment so far, has not even allowed you to achieve liberation from samsara, and hasn’t allowed you to enlighten all sentient beings, not even one. In these ways, you can see, one’s own ego is not only an enemy to you, but an enemy to all sentient beings.

Also, you collect countless merits by taking all the sufferings, causes of suffering, and undesirable environments. Then, when you give, you collect so much merit by giving your body as a wish-fulfilling jewel, and your possessions, to all sentient beings. However many possessions you have, they are given to sentient beings. So, however many possessions you have, you collect that much merit by giving them to sentient beings. Because sentient beings are countless, you collect countless merits with each possession.

Then, by giving all the past, present, and future merits, the three times’ merits, you collect vast amounts of merit. You give all your future happiness—your present happiness, from the next minute’s happiness up until enlightenment, including liberation and the realizations—to each and every single hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human, sura, and asura being. You can see that sentient beings are countless. By giving to each of them, you collect so much merit. You can’t imagine how much. I think if you really knew how much merit you will collect, you would faint and fall down– it might be difficult to get up! I hope it’s not for a long time! I hope people won’t take you to a hospital or a psychologist! I hope your family or friends don’t take you to the hospital because of it!

There is a prayer from Nagarjuna’s teachings:

Whatever sufferings there are, may they ripen on me; whatever happiness I have, may it ripen on sentient beings.

With the first part, you do the practice of taking; with the second, you do the practice of giving. Then you count on the mala (each time you recite the verse). I think you will be blissed out from this practice and that sentient beings will also be blissed out!

For you, there are not so many other preliminary practices to do. The other thing is to recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra 4000 times.

The last one is to do 300,000 Dorje Khadro burning offering pujas.

That’s it.

For lamrim meditations:

• Lower scope – four months
• Middle – three months
• Bodhicitta – four months
• Emptiness – one month

This is done on the basis of guru devotion every day. The time you spend on the meditation is up to you, there is no fixed time for how long to do the meditation. You can do it for one hour, a half hour, 15 minutes, any amount of time, but do it every day as a daily practice until you see that one guru is all the buddhas, from the bottom of your heart, and it is very stable, long lasting, and that one buddha is all the gurus. After that, you don’t need to spend that much time on it. You still need to meditate a little bit to stabilize the realization. It is the same with any lamrim meditation that you achieve. When you finish all of the above lamrim meditations, do the same thing over again until you achieve the stable realization of each meditation.

For the deity practice, you need to receive a great initiation (Secret Vajrapani), then do the retreat, and do the daily sadhana practice.

Until you achieve the realization of bodhicitta, you should put more effort into lamrim. Then, the next stage is tantric practice. If you do it the other way round and spend more time on tantra and very little time on the lamrim, it will take a long time and you won’t achieve much. You can’t complete the tantric path without lamrim. That means you can’t achieve enlightenment without lamrim, the three principal paths.

The Diamond Cutter Sutra is incredible. It is one of the most profitable practices, because the root of all sufferings, yours and others, is the ignorance holding the “I” as truly existent, even though it is empty of that; and the ignorance holding the aggregates as truly existent, even though they are empty of that. The only antidote to cut that, to get rid of that, and through which to achieve liberation, the total cessation of the suffering causes—delusions and karma—is the wisdom realizing emptiness. This is the subject of the Diamond Cutter Sutra, emptiness. So, each time you read it, it leaves so many positive imprints. Without taking much time and without many difficulties, it is easy to actualize wisdom. You also create a lot of merit, so it helps to actualize bodhicitta quickly and all the other realizations. That is the business, that is the deal with the Diamond Cutter Sutra—so much merit is created that whatever you wish, for example, to help others, you can achieve easily. In Washington State there is one lady who works at Walmart. She has almost finished memorizing the Diamond Cutter Sutra. If you recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra many times, of course there is no worry about death at all. Goodbye fear of death. Goodbye fear of the lower realms. Almost, you can say, “A Diamond Cutter Sutra a day, goodbye lower realms.” Also, you can say, goodbye to self-grasping, which has cheated you, totally controlled you from beginningless rebirths, and made you suffer countless times—in the oceans of hell sufferings, hungry ghost sufferings, animal sufferings, human being sufferings, sura sufferings, asura sufferings, and intermediate state beings sufferings, etc. Also, reading it is an incredible source of collecting extensive merit. If, while you are reading it, listening to it, even just by hearing about it, if you continue with faith, you collect so much merit, it is mind blowing, amazing, incredible, wow! It makes you laugh.

If you made an offering of your body to sentient beings the number of times equaling the number of sand grains in the Ganges in the morning, then again at noon, and also in the evening, and continued every day, that would be incredible. Even if you were to make charity of your body to sentient beings only one time, it would be incredible. If we compare that many acts of charity with having heard the Diamond Cutter Sutra and not giving up faith, the latter collects much greater merit than the other. So, there is no question that if you read, listen to, write, memorize, or learn about the Diamond Cutter Sutra, there is far greater merit than just having faith in the Diamond Cutter Sutra.

Also, the sand grains we are talking about are not ordinary sand grains, they are very, very fine atoms. There are seven extremely fine atoms. The river Ganga is not the river Ganges in India, but refers to the Pacific Ocean. So, you can see that the number is incredible, and so is the merit that you collect. Again, you can do some of the recitations in the form of retreat and then, at other times, when you are doing a job, every day, you can recite it one, two, or three times, however many you can. Then, again, you do it in the form of retreat, for two days, three days, seven days, a month, a few months, whatever. When you do it in the form of retreat, do a half-hour or one hour on the lamrim and then read, say for two hours, for the rest of the session. That is just an idea, the amount of time is up to you, it is not fixed. If you combine it with lamrim, that is extremely good.

In the morning practice guru yoga, prostrations by reciting the 35 Buddhas’ names, and recite the rest of the prayer at the end of the prostrations. Then, at night practice Vajrasattva, and before bed, if you can, recite the King of Prayers, the most extensive dedication prayer, dedicating your life to sentient beings. That is another sutra that is also incredibly powerful for purification and collecting extensive merits. If you recite that when you die, you go to Amitabha Pure Land, there is no doubt.

Don’t worry. You don’t have to worry about all of this. This is your lifetime practice. It is not something you can finish in one or two years. You don’t have to think about that. The main thing is to just do it and become enlightened to be able to enlighten sentient beings. You are incredibly fortunate to be able to have this opportunity to do this. The more you understand Dharma, the more you will understand how fortunate you are, especially with the Diamond Cutter Sutra.

The lady at Walmart is a cashier. Before she started reciting the Diamond Cutter Sutra, while working, she recited Vajrasattva. She didn’t have a prayer wheel, but had heard about them. She didn’t know much about the benefits, but somehow she was very drawn to that idea. So, in Walmart at the checkout stand, she used the rotating bagging table, where you hang bags, and turned it like a prayer wheel. She had some intuition about it. I think she has a lot of positive, natural imprints from past lives. So, I sent a prayer wheel to her. Mine is a little bit more sophisticated, the boss might not like it, so I gave her a simpler one. So, she turns it at work. Of course, people ask questions, some people have negative imprints from the past and don’t like it, but most people like it. One boy came by and liked it so much. Then, the boy wanted a prayer wheel. The boy must have very strong karma with Tibetan Buddhism. She has benefited so many sentient beings there, liberating them from the lower realms, just by their seeing the prayer wheel. Just by seeing the mani prayer wheel, they are purified of the five uninterrupted negative karmas. These are negative karmas that after having been committed, when you die you immediately are reborn in the hot hell, the lowest hell with the heaviest suffering, the duration of which is one intermediate eon. So, those negative karmas that anybody has collected are purified, besides the ten non-virtues. Anyone who sees the prayer wheel is purified of these negative karmas, is liberated from the lower realms, and the seed for enlightenment is planted.

Much love and prayer, please enjoy your life with Dharma, especially bodhicitta...

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.