Lamrim, Preliminaries and Diamond Cutter Sutra

This is my advice for your life practices.

Please read my advice on how to meditate on the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment. Continue step by step with the lamrim outline, then do effortless meditation. Later you can take the main deity initiation.

After bodhicitta is done, you can spend time on the generation and completion stages. While meditating on the generation stage, you can go over the outlines of the completion stage. The time for tantra is afterwards. You can meditate on tantra but first spend more time meditating on lamrim. After that you do effortless meditation.

• Refuge: 500,000. You can take teachings on and study the Jorchö commentary, or study the refuge section in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
• Tonglen: 100,000. Recite the words but also do the meditation. With this practice you collect the most extensive merit and purify negative karmas collected from beginningless rebirth.
• Do Vajrasattva every day, especially in the evening. Recite one mala, half a mala, twenty-one mantras or as many as possible.
• Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas’ names: 50,000. Please read the explanation of how this practice brings powerful purification and how it was practiced by Lama Tsongkhapa. In the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition, it is regarded as so important and was practiced by the lineage lamas. Even when Lama Atisha was showing an elderly aspect, he still did prostrations. Even though the holy body was shaking, he still did prostrations.
• Mandala offering: 50,000. 

This is a method to collect extensive merits. For quick enlightenment you need to collect the merits of virtue and the merits of wisdom. All success in attaining realizations and enlightenment comes from merit, as does all success, even in samsara.

In other words, if you do the preliminary practices and meditate on the lamrim, you can achieve enlightenment for sentient beings and then save numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. It brings all success and happiness, good rebirths for eons and all success while you are samsara.

Western science has no explanation of reincarnation and karma. Even though someone is educated, with a degree, it doesn’t mean that they will be able to find a job easily. Happiness and success come from good karma. Actualizing the four noble truths, liberation and enlightenment, the preliminary practices and lamrim cause all success and happiness, even in samsara. All the answers are there if you want to progress.

If you can, recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra every day.

Life is very short. Purification like Mount Everest is needed to purify the negative karma and obscurations collected from beginningless rebirths and to collect inconceivable, inconceivable merits. [Reciting the Diamond Cutter Sutra] is a quick way to realize emptiness. It will be very, very good if you can put effort into this practice.

While reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra once every day, you can dedicate for people with sicknesses, life-threatening diseases and difficulties in their life, such as not finding a job. You can dedicate for anyone with problems.

It is very, very powerful and great, great benefits are explained. Sorry, the benefits have not yet been translated into English; but they can be translated; they are not long. You can start reciting the Diamond Cutter Sutra now.

After receiving initiation and studying the commentaries, you can do the enabling retreat of your deity.