The Path to Enlightenment

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I made prayers for your mother also. I checked and yes, for you, retreat is best, and best is lamrim retreat. Even just studying and understanding intellectually, just that is extremely worthwhile. That takes many years, just that.

Having firm concentration so that even if big drums beat in front of our ears we don’t get distracted or achieving the five clairvoyances so we can fly—we have had those attainments numberless times in the past. We have had these powers numberless times in the past, but still we are not free from samsara.

It is renunciation that makes us achieve bodhicitta and we need bodhicitta to achieve enlightenment so as to enlighten all sentient beings, therefore now we also need to realize emptiness in order to be free from samsara forever and to be free from the root of samsara, ignorance. Of course, we achieve this with the support of bodhicitta, then we are able to cease the subtle defilements with the wisdom realizing the direct perception of emptiness. Then on top of that there is the tantric path, so this is what is important.

All those other powers are nothing; we have had them numberless times. People in the world are most surprised if someone is able to fly, but even the birds can fly, even the insects can fly, even bees can fly, so if someone has the five types of clairvoyance, such as firm contemplation etc., people are more surprised, but that person doesn’t know lamrim. Lamrim is the main thing and it is most important because if we had these lamrim realizations, by now we would not be in samsara, we would be enlightened already.

Whatever hardships we have to bear, it is extremely worthwhile, so worthwhile. We have died from beginningless rebirths in samsara and we have just created the cause of the lower realms—negative karma and the lower realms—but we have never died for Dharma, that is very rare.

Regarding retreat and part-time work, that is up to you.

One practice for you to do every day is the daily motivation, The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment). That also has the blessing of the speech and daily mantras.

It is so important to meditate on the lamrim every day. This is very important. You could also recite one lamrim prayer every day. Read it slowly, going over the meaning. Lamrim is what you need to actualize, no matter how long it takes, so please put your effort there.

You should do your lamrim meditations during your guru yoga practice. Stop before the guru absorbs into you and meditate on whatever section of the lamrim you are up to.

One meditation that you must try to do every day is on guru devotion. Sometimes if you miss it, that’s OK, but then just continue. There is no question of how much time you take; it is up to you, what fits.

Then continue with whatever lamrim topic you are on, doing the meditation every day, going through the subjects slowly. Whatever meditation you did in the morning, then continue with that mind during the day, so that your mind is in lamrim all day.

Please try to meditate on the lamrim based on guru yoga and on this basis you will get all the realizations and the most success in your life. It is important to try to achieve all the realizations in order to actualize enlightenment—this is in order to liberate numberless sentient beings and enlighten them. That’s the real project, the real goal of our life.

What makes our life most meaningful is meditation on the lamrim, then to live our life with bodhicitta motivation. This is the best.

So here you are most welcome to enlightenment, to liberate the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to buddhahood, by actualizing the path yourself.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Yes, of course you should continue with nyung nä practice as much as possible.

Regarding lamrim, the structure doesn’t matter. Do it whenever you can, but you have to do it.

There’s no enlightenment without lamrim. There’s nothing more important in the life than practicing lamrim; there’s no way to go to enlightenment without lamrim. There’s nothing more important in the life then practicing lamrim. There’s no way to go to enlightenment without lamrim.

There’s no way to jump into enlightenment without lamrim, so it’s the best life. Of course, with bodhicitta, but bodhicitta is based on renunciation, and then there’s emptiness, the two truths, like the two legs, there is absolute bodhicitta and conventional bodhicitta. It’s really amazing meditation to cut all the basic [ignorance] from where all the suffering arises—the self-cherishing thought, the ignorance holding the I and phenomena as truly existent.

That much tonglen that you have done, how much you have done, that is great, incredible, great, great.

Lamrim is the best, so try to have realization of lamrim. It is the best, best practice, the best. When you become closer to lamrim realizations, then you become closer, closer to enlightenment. Thank you very much.

Then you can do retreats, sometimes Tara Cittamani, or sometimes Yamantaka or Chakrasamvara, or a deity that you have received initiation for. If you like, you can do that. By practicing tantra, it becomes easier to achieve enlightenment. It leaves positive imprints, so it’s a quick way to enlightenment. So thank you very much.

With much love and prayers ...

Gungtang Jampai Yang, a very high lama from Amdo in Tibet, said:

The essence of Losang Gyalten (Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings) integrates listening, reflecting and meditation into one. If you attempt the collecting of merits and purification, the background support, then buddhahood is at your fingertips.

This is how to practice to achieve enlightenment and how to achieve enlightenment quickly.

My very dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very, very much for your email and your message, New Year greetings.

So that thing which is not happening—trying, but it is not happening—that is not necessarily the universe telling you it’s not good to do that. It is not necessarily that; it can be negative or positive.

For example, we can become free from samsara and after that achieve enlightenment—peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations—and then free the numberless sentient beings totally and bring them to peerless happiness, buddhahood. Of course, our mind at the moment is full of mistakes, totally obscured, like darkness, no light, no sun, and on top of that filled with fog, so it is obscured by defilements, therefore we are not yet able to do that.

The reason that we can be free from samsara—from the oceans of samsaric sufferings, the six realms of sufferings—and achieve enlightenment and bring sentient beings to enlightenment, is because the nature of our mind is not oneness with the defilements; it is not one with anger, attachment and ignorance.

If our mind was oneness with anger, attachment and ignorance then it would not possible. But we can be free from suffering in samsara. The nature of the mind is pure. You see in many other sects, like Kagyu and Nyingma, the meditators believe this—that the mind itself is already enlightened; that our mind is already enlightened and is just obscured now. But there are different ways of thinking and meditating.

According to Lama Tsongkhapa’s way of explaining the nature of the mind, the ultimate nature  is totally pure and there is no difference between sentient beings and the Buddha. There is no difference in the ultimate nature of oneself and the Buddha, but only in the conventional nature, the all-obscuring nature, the different sentient beings’ obscurations.

The Buddha is totally free from obscurations, is not obscured and has fully developed realizations, therefore every sentient being can also achieve enlightenment—every single hell being, hungry ghost, every single animal, every single ant, mosquito, slug. Everybody can achieve enlightenment and will be enlightened in the future, because the ultimate nature is pure. In the ultimate nature there is no difference between sentient beings and the Buddha, between oneself and the Buddha.

Suffering is because of being obscured temporally, therefore we have suffering, but it’s not forever; because enlightenment is possible, we can be free from samsara.

According to the present state of mind, as I have described, it is dark, foggy, so like that it is obscured. It looks impossible to achieve all those things that I said, but we can’t give up, because numberless sentient beings have become free from samsara and have achieved enlightenment. Sentient beings are the same as the Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni was the same as us before becoming enlightened—he had problems, but he changed his mind with bodhicitta, he cherished other sentient beings and let go of the I.

We cherish the I and give up other sentient beings, so it is totally opposite to the Buddha and that’s why we haven’t become free from all the sufferings in samsara. We still have birth and death and continue to circle in samsara and have all the sufferings in between.

What I am saying is that we have to try this to be free from samsara, to achieve enlightenment, it is the most important thing. If we want happiness and don’t want suffering, this is what we have to do, with much effort, like Shakyamuni Buddha, who was the same as us but changed his mind and became enlightened. We can also do the same thing; we can change our mind and become enlightened.

This is why it is extremely worthwhile to learn Dharma and to practice Dharma. This is the most important thing, even more important than our job, money, food, etc. Actually, our job, money and food all come from Dharma, from our past life, from having practiced charity to other sentient beings in past times. With the thought of giving—through charity, not being miserly, through giving—from that came the result, which is this life’s job, money and conditions for means of living. So it all came from that cause.

Also our precious human body so that now we can practice Dharma and not be reborn in the lower realms and be able to achieve a higher rebirth, that came from the practice of morality, protecting karma, like abandoning killing, stealing, and, for example, the five precepts or four, three, two or one precepts.

So according to our own capacity, by practicing morality we get a higher rebirth. By practicing the three higher trainings, the five paths to liberation, we can become free from samsara and achieve ultimate happiness forever. By actualizing compassion for all sentient beings and bodhicitta, we enter the Mahayana path and we can achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. By practicing bodhicitta, the six paramitas, then we are able to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings.

It is possible to have rebirth as a happy transmigratory being, such as a deva or human. This is all received due to having practiced pure morality in the past. All the good things come from holy Dharma, therefore that is the most important thing.

People who have many difficulties and sufferings, this is from not having practiced Dharma. So they haven’t created the causes through charity and morality in the past.

Therefore, if we want to have success, happiness, etc., we need to practice morality and charity and so forth. We need to create the cause. It is all dependent arising. Nothing is independent, it is not created by God—not having freedom, no, not at all—it is not created by God.  

In Buddhism, whether we want to be in the hell realms or free from that, it is totally in our hands. Whether we want to achieve enlightenment or not, it’s in our hands. Whether we want to be free from samsara or not, it’s in our hands. It’s up to us what we do with our mind, how we take care of our mind. In Buddhism we have total freedom in our hands. So, rejoice!

Of course, depending on what we want, even though we don’t have omniscience, if we have ordinary clairvoyance and can see something of the future or past, it is helpful. Then we know what to do, what method to use to achieve what we want, so like that.

Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers ...

The definition of a holiday is:

• The mind abiding in correctly following the virtuous friend
• The mind abiding in renunciation of samsara
• The mind abiding in bodhicitta
• The mind abiding in emptiness
• The mind abiding in the tantric path—the two stages.

The completion of your holiday is when you cease all the obscurations and complete all the realizations.

• Refuge recitations: 150,000
• Prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas: 50,000
• Mandala offerings: 100,000
• Vajrasattva mantras: 100,000
• Water bowl offerings: 50,000

If you are able to come to Nepal, there are students who come to the Kopan nunnery from Singapore and so on. They do one thousand water bowl offerings a day, so you can join them and then offer together as a group. Even if many people are doing the water bowl offerings, you can still offer them together. You can each count the total number of the bowls offered and in this way complete them faster. Also, someone can guide the practice.

Group water bowl retreats are also arranged in the West and at different centers, similar to what Kopan nunnery does, and in this way it gets them done. Otherwise you can do it alone. This may purify more because it is harder and it takes longer, therefore it purifies so many obscurations and collects so much merit. When it is very easy because it’s done with many people, maybe there’s not as much purification.

One of the benefits of offering water is that the mind becomes soft and actualizes bodhicitta—the wetness of bodhicitta—thus we generate loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta. It is mainly for that.

• Arya Sanghata Sutra recitations: Read the Arya Sanghata Sutra each week for your whole life. This is to collect the most unbelievable, unbelievable merits, so that is to help everything.

To gain effortful lamrim experience:

What makes your life most meaningful is the lamrim. I suggest the main text for you to use is Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. If you haven’t studied this text already, then study it from beginning to end, reading through it four times. That itself is lamrim meditation if you read it slowly and relate it to your own life.

As you read, if there’s anything you don’t understand you can mark the text—not with black ink, but with orange or yellow color. Mark it respectfully, thinking this is the holy Dharma, which has two aspects—one aspect is the realizations and one aspect is the text, the letters, which explain the realizations.

Holy Dharma has two realizations, in case of realizing the absolute Dharma—the cessation of all the obscurations, the sufferings, and the true path to that, which leads to the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. These two are ultimate Dharma.

When you mark the text, you have to think that you are offering color with respect, like offering to a statue. Otherwise if you are just marking the text with a black line on top of the letter, it creates the negative karma to be born in hell, such as the second hell, called the black line hell. Therefore, it’s important when you mark the text not to do it in a disrespectful manner.

The other thing is that you can buy a notebook and write nicely in that anything you don’t understand. Then you can meet with a geshe or elder student who has studied the lamrim well and you can ask the questions. In this way, you can learn. Or you can telephone and get the answers from someone who has studied the lamrim very well.

Study Liberation in the Palm of your Hand four times and after that go through the lamrim outline using Liberation as a basis. Cycle through the lamrim outline completely three times.

After that, try to achieve the realization of correctly following the virtuous friend with thought and action, on the basis of the outline in the lamrim. Every day, more or less meditate on that. The time depends on yourself. Do this until you achieve the effortless realization of correctly following the virtuous friend.

After that, do the meditation on the graduated path of the lower capable being, up to karma. Particularly [focus] on the perfect human rebirth. Try to get the realization that your perfect human body is much more precious than skies filled with wish-granting jewels, so you realize the importance.

Even if we have skies filled with wish-granting jewels, that alone can’t help us to be free from the lower realms. That alone can’t help us to be free from samsara, free from lower nirvana, and we can’t achieve buddhahood from wish-granting jewels. With this perfect human body, even if we don’t have a tiny piece of a wish-granting jewel, we can achieve all of this up to enlightenment.

Milarepa achieved full enlightenment in this brief lifetime of degenerate times, even though he was a lay person and didn’t become a monk. This was even after he killed about thirty-seven people through black magic. He also killed many more animals that were under the house at the same time. This happened because he felt very sad and it was the advice of his mother because they were badly treated by their uncle and aunt. After he killed all those people he felt bad and went to see his guru Marpa because the lama who taught him black magic suggested he go to see Marpa.

Marpa didn’t give him any teachings for years, he just let Milarepa build a nine-storey tower three times, by himself alone. After Milarepa built the first tower, he had to tear it down and  carry all the stones back to where he found them, so his backside became bluish and hard. Also his guru Marpa, who was a buddha, always scolded him and maybe even beat him. Even when Milarepa came with other disciples to attend teachings from Marpa, when Marpa saw him, he scolded him and kicked him out. However, from Milarepa’s side, he never arose heresy or anger, he was always devotional and followed exactly what was advised by his guru Marpa.

Finally, Marpa did give Milarepa initiations and teachings and then he went to the different mountains where he was advised to meditate by Marpa. He did exactly what was advised and he achieved buddhahood—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations—in one brief lifetime of degenerate time. This is just a brief example of how Milarepa achieved enlightenment in a brief lifetime of degenerate time. There are many others [who also achieved enlightenment in one lifetime.] This is what you should understand; this is the essence of how to achieve enlightenment quickest in this brief lifetime of degenerate time.

Besides the perfect human rebirth, its usefulness, meditate on this longer if you can, then if you achieve realizations you can proceed to the next subject, so like that continue through the lamrim.

When you have realizations of the path of the lower capable being, you can then train the mind mainly in the path of the middle capable being. After that realization then train in bodhicitta. There are two techniques: the seven-point Mahayana cause and effect, and equalizing and exchanging oneself and others. You can do both, but whichever technique is more effective you can do that more often until you achieve effortful realization.

Then train the mind in emptiness. You should do some meditation on emptiness every day, for ten or fifteen minutes or whatever time you have. This is very important, so please study the teachings on emptiness, besides lamrim, philosophy, also take teachings, learn and read and try to understand the teachings. This is to leave imprints as much as possible on the mind.

If we have enough merit then we can have realizations even in this life; if not, then in the next life. Therefore it is very important to listen to teachings as much as possible in this life and to study and read any teachings on sutra and tantra, the Buddha’s teachings. In this way it leaves imprints on the mind and even if we don’t have realizations in this life, in the next life we will become a pandit. We can expect that. What we heard in this life, through that we can have realizations quickly.

Please use the outline of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Essential Nectar for your daily meditation. This should be your pocket guide book on the lamrim. In that way, it is so simple. After becoming familiar with the lamrim then you need your personal deity of Highest Yoga Tantra, and in this way, you are practicing to achieve enlightenment in the quickest way.