Advice for Life

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

I think your dream is showing that you have a strong connection to Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. You are very lucky; you should know that! You can always find answers and guidance through different things. Definitely Buddha is guiding you in different ways, and you should rely on that completely. Feel very happy and lucky always.

I am very happy to hear about your prayers for my health and a long life, and that you are dedicating your life to me. I hope you can be of benefit to others.

I am sending you some precious pills by post and some other things. These precious pills are most precious. They come from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who was one of the gurus of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

You will need this pill for highest yoga tantra retreat. You just need one pill; crush it, then place it in water or black tea and add a little alcohol. Then purify yourself and make an offering to the deity. You can also use it for dying people.

Regarding your practice, your main deity is Tara Cittamani. If you feel a stronger connection to Yamantaka or Heruka, then choose one of them as your main deity.

Regarding your practices, please find attached details on how to do the practices:

• Prostrations: 30,000, to the Thirty-five Buddhas
• Mandala offerings: 5,000
• Water bowls: 300,000. Do these alone or as a group. If you do the offering with a group, then you can finish them quickly. You can do them at the center, or with the nuns at the Kopan nunnery, and offer them together.
• Guru Yoga: 200,000 Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, with meditation, counting the Migtsema mantra
• Tsa-tsas - Padmasambhava and Heruka: 60,000, to divide between the two deities

Write to me if you have questions, or discuss them with Geshe Chonyi in Singapore.

Lamrim meditation:

• Four months on guru devotion
• Two months on the lower capable being
• Three months on the middle capable being
• Seven months on bodhicitta
• Two months on emptiness

For all the topics, follow the outline of lamrim texts, such as The Essential Nectar. Also use Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo, or middle lamrim, Essence of Refined Gold, or Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.

Your main focus after this is to continue with guru devotion until you have stable realizations, seeing the guru as all the buddhas and seeing all the buddhas as the guru, and for that to be stable. Try to have realizations on all the aspects of the lamrim, from the precious human rebirth up to karma. Each week, focus on the same topic. Once you finish the above, then start again from the beginning. Do this until you have realizations, no matter how long it takes. Do meditation on emptiness every day, reciting the Heart Sutra or other texts.

Until you have achieved a stable realization of bodhicitta, that is your goal in life. After that, practice the generation and completion stages of tantra. Practicing tantra comes after the realization of bodhicitta, otherwise you will not achieve realizations in tantric practices.

I will send you some other things. Please email me your postal address.

With much love and prayers...