Advice for New Students

Make a small altar and use the picture of the Buddha in Bodhgaya. Make offerings, take strong refuge, then do the Guru Shakyamuni daily meditation (use the booklet I put together), and recite the Shakyamuni mantra. Add a lamrim prayer (you can choose which one).

When you go to bed, take strong refuge, pray to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and recite one mala of the mantra. Think your life is in the Buddha’s hands, and you are completely protected.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind note. Sorry you didn’t get to have a private interview with me, but I am very happy that you came to the center.

I checked and it would be good for you to practice the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras. Make sure always to recite with a bodhicitta motivation, with the thought to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, to free them from all sufferings and their causes and to bring them to enlightenment.

I also checked regarding your questions about business and it would not be good for you to take over your husband’s business or for you to start a new business right now. At the end of the year either you can start your own business or take over your husband’s, depending on your analyzing this with worldly logic. At that time there is great benefit.

You can practice Tara guru yoga (this is not the same as Cittamani Tara guru yoga, it is different, as for that one you need a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation and then the Cittamani Tara initiation) but for Tara guru yoga you don’t need that. Within the practice you can do the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras. Do the practice with the thought to achieve enlightenment and to liberate the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, and suras from all the sufferings and their causes and to bring them to enlightenment.

You should also do Chenrezig practice and Medicine Buddha practice – these two practices are very important. Everyone, even the cockroaches, ants, and mosquitoes, should recite these mantras. Since they all wish for happiness, then they should do this, especially to fulfill all the wishes of sentient beings, for all their happiness. It is most important to liberate them from the oceans of samsara and their causes – karma and delusion – and to bring them to full enlightenment. For that one needs to achieve enlightenment, to complete all the qualities, and to cease all the gross and subtle obscurations of the mind.

Chenrezig practice is specifically for you to achieve enlightenment and generate great compassion for all sentient beings, and this is what brings success. For that you need to recite Chenrezig Buddha mantra (OM MANI PADME HUM), also the long mantra, middle length mantra, and the short mantra. This is the most important practice in one’s life. It is important to not only chant the mantra but to practice compassion with everyone, with all the sentient beings of the six realms, particularly the animals and humans that one comes into contact with in one’s life. Practice compassion with all those who are around you.

Please chant these mantras, but not with the motivation for this life, health, a long life, to not get sick, to have wealth and power, etc. Even though many people don’t practice Dharma and use the mantras for their own benefit, that is not how you should do it. You should chant the mantras with the mind to achieve liberation from all sufferings for others. You should not think to fulfill this life’s success, like business, etc., that is a very short-term aim.

Medicine Buddha practice is extremely important to fulfill all your wishes, to have success in all your wishes. You should recite this with the aim for each and every sentient being to be free from all the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to bring them to full enlightenment. Each mantra you recite, think you are reciting it for other sentient beings’ happiness, for them to achieve enlightenment through the power of Medicine Buddha and prayers that Medicine Buddha made for sentient beings in the past, so that all beings can have success, achieve liberation, and enlightenment. By the way, one also receives happiness in one’s life and success, health, a long life, and whatever one wishes.

I was very happy to see your family. Here are some cards. I hope you like the photo of the Boudha stupa. The story of this stupa is as follows. There was a woman who commissioned the Boudha stupa to be built, but she died before it could be finished and her four sons completed the work. When the stupa was finished, all the buddhas and bodhisattvas absorbed into it. It is called the All-Encompassing, Wish-Fulfilling Stupa.

Of those four children, the oldest brother prayed to become a Dharma king. He was reborn in Tibet as King Trisong Detsen. The next brother prayed to be able to support the Dharma. He was reborn as minister to King Trisong Detsen. The next brother prayed that during that time he could preserve and spread the lineage of ordination, the vows that are the foundation of perfect concentration and wisdom, the whole path to enlightenment. He became an abbot in Tibet, spreading the ordination lineage vows. The fourth brother prayed to be able to remove any obstacles from the spread of Dharma. He was reborn as Padmasambhava and was invited by the king to remove obstacles to the building of Samye monastery. Padmasambhava then hooked and subdued many harmful spirits and committed them to protect the teachings as the Dharma protectors of Tibet, such as the denma chu nyi, the twelve protectors of Tibet and the Himalayan region.

This was how Buddhism spread and lasted a long time in Tibet, producing many buddhas and bodhisattvas. Now Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism has spread all over the world. Every year, all over the world, many thousands of people are able to meet the Dharma, to make their lives meaningful, to have peace, giving them an opportunity to direct their lives toward enlightenment.

It is said that any prayers made at this stupa will be actualized; particularly, whatever you pray for the first time you see it, will succeed. So, each day look at the stupa and make prayers and offerings in front of the picture. Also, you should have pictures of Chenrezig and Medicine Buddha and make offerings in front of them. You should study the lamrim, especially the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. This is easy to understand. Also, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo is extremely good, deep like the ocean, but the section on emptiness is hard to understand unless you have a lot of positive imprints from past lives. You may need other texts to supplement this, but it is still good to read it.

You should read a little bit from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand every day. Use it like meditation, don’t read fast, like doing a puja or completing a job, read it slowly and think about the meaning. Please read this book three times from beginning to end and practice meditation as you read. Make your mind familiar with it. After you have read it three times, then follow the instructions on how to meditate on the lamrim. Focus for three months on the lower path, 11 months on the middle path, nine months on bodhicitta, and nine months on emptiness. If you don’t have realizations by then, go through this cycle one, two, or three times, and train your mind in the path until you have stable realizations.

Also, every day meditate on guru devotion (no matter where you are up to in the lamrim, still do a little meditation each day on guru devotion) and on emptiness. You can read the Heart Sutra every day. This is very good, extremely powerful purification, you collect vast amounts of merit, qualities, and realizations, and you realize emptiness. This is how you get out of the oceans of samsaric suffering.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

My very dear Les,
Thank you very much for your very kind letter. I’m very happy to hear you are practicing Dharma. Especially practicing the good heart, not harming others, and helping others is very good, extremely good.

The most important thing in your life is to meditate on and study the lamrim. First, try to learn it from beginning to end. You can use Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim, which is extremely profound, especially the section on emptiness. You may need a teacher to help you understand this unless you have a lot of merit.

The lamrim book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is very easy to understand, and there are other lamrim short texts that are easy to understand, such as The Essential Nectar. Study them from the beginning to end, become familiar with them, and meditate on them from beginning to end.

If you can, try to study for three months on the lower scope, from the perfect human rebirth up to karma, and try to cover all the topics in the lower scope. Whatever topic you can’t finish, continue with it the next day and continue like this for three months.

Then, if you can, study for three months on the middle scope, then three months on bodhicitta, and three months on emptiness. In this way, keep circling through the lamrim, from beginning to end, until you have stable realizations. This means during this period your main focus is on whichever topic you are currently studying, but that doesn’t mean that is the only thing that you meditate on.

I’m attaching some advice on how to meditate on the lamrim for you. Really try to mix the lamrim with your mind, try to have stable realizations on each of the meditations. Each day, no matter what, try to meditate a little bit on emptiness.

Every day, if you can, practice one guru devotion or guru yoga meditation. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many lifetimes it takes, try to have stable guru devotion. Then, when you have break time from your lamrim sitting meditation, still try to relate the lamrim to whatever you are doing in your life, such as in your work, at home, etc. Try to still have the same feeling of meditation. This is a very powerful and quick way to have realizations, to develop the mind, by using your break times to also meditate on the lamrim. Try to perform every action with a bodhicitta motivation, as much as possible. If you can try like this, you can change your life from iron to gold. This is the best thing to do in your life.

In the morning, if you can, doing prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas is very good, and in the evening you can do Vajrasattva practice.

Practice the lamrim meditation based on a guru yoga such as Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, or the Guru Puja, or whichever guru yoga practice you feel closer to. Also, you can do it within your deity sadhana, or within the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha meditation booklet that I put together.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you for your kind letter, and I’m very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying. Please find attached all the practices that come out best for your quickest enlightenment.

It comes out very good for you to do Vajrasattva retreat.

Generally, it comes out very good to do some social service. This does not specifically mean in a hospital or with children, but using your life to benefit others. It could be offering service at the center, as you are, teaching Dharma, guiding meditations, and helping in this way.

So, please practice as much as you can, life is not long, the nature of this life is impermanent, and death can happen at any time. This is the foundation of the Buddha’s teachings, and this was the last advice Buddha gave, before showing the aspect of passing away.

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

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

• Refuge: 30,000
• Prostrations: 100,000, reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas
• Vajrasattva: 100,000
• Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 200,000
• Water bowl offerings: 50,000
• Guru Yoga: It is important to do one each day, such as Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga
• Tsa-tsas:  Amitabha: 40,000 (divide between the two deities), and Tara
• Please read the Golden Light Sutra a little each day, with one or two lines or more. Continue like this.
• You can do a three-year retreat in the future. Try to plan for a three-year retreat on your deity, if the conditions come together.
• OM MANI PADME HUM recitations
• The four immeasurable thoughts: Recite the prayer 10,000 times and meditate on the meaning, and recite the tonglen prayer 10,000 times.

My very dear Lily,
Please find attached the practices for you to focus on. However, of all of them, your main meditation should be the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment. The main focus should be to develop your heart in the graduated path to enlightenment.

Please meditate on guru devotion every day, as much as you can. Go through the outlines and meditate each day. Then, each day, try to also cover one other topic from the lamrim, starting from the beginning of the lamrim. So, first would be perfect human rebirth—going through its usefulness, the difficulties in finding it again, etc. Continue like this through the lamrim up to karma. Then, if your realizations are not stable, start again from the beginning and go through each section until you have stable realizations.

If you can, read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche and other lamrim texts such as the Three Principles of the Path, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo, and also the commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo by Geshe Sopa Rinpoche.

Like this, go through each topic up to karma - the graduated path of the intermediate capable being. This includes the general sufferings of samsara and the particular sufferings of samsara, the sufferings of the human realm, the 12 links, etc. Spend one month on this section. Then spend one month on the section on bodhicitta, each day focusing on the different meditations, such as the two types of bodhicitta techniques.

Try to meditate on emptiness a little every day. You can do the four-point analysis in the lamrim, using the elaborate, middle, or abbreviated way. You can also use the explanations from a few of the teachings that I was leading in your country, also any other meditation teachings you find that explain how to meditate on emptiness. You can write down and use all the different techniques, applying different techniques to meditate on emptiness each day. Or, if there are one or two techniques that you prefer, you can just use those.

This is how you dedicate your life to achieving enlightenment for sentient beings, which means to liberate numberless sentient beings from each realm and bring everyone to full enlightenment by your meditation on the lamrim and to have the attainments. This is the most important thing in one’s life.

Then, the second very important thing is to do your job and all activities as much as possible with the motivation of bodhicitta, the thought of benefiting other sentient beings who are numberless.

Please study the lamrim, read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, or any other lamrim texts to get an idea. Especially read Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo. There is a lot of debate in the section on emptiness, so may be difficult to understand without receiving teachings, unless you have a lot of imprints from past lives, then you may understand it immediately.

Please try to practice in this way as much as possible.

With much love and prayers...

Your main deity is Guhyasamaja. Other deities are Chenrezig/Gyalwa Gyatso and Most Secret Hayagriva. When the opportunity comes you can take the initiation. The most important thing is having a foundation in the lamrim. You should now be studying the lamrim.

The main lamrim book for you to read now is Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Read it at least four times, also Lama Tsongkhapa's middle lamrim. Also, use the book The Essential Nectar, like a pocket lamrim. It is good to use during your meditation. Also, there is a lamrim outline in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche

Meditate on guru devotion now, from the outline. Practice one meditation on guru devotion and one meditation on the perfect human rebirth. Use The Essential Nectar as the outline. Also, practice one meditation on emptiness; read the commentary on emptiness in The Principal Teachings of Buddhism by Je Tsongkhapa, translated by Geshe Lobsang Tharchin.

After this, chant OM MANI PADME HUM, Medicine Buddha mantra, and Namgyalma mantra.

For the rest of the day do your activities with the thought of guru devotion; another day do them with the thought of renunciation of samsara (nature of suffering), impermanence, and death. You can use this verse to help you reflect on this, from “Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha”:

Like a star, a mirage, a lamp,
Illusion, drop of dew, bubbles,
Dreams, lightning, and clouds
Look at all conditioned phenomena as such

Another day with the thought of bodhicitta.

Another day with mindfulness of emptiness, what appears is not true, it is false, recognize the hallucination.

So, practice like this, alternating daily. Of course, daily, you always motivate by generating bodhicitta:

“The purpose of my life is to free sentient beings from all the suffering causes and bring them to enlightenment, therefore I am going to do….” Add whatever activity you are doing. Bodhicitta turns ka ka into gold, turns iron into gold. Even if it is the day to focus on emptiness, still always have bodhicitta.

Tsa-tsa practice: Make 5,000 tsa-tsas of Tara and Medicine Buddha.

Other tsa-tsas, on top of those, that you can make, are some Most Secret Hayagriva and Gyalwa Gyatso.

Water bowls practice: 7,000.

Sur practice: for your father. This has great benefit, and creates the cause to go to the pure land, to have success, and pacifies obstacles. The spirits eat the smell. It pays back karmic debts, and is a great practice of charity.

It would be good to have the text Ser Wo Nada at your father’s house, and the Zungdu text at your friend’s house.

Mostly, you should study Dharma, practice meditation, and do retreat.