Advice for New Students

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind email, and I am very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.

Please find attached the instructions on how to do the preliminary practices and what came out most beneficial for you to practice, for your quickest enlightenment.

As well as these practices, the most important practice is lamrim. If you have already studied the lamrim then you have some idea of what to do. Every day do some meditation on the lamrim. The point is to develop the realizations on the path to enlightenment. So, put effort into actualizing the lamrim. No matter how many months or years it takes, go through the lamrim, put your effort into this, until you have realizations.

Every day you should do one meditation on guru devotion, until you see all the gurus as the Buddha and all the buddhas as your guru, from the bottom of your heart, one hundred percent, and so that it lasts a long time. Until that time, then keep meditating on guru devotion; you must carry on.

Every day, try to do one meditation on renouncing this life. Start with sufferings in samsara, the perfect human rebirth, its usefulness, the difficulty in finding it again, up until karma. Keep coming back to this until you have realizations. Also, every day, do one meditation on emptiness, using different teachings, quotations, and techniques. Or, if you find one technique that is very beneficial, then you can use that. Try to have realizations on each part of the lamrim, step by step. It is only then that some change will happen in one’s mind and only then can you develop the experiences.

Continue like this, putting your main effort into actualizing the lamrim. When you have break time from doing sitting meditation, then you can still apply these things, especially when problems arise. You can use them to develop renunciation, to realize emptiness, to actualize bodhicitta. Also, you can use them to develop guru devotion. In this way, your every action becomes Dharma, if it is performed with these attitudes. The most important thing to do is practice Dharma in your break time from sitting. This way your whole life is practicing Dharma.

Generally, it comes out very good for you to do social service. This could mean in a Dharma center. Actually, a Dharma center is the best form of social service because this is the only thing that really stops the sufferings forever. Dharma centers actually bring much deeper benefit to sentient beings. So, you can help in some way. Also, any social service is very good for you to do, to help others. To have direct physical involvement in benefiting others is very good for you.

With much love and prayers,
Lama Zopa

Prostrations: 300,000, by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas' names

Mandala offerings: 100,000

Vajrasattva: 100,000

Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 200,000

Guru Yoga: Every day do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga or Guru Puja

Golden Light Sutra: Read a little every day; this is to do forever. This will direct your life towards enlightenment and fulfill all your wishes. It will bring unbelievably great benefit to the world, bless the earth, and heal all the sick people. It will bring protection to your home, your town, your city, your country, and to the whole world. This is the best thing for world peace.

Tong-len: 100,000 tong-len bodhicitta practice – See the attached sheet on how to do this. You can recite either the Nagarjuna prayer or the verse from the Guru Puja. The main thing is to do the meditation – you recite and also do the meditation. You can study more about this in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, in the section on tong-len. You can recite the short, middle, or long tong-len verses, it is up to you to which one you do, or you can do some of each.

My Very Dear Luke,
Thank you very much your kind letter. I was extremely happy to get your letter and hear about your auspicious dream. The dream shows definitely that we have a strong karmic connection. I happily accept to be your guru, even though I am not qualified. I am very happy to guide you in as much as I know. You might be doing some practices already, however, I will give you some daily practices and also practices for many years to come. This way, in the coming years, you will have some practices to complete. Why I give many years of life practice is because we cannot meet very often, and also so you don’t need to worry about asking again and again. This way you can make your life most beneficial by purifying the negative karma collected since beginningless rebirths and to collect extensive merits, as much as possible, not only to achieve liberation from samsara, but to achieve full enlightenment as quickly as possible and be able to enlighten sentient beings as quickly as possible.

First thing in the morning is bodhicitta motivation. Then, you chant OM MANI PADME HUM along with that, or after the Chenrezig practice, meditation, and mantra recitation. If you are able to do 10 malas, that would be good, otherwise, whatever you can do. Meditation on Chenrezig is most important, and the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. It fulfills all your wishes, temporary and ultimate, including enlightenment, and causes all temporary and ultimate happiness, liberation, and enlightenment for all sentient beings, especially for them to develop loving kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta. So, this is the most important practice in this life. There are different requesting prayers to Chenrezig called Sublimeness of Compassion, which I have translated.

The other practice to do is Medicine Buddha meditation/recitation. This is powerful for the success of all your wishes, especially attainments, and is powerful for purification. This is mainly to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. There is a little booklet I translated many years ago, that is the best one, the easiest to use, and is very powerful. Medicine Buddha mantra is very powerful purification for animals. When they hear it they never get born in the lower realms.

Please do prostrations in the morning, reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names, whatever number you want, then finish with the concluding prayer. Before going to bed it would be good if you could recite some Vajrasattva mantras. If possible, recite one mala, if not, then half a mala, or at least 21 times. That stops all today’s negative karma from multiplying tomorrow and the day after, and so forth. One negative karma, for example, killing, or telling a lie, whatever it is, doubles tomorrow, then the second day the same thing happens again, so the increase of negative karma continues if you don’t purify it. This is the specific benefit of Vajrasattva mantra – it purifies today’s and past days’, past years’, and past lives’ negative karma. It is important to do this practice with the four powers, with regret being the most important of these.

According to my observations, your Highest Yoga Tantra deity is Secret Chenrezig Gyalwa Gyatso. The other deities for which you could take the initiation and do some practice are Yamantaka, Most Secret Hayagriva, also Vajrakilaya. If you wish to, you can also take these, but mainly study the whole path of Gyalwa Gyatso, on the basis of the lamrim, the three principle aspects of the path. It is excellent for you to do long retreat, like a three-year deity retreat. Study the Dharma, study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand eight times, from beginning to end. Read and reflect on the meaning. Each time you do this it brings you closer to the realizations. The other thing in the future you can do is also try shiné meditation/calm abiding. So, every day, read from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, whatever you can, with some meditation. Read half a page, one page, two pages, whatever you can, reading and reflecting on the meaning.

You need to practice one Guru Yoga a day, in case you are not. You can do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, including the Foundation of All Good Qualities. Every day, each time you recite the lamrim prayer, you become closer to the lamrim realizations. Each day, you become closer to enlightenment, and each day you become closer to enlightening all sentient beings by the direct meditation on the lamrim.

With much love and prayer...

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am very happy to receive your letter, which shows you have very strong karma to practice Buddhism, which makes life most beneficial, not only for you but for all sentient beings.

Buddhism reveals the correct path to achieve happiness – all the happiness of future lives, especially ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, and enlightenment – and all the realizations, and perfect cessation of all the mistakes and defilements of the mind.

Not only that, with this achievement you are able to liberate numberless hell beings, preta beings, animals, human beings, sura beings, and asura beings.

With this achievement you are able to have happiness in all future lives, and, a more important service than that, you are able to bring each and every single being from each realm to everlasting liberation and full enlightenment.

This is the ultimate goal of our life, why we took rebirth. This is just an introduction for you.

With much love and prayers, and please make your life most meaningful with bodhicitta.

Lama Zopa

My precious Guru, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche,
I hope that Rinpoche receives this letter in good health and that all Rinpoche’s holy desires may be fulfilled immediately. I´m making innumerable offerings, actual and visualized, and pray for Rinpoche’s long and healthy life and for the success of all the FPMT projects.

I'm 25 years old, and a student in Madrid. Since I was small I have felt a strong and clear determination towards the Dharma, and when I heard the word "Buddhism" when I was 10 years old, I said: "I am a Buddhist." It was very clear to me that it was like that.

I remember that when I was 11, I was meditating in my own way, and saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama in my meditations. I felt a very strong attraction towards Tibetan Buddhism. I started to read books about Buddhism, many books by His Holiness, until when I was 17 years old I had the great fortune of discovering the Dharma center in Madrid, through some people I met on holiday. When I came home, I went immediately to the center, took refuge, and took the initiation of thousand-arm Chenrizig, thanks to the kindness of my mother, who paid for all the courses for me (my mother isn’t Buddhist). Since that time I have been going to the center, and when I have time I go to the courses and the teachings by visiting lamas, who with their incredible kindness come here and help us.

I practice at home, but I have never had a correct practice. Until the day that I saw you in Madrid, I had been looking for a guru. Seeing you, all my doubts vanished, I felt many wonderful sensations, and I was very impressed with the profundity of your teachings (though I don’t understand them). I also went to your teachings in Barcelona, and since that day I have been thinking of writing to you.

At this moment I’m doing nyung nä and today it’s Sakadawa. From the space of silence, making sure that my words are coming from my heart, I would like to request the most noble and precious Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche to accept me as his student and to please please guide me in my practice towards enlightenment. Until the end of samsara, I want to offer myself to my precious and kind guru, offer myself to his projects, and would like to work serving my guru. In this way, I can benefit all sentient beings, helping in the center as much as I can, but I also request my precious and glorious guru to please give me advice as to what exactly I should do in the center and within the FPMT.

When I look at my heart, I see there is no single doubt over wanting to serve sentient beings, the Three Precious Jewels, and the most sublime of all the masters, my guru.

I would like to take the fullest advantage of this human rebirth, because I don’t know when I will obtain one again. I would like my life, which now is full of imperfections, to be transformed into a precious jewel, into something which is of value not only for me, but which can serve all sentient beings.

I feel that your precious words inspire me to practice every day, and most of all, to fight against this terrible ego, which I want to destroy. Because of this I bow down to the holy feet of Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, because I can’t support my own suffering, nor the suffering of all sentient beings.

I am not a good student, but I have the strong desire to become better, and for this I request Rinpoche’s help. I will tell you a bit about my practice:

• I have taken the thousand-arm Chenrezig initiation and the aspect of Chenrezig which Rinpoche gave the initiation for in Madrid.
• Vaisravana initiation
• Buddha Shakyamuni jenang and Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga
• four lay vows and the Bodhisattva vows. I study the five-year Basic Program correspondence course with a geshe in Barcelona.
• This is the second nyung nä I have done in this life, and I really would like to offer this practice to Rinpoche, for Rinpoche’s long life and good health, and for all Rinpoche’s projects. Please keep turning the wheel of Dharma and please do not leave us.

I'm also requesting Rinpoche to please advise me concerning my health, because I have a strange disease, and the doctors don’t know what it is. My liver at times transforms medicine into poison and toxins, in such a way that when this is happening it produces a very strong bodily reaction, and the doctors say that this could be fatal. They call it organic intolerance, but they don’t know much about it.

I suffered twice from pneumonia in the last two years, and had four operations on my knee. The geshe at my center told me that the problem with my knee was because I had killed people in past lives (how horrible).

Even though I am ignorant, I understand that it is very good to have purification, and I have tried with all my strength to see the sicknesses as something positive, but I don’t know if I should practice something else, because I’m very ignorant. For this reason I would like to request Rinpoche to also consider my health.

My very precious guru, I send you thousands of thanks for your infinite kindness, and I offer all my prayers and all offerings, and the entire universe.

I wish you a very long life, from the bottom of my heart, and that all your projects may be free of obstacles.

With love,
Amparo

Rinpoche replies...
My very dear Anna,

Thanks very much for your kind letter. Sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.

Regarding what practices you should do, you should practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga every day, also recite a lamrim prayer, such as the Foundation of All Good Qualities or the Three Principles of the Path (which I recently translated).

Guru yoga and lamrim practice are what direct one’s whole life to enlightenment. By reciting the lamrim prayer every day, each time you recite it you can meditate on the meaning. In this way, it also becomes a lamrim meditation, and each day you plant the seed of the whole path to enlightenment. Each time you recite these prayers it brings you closer to enlightenment, and that means closer to enlightening all sentient beings. So, you can see it has limitless skies of benefit. Along with reciting the prayer, you can also expand it by stopping at certain verses and doing longer lamrim meditations – whichever section you want to meditate on. Then you can go to another lamrim text, such as Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, and use that as a basis to meditate more on that section, using quotations and reasonings, and in this way prove it to your mind. This is how one transform's one’s mind into the path. One needs to train one’s mind to go naturally into the subject, so this is why you need reasoning and quotations and to meditate on the subjects again and again, until the realizations are stable.

The guru yoga practice is the most important one in order to receive blessings from the guru, by looking at the guru and proving that the guru is the Buddha. Normally, one’s ordinary mind sees the guru and Buddha as separate. By seeing the guru as Buddha, as having no mistakes at all, through that, devotion arises, and this is how one receives the blessings of the guru in one’s heart and, from that, all the realizations of the path. This is the whole goal – to actualize the path in order to liberate numberless sentient beings from the ocean of samsara’s suffering and to bring them to enlightenment. That is the purpose of our lives, that is the main point.

Regarding your practice, in the morning, if you are able, do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas.

At night, recite one mala of Vajrasattva mantra, or half a mala, or at least 21 times.

At the end of the day, dedicate using the prayer: King of Prayers.

Also, each day, do some Medicine Buddha practice and Chenrezig practice.

Regarding the prostrations, if you can, read the section on prostrations in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Also, I have given some teachings on prostrations, if you can find some of those and read them.

Before going to bed, recite Vajrasattva mantra, if not one mala, then half a mala, or at least 21 times. Recite it with the four opponent powers. Then, you can go to sleep with a very happy mind, confident that you have purified today's negative karma. Also, heavy negative karma from this life, as well as all one’s past lives, is purified. Then, even if death comes, one has no regrets, because one’s negative karma is purified. So, do a very strong confession practice.

Then, dedicate with the King of Prayers. This is a very extensive dedication practice, dedicating all one’s merit, collected today, in this life, and past lives, as well all the merit collected by all sentient beings, by all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. You dedicate all the merit to all sentient beings. At the end of the prayer it says that you give all the merit you collect by reciting the King of Prayers to all sentient beings. By reciting the King of Prayers you collect 10 times 100,000 merits. Also, you collect all the prayers of all the bodhisattvas numberless times. This is what you dedicate for sentient beings. This practice itself becomes unbelievably powerful purification. If you do this prayer every day, then at the time of death, without any difficulty, you will go to Amitabha’s pure land and it will be impossible to be reborn in the lower realms.

I accept to be your guru. Here are your preliminary practices. Do all these practices, especially, for world peace, happiness, and peace for all sentient beings. Especially dedicate like this when doing Chenrezig practice or reciting “Om Mani Padme Hum.” Dedicate especially to actualizing bodhicitta and generating compassion for all sentient beings.

Recite at least one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM every day, more is better, with meditation. Also, you can chant it while you are working. It may be difficult to recite it while you are eating or drinking unless you are reciting it in your heart. But recite it whatever you are doing, while you are walking, etc. You can visualize Chenrezig Buddha on your crown, with constant beams of nectar being emitted from him, entering your body and mind and purifying you. Also, beams of nectar go to all the sentient beings in the six realms, constantly purifying and liberating them from all sufferings. At the end of your recitation, think that they have become enlightened like Compassionate Buddha Chenrezig. You can also do Chenrezig meditation when you are doing sitting meditation (using an actual sadhana). You can also do it in the car while driving.

Medicine Buddha is another very important practice, very important for success, not just success in your job, but success in attaining the path to enlightenment and enlightening other sentient beings. This practice also helps whatever wishes you have to benefit others. This is a very good one to practice.

So, these practices are very important to do, as much as you can, every day. Then, follow the lamrim outline, doing lamrim meditation. You can also do this while you are working, it doesn't have to be always when you are sitting on your meditation cushion, it can also be when you are lying on the beach; you can still meditate on the lamrim.

One very easy way to do this each day is to read a lamrim text and, during that, meditate on the lamrim, learn the lamrim, and study the lamrim. This is very important in order to have realizations of guru devotion, the three principle aspects of the path, tantra, as well as the two stages, in order to enlighten all sentient beings.

For the rest of day, while you are working, also at break times (from sitting meditation, but not break time from Dharma), then live your life, do everything, as much as possible, with a bodhicitta motivation, living your life for other sentient beings. Also, during the break time from formal meditation practice, remember right view, emptiness, and meditate on dependent arising, as well as guru devotion. Also, depending on which delusion is arising, practice whatever the antidote is to that.

Your main deity with which to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, so that you can enlighten each and every sentient being as quickly as possible, is:

Cittamani Tara – This is the highest yoga tantra aspect of Tara.

In the meantime, until you receive the initiation, you can recite the 21 Praises to Tara. When you recite, begin with refuge and bodhicitta, the four immeasurables, then at the end of each verse think that Tara absorbs into you and you receive all the qualities of that Tara (such as long life).

If you can, find a commentary on how to do this. There may be one from when I have given the initiation or there may be a book (also, you can ask the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive).

The way to visualize the 21 Taras is like this:

In the center of an ocean is a lotus trunk, with stems. On this is a moon disc. Tara is sitting in the center. Then, around the central Tara is 21 petals, going around. On each petal is a Tara. The first one is red Tara, the controlling one, sitting on the front petal facing the central Tara. The different Taras go clockwise around the petals. After each praise and prostration think that a replica of that Tara absorbs into you. After you have recited it one, two, or three times, then, at the very end, all the Taras absorb into the central Tara, the lotus trunk, stems, moon, etc. all absorb into the central Tara, and then the central Tara absorbs into you. Think that you receive all Tara’s qualities.

When the opportunity comes you can take the Cittamani Tara initiation, then study the whole path, do the retreat, do the practice every day, using the sadhana, and meditate on the practice, the two stages, the generation and the completion stage, which is very secret and most profound.

According to my observation, you have a very strong connection to Tara, so this is who you should rely on your whole life. When you die, you should rely on her completely, as inseparable from your guru. So, Tara is your guru, your best friend, your protector, everything.

Many lamas and great pandits, like Lama Atisha, relied upon and prayed to Tara, and were able to benefit limitless skies of sentient beings by relying on Tara. So many became enlightened by praying to Tara, and so many ordinary people received miracles and guidance from Tara. Also, by relying on Tara you can do healing for other people, as well as other various actions.

In order to receive the Cittamani Tara initiation, you first need to take another initiation of highest yoga tantra, such as Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja, Heruka, Kalachakra (taken as initiation), or Hevajra.

Here is a list of preliminary practices for you to do. This is what came out best for you to purify obstacles and negative karma and to create extensive merit to then be able to actualize the path. lamrim is the main body of your practice – this is the actual path to enlightenment. Guru yoga is to receive the blessings and realizations. Then, also, if you can, recite “Om Mani Padme Hum.”

Attached is a practice sheet that has a lot more explanation and detail on how to do these practices.

• 20,000 prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas
• 100,000 refuge
• 40,000 bodhicitta, tong-len, giving and taking. This means taking on the suffering and the causes of suffering of all sentient beings and giving one's happiness and merits to all other sentient beings. If possible, you can do this while reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, to create the virtuous action of speech. But the main thing is to concentrate on generating bodhicitta, collecting virtuous action of speech is just along the way.
• 3,000 mandala offerings
• 100 nyung näs

I am not giving you so many practices, just a little. What came out the most is the nyung näs. You have already done two and know how powerful this practice is. It is a very powerful purification practice and it contains many other preliminary practices. Think that by doing these s this is your best gift to sentient beings, to repay the kindness of all your kind mother sentient beings. There are numberless sentient beings who have such unbearable suffering, have so many problems, including all the beings in this world, all the Spanish people, all the animals, etc. Especially think how all sentient beings are suffering.

You can do 100 straight in a row, or you can do 50 and then have a break, or you can just do some, and then do some more each year, depending on your work. Maybe you can take some holiday and do some. It is best if you can do them over the special Buddha days (Wheel Turning Days). In this way, you collect 100 times the merit. If you can, do them during Losar, the 15 days of miracles. This way, every day, you collect 100 times a million times merit. The other special Buddha days are just for one day, so during the first 15 days of Losar there are so many special days lined up.

Please read the Sutra of Golden Light. If you can, read it once a week until the end of your life; that would be amazing. Over time there will be different versions (as we are able to translate more and check each version). By reciting this you are bringing world peace and happiness to all sentient beings, especially in your country. Also, it brings protection to your country and the whole world. By reading it you are providing protection from enemies, from the country being attacked, also it gives healing to all the people in the country who are sick. There is unbelievable benefit, incredible benefit. You don't have to finish it all in one day. If you can finish it in one week, that would be extremely good. So, if you can read a little each day, then this will fulfill all your wishes.

The prostrations to the 35 Buddhas come out most beneficial for your health. Also, regarding your health, if western medicine becomes poisonous, then it doesn't make sense to take it, unless there is some other reason that you did not mention. What comes out very good for your health is to take Tibetan medicine. I checked and these precious pills came out as very good:

• 11 Rinchen Rigna (this is a black precious pill)
• 3 Rinchen Yu Nying-25

In the first week, take two in one week, then in the next week take one. Then start the Rinchen Rigna pill. Make sure there are three days between taking each pill.

With much love and prayers...