General Practice Advice from Rinpoche

My very dear one,
I hope you are well and had a good sleep after I left. I was thinking to call you but I think maybe during the daytime there it might be inconvenient. I will be sending you some altar cloths from Hong Kong to go behind the Lama Tsongkhapa statues, for the background, to brighten up the altar. The altar has been done very nicely with very nice wood, but I thought the background would look very good with some nice cloth; it would be brighter and more uplifting for the mind. Also, I will send some different-colored cloths for the right and left sides of the altar, to place over the wood and the top part. It could be very nicely designed Chinese cloth that is often used to cover tables, which has peacocks, dragons, and beautiful flowers on it. The base could be red, orange, or yellow.

I saw some examples in Hong Kong when I was shopping so I am asking one of the students in Hong Kong to buy them for me. I bought some cloth the last time I was in Hong Kong so she knows what I chose before and liked. I know two people who can sew the cloth. They have already made other things.

I enjoyed very much staying at your house. I liked your new house very much and next time I thought maybe I would practice different ways of swimming. I want to learn to do the style where you lie on your back in the water. In India, when I was in Buxa, which is an extremely hot place, I learned to swim with two other incarnate lamas. We were all studying with Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, who was my first philosophy teacher. In Buxa there was a little river that we swam in. The two other lamas knew how to swim well, the style where your feet move up and down in the water, but my swimming was a little bit like a frog’s movement, my feet weren’t coming out of the water, just moving under the water.

I thought that one of the benefits of knowing how to swim is if an airplane falls into the ocean then you are able to survive by swimming. Also, I heard it was very good for arthritis and maybe the heart and diabetes, I am not sure. Anyway, maybe we can have a competition next time and I can compete with you and the children.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your past support and service that you have given, as well as contributing to the daily expenses of my house, the food, electricity, garden, car, offerings to the Sangha, and the offerings (saffron, flowers, fruit), etc. As I have mentioned to you before, you are always in my prayers, in my heart, and I always dedicate merits to you.

I would like to chat with you about the Mahakala thangka that you have and why it came to you. Usually you look for a protector but in your case the protector looked for you, so from this you can see that you have a special connection with Mahakala. Also, I checked this and it seems that you do have a very strong connection with Mahakala. It seems very auspicious the way the thangka came to you and also about the monk who did the retreat and then painted the thangka. His art is very good and, I think, very auspicious.

A monk has made a new cover for the thangka. I told him to offer tea to Mahakala and do the protector prayers and torma offering for Mahakala when he brings the new cover over,. You can do these practices with him, or be there when he does these pujas.

It is very good if you can offer torma (just some cake or any food) each day to Mahakala. Maybe your helper can change it every day, along with the water bowls. As well as a torma, it is very good if you can offer tea every day to Mahakala. You can offer the tea in a very nice bowl with a saucer; you can offer any kind of tea and recite the offering prayer with a bodhicitta motivation while making the tea offering and bless it with OM AH HUM (recite three times). Think that the tea has become an ocean of nectar, the essence of which is transcendental wisdom, non-dual bliss voidness. This is the highest, ultimate and real meaning of nectar. It is not the kind of nectar that devas and worldly gods enjoy, but nectar according to tantra. What you visualize and what the Buddha sees is transcendental wisdom, non-dual bliss voidness; the nature is infinite bliss, non-dual with emptiness.

Don’t think you are just offering tea to the painting, think that you are offering to Buddha in actuality, whose essence is the guru, the primordial wisdom, the dharmakaya, the most subtle mind which is experiencing infinite bliss and is non-dual with emptiness. The dharmakaya is the absolute guru bound with infinite compassion, which manifests into various forms of Buddha. The sambhogakaya aspect is the highest bodhisattvas. Ordinary bodhisattvas are the nirmanakaya—the more ordinary aspect that guides sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering, particularly the lower realms, and guides them from happiness to happiness to enlightenment, by revealing various methods. This is the same way to think whenever you offer to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, thinking of him as one with the guru, which collects vast amounts of merit. In the same way, when you make offerings or prayers to Mahakala, regard him as the same as the guru.

In my last email to you I wanted to mention these two stories, but forgot. When I was staying in Boston at a house on a lake, I was going to surprise the people there by showing them my swimming, as they had never seen me swim. I had a bathing suit that someone bought for me many years ago. I have only used it a few times, mainly in hotels when I have showers, but I don’t think I have used it at a beach. So, I stepped toward the water on the sand, my idea was to go in the water and show them my swimming. As I stepped on the sand suddenly the water pulled me down and I was drowning. The water went in my mouth and I didn’t know what to do. I raised my hand up to ask for help. One of the people was in the water close to me so I grabbed him and held on to him while I was asking for help. Someone else was making a video on the shore.

This reminds me of when I was very small, maybe five or six, and my alphabet teacher and uncle told me not to go and see the Western tourists who were camping close by on the other side of the river, high up in a very remote area near Mount Everest. However, I was so curious that I didn’t listen to my teacher and I went anyway. I took a plate with potatoes on it for them. To get to them I had to cross a bridge that was made of two logs tied together. As I crossed the bridge they started to sway. I felt dizzy and fell into the freezing cold river. The water covered my head and it was extremely deep. My head started to go under the water and each time it came up I could see my alphabet teacher running from far, far away toward me. He was holding up his trousers as he ran as fast as he could. Now I am very different, much older, and with much more negative karma, but at that time, what I remember is that I didn’t have the slightest fear of death, and even though I had no idea of emptiness, the thought came into my mind as I was drowning that what is labeled (called) Lawudo Lama is now going to die. That was the thought that arose. However, I am still alive, having the opportunity to practice Dharma and teach, so this is through the kindness of my second alphabet teacher, as it was he who grabbed me out of the river. I heard afterwards that the Western tourists had been taking pictures of me while I was drowning and being carried away by the river. The person making a video of me at the lake reminded me of this story.

In Boston they then gave me a rubber inner tube that I sat in and they pulled me along by a boat. Later I told the person who saved me, that his being there and my being able to wrap myself around him to stay afloat in the water was equal to a one-year Vajrasattva retreat; this was a joke. Anyway, sorry, you must be very busy and here I am chatting to you.

Also, I have one other point to mention to you, which I haven’t mentioned before. According to the text, it says that the cupboard containing the wealth vases needs to be a yellow color and to have the eight auspicious signs painted on it on the outside. If you are wondering why yellow, it is because according to the text there are four actions—peaceful, wrathful, increasing and controlling. Yellow is the color of increasing and so is appropriate for a wealth vase cupboard.

Either a monk I know or a Tibetan artist can paint the cupboard, as well as painting the auspicious signs. Also, they can paint symbols of wealth on the outside, such as a vase filled with jewels or a mongoose vomiting jewels—any auspicious signs or wealth symbols are appropriate. I am sure the black-colored wood you have used is very, very good, but these colors and signs are part of the instructions in the texts.

With much love and prayers...

Dear Michael,
Your main yidam is Guhyasamaja. You can also take the initiation for Kalachakra, but your main practice is Guhyasamaja. Your general practice is Medicine Buddha and Chenrezig. Holly can give you the name of the Medicine Buddha text for you to pick up at the center. It is not the short Medicine Buddha puja text and not the one with the title Healing. It is the text that has the visualization of the Medicine Buddhas above your crown.

Every day, if you can, practice Lama Chöpa, the elaborate Guru Yoga, containing the lamrim and lo-jong, which is very, very meaningful. If there is no time, then do the short Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, together with the lamrim prayer The Foundation of All Good Qualities, Calling the Guru from Afar, and Lama Tsongkhapa's Hymns of Experience. You can alternate, reciting different lamrim prayers.

Begin with that, and on the basis of that, practice lamrim meditation before absorbing the merit field. First, meditate on impermanence and death, a bodhicitta motivation for life, and chant a minimum of one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM every day. If you can, recite two, three, four, five or ten malas—that would be incredible. After doing this every day, in public—on the road, in restaurants, wherever hundreds, thousands, million and billions of people can see us, their negative karma is purified. They cannot be reborn in the lower realms and they achieve rebirth in the higher realms. Sentient beings who see us receive these benefits.

When we swim in the ocean, we bless the water by generating ourself as Chenrezig. Our body becomes a relic and blesses the water. The holy water purifies the numberless sentient beings in the water; the sharks and so many other sentient beings who eat other sentient beings. All the negative karma of the big ones eating the small ones is purified. They don't get reborn in the lower realms and they have a higher rebirth.

Whoever we touch has their negative karma purified, and whoever touches us has their negative karma purified. When our breath touches other sentient beings, their negative karma is purified. When the wind touches our body and then touches other sentient beings, their negative karma is purified. Even when we die and our body is burnt, the smoke from our burning body purifies sentient beings and they have a higher rebirth.

Practices

• 200,000: refuge
• 400,000: Generate the four immeasurable thoughts together with reciting the prayer.
• 500,000: mandala offerings
• 300,000: prostrations reciting the names of the Thirty Five Buddhas
• One month: reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra. There is no fixed number to recite.
• One month: reading the Golden Light Sutra
• One month: reading the Arya Sanghata Sutra

These practices bring unbelievably powerful purification of negative karma and collect extensive merit. When this happens, all our wishes are fulfilled. That doesn't mean only this life’s wishes. That is not as important as the wishes for future lives, liberation from samsaric suffering and enlightenment for all sentient beings. All of this can happen, ultimately liberating all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bringing them to enlightenment. All of this depends on purifying negative karma and completing all the accumulations of merit. The more this is done, the quicker we can achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings.

At the beginning, do three months of meditation on guru devotion, taming the mind to attain the path to enlightenment in order to liberate numberless sentient beings in hell from oceans of samsaric suffering, numberless hungry ghosts from oceans of samsaric suffering, numberless animals from oceans of samsaric suffering, numberless human beings from oceans of samsaric suffering, numberless asuras from oceans of samsaric suffering, and numberless suras from oceans of samsaric suffering, and bring everyone to enlightenment. This is the purpose of life; the real goal of life.

After that, continue with meditation on guru devotion every day. There is no fixed amount of time to spend on it; that is up to you. Do five, ten, fifteen or twenty minutes of meditation on guru devotion, following the outline.

• 0ne month: the graduated path of the lower capable being. Meditations from the perfect human rebirth to karma
• Five months: the graduated path of the middle capable being
• Five months: bodhicitta
• Four months: emptiness

This is the main focus, but it doesn't mean you only do this. It is just the main focus. When you have finished, start all over again, from wherever you have not gained realizations.

For a lamrim commentary, there is Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche, and the more extensive Lama Tsongkhapa's Great and Middle Lamrim. I suggest Lama Tsongkhapa's Middle Lamrim. Later, when you have learned more, go on to the Great Lamrim. Use Lama Tsongkhapa 's outline for the meditation; it is quite extensive. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is shorter. The other good and effective guideline is The Essential Nectar. This doesn't have outlines, but you can use it for meditation. It is a little elaborate for a lamrim outline.

The main practice now is the lamrim, in order to achieve realizations of bodhicitta in this life; that should be the goal or project. If you receive a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation, do the short, medium or long sadhana. Tantra is not your actual practice now, but the lamrim, in order to have realizations of renunciation, bodhicitta and right view.

Every day, at the very least, pray to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings in order to enlighten them. You must recite one lamrim prayer, to plant the seed of the whole path to enlightenment. If you do that one, two or three times, however many times you do it, that many times you plant the seed for enlightenment, and the qualities to achieve lamrim realizations, which are the foundation of the tantric path. Another thing to do is to read the prayer of your own yidam/deity's path, to plant the seed for enlightenment. Doing these two is the minimum, essential practice.

This is how to make preparations in your mind to be able to enlighten all sentient beings. The rest of the day, live your life with a bodhicitta motivation, the good heart, and the thought of benefiting all sentient beings. Whatever you do—working, sleeping, eating, drinking, or walking—as much as possible have the thought of benefiting sentient beings, of freeing them from all suffering and bringing them to full enlightenment.

The reason I am giving you all this practice is because we meet only rarely, and it is not very easy to meet other lamas and get advice. Therefore, I am giving you the guideline of what to do in your life, what to practice, in order to accomplish lamrim realizations. This is the very meaning of life. This is what you must do even if you have the vast knowledge of the hundreds of volumes of Buddha’s teachings of sutra and tantra, or if what you know is very little. If you are not meditating on the lamrim and not attaining realizations, the meaning and purpose of life is not fulfilled. Life is still empty, even if you have great intellectual knowledge.

With much love and prayer...

Dear Joe,
The purpose of our life is to free all sentient beings to enlightenment, therefore, we must purify all our negative karmas. Think about all the beings in the hot and cold hell realms. The fire in the hell realm is seven times hotter than all the fires in the human realm and the fire at the end of time is 60,000 times hotter than the fires in the human realm. The ground in the hell realm is iron that is oneness with fire, and there are so many other horrors, on top of that. We couldn’t stand it for even one second.

Death can happen today, or this morning. Before this happens, we must purify all the defilements that prevent realizations. Therefore, think, “I must do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, reciting the buddhas’ names, for the happiness of all sentient beings.”

This a normal motivation. First, think about our own negative karmas and develop strong regret and repentance. Start with the ten non-virtuous actions that have the four results: rebirth in the hell realm, the actual result; the result similar to the cause; the environmental result; and the propensity to do it again.

If we have taken the bodhisattva vows, breaking these is 100,000 times heavier than breaking the pratimoksha vows, and breaking the tantric vows is 100,000 times heavier than breaking bodhisattva vows. Think about how our motivation has been today—from this morning up to now—has it been virtuous or non-virtuous?

Check today’s activities and whether we are seeking just the happiness of this life. Check if our activities are Dharma or not. Even check whether meditating or reciting prayers is Dharma or not—if the subject is Dharma, but the action is not Dharma. This is besides things like anger.

Today, so many of our actions—eating, walking, and sleeping—became nonvirtue. Since birth, every week, month, year, not just in this life but during beginningless rebirths up to now—there are so many negative karmas that we don’t remember, which are not only blocks to achieving realizations and enlightenment but prevent us from being able to enlighten all sentient beings.

Our negative karma is harmful to all sentient beings and it also harm us, by preventing us from achieving ultimate happiness. Because our negative karma blocks realizations, we can’t achieve a good rebirth in the next life; even this life is harmed and we receive many obstacles. We must generate a very strong thought to purify them, right now, as if we have eaten poison without knowing.

Because of that fear, without delaying even one second, we want to purify. Even just that repentance makes the karma very small; it creates powerful, perfect purification. Especially in retreat sessions, use the extensive way of looking at negative karma. Then we will want to purify everything.

Without realizing emptiness, there is no way to be liberated from samsara. Without liberation we can’t liberate others, because that depends on emptiness. So, it is very good to recite the Heart Sutra. In the future, do a retreat on the Heart Sutra from time to time, or in daily life, recite it three times daily. If we recite the Heart Sutra 100,000 times, do not just recite the words—meditate on it. Do two or three sessions a day, and sometimes do a five-day retreat on the Heart Sutra.

In one session focus on the emptiness of the I, in the next session the emptiness of the aggregates. Divide up the subjects. Focus for one minute, then one minute fifteen seconds. When the mind is distracted, analyze and concentrate, finish the prayer, then do it again.

When we get tired, think, “So far I didn’t die by practicing Dharma; I died by creating the cause for the lower realms. If I die through practicing Dharma, it is so worthwhile, especially for others, because this is what causes enlightenment and happiness. If I die through Dharma, then there is no regret!”

All of these are guidelines for our life, to purify our mind and collect extensive merit so we can achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. 

[The student then received the lung (oral transmission) of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, The Foundation of all Good Qualities, the Thirty-five Buddhas Confession and Vajrasattva mantra. ]

Second letter from Rinpoche: 

September 6, 1998 

Recite a lamrim prayer—each time we recite it, this brings us closer to enlightenment and plants those seeds. Every day it brings us closer to our goal of bringing all sentient beings to enlightenment. That is the foundation for the realization, so on the basis of that, meditate on the lamrim.

After finishing Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, do one meditation every day. Do a little bit on guru devotion until the realization that the guru is Buddha is achieved. Spend from a minimum of fifteen minutes up to one hour, as you like. One meditation can be on emptiness and one can be on renunciation, which is what makes it possible to realize bodhicitta. Practice renunciation of the next life’s samsaric happiness, and renunciation of this life. Begin meditating on the precious human rebirth, up to karma, especially death and impermanence, freeing the mind from the eight worldly dharmas, attachment and clinging to the happiness of this life, until this first realization of the lamrim is achieved.

After that, spend an hour meditating on the nature of suffering and the evolution of suffering, until that realization is achieved. There isn’t the slightest attraction to samsaric pleasure, even for one second—total freedom is achieved. After that realization then practice bodhicitta every day, no matter how many years it takes.

The definition of renunciation is when we feel that the appearance of this life is so short. If somebody criticizes us or praises us, it makes no difference to us and it is like somebody criticizing us in a dream. The fact that death can happen any time doesn’t disturb our mind; it doesn’t bother us. In our heart is the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara, the best enlightenment. Everything else is childish. Criticism and praise are the same when not clinging is very stable, for days and weeks. This is the first realization of the lamrim—seeking liberation day and night spontaneously, without effort.

Being in samsara is like being in the center of a fire. We can’t stand it for even one minute. It is like how a mother feels if her beloved child falls in the fire. This feeling arises spontaneously while eating and walking, day and night. We wish to free all sentient beings.

We have to work at meditating like this. When we are able to see emptiness and dependent arising together, then we have the complete realization of emptiness.

We have the feeling that the I is lost, totally non-existent, but that is not nihilism. That realization of non-inherent existence is something very deep. There is not the slightest thing existing from its own side. There is nothing to hold on to—it is totally non-existent. When we see this emptiness, we can’t differentiate the mind that sees emptiness and the object of emptiness; they are non-dual. That brings unshakable faith that the I definitely exists but only in mere name.

In nihilism there is no appearance, and we think it doesn’t exist. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between nihilism and emptiness. We need to know the subtle difference and details of those two. The conclusion gives us strong faith in the mere existence of the I, dependent arising, and karma. We have more respect for karma.

My very dear Jennifer,
I checked regarding your practices, and this is what came out as most beneficial.

• Vajrasattva: recite at least 21 or 28 mantras every day
• Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 500,000
• Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga: would be good to do every day
• Diamond Cutter Sutra: 300
• Golden Light Sutra: 400
• Lamrim meditation:
  Base all your lamrim meditations on guru devotion, and meditate every day for whatever length of time you can—15, 20, 30 minutes or an hour—until you gain stable realizations.
  • Guru devotion: three months
  • The graduated path of the lower scope: three months
  • The graduated path of the intermediate scope: five months
  • The graduated path of the highest scope: bodhicitta: ten months; emptiness: two months

Keep circling like this until you have stable realizations. It doesn’t mean you should only meditate on these subjects, it just means this is your main focus for this many months. Use texts and other prayers to help with your lamrim meditation. Also, the lamrim meditation doesn’t have to be only while sitting on your cushion, it can be when you are walking, riding a bike, etc.

Regardless of what section you are up to, do a little meditation on emptiness and guru devotion every day. It would be very good for you to do more study of the Dharma, so later you can teach and offer service to others.

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 Buddha’s teachings and this was the last advice Buddha gave, before showing the aspect of passing away.

What makes your life most meaningful is meditation on the lamrim and living your life with bodhicitta motivation. This is the best.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am very sorry for the many eons of delay it took to reply. Thank you very much for all your hard work for the center. So, I would like to know what is happening at the center. What do you think? Is the center benefiting any more people or not? What do you think?

Regarding your questions, as your Buddhist practice progresses, if you do purification well then your mind definitely becomes clearer and some clairvoyance can be very possible. Also, maybe it is past life karma. How do the beings who communicate with you come? Is it from the bardo?

If you are able to diagnose medical illnesses this is very, very good, because in this degenerate time the texts explain that even medicine that used to help may not have any effect. It all becomes mixed up, and doctors are not able to diagnose correctly, so they need to have clairvoyance to be able to really help.

Then there is medicine. If you can tell what patients need and what will help them, this can be very helpful. So, what is the effect? Do the patients say it is working?

How do you receive the clairvoyance? Is it something that comes in your head, or is it beings telling you from behind?

Do the patients feel very good afterwards? Anyway, if it is benefiting people then I think it’s very good, especially, as I mentioned, in these degenerate times when medicine doesn’t work as well as it should. It is very important if you can help sick people; it is very, very good.

In my observation, it does not come out so beneficial for you to keep doing volunteer work at the hospice, but probably you will know this by yourself. Maybe you know in which way you can benefit others and help others more. What came out is to meditate on the lamrim. It seems meditation on the lamrim is of the most benefit and this is what you should focus on most. This is how to do it:

• Four months: mainly focus on guru devotion
• One month: the lower path
• Five months: middle path
• Eight months: bodhicitta
• Three months: mainly focus on emptiness

This is your main focus for this number of months. Also, every day, no matter where you are up to in the lamrim, you should still meditate a little on guru devotion and emptiness. Keep circling like this. When you have finished, then start again from the beginning until you have stable realizations. When you have stable realizations on guru devotion, then you see one guru as all the buddhas and all the buddhas as the guru, from the bottom of your heart, one hundred percent firm and stable. When you have realizations, then move on to the next topic and keep going back again and again like that for your whole life.

Your main deity is Heruka Body Mandala; this is the quickest way for you to achieve enlightenment. In order to take this initiation you need to first take Heruka Five Deities. When the opportunity comes, you should take it.

What is of most benefit for your life is to meditate on the lamrim and attain the lamrim path, and try to achieve bodhicitta. Put more effort into these. Then, later practice the generation and completion stages of tantra, to achieve these realizations in this life. Try to keep this as your main project: to have the realizations of bodhicitta. For bodhicitta you need to have the realization of the renunciation of samsara. For that preliminary you need to renounce this life and have realizations of the perfect human rebirth, especially impermanence and death, the lower realms, and suffering, up to karma. The root of the path to enlightenment is guru devotion, so you need this realization.

Use different lamrim texts for your meditation: Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Essence of Refined Gold, also the Lamrim Chenmo. Mainly use Essence of Refined Gold by the Third Dalai Lama as your main text. This is a commentary to Lama Tsongkhapa’s small lamrim.

It also comes out extremely beneficial for you to do:

• 60,000 prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas’ names
• 90,000 Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga

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 Buddha’s teachings, and this was the last advice Buddha gave before showing the aspect of passing away.

What makes your life most meaningful is meditation on the lamrim, then living your life with a bodhicitta motivation. This is the best.

With much love and prayers...

Thank you for being a good example of a human being—good-hearted, helpful, responsible for others, and kind to others every day of your life. Also, you are devoted to developing wisdom, the important wisdom, which is wisdom understanding what is right and what is wrong. That means understanding about karma.

To read and to learn as much as possible is very important. You can enjoy that for many lifetimes, up to enlightenment, because the positive imprints that are left on your mental continuum are always there, even just from reading. This applies to the good, pure teachings of Buddha, not just to anything that is called “Buddhist meditation or practice.”

With love and prayers...