Life Practices

Thank you very, very much for the 100,000 Hayagriva mantras and the Medicine Buddha retreat and for doing Lama Yeshe’s tantric mahamudra meditations. And thank you very much for transcribing my mumbling chöd teachings.

Practices:

• 90,000: Tong-len.
• 300,000:  Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, counting migtsema with meditation. This is to have quick realization seeing the guru as Buddha, to quickly achieve enlightenment and to free all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and quickly bring them to enlightenment.
• 300,000:  Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas.

The reason I say “prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas” and not “prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas,” which is what most people say, is because you are not just prostrating to one buddha at a time. No, no, no. When you prostrate, as you touch your hands to your crown, think, “I am prostrating to all the numberless Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, who are manifestations of the root guru.” Then as you touch your forehead, think, “I am prostrating to all the numberless statues, stupas, scriptures and relics, who are manifestations of the root guru.” As you touch your throat, again think, “I am prostrating to all the numberless buddhas, Dharma and Sangha, who are manifestations of the root guru.” And as you touch your heart, again think, “I am prostrating to all the numberless statues, stupas, scriptures and relics who are manifestations of the root guru.” This way, with each prostration you are prostrating to numberless buddhas, etc, not just one, so each time you prostrate, you create numberless causes of enlightenment.

Also, it is mentioned in the Lankavatara Sutra that when you prostrate, you create the cause to be born as a wheel-turning king equaling the number of atoms covered by your body, from the surface down to the golden base.

• 600,000:  Mandala offerings—it seems you need to collect a lot of merit.
• 30,000:  Water bowls.
• Two:  Nyung Näs.

In the future, maybe think about shi-nä, calm abiding. Try to have realization of shi-nä in the future, but before that you need to study shi-nä in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, then maybe others.

You have to study the lamrim from the beginning to the end. So for you, the main lamrim can be Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. To help, there is Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middle Length Lam-Rim, The Essence of Refined Gold and The Happy Path.

One lamrim that Western people haven’t seen, which is the basis of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, is Lamrim Marthé. One time, a long, long time ago before Kopan gompa was built, I started translating the first page with somebody at Kopan. I don’t know with whom, one Inji lady—maybe Jan Wallis? I tried, but didn’t complete it. It is not in English, but it’s the basis of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. It’s a very, very good lamrim. Then there is Manjushri’s Own Words. You need to learn not only shi-nä, but all of the lamrim. You need to have a very good understanding of the whole lamrim. Shi-nä alone, Hinduism has.

Before that, in order to have effortless realization you need to have the effortful meditation. So on the basis of understanding the lamrim, study well and then when you think, “Now if I meditate well, I can realize this,” then attempt the effortless meditation.

For effortful meditation:

• One month: Guru devotion
• Four months: Lower path
• Nine months: Middle path
• Eight months: Bodhicitta
• Five months: Emptiness

This is for effortful experience, then from that lead into the effortless meditation. For the effortless experience, no matter how many years or months it takes, put effort into realizing guru devotion, the lower path, middle path and higher path. Go like that.

Five months on emptiness is for effortful experience, but emptiness is something you have to meditate on every day using the Heart Sutra, the Four Analyses or even one verse or one stanza on emptiness.

After generating bodhicitta, put more emphasis on tantra—the generation and completion stage.

At least every day, for realization of the path, for enlightenment and to enlighten all sentient beings, the minimum practice is to recite a lamrim prayer and do direct meditation on the lamrim. Also, recite your own deity’s graduated path (the prayer is at the end of the long sadhana of the deity.) You must do at least these two as a minimum practice.

Deity:  Yamantaka—for the quickest enlightenment and to free sentient beings as quickly as possible from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Also, you can take the initiation of Hevajra in the future. This yidam practice is the same for all your future lives.