The Main Practice is Lamrim
A student wrote asking advice as to which daily practices to do.
My very dear Nancy,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I checked what practices you should do for your quickest enlightenment.
The main thing is to do Six-Session Guru Yoga and within that to make lamrim prayers, before the guru absorbs into you, so you receive the blessings of the whole path to enlightenment in your heart. As you read the lamrim prayers it is very important to not be distracted, keep your mind on what you are reading, and in this way it becomes a direct meditation on the lamrim and leads you to enlightenment by planting seeds of the whole path to enlightenment in your mind. Every day you do this it brings you closer to enlightenment and closer to enlightening all sentient beings. So that is great! You must do it! It is so important to practice the lamrim and to perform lamrim meditations. This should be the most important thing. Read the lamrim prayers three times each day and in this way train your mind in each meditation until you have stable realizations. No matter how long or how many lifetimes it takes, this should be the main focus. Train your mind in all the stages of the lamrim from guru devotion, to perfect human rebirth, up to karma, especially impermanence and death. Keep circling like this until you have stable realizations. Also, meditate on emptiness every day, and you can also read the Heart Sutra.
The main practice should be lamrim and second to that is tantra.
Please make your precious human rebirth most meaningful and productive by practicing the Dharma. This is a one-time opportunity to be liberated from samsara and to be able to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, and a one-time opportunity to enlighten all sentient beings. So, you can see how your life is so precious and you have to be very careful not to waste it and live as much as possible with a bodhicitta motivation.
With much love and prayers...