Nyung Näs

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Not so many other preliminary practices came out [in my observation], but what came out is for you to do two thousand nyung näs. This is what Geshe Lama Konchog and many other disciples of Drupa Rinpoche did also.

Drupa Rinpoche was a great lama, who first became a lharampa geshe and then took teachings and initiations from other sects and other lamas. He then benefited so many sentient beings in the Himalayan Mountains. He organized many one hundred million OM MANI PADME HUM recitations for the people in many places, and he also started monasteries and nunneries that are still there. Now there are more nunneries.

The incarnation is in Nepal or around. He was not well, so he asked me to look after his monastery and nunnery in Tsum, which is close to Tibet. So we took care of the monastery and nunnery, and built a new monastery and developed it in many ways, with social service and education and debate and Buddhist philosophy. [See FPMT's Tsum Project.]

This lama did two thousand nyung näs himself, and I think maybe he did more than that. He had disciples who did three thousand nyung näs, many have done one thousand and now there are Western students who have finished one hundred. There is a nun who has done more than five hundred nyung näs a long time ago, and maybe she is now close to one thousand. I have been sponsoring ten people to do one hundred nyung näs each year at Institute Vajra Yogini in France.

For you, nyung nä is a great preliminary practice, so do two thousand; do as many as you can, it’s so good. This is the most powerful way to purify negative karma collected from beginningless rebirth and to collect extensive merit and in particular to develop compassion for all sentient beings. By developing compassion you will achieve enlightenment quickly, and that means you are able to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings quickly and bring them to buddhahood quickly, by yourself.

If you do one nyung nä well, then you will go to the pure land. So it is really important to do the nyung näs with the motivation of impermanence and strong bodhicitta.  Do the nyung näs only for the sake of other sentient beings, who are numberless—the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts and numberless animals—those living in the ocean, which are the size of a mountain; those that so small you can’t see them with your eye, only with a machine; those living on the ground, the tiny flies that fly up when you walk on the grass; and those that live in the bushes and in the sky. There are not only those in this world but also in numberless worlds and numberless universes, so do it also for the numberless human beings, numberless asuras, numberless suras and numberless intermediate state beings. Do the nyung näs for all of them. This is the most exciting, greatest happiness, to do nyung näs for them. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

You can do that and also study Dharma always. Sometimes you can do more retreat and meditation, and sometimes do more study, or sometimes do these things together.

With much love and prayers ...

My dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter.

First of all, having a bladder problem after five nyung näs is a positive sign, a very positive sign. Why? Because by doing nyung näs generally it is said that 40,000 eons of negative karma are purified.

Reciting OM MANI PADME HUM even without bodhicitta collects mountains of good merit, more than the drops of water in the Pacific Ocean, probably also more than the blades of grass growing on the ground and more than the grains of sand in the Pacific Ocean. You collect unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable good merit, then with bodhicitta you collect more than skies of merit. There are many teachings that explain the extensive benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM.

If you recite ten malas a day, when your body goes in the water that water is blessed and all the numberless animals, big and small, that are in the water, get purified. By you touching the water it purifies all their defilements. Also, people who play in the water or drink the water get the same benefit. It is unbelievable. Even the air that touches the person who recites ten malas of OM MANI PADME HUM is blessed. When that person is walking outside, the air is blessed and it purifies negative karma and can lead to a higher rebirth. If the air touches others then they are also purified and can have a higher rebirth, like that.

This is an unbelievably precious practice for your body, so I think whatever comes on your body and then touch other beings, it purifies them. Whatever comes from your body, such as pipi, etc., can purify others. Also, seven generations of family starting from you, your children and grandchildren up to seven generations don’t go to the lower realms. Then also when your body is burned [cremated] if the smoke that comes from that touches others, even the smell can purify them. These are the benefits of reciting ten malas of OM MANI PADME HUM.

There is also the very long mantra of Chenrezig, it is in a text by Songtsen Gampo, the Dharma king in Tibet. Normally if you are able to do more than ten malas it is unbelievable, so doing as much as you can is very important, especially if you recite the mantra with bodhicitta. It benefits so many sentient beings and you collect more than skies of merit by reciting the mantra even one time with bodhicitta. That is very important, most important.

Tibetans recite this mantra when they are walking or going to sleep—they recite it all the time. The old people in Solu Khumbu recite it in the house or when turning prayer wheels. This mantra is unbelievably precious, it brings so much purification. In Solu Khumbu the prayer wheels can have several hundred or thousands of mantras inside and the big prayer wheels in India and Nepal can have several hundred million mantras inside.

Medicine Buddha practice is also something you should practice for your whole life; the benefits are unbelievable. The reason you are experiencing bladder problems is because it’s the result of heavy negative karma collected since beginningless lives and this is purified by doing the nyung näs. This is how you purify past negative karma that would result in suffering, such as being born in the hells for eons. That karma is purified and you will not have to experience it at all.

Or you don’t have to experience it, but it still manifests as some problem in this life, such as a disaster, a car accident, a disease like cancer, or whatever. That is very positive because it means you don’t have to be born in hell and experience the inconceivable suffering for eons; instead the karma manifests as a disaster in this life and in this way it is finished.

If you still have to be born in the lower realms, because you have purified the karma it will be for a very short time, like throwing a stone on a rock. The stone just touches the rock then it stops thus you don’t have to have continual suffering, so that’s good. The suffering is shorter. These are some of the different levels of purifying negative karma.

The other thing for the bladder is for you to meet with a Tibetan doctor in India or Nepal.

It also comes out very good if you can take eight Mahayana precepts and do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, prostrations to Chenrezig, with homage to Chenrezig. Do full-length prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas and also the confession prayer afterwards. That prayer is extremely powerful.

Lama Tsongkhapa did 700,000 prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas in Wolka Cholung in Tibet, then he had many realizations.

If you can, read the Vajra Cutter Sutra. See if you can do that once each week at least. It’s very good.

Thank you very much. Sorry I have taken much of your time saying this. Please take care of your life with bodhicitta and live with lamrim, studying bodhicitta. It’s important to live your life as much as possible with bodhicitta, that is very positive for you and beneficial for all sentient beings. It’s best for you and all sentient beings. Thank you.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you for your email. For your long life you need to liberate animals. This is for your long life, as well as for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and for the long life of all the holy beings working for sentient beings, also for the Sangha who preserve and spread the Dharma, and for all the benefactors who preserve the Dharma.

There seems to be some obstacle to your life, therefore you need to liberate at least forty animals. These are animals that would otherwise be killed, so this means saving their lives.

Sometimes nyung näs are very powerful and by doing all the purification, by doing nyung näs, many heavy negative karmas get purified. This karma otherwise causes us to be reborn for eons in hell, so it is purified and maybe manifests as certain sicknesses now or as some problem in this life.

By experiencing this sickness or problem now, then in the future our life is like the sun rising, with so much happiness. There is happiness up to enlightenment, also happiness in our future lives for hundreds or thousands or millions of lives, then liberation from samsara. We don’t need to be born back in the lower realms and suffer for eons, and there is happiness up to enlightenment. For this, we have to experience some problems now in this life. Sometimes it is like that, but not all the time.

You need to liberate animals. This is important. For example, in Singapore you can buy crickets in a plastic bag, so there are one thousand crickets, then you can carry them around the stupa to purify them and bring them to enlightenment. You can do that with two thousand or three thousand crickets. See if you can get many animals, like crickets or worms.

There is a book, Liberating Animals, that explains how to do animal liberation, so please follow that. You can also ask the monks at Nalanda Monastery to help you as they will be familiar with how I do animal liberations.

You can also recite different mantras while you take the animals around holy objects. Anyway, the monks at Nalanda will know how to do this.

Anyway, I checked and yes, it is very good for you to do the nyung näs. Also, you should take the long life initiation, Amitayus initiation.

This is my advice. Please make your life most meaningful with the thought of bodhicitta day and night and in every activity you do.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
I am not sure if you also participated in the Vajrasattva retreat, anyway, for all those who did, thank you so much for your Vajrasattva practice. That is the conclusion of everything. Even if you learned the whole sutra and tantra, all the 84,000 teachings of Buddha, the conclusion of all of that is to practice Dharma and purify negative karmas collected from beginningless time.

Without purification there are no realizations; without collecting merits there are no realizations. Regarding these two—purification and collecting merit—purification is important. The obscurations and negative karma are what block us from having realizations, therefore the conclusion is that Vajrasattva is an excellent thing to do right now, the first thing.

According to my observation, the main lamrim text for you to study is Lamrim Chenmo. This is the elaborate commentary on the graduated path to enlightenment. Please study the Lamrim Chenmo four times, then do the meditations by following the lamrim outline or The Essential Nectar.

In regards to the Lamrim Chenmo, the part on emptiness, there is a whole debate, negation of the many different wrong views, so maybe for the section on emptiness use Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middling Lamrim more. After circling this way until you have stable realizations, then do the effortless meditation on the lamrim.

Nyung nä retreat is to purify the defilements quickly and to be able to go to a pure land quickly. It comes out for your main practice to be nyung näs. By doing one nyung nä well, you won’t be reborn in the lower realms and in this life you don’t have to worry. The best practice for yourself and for others is for you to do nyung näs.

If you can, try to complete one thousand nyung näs, but you don’t have to worry; do the practice whenever you find time, whenever you feel comfortable. Take it easy, and if you can, try this. Other preliminary practices didn’t come out for you, just nyung näs and lamrim. This is the quickest way to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara and to achieve enlightenment.

Nyung näs came out best according to my observation, so do them as much as you can. First you need to know well how to do nyung näs, then you can do them by yourself and you can help other people do them. You can lead the nyung nä if you know the practice well. This is a quick way to purify all the sufferings and obscurations. It is so good, the best practice, especially to develop compassion toward sentient beings and to achieve the state of omniscient mind. Whether you achieve enlightenment quickly or not depends on whether you quickly generate compassion.

To free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible, there are four levels of tantra, Kriya (Action), Charya (Performance), Yoga and Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra. In order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings as quickly as possible, for that you need to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, therefore you need to practice Highest Yoga Tantra.

According to my observation, your main deity is Gyalwa Gyatso and the other deity is Secret Vajrapani.  Your deity is whichever you feel closest to and have the strongest feeling for. You can take the initiation later when you have the opportunity.

Please try to practice this way and live your life as much as possible with the thought of bodhicitta in every action you do.

With much love and prayers...

There is an obstacle, so you should do the following:

• Request the Kopan nuns to read the Prajnaparamita twice
• Do the Four Mandala Offerings to Tara 25 times.

Of course it is incredibly, incredibly beneficial to do 108 nyung näs; that really isn't a question!

700 nyung näs seems good for you to do, possibly to realize what you asked. Bodhicitta is the most critical for enlightenment. You must keep that in mind.