Nyung Näs

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind email. I am extremely happy and rejoice in all your nyung näs. It is extremely good to continue whatever you can do in the future, also to inspire others to do nyung näs.

You mentioned in your letter that you want to become a bodhisattva. The extensive answer is in the lamrim, so you should study and read Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche. This would be helpful for you.

On the basis of mind training and guru devotion realizations, see the guru as one with all the buddhas, while looking with devotion of pure mind. That’s the most important thing.

The other thing you need is preliminary renunciation, before the realization of bodhicitta. You need renunciation of this life and future lives’ samsara. For renunciation of this life, you need the realizations of perfect human rebirth, impermanence and death, sufferings of the lower realms and karma. Especially, you need the realizations on impermanence and death; these are most important.

Train in this path until the mind is totally transformed, with no interest at all in this life’s happiness, in having a good reputation and the pleasures of this life. If we are totally detached from this life, with a stable long-lasting realization, at that time we have real renunciation. Our mind is detached from samsaric happiness; we are not even interested in the worldly god realms, the desire and formless realms. We are totally detached, so we can’t find interest even for one second. We see the whole of samsara like the center of a fire, like the inside of a septic tank, or like a nest of poisonous snakes.

When we have stable realizations—seeing the whole samsara and all the pleasures as suffering—then that becomes the basis for generating Mahayana compassion to all sentient beings, seeing all their suffering. Not only do we feel that it is unbearable that they suffer, but we realize that they are so precious and kind, and this makes us take the responsibility to free numberless sentient beings from all suffering, from samsara’s defilements; to bring them to perfect bliss, to full enlightenment’s completed qualities. From the success of that, the thought to achieve enlightenment comes. When this thought is very natural in our heart, spontaneously day and night, when we see sentient beings—like a mother whose beloved child has fallen into the fire, and day and night she has the strong thought to go to the fire and rescue the child—at that time we have the realization of bodhicitta.

So you need to train the mind in guru devotion from lamrim, and the first path of renunciation. Still, you can meditate on bodhicitta, as explained in the lamrim outlines. Also meditate on tantra if you have received great initiations, but this is mainly to leave an imprint on the mind at this stage. You should also put more effort into guru devotion and renunciation of samsara.

Start with the realization on the path for where your mind is now. If you don’t have beginning realizations, start there. This practice should be done with intensive practice of purification and collecting merits. Do Guru Puja practice and the six preliminary practices. The basic method of collecting merit and purifying is the seven-limb practice; this is the key, and it is contained in the six preliminary practices. The seven-limb practice comes in three outlines; purifying and collecting merit, rejoicing and dedication increases the merit. Not just only that, during the break time from sitting meditation, while walking, eating, sleeping, doing your job, all should be done with the attitude which is Dharma, the best motivation, bodhicitta. So this is the way all of your life becomes collecting merit and purification; everything becomes the cause for enlightenment. This way nothing becomes negative karma.

Your breaktime life helps the meditation session on lamrim, and the meditation session inspires your mind for the lifetime. The other thing for the realization of bodhicitta is to never be separated from and to live in bodhisattva vows. These are methods to create the cause to not be separated from bodhicitta in the next life and to practice the cause to not degenerate bodhicitta in this life. Practice the four white dharmas and avoid the four black dharmas. I have mentioned titles you can discuss with Ven. Sangye Khadro.

You asked for my comments about your mind feeling neutral; you have lost interest in everything. If your mind becomes neutral towards mundane things, but if you have thoughts of Dharma—very strong renunciation, and no attachment to mundane things, but you have stronger and stronger compassion—if there are these positive thoughts, then that is good.

Taking advantage of precepts on your birthday is excellent; that is one of my suggestions on how to have a meaningful birthday. If you have done a highest yoga tantra retreat, based on great initiation, than you can do self-initiation that day to purify all the negative karma associated with body, speech and mind, especially the heavy negative karma created with the guru that happened not only this year, but in this life and in past lives. Then make a vow to not commit again the actions which you can abandon right now; to abstain for one minute, one hour or one day. If this is not possible, do Vajrasattva tsogoffering that Lama [Yeshe] kindly wrote for us students. This is a very good cause, combined with tsog and Vajrasattva mantra. Tsog is to purify degenerated samaya and to hook realizations.

So there are two positive things to practice and do: on the basis of the eight Mahayana precepts is great; or the eight Mahayana precepts alone is great. So that makes your birthday meaningful. Check your previous years of karma, purify negative karma and make a strong determination to practice better, harder. That makes your birthday extremely meaningful. If you have students around, invite them to practice together and make offerings of tea to them, since they are disciples of your guru. Even offering water or biscuits collects far more merit than offering to all the past present and future ten-direction buddhas, bodhisattvas and all the holy objects, scriptures, stupas and statues of the ten directions. So, it can be easy to make offerings; you don’t have to think you can only do it at the monastery. Create merit by making charity at your own home with these students and other sentient beings, eg animals.

The other method to actualize bodhicitta is this: it is very important to practice every day to receive the blessing of the deity of compassion, to practice the guru yoga, seeing that deity as oneness with the guru. Then chant OM MANI PADME HUM as many times as possible, with meditation on lamrim, particularly bodhicitta, by using each day one of the seven teachings of Mahayana cause and effect. Exchanging self with others, tong-len, is especially important. Chant OM MANI PADME HUM even when you are walking or at your job, if it’s not to do with speech. Also if you wish, if it is beneficial, one day look at sentient beings as your mother and their kindness (the four types of kindness), then the next day, look at sentient beings as the most precious source of happiness and success, including day-to-day peace, up to enlightenment. Continue with this feeling for the rest of the day. The bodhicitta motivation you generated for the rest of your life, which means continuing the feeling generated in your mind for life.

Another extremely beneficial practice is to always rejoice. Whenever you see good things happen to other people—wealth or a nice apartment —rejoice, especially if you need those things. Rejoice if others find a good friend, or if others collect merit, if they have realizations, the attainments of Hinayana, especially bodhicitta, for this also helps very much for bodhicitta. Rejoicing helps not to create anger, which is an obstacle to bodhicitta. To realize bodhicitta is very special and you must have good merit.

Here I have particular advice for your success, especially for your Dharma practice and realizations, and for the facilities and needs that will benefit others and for your Dharma practice to achieve enlightenment for others. 

Every day—particularly when you have something urgent you want to succeed—recite the short Praises to Tara or you could do the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras: one mala.

Or do more with strong devotion and trust that Tara will help. There are two types of short praises. One starts with Homage to Tara; do that one. 

Then recite the prayer and prostrate to the Tathagata Victorious One Holder of the Earth.

Recite:

TAYATA DHARE DHARE DHARE NI BEDE SOHA

Recite this mantra at least seven times a day. This is to fulfill all your wishes.

Thank you for helping to raise money for the Kopan nuns’ retreat. It’s unbelievable that you are doing this. This will enable you to do retreat and be supported some time in a future life.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

PS. The more we can take eight Mahayana precepts—the more vows we are able to take and live in purely —that means we create less negative karma, so that means we have less things to purify, that means less preliminary practices. Otherwise if we don’t practice the foundation —living in the vows, precepts, abstaining from committing negative karma, and then practice of purification—then the preliminary practice has no end. That’s why Je Tsongkhapa’s emphasis is on keeping the vows pure. If we focus on doing many preliminary practices, that is good, but if we are not focused on the vows it’s as if we are not aware, as if we are continuously eating poison and only focusing on the medicine. Living in pure vows doesn’t mean only to be a monk or nun. What helps is two things: to purify past negative karma and to not commit the negative action again.

Practices

• 2,000 refuge
• 400,000 tonglen. The main thing is to do the meditation.
• 10,000 mandala offerings

It didn’t come out for you to do many preliminaries, which is very unusual. But it came out that your main practice is nyung nä and that you should do around two thousand nyung näs. Geshe Lama Konchog did one thousand nyung näs, but there was one great lama who was a lharumpa geshe, which is like a professor, from Drepung Monastery in Tibet. He took initiations from lamas of other traditions and benefited unbelievably the sentient beings in the Himalayan regions. He made a law for people not to kill animals and in many places, like Tsum, this is still kept. Then he organized the recitation of 100 million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras in many places. Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. He himself did one thousand nyung näs and he had a disciple who did two thousand nyung näs.

Doing nyung nä is the way to save yourself from being born in the lower realms. It’s the quick way to get enlightened for sentient beings and the quick way to free all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. So, generally you should aim to do two thousand nyung näs, but don’t worry, do as many as you can your whole life. That means Chenrezig practice.

It’s an unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable practice. By doing just one nyung nä well, you are liberated from the lower realms. In Swayambhunath, Nepal, there is one monastery where they do eight nyung näs all the time on special days. There are many old mothers who join the nyung näs. They don’t do hundreds of nyung näs, just a few, but by that they are completely freed from the fear of death. They can tell the Rinpoche at that monastery when they are going to die and at exactly that time they pass away. It’s really amazing. One lady told Rinpoche when she was going to pass away and the lama did puja for her. An hour before she was going to pass, she was still walking around and doing things so Rinpoche thought that it may not be true what she had said. Then she sat down and asked Rinpoche for prayers and passed away in meditation. This is not ancient news; it’s a present-day story. It happened just a few years ago.

LamRim: Effortful Realization

The main lamrim you should study is Lama Tsongkhapa’s Middle-Length Lamrim. Of course, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is good, but the main one for you is the Middle-Length Lamrim. Best is to read it a few times first and study it well, then use it for your meditation.

• One month: guru devotion
• Two months: lower path
• Four months: middle path
• Eleven months: bodhicitta
• Two months: emptiness

After the effortful experience, try to get the effortless experience, no matter how many months or years it takes. Go back through the lamrim, starting from guru devotion, then up through the lower path, middle path, higher path.

The two months’ meditation 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 just one verse or one stanza on emptiness.

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

At least every day, for realizations 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 at least do these two as a minimum practice.

Yidam

Your Highest Yoga Tantra deity is Guhyasamaja, but your deity can also be Chenrezig because you are doing many, many nyung näs . However, to achieve enlightenment quickest you need to have the imprint of Highest Yoga Tantra, so you can take the initiation of Guhyasamaja and do the nearing retreat.

Nyung näs are a most powerful, beneficial and quick way to develop bodhicitta, to collect extensive merit to quickly achieve enlightenment, to become Chenrezig, and to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsara suffering and bring them to enlightenment.

This practice is a trillion, billion times greater than becoming an Olympic champion. Doing so many nyung näs you become an unbelievable champion, this is what makes numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas most happy and brings sentient beings to enlightenment as quickly as possible. If you have many to do, then it would be good to take Great Chenrezig initiation, to receive the blessings of Chenrezig.

You do not need to do all of them at one time; you can do some each year, from time to time. Just build up slowly and eventually you will be able to complete them. Some people do fifty nyung näs in a row, but you don’t have to do this.

Try to do some on the Buddha days , when the merit is multiplied 100 million times. Some FPMT centers do eight or three in a row during Saka Dawa and on other Buddha days. This is an extremely powerful practice and an incredible way to develop bodhicitta.

[Note: The Buddha days are the 15th day of Losar (Tibetan first month), Saka Dawa (Buddha Shakyamuni was born, attained enlightenment, and passed away), Buddha’s first teaching and Buddha's descent from Tushita (Lhabab Duchen). For exact dates each year, please check the Liberation Tibetan Calendar, available from FPMT Foundation Store. Find links to the nyung nä practice book in the FPMT Catalogue. See also Abiding in the Retreat, a commentary by Lama Zopa Rinpoche on the nyung nä practice.]

Thank you for doing so many nyung näs. What you have accomplished is really unbelievable! I wish I could do this some time. I think I have to meditate more on impermanence and death, the lower realms, and karma.

If you can finish these 1,000 nyung näs, it will be unbelievable. Shi-nä (calm abiding) is just one small aspect of the path, but the nyung näs are a cause to achieve the path to enlightenment and to achieve all the qualities of Buddha, also so many eons of negative karma are purified. Forty thousand eons of negative karma are purified by just doing one nyung nä, then depending on how much compassion you generate and, of course, if you generate bodhicitta, then you can purify much more than that.

What you have done – the nyung näs, wow!! That is just amazing! It is a miracle and the most unbelievable gift to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas. You can’t imagine how many hundreds of thousands of millions of eons of negative karma have gone by doing this; so many eons of negative karma have gone.

I hope you don’t feel you are missing the negative karma, I hope that you don’t fall asleep at night-time and miss all those negative karmas. Sooner or later you will become a bodhisattva. Just like when someone wins at soccer, when tens of thousands of people jump up clapping their hands, in the same way all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are clapping their hands, from the ten directions, even from the pure lands, also from Switzerland, especially the buddhas and bodhisattvas from Switzerland.

This is your best offering, your best service to sentient beings; this is how you collect the most extensive merit. Doing all those practices and prostrations is unbelievable purification. By reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas, doing Chenrezig meditation and recitation, and by making offerings to Chenrezig, you collect the same amount of merit as having made offerings to all the buddhas, and then taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts on top. Wow! It is amazing, gorgeous! You create limitless skies of merit by taking them with a bodhicitta motivation. It is unbelievable purification, and you can achieve all the qualities of Buddha. It is just amazing.

It is extremely rare to die by practicing Dharma. Most of the time, from beginningless rebirths up to now, we have been only following attachment, anger, a jealous mind, pride, and ignorance. We have died following those minds numberless times; we have died following delusion numberless times; and we have died from creating negative karma numberless times. Those are the usual ways we die.

Please make strong prayers every day, dedicate every day for the Maitreya project, as well as all the projects in the organization, also all the projects at each center to benefit sentient beings, as well as the teachings of Buddha and world peace. I am sure you dedicate in this way.

On behalf of all the FPMT centers and study groups, I want to thank you, also on behalf of all the countries on this earth. I also want to thank you on behalf of all sentient beings.

You know that Buddha was always enlightened, numberless eons ago, but to show us how to achieve the path and to be free from all suffering and its causes, the disturbing thought obscurations and the subtle obscurations, and how to achieve the complete qualities of the realizations, Buddha manifested full enlightenment. This can happen only by bearing hardships, by practicing the Dharma. Therefore, one cannot achieve enlightenment with attachment, by just seeking samsaric pleasures, the pleasure of this life, such as being in a luxurious place, with luxurious foods.

This is why Buddha performed the twelve holy deeds. Descending from Tushita, he experienced conception, birth, and then followed what normal people do – youthful play, competition, marriage, then seeing true suffering, birth, death, old age, and sickness, leaving home: the king’s palace, where he had everything, all wealth and power, not just like an ordinary householder, but like a king. Then he lived six years as an ascetic. You can see this in the pictures, where all his ribs and bones are sticking out. Then, he subdued millions of maras when they came to attack him the night before he was going to be enlightened. He subdued all these demons, the maras, just by maintaining loving kindness no matter how much they threw terrible things at him. Also, an old woman and young woman tried to disturb him by showing him their sex organs and their bodies. After enlightenment, he turned the wheel of Dharma, the three types, and then showed the aspect of passing away.

He did not need to do this for himself. He was already enlightened numberless eons ago, but he did this to show us how we need to complete the qualities and achieve the realizations to reach enlightenment by bearing all hardships. Then we can liberate numberless sentient beings from each realm, from the oceans of samsaric sufferings, and bring them to enlightenment. It is unbelievable, unimaginable, what Buddha is doing, every second, liberating limitless sentient beings from the lower realms, from samsara, and from lower nirvana, and bringing them to enlightenment, in every second. You cannot imagine how amazing this is, and it is achieved by bearing these hardships now. Now, you can see all the benefits – this is how you achieve the path to enlightenment. Each path has unbelievable qualities; the Buddha has limitless skies of qualities: the holy body, holy speech, and holy mind. Buddha underwent limitless skies of hardships. The hardships we have to bear are almost nothing compared to what Buddha underwent. The Buddha gave up his life and body limitless times. He offered in charity his body, limbs, and eyes for three countless great eons. For three countless great eons he practiced morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom. He practiced each one for three countless great eons.

Kadampa Geshe Kanglungpa said:  "I have never heard of great meditators dying from hunger and thirst before, and I will never hear of it in the future."

This is because if you seriously practice Dharma, this does not happen. If you do not practice seriously, just externally, looking like you are doing Dharma practice, but not really practicing, then those problems can happen, like dying.

Especially after doing 100 nyung näs, it is good to have a break. You can decide for yourself what to do.

Offering service in the FPMT does not only mean taking different jobs and doing different projects. Doing 100 or especially 1,000 nyung näs, as well as all those who are in retreat, for so many years, meditating on the lamrim, is the same as offering service by working.

The purpose of teaching Dharma is to practice, to have realizations; the centers are there to provide the teachings of the Dharma. Without practicing, how can sentient beings be liberated? Without realizations, how can they be liberated? Anybody who gives their life to Dharma, to attain the path, to achieve enlightenment, to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment – this is what the philosophical teachings are for, what the Master’s Program is being given for. The conclusion is to practice and to have realizations.

Doing these nyung näs is the most unbelievable way to attain the path to enlightenment, especially to achieve compassion, and great compassion – bodhicitta; it is really incredible.

So far we have one nun in Colombia who has finished 200 or more nyung näs. I think she still is planning to complete 1,000. Now she is in Brazil helping the centers and also her mother, and then in a month or so she will continue the nyung näs.

Geshe Lama Konchog did 2,000 nyung näs. Geshe Lama Konchog did similar things to the Buddha, living six years in a cave, cutting his connection with people, and instead of looking for food, practicing taking the essence of wind (not pills). I saw his cave in Tsum, near Milarepa’s cave. It is really amazing to know his life story. Afterwards people found out, when he came down from the mountains. After he was in the cave, he did retreat under a tree for three years.

Also, there was another lama in that area who did 2,000 nyung näs and his disciple did 3,000. This lama benefited many parts of Nepal and the Solo Khumbu. He stopped people from hunting; he made a law so that people would not hunt animals, and this still exists in many parts of Nepal. He also influenced many people in those areas to practice OM MANI PADME HUM and to take the eight Mahayana precepts, which is so beneficial.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for doing this practice. 

With much love and prayers...

My dear one,
I am happy to hear of your retreat. You should be in touch with and stay where you can be in touch with your parents. I am happy that they support you, so it is good to be in touch with them.

Thank you for all your service and your unbelievable accomplishment. I think all the buddhas and bodhisattvas would agree with me.

So many eons of negative karma have been purified, and you are now closer to enlightenment and closer to the three principles of the path. Inconceivable merit is collected even in one session, by chanting the mantras and keeping the precepts with bodhicitta. This is most beneficial for sentient beings and pleases Chenrezig and the buddhas and bodhisattvas. You can be the twentieth-century Gelongma Palmo of the FPMT. What about that?

Everything comes from this practice: your happiness and the happiness of sentient beings. Your practice is a puja for everything: for me, your parents, everyone. You should tell them that you dedicate to them. Tell them you are trying to be of benefit to sentient beings and dedicating to the family and everyone. Tell them not to worry, that you life is like being in heaven or a pure land, because of all the opportunities to practice. Even though externally it is simple, mentally it is a pure land. I am looking at the FPMT having many people do nyung näs, 1,000 or 2,000. It is very good to have many people doing this.

Even in future lives you should continue to do nyung näs, until enlightenment.

I congratulate you on behalf of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa

"You are not alone because all the time there are numberless Buddhas and bodhisattvas surrounding you, everywhere loving you, guiding you, that is what they do.”

If you can do so many nyung näs, it would be unbelievably beneficial for sentient beings. As your major practice is nyung näs, this is the most powerful, most beneficial, and quickest way for you to develop bodhicitta, to collect extensive merit to quickly achieve enlightenment, to become Chenrezig, and to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment.

This practice is a trillion, billion times greater than becoming an Olympic champion. Doing so many nyung näs, you become an unbelievable champion. This is what makes numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas most happy, and brings sentient beings to enlightenment as quickly as possible.

The more you do this practice to develop bodhicitta, the more your food will have more blessings and great benefit for sentient beings, including the dogs.

As you know, Geshe Lama Konchog did 2,000 nyung näs. Also, a great lama in Tsum, who built the monastery and nunnery and was the main lama in the area, who prevented people from killing and hunting animals, also did 2,000 nyung näs, and many of his disciples did 3000 nyung näs.

As you have so many to do, it would be good for you to take the Great Chenrezig initiation, to receive the blessings of Chenrezig. You do not have to do all of them at once. You can do some each year, from time to time, just build up slowly and eventually you can complete them.

Some people do 50 in a row, but you don’t have to do it like that. If you can, try to do some on the wheel-turning days. Often, Dharma centers do eight in a row during Sakadawa, and in this way you can slowly build up.

This is an extremely powerful practice, and is in an incredible way to develop bodhicitta.