Ordination, Study and Service

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your kind email. It seems you have some obstacles this year, so it’s good if you can do the White Tara long-life retreat and recite the mantra at least 400,000 times; that is the minimum.

Then liberate 3,000 animals who are in danger to be killed. They can be fish or some small animals and some big ones. If you don’t have much money, then you can buy crickets or worms—in one plastic bag there can be up to 1,000 crickets or worms. So you can do like that and if possible, liberate some bigger animals who are going to be killed. If possible, if you can liberate 3,000 animals, that is best. You can buy them from a pet shop that uses them to feed other animals, like snakes and so forth. That is one easy way to save many animals quickly.

Please make sure the motivation when doing the practice is not just for your long life, but for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the long life of all the holy beings; the long life of all Sangha who spread the Dharma teaching so that Dharma can last a long time; to all the students who do good things; to all those who recite OM MANI PADME HUM and to all those who are doing good in this world for other people; to those who are living in morality and so forth. So you can dedicate to everyone’s long life. This is how you collect most unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable merits.

Please use my Liberating Animals booklet as a basis when doing the animal liberation practice. 

Regarding your questions about your yidam and practice, please find the attached sheet that has all the explanation on how to do the practices.

Your yidam, in order for you to achieve enlightenment quickest: Guhyasamaja and Vajrayogini. Among those two you can choose whichever you feel closer to and have more feeling towards; you can decide and that one is your main deity to achieve enlightenment

The rest of the practices for you to focus on for your whole life are in the attached document.

If you can, plan to do 100 nyung näs—that would be excellent, that would be unbelievable preliminary practice. That would be the best purification from beginningless rebirth, the quick way to achieve enlightenment and to develop compassion and bodhicitta. Now there are many people who have done 100 nyung näs, even many Westerners.

In order to have lamrim realizations, you should read the lamrim (Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or the Middle-Length Lamrim from Lama Tsongkhapa) three times, from beginning to end and then begin your lamrim meditations for the number of months I have indicated. This is effortful meditation.

After that, try to have effortless guru devotion all the time until you have stable realizations, then try to have effortless realization on the perfect human rebirth. If you don’t have realization then start again, and for that number of months focus mainly on that subject of the lamrim and keep circling until you have stable realizations.

Try to do at least one meditation on emptiness every day in your life. The amount of time is up to you—it can be short or long or any time—but plan to do a little meditation on emptiness every day. Of course if you can, meditate all the time on emptiness, looking at everything as a dream, an illusion and so forth. That is very, very good.

In this life, plan to have one, two, three, four, or as many lamrim realizations as you can, so then this can continue in the next life. In that way it’s very, very good.

Generally, to collect extensive merits, do every action with bodhicitta motivation and live your life with bodhicitta motivation. Even if you have not realized bodhicitta, then just do every action with imagination motivation. Start that way. So then in this way your life becomes most beneficial for all the sentient beings.

Thank you very much for all your service to me, to the teachings of Buddha and to all sentient beings, especially those in Russia. I highly appreciate that and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I am very happy with your plan—for you to become a monk and study, and then very importantly, to come back and help in your country.

With much love and prayers...

Practices

• Refuge: 800,000 times
• Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas: 10,000 times
• Mandala offerings: 500,000 times
• Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 200,000 times
• Nyung nä retreat: 100 times
• Four immeasurable thoughts: 40,000 times with strong meditation
• Tsa tsas:
  • Deity: Yamantaka
  • Number: 50,000 times

In order to have lamrim realizations, you should read the lamrim (Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or the Middle-Length Lamrim from Lama Tsongkhapa) three times from beginning to end and then begin your lamrim meditations for the number of months I have indicated. This is effortful meditation.

• Guru devotion: one month
• The graduated path of the lower capable being: one month
• The graduated path of the intermediate capable being: nine months
• The graduated path of the highest capable being:
  • Bodhicitta: seven months
  • Emptiness: eleven months