Meditate on Lamrim Every Day
A student wrote asking for advice on her practice and Rinpoche sent the following response, advising daily meditation on the lamrim (the graduated path to enlightenment.)
You must do Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. That contains the steps of the path to enlightenment (lamrim). You must recite mindfully, so that it becomes a direct meditation. Each day when you do this, it brings you closer to the path. That means each day it brings you closer to enlightenment, and closer to enlightening all sentient beings. Why should you do that? Because this is the purpose and meaning of your life.
Every day, read the text of the stages of the path called The Essential Nectar. That is like a pocket lamrim meditation. When you have finished, read it again. Do that for your whole life. This makes your life most fruitful and meaningful. It is not just reading, think of the meaning and how it relates to your life, OK? After sitting meditation, in the break time, think about the topics. One day, relate everything to guru devotion practice. When you encounter problems, think: this is the blessing of the guru and the quick way to finish many heavy negative karmas now, that I would have to experience in this life and also in the future, to have happiness in the future. Think that any good thing that happens is the kindness of the guru.
The next day, focus on the topic of renunciation in the break time, thinking about impermanence and death, the suffering of samsara, everything that cuts attachment and overcomes delusion. When you are working or whatever you are doing, think of these topics so you can overcome your delusions. This becomes the cause for achieving liberation from samsara for yourself and all sentient beings.
The next day, try to focus on bodhicitta and the four types of kindness: the kindness of others, animals, people, and thinking how all beings have been our mother. The next day, think of extensive kindness, how all past, present, and future happiness is received from sentient beings.
The following day focus on emptiness, and think about what is the false view. When you go out, whether you are walking, sitting, or eating, think: Why do I say I am walking? There is no reason at all except for the base aggregates sitting and the mouth talking; there is no other reason at all.
After this analysis, check if you can see the “real I” appearing. If you felt the “real I” appearing strongly before and not so much after the analysis, this is an excellent sign. If that I is totally lost, then that is realizing emptiness, the middle way. In conclusion, the I that exists is what is merely imputed by the mind because the base aggregates exist. The “real I” is the false I. The total absence or non-existence of that is emptiness, the ultimate nature of the I. This is one technique you can use.