Practice Advice
A student wrote to Rinpoche about practices she had done, and some she had yet to complete. He advised her as follows.
The main thing is the lamrim—to practice the preliminaries to have lamrim realizations. First, gain the realizations of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, then tantra.
With tantra, first train in seeing yourself as the deity in your mandala. Start with the image of yourself as the deity in the simple aspect. Start with your face, then arms, then go on to each of the details. When you visualize the face, hold that with one-pointed concentration. Later on, add the consort and then the mandala. When you add on each detail, you should not forget the earlier ones.
First, try to develop concentration. When that becomes more stable, try to see the image more clearly, and hold that. If whenever you visualize, it comes like that, then that’s the sign of being trained. In the completion stage, you can hold that visualization for many hours.
On the 10th and 25th of the Tibetan month you should perform tsog—that is very important for going to the pure land.
In the morning, make prostrations to the 35 Buddhas. As you prostrate, recite the Buddhas’ names many times. In the evenings, recite each name once with each prostration.
Regarding what you said about not being able to keep awake during your prayers, remind yourself that you cannot know which will come first: tomorrow or your next rebirth. Or recall the other meditations on impermanence. In the Lama Chöpa it says: “Even if I must remain in the hells of Avici for the sake of one sentient being, please bless me to complete the perfection of joyous effort, not to be discouraged.” So, if you are going to work in the Avici hells, think how much more you can do now? Think: “I have this precious human rebirth just this once, I must not waste it for even a second.” You can copy the verse from the Lama Chöpa and put it on your table. Or maybe you can put a cold towel on your head to stay awake. It may too warm.
Regarding what you said about not being able to do the prostrations to Vajrasattva because of continuing problems with your arm, you can visualize the prostrations, you don’t have to do the actual prostrations.
Also, regarding your problem of not knowing whether to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts because of your history of health problems, take seven precepts and don’t take the one about food.
Regarding your question about trying to visualize the guru at your heart, is he in the aspect of Lama Tsongkhapa, and how to visualize the guru when you do different sadhanas with different visualizations, the guru does not have to be in the aspect of Lama Tsongkhapa. It is very beneficial to visualize Lama Tsongkhapa, because he did so many great things to benefit sentient beings, but the guru does not have to be visualized in that aspect. Whatever sadhana you are doing, you are the yidam and the guru is the seed syllable at your heart, so there is no contradiction. The guru can be any deity, he does not have to be Lama Tsongkhapa.
In the sadhana, if you have to visualize the guru and you have received the same initiation from many gurus, think of the guru from whom you have received the most benefit. Lama Tsongkhapa and all the gurus are one.
Regarding how to recite longlife mantras, I wanted to talk about this at the Namgyalma initiation, but I forgot. When you do the practice, dedicate especially for the long life of the gurus, the Sangha, and those who bring benefit to others. At the end of the mantra recitation, visualize all the buddhas and bodhisattvas dissolving into you, and your guru’s blessings entering your heart. Feel strongly that you have been purified of all disease, sickness, spirit harm, and obstacles—those four things are stopped.
It would also be good if you could print the Amitayus Longlife Sutra. Printing some every week is very beneficial. Give the copies away or place them in statues.