Practices for Purification and Collecting Merit

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.