Teaching Beginners

Normally, if people want to do a daily meditation practice, they can do Shakyamuni Buddha meditation. It’s also very good to do Medicine Buddha, Chenrezig mantra, and Vajrasattva.

If they do Medicine Buddha practice, it takes care of their lives. Of course, the main reason to practice Medicine Buddha is to achieve realizations of the path to enlightenment. But, in the meantime, it takes care of their life, and their problems get solved along the way.

Then, Chenrezig practice, reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, has vast benefits—unbelievable purification, collecting so much merit, and enabling one to achieve enlightenment very swiftly. Therefore, if one doesn’t do the meditation-recitation of Chenrezig, reciting the mantra, it is like throwing away so many wish-granting jewels. Or, it is like having a human body, but not being a human being. It is so essential to have this as a practice in daily life.

New students can also do Vajrasattva practice, especially if their minds are full of problems, and they want to be healed.

Then, it’s very important to read the lamrim. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is a very good book to study. They can read other Dharma books, but the lamrim is something to go into in depth, since it is the actual, complete path to enlightenment. They can keep training in that, and can also read other Dharma books that are commentaries on the lamrim. They can also read books with different advice that is harmonious with the lamrim. For example, when you read books on high levels of tantra it is still harmonious with the lamrim.

Generally, in the lamrim the emphasis is on avoiding all forms of non-virtue. But for the bodhisattva who has reached high levels of tantric realization, the main goal is to benefit sentient beings, and the way to benefit sentient beings on the higher tantric levels can be by engaging in actions that were previously forbidden. For example, drinking alcohol, eating meat, and being with a woman—if one is male—or a man—if one is female—can become a quick path to enlightenment. Whereas before these things were all obstacles to generating the path, when one has reached a very high level of tantric realization, they can become the quick path. Books that explain these things are harmonious with the lamrim.