Training the Mind in Lamrim

My very dear Lisa,
I’m very happy to know your thoughts. That is the correct way to think. There is no need to go into the details, otherwise there is greater danger of creating negative karma. If you keep the details to a minimum, to what is necessary, then there is less negative karma.

We have to take responsibility for our life and future lives. Most people don’t accept future lives, so they don’t understand this. We have been suffering since beginningless time under the control of karma and delusion and we can’t continue to suffer like this—we have to get out of samsara now by actualizing the path. The path isn’t created out of the sky; it  isn’t created in a factory. We have to actualize the path.

There is a need to benefit numberless sentient beings: the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, suras and intermediate state beings. We have to free all these suffering beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to liberation and enlightenment. This is the main purpose of our life. This is what we need to do.

In essence, the main thing is to meditate on the lamrim, starting from guru devotion.

With much love and prayer...

I regard as the most important thing in the world anybody who dedicates his or her life to achieving lamrim realizations, with the goal to liberate numberless beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. 

Student:

Dear Lama Zopa,
I wanted to send you my best wishes for the year 2008, but I didn’t have your address with me. Anyway, I hope this year will bring peace to the world—friendship between races (the possible new US premier is the demonstration of that!!!), peace and love in our families, countries, and especially in our hearts, peace for Tibet, better care of mother nature, with less pollution, and more bread for everybody.

My mother, after a difficult period of radiotherapy, is getting better. I recite every day Tara and Medicine Buddha mantras etc. for her, my father, my kids, my lover, my friends, and everybody. I do a lot of mantras and praying for people with AIDS, drug and alcohol addicts, etc.

Please bless that puja to help my friend and all people who have fallen into alcohol or drug addiction, or are now fighting to overcome their problems, also people with AIDS.

Rinpoche's Response:

My very dear Laurence,
Thank you very much for your kind letter.

You gave detailed information in this letter, but what is most beneficial for you and all sentient beings is to live life with the bodhicitta motivation. You do everything with the bodhicitta motivation, so eating, sleeping, working, everything is done with this motivation, with the thought to benefit all sentient beings. “All sentient beings” includes your enemies, those who you hate or who hate you, so you do everything with the thought to benefit them by freeing them from oceans of samsaric suffering. As much as possible, you live with the thought to benefit others—no matter how much difficulty there is in life, or how much excitement, the thought is to benefit others.

I have two points of advice for you:

1. The most important thing is to meditate on the lamrim.
2. Study one lamrim text from beginning to end, then any questions you have, you can write down in a notebook, then you can discuss them with an elder, someone with more experience than you, like that.

Meditate every day on guru devotion until you have stable meditation every day and see all the gurus as Buddhas and all the Buddhas as gurus. Once you have stable meditation from your heart, if you achieve the realization, then you just think a little bit of the topic rather than going deeply into meditation on the specific topic.

Train in the graduated path for one year until you have realization in your heart. Take one topic each month. For instance, start with the path of the lower capable being and meditate on the precious human rebirth, death and impermanence, the suffering of the lower realms, and karma—one month for each topic. You can meditate on death and impermanence for three months. Then, move on to the path of the middle capable being and meditate on those topics for one year. Then, move on to the path of the higher capable being. Meditate on this for one year, like this: one year on bodhicitta, alternating between one month on the seven-point cause and effect instructions and one month on the method of exchanging oneself with others, to develop bodhicitta. Then, meditate for one year on emptiness.

If you don’t have realizations, you do these over and over again. Put your main effort into having realizations of renunciation, bodhicitta, and emptiness, and then move on to tantra. If you have a realization of bodhicitta, then you can spend most of your time on tantra.

This is my main advice for you. Whether there is more difficulty in life or more excitement, keeping the mind on Dharma is the most important thing, not money or friends. Without Dharma, you can’t benefit sentient beings. Without the good heart, you can’t benefit others. Also, you need Dharma wisdom to benefit others. Without Dharma wisdom, you don’t know how to benefit others. So, please develop compassion.

Thank you very much.

With love and prayer...

My dear one,
I understand your questions. Yes, definitely have a break. I understand very well your concerns and the feelings that you express. Regarding the boyfriend, I can’t really say, but generally it doesn’t really work out the way we expect. I think, mostly, it doesn’t really work out. So, I can’t really comment on the boyfriend part. I think you should try to do your best with this one.

Regarding the center, when the mind isn’t able to keep in the lamrim meditation, maybe because it wasn’t strong enough in the beginning, then it isn’t easy, even if you are at a Dharma center. There are many difficulties, financial difficulties, a small number of people helping (not enough people), so, with the stress of these things happening all the time for a long time, this is what happens with our students in the centers. Their minds become filled with problems, meditation on the lamrim becomes less and less, the feeling of the lamrim becomes less, then there is less compassion and feeling, less guru devotion, less bodhicitta. With this, the feelings becoming less and less, and then, of course, one becomes distant or feels distant from the Dharma. Even one’s commitments become dry words. One’s heart is distant, one’s heart is like being in a very hot desert, where there is no water, or in an extremely hot room with no air conditioning, so it becomes difficult to feel the Dharma.

I really appreciate your thinking to meditate on the lamrim and to bring Dharma back in your heart. So, I think your plan is a good one. So, definitely take a break and try to bring Dharma into your heart through the lamrim.

You are in my prayers every day, as you were in the past.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear Tim,
How are you? I hope you are very well. Please chant some OM MANI PADME HUM mantras and do some Medicine Buddha practice.

Read the lamrim, the stages of the path to enlightenment. This always leaves positive imprints of the whole path to enlightenment. This life, which is a human life, is the most precious life, where you can achieve all happiness, including liberation from samsara and enlightenment. So, please take the opportunity to practice Dharma every day, every minute, every second, as much as possible.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear Gillian,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. Please find attached the practices that come out best for your quickest enlightenment.

For you it seems the main practice is social service, to help wherever you can and to practice the lamrim. Then, each year you can do some retreat. Every day do some preliminary practices, especially lamrim meditation.

First, study completely the lamrim and practice the meditations until you achieve realizations. Start with renunciation of samsara. First, train the mind in meditating on the perfect human rebirth and karma until you have stable realizations, then train the mind in how samsara is in the nature of suffering, impermanence, the six types of suffering, the four types of suffering, and the suffering of each of the six realms, until you have a stable renunciation of samsara, so that it lasts a long time. Then, train the mind in bodhicitta, then emptiness. Meditate on each section of the lamrim each day until your realizations are stable.

You can practice lamrim meditation anywhere, not just in your shrine room. You can practice at the beach, wherever you are, whenever you find time. Also, you can do lamrim meditation when you’re at work, talking to people, when people are scolding you, etc. Actually, that is the most important time to meditate on the lamrim, on patience, compassion, emptiness, impermanence, and death, because death can happen at any moment. This also helps and becomes the practice of patience, and also you don’t get angry. Then, things don’t make the mind unhappy. Even if a person gets angry with you, you can practice patience, thinking that this is your virtuous friend. Maybe they don’t teach Dharma, but actually they are giving you the opportunity to put the teachings into practice. Also, you can use this to meditate on kindness; the other person is giving you an opportunity to overcome anger, to complete the paramita of patience, and to achieve enlightenment and be able to enlighten all sentient beings. This person is giving you this opportunity, so he or she is the most precious, kind one. Practicing patience in this way makes your mind so happy, and you are so happy with that person.

In this way, whatever you are doing in your life, walking, talking, shopping, sightseeing, etc., practice lamrim meditations, especially in the break times from sitting meditation. Practicing this way is more useful and effective, and is very important. Most of the time we don’t sit in meditation, we are doing other activities. If we are able to keep our mind in the lamrim while we are busy, then that is excellent. You are taking the essence of your life and really making it fulfilling. You are continuously creating the causes of happiness, happiness in future lives, liberation, and ultimate happiness. If you are practicing with bodhicitta, then you are continuously creating the causes for enlightenment. This then causes you to enlighten all sentient beings, bringing happiness to all sentient beings.

Before going to bed, recite a mala or 21 long Vajrasattva mantras with the four powers (you should read what the four powers are and discuss them with the monk at your Dharma center).

Whenever you are able, please recite the King of Prayers, the prayer to be reborn in the blissful realm of Sukhavati, or the prayer to Maitreya Buddha.

Good luck, and love and prayers to you.
Thank you very much.
Lama Zopa

Practices Suggested

• Dorje Khadro (burning offering): 10,000
• Guru Yoga: 60,000 Lama Tsongkhapa (recitations of “migme” mantra)
• Nyung Nä retreat: slowly try to do 100 Nyung Näs. You don’t have to do them all at the same time, you can do some each year if it is convenient.
• The graduated path of lower scope: two months
• The graduated path of intermediate scope: four months
• The graduated path of highest scope: bodhicitta: four months; emptiness: five months
• Main deity: Secret Hayagriva—for your quickest enlightenment
• Other deities: Hevajra
• If you feel more of a connection with Hevajra, you can practice that more.