Tsa-tsas and Other Practices 

My very dear Jean,
Most congratulations on your plan to recite 100 million manis. Other practices are:

1) 30,000 tsa-tsas

Divide the tsa-tsas among the three types of buddhas: Chenrezig, Manjushri and Vajrapani; also Guhyasamaja, Vajrayogini, Kalachakra, Secret Hayagriva, Gyalwa Gyatso and Secret Vajrapani.

The tsa-tsas can be used in different ways. You can give them to people to make stupas, or line them up high in the rooms of your house, with Christmas lights below them as light offerings. There is unbelievable benefit in doing this. There are skies of benefit in making and seeing the tsa-tsas, and we collect unbelievable merit, skies of merit, by making light offerings to them. This is rich in merit.

If there is an empty wall outside or inside your house, fill it up completely with tsa-tsas, as they did at Vajrapani Institute. It’s very beautiful, and people can do prostrations and make offerings to the tsa-tsas. In front of the wall, put a table with water offerings and flower offerings.

You can give the tsa-tsas to people who are making big stupas or statues, for them to put inside. This helps very much. You can also give the tsa-tsas as presents to many people for use on their altars.

In Tibet and Solu Khumbu, people put tsa-tsas inside caves with protection from the rain. They arranged them nicely, not like putting garbage in a can.

You could also make a small stupa and arrange the tsa-tsas nicely inside, or make a structure like a stupa inside your house or in your garden. By going around this, people, animals and insects can purify their negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths and collect skies of merit. Each time they go around, they create the cause of enlightenment.

In your garden or house, in the sitting room or wherever there is space, you should set up a nice table with another smaller table on top and another smaller table on top, so that it goes up. Put many holy objects (statues, stupas, scriptures) on the tables and put tsa-tsas inside. Make the table a little up from the ground. It’s good to fill up the table with many tsa-tsas, nicely arranged, not like putting garbage in a garbage can. This helps to purify the negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths and collects extensive merit. It plants the seed of enlightenment. Just seeing the holy objects collects unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable merits. So, try to have many holy objects set up inside. Not just on the outside, but have many on the inside. On the outside around the stupa you can put many statues, scriptures and tsa-tsas nicely lined up. On the top, put a Buddha statue (Buddha’s holy body), a scripture (Buddha’s holy speech) and a stupa (Buddha’s holy mind).

On the first level there should be offerings of ARGHAM, PADYAM, PUSHPE, DHUPE, ALOKE, GANDHE, NAIVEDYA and SHABTA, as well as flowers.

2)  50,000 guru yoga (Recitation of migtsemas based on Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga)

3)  500,000 water bowl offerings

4)  500,000 Samayavajra

5)  Two nyung näs

6)  Meditation practice:

• Nine months on the lower path
• Nine months on the middle path
• Four months on bodhicitta
• Four months on emptiness

Meditate on guru devotion every day. After that, train the mind in the lamrim meditations one by one until you achieve stable realization.

7) Your deities are Guhyasamaja and Most Secret Hayagriva. You can receive the initiation of both deities and do the retreats. From these two, do Most Secret Hayagriva unless you feel more strongly about practicing Guhyasamaja.

With much love and prayers...