Member of the FPMT

I think that you saw some problems in your life, and your mind was overwhelmed by that. One reason for your losing interest and motivation, for example, to do your sadhana practice, is because you haven’t been meditating, reading the lamrim, and meditating on the lamrim. That is why you have experienced these things. Because of this, the mind can be overtaken by emotions, obligations, and attachment.

Another thing is maybe you haven’t remembered the importance of and benefits of the practice. Even if you don’t understand a sadhana, if you remember or read about its benefits, then that will give you energy and inspiration to practice the sadhana, even if you don’t understand it. It leaves only a positive imprint.

First of all, from reading newspapers, watching TV, and from many other things, what we hear about is desire and delusions. Even conversations are usually about desire or delusions. So, usually, these things leave a negative imprint. It depends on how you look at these things. If you read newspapers with a lamrim mind, watch TV with a lamrim mind, thoroughly renounced, then the thought will arise in you, “Living in samsara is the nature of suffering.” Then if you watch TV, you see it as developing renunciation, seeing that samsaric pleasure is in the nature of suffering. If you read newspapers, watch the pleasures of samsara, have sex, have great wealth, or have many friends with renunciation, whatever you see is the nature of suffering.

You can watch TV with compassion, thinking how what you see is suffering. When you see the TV or newspapers, you can definitely see that the nature of everything is suffering. Everything you see becomes the teaching of Buddha and a cause for developing compassion and bodhicitta. It depends on how you look at it. The whole world depends on how you look at it. If you look at it with renunciation, the wish to be liberated from samsara, and samsara as in the nature of suffering, then you see the whole world is in the nature of suffering and is only the cause to ¬achieve liberation. Then you begin to think how others are suffering and from that generate compassion, the wish to free them from all suffering and its causes, by oneself alone.

Also, you can watch TV with right view, so that everything you see is empty from its own side, even though it appears that it is existing from its own side. You see how it is empty because it is a dependent arising.

Normally what we do is the opposite of the lamrim: watching TV, reading newspapers, hearing people talk, whatever, so everything becomes a cause to develop delusions, attachment, etc., and it leaves a negative imprint. But the Buddha’s teachings leave a positive imprint. Even if you don’t practice the sadhana or lamrim, just listening to or reading them leaves a positive imprint. Just that! The positive imprint, which is left on the mind, sooner or later becomes a cause to become enlightened.

The Buddha gave teachings to five swans. In their next life they were all born as human beings, became Sangha, entered into the path, and then became arya beings; they actualized the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. Like this, their delusions began to cease from hearing the teachings of the Buddha. The monks had a dog who would hear the Dharma, but didn’t understand the meaning. Just by hearing the precious Dharma, when the dog died it was born in the higher realm, the deva realm—Tushita.

The positive imprint left on the mind means in the near future you will not only be born as a human being, but will meet the Dharma, and actually understand its meaning. This enables you to have realizations. Realizations eliminate all the defilements—gross and subtle—and then you are able to achieve enlightenment and enlighten and liberate countless sentient beings from oceans of sufferings. All of this can come from having a positive imprint. It makes it possible to meet Dharma again and to be able to understand the meaning much more easily the next time. Just by listening to Dharma, you receive vast benefits.

When you practice your sadhana and read Dharma books, it is exactly the same. Even if you don’t understand them, as long as they are the unmistaken teachings of Lord Buddha, it is the same. If you don’t practice your sadhana, then you lose that opportunity to leave an imprint on your mind and to plant a seed in your mind. Then, in the future, you don’t get to achieve enlightenment. Even if one doesn’t have time to meditate, just reading with mindfulness leaves incredibly positive imprints each time. Each time you read the sadhana, because there are so many practices included in it, it leaves incredible imprints. The sadhana is tantric practice, which enables you to achieve enlightenment in one life, whereas with the sutra path it takes three great eons of future lives to achieve enlightenment.

These higher tantric practices are more powerful than lower tantra. Each time you practice the sadhana it plants a seed of the tantric path and is the quickest preparation for your future enlightenment. You can see this is incredible. The time it takes to do is nothing. You can see how important it is. It is the quick way to get out of samsara. We spend so much time eating food, drinking, and doing so many other things, but the most important thing is Dharma practice, especially highest tantra, which is so precious. It enables you to be free from samsara and all the objects of samsaric suffering and their causes as quickly as possible. Then you can free other sentient beings as quickly as possible.

So, actually, we should spend most of our time on Dharma because it is most precious, but we spend very little time on it. If you stop practicing, it takes so much longer to achieve enlightenment, and you have to spend longer suffering in samsara. Also, it is so difficult to meet the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in this life; it is extremely rare.

If you do not practice while you have the opportunity, then in the future it won’t be possible to practice. This life is our only chance to practice Dharma—it’s the only chance to make prayers and have pure realizations. Therefore, there is something to achieve in this life—to have pure realizations of the path. There is so much to actualize in our life.

Even if one doesn’t become enlightened or become an arya bodhisattva, still you are constantly leaving imprints to have realizations. The conclusion is there is nothing in life that is more important than Dharma practice. Even reading words of the Dharma is good to do. If you stop even reciting words, then there is no opportunity at all to leave a positive imprint. The conclusion is you have to suffer, without end, again and again, in the lower realms. Then you can’t liberate other sentient beings; you can’t even liberate one sentient being. That is very sad and you have lost the purpose of your life; you miss out on this chance.

Then, suddenly, when death comes, you realize that you are going to die, and you are very, very sad. Your life is full of regret. Instead of rejoicing in how many practices you have done there is so much dissatisfaction. When people die who never miss practicing their sadhanas, there is nothing to worry about, there is no problem, there is no fear. Their deity takes them to the pure land; it is definite.

So, spend more time meditating on your main deity, put more time into it, to leave a positive imprint, and to become closer to your deity’s enlightenment. If you have commitments for other deities then you can do a very short version of the sadhana.

There are two practices that I normally advise people to do: one is Medicine Buddha. I advise chanting one mala of Medicine Buddha mantra. Then, if possible, recite Medicine Buddha’s names seven times. If that is not possible, then just them say a few times. Medicine Buddha practice is for success. All your wishes are fulfilled. Whatever you have prayed for in the past you will receive. It is so important.

The other practice is Chenrezig. The other very important mantra is Chenrezig mantra: OM MANI PADME HUM. You should recite one mala of OM MANI PADME HUM, if possible two. The Compassion Buddha is to help you develop bodhicitta. Without bodhicitta you cannot achieve enlightenment and enlighten other sentient beings.

Also, it is very important that you practice guru yoga every day. Guru yoga practice is mind training: looking at the guru as oneness with all the buddhas. By using the quotations and logic that are explained in the teachings, you are trying to see the Buddha. By looking at the Buddha, then you see the guru. Then, through having devotion and seeing the guru as Buddha, that causes you to receive the blessings of the Buddha. You have the guru in your heart, then you receive blessings, and realizations come.

The next important thing is to read lamrim prayers. By reading the lamrim prayers you leave imprints on your mind of the whole path to enlightenment. You plant seeds of the whole path, and all the realizations. That makes you come closer to realizations, to enlightenment, and to enlightening all mother sentient beings. By reading the lamrim each day you get closer to enlightenment and enlightening all sentient beings. Also, it is very good to recite Vajrasattva mantra 28 or 21 times before you go to bed.

Sometimes, when all the thoughts and excuses to not practice come, it is spirits causing you not to practice or causing negative thoughts to arise to stop you practicing. You are trying to practice, to be pure, to live in morality, then spirits cause attachment to arise, that causes you to break your vows, or not take vows. Whatever happiness you are trying to achieve, many obstacles come. So, you have to be very careful. There are many obstacles that can arise that don’t allow you to achieve liberation or future enlightenment. You have to be wise, have strength and courage, and be able to judge so that you can carry on with your practice.

You have this precious human body, so this is the best time to practice Dharma. So you must! Also, you are not sure what will come first, tomorrow or your next life, you never know when you will die.

My very dear Jenny,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I was happy that my last letter gave you inspiration, direction in life, energy, and faith. I’m very impressed, it touched my heart. Your practice remembering the guru in your everyday activities while cleaning, cooking, gardening, even taking care of the family, and doing yoga—that is exactly how one should practice.

When you offer a mandala, you offer not only your belongings but also your own body, speech, and mind to the guru. So, everything is offered to the guru. It is the same for eating, sleeping, washing—everything is practice—then you will have realizations 24 hours a day, stable realizations. You see the guru Buddha by training the mind, looking at it, and studying quotations and reasonings from the Buddha. Every day you live life to fulfill the holy wishes, even breathing in and out, taking care of oneself, keeping the body healthy, all of this. Not only that, but for those who have strong guru devotion, cherishing the guru more than one’s own life, with realizations of the kindness of the guru, every appearance is an appearance of the guru. Of course, good things happen, but anything besides that is purified by the guru’s blessings. This makes you realize how samsara is empty and inspires you to develop on the path.

With guru yoga practice and experiences, your heart is filled with joy and satisfaction and fulfillment. This way you definitely receive constant blessings from the guru and then from that receive realizations of the path—it is so easy like that. Such a practitioner is able to achieve enlightenment in this life, to actualize the three principal paths in this life and the two stages, and to achieve enlightenment even in one brief lifetime in these degenerate times.

For example, the bodhisattva “Always Crying One” (Tartu Ngon) did not practice tantra, just followed the sutra Paramita path, but he cherished his guru more than his life. In order for dust not to rise up and bother his guru, and because there was no water nearby, he let blood from his body spill onto the ground to dampen the dust. During the years when bodhisattva Chopa was in retreat in the temple, Bodhisattva Always Crying One cleaned outside the monastery. In the Paramita path you have to collect three countless great eons of merit in order to achieve enlightenment, but Bodhisattva Always Crying One was able to complete the first countless great eon of merit within seven years because he cherished his guru more than his own life.

It is great what you are able to practice. Also, I am very impressed by your getting up very early in the morning to do daily practice. That is the best thing to do, and it is good to continue. Then you have more time in the day for other things, practices or whatever. Many Tibetans, monks, and lay people practice in the very early morning and finish before they do other things. If you can keep doing that, it would be extremely good. Otherwise, we are so busy during the day that we cannot take time for practice.

I understand you are very earnest, thinking you won’t be able to keep the commitments that you have taken from initiations, but I would like to advise you that life is very short, especially now in degenerate times, there are many more new diseases, so many conditions for death, obstacles to life, and death can happen any day, at any moment.

Tantric teachings do not exist in every human world—the east, west, and north human worlds. Only the southern continent has the tantric teachings. Even in the pure land, such as Amitabha pure land, some gurus say there are no tantric teachings. Bodhisattvas pray to be born here in the southern continent, practice tantric teachings, and then achieve enlightenment.

We can’t really say if you will have the opportunity to practice Dharma in the next life. Even just whether you will be a human being in the next life is extremely difficult to say. Just like me, in even one day, one hour, our actions are more non-virtuous than virtuous. For us, even when practicing Dharma for one hour, the motivation, even if it is not anger, is normally attachment to this life, and that grasping mind is non-virtue. So any action you do, even reciting prayers, eating walking, sitting, sleeping, doing a job—all this is non-virtue. You can see how difficult it is to be a human being in the next life. We need to practice good karma, virtue, particularly pure morality, so therefore it is better to take this opportunity. We need to know how rare it is to meet the teachings, and the incredible benefits.

Even if you complete the five powerful bhumis by practicing the path of sutra, before you achieve enlightenment you need to receive initiations and actualize the clear light. With the methods to actualize clear light, that mind becomes the direct cause for the Dharmakaya. At the end you need to achieve enlightenment by practicing tantra.

By only practicing the paramitayana path, you have to collect the three countless great eons of merit. That means it takes a long, long time to achieve enlightenment, and so sentient beings have to suffer for a long, long time; they are depending on you, so that is the problem. By practicing tantra, even the lower tantras, then you are able to achieve enlightenment in one life without the need to collect merit for three countless great eons. You are able to complete all those merits within one life, even by practicing the lower tantras. By practicing highest tantra you are able to complete all those merits within a few numbers of years by achieving the illusory body. You are able to achieve enlightenment. Highest tantra has the skilful means to eliminate the gross mind and actualize the extremely subtle mind. It is like an atomic bomb eliminating the defilements, the dualistic view. That is why by practicing highest tantra one can achieve enlightenment in one lifetime—it is the quickest path. There are tantric teachings still existing, which have not degenerated, in this world, and which are experienced not only in the monasteries, but by great high lamas. They are existing through their experiences; the complete teachings are existing, transmitted from Buddha through Lama Tsong Khapa and all those enlightened beings up to present gurus and masters. So you are incredibly fortunate to be able to take initiations and to practice, putting in all your effort so that sentient beings who rely on you can be liberated and freed from oceans of sufferings and brought to enlightenment.

In this fortunate eon there are 1000 Buddhas. Three of the Buddhas did not teach tantra in this world. This is the first time that has happened—Shakyamuni Buddha taught the tantra teachings. Maitreya Buddha will not teach tantra. The seventh Buddha, a manifestation of Lama Tsong Khapa, will teach tantra, then the rest of the Buddhas won’t teach tantra, other than the last one, who promised to reveal whatever the previous Buddhas taught, so it is assumed that the last Buddha will teach tantra. It is not that the other Buddhas do not know tantra, but that the sentient beings don’t have the karma to receive the tantric teachings. If we receive all this, it is extremely rare. So, we take the opportunity to receive tantric teachings.

Another point of view I am going to explain to you is how important it is to take initiations and to practice as well as one can. My guru His Holiness Song Rinpoche, who was ex-abbot of Ganden monastery in Tibet, was a great pandit, a highly attained yogi, appearing as ordinary but in reality he was Heruka. He used to advise, when people said, “I can’t take tantric commitments because by taking tantric commitments then I’ll go to hell” and all these things, that by taking highest yoga tantra initiations, then even if you are born in the hell realms, you will receive a human rebirth after some time, and again meet tantric teachings because of having met them before. Then you will practice tantra and achieve enlightenment.

His Holiness Song Rinpoche said that by not taking tantric teachings and practicing the lesser vehicle path, you will enter into the Hinayana path, where you achieve the state of an arhat. So a person who, for example, has taken the Guhyasamaja initiation, can be born in the hell realms, then born back in the human realm, then take tantric teachings and achieve enlightenment. All this can happen while another person is not taking tantric initiations and is practicing the Hinayana path. While that being is in the arhat state, the blissful state of peace for oneself, for an incredible number of eons, they get stuck and absorbed in that. The other person takes the Guhyasamaja initiation, is born as a human, meets the tantric teachings, practices, and achieves enlightenment. Rinpoche used to compare them. So, even one practice of Guhyasamaja is so beneficial.

You said in your letter that you find it difficult to practice at home. Maybe that is because you are not getting inspired when you do prayers because maybe you are not meditating. When you don’t meditate, you don’t get inspired and it becomes like a ritual, like mere “blah blah blah.” You need to meditate when you recite the prayers, but also you need to know the meaning of the prayers. If you don’t know the meaning of the prayers then it becomes difficult, and there is no interest. There is a big difference between just reciting the prayer and reciting the prayer with meditation. One is alive, one is dead. I notice the difference myself sometimes when somebody leads prayers without meditation.

The other thing is that it is difficult to practice at home because one thinks that other things are important in life, the pleasures of this life, worldly concerns, attachment. One can find many things to do at home, such as watching TV (I’m watching TV while I’m dictating this). Watching TV like that without thinking is not the best thing. Attachment to this life, grasping at this life’s pleasures, thinking that many things are important, means the practice is put off all the time. The activities of this life are more important than practicing Dharma, and that is how the practice doesn’t get done. It is missed out.

The other thing is lack of lamrim, lack of awareness of impermanence and death, especially death. Also, not thinking that this human body is so precious, that I have the 18 qualities, they are difficult to find again, and especially not reflecting on impermanence and death, that death can happen even today, any moment. When you don’t think of that, then attachment arises and this life’s pleasures become more important than Dharma practice, which causes all happiness, liberation from samsara, enlightenment, and being able to liberate countless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric sufferings.

When you don’t think of impermanence and death, that death can happen even today, at this moment, then attachment to this life arises. Then all the happiness of all future lives, liberation, enlightenment, and liberating countless sentient beings from oceans of suffering doesn’t happen. If this life is more important (and I don’t mean our very basic needs), pleasure becomes the most important thing. Due to a lack of thinking of Dharma, of impermanence and death, of the nature of the reality of life you are unable to practice Dharma.

There is no problem with practicing Padmasambhava. I make prayers to Padmasambhava. It is extremely important to pray every day to Padmasambhava for the removal of obstacles and for the success of your own Dharma practice, as well as for projects to benefit all sentient beings, especially if you are doing something for Tibet, projects in Tibet, making statues, building hospitals there, and so forth. Especially when things are related to helping the Tibetan people, you need a lot of prayers asking Padmasambhava to help. By the kindness of Padmasambhava, Tibet was purified and Dharma was spread in Tibet. And now Tibetan Buddhism has spread all over the world. If we have tens of thousands of people in the United States who follow the path to enlightenment, making their lives meaningful, that came from Padmasambhava who purified Tibet and pacified the obstacles to spreading Dharma in Tibet.

Your Deity to Achieve Enlightenment:
You can keep the Vajrayogini practice. Also, Cittamani Tara comes out well. Whichever you feel closer to, you can decide: Vajrayogini, Cittamani Tara, or Green Tara. For both Vajrayogini and Cittamani Tara you need to take another great initiation of another deity. Only then are you allowed to receive initiations of these deities and only then can you receive commentaries. The best preliminary for Vajrayogini or Tara Cittamani is Heruka, Guhyasamaja, or Hevajra.

Preliminary Practices:

10,000 refuge
100,000 mandala offerings
200,000 prostrations by reciting the 35 Buddhas
Recite Diamond Cutter Sutra five times each month for six years
Recite the Arya Sanghata Sutra 200 times

Reading these texts, such as the Sanghata Sutra, is an incredible way to collect merit. You collect much merit from hearing the Arya Sanghata Sutra.

Also, it is very important to do:

Five months on the lamrim: on the lower path
Five months: middle path
Eight months: bodhicitta
Five months: emptiness

Then you circle back and start again.

Thank you very much for all your sincere heart. I understand you need help, and the company of Sangha. It would be good if you have some friends, Sangha, to communicate with and practice with.
Much love and prayer...

My most dear Maureen,
Thank you very much for your kind letter, and I am very sorry for the many eons of delay in replying.

Regarding your question about lack of confidence. Is your question whether it is difficult to achieve enlightenment in this lifetime, or do you mean is it difficult to achieve enlightenment at all?

Generally, you need to think more like this: what is the root of samsara, and how wrong concepts, superstitions, and objects are believed to be true are not true. You have to think of all the reasons for a true understanding of emptiness, how things are not truly existent, as well as all the processes of how wisdom directly ceases the cause of suffering, the root of samsara.

Regarding, wisdom realizing emptiness, first it is imagined and later it is an actual, direct realization of emptiness. This is what ceases all defilements, the cause of all the delusions. So, think about this and the five paths. Go over all the details, and within each path, what they do, how different delusions are ceased in this way, etc.

You should think like this: If somebody has cancer, but just talks about all the medicines that they need to take, or carries them around, but doesn’t actually take them, then they won’t recover. So many people with similar sickness have taken the medicines and recovered, so, in the same way, if you take the medicines you will recover.

Your way of thinking could be negative imprints from past lives coming up. I think more study may help. It’s similar during the annual November course at Kopan Monastery. After two weeks most people have faith in reincarnation, but still one or two people have doubts, even though they all receive the same teachings and do the same meditations. This is due to merit—those who have more Dharma imprints have more faith in Dharma, so it’s due to imprints and merit.

With much love and prayers...

These are the five sutras that you need to recite (or have someone else recite):

1) Heart Sutra, the sutra of right view
2) Transcendental Wisdom Passing Away
3) The sutra of pure conduct, the meditation—the King of Prayers
4) The sutra of washing (Dorje Namjon)
5) One syllable Heart of the Sutra—AH. You just recite AH and meditate on the meaning of AH—that the “I,” action, and the object—no phenomena—have true existence. Meditate on emptiness—that is the meaning of AH. Recite AH then meditate on that meaning, looking at everything, all phenomena, the “I,” action, and the object, everything, as empty.

As Shantideva mentioned in the Bodhicaryavatara, the Buddha has taught all the branches of teachings to actualize wisdom. This means the 84,000 teachings are to actualize wisdom. The heart of these 84,000 is wisdom gone beyond the perfection of wisdom, which has 100,000 stanzas; the 12 volumes have 20,000 stanzas; the three volumes are shorter than that and have 8000 stanzas; the heart of all those teachings is the perfection of wisdom, the heart of wisdom, the heart sutra, and even more condensed than that is a few syllables of the perfection of wisdom.

Now even more condensed than this is all the Prajñaparamita teachings embodied in one syllable, which is AH. When Lama Atisha recited the Heart Sutra, when it says “no I, no aggregate, no form,” Lama Atisha used AH in place of “no.” AH negates the inherent existence that is projected on the “I,” action, the object, all phenomena, that are merely imputed by the mind, projected by one’s own ignorance, the concept of true existence, and grasping at true existence.

Dearest Lama Zopa Rinpoche,
When you were at our Dharma center, out of your incredible kindness, you gave me the 35 Buddhas practice to do daily. I love doing this practice and want to continue doing this for as long as I possibly can. Before doing this practice I had had some problem with tennis elbow, an inflammation of the elbow, and after seeing many different types of doctors, one of them gave me a cortisone shot which took away the inflammation. But now the inflammation has reappeared and even though it doesn't hurt to do the 35 Buddhas practice, after I have finished the pain begins. I don't want to stop doing the practice and feel that I can continue doing the practice and just live with the pain and work with it in meditation, but some other people are telling me that I could do more damage and I should stop and just visualize doing the practice until the inflammation goes away. I can get another cortisone shot, but this could just be temporary, and then the pain could flare up again when I start doing the 35 Buddhas practice again. So, please could you tell me what is the best way. Thank you so very, very much.

From the depth of my heart and with the greatest of heartfelt love,
Nicola
Center Manager

Dear Nicola,
You can do the practice with your hands in the mudra of prostrations, reciting the names of the 35 Buddhas, and visualizing them. If you can do a few prostrations that is very good.

Experiencing hardships and sufferings for Dharma practice is very powerful purification practice.

Best wishes...

My very dear Laurie,
Thank you very much for your letter. As for the difficulties you are having, my assumption is you don’t have enough merit to practice highest yoga tantra. These practices are very precious. Sometimes spirits interfere. When you are practicing, they can cause your mind to hallucinate. This can cause your mind to think the wrong way. The basis for this is lack of merit, and on that basis spirits can interfere.

To give you an example, recently in Taiwan a woman went a little crazy, hallucinating, during the very precious teachings of a very great master. Now she is better. So, from time to time, this happens when very precious teachings are going on. It happens to a person who doesn’t have merit, and due to past negative karma. It is possible in a past life that the person had negative thoughts toward that deity, or made some mistakes with the guru. In this way, a person could also become crazy.

First, the person can be positive and generate renunciation, but somehow the spirit causes harm. It causes the mind to be diverted, due to past negative karma. What is needed is to purify these negative karmas and generate faith in tantra. My advice is to try to practice Yamantaka. Think that I (Lama Zopa) am oneness with Yamantaka. Think I (Lama Zopa) am Yamantaka. If this still doesn’t help, write to Geshe-la and ask Geshe-la to allow you to stop your Yamantaka practice temporarily, until your situation gets better.

Remember, after you have taken an initiation, you cannot change or give up your guru unless you ask his or her permission and the guru from his or her side says OK. But you should never criticize your guru. Giving up the guru is the heaviest karma and the heaviest obstacle to realizations and enlightenment.

This is my opinion of what to do. My suggestion for your practice is to look at pictures of Heruka, Vajrayogini, and Guhyasamaja, and see if you feel some connection with one of them.

Since you feel a connection to me, I am happy to help you. Therefore, I am suggesting these practices to you to gain merit and purify. These are things for you to do for the rest of your life to make your life meaningful, especially with lamrim. Here is what to do, and please let me know if you have any questions.

These practices should be done on the basis of the Guru Yoga of Lama Tsong Khapa or at the time of doing the Six-Session Guru Yoga practice, which I think you need to do every day, having taken the Yamantaka initiation. When you do Six-Session or Lama Tsong Khapa Guru Yoga, at the time you absorb the guru into yourself, you do the lamrim meditation or the lamrim prayer. This practice is good first thing in the morning. Prior to this, very first thing in the morning, try to do prostrations to the 35 Buddhas. Then in the evening, do Vajrasattva practice with prostrations, or seated.

What I have said here for the morning and the evening would be the very best basic practice during the day. As for what lamrim meditation to do at this time, spend four months meditating on the lower scope being, then three months meditating on the middle scope being, five months meditating on bodhicitta, and then four months meditating on emptiness. Meditating on the lamrim in this way does not mean only meditating on whatever that month’s topic is, but doing a scanning meditation on the entire lamrim, and then coming back to meditate for four months on the lower scope being.

Long term, you can do the practices that I mentioned to you before. These are the preliminary practices that you should start to do, and gradually try to complete in this life.
You can do them in any order, and also you can do more than one at a time if you like.

Dorje Khadro practice: 400,000 mantras
Vajrasattva: 100,000
Water bowls: 30,000
Tsatsas: 70,000
Nyung Nyes: 16

It’s very important not to get into the habit of missing commitments or not doing practice. If you get into the habit, then it is difficult to get out of it again. Of course, if you do miss commitments you can do Samayavajra, short self-initiation, or tsog offering—do one round of tsog focusing on the essential point of generating bliss and voidness in the merit field. But you shouldn’t get into the habit of missing commitments. If that starts happening, it’s better to make a timetable and stick to it, discipline yourself.

If the mind has sunk down and it is difficult to practice, then you must meditate on death and impermanence. That is very important. It takes care of so many problems, solves everything. It cuts attachment to people, places, and things. You stop clinging. If you think that you are going to die today then you won’t waste time, you will make sure that you practice, that you do your meditation. Thinking about impermanence and death helps to not get caught up by attachment. It helps to calm the mind. It cuts through the mind getting distracted by external objects, which wastes so much time. When the mind gets distracted, it doesn’t allow you to meditate on guru devotion or do your practice, so one hour, one day, one week goes past like this, completely wasted. Thinking you are going to die today also helps to develop compassion for sentient beings.

Reflect on impermanence and death thinking, “I am going to die today, even this hour, even this minute.” It is very powerful and takes care of so many things, so many problems are solved. Even if you are angry with somebody, you will see there isn’t any point continuing to be angry because you might die soon.

So, think about death, the suffering of the lower realms, and the nature of samsara. Also, think about the kindness of sentient beings and how much they are suffering. Think: “I am responsible for freeing them from suffering and bringing them to enlightenment.” Then, depending on whatever delusion is arising, meditate on emptiness or on the three principles of the path.

Dear Deborah,
It is very good that you completed the retreat. There is no choice. No matter how sick you are, however many problems come, you cannot give up Dharma. You have to keep your mind in Dharma, in virtue. When death comes, the best thing is to die with Dharma and bodhicitta in your mind. That is the only way you can be saved and protected from the lower realms. Dharma and bodhicitta are what cause the pure land and precious human rebirth.

So, you must always keep Dharma. There is nothing worthwhile in life other than Dharma. What makes one want to live is only Dharma and the best Dharma is bodhicitta. What brings success in actualizing bodhicitta is guru devotion, which is the root of the path to enlightenment. Since we do not want suffering and we do want happiness, then whatever problems we encounter we cannot give up Dharma. Giving up Dharma means we are giving up all happiness, enlightenment, the causes of happiness, the happiness of future lives, liberating other sentient beings from samsara, our own ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, and this life’s happiness. Even a peaceful mind comes from Dharma, through protecting the mind from delusions. So, you must have courage.

My very dear Charles,
Thank you very much for your long, kind letter. Holly read it to me while I was lying down, with mo-mos in my belly, resting, but I heard your letter well. The mo-mo’s didn’t disturb me.

I accept your apology and understand your difficulties. All these changes means there was karma created in the past, that’s all it means.

However, life is short. It looks like it is long, when we don’t think about it, because things appear permanent, but as we know, people suddenly die, so it can also happen to us. Just like other people suddenly die and are gone, the same can happen to us, and will sooner or later. Then, if we have created negative karma, it means we have to be reborn in the lower realms.

So, it is important to practice, especially purification, performing Vajrasattva practice in the evening and making prostrations to the 35 Buddhas in the morning.

What makes your whole life most beneficial is bodhicitta, and the root of the path to enlightenment is correctly devoting yourself to the virtuous friend, in thought and action.
With much love and prayers...

Attending the teachings and being able to do Six Session Guru Yoga—that’s great! Since you are sick, it’s understandable that you are not able to do the rest of your commitments. The fact that you are still able to do Six Session Guru Yoga anyway covers much of your samaya commitments. Six Session Guru Yoga is the essence of tantra.

Milarepa did not do business or work for money. He did the complete opposite, and achieved enlightenment in a small number of years. If you want to do the opposite of this, that means you want to practice the obstacles to achieving enlightenment. That makes it very hard to achieve enlightenment. There will be no enlightenment, because of worldly concerns and attachment to comfort.

No one achieved enlightenment without renouncing worldly concern, or by following worldly concerns.