My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am sorry for the many eons of delay.
I am not qualified to be your guru, but I’ll try and you try. Please read the advice that I have given to others, as you can also learn from this.
I am so happy that you already intend to sacrifice your life for numberless sentient beings. That means for every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every sura being, every asura being and every intermediate state being.
The best thing you can do is to live your life for sentient beings. This is the most important thing and it’s what makes your life most worthwhile. It’s not only satisfying and the fulfillment of everything, but also what you do becomes the cause of enlightenment for sentient beings, day and night. Then you will have no regrets, even when you die.
Think that you are in prison for the benefit of sentient beings—for sentient beings become free from the prison of attachment from beginningless rebirths, free from the prison of samsara and attachment to this life, and free from attachment to the next life’s samsara. This is the second kind of prison. Think that all sentient beings are in this prison of samsara and attachment, and [wish] for them be free from that.
The third prison is the prison of the self-cherishing thought. Think, “May numberless sentient beings be free from the third prison of the self-cherishing thought [experienced] from beginningless rebirths.”
Then, [wishing] for them to be free from the fourth prison, the prison of ignorance, which is the root of samsara. There is no real I, only what is merely labeled by mind, but it appears as a real one and due to that ignorance, we believe and trust in that. This ignorance, believing that is true, is the root of samsara. So think, “May I be liberated and may the numberless sentient beings be liberated from the prison of ignorance.”
Not only that, [our suffering] has no beginning. We are in that prison and we want to be free from that ourselves and for sentient beings to be free from that prison—free from the ordinary concepts, the ordinary appearance, the ordinary subtle mind and wind that creates samsara.
[Generate the wish] to be able to free them from all the prisons which have caused all their suffering from beginningless rebirths. Think, “I am in prison and I want to help others become free.” This is the attitude that you should have.
The great Kagyü yogi Choje Gotsangpa said:
By my experiencing this problem of being in prison
May all sentient beings immediately be free from disease, spirit harm, negative karma, delusions
And from being in all the prisons—
Not only the outside prison, but the inside prisons—
Which contain all the sufferings and have no beginning,
And may they achieve enlightenment.
Enlightenment means to achieve the rupakaya and dharmakaya, the Buddha’s holy body and mind.
You can use the original quotation (below) from Choje Gotsangpa for any sickness, relationship problems or even death:
By my experiencing this problem
May all the mother sentient beings be free from all the sickness, spirt harms, negative karmas and obscurations
Collected from beginningless rebirths
And achieve enlightenment.
It is very good if you can normally to recite this verse and meditate on it. Meditation doesn’t mean only sitting; you can also think about the verse while eating or walking.
It is extremely important for you to recite OM MANI PADME HUM, also the long and short Chenrezig mantra. There is no number for you to recite, just recite as many as you can.
It seems that reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, the Chenrezig mantra, is the main thing for you to practice in your life. Also recite the longest Chenrezig mantra if possible. In the beginning it may take time, but if you can, recite the longest mantra three times at the beginning, then after some months you can recite it seven times or more. The longest one is the best, most precious. If you can, recite the longest Chenrezig mantra once or three times or seven times. By reciting the longest Compassionate-Eye-Looking One mantra every day, you get the same benefits as having recited one hundred million OM MANI PADME HUM mantras. It is so unbelievable, unbelievable!
Reciting the longest mantra has incredible benefits. It can benefit so many animals, for example, if you recite the longest mantra and then you wash in the lake or the ocean, whoever that water touches or whoever drinks it, humans or animals, will never be reborn in the lower realms. It purifies their negative karma to be born from the womb, egg or heat (like lice), so they don’t get born from those three things. So much heavy negative karma that has been collected from the past gets purified and in your future lives you will always be with the buddhas and bodhisattvas and go toward enlightenment.
Even when you are walking, with your breath going in and out, just by the wind touching your body, wherever the wind goes to touch others—animals and humans— it purifies their negative karma and prevents their rebirth in the lower realms. There are unbelievable benefits, so do whatever you can. Please recite OM MANI PADME HUM.
Some benefits mentioned are that even a fully ordained monk who has broken the four root vows—killing a human being, engaging in sexual intercourse, taking things not given and telling the biggest lie about having realizations—it purifies the negative karma that would result in being born in the hell realms. By reciting OM MANI PADME HUM even one time, it purifies all those heavy negative karmas received from these four defeats. It is so powerful. Then reciting it seven times, twenty-one times or a mala, there are incredible benefits. Please read the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, so you know more.
In this way, recite OM MANI PADME HUM. This is a quick way to be free from the actual prison that you have been in since beginningless rebirths. The actual prison is attachment, ignorance and anger. So, to be free from that prison.
This is just one example of the benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM, the Chenrezig mantra, one time. It purifies the four defeats of having broken the four root vows, so this is totally purified.
The five heavy negative karmas without break are also totally purified. The five heavy negative karmas without break are karmas that are created by deeds that are so heavy that they ripen immediately as a rebirth in the hell realm. They are killing one’s mother, killing one’s father, drawing the blood of a buddha, killing an arhat and causing disunity among the Sangha.
If you recite the mantra seven times, it purifies one hundred lifetimes of negative karma. If you recite it twenty-one times it purifies four thousand eons of negative karma and you are able to have bodhicitta realizations. If you recite it 108 times, it purifies forty thousand eons of negative karma. If you recite the mantra in the ears of animals, then as soon as they die they get reborn in the human realm, not as a hell being, hungry ghost or animal. So they get a deva or human body.
The benefits are infinite if you recite this mantra. Then you can enjoy your life. Maybe for ordinary people, their view of being in prison is that it is something very bad, but for you, because you are practicing Dharma, and you are able to recite this mantra—wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow—for you it’s the best thing to happen, as it brings you to achieve enlightenment quickly.
The conclusion is if you recite OM MANI PADME HUM it is so easy to purify the negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths and to collect extensive merits. Then especially to generate compassion for all sentient beings, so wanting to take the responsibility on yourself to free the numberless sentient beings from suffering. Not only wishing for that, but generating compassion. So then you achieve enlightenment quickly, by the way. Then it is such an easy way to be born in the pure land of Amitabha Buddha.
By reciting OM MANI PADME HUM you collect more merit than the number of drops of water in the ocean, than the number of snowflakes in a snowfall, than the number of drops of water in rainfall, than the number of sand grains in the Pacific Ocean, and if you do it with bodhicitta it creates the cause of happiness up to enlightenment. Then you are able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment by purifying the negative karma and collecting more than skies of merit.
The main lamrim text for you to study is Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. This is the essence of the entire Buddhadharma. You can read other lamrim texts, but this is the main one. This is the most important thing for you to study. Study it four times from beginning to end.
You are most welcome to full enlightenment, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations, in order for you to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara and its causes and bring them to buddhahood.
With much love and prayers ...
