Training the Mind in Lamrim

Training the Mind in Lamrim

Study and Meditate on Lamrim
Date of Advice:
August 2014
Date Posted:
November 2024

A student wrote to welcome Rinpoche to their country and said how beneficial they had found his teachings. The student expressed the wish that Rinpoche’s teachings could benefit others in the same way.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your inspiration to open the mind, to give freedom to yourself, the opportunity to achieve enlightenment and to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations.

I checked and it comes out very good for you to read Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo. There are many lamrim books: Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo, the great lamrim extensive commentary, then there is the Middle-Length Lamrim, and Lama Tsongkhapa’s shorter lamrim, the Three Principal Aspects of the Path. These texts are according to Lama Tsongkhapa’s experience

Liberation in the Palm of your Hand comes out best for you, so study it from beginning to end, using it like your bible. Really read it and live your life according to this text. Liberation in the Palm of your Hand is the main text for you to read, but there are other lamrim texts.

If possible, study Liberation in the Palm of your Hand from beginning to the end at least three times. Then meditate using as a guidebook the outline from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or The Essential Nectar.

There are two texts of The Essential Nectar. One has a short commentary by my teacher Geshe Rabten, and both are very good guidebooks you can use to assist with your meditation once you know the commentary and subjects from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.

Please read my advice on how to meditate on the lamrim and how long to spend on each section. You can do the effortful meditations, based on a certain number of months, going over the subjects like that a few times until you have stable realizations, then after that do effortless meditation.

When you are reading the lamrim, you are reading the essence of the whole Buddhadharma, and when you are meditating on the lamrim you are meditating on the essence of the whole Buddhadharma, all the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha. 

You need a special deity to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. To bring them to the ultimate happiness—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations—as quickly as possible, for that we need to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, to be a perfect guide. For that, therefore we need to practice tantra, even though through sutra we can achieve enlightenment, according to the Prajaparamita teachings, the Mahayana teachings on sutra.

[Practicing the sutra path,] it takes three countless great eons to complete the merits of virtue and wisdom, which are the cause of dharmakaya and rupakaya. Therefore, it means that sentient beings have to suffer for a long, long time. Therefore, we need to practice tantra in order to quickly free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment. And not just that, we need to practice Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra.

There are the four levels of tantra—Kriya (Action), Charya (Performance), Yoga and Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra. We need to practice the fourth level so that we can free the sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings as quickly as possible and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. For that we need to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, therefore we need to practice tantra.

For you, the deity which comes out in my observation is Tara Cittamani, and the other deity is Vajrakilaya, so it depends whichever deity you feel stronger a [connection] or closer to. Take the initiation when you can, but it is good to study the lamrim from beginning to end, then you will get the extensive idea of why you should take the initiation and practice tantra. You can take Tara Cittamani initiation from other high lamas, qualified teachers. I have given the initiation a few times, but I haven’t done the Vajrakilaya retreat. To give the initiation, [the lama] needs to have completed the retreat first.

This is my present advice to you, to make your life the best, most useful life. Life is very short; it is so precious and very short, so this is a way to use it in the best way for the sentient beings.

Thank you very much. If you have something to say, you can write to me, and if not, you can try to follow this advice.

With much love and prayers ...

Lamrim Meditation Is Very Important
Date of Advice:
February 2017
Date Posted:
November 2024

Rinpoche advised the importance of lamrim meditation and recommended to especially focus on guru devotion, the root of the path, in this advice for a new student.

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I was very happy to receive it.

Yes, it is excellent that you do fifteen minutes of meditation on the lamrim every day. That is very, very good, especially that it’s lamrim meditation. Anyone can recite mantras and prayers, but lamrim meditation is extremely important, to think of the meaning, to meditate on the meaning. There is analytical and fixed meditation, so lamrim meditation has both of these. It is very, very important.

As far as becoming your guru, you try and I will try. I am not qualified, but you try and I’ll try.

It doesn’t mean you abandon those others you have received teachings from as guru-disciple. It doesn’t mean that; don’t think like that. You have to follow them as guru, even if you have received OM MANI PADME HUM oral transmission or one stanza of a teaching as guru-disciple, with that recognition.

You must read The Heart of the Path. This book should help you regarding the root of the path to enlightenment, how to correctly follow the virtuous friend. That is most important to understand, then you will know how to achieve realizations and how to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. Otherwise if you make a lot of mistakes, this is the heaviest mistake that destroys [the merit of] 100,000 million billion future lives, not only this life. You have to understand this. Correctly following the virtuous friend is the most important subject and that’s why it’s called the root of path to enlightenment; it’s depending on that.

Practices

Water bowl offerings: 5,000

Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga mantras: 100,000

Diamond Cutter Sutra recitations: During your life always write this sutra. Constantly write it, whatever you can do each day—a few lines, a few pages or the whole sutra. Just continue writing. You should know the unbelievable benefits of this sutra. I have it in Tibetan, but it’s not yet translated. Maybe I will try to translate it one day.

Tonglen meditation: 100,000. You take other sentient beings suffering and give your own happiness. This is a special bodhisattva practice for quick enlightenment, in order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of suffering and bring them to enlightenment quickly.

For you, the main lamrim text is Manjushri’s Words [Sacred Words of Manjushri; jam päl zhal lung, by the Fifth Dalai Lama]. This is not yet published in English, but when you see it in the future, then you can get it. That is the main lamrim text for you to study.

In the meantime, you can study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Study it well from beginning to end. Anything you don’t understand you can write down and then ask a geshe or very good Western teachers who have studied the lamrim well.

To gain effortful experience, follow the lamrim outline for the length of time I have advised. Do the cycle for this number of months on these subjects three times and then do effortless meditation.

Effortful Lamrim Meditation
Date of Advice:
October 2013
Date Posted:
February 2022

A student was already doing eight to ten hours of practice each day, however, Rinpoche recommended daily lamrim meditation, especially on guru devotion, in order to gain stable realizations.

My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you for your emails, I have read all of them. I’m extremely happy about what you have been doing, your practice. It is double, triple than me, it is great, great!

Doing prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names, is extremely important for you, not just as a preliminary practice but as a daily practice. The eighth, ninth and tenth bhumi bodhisattvas manifest millions, zillions, trillions, many trillions of bodies and when they do prostrations, so many bodies manifest doing prostrations.

The most important thing is guru devotion. If you have finished studying the lamrim outline, then you need to do effortful meditation on guru devotion for two months. The aim is to have the realizations, no matter how long it takes; no matter however many weeks, months or years it takes. Then after that, do effortless meditation for however long it takes so that the realizations become stable. This is very effective and will help you to have strong realizations. It is very good.

One very important thing is guru devotion, so try to have the realizations by following the outline of The Essential Nectar, or whichever lamrim that you are following. When you have realization of guru devotion, without effort you see the guru is all the buddhas, and each buddha is all the gurus, so oneness. From your side that happens without effort, for weeks, months, years, stable, without effort, from your heart seeing that. It's like when the monk thinks of the monk’s coat (Tib: dagam), he sees the color and shape at the same time, not separately. The realization of guru devotion is like that. So each buddha is all the gurus and each guru is all the buddhas, one, from your heart. As you know, from guru devotion, the blessings of the guru, all the rest of the realizations come very easily.

Start the day off with the daily meditation, which includes the mantras for blessing the speech and the direct meditation on the path to enlightenment. [See the FPMT Catalogue for The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment).]

Do the lamrim meditations on the basis of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. There are eight benefits of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, so it is very good to do this practice every day. Also within it there is a lamrim prayer, the Foundation of All Good Qualities, so in that way you go through the lamrim every day and that leaves imprints on your mind. This practice is very good not only for purification but also to develop wisdom.

Keep circling through the lamrim outline until you have gained stable realizations and then do effortless meditation, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes.

What you have been doing is very good. Thank you very much and I am very, very sorry I took a long time to answer you.

Please make your life most beneficial for yourself and for all sentient beings and live your life as much as possible with a good heart. Thank you.

With much love and prayers ...

The Best Life for Yourself and Others
Date of Advice:
September 2013
Date Posted:
October 2021

In this letter, Rinpoche recommended several preliminary practices and explained how to benefit others by reciting Chenrezig’s mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM and meditating on the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment.

Refuge: 1,000

Prostrations by reciting the Thirty-Five Buddhas: 60,000

Vajrasattva: 100,000

Nyung nä retreat: five

OM MANI PADME HUM recitations: 600,000, or you can do one million. One million is great—wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, unbelievable, unbelievable. Then Chenrezig guides you all the time, not talking just about this life, but also at the death time Chenrezig will guide you in all the lifetimes, in the pure land and then you will become Chenrezig.

I am trying to put together several different Chenrezig prayers in a booklet, so that each day you can use a different prayer, then recite OM MANI PADME HUM and the long mantra from the nyung nä text. So that is how to recite, how to practice Chenrezig.

If you have a prayer wheel, it is good to have this, then with one hand you can use your mala and count mantras and with your right hand you can use the prayer wheel. This is what I try to do; it’s very, very good. The prayer wheel has unbelievable, unbelievable benefits, skies of benefits. One benefit is that if the prayer wheel has one billion mantras inside (on microfiche) then turning it around one time, one circle, you get the benefit of having recited one billion mantras. That’s similar to having done years of retreat, so it is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, so fortunate.

This is how to make your life most beneficial for sentient beings, in order to free every sentient being from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to peerless happiness, full enlightenment. Every ant you see, you can recite OM MANI PADME HUM for them. Every single dog, every single rat, every spider; earthworms that people are giving to the fish; every deer that is hunted, every cow, every goat, every sheep that is killed in the world; the millions and millions of animals that are killed by all the people every day, as well as every mosquito, every bee and so forth; every fish that is being eaten by human beings or by other fish; every fisherman, every butcher; so like that, every sentient being. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, that you are benefiting sentient beings. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! You are reciting every single OM MANI PADME HUM for all the sentient beings, for them to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering and to achieve enlightenment. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. That is the best life, the most happy life, the best life for yourself and the best life for others. Thank you very much.

So you received this advice and practice, and that is the same as meeting me. It is so worthwhile, even if I pay you a billion dollars every day for this practice, the preliminary practices, lamrim, it would not be enough. Thank you very much.

Tsa tsas: 100,000, divided between Lama Tsongkhapa and Amitabha Buddha deities.

In order achieve realizations on lamrim, in order to achieve enlightenment to free numberless sentient beings in each realm, to free them from oceans of samsara sufferings and bring them to full emptiness, you must do effortful lamrim meditation.

After you have done a round of meditations on the graduated path of the three capable beings, then after that to have effortless realizations.

From your side, anyone from whom you have received a Dharma connection by receiving commentaries on sutra and tantra, taking great initiations and vows—anyone that you have made a Dharma connection with—that person is your guru and you are their disciple. So anyone you took any Dharma teaching from, with that decision in your heart, every guru is all the buddhas. Meditate until you are able to see that without any effort. When you think of the Buddha, then the Buddha is one with all the gurus and when you think of the gurus they are one with numberless buddhas.

Meditate on that, train the mind in that by following the outline of guru devotion, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes, until you achieve that realization. All the other realizations of the path to enlightenment depend on having success in this realization. So all the realizations of the path of enlightenment—to be able to achieve enlightenment and to be able to enlighten all sentient beings—all depend on this realization.

Then on the same day, if you can, train your mind in the graduated path of the lower capable being. Meditate on either the whole lower path or just subject by subject until you achieve stable realizations, then move on to the next lamrim subject. [Continue] no matter how many months or years it takes, no matter how long it takes, then the mind becomes totally peaceful, totally satisfied, totally happy, and there’s no suffering, no clinging to this life.

After that, you have effortless meditation and realizations of the path of the middle capable being, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes.

After that, meditate on the path of the higher capable being, bodhicitta, until you achieve the realization of that. Meditate on that no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes.

Sometimes you may be very busy, with no time to meditate, that may be possible, but continue as much as possible, even for a little time.

You should meditate on emptiness every day. You should do some meditation on emptiness, using the Heart Sutra or different teachings, different quotations. Quotations are very good, and when you read you should meditate on them, such as the “king of logic” of dependent arising:

The I doesn’t have true existence
Because it is dependent arising.

This is not gross, but subtle dependent arising from the Prasangika point of view. Phenomena are merely existing, in mere name, merely labeled by the mind, dependent on the valid base, therefore phenomena do not have true existence. You can meditate for however long you want to on that, then recognize the object of refutation. Recognize it is not true and realize the faults of that view of true existence. See it as empty, then the conclusion is dependent arising. So the first one shows ultimate truth and the second one shows conventional truth.

Keep circling [through the lamrim] in this way until you have gained stable realizations.

Lamrim and Manjushri Practices
Date of Advice:
February 2021
Date Posted:
August 2021

A student wrote that they had a mental illness and asked about practices for life. The student said they felt a strong connection with Manjushri. Rinpoche recommended effortful meditation on the basis of Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim texts, along with Manjushri prayers and mantras to develop wisdom.

Manjushri

My most dear, most precious, most kind, most wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I am very, very, very happy. Usually people explain their problems and they don’t say that it comes their mind, their past karma, they never say that. Most people don’t say that, so I am very, very happy to hear that you recognize that. It's so good. That means you have to purify the negative karma and you have to stop creating the negative karma again. Therefore, you need to do meditation on renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness.

Not only that, of course to realize renunciation of your own samsara, then you need to have compassion for other sentient beings—the numberless sentient beings who are suffering in the oceans of samsara—and from that to develop bodhicitta and then also to realize emptiness, the very, very heart of the entire Buddhist path, that practice, that realization.

So the graduated path to enlightenment, the lamrim, when you read that, it's like touching all the teachings of Buddha, the Lesser Vehicle teachings, the Greater Vehicle sutra teachings and the Greater Vehicle tantra teachings. Lamrim is the basis for tantric teachings, so it is the most, most, most important practice.

For you it came out to meditate and to study the lamrim. There are many lamrims by different enlightened beings, but for you Lama Tsongkhapa's lamrim came out—either the Great Lamrim (Lamrim Chenmo) or the Middle-Length Lamrim. So from these two you can choose. If you study the Middle-Length Lamrim you will understand the Great Lamrim (Lamrim Chenmo).

The only thing that is taken out is negation of the different wrong views, in the section of emptiness. The teachings on emptiness are longer in the Lamrim Chenmo, as the negation of the different wrong views with logic is taken out of the Middle-Length Lamrim. If you want to know that, then you can study from the Lamrim Chenmo. It depends on whichever text you want. You can choose. The Middle-Length Lamrim is like having studied the Lamrim Chenmo as well.

So that’s incredibly good, after reading many lamrim texts and then you read Lama Tsongkhapa's lamrim it is very tasty. The words are profound and deep. You will think, “I should have read this many years ago. So many years ago I should have read this.” So it is very, very good to read, to study from beginning to end. Read it mindfully so it becomes a meditation that plants the seeds of enlightenment, so that means enlightenment. This is very, very important.

Read it four times from beginning to end. Each time you will find different points and something which you didn't learn before comes out. There is a story that if you read it nine times you get that benefit nine times.

In regard to the lamrim meditations, do effortful meditation, which means to go over the lamrim outlines during those months, over and over, and what is explained there and in other commentaries, what you remember, you can meditate like that.

The way to meditate, generally people think there is only fixed meditation, one-pointed meditation, but there are two types—analytical meditation and fixed meditation. All the meditations on the lamrim are analytical meditations, except shamatha or mental quintessence. Then after that there is effortless practice.

If you feel a connection with Manjushri that is extremely good, in order to develop your wisdom. It is so important to develop your wisdom, so you need Manjushri to clear away dullness or ignorance and to develop wisdom. I am going to translate a Manjushri meditation for you, but it will come later, as it needs to be translated.

However, you should read Chanting the Names of Manjushri every day. Even if you don’t understand it, it leaves positive imprints. It’s so good, so incredible, incredible, incredible. When you understand the benefits, you won't believe it. This practice especially helps you to develop wisdom and understand Buddhadharma.

Also it’s good if you read Praise to Manjushri (Tib: gang lo ma) every day, and recite Manjushri mantra. [You can find links to these prayers and practices in the FPMT Catalogue.]

Regarding recitation of Chanting the Names of Manjushri, and also Praise to Manjushri and Manjushri mantra, recite these mindfully so that it becomes the cause for the path to enlightenment. Recite with the motivation to benefit the numberless six realm beings—the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, the animals, the humans, the suras, the asuras and the intermediate state beings—so not only the beings in this world, but there are numberless universes, so there are all these different beings.

Please recite these prayers and mantras and also study and practice for everyone, so no one is left out. It's for everyone. Recite in order to achieve enlightenment, but not only your own enlightenment; it is also for them to achieve enlightenment, so then you need to attain enlightenment. Your motivation includes that—it includes every ant, every mosquito, every dog, every insect, wherever you go, whichever country, mountain, like that.

So please practice in this way.

With much love and prayers ...

Renouncing Attachment to a Monk
Date of Advice:
September 2013
Date Posted:
November 2020

A student wrote that she had fallen in love with a monk. Rinpoche responded with advice about renunciation, which can’t co-exist with attachment. Rinpoche also recommended lamrim study and practice, preliminary practices and recitation of 500 million Chenrezig mantras.

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your most kind letter. Well, I need to explain about this monk. He is totally dedicated to sentient beings, to help not only you, but all the sentient beings. That is his prayer and he told me that many times.

You should try to live your life as an ascetic, with no attachment to this life, without the eight worldly concerns, which is where all the problems come from, where all the obstacles to Dharma practice come from.

So, for example, you have strong attachment to this life but at the same time you wish to be free from suffering and to achieve the blissful state of bliss, ultimate happiness; you want to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering, and for all beings to be free from the oceans of samsaric suffering—the oceans of hell beings’ sufferings, oceans of hungry ghosts’ sufferings, oceans of animals’ sufferings, oceans of human beings’ sufferings, oceans of suras’ sufferings, oceans of asuras’ sufferings and oceans of intermediate state beings’ sufferings. How is it possible to have those two thoughts? They are opposite thoughts. One thought is renunciation, thinking of peace, freedom from desire and attachment, freedom from delusion, and the other is wishing to have the attachments of this life.

Developing renunciation for this life depends on seeing samsara only in the nature of suffering, seeing that it is like being in the center of fire. Through that we see the shortcomings of delusion, including attachment to this life. Another example is when we are on the ice or snow and we have no clothing; we are freezing but at the same time expecting sunshine and warmth, so that doesn’t happen. How can those two things happen? While we are on the ice or snow with no clothing and we are freezing, but at the same time expecting to not have ice or snow and for there to be warmth and sunshine—it doesn’t happen together, so we have to choose one. If we don’t want to be freezing cold, then we need to be in a place where there is warm sunshine. Expecting both to happen together is hopeless.

We need to seek enlightenment, the state of omniscient mind, for sentient beings—to be able to do perfect works for sentient beings. That is the whole purpose of our life, why we are born as human beings. That is the most important goal to achieve for oneself and for sentient beings. This is what the monk wishes for himself and for all sentient beings. The cause of this is bodhicitta, great compassion for numberless sentient beings and bodhicitta. This is what sentient beings need, to achieve enlightenment, so they can receive perfect help without subtle mistakes.

It is the same thing relating to you and numberless sentient beings. For this we need the realization of guru devotion, that every guru is all the numberless buddhas and each buddha is all the gurus. We need this to arise without effort from our own side. After realizing guru devotion we need renunciation of samsara, then bodhicitta and then the realization of emptiness. This is what numberless buddhas want for you and also what they want for all sentient beings. These realizations are the foundation of tantra, the generation and completion stages. Then from that we can achieve the unified state of Vajradhara, which has seven qualities, embracing and so forth.

Please do the preliminary practices. I checked and it might be better to stay at the center and try to do the preliminary practices there and meditate on the lamrim, especially thought transformation, as well as the graduated path of the lower capable being—the sufferings of samsara, perfect human rebirth, the difficulties in obtaining it again, etc. In this way use the obstacles in the path to enlightenment for sentient beings, so that means using the path to bring happiness to sentient beings, then there are no obstacles.

The most important thing is for you to practice the lamrim, so read books like Essence of Refined Gold. Read this book from beginning to end, read it well and if there is something you don’t understand then you can ask Geshe-la or an old student you know well who has already studied the lamrim. Also, meditate on the lamrim—that is the most important thing—to have lamrim realizations.

First study the lamrim well, then after that, in order to have effortful realizations, follow the lamrim outline. Go through each topic in the lamrim outline again and again in order to have effortless meditation experience, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes to have realizations. Start from guru devotion and if possible on the same day also do some meditation on the graduated path of the lower capable being, so go through the meditations one by one and try to have realizations by meditating on them, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes, however long it takes to have realizations. If you can, try to do a little meditation every day on emptiness, by reciting the Heart Sutra or reciting one verse, even something like: “The I does not have true existence….” Try meditating on that, then meditate on the reason for that, which is that it is dependent arising. So you can meditate on different verses like that and try to realize emptiness.

The practices for you to do for the quickest enlightenment for sentient beings, so you can free them from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment, the peerless happiness are:

  • Refuge: 4,000 times
  • Tonglen: 300,000
  • Four immeasurable thoughts: 100,000
  • Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga: 10,000
  • Nyung näs: Try to do at least three nyung näs each year, but if you can do more, you are most welcome to do so.

Also recite OM MANI PADME HUM 500 million times, if you can. Attempt that if you can, but if you don’t finish it doesn’t matter. Count this mantra every day with Chenrezig meditation. Visualize beams of light emitting from Chenrezig to the six-realm sentient beings. Also if you have a prayer wheel, you can turn that and you can visualize beams emitting also from the prayer wheel to the six-realm sentient beings. You can turn the prayer wheel with your right hand and count the mantras with your left hand. This is just if you have a prayer wheel. Do whatever you can, reciting the mantras every day and counting in this way.

Do whatever you can. Don’t be afraid, even you don’t finish, its OK, just be happy in doing that. Just be happy, even just reciting some mantras every day, even if you don’t finish, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you can finish is good, very, very good.

From time to time, if possible, you can do a deity retreat. Please enjoy your life with bodhicitta.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

P.S. I’m very happy you informed me of your difficulties. Thank you very, very much.

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