AdviceforaLifetimeofPractice

[Video#15:AdviceforaLifetimeofPractice]

Try to live life with the bodhichitta motivation as much as possible, not only when you do sadhanas or something, but when you work, in any activity, as much as one can. Then do meditation on lamrim, so it is like that. This idea is also good: if you havent studied lamrim, first study lamrim two or three times, one text, either Liberation in the Palm of the Hand or LamaTsongkhapasMiddleLamrim,somethinglikethat,readittwoorthreetimes,readittwo orthreetimesfrombeginningtoend. When you start, do one meditation on guru devotion every day. Sometimes you might be very busyormaybesick,somethinghappens,butstartwithgurudevotionbyfollowingtheoutlines. This doesnt mean you have to finish all the outlines in one day. You can do one outline this week, the eight benefits, and then the next week the eight shortcomings, and then the next weekThesearethefouroutlines,thenthenextweek,thekindnessoftheguru.Yougoonlike this, and then you come back until you get a stable realization, not just a few hours or a few days, but one that lasts for weeks and months and years: seeing one buddha as all the gurus from your heart, and seeing one guru as all the buddhas, the numberless buddhas, from your heart. Not separate, but mixed: one guru is numberless buddhas; they are all one. When you thinkoftheguru,itisallthebuddhas,andwhenyouthinkofthebuddhastheyarealloneguru, likethat,untilitisverystable,untilthathappenslikethatforweeksandmonthsandyears. Then one year on the renunciation of samsara, one year on bodhichitta, one year, next year, mainly focus on emptiness, you can do like that. Do that, then after that whichever realization you didnt have, from there you start. Like that, okay? From there you start. You first need the realization of renunciation before bodhichitta, then bodhichitta. But emptiness, emptiness any time,thatrealizationcanhappen,itdependsonyourmerits,itdependsonhowmuchimprints you have, how much merits you have collected, purification done, and also how much guru devotionisdone,howmuchstronggurudevotionthereis. Thenthesecondthingisifyouhavetakenaninitiation,thentantricpracticeisthenextone,the commitment of whatever one you have taken. But the main effort put it in the lamrim. Like that,untilyouachievetherealizationofbodhichittainthislife,putyourmaineffortinthelam rim, then the second is tantra. Kind of you settle your life in that way, plan your life like that, thatsveryclear.Itmakesyourpracticeverycleardirection,veryclear,thenyouaredeveloping something in your life. You can do this, then you can come back to whichever one you did not have the realization of, start again from there. You can do it step by step. However, if you are

familiar with the lamrim, have studied it before, then one day, every day, you do meditation ongurudevotion,thentheotheroneisonperfecthumanrebirth. Then you go step by step trying to achieve realizations, go step by step each meditation. No matter how many weeks, months, or years it takes do each meditation until you achieve realization. Put you main effort into that. Then the other one is every day do a little bit of meditationonemptiness.Thatisonethingeverydaytodo.EitherwiththeHeartSutraorifyou are doing tantric meditation, sadhanas, when do the dharmakaya you can do the meditation there. Or just do the four analyses, the four point analysis, or the different reasonings. If you knowthemyoucandothem,eachdaydodifferentones,differentday. Then each year you can do something like this courseretreat, or yourself in retreat one month or maybe fifteen days. Some retreat each year is very, very important, mainly lamrim. The preliminaries with lamrim, the lamrim with preliminaries, and then sometimes a tantric deity retreat,butalsobestwaytodothatiswiththelamrim.Then,leavepositiveimprints,asmuch as possible, through listening to teachings, reflecting, studying as much as possible sutra and tantra. When you do sadhanas, you must know that when you do sadhanas you are leaving a positive imprint. All the time you are leaving a positive imprint; an unimaginable, most unimaginable, fascinating positive imprint is left on your mind for quick enlightenment. So can you imagine the most amazing preparation of the mind for quick enlightenment each time whenyoudoasadhana?Thensoonerorlater,youwillachieveenlightenment. However, the very root is guru yoga, correctly yourself devoting to a virtuous friend. In regard tothat,youhavetobethemostcareful,youhavetoputallyoureffortintothat. [Endvideo.]