QUESTION
Dearest precious Ven.,
I’ve not emailed for a while because I’m trying to avoid cluttering up your inbox with answers I can get online or by asking another practitioner.
I’m participating in a purification Zoom regularly in addition to daily meditation and working through the DB modules.
My question, Ven. Robina, is about daily practice. In addition to the DB modules, purification and meditation, how can I settle on a regular daily practice?
I’ve attended a series of classes on Zoom unpacking The King of Prayers and now I’m attending a series of classes on Amitabha Buddha and the pure land.
I mention this because all of the above combined with Lama Zopa declaring so many of the teachings to be “critical,” ” fundamental” etc., if I completed all the recommended practices, reflections on death, prostrations, prayers and reading of sutras, it would be many hours which I simply don’t have each day as a parent and full-time worker.
So, after all of that rambling, how do I settle into a daily manageable practice? I feel like everything is important and if I do a Vajrasattva practice, that’s fifteen minutes I could have spent reading a prayer or doing a round of my mala reciting a mantra for the long life of His Holiness.
Every time I listen to a recording of Lama Zopa or read a teaching he gave, it’s more than I have moments in the day.
What’s reasonable? What’s critical? What’s non-negotiable?
Any thoughts and instructions are received with deep gratitude.
Please stay upright and healthy because so many of us benefit from your knowledge and experience.
Much love to you for all you do.
R
ANSWER
Dear R,
Happy to hear from you!
I think you’re doing beautifully as you are.
The bare minimum, and already that’s fantastic, would be to keep our vows and commitments. So, having taken refuge and the lay vows, that’s a half a dozen things.
Then if we’ve taken bodhisattva vows and tantric vows, there are more things.
Anything on top of that is a bonus!
But another way to judge what’s best would be to assess which practices are most powerful. I would say that keeping our vows is certainly one of them, and doing the purification practice at the end of the day is certainly another. These two alone are so powerful.
In other words, someone might decide to do a mindfulness meditation for thirty minutes but not have vows. Of course, we need to practice concentration, but because our virtue is not so strong – our motivation for the practice is what makes it virtuous – that practice won’t bring much benefit.
But by living in vows we are putting rich, delicious virtuous karmic seeds into our bank vault twenty-four hours a day, which we certainly need for the future, and we’re putting atomic bombs under the negative tendencies. And with purification — Rinpoche says we’re “insane not to do it every day” — we’re increasing that purification.
Another powerful practice is making offerings on your altar every morning, which anyway is one of your commitments.
So, do a nice morning practice of making offerings, taking refuge and generating the thought of bodhichitta; throughout the day offer your meals to the Three Jewels, again, one of your commitments, watch your mind and discipline your body and speech; then finish the day with the purification. And then add listening to teachings to the mix.
A perfect practice!
What do you think?
All the best,
Robina
QUESTION
Fabulous.
Thank you.
R