I hope and pray that you are well. I think of you in my meditations. We are very fortunate having this precious human life and taking refuge in the Buddha,Dharma
and Sangha and following the path. You have been writing me off and on for the
last couple of years and I’m grateful you are keeping in contact and I cherish
this opportunity. Usually I can’t write long letters because I don’t know how to
type but today I have a good secretary so I’m taking the opportunity
to say a few things.



Without the Dharma our life in samsara is only suffering or a condition of
suffering and we create more causes of suffering. We are also very smart
creating the causes of suffering. Since we have the Dharma in our life it gives
us wisdom to penetrate the reality nature of the causes of suffering and causes
of peace and happiness in this life and eventually for complete enlightenment.
So it is for our own benefit and for others as well that we utilize this
precious human life as best as possible. This precious human life is a venue to
do all the good things.



First, take a deep breath and release all the tension both physically and
mentally and then contemplate all phenomena which is composite. The nature of
impermanence and the nature of disintegration. Including our human body. So by
contemplating this, purify all attachment and anger.



Second, this samsara is a state of suffering. Either suffering of suffering,
suffering of change or in the condition of suffering. So contemplate this
carefully and those who are suffering in the world, physically or mentally,
including our enemies. Develop sincere compassion wishing them to be free from
suffering and to achieve complete enlightenment.



Third, these manifestations, happiness and suffering within impermanence, are
based on causes and conditions . Nothing functions independently. All are in the
constitution of causes and conditions. And all the causes and conditions are
infallible. So it is to our own benefit using our empirical wisdom,avoiding and
purifying all the causes of suffering and creating and accumulating all the
causes of peace and happiness. As an example, avoiding the ten non virtues and
practicing the ten virtues.



With this understanding, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and
keep the moral ethics. This makes the person pure and a subject of respect. And
then, having kept the moral ethics well, for ones own benefit to free from
samsara, cultivate Bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment for all others. Based
on sincere loving kindness and compassion. Remind yourself of this practice
every day and every moment when you are working or sitting. This will give us
wisdom and courage to do good things in our daily life and for others. This
altruistic thought inspired all the Buddhas of the past and the present. They
adopted this mind, the universal mind of bodhicitta, and they applied and
practiced it in their lives and they attained Buddhahood and benefited countless
sentient beings. We can also take that example and inspire ourselves and follow
the path. So when we do these practices, our main focus is to purify all the
mental afflictions. For example ignorance, anger, attachment, pride, jealousy
and so forth. They are called the three poisons or five poisons and so forth.



They are the root cause of all our suffering and conflict for the individual and
for society. Without touching base on this no matter how much we try the real
peace and happiness is impossible to attain. This kind of experience is shared
by all sentient beings. So Dharma gives us this wisdom to understand the reality
nature of suffering and happiness. The Dharma has also great method and skill to
tackle all these causes of suffering.



To purify these obscurations and mental delusions, the Vajrayanna teaching gives
great skill. Through this method, one gets the opportunity to manifest into the
form of the deities which is called Yidam practice. Inseparable of appearance
and emptiness. With this we repeatedly manifest into the Yidam deity and
dissolve into emptiness based on ultimate bodhicitta that is supported by moral
ethics.



Here I mention a few words of the purpose of the practice. There are many other
books translated as a reference on how to practice. I want you to have real
peace and happiness and to be free from confusion and ignorance which are the
root cause of suffering. I will say prayers for your good health and successful
meditation practice. If you’d like you may place this letter on your Facebook or
web page.



Sincerely,
Khenchen K. Gyaltshen