To have good foundation is to practice the Ngondro
So, it is very important to build a good foundation for the practice of this Great Secret, the Great Perfection, Great Wisdom. And to have this good foundation one is to practice the Ngondro and to accomplish the 500,000 Preliminary practices like 100,000 prostrations, 100,000 mandala offering, 100.000 recitations of 100 syllables, and bodhicitta and refuge prayers.
When we take refuge in external Three Jewels, inner Buddha and secret Buddha, that means nothing is left behind
All Buddhas can be in three categories: Guru, Yidam and Dakini. And when we say “We take refuge in Buddhas,” sometimes we don’t know which Buddhas. Therefore, we need to have some specific understandings. When you say: “I take refuge in Three Roots,” or “I have special karmic connections with specific Deities,” so you take refuge in those Deities specifically. Then, when we say “Three Jewels and Three Roots” [these are] the external Buddhas, external objects that we take refuge in.
Dharma practice mean think what is good and what is bad to change the way we see things
When people say they are unhappy, then of course they lack peace. What reduce this kind of peace, or energy is the negative emotions I’ve mentioned earlier, especially hatred, anger and jealousy. Those are three types of negative emotions in our mind. Whenever those emotions arise in people's mind, they lose inner peace.
Selfishness is the main cause to create all negative for self and others
What causes all the troubles and misunderstanding, unhappiness is so-called “selfishness”. Because our nature is ordinary people, we are so much self-centered people. We put ourselves in the best and in the very center and then we try to serve, we try to do anything we can for oneself.
Try to break your cushion by sitting, don’t try to break your shoes by going too much
That is not useful. We need to control oneself like Milarepa was a good example. He did not go too much. He kept himself in a quiet place because only that way he can check his mind easily. If you go ten directions, your mind are all over and cannot bring back. Therefore, I think we should do this...
It is necssary to purify the defilements in our mind in order to see the truth
Everything is pure. For us to see things through a pure perceptions is almost impossible. But this doesn’t mean such thing doesn't exist. Therefore, practicing Varjayana means one tries to develop pure view. One must try [to do] this, otherwise, we are always in samsara, in suffering; there're no good things, only bad things.
Confessing daily mistakes especially before going to sleep is the way to keep samaya pure
We break samaya very easily therefore we are making mistakes every day. Therefore, we need to confess every day at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day and in the middle of the day. With mindfulness you are able to aware whenever you make mistakes and so you confess whenever you aware of anything.
