My most dear most precious, most kind wish-fulfilling one,
I received your kind letter and offering. I want to say thank you so much, so much, so much!

I’m here after coming from Mongolia and Russia. There were more than one thousand people who came to the teachings in Mongolia and Kalmykia, Russia, and in Moscow there were around eight hundred people at the teachings.

I wanted to chat with you about what you are experiencing and how to think. By experiencing this present suffering of not being able to walk—having no freedom to walk and all the things that you are experiencing physically—you can think that all of this is the result of your past karma. It could be from this life or past lives before this, even a billion, zillion, numberless eons ago. Think that this is a very positive experience, because by experiencing the suffering in this life all the heavy suffering that you would have to experience in the hell realms for so many eons is purified. So by experiencing this now you don’t have to suffer in the future, and it will be like the sun shining—there will be so much happiness, greater and greater happiness in each life up to enlightenment (Tib: sang gye).

It is said by Lama Atisha’s follower, Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa:

By experiencing this small suffering now,
It finishes the past lives’ delusion and karma
And there will be happiness in the future.
Therefore, rejoice in this present suffering.

This means that the present suffering, experiencing the problems now, is actually giving us greater happiness and freedom in the future. Greater happiness is like the sun shining that goes up to enlightenment—liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering, and buddhahood, the peerless happiness. So in reality, this suffering now is unbelievable, because it will give us ultimate freedom.

Panchen Shakya Shri mentioned:

When I am happy, I dedicate my happiness for all sentient beings to collect merit:
“May they receive skies of peace and happiness.”
When I encounter suffering, I take that suffering upon myself:
“May the oceans of suffering of sentient beings dry up.”

In this way we take the suffering of all beings on ourselves, on the self-cherishing thought. Why? Because it is the self-cherishing thought that has caused us to suffer from beginningless rebirths; this is what has caused us to be reborn in samsara up to now. If we don’t practice Dharma—renunciation, bodhicitta and right view, the ultimate wisdom directly perceiving emptiness—then we can’t cease the seed of delusion and karma. If we don’t purify the cause of suffering, we have to experience the oceans of samsaric suffering endlessly, again and again.

The self-cherishing thought is our worst enemy, the greatest demon. There is no demon outside; only the inner demon, the self-cherishing thought. Without the inner demon there is no outer enemy. So, if there’s no self-cherishing thought, there’s no inner or outer enemy. Therefore, we need to take all the sentient beings’ sufferings onto the self-cherishing thought, thinking, “May the oceans of suffering be dried up.” This means we take every sentient being’s suffering.

This is the best thing to pray for, thinking that by experiencing this physical suffering now, may all the sentient beings—the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras and asura beings—be free from all the diseases, spirit harms, negative karmas and defilements. So think, “May all the numberless sentient beings who right now are experiencing the same problem that I have or worse, and all those who will experience this in the future, be free from all the delusions and karmic obscurations and achieve buddhahood right now.”

This is a very, very, very good way to think, to use the situation. This was Choje Gotsangpa’s advice. It means that we experience all sentient beings’ spirit harm, sickness, negative karmas and defilements, so they can be free from everything and achieve enlightenment, the peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all realizations.

If you can, do even a mala of this. Think:

By my experiencing this suffering now,
May all sentient beings be free from negative karma and defilements, spirit harm and sickness,
And may they achieve buddhahood right now.

If you can, think like this while meditating in the morning time, afternoon and evening time. Do even more if you can; that would be so good. This is the best way to achieve inner happiness. Cherishing other sentient beings causes greater inner happiness.

Please read my advice on tonglen and watch the teaching I gave at Root Institute earlier this year if you can.

In general, regarding tonglen, you can think, “Whatever I experience, the suffering and so forth, with that I take on all others’ suffering and dedicate my body, possessions and merits to all sentient beings.” First receive the suffering and the cause of suffering, every obscuration. Then think, “I am so lucky each time I take the suffering of sentient beings on my self-cherishing thought.” Then give charity to sentient beings of your body, possessions and merits collected from beginningless time. By doing this you create skies of merit. This is the most powerful purification and the quickest way to achieve enlightenment. Think, “I am the most fortunate one.” This causes real happiness. This is the greatest cause of success.

Please take care with bodhicitta. Thank you very much. Live your life with bodhicitta as much as possible, in order to free all sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to buddhahood. For that, you need to achieve enlightenment.

I am sending you some books and also the Golden Light Sutra and Arya Sanghata Sutra. If you can, read a little each day from the sutras and in this way you can slowly finish each sutra. Then start again and continue like this. Just keep doing it continually, even if you read just a little each day.

With much love and prayers ...