“Whenever and however you meditate, be joyful. Do not neglect the skillful means practices. At the beginning of every meditation session—and even during the practice—invoke goodness thoughts. Again, do not be too forceful. But also do not back away and lose your courage, commitment, and confidence. If you are on a long retreat, during formal practice sessions, increase the strength and stability of your mind by maintaining good, balanced concentration on your object of focus. Then, during post-meditation, do prostrations and circumambulations. Perform meritorious activities such as building stupas or temples. Read books on the teachings, reflect on what you read, and absorb it into your heart. Cultivate love and compassion. All of these are the skillful means practices of the relative truth.

Relative truth and absolute truth are two aspects of the same nature. On the relative level, there are concepts and there is duality: subject and object, positive and negative, joy and suffering. Do not ignore this. Do not impose your realization of the absolute truth onto the relative truth. At the same time, you should not use the concepts of the relative truth to try to figure out the absolute truth. That is playing games, and the absolute truth is not attainable through concepts. Cultivate wide-open wisdom that is nondual and free of concepts in order to experience the absolute truth. Unite this effortlessly and beautifully with the relative truth, and there will be no conflicts. Blend it all into a single state. This is how we stay focused, discover our innate nature, and benefit ourselves and others.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Nature of Mind