Lama Zopa Rinpoche

numberless suffering sentient beings; buddhas come from the numberless suffering sentient
beings—therefore, a buddha’s actions come from sentient beings. The Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha, the refuge objects we always pray to, come from sentient beings. They come from
every single suffering sentient being.
By their qualities, the buddhas are incredibly precious, but, by their kindness, sentient beings
are even more precious. Sentient beings are really the most important.
All our past, present and future happiness, including our enlightenment, comes from every
single sentient being. When we achieve the bodhisattva’s path, all the unbelievable qualities
we attain there come from them. And the numberless qualities of a buddha’s holy body, holy
speech and holy mind, all come from them, from their kindness, from every single suffering
hell being, hungry ghost, animal, human being, god, demigod and intermediate state being;
from every one.
When a person gets angry at and abuses us, whichever way we interpret the action, the fact is
that every single pleasure and goodness has come from that person. Every happiness has
come from every sentient being, including that person who abuses us. Because the Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha come from sentient beings, sentient beings are extremely precious and
the person who has abused us is the most precious one to us, the kindest, dearest one to us.
He is our wish-granting jewel.
Every single sentient being is like that to us. Every one is our wish-granting jewel. This is
what we have to meditate on every day. This is what we should live our life for. This is the
purpose of our life, to live for them, for their happiness, to serve them. When we breathe,
we should breathe in and out for them. Whatever we can do, we should try.
This second reason to benefit sentient beings is huge. Whatever we do we should do in
order to benefit other sentient beings.
If you are a carer, whoever you care for, even just your own child, you should do it for all
sentient beings. Whatever you do in that context—even things like saying prayers or
chanting mantras—should be done without a sense of possession—my child, my wife, my
husband, my, my, my—that is nothing; that is just attachment.
Caring for this precious sentient being, this child, you should think, “I’m so fortunate that I
can dedicate my life, I can use my limbs to benefit even one precious sentient being—this
most precious, most kind, most dear sentient being.”
It’s the same when taking care of an old person. It might be your father or mother or maybe
you are working in an old folks’ home or something and you take care of one old person.
You should think the same thing, that you are so fortunate to be able to use your body,
speech and mind, your limbs, to serve this one sentient being. Remembering that all your
past lives’ happiness, your present happiness and your future happiness all come from this
person, you should see him or her as most kind, most precious, most dear.
Then you serve that person in whatever way you can. If there is something you are unable to
do, what to do? We are all limited in power, but whatever you are able to do, offer that
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