Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Recommendations

Info

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 165
service from your heart. It’s not as if you’re doing it for money or some other worldly reason. Many people who work for money, even in the care profession, come to dislike their job. They work as little as possible and at the end of the day get away as soon as they can, always longing for their day off. Many people in the West cannot appreciate how their suffering comes from the mind, from wrong concepts, from not having a good heart. That makes life so difficult. Working only for their own pleasure, they find no satisfaction. Here, you should offer as much service as you can from your heart; offer your body, speech and mind. That is the best Dharma, the best meditation. Then you will be happy. The more you appreciate how precious serving another being is, the more you enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be a guru you are serving. Your mind will be so happy to serve, whatever you can do. This applies to even the small things in your daily life: offering your seat to somebody on the bus, helping somebody carry a heavy load or, as my guru Kyabje Serkong Tsenshab <strong>Rinpoche</strong> often mentioned, rescuing a drowning insect. Try to do whatever you can to help, according to your capacity, whether it’s big or small. By using your body, speech and mind to serve others you are repaying your parents’ kindness, not making what they have done meaningless. Your mother suffered so much for you for the nine months you were in her womb. Then, during your childhood, you were constantly demanding things: “I want this, I want that.” Your parents always did whatever they could to please you but still you would cry. For so many years they took care of you, giving you medicine, books, food, clothing, spending vast amounts of money on you. You must repay that kindness, giving them meaning for their great effort. Serving others means that your parents’ efforts have not been meaningless. Otherwise, they have made children simply for their own happiness. People get married, have children and then, after some time, there are many problems and finally, one day, it is finished. Knowing how to live your life with bodhicitta, even if you are living a family life with children, means you know how to serve others, how to really appreciate others. If you must scold your child, you do it with love so that he or she will learn to be a better person. Only by cherishing others will we attain enlightenment The third reason to help sentient beings is that they have all been our mother and father numberless times and have all been kind in the four ways numberless times from beginningless rebirths. If we are able to cherish one sentient being, even the enemy who gets angry at us, by cherishing that one sentient being we can achieve enlightenment. That person gives us enlightenment. Not only that, we become enlightened for sentient beings. And by the way, by cherishing that sentient being we also achieve the happiness of future lives and liberation from samsara. 166
Page 2 and 3:
SUN OF DEVOTION, STREAM OF BLESSING
Page 4 and 5:
The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Bring
Page 6 and 7:
6. The Guru Is the Most Powerful Ob
Page 8 and 9:
Editor’s Preface This book is the
Page 10 and 11:
Chapter 1. Taking Care of the Mind
Page 12 and 13:
We still have to experience death b
Page 14 and 15:
In a well-cultivated field, whateve
Page 16 and 17:
What a pleasant life we human being
Page 18 and 19:
enefit the teachings of the Buddha
Page 20 and 21:
Among those fifty-one secondary min
Page 22 and 23:
means the cessation of all the gros
Page 24 and 25:
Padmasambhava’s ways of diagnosin
Page 26 and 27:
Practicing Dharma is subduing our m
Page 28 and 29:
from life to life, we will be able
Page 30 and 31:
In A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s W
Page 32 and 33:
said, that allows them to develop i
Page 34 and 35:
contained in the Tengyur, a collect
Page 36 and 37:
Thus the misconceptions about Buddh
Page 38 and 39:
Not understanding this specific emp
Page 40 and 41:
Cutter Sutra eventually does. Then
Page 42 and 43:
There are sentient beings who are a
Page 44 and 45:
vase, the neck is not the vase, the
Page 46 and 47:
4. The freedom of not being born as
Page 48 and 49:
sentient beings, not only to the ti
Page 50 and 51:
If Milarepa could do that after kil
Page 52 and 53:
All of us, believers or nonbeliever
Page 54 and 55:
The need for refuge in our life Per
Page 56 and 57:
▶abstaining from telling lies ▶
Page 58 and 59:
Otherwise they come into the kitche
Page 60 and 61:
Our life is so important, so precio
Page 62 and 63:
Even though our mind, or the other
Page 64 and 65:
We will realize this as we are abou
Page 66 and 67:
The emptiness of the Z I want to en
Page 68 and 69:
the greatest problem that affluent
Page 70 and 71:
Without a guru, we cannot be free f
Page 72 and 73:
This is mentioned in Pabongka Deche
Page 74 and 75:
particles of dust of the earth. Eve
Page 76 and 77:
human mother. If we were to sacrifi
Page 78 and 79:
Buddhism came from the Buddha, from
Page 80 and 81:
obscurations but also the obscurati
Page 82 and 83:
Chapter 7. A Talk about Dolgyal Rec
Page 84 and 85:
seemed to like us and we were able
Page 86 and 87:
very crowded. That’s how we lived
Page 88 and 89:
him about the bum-pa, the vase. Thi
Page 90 and 91:
A key element of guru devotion prac
Page 92 and 93:
who helped with his education, his
Page 94 and 95:
In short, practicing Dolgyal is har
Page 96 and 97:
Khadro-la and earthquakes Although
Page 98 and 99:
esult of negative karma is rebirth
Page 100 and 101:
Publicly she is like an ordinary pe
Page 102 and 103:
There are other quotations but that
Page 104 and 105:
Once in Nepal I dreamed of a small
Page 106 and 107:
is the kind root guru. Then it star
Page 108 and 109:
It is as the quote says, Before the
Page 110 and 111:
The importance of guru devotion Pad
Page 112 and 113:
So now, this is a real story. At Bu
Page 114 and 115:
them perfectly—and even if he has
Page 116 and 117: Practicing Dharma is more important
Page 118 and 119: memorize them but then forgot them
Page 120 and 121: egin by achieving a long life, wher
Page 122 and 123: Chapter 10. Seeing the Guru as a Bu
Page 124 and 125: The monks did that, but of course,
Page 126 and 127: uddhas. That is also mentioned in t
Page 128 and 129: person without head. I don’t know
Page 130 and 131: Those meditators who have achieved
Page 132 and 133: When I was in Tibet I visited Tsurp
Page 134 and 135: Why should they be called kon-chog
Page 136 and 137: that it is his mistake. It is like
Page 138 and 139: Chapter 11. More Precious than a Wi
Page 140 and 141: patience, perseverance, meditation
Page 142 and 143: dust of this earth can be counted,
Page 144 and 145: we were once crossing a short bridg
Page 146 and 147: There are so many animals. There ar
Page 148 and 149: Whether or not we eat animals is in
Page 150 and 151: Having been born at a time when the
Page 152 and 153: We must prepare for the next life T
Page 154 and 155: There is no sentient being we have
Page 156 and 157: Probably many people think that ren
Page 158 and 159: Chapter 12. Cutting the Root of Sam
Page 160 and 161: Because things appear to us not as
Page 162 and 163: 161
Page 164 and 165: This is all karma. What the Buddha
Page 168 and 169: By seeing that person as a wish-gra
Page 170 and 171: light more and some illusory body.
Page 172 and 173: to achieve enlightenment. The other
Page 174 and 175: together is the transcendental wisd
Page 176 and 177: Then you make a promise to generate
Page 178 and 179: eings who also need the Medicine Bu
Page 180 and 181: Focus on the deity’s holy body th
Page 182 and 183: End Notes 1. Or his. Rather than us
Page 184 and 185: 30. Khedrub Sang ye Yeshe (1525-91)
Page 186 and 187: 64. In other teachings Rinpoche has
Page 188 and 189: 97. These are the three ways to und
Page 190 and 191: Where and when these teachings were
Page 192 and 193: Gyatso, Tenzin, the Fourteenth Dala
Page 194 and 195: ———. How to Practice Dharma:
Page 196 and 197: If you, dear reader, would like to
Page 198 and 199: Other available teachings by Lama Y
Page 200 and 201: Our further development similarly d
Page 202 and 203: The Foundation for the Preservation
Page 204 and 205: Dedication Through the merit create
Page 206 and 207: About Gordon McDougall Gordon McDou
Page 208 and 209: Browse more LYWA Ebooks and Audio B
show all

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?