The Goal When Teaching at a Dharma Center

The Goal When Teaching at a Dharma Center

Date of Advice:
February 2014
Date Posted:
November 2014

Rinpoche advised that when teaching Dharma, the main emphasis should be on the good heart and benefiting others.

When you teach a course the aim is enlightenment, so even though the subject is the four foundations of mindfulness, the main emphasis should be sem sang-po, the good heart, so people understand that the aim of life is to benefit others. Even though the subject may be the path of the lower capable being, you have to lead the people so they understand they should benefit others. You can begin the subject with the path of the lower capable being, but the aim is to lead them to enlightenment, to benefit sentient beings.

You have to understand how the lam- rim is set up. It has great, great, great meaning. Even though actual bodhicitta comes later, the motivation even from the beginning should be to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment, so it’s very important to understand that eating, sleeping and walking is for others. Otherwise people finish the course and it’s just for themselves.

There is Dharma and not Dharma; [it’s important to understand] what benefits this life, future lives, liberation and enlightenment. The whole course should be going in the direction of benefiting others, whatever the subject is. Then this way there is a connection with the life they are going to live in the West after the course, because that work is now going to be for others. Otherwise if they do the course for themselves the difference is that it’s just for this life or future lives, it doesn’t become a big thing to benefit others.