Attitude to Work

Attitude to Work

The Real Purpose of Our Life
Date of Advice:
August 2021
Date Posted:
September 2024

Rinpoche sent this letter to a relative about their motivation for going to work. Rinpoche emphasized the importance of a pure motivation, cherishing others who are most dear, most precious and most kind.

Artwork by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

My dear one,
Even though I came there at different times, I never had the chance to talk to you about actual Dharma. So, it is very good that somebody, another pilot, asked you what is the purpose of your being a pilot. You said it was because the company gave you the job, but then, you said, no, the purpose of being a pilot is to support your family.

It is true that in the view of worldly people, the family comes first, but, of course, in reality, the family is not the first. In reality, there is no difference between your family and the people in the company who gave you the job of pilot. It is true that if the company people didn’t give you the job, of course, you wouldn’t have the job and you wouldn’t be a pilot. Of course, that is understandable. But what you answered is nothing special. So now, I want to explain to you what is Dharma, the real one.

I think I might have explained it to you a long time ago. Maybe, I’m not sure. Still, it is good if you have it in writing, as then you can read it again from time to time. This is very, very, very important. In the life, Dharma is the most important thing to understand. This letter explains what is Dharma and what is not Dharma. Dharma means holy Dharma, not worldly dharma. For example, the great enlightened being Heruka, Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo, who gave incredible benefit, like the sun rising in the world, for the teachings of the Buddha and the sentient beings in Tibet. He gave an example in his teaching, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, of four people reciting the prayer Praises to the Twenty-One Taras.

Among these four people, the first person recited Praises to the Twenty-One Taras for this life—to have a long life, to be healed of sicknesses, to gain wealth. They recited it for the happiness of this life. For the happiness only of this life.

The next person recited this prayer unstained by worldly concern, the attachment clinging to this life’s pleasures. Instead, they recited it in order to not be reborn in the lower realms and to have the happiness of a deva or human rebirth—the rebirth of a happy transmigratory being—in their next life.

The third person recited Praises to the Twenty-One Taras unstained by the attachment to a future life in samsara, that is, rebirth as a deva or human being, which is temporary happiness. Instead, they recited it to not reincarnate in samsara, khorwa, and to achieve liberation from samsara, everlasting happiness, which is forever. They recited it to achieve freedom from the oceans of suffering of samsara forever. This freedom is not like taking a holiday, which is for a few months, a few weeks, a few days or even a few years, and then having to come back to samsara. It is not “Oh, I had a very good time there,” and then we come back to samsara. We are free forever. It is amazing.

The essence of the path to be free from samsara is the three higher trainings, lhagpäi lab pa sum: the higher training of morality, the higher training of meditation and the higher training of wisdom. These three are the basic paths for us to become free from samsara forever. So, no matter how difficult it is, we should be able to bear hardships to actualize the path, the Dharma, the most pure Dharma. It is most unbelievable, unbelievable; we become free from all the sufferings—hell suffering, hungry ghost suffering, animal suffering, human being suffering, asura being suffering, sura being suffering and intermediate state being suffering—forever.

Then, even better than that is to totally renounce cherishing the I and only cherish sentient beings the most. This comes from having great compassion for all sentient beings. With that motivation, we engage in the Mahayana path, the six paramitas and so forth. Then we will achieve enlightenment, great nirvana, the total cessation of gross obscurations and even the subtle obscurations. The subtle obscurations are the negative imprints left on the mental continuum by delusion, the ignorance holding the I, action and object as truly existent, while they are not, while they only exist in mere name. Nothing exists, not even an atom, from there.

This enlightenment is not for oneself. The self-cherishing thought can’t achieve enlightenment for oneself. The self-cherishing thought is the main enemy to actualizing bodhicitta, the door to the Mahayana path to enlightenment. That enlightenment, great enlightenment, is achieved for sentient beings. Through understanding the process, we can understand that enlightenment is achieved only for sentient beings.

Then, after achieving enlightenment, we become a perfect guide, able to free the numberless sentient beings not only from the lower realms, but from samsara, the whole entire samsaric suffering, forever. And not only that, we are able to bring them to buddhahood, full enlightenment, the total cessation of obscurations and the completion of realizations.

That is the main purpose of our life in the Mahayana teachings. It is why we learn Dharma, why we listen to Dharma, why we reflect on Dharma and why we meditate to actualize the whole path to enlightenment. That means it is also why we eat, why we sleep, why we work, why we walk, why we take medicine and why we do so many other things.

Similarly, it is why you are a pilot. Why you do your job should be for the same reason. It should not be any different from listening to, reflecting on and meditating on Dharma. There should not be any difference at all.

When we have an actual realization of bodhicitta even our breathing becomes only for sentient beings, only for the happiness of the numberless sentient beings—the numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless asura beings, numberless sura beings and numberless intermediate state beings.

Even our breathing in and out is to free everyone from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment. Even each step we take and each word we speak, everything we do is for that purpose. That happens naturally if we have a realization of bodhicitta, the thought of enlightenment. For example, when we circumambulate a stupa, by generating a bodhicitta motivation, thinking to free every sentient being from samsara and to achieve enlightenment for them, with each step as we go around it, we collect much more than skies of merit. We collect the most unbelievable good karma, the cause of happiness. So, can you imagine what happens when the stupa is big, like Boudha Stupa? However many steps it takes to go around it, we collect unbelievable merits.

This is without talking about how from the side of the stupa itself it is so precious historically, but just how it becomes precious from the side of our motivation. Because we live near the stupa, our life becomes so precious. We have to recognize how precious our life is. In the world, such as in America, there are people who have many millions of dollars, a trillion dollars, even a zillion dollars. They have money for ten or fifteen lifetimes and they have many properties, but they have no karma to hear OM MANI PADME HUM even one time. I’m talking about how they have no karma even to hear this mantra.

They also don’t have any stupas like Boudha Stupa in their country. Perhaps as there are many centers of Mahayana Buddhism nowadays, there would be some stupas for them to go around, but, of course, the people who are unbelievably rich and famous don’t go there. Even if they live for a thousand years, they don’t have the opportunity to go around a stupa, not even to make one step.

Therefore, it is so precious to be here in Kathmandu, where there are so many holy places from a thousand years ago, like Boudha and Swayambunath. Even though Nepal is not as clean as the West and it is difficult for the country to develop materially, it is so precious. It is unbelievable how precious Nepal and Kathmandu are. It is amazing, amazing, amazing. There are always buddhas and bodhisattvas here and there are many holy places where different enlightened beings meditated and achieved realization, where they became totally free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings forever and achieved enlightenment.

So now, even with just that much of an introduction, I want to say that no matter how busy you are, you should go around Boudha Stupa at least one time every day. It is so important. By going around the stupa one time, even without generating a bodhicitta motivation, you become free from the lower realms, from rebirth in the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms. And you also become free from the whole entire samsara. Besides the lower realms, you also become free from the deva and human realms. And not only that, you also become free from the lower nirvana, which is liberation from samsara.

On top of that, going around the stupa also becomes a cause of enlightenment. That is not only true for human beings, it is true even for animals. For example, even the dogs who do not intend to go around the stupa but end up going around it because they are looking for whatever food they can get from people, create the cause of enlightenment, of buddhahood. This makes their life incredibly precious. But the Americans or Muslims who are unbelievably rich, who have enough money for many lifetimes, who are so rich and famous and all that, have no karma even to go around one stupa, no matter how many thousands of years they live. There is almost no difference between them and the turtles in Hong Kong that live for a thousand years. Many years ago, when I was in Hong Kong, I saw a picture of turtles that live for a very long time.

All our happiness comes from good karma and all our suffering comes from negative karma. Generally, all our actions of body, speech and mind are meant for happiness. But for them to become a cause of happiness, they have to be good karma. They have to be virtuous actions. For that to happen, our mind has to be a virtuous mind, a positive mind, a healthy mind.

It is said in the Buddha’s teaching called Dhammapada in Sanskrit, Tsom in Tibetan, and Heap in English,

All existents are created by the mind.
The mind is principal and goes before actions.
For example, if with the thought of benefiting others, you talk to somebody,
Happiness follows after that, like a shadow follows the body.

The mind goes before actions of body and speech, and it even goes before works that are done by the mind. This verse gives the example of wherever the body goes in the daytime, its shadow definitely follows after it. Like that, when an action is done with a virtuous thought, especially with a good heart, the result of happiness will definitely follow after it, not suffering.

Now, another verse in the Dhammapada says:

Existents are created by the mind.
The mind is principal and a preliminary.
If, with the thought to harm, you talk to somebody,
The result of suffering follows after that, like a heavy cart follows an ox.

In India, for example, oxen have to pull heavy carts loaded with many iron bars and people sitting on top of them. They have to pull the cart no matter how hot it is and no matter how cold it is. They get beaten until they stand up and pull it, or until they die. They have so much suffering but they can’t express it at all. Human beings control them completely. Like that, if the action of talking to somebody is done with the thought to harm them, there is no result of happiness that follows from it, only suffering.

Like that, not only listening to and reflecting on teachings, but even if eating, walking, sitting, sleeping and doing the job of a pilot are done with a nonvirtuous thought, all these actions become nonvirtuous, the result of which is only suffering. Not only is there suffering in this life, but death also becomes suffering and, after death, these actions become the cause of the lower realms, rebirth in the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm. Then there are eons of suffering. Like that, suffering follows these actions.

I will just say just this much as an introduction to Dharma. Similarly, if your mind becomes holy Dharma, not worldly dharma (worldly dharma and nonvirtue are the same), then any action you do is done with the motivation of holy Dharma, with a pure mind, a healthy mind, a positive mind, a virtuous thought, which means that it is at the very least unstained by attachment to this life. Not only listening to, reflecting on and meditating on Dharma, but even eating, walking, sitting, sleeping and doing your job should become holy Dharma. You have to practice Dharma in this way.

Whether something actually becomes Dharma—such as sitting in meditation, reading Dharma texts and reciting mantras, which are regarded as Dharma activities by worldly people—doesn’t just depend on what you do externally. I want you to understand this clearly, so I will give you another example from a story about Dromtönpa, who was Lama Atisha’s translator in Tibet.

Lama Atisha was invited to Tibet from Nalanda Monastery in India. This is also where Nagarjuna, Asanga and many other pandits who logically and clearly propagated the Dharma, which is deep like the ocean, came from. This Dharma is just talking about sutra, not about tantra. The study of sutra in the monastery includes five main subjects. Pramanavarttika has four chapters that explain the logic that proves reincarnation and how the Buddha is a reliable guide, a pure founder and a valid object of refuge. The path to enlightenment is set out in Abhisamayalamkara. Abhidharmakosha talks about phenomena. Madhyamaka explains the two truths, the conventional truth and the ultimate truth, how things exist and how things function. This particular subject goes very well with science nowadays. For those who have very high scientific knowledge, their knowledge goes well with Buddhism.

Like quantum physics, Buddhism says that the way things appear to us is not true, and that, when we look for them, we find they don’t exist in that way. I’m not completely sure but I think some scientists say that something like ninety percent of what we perceive doesn’t exist in the way it appears. According to Buddhism, nothing exists from there. Everything exists in mere name. It is merely labeled by the mind. Because there are valid bases, there is a valid mind that labels existents in name. For example, there is no reason why the I exists other than that the valid base, the aggregates, exist. At the moment, we have the form aggregate, feeling aggregate, cognition aggregate, compounding aggregate and consciousness aggregate. The beings in the formless realm don’t have the form aggregate, only the mental ones.

Lama Atisha was invited by the Dharma king Lha Lama Yeshe Ö to Tibet because at that time there was lot of misunderstanding about Dharma. People thought that if you practice sutra, you can’t practice tantra, and if you practice tantra, you can’t practice sutra. They considered sutra and tantra to be like hot and cold. The first time Lha Lama Yeshe Ö sent gold to India to invite Lama Atisha to Tibet, but he didn’t get to see Lama Atisha. The second time, when he went to collect gold to invite Lama Atisha to Tibet, an irreligious king found out that the king of Tibet was looking for gold and put him in prison in Nepal in a place called Liur, near the border with Tibet.

His nephew, Jangchub Ö, then brought all the gold to the irreligious king and asked him to free the Dharma king, Lha Lama Yeshe Ö, from prison. The irreligious king piled up the gold in a heap but said that gold the size of the king’s head was missing and needed to be found. However, Lha Lama Yeshe Ö told Jangchub Ö not to give the irreligious king even a handful of gold and instead to take the gold to India to invite Lama Atisha to reestablish the pure Dharma in Tibet. Lha Lama Yeshe Ö sent a message to Lama Atisha saying that he would meet him in his next life and that he was willing to pass away for the benefit of the sentient beings in Tibet. Lha Lama Yeshe Ö then passed away in prison.

This time, a translator brought the gold to Lama Atisha and explained all the problems that were happening in Tibet. After hearing about the degeneration of the Dharma in Tibet, Lama Atisha, as he usually did, asked Tara what to do. Tara advised him that if he were to go to Tibet, it would be highly beneficial for sentient beings and the teachings of the Buddha, but he would live only seven years more. Lama Atisha said, “I don’t mind living for only seven years. If it is highly beneficial, I will go to Tibet.” Lama Atisha was supposed to return to India after three years, but at that time there was a war and so he stayed on in Tibet. During his time there, Lama Atisha wrote A Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment. In Tsang, there is the monastery where Lama Atisha passed away. It has been rebuilt and has many holy objects that I went to see.

The main thing I want to tell you is a story about Dromtönpa. Dromtönpa was Lama Atisha’s translator in Tibet, but actually he was Chenrezig, the Compassion Buddha. Lama Atisha advised Dromtönpa to build a monastery in Tibet. That monastery is Reting Monastery, from where many Kadampa geshes, who were great meditators and great examples, came, such as Potowa and Chekawa. The third time I went on pilgrimage to Tibet, I went to this monastery and stayed there three nights. It is an incredible monastery, but it was almost completely destroyed by the Chinese.

The story is that one time when Dromtönpa was walking in the forest near this monastery, he saw an old man who was sitting in meditation. Dromtönpa asked him, “What are you doing?” The old man said, “I’m meditating.” Dromtönpa said to him, “Yes, it is good that you meditate but it would be even better to practice Dharma.” Then the old man thought he should read Dharma texts, as maybe that is what is meant by practicing Dharma.

One day when Dromtönpa was walking in the forest, he saw the old man reading Dharma texts. He asked him, “What are you doing?” The old man replied, “I’m reading Dharma texts.” Dromtönpa said, “It is good that you are reading Dharma texts, but it would be better to practice Dharma.” So, the old man stopped reading texts and circumambulated the temple.

Then one day Dromtönpa met him and asked, “What are you doing?” The old man replied, “I’m circumambulating.” Dromtönpa said, “It is good that you are circumambulating, but it would be better to practice Dharma.” Only then the old man asked Dromtönpa, “What does it means to practice Dharma?” Dromtönpa replied, “Give up this life.”

But we have to understand what “Give up this life” means. It doesn’t mean to give up our family, our wealth or even our clothing and live naked. Dromtönpa also didn’t mean that we should give up our body. “Give up this life” means give up our attachment clinging to the happiness of this life. From this worldly concern comes the hundreds of thousands of problems. From this one root, so many problems spread out in our life. Then, we suffer our whole life. This is without talking about being reborn in the lower realms, the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms, where there is unbelievable suffering for an unbelievable length of time, even for eons.

So, to give up or to renounce this life means to give up the root of problems—attachment to this life or worldly concern. That’s why those who are able to practice Dharma sincerely, such as Milarepa and many other great lay and ordained practitioners, experience incredible peace and happiness in their lives. Because they became free from this worldly concern, they didn’t have the problems that worldly beings have, that is, the problems and suffering that we have. Instead, they were able to enlighten the suffering beings of the world.

Here we can understand why all those activities that the old man was doing did not become holy Dharma and instead became worldly dharma. If something is worldly dharma, it is nonvirtue. It is not pure Dharma or holy Dharma. So, we have to understand what it means to practice holy Dharma. We have to understand the real meaning of that—to totally renounce the root and the hundreds, thousands and millions of problems that arise from that root.

For example, consider someone, either ordained or lay, who is living in a cave high up in the mountains far from a city. This person doesn’t see any human beings, not even animals. They are not sleeping. They might even be fasting, not eating anything at all. Instead, they are doing the practice of taking the essence from the wind, flowers, stones or water, so that they don’t have to depend on food. But their mind didn’t become Dharma, holy Dharma. It became worldly dharma, attachment to this life, because they are expecting to become renowned as a famous meditator, to be respected by everyone and to have power over others. In short, their motivation is seeking the happiness of this life—they are attached to receiving power, praise, a good reputation and material things from people. On the other hand, they dislike the four opposites—discomfort, criticism, a bad reputation and not receiving material things. They are attached to not having those things.

This attachment to the four desirable objects and dislike for their four opposites is what brings our life up and down. The same thing happens to people in the West. Because of not knowing about these worldly concerns, for them, they are something very hidden, and their life goes up and down many times even in one day, even in one morning, even in one hour. But they think this only comes from outside. They never relate it to their mind. So then, they don’t put effort into changing their mind, into doing something to fix their mind to make it into Dharma, into holy Dharma.

So the need for Dharma, holy Dharma, is kind of incredible. It is something people in the West need right away! But I think people don’t like the definition of Dharma, of Dharma practice. Instead, their mind follows the other side; it follows attachment and so forth. So even if they are meditating in a cave high up in the Himalayan mountains, not seeing anybody and not eating food, since their motivation is like this, everything they do, even meditating, fasting and not sleeping, is not Dharma. The whole thing is worldly dharma, nonvirtue. It did not become holy Dharma. You have to know this.

I will give you another good example of what is Dharma and what is not Dharma, or what is the difference between holy Dharma and worldly dharma. In the past, there was a Kadampa geshe called Ben Gungyal, who became a great, attained meditator. One day when he first began to practice Dharma and was in retreat, he made his room very clean and set out his water bowls very neatly because his benefactor was coming to see him. He made everything look very good. Then he sat down to begin his meditation. First, he checked his motivation. He found out that everything he had done that morning had been done with worldly concern. In Tibetan, the eight worldly concerns are called jig ten chö gyä. He realized that he had cleaned his room and made the offerings out of attachment clinging to this life’s happiness—for his benefactor to praise him saying, “You are a good Dharma practitioner, blah, blah, blah.”

He recognized that he had done everything out of worldly concern, which like an enemy had invaded his life. He stood up suddenly, went to the fireplace, took up a handful of ashes and sprinkled it on the water bowl offerings he had set out to impress his benefactor. Like this, he made a big mess of his room. At that time, Padampa Sangye, a great enlightened being, a yogi from India and a contemporary of Milarepa, was staying in a place called Tingri, not far from Nepal in Tibet. Realizing with his clairvoyance what had happened, he folded his hands together on his head and praised Ben Gungyal saying, “Today Ben Gungyal has made the very best offering.”

It is said that Ben Gungyal sprinkled ashes in the mouth of the eight worldly dharmas. So, here now, after he scattered ashes on the altar and made a mess of his room, this became real Dharma, real pure Dharma, real holy Dharma, unstained by the eight worldly dharmas, the attachment clinging to the happiness of this life. Although his previous actions looked very good, very shiny and very neat, the motivation was totally attachment looking for the happiness of this life—to receive praise, material things and so forth from his benefactor. It was not Dharma, not holy Dharma; it was worldly dharma.

This Kadampa geshe, Ben Gungyal, originally was a very famous thief in the nighttime and a robber in the daytime. Because he had forty sacks filled with grain, everyone called him by the nickname “Forty Sacks.” He wore a belt with many weapons around his waist. Then, in later life, he totally renounced all that and practiced Dharma. He once said that before, when he was called Forty Sacks, his mouth could not find food, but later, after he had totally abandoned the eight worldly concerns, food could not find his mouth. He said this because food was being offered to him from all sides.

To go back to the example I gave you at the beginning of this letter of four people reciting Praises to the Twenty-One Taras. The first person recited the prayer only with worldly concern, the attachment looking for the happiness of this life—to have a long life, health and wealth. This person’s recitation of the Praises did not become holy Dharma. Because it was done with worldly concern, nonvirtue, it only became negative karma. However, because the Praises are themselves very precious and powerful, even though the recitation didn’t become holy Dharma and instead was negative karma, the Praises still had the power to heal disease, to cause a long life and so forth. The prayer was still able to do that. But for that person, in their next life there would only be suffering for an unbelievable length of time in the lower realms, either in the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm, depending on how heavy the negative karma they created was.

The second person who recited the prayer to Tara had renounced the eight worldly concerns, therefore, their mind was unstained by the attachment clinging to this life’s pleasures. Because their mind was totally pure, that person’s recitation became holy Dharma. It became the first level of holy Dharma.

The third person’s recitation was even better. It was more pure holy Dharma because it became a cause of liberation from samsara, not only of a higher rebirth in a pure land. This is the second level of holy Dharma, which is more pure than the first.

Now, the fourth person’s recitation of the prayer became even more pure than that. It became totally pure. It became totally pure because it was unstained by self-cherishing thought. This person’s recitation of the Praises to the Twenty-One Taras was done only with bodhicitta, the thought renouncing oneself and cherishing numberless sentient beings. So with that, their recitation of the prayer became the most pure holy Dharma and a cause of great nirvana or enlightenment, the total cessation of obscurations, both gross and subtle, and the completion of realizations, that is, the state of omniscience. After achieving that state, we can liberate the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment.

So, because that person’s recitation was done with bodhicitta, it became the most pure holy Dharma. Since their recitation of the Praises to the Twenty-One Taras was unstained by self-cherishing thought, it not only brings that person benefit, but it also brings benefit to all sentient beings. This is because, after achieving enlightenment, that person can help everyone to become free from the suffering of samsara and achieve the peerless happiness of enlightenment.

You can now understand that your first motivation for being a pilot did not become Dharma. Your thought to work for the company that gave you a job is not Dharma. Also, your thought to work for the benefit of your family, just a few people, is not Dharma. Because you work for your family thinking “my father,” “my mother,” “my wife,” “my children,” your motivation is attachment, so there is no way for your work to become holy Dharma. Not only that, because it is done with self-cherishing thought, there is no way for it to become holy Dharma.

So here we can check the motivations of the four people who were reciting the prayer to Tara. The motivation of the first person did not become Dharma. The motivation of the second is the first level of Dharma. The motivation of the third is more pure Dharma. The motivation of the fourth is holy Dharma and very pure. That person’s recitation became a cause of highest happiness, enlightenment or the state of omniscience, for them, and it also became a cause for all sentient beings to become free from samsara and achieve the happiness of enlightenment. That is amazing. It is amazing.

So, that is what our motivation should be—bodhicitta, jang chub gyi sem, the thought of enlightenment. With that thought, our motivation is not only to free ourselves from the lower realms. That should not be our motivation, even though that motivation is Dharma. Our motivation also should not be the middle Dharma motivation, the thought to achieve our own everlasting happiness, liberation from samsara. That is Dharma, but still it is not the real purpose of our human life. It is not the real meaning of why we have been born a human being this time. The real purpose of our human life, why we have been born a human being, is to not harm sentient beings and instead to benefit them. This what our motivation should be.

Here sentient beings are numberless. I’m going to mention this briefly because this is the first time I’m explaining Dharma to you. All the sufferings we experience from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future arise from the self-cherishing thought, from cherishing the I. This is what happens if we don’t practice bodhicitta. On the other hand, all the happiness we experience from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future, including enlightenment and every single pleasure we experience even in a dream, we receive from the kindness of every single hell being, every single hungry ghost, every single animal, every single human being, every single asura being, every single sura being and every single intermediate state being. And there is not only this world, there are numberless universes. We receive all our past, present and future kindness from all these sentient beings.

Then, there are the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to which we go for refuge and on which we rely all the time. Even Buddha comes from sentient beings. Buddha comes from the existence of obscured, suffering sentient beings. Because the Dharma and Sangha come from Buddha, they also come from sentient beings. So, sentient beings are unbelievably precious. They are most dear, most precious and most kind to us. All sentient beings are wish-fulfilling for us. This means that all sentient beings, not only our family, have been kind to us from beginningless rebirths. All our happiness from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future comes from them.

So, what should we do? We should free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and, not only that, we should also bring them to enlightenment by oneself alone. For that reason, we have to listen to the Dharma, reflect on it, meditate on it, and do whatever we do—in your case being a pilot—for sentient beings. So here, in your case, you should think, in particular, that the sentient beings who come in the plane you are flying are so precious. You receive all the kindness that I explained from them. You receive all your happiness from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future from them. You receive all the skies of qualities of a buddha’s holy body, speech and mind from these people in the plane. Therefore, all these people are so precious. All sentient beings are so precious. Therefore, you should think, “I’m here to serve them. I’m going to take them wherever they want to go in order to offer them happiness, in order to cause them to achieve happiness.” This is the motivation. This is the motivation you should have.

Every day before you go out, you should generate this motivation in your house and then go out. If you do this, with every step you make and every second you drive your car, you collect merits more than the sky. You collect merits more than the sky. It is the same thing when you fly a plane. As you go farther and farther, with every hour, minute and second that you fly it, you collect merits more than the sky. You collect merits all the time when you do your job with the motivation of bodhicitta. By thinking to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, you offer service to all the six-realm sentient beings, and in particular, to the sentient beings on the plane. You offer all of them every happiness.

This is really, really most enjoyable. It is most enjoyable. Then, if you fly the plane with this motivation, even if you die while flying it, your traveling is done with virtue. It becomes almost like you experience death for sentient beings, to achieve happiness for sentient beings. This is incredible. It is so good and so worthwhile. So, even if you experience danger, it is for sentient beings, for them to achieve happiness. This is so good; it all becomes Dharma.

So, this much I have explained to you now and when we meet next, I can clarify it even more. For the moment, it is most important for you to understand, from the example of the four men reciting the prayer to Tara, what becomes Dharma and what does not become Dharma, and that even if something becomes Dharma, there are different levels of Dharma. Otherwise, you won’t know what is Dharma and what is not Dharma.

Thank you very much. You can show this to your father after you read it, and to your mother and anyone you meet.

With much love and prayers ...

The Three Principal Aspects of the Path in Business
Date of Advice:
June 2018
Date Posted:
October 2020

Rinpoche wrote this letter to a student who was using the three principal aspects of the path as a business model. The three are renunciation, bodhicitta and the right view (of emptiness).

Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Chenrezig Institute, Australia, 1991. Photo: Thubten Yeshe.

My dear one, 
According to my analysis, understanding, experience and view, and my little understanding of the lamrim, you are using the three principal aspects of the path as the object, using that for your business. That’s incredible, incredible, an incredible way to do business, an incredible way to make plans. It is the best.

Normally we are using that in our everyday life—how to live our life, how to act every day. Of course, first of all we need renunciation, so that nothing becomes the cause of samsara and our actions only become the cause of freedom from samsara, nirvana. Secondly, we need the good heart, bodhicitta, so everything becomes the cause of enlightenment. Then right view, so our actions do not become the cause of samsara, but become the antidote to samsara and the root of samsara, ignorance, which holds the I as real, while there is nothing, not even the slightest atom that is real, from beginningless time, it is empty.

Here you are using the three principal aspects of the path in your business, without so much emphasis on daily life, but in business—how business can become ethical and be done with the good heart. If you do business with the three principal aspects of the path, then in that way the mind which does business doesn’t get much lung [wind disease], squeezed. The mind is very relaxed. Especially with bodhicitta, the good heart, you will be very relaxed, very happy.

Through using the three principal aspects of the path in business, then naturally you should learn, you should come to understand that your own daily life has to be lived with the three principal aspects of the path. Naturally you should come to understand that as you use the three principal aspects in business then you should use them in your daily life as well.

Therefore, it’s coming from a slightly different approach. Presenting it like this is very, very good, very good for business people who have developed their materialistic life so much. But you see, in this way, with a materially developed life, because happiness and suffering are all up to the mind, therefore we have to renounce the mind which feels contentment or satisfaction with the disturbing thoughts. The negative disturbing thoughts are disturbing to oneself and disturbing to others, but we are content with that and we gain satisfaction from that, even though the title used is renunciation.

With bodhicitta, the good heart, there is fulfillment, joy and great happiness.

Then right view—when that [realization happens] in our life, we can see what is the truth and what is false in life, so we come to understand that, generally. It’s like the dream time—we have been believing everything is real, then somebody introduces that this is a dream, this is not real. If someone is teaching us that during the dream, then we are to be able [to see it.] So we become familiar with seeing the dream as a dream, instead of believing the hallucination is real. Now in our everyday life we have been believing everything is real from beginningless rebirths. According to our hallucinated mind we believe it is real, but in reality we have to learn that it is false, that nothing inherently exists. As I gave the example before, while dreaming, teaching that the dream is false, not real.

Now in the daytime, when we are not dreaming, we think one hundred percent that things exist from their own side, that they are not merely labeled by mind. We have believed this from beginningless rebirth and that’s why we have been suffering from beginningless rebirth up to now. That’s why we have not become free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings. So we have to be taught and we have to become familiar with that through study, reflection and meditation. We have to see that in our everyday life—everything that appears as real is false, totally false, totally false. There is no such thing, not even an atom of that. We have to become familiar with that more and more. If we are familiar with that, then it causes us to become free from samsara quicker and quicker, and with bodhicitta, then we can achieve enlightenment.

It is a huge subject, really, really, really showing what’s false and what’s true in our life.

As you asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as you had great success already, as you asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness advised you about shamatha and vipassana, that means you have to plan out in that way, slowly trying to use what His Holiness the Dalai Lama said. Slowly try shamatha, because His Holiness the Dalai Lama said to do that.

For a number of years His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been emphasizing secular education everywhere so much. His Holiness the Dalai Lama advised Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa particularly to do that subject, related to the university. And many schools have been emphasizing that so much, particularly in Ladakh. There has been great success when His Holiness the Dalai Lama goes to Ladakh, which happens a lot these days. So many Muslims listen to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings and they like His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings on secular education. So many Muslims follow His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings, which is great, great proof.

In Delhi 800,000 students will follow the happiness curriculum. I don’t know who was in Delhi, the high leaders who took His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s subjects, but I watched the video and His Holiness the Dalai Lama was appreciating them so much. Then His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave a talk and many school teachers came.

This development happened and they accepted it. This is the progression, what happened from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s side. When the talk began in Delhi, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said that the purpose of life is happiness. So that doesn’t contradict happiness up to enlightenment; it is not the happiness which is worldly pleasure, which is in the nature of suffering. The samsaric pleasure of the lower realms is not something to be achieved. For the time being that is samsaric pleasure, but it is in the nature of suffering so it needs to be removed and we need to achieve ultimate happiness, nirvana. Even achieving ultimate happiness for ourselves alone is not enough; we still have to remove that, to be free from that, and we need to achieve ultimate happiness, enlightenment, the peerless happiness for sentient beings. It is like that.

By saying “happiness” it does not immediately contradict the ordinary worldly people, even animals; it does not contradict them, just by saying happiness. It doesn’t emphasize compassion first, but by saying “happiness,” of course, the good heart is the main thing, the most important thing, and compassion comes there, whether it is mentioned or not.

We also have to protect karma, to have an ethical life for our happiness, to achieve our own happiness in this life, if our aim is for this life. We have to think beyond this life, but for ordinary people that doesn’t fit at the moment. If our life is an ethical life, all that does is benefit; it does become the cause of happiness of our future lives and it might help us to be free from samsara after sometime.

Without emphasizing future lives, having an ethical life. Without frightening people by talking about religion; without frightening people who are not familiar with religion. Not frightening them but just talking about doing good things in our life, mainly emphasizing that. Living ethically also has benefits from life to life and creates the cause of happiness of all our future lives in reality, but without actually saying that.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is very much into this. He explained this to you and you should do what he advised. Slowly, slowly, you have to think this way. Not frightening people, but practicing the good heart, having patience, an ethical life, and being a generous human being. So I just want to appreciate what you are doing.

With much love and prayers ...

Motivation for Paying Tax
Date of Advice:
January 2016
Date Posted:
January 2018

Rinpoche gave this advice about paying government tax and health insurance as an opportunity to practice charity, thus it becomes a cause for happiness and full enlightenment, for oneself and others.

I spoke to the ex-Kopan monks and nuns in New York, in a restaurant run by people from Mustang. I talked to one Nepalese girl who had previously worked in Nepal for one year. She told me that after she got money from working in the USA, a lot of the money went as tax to the US government, in federal and state tax, and also for Medicare and health insurance. I gave her this advice about using every opportunity to become Dharma, especially Mahayana Dharma, so that it becomes the cause of enlightenment.

You have to pay tax to the state and federal government, as well as  paying Medicare and health insurance, and then you feel resentful and become miserly, which is the cause of poverty. Also, by creating so much miserliness you become unhappy, but you have no choice because you have to give the money.

I said this is a most incredible opportunity for you to practice Dharma. By giving tax to the state and federal government you can use this as a method of giving charity and generating bodhicitta. When you have to make the payments, you can think about the purpose of paying this money.

Think, “May I myself achieve enlightenment in order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings in the six realms and bring them to buddhahood—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations. Therefore, I am making charity of this money.”

Thinking this way is incredible. This way, not only does it become Dharma, but it becomes the cause of oneself achieving buddhahood. It also becomes the cause of happiness for numberless sentient beings, to free them from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to buddhahood—the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations. Therefore this becomes the cause of happiness. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Amazing, amazing, amazing. This becomes the best cause of happiness up to full enlightenment.

According to the Tengyur, Buddha said:

For any sentient being, who during the period of my teachings
Makes charity well (even if the material is the size of a hair)
For 80,000 eons will experience a great result of great enjoyment:
No pain, no disease, and enjoyment of happiness.
Like that, one will be enriched with the desirable things.
At the end you can actually achieve the result—the peerless cessation and completion (enlightenment.)
After hearing that there is a great result, who wouldn’t want to collect merit?

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!

Here it mentions in the quotation that by making charity of something just the size of one single hair, you receive benefits for 80,000 eons. You will have unbelievable happiness and wealth, most unbelievable happiness, and also by continually making charity, at the end you will achieve enlightenment. Here the charity that you make is much more than money. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable, so you can rejoice, you can feel very happy. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable.

It’s the same when you pay the health insurance and Medicare, because even though you are not sick all the time, there are many other sick people, who have cancer or incurable or curable diseases. The money goes for that, so again you are making charity. Wow, wow, wow, wow! So you should rejoice.

It’s unbelievable, it’s like the person who wins the soccer game—they are running around, all the nerves out, their shoulders up. In reality that is all done with attachment, so it’s the cause of the lower realms, but expressing happiness here, this is for enlightenment—full enlightenment for oneself and then to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment. Wow, wow, wow, wow!

It is very important to think this way, to use the situation of paying tax and so forth as a way to create the cause of enlightenment.

Transforming Attitude  
Date Posted:
August 2011

Rinpoche sent the following note to a student about transforming his attitude.

My Dearest Neil,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. I have checked, and it seems, according to my observation, that it’s best for you to work outside. See if you can manage that.

If that is not possible now, then work here in the meantime, but try to do better and transform your attitude more to the Dharma and to be more positive, so that you can benefit others more. Also, make your actions towards others and your work better. If it is outside work, then do that.

However, whatever you do, please do it with bodhicitta, the good heart, and with the thought of benefiting others.

With much love and prayer...

 

Working With Devotion
Date Posted:
September 2009

Rinpoche asked a student, who was extremely kind and devoted to him, to take on a very important job for him. The person replied that there were two ways of looking at how to do the job—one according to worldly wisdom and one according to devotion. Rinpoche wrote the following reply.

My most dear George,
I was very happy to get your news of your five weeks of traveling, getting to know your two dakinis (two angels). I am very happy that you are just thinking about this project, that means it can happen. A small question I have, like a small fish jumping out of water, why is this project more difficult for you than the other projects you have done? Is it to do with how people invest and get their money back?

I didn't understand well about the devotional part. For people who are doing work with that mind, the mind of devotion, it makes the purpose of work more clear, the direction more clear, and that is the path to enlightenment and service for sentient beings. That is a way of purifying the mind of obstacles and collecting extensive merits.

This was how it happened with Milarepa. Marpa (who was Milarepa's teacher) asked Milarepa to build a nine-story tower without any help, not even to use a donkey to carry the stones. Then he asked Milarepa to pull it down and build it again. This happened three times.

When Milarepa appeared at his teachings, Marpa would scold him. In the end, Marpa's wisdom mother (wife) insisted Marpa give teachings and initiations to Milarepa, so he did. Marpa was an enlightened being, so he manifested the actual mandala of the deity and gave teachings, then Milarepa went to the mountains, meditated in a cave, and achieved enlightenment in that lifetime.

Without practicing Tantra you have to achieve enlightenment over three countless eons. By practicing Lower Tantra you can achieve enlightenment in one life. By practicing Highest Tantra you can achieve enlightenment in a matter of a few years. Milarepa could do this because he was a very strongly devoted disciple, with no wrong thoughts arising. All the hard work Milarepa did before receiving teachings was for his purification.

The way Marpa treated Milarepa is important to understand. I am not sure you know the story of Milarepa and the meaning behind it. The story started with Milarepa's uncle doing very bad things to Milarepa's family. Milarepa’s mother got very upset and wanted to take revenge on the uncle and his family, so she sent Milarepa to get training in the black arts and Milarepa did. After receiving this training, he then killed his uncle and his family by causing his house to collapse. Because of this harm that Milarepa caused, when Milarepa met Marpa, Marpa had to use skilful means to purify his negative karma that he had created before and also have Milarepa accumulate a lot of merit. So, Marpa used skilful means and was able to do this because of Milarepa's strong devotion. He guided Milarepa by putting him through great hardship over a long period of time, not giving him teachings or initiations. After this, he granted the teachings and initiations, Milarepa went to a cave, meditated, and achieved enlightenment in that life. It is important to think of the meaning behind this story.

By saying this I don't mean I am like Marpa, I wouldn't dare to say that, it will take me billions of eons to become like Marpa, but what I mean to say is that our Dharma connection gives meaning to the work, it makes a difference like between the sky and the earth. By taking this project, no matter how difficult it is, it is the path to enlightenment, that is the clear direction of life.

I have no doubt about your motivation, it is like very clean water. Besides your having the motivation and the devotion, even the workers who participate in the building of this holy object, even if they are not my students, even if they are just laborers and have a worldly motivation (non-virtue – working just for this life), because of the power of the holy object, then the action becomes virtue and they collect extensive merits. The situation is very different due to the power of the holy object. It is not like working for a Coca Cola company or chocolate company; there is a huge difference, like between the earth and sky.

As you know, generally, for actions to become virtue or to become the cause of happiness, one needs a virtuous motivation, which means one has to put in a lot of effort. It is like breathing meditation makes the mind neutral and from there it is easier to transform the mind into virtue. Most people are very habituated to delusions, since beginningless rebirths, so this is the difficulty in keeping the mind or making the mind virtuous. The exception is when actions are performed in relation to holy objects. When this happens, immediately they become a cause for enlightenment, even if the motivation is negative. The existence of holy objects makes it easy for sentient beings to create the cause of happiness, so success comes along the way and suffering is reduced. This is besides all the social service benefits of this project.

I am very, very happy by your merely thinking of this project. You mentioned about devotion, so I am just bringing this up here. Bodhisattvas do whatever is beneficial for sentient beings, their actions can even be wrathful, because their hearts are compassionate and they do what is necessary to benefit others.

Sorry, this is another chance for me to chat more about Dharma.

Hoping to see you very soon,

With love and prayers...

Bodhisattva Attitude
Date Posted:
October 2007

Rinpoche gave the following advice on what kind of attitude to have at work.

One must practice with the bodhisattva attitude every day. People can't see your mind, what people see is a manifestation of your attitude in your actions of body and speech. Pay attention to your attitude all the time, guard it as if you are the police, or like a maid cares for a child, like a bodyguard, or like you are the guru and your mind is your disciple.

You need to guard your attitude all the time, 24 hours a day. Doing whatever your mind says is very dangerous—even small problems can lead to suicide when emotions are involved. When we think, “This is what I feel, so I can do anything” it's usually what our delusions want, not what the bodhisattva wants. This leads to long-term harm.

Humility is important. Humility comes naturally if you are kind and forgive others. Also, you should rejoice when good things come to others. These are practical, good qualities for anyone in the world who wants to have a happy life. The point is to be humble, but when there's a need to clarify, to say something, you need to be able to say it.

A Dharma center or an office is a place for Dharma practice. When one goes to the office, dealing with people, one has to recognize that it's a place to practice lamrim, the Three Principles of the Path, tantra, and the six paramitas. The six paramitas fit very well with daily life—they offer you protection. Everything is there.

If one doesn't put effort into this, then problems arise. Without this, things won't succeed, won't be smooth, and people won't support you. If people are happy, they will support you.

We have meetings in the FPMT, but that isn't enough. We have to really put it into practice at work, when we go back. At FPMT meetings all the nice advice is there, but when you go back to work, if you don't practice, all the problems come up again.

Think of home and office as practice. It’s a wonderful practice, a great challenge. Before you go to the office think, “I'm going to practice Dharma: the Three Principles of the Path, the six paramitas.” The office is a place for tantric practice—see everyone as the deity. Everything is in the nature of bliss. Nothing is boring or upsetting.

Don't get disturbed if you hear problems—our ears are made to hear problems. Hearing problems are like wearing earrings; they are different decorations for the ears.

Regarding the question about the confusion that arises when trying to see and accept everything in Dharmic terms and yet wanting to change negative things, you have to clarify this. If you don't, then the center/office can't develop. Be humble, but don't be dumb, otherwise you can't make the work better. Try to explain things within your practice, the lamrim, then the mind doesn't become negative, and things go better, smoother. Think how all sentient beings are so kind, have all been our mothers, and shown us such great kindness, then respect comes. Think that Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha come from this person, all happiness in life comes from this person, he or she is so precious, then respect comes. Think that this person is cherished the most by numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas, like a beloved child; this person is like their heart. Then you dare not say any bad words to that person, you offer service, you offer as much comfort as possible, and you never dare to harm or hurt him or her.

We need wisdom to discriminate what needs to be said and not to be said and when is the right time. This depends on analysis. It's not easy because we don't have clairvoyance. Bodhisattvas say we need clairvoyance in order to benefit sentient beings. Even without omniscient mind, clairvoyance, it is our responsibility to use our intelligence to do as best as we can.

Try your best. It might not be perfect. We can't succeed every time, but sometimes we can.