My most dear, most kind, most precious wish-fulfilling ones,
Thank you for your kind email. Even though you study a lot, if you don’t practice and internalize the study, then you will have the same problems. If you don’t practice, then you may have the same problems or even more problems. Practicing is so important and internalizing the teachings is most important.
In regard to selling your house, it could be that the price is too high. I wonder if that is the problem as it has been so long that you have been trying.
First you must have the karma; this is what Dharma says and what Buddha says. These problems are related to karma. If you don’t have the karma to get the money then it doesn’t happen, even if the price is changed. So you have to think about this and analyze the different reasons.
Not being able to sell a house is not only happening to you. I know many other people who are in the same situation, who have a house to sell and no one is buying for many years. Even if someone wants to buy it, they change their mind at the last minute and they don’t want it any more.
There is one puja that needs to get done, called lü dang sadag gi don drol [Liberating from Harm of the Naga and Landlord]. This is a very good puja for business. There is one old monk who comes out best to do this puja for you. He lives in Pokhara, Nepal. Yangsi Rinpoche knows him, so I will call Yangsi Rinpoche and ask if he can arrange for this old monk to come to Kopan to do the puja, and also to do it with some Kopan monks. They can learn from him and watch how he does it. I will let you know once this is arranged, as it may take some time to arrange.
You both need to recite Black Six-arm Mahakala prayer, maybe one thousand or ten thousand times, or as much as possible, in order to be able to sell the house. It comes out best to sell the house; not selling the house has very small benefit.
I checked and it seems best for you both to study the Masters Program. When you learn the lamrim in the Basic Program, shamatha is there. This is in the Basic Program; it is there and you should have already learnt that. My advice is for you both to not only learn as much as possible, but to integrate what you learn into your life, to practice it.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama often advises the Tibetan people and others that it is so important to not just live our life with faith, but as much as possible to understand Buddhism. His Holiness the Dalai Lama suggests that we can learn about different religions, but whether we practice or not is up to us.
My advice is to learn, but then you must integrate the lamrim. Whatever you study—Buddhist philosophy, etc.,—you must integrate what you learn and practice lamrim. By practicing lamrim you practice all the extensive philosophical Buddhist teachings. Lamrim is like the key. When the museum door is locked you can’t see anything, but once you open the door you can see everything. The key to the museum door is lamrim.
So you need to integrate lamrim in your life. Lamrim is what you should practice in daily life. This is the essence, to perfectly follow the virtuous friend, renunciation, bodhicitta and right view. Later you can practice tantra, but mainly put effort into actualizing bodhicitta in this life, then after that you can put effort into tantra.
Yes, I understand you haven’t been able to sell your house for so many years, but I’m sure many other people’s houses took ten or twenty years to sell. Here it’s important to understand that everything depends on karma. There is nothing that is not dependent on karma.
For example, regarding Tibetan independence, even after fifty years it is so hard because the Chinese want Tibet and are still against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The situation is so hard, yet every day so many holy beings did many prayers for success, to be able to go back to Tibet and for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s middle way approach. So many holy beings prayed to get the country back, even using the middle way approach, which is for Chinese to take care but for Tibetans to have their own freedom. So many holy beings did so many pujas every year, but you see, it is still up to karma. This is not easy. Once karma is created then it is so difficult, it is not easy. Once negative karma is created then we have to experience the result. It’s not easy to solve immediately.
Every day so many millions of Tibetan people prayed—ordinary people and holy beings did prayers and pujas, but still the Chinese have control. It’s still so hard for Tibetans inside Tibet and the Chinese officials are still against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Prayers are still being done, that is still happening, and we are still trying, still keeping positive, with the aim to get independence using the middle way approach.
I am using this example so you can understand that we have to be very careful. This example is teaching us how very, very careful we have to be in creating karma, every moment in our life. The karma we create with our body, speech and mind, we have to be so careful and we have to pay attention, because when negative karma ripens it can be so difficult.
For example, Tibetan independence. I use this example of losing the whole country for people to understand karma. So many lamas died, so many people were killed or put in prison, so many things were turned upside down. The earth became the sky and the sky became the earth, like that. This was due to the whole country’s negative karma created a long time ago.
I think the Sixth Dalai Lama had very high realizations and total control over the chakras, winds and drops, so he was totally realized in that, but outside he acted differently. He didn’t stay in the palace—he went out at night, down to Lhasa city where he went to see prostitutes and so forth. Then the government scolded him and kicked him out, then the Seventh Dalai Lama came. The Sixth Dalai Lama and the Seventh Dalai Lama actually met on the road—the Sixth Dalai Lama was leaving and the Seventh Dalai Lama was coming to the Potala. So it happened like that. The negative karma to lose Tibet was created a long time ago.
After the Thirteenth Dalai Lama passed away, the government officials disliked each other and they put Reting Rinpoche and other high lamas in prison. Then Reting Rinpoche was killed in prison. That also become a cause for Tibet losing its independence. So the karma was created a long time ago and once created, it is hard to change. I think there were many other causes like this to do with the Tibetan government and the public.
This is just for you to understand. Very heavy negative karma once created is not easy to change overnight. This is a very good subject for understanding karma. We have to be very careful with our body, speech and mind every day, every moment. This is what is explained in the teachings, in the lamrim and in the sutras.
This is not meant to be something that we just study, like at a university, to get a degree or to get money. We have to practice; this is the wisest thing. Of course we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, but we are the main ones who decide every day, every minute, every second, whether we choose hell or enlightenment, whether we choose samsara or nirvana, whether we choose happiness or suffering. It all depends on what we create every hour, every minute, every second. So it’s totally up to us.
Therefore, it is so important to study Dharma to develop our wisdom and compassion. That is the most important thing. Otherwise just sitting there and closing our eyes, putting our hands on our knees, we won’t become enlightened from that.
Please really think about this. I am attaching some advice on how to meditate on the lamrim and my essential advice for daily practice.
With much love and prayers ...