Mahayana Mind Training

Mahayana Mind Training

How to Enjoy Obstacles
Date of Advice:
January 2022
Date Posted:
October 2024

Rinpoche advised how to transform sickness into the path to enlightenment in this letter sent to the community at Institut Vajra Yogini, France. There had been an outbreak of COVID-19 amongst students participating in a 108 Nyung-nä Retreat, and it had spread to the wider community.

My most dear, most precious treasure of Vajrayogini, Geshe Loden Rinpoche, and then my most dear, all the Vajrayogini brothers and sisters, everybody who is in the Vajrayogini mandala,

So Geshe Loden explained everyone got this very precious virus.

I want to mention what Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa said:

[By experiencing] this present little suffering,
It finishes the past heavy negative karmas,
And in the future there will be happiness.
Therefore rejoice, be happy that you are experiencing this suffering.

Therefore, you received the virus, so be happy—happy, not hippie, happy. Hippie already [happened] years ago. I am bringing back hippie life now.

The benefits are incredible. By experiencing this [sickness] now, it finishes so many heavy negative karmas from so many past lives. Wow. Can you imagine, from beginningless rebirth, so many heavy negative karmas, it makes to finish them, so that is the benefit.

Otherwise, you have to be in the lower realms, and for eons and eons you have to suffer in the cold hells, in the hot hells, in all those major and secondary hells. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Can you imagine?

This experience, this virus, it makes to finish all the past heavy negative karma, and what happens in the future is that you will be like the sun shining in the world. Everybody in the whole world, people and animals, enjoy the sun rising. Then there will be so much happiness and from life-to-life you will go to enlightenment.

There are many other benefits from experiencing suffering. There are many other benefits, but I’ll just mention this much.

The other most important thing you have to know is that bad and good are not outside; it is up to your mind. Whatever happens in your life, bad or good, is up to your mind. It’s like the TV channel—when you change the channel, there is fighting, or there are people having a party, people singing, dancing, trying to show they are enjoying, thinking it is real pleasure. Then there’s fighting, or people are crying, wow, wow, wow, wow; [fighting in] more wars. Whether it’s bad or good, it is up to the mind, how we think, how the mind uses the virus. So it is like that.

So any suffering we have, relationship problems or anything else, we can use that. Like the quotation I mentioned above. Then it is positive, then having the problem is positive; it is so good.

Of course, by cherishing I, having attachment, then we suffer—wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow—we suffer, suffer, suffer. It’s like that.

I want to mention one thing: the self-cherishing thought has been harming us. We have been following the self-cherishing thought, we’re under the control of self-cherishing from beginningless lives, not just from this birth, not from this morning, not from birth, but from beginningless rebirths. So, we’ve been harming ourselves, cheating ourselves, harming ourselves from beginningless rebirths, and we’ve been suffering from beginningless rebirths in samsara.

Then again we will suffer without end; without practicing bodhicitta, but by following the self-cherishing thought, we will suffer and we will experience the suffering in samsara without end, so that’s the problem.

Not only that, we see ourselves as so precious, wow, but it is so harmful [to think like that.] So now we [should] think of others, the numberless sentient beings, the numberless hell beings, who are so precious, like us—the numberless hungry ghosts who are so precious, like us, the numberless animals who are so precious, like us, like the ants, the mosquitoes, the numberless animals, who are so precious, like us, and the numberless human beings who are so precious, like us. Then the numberless suras, asuras and intermediate state beings who are so precious, like us. Wow.

We’re under the control of the self-cherishing thought, because of not practicing with bodhicitta, and we have harmed all the sentient beings from the six realms. All the sentient beings have been harmed, and they have been suffering in samsara from beginningless rebirths, so this has already happened.

So then, if we don’t practice bodhicitta, if we don’t actualize bodhicitta, if we don’t meet Dharma, wow, wow, wow, then not only do we suffer in samsara without end, but we cause the sentient beings to suffer. We harm all the numberless sentient beings, then they suffer without end. They suffer in samsara without end, again. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Even if we cause just one sentient being to suffer like this, it is incredible, wow, how bad the self-cherishing thought is, how harmful it is, how it is our worst enemy. Wow, wow, wow, wow.

Sentient beings are numberless, therefore the virus is not harming us, it is helping us, because the virus is destroying our self-cherishing thought. The virus is harming our self-cherishing thought, that’s what we have to know, what we must recognize.

By destroying the self-cherishing thought, it is possible to have bodhicitta and that causes us to achieve enlightenment, and then we can finish all the obscurations, the mistakes, and complete all the qualities. After that, we can liberate the numberless sentient beings from samsara. Wow, wow, wow, wow.

And then after that, we can bring them to enlightenment. That all comes from us achieving enlightenment; all that comes from bodhicitta, wow!

So we have to look at it that way, thinking that the virus is helping us, then it becomes most precious, like a treasure, most precious, like a wish-granting jewel, like treasure, so very precious.

In Tibetan we have 424 diseases, and then 360 spirit possessions and 84,000 interferers.
So there’s no question about this virus. All those things which are kind of harmful, everything is transformed if we think in this way, then everything is supportive for us to achieve enlightenment, and there are no obstacles in our life. 

Therefore, the virus is so supportive for us to achieve enlightenment by destroying the self-cherishing thought. It is like that.

Therefore, we have no obstacles in the life. All the obstacles that we have in our life, the obstacles to practicing Dharma, all become the path to enlightenment. So there’s no obstacles in the life.

This is how to enjoy the sufferings or obstacles. That is lojong, the key lojong. It is a very, very, very important lojong point. So try as much as possible; try as much as possible.

There are mantras to recite, but you should try this, lojong. We need to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, so we utilize the obstacles on the path to enlightenment.

So, do lojong as much as possible, because our mind is not well-trained in lojong. Those who have trained well in lojong, their mind is so happy, however much suffering there is. The more suffering, their mind is more happy, blissed that.

Since many of us are beginners, we must try as much as possible to develop this.

Then recite the Vajra Armor mantra. Geshe Loden will know this and it is online. Also recite Black Manjushri mantra.

Thank you very much! See you soon.

With much love and prayers ...

Burdened by Obstacles
Date of Advice:
January 2021
Date Posted:
March 2023

A student felt overwhelmed by obstacles, persecution and possible spirit harm, and was not sure how much more they could handle. In key moments of their life, such as career, spiritual practice and relationships, many obstacles had appeared and were increasing.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche writing cards at Buddha Amitabha Pure Land, USA, October 2016. Photo: Holly Ansett.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
I am sorry it took many eons to reply. If you think like that, that you do not exist, then you do not have to work or to eat or to do anything. Anyway, I am just joking mentioning this.

My advice to you is to recite the White Umbrella prayer, the elaborate one. Recite this every day for two weeks.

Also recite the Heart Sutra forty times, if possible, with meditation, recognizing that oneself and all the obstacles are a hallucination. What appears and what we believe as real, it does not exist.

I am not saying there is no I. There is an I creating good karma, happiness, suffering, the lower realms, nirvana and enlightenment. That I, what is there, exists in mere name. It is merely labeled by the mind and there is a valid base, but even that is merely labeled by our mind. Nothing exists from its own side. The whole world, the family, etc., do not exist from their own side.

If you think like this, this is the essence of the Heart Sutra, then that is excellent. This gives the main idea. If you can follow according to the words of that, which is meditation, then it’s very good, because it overcomes or eliminates all the obstacles. Not only that, but most importantly, it eliminates the root of samsara—the ignorance holding the real I, and from that, it eliminates karma and delusion and from that, it eliminates even the oceans of samsara suffering.

So this way of meditating is the Madhyamaka Prasangika view of emptiness. This is the only wisdom of emptiness, the only one which can eliminate the root of samsara—the ignorance holding the I as real. There is the emptiness of the other schools, such as Vaibhashika (Great Exposition), Sautrantika (Sutra) and Cittamatra (Mind Only), and there is also the Madhyamaka Svatantrika (Middle Way Autonomy) school. These other three schools, their emptiness, their view of ultimate reality, does not eliminate the root of samsara, but it helps us come to understand the Madhyamaka Prasangika view.

Developing wisdom with bodhicitta and developing bodhicitta with wisdom, then we achieve the dharmakaya and rupakaya, and we achieve enlightenment. Then we are able to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and take them to enlightenment. So the motivation for reciting the Heart Sutra is for this, to enlighten oneself and all sentient beings. Also, the motivation for reciting the White Umbrella prayer should be similar, to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment.

If we don’t harm others, no one will harm us. It is said in A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life by the great bodhisattva Shantideva:

In the past I gave harm to others,
Therefore, sentient beings harm me.
Therefore, it is so worthwhile to receive harm from others.
(Ch. 6. v. 42)

What it’s saying is that the self-cherishing thought is like a dictator, thinking “I can do any harm to others, but no one can harm me.” This is really an ego trip and there is no reason for it. So, it’s worthwhile to receive harm, because the self-cherishing thought and the ego holding the real I are defeated.

In the teachings it is said that the I, the self-cherishing thought, not only caused us harm from beginningless rebirths and made us suffer in the oceans of the six realms and receive all the suffering in the past, but if we follow this, it will cause us to experience the same suffering in the future. Not only that, we harm numberless sentient beings by killing them, eating them, by doing everything to harm the numberless beings—in the past, from beginningless rebirths until now, and also in the future.

If we follow the self-cherishing thought, that’s how it is the real enemy. If there is no self-cherishing thought, there is no enemy outside. If there is no anger inside, then there’s no enemy outside. By destroying the inner enemy, the anger; if we kill the inner enemy, the self-cherishing thought, the anger, then the numberless enemies outside get killed.

All the outside enemies, that we believed in, actually came from the inner enemy. Who harms us outside is the correct one, because it harms our inner enemy, the I. So it’s worthwhile to see the harm as positive, it’s an unbelievable chance.

The spirits who cause the 424 diseases, the 360 spirit possessions, and the 180,000 gek interferers are the best helpers for us, to destroy our enemy. They all support us. This is the way to use all undesirable things. This is the best way, for the best happiness, using [the problems] in the path to enlightenment. It is the best puja and it helps us achieve enlightenment.

Our enemy is the I, who we dedicate our life to all the time. The self-cherishing thought is like a guru, who we treat like our guru.

So all those human beings and non-human beings are unbelievably kind, so precious, so precious, because they are all helping us to be free from samsara. They are all helping us by destroying our self-cherishing thought. From this we are able to generate bodhicitta and achieve enlightenment.

They are all helping us, therefore they are unbelievably, unbelievably kind, extremely, extremely kind. Even if we offer them skies of wish-granting jewels or diamonds to thank them, it is not enough to repay their kindness.

If you are able to rejoice and to think in this way, wow, wow, wow, wow! Unbelievable, unbelievable! Most unbelievable! This is the best Dharma practice, the best thought transformation.

That means you are able to use any undesirable thing in your life, and give it to your enemy, this self-cherishing thought, the I, the real I. Then you will have no obstacles in your life, and any obstacles you see, you can utilize them in the path to enlightenment.

Thank you very much. Good night, because I wrote this to you in the nighttime, until almost two a.m., so I am saying good night.

In regard to your main deity, to practice for your quickest enlightenment in order to enlighten all beings the quickest it is: Most Secret Hayagriva and Chenrezig Gyalwa Gyatso.

From these two deities you can choose, depending on which of these you feel closer to. You can take both initiations, if the opportunity comes. Then whichever you feel strongest then you can do the retreat, or you can do retreat for both deities. Not only do the retreat, but practice in your daily life. After you have had the initiation, then practice. Do the sadhana and retreat, do the practice in daily life and in that way, through that, you will become the deity and achieve enlightenment.

The other thing is to do is the practice called The Method to Transform a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment). [This text now has the title: How to Make My Lives Wish-fulfilling.] This is very good for you to practice.

With much love and prayers ...

There Is Nothing That Belongs to You
Date of Advice:
January 2021
Date Posted:
January 2023

A nun explained that she had been donating money to a monastery but later found out that the lay manager of the monastery guesthouse had cheated her by secretly withholding quite a lot of money for himself. Rinpoche typed this reply.

You should feel so happy that your life has been very beneficial for sentient beings for whom you have taken the bodhisattva vows. Please remember this every day when you take the bodhisattva vows. You have to practice the six paramitas, including charity, patience and so forth.

When you take the wishing vow, your body, speech and mind, and belongings and three-times merits [are given] to every sentient being. That includes the monastery manager and anybody who cheated you as a Westerner. In reality there is nothing that belongs to you. OK?

So in reality there is nothing to cling to that, thinking, “This is mine.” Please write this down in your prayer book, the Six-Session Guru Yoga.

In your practice, you especially dedicate to those who harm you. You benefit them in return, with strong compassion for those beings. [This is] in many books.

Every Six-Session Guru Yoga includes totally giving your body and possessions and three-times merits to the six-realm sentient beings. That means every human being, including the manager, and every ant, mosquito and fly, down to the tiniest creature.

For example, when you dedicate the merits of the past, present and future to every sentient being, they get the merit, like every ant, every mosquito, the tiniest insects, every hell being and every preta being. They need this very badly.

When you do puja, for example, or create virtuous actions, the person who is dead gets the benefits, and many are able to return in human form. So like this, everyone gets the benefits including your enemy whom you really hate and don’t want to see. He also gets [the benefits].

Rinpoche added: Please write all this down and send it to Holly so that it can benefit many sentient beings. People can see so clearly what an incredible practice this is. Do it before you die.

Think How Kind They Are
Date of Advice:
July 2021
Date Posted:
April 2022

Rinpoche gave this advice to a student who asked about stealing. The student had ordered an item online and did not get charged for shipping. She later paid the company but did not receive thanks from them.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Ven. Thubten Kunsang, Sera Monastery, India, January 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.

When you thought, “I got it," and you thought it belonged to you, that is base thought. The goal was that you got the item, and thinking that it belongs to you completes the action of stealing. If you did not think that, then the karma is not completed.

It would be very kind to remind the company that you are a Buddhist and you are practicing holy Dharma, which means to not harm sentient beings and only to benefit them. You can remind them of that. Probably they forgot [to charge you for shipping] and this can become a teaching for them. It shows them how to be a good human being and introduces Buddhism to them. In reality, this is the best response.

The student later contacted the company and sent the money, but they didn’t thank her. Rinpoche replied:

That is so good for your ego, the self-cherishing thought and the ignorance which holds the I as real, as existing from its own side, which lets you suffer in the oceans of samsaric suffering in the six realms numberless times. Again your self-cherishing thought is letting you suffer in the six realms numberless times without end.

If we do not practice holy Dharma, with bodhicitta and wisdom seeing right view, [we will suffer] in this life. And not only that; that is nothing. How harmful [the self-cherishing] is, because it causes us to harm numberless sentient beings. We are made to suffer from beginningless rebirths, and again we cause suffering to the sentient beings numberless times.

How harmful it is, causing the heaviest suffering for countless eons for us, but that is nothing compared to the suffering of even ten or five sentient beings in samsara. And our own suffering is nothing compared to that of numberless sentient beings, whose suffering in samsara is unimaginable. We always follow those wrong concepts, the self-cherishing thought and the ignorance holding the I.

What is really needed, the best thing, is to think how kind they are, even though they did not thank you. They are so kind that even if you gave them skies of wish-granting jewels, it is not enough to repay them. This is the most important teaching and meditation—lojong, thought transformation. It can help so many people transform suffering into happiness and enlightenment.

Even skies of wish-granting jewels alone do not stop rebirth in the lower realms, but lojong, transforming our thoughts, causes full enlightenment and helps numberless sentient beings.

Everything Comes from the Mind
Date of Advice:
September 2018
Date Posted:
October 2020

Rinpoche sent this advice about mind training (lojong) to a family whose son was injured after falling out of a window.

Artwork by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

My very dear one,
It appears bad luck, but actually you are extremely lucky that you did not die and didn’t break anything. That is very surprising.

The reality of what happened is that it is a good thing. Why? Because it is the result of negative karma which is now being purified. It is negative karma that caused this and if we don’t purify our past negative karma, then the problems go on and on, from life to life. Any problems that we have, we can think like this.

As the great Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa, an ancient meditator, said:

This present experience of suffering
(You can relate this to whatever you are experiencing)
Finishes my past negative karma.
This is the advantage and in the future there will be great happiness.
Therefore, rejoice in this suffering.

Then in the future our life will be like the sun shining in the world. From the sun shining, everyone enjoys that—all the people and animals enjoy it, and the plants grow.

By experiencing the problem now with a good heart for others, for the numberless sentient beings to achieve all the happiness up to enlightenment. If we experience the problem with bodhicitta, then we will attain the peerless happiness, enlightenment.

If we are able to see the benefits of our problems, then we can use any situation on the path up to enlightenment. For example, even if we get a snake bite, we can cut the skin and take the venom out.

This water is blessed with many mantras. It is to benefit not only the body but also the mind, which is where our problems come from.

In reality everything comes from the mind. Samsara and nirvana come from the mind; hell comes from the mind and enlightenment comes from the mind; our everyday happiness and problems come from our mind. All our problems, which are due to the wrong way of thinking, come from the mind. Happiness, which means the correct way of thinking, also comes from our mind. Therefore, we can stop all our life problems.

So you can see that you have happiness in your hands. Therefore, you have total freedom and if you change your thoughts, your way of thinking, that solves all your problems.

I would like to send you a Chenrezig thangka—Chenrezig is the Buddha of Compassion—so you can look at the thangka and visualize Chenrezig looking at you with a loving mind. Chenrezig is sending you beams of white nectar that illuminate you and totally heal you, so all your negative karma collected since beginningless rebirths is purified. Then think that you are totally healed. Chenrezig absorbs into you and you receive all the qualities, so you can be of benefit to all sentient beings.

With many, many prayers ...

Offering Service to Others, Who Are Most Precious and Kind
Date of Advice:
June 2018
Date Posted:
May 2020

A student was very ill and had impaired mobility, so she needed assistance with washing, eating and toileting. Another student who visited her said he wouldn’t be able to bear her suffering for even one hour, and wondered why she was experiencing such severe suffering in this life. Rinpoche wrote this letter explaining karma and the importance of serving her gently and sweetly, with compassion.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the cave of the Lawudo Lama, Solu Khumbu, Nepal, 1970. Photo: Robbie Solick.

Here I wanted to pass this on for you to please think about:

By thinking about the suffering of hell beings, pretas [hungry ghosts] and animals, if you compare your friend’s suffering with that, it is still like great peace and happiness.

In early years she told me, in a kind of shocked way, that in this life she thinks it would not have been possible that she created the karma for this to happen, and she asked what wrong karma she did in this life for this to happen. She didn’t feel she had done anything that bad.

It’s so important to understand that this suffering came from karma. It did not just happen from its own side; it happened due to a cause. She must have created the cause—the karma— from her own side, but she thought that she hadn’t created such bad karma.

Many Dharma students, even non-Dharma people, may also think like this, because they do not understand karma. Even karma created in this life, depending on how heavy it is, can cause this. It depends on how heavy it is.

You also have to relate to past lives and the past karma from beginningless rebirths. If you don’t think in this way, then it becomes strange. It seems like the suffering and the karma is independent, that it is not created by the mind; that it does not come from the mind.

In reality we could have created much worse karma, even in this life, but now we have to think about the karma collected from beginningless rebirths—all kinds, all kinds, all kinds. However, we don’t know, we don’t have omniscience, we don’t even have clairvoyance, even knowing just one past or future life.

Using my own experience, I sometimes have my mala around my neck, and then I look for the mala outside but I cannot find it. There is no mala. This has happened to me a few times. There could be other funny examples, but I will try to not waste time remembering them.

In Tibet there is one story about counting animals. You are riding an animal and you have a certain number of animals that you have to keep count of. You never count the animal you are riding—you only count the other animals—so there is always one animal missing.

According to the fourth verse of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation:

Whenever I see beings who are wicked in nature
And overwhelmed by violent negative actions and suffering,
I shall hold such rare ones dear,
As if I had found a precious treasure.

This verse is [about how to view those sentient beings] whose nature is so wicked, unbelievably heretical, self-cherishing, incredible egocentric, totally not caring for others, only for themselves, among the numberless sentient beings. Then there is the heavy negative karma created, such as the five heavy negative karmas without break—killing one’s father, mother or an arhat, causing disunity among the Sangha, and drawing blood from a buddha—also, criticizing bodhisattvas or holy beings, or even giving up the guru, breaking one’s samaya and so forth. The result is unbearable suffering.

For example, this student has experienced unbearable pain and suffering for so many years. She has been tormented for so many years, can you imagine? Not just for one year, one month, one week, one hour—not like that. What she is experiencing is unbearable, with so much suffering. She is suffering like this in so many ways.

In her case she has unbelievable pain and there is so much heavy suffering, therefore she has no opportunity to listen, reflect and meditate. The incredible opportunity is not there; she can’t listen, reflect and meditate. This incredible opportunity is blocked. She can’t do anything because of the suffering and as you know, having received this precious human rebirth just one time, there is the capacity to do this, but right now she can’t do this.

Thinking in this way helps us develop stronger compassion. It also helps us develop stronger renunciation, by thinking of the shortcomings of samsara—how samsara is in the nature of suffering. Then because of that we are able to quickly develop stronger compassion, we can quickly develop stronger bodhicitta. That is the cause of being able to achieve enlightenment quicker.

That’s why this person is not only like a wish-granting jewel, she is more than a wish-granting jewel, and not just one wish-granting jewel, but numberless wish-granting jewels, the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels. She is more precious than that. For you, she is so precious.

It is not easy to [think like this] with everyone, and that’s why this verse says these people are rare, so difficult to find. So think like that. That’s why the verse says: “I shall hold such rare ones dear, as if I had found a precious treasure.”

Here, you can see, being able to find this person, there is no comparison with finding a wish-granting jewel or even the whole sky filled with them. This person is unbelievably precious, much more than [skies of wish-granting jewels].

By cherishing her, for example, you can become free from the lower realms. By cherishing her, you become free from samsara. By cherishing her, you become free from the lower nirvana. By cherishing her, it is the cause for you to achieve enlightenment for numberless sentient beings, in order to free them from the oceans of samsara sufferings and bring them into the peerless happiness—the total cessation of even the subtle obscurations and completion of realizations.

Even if you have not only one wish-granting jewel, but limitless skies of wish-granting jewels, she is more precious than that; even though when you pray to them you can get whatever you need—all the comforts, all the material things, all the needs of this life. However, from a wish-granting jewel you cannot be liberated from the lower realms; you can’t be free samsara, just from that; you can’t be free from lower nirvana, just from that. You can’t achieve the peerless happiness—the total cessation of obscurations and completion of realizations—and you can’t free every sentient being from the oceans of samsara sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment.

This is the practice based on the fourth verse of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. It is so important, like having found wish-granting jewel at your own home, without the need to look for it outside.

So my idea is that people should go to help her with this bodhicitta, with this compassionate thought, with this understanding. If people go to help her for even five minutes, half an hour or one hour, it would be so good in order to develop their mind—for their purification and to collect extensive merits with a bodhicitta motivation.

Just to clarify, here I am explaining the commentary of the fourth verse from the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. It does not mean that her mind is wicked in nature and so forth.

Her suffering—the unbearable pain and many problems she has been experiencing for so many years—is the result of very heavy karma. This is how to relate to her actual situation. It can help to understand why samsara is in the nature of suffering for us.

By mentioning the need to offer service to her, that is to especially generate strong compassion, which enables us to achieve enlightenment quickly. Therefore, it is most unbelievably worthwhile to help her, to serve her, even for one day, half a day, one hour, fifteen minutes or even five minutes.

Serve her gently and sweetly, as pleasantly as possible. Of course, there can be certain things that harm patients and it’s very important to be wise and help them not to do certain things, and to be gentle, not violent and scolding. It can be the case in old age homes and hospitals that some caregivers go there thinking it is just a job, and they don’t do the work with compassion, but do it more for money, for their job. They don’t have respect for the old people and sick people; instead they do it just like a job and then they leave to go home. It is very important to serve from the heart, then it makes a big difference for the elderly and sick people. They feel much happiness.

So if this person accepts and needs help, then it is very good to serve her, and if you can, do it in the way she wants.

We can never tell how it would be if it happened to us. We think that we will never experience this, but in reality, we can never tell—we can’t see what will happen in the future, even tomorrow, even tonight. When we do experience this, we will need an unbelievable amount of help from others. We will become totally dependent on others helping us.

By serving her, an unbelievable amount of negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths is purified and you also collect extensive merits—especially if it is done with bodhicitta, then you collect more than skies of merits.

Even if you don’t care about the benefits that you receive, you still need to serve, as the other person needs your help.

I will just tell my own story because I have the dry name “Rinpoche.” When I was with Lama Yeshe, who had served me for many years, the last time when Lama was going to Los Angeles from Santa Cruz by a small airplane—in the plane there was Mummy Max and maybe Thubten Monlam, and myself, and during the flight I cleaned Lama’s kaka two times. That made Lama very happy. Lama was so happy, and it seemed like Lama Yeshe did that just for me, to purify me and so that I could collect extensive merits, to bring me closer to enlightenment. Of course, this was serving Buddha.

Many students know the story of Asanga, who spent twelve years in retreat trying to achieve [realizations of] Maitreya Buddha. But that happened only after having given up the retreat, when he saw a wounded dog. The lower part of the dog’s body was wounded and full of maggots. Asanga felt unbearable compassion, so he cut a piece of flesh from his thigh and picked up the maggots with his tongue, so as not to harm them. Then he put the maggots on the flesh that he had cut off. As he was picking up the maggots with the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t feel them, so he opened his eyes and instead of seeing the wounded dog he saw Maitreya Buddha.

What happened was that he generated unbelievable compassion by cutting his thigh and picking up the maggots with his tongue, so as not to harm them. By doing that he purified all the defilements that had prevented him from seeing Maitreya Buddha. Now the wounded dog was not there and he was able to see Maitreya Buddha. After that he received teachings on the five sections of Maitreya Buddha’s teachings in Tushita pure land, where one morning is equal to fifty human years.

After that he came down and wrote the five commentaries, [The Five Treatises of Maitreya, Tib: byams chos sde lnga]. From that, numberless beings, by listening, reflecting and meditating on these texts, have completed the path and achieved enlightenment, and if not enlightened then they have achieved the path. Even now in the monasteries and universities these philosophical teachings have been studied from then up to now. This has benefited numberless beings to become free from samsara, all the six-realm sentient beings. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable!

Shakyamuni Buddha practiced charity by giving away his eyes, limbs, body, to the sentient beings for three countless great eons. He also practiced morality, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom for three countless great eons. Then he completed the two types of merits: the merit of wisdom and merit of virtue, and achieved the rupakaya and dharmakaya.

Now we are so fortunate to be able to study the teachings of the Buddha, what the Buddha has taught, from this complete experience. Then especially Lama Atisha wrote the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which simplified all the Buddha’s teachings and is where the lamrim started.

Especially now, how unbelievably, inexpressibly fortunate we are. All of this is from the kindness of the Buddha, who totally dedicated his life to sentient beings, who served sentient beings, even during the time when he was a bodhisattva.

The conclusion is that all this came from the kindness of sentient beings.

Another story is in the commentary of Vajrayogini. Getsul Tsimbulwa was the disciple of a great yogi called Ngagpa Chöpawa. Getsul Tsimbulwa was a monk living in thirty-six vows. First his teacher came, because he was going for his last conduct (tantric conduct) in Oddiyana, which I think is near West Bengal. There was a big river and at the river’s edge there was a totally poor lady, full of leprosy disease. Pus and blood were coming out of her and she was very dirty. She asked, “Please take me to the other side of the river.” The great yogi Ngagpa Chöpawa did not listen and he went straight across the river without helping her.

Then his disciple Getsul Tsimbulwa came along and she asked him the same thing. As soon as he saw her, unbelievable compassion arose. He did not care at all that by touching her he might also get leprosy, and also that she was a woman, therefore as a monk he could not touch her. So he immediately carried her across the river on his back. When he was only halfway across the river, because of the compassion he had generated, he purified so much negative karma and obscurations. Then the lady was no longer that dirty ordinary lady, but actually Dorje Phagmo, who is the same as Varayogini. She was Dorje Phagmo from the beginning but he could not see that before. Now he saw her as Dorje Phagmo and then without the need to leave his body, she took him to Dagpa Khachö, Vajrayogini’s pure land. Once you are there it means that you can definitely become enlightened. This is one of the pure lands where you can become enlightened.

So this came from the unbelievable, unbelievable compassion which arose. Therefore, we must totally dedicate our whole life to serving others. In this story Getsul Tsimbulwa carried the lady on his back and from this he totally purified his negative karma which projected the totally terrible, dirty, diseased lady, full of leprosy, pus and blood and so forth. Then he saw the deity. She was the deity before, but now he actually saw the deity.

This means that due to strong compassion you can achieve enlightenment, and not only that, it brings you to enlightenment quickly. You dedicate your life to serving other sentient beings, and they bring you to enlightenment quickly. So that’s the conclusion. There are numberless stories that explain this.

When you serve this person, by knowing the benefits, by realizing and keeping this in your mind, you can serve her as the most precious, kindest, dearest, wish-fulfilling jewel. It is from her that you receive all the happiness, from beginningless rebirths, from the present time and up to enlightenment. You receive all the three times’ happiness from her.

By taking refuge in the numberless Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha you will become free from the lower realms, free from samsara, free from lower nirvana and you will achieve the peerless happiness, free from all the obscurations and having completed all the realizations. Then you are able to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara suffering and bring them to buddhahood.

All the numberless buddhas, Dharma and Sangha—relating here to this person—come from her. When you serve her, think how precious she is. Serve her with this in your mind. Then your work doesn’t become just like a job; it becomes the most important Dharma practice in order to quickly to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings.

Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers ...

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