Other Religions

Other Religions

Compassion for all Living Beings
Date of Advice:
October 2013
Date Posted:
April 2014

A student wrote to say she had stopped doing the practices Rinpoche gave her after she became a Christian. She asked to be released from the practices because she felt uncomfortable.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling Julie,
Thank you for your email. I am very sorry for the long delay. Yes, I understand your difficulties, having a different faith. Actually the more you understand Buddhism, the more you can understand Christianity, not from what other people explain to you, but from the heart. For example, in Christianity there is God, so if you know Buddhism you can think about the dharmakaya.

I understand that in Christianity people don’t believe in reincarnation, but there is resurrection, so if you don’t believe in God you go to hell and if you believe in God you go to heaven. Actually this explains reincarnation, how the consciousness goes to a different world, either hell or heaven. Reincarnation and karma are due to action, so it’s the same as in Buddhism. Karma (this is Sanskrit) means due to actions, so depending on what you do, the result is positive or negative. So there are some things that are similar in Christianity and Buddhism, but of course when you go into the details some things become different and some things are the same.

If you really know how to think, if you really know Buddhism, then you can make Christianity much deeper, with your own view and your own understanding. You will even have a much better understanding, the deeper you understand Buddhism. So this is how I think, how in Christianity reincarnation and karma are explained—if you don’t believe in God, then you go to hell and so forth.

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave the Kalachakra initiation in Dharamsala the first time, he said that Jesus Christ is a bodhisattva.

As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, all religions that have conduct and views as their main instruction are telling people to have a good heart and love and compassion for the living beings. That is the main focus, and it is the same for many religions. So the conclusion is the same, to generate loving kindness and compassion to others, to not harm and to benefit others. It’s the same in Buddhism and the other major religions.

Yes, of course you can [stop the practices]. It is your choice, yes, and you don’t have to feel uncomfortable with the advice I gave you in the past. You can be free from that.

Also, your mind will change later, from a smaller view to a deeper view. Your mind will change, so later you will have a deeper understanding, and later you can do the practices, but now you can be free. Later when you able to, you will understand and see deeper. So at the moment you can have a holiday, have a nice vacation.

So that’s very good, thank you very much, I want to say the most important thing is to develop compassion for all living beings, to stop giving harm and to benefit others also. Not only people, but even the insects, any sentient being. Even the tiniest insect that you can’t see with your eye but can see with a machine and the largest insect, as big as a mountain.

Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers...

 

Kind People in Iran
Date Posted:
July 2013

An Iranian student who was very depressed asked Rinpoche for advice. Rinpoche sent this hand-written card to the student. Lightly edited for publication.

My most dear one,
I am very happy you called; Holly told me. I had been checking whether you had rung, because I was concerned about you. I often think that you are a great human being, a beautiful human being. I am very happy there are some very kind people in Iran, even though many others are very heavy.

With big love and prayer ...

Please enjoy this bird and cards, mala and all the rest. Thank you. Please read the Arya Sanghata Sutra and the Golden Light Sutra.

Buddhism: An Unmistaken Object of Refuge
Date Posted:
January 2012

Rinpoche sent the following letter to a student in December 2011.

My dear Paul and family,
How are you? I am well. At Dharamsala, Khadro-la is my main doctor and I have been going to a hot spring. It is not very well-known and it takes more than an hour to drive to.  Khadro-la says it is a Heruka holy place; the water is not too hot and it is very good water. Even though it is not so well-known, people do go there. Also, I have been doing lum, which is a Tibetan herbal bath treatment; you buy a bag of the herbs and put them in the bathtub. I do this as much as possible.

At the moment I am doing retreat and I will soon be going to Bodhgaya for the Kalachakra initiation. Soon His Holiness the Dalai Lama is giving Heruka initiation in Dharamsala.

I heard that the Kopan Sherpa monk Geshe Chonyi, who studied in Sera Je with 3,000 monks, has completed his study on the extensive, major five scriptures of Buddhism and also he has studied tantra for many years—he has been teaching in Singapore and now he is enthroned as Kopan abbot. I heard that many Sherpa organizations and the heads of these organizations joined Kopan for the enthronement. I think it is very, very good, very good that they saw Kopan, where there is extensive learning of Buddhism—not just learning the essence and doing retreat in the mountains—not just that, but deep learning similar to Sera, Ganden and Drepung, for many years, so many years. This gives many Sherpas the opportunity to learn and from that many expert geshes come out and then they help in Nepal, in their own country. Hopefully this has opened their eyes to understand that Buddhism is so extensive and deep, that it is not just a custom that people believe in. It is not just a custom; not just a reciting mantra or something like that.

By having some understanding of what Buddha has taught— the hundred of volumes of the Kangyur and the great pandits, holy beings who gave commentaries of 200 volumes, the  Tengyur, and then the many commentaries from the Indian and Tibetan great lamas, enlightened beings of the four sects. Wow! Wow! Wow! Amazing! Amazing!

Buddhism is not just some practice of blind faith. Of course, some people just have faith in Buddha, which is an unmistaken object of refuge, but in the rest of the world there are so many thousands of religions which have the wrong object of refuge. People have faith in an object that can’t help, because ordinary beings are themselves suffering in samsara, so they are not free from samsara and they don’t have complete power to help others. So many people have faith in the wrong objects of refuge that can’t help, not even with a good rebirth, leave aside liberation from samsara, nirvana and then full enlightenment

Maybe there are some things in Christianity, like living in the precepts, living in morality, not giving harm to others and also in some Hindu religions— that one can achieve form and formless realms. Hinduism is a little bit deeper, but the Hindu gods are all in samsara.

According to Buddhism, those realms are still in samara, even in the highest one, the formless realm, where there are four levels—infinite sky, infinite consciousness, nothingness and the tip of samsara. All these levels are in suffering nature, except the last one, where the gods can’t realize that it is in suffering nature, because there is nothing to compare it to. They don’t have renunciation of the whole entire samsara, so then they get reborn again in samsara. When they get to the highest level, they believe they have achieved liberation, then when they realize they have to be reborn in samsara again, at that time they generate strong heresy and then get reborn in hell

So in Buddhism, even if we have no understanding and just have blind faith, the object that we have faith in is the unmistaken, most worthwhile Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the Buddhadharma—even without understanding the details, what they are, how they exist, etc, it is  most unbelievable, fortunate.

With much love and prayers...

 

View of God
Date Posted:
November 2005

A benefactor asked Rinpoche, on behalf of her daughter, what was his view of God.

If you are thinking of God as a creator of your life’s happiness and suffering, who exists separately from your mental continuum, this kind of God doesn’t exist. But if you mean an omniscient mind that pervades all phenomena, that does exist.

Why is God not your creator? Because even in daily life, if you practice patience, then you don’t harm yourself and others. You bring peace and happiness to yourself and others. If you act with anger, you harm yourself and others. From this you can see that what Buddha said in his teachings is true: You are your own guide and also your own enemy. God is certainly not your creator.

 

Dangers of Religion
Date Posted:
October 2005

Rinpoche gave the following advice to a woman who had been the president of a Native American nation in the Midwest and one of the leaders of many Native Americans. She came to speak with Rinpoche because she had some confusion about certain Native American religious beliefs.

People always advertise their goods as the best: “Mine is best!” How do you decide what to choose? What are you going to believe? If you make the wrong choice, you will be cheated. You will obtain something of poor quality and lose out. The solution is, you should use your own wisdom, and learn to differentiate the qualities of the goods. It is similar in the case of religion.

Religion can be extremely dangerous. If you choose a mistaken path, you can be cheated by it your whole life. Not only that, you are also cheated for many future lives, because you will make mistakes in this life, and how your future turns out depends on this life. Whether your future lives will be good or bad depends on how you lead this one. You might create an unfortunate rebirth and suffering in hell or animal realms. If you have incorrect beliefs, believing wrong things are right, like believing that there is no such thing as liberation from cyclic existence, then that affects your next life. It can be very dangerous, not only for yourself, but also if you lead others according to wrong views. You can bring so many sentient beings to suffering in the lower realms, to hell and to rebirth as hungry ghosts.

People tend to believe their religion is the best; however, it is extremely important to analyze this with wisdom. You need to develop your wisdom.

Upon analysis, we find Buddhism is extremely beneficial. It is able to discriminate between right and wrong, not only in terms of religions, but for anything in life. If parents have knowledge of Buddhism, they can judge what is right and wrong for their children. Otherwise, children can get caught up in the causes of suffering and problems in this life, and especially in future lives. So it is very helpful to understand Buddhism. Even if you don’t practice it, it gives such a clear view. You can look at anything and determine what is right and what is mistaken. Even if you are not Buddhist, this knowledge can help a lot.

The essence of religion should be compassion. Anything that harms others, such as sacrificing animals, is not good. Don’t do things that harm others. If you harm others, other sentient beings will harm you. If you benefit others, you will receive benefit from other sentient beings. This is the law of nature, like when you plant a seed and it becomes a tree with branches and fruit. You can practice another religion, but don’t harm others.

You should pass on your knowledge and wisdom to others. Pass on whatever is correct, and educate them to have compassion and positive attitudes that enable them to help others. This way, people will experience so much happiness in this life and in their future lives as a result of their actions, which is the same as good karma.

Religion is about happiness, not suffering. Real religions bring happiness and peace into your life and in the lives of others.

With love and many prayers...