Advice to Center Directors

Rejoice every day. It is essential. This is how to be a fortunate person, as rejoicing eliminates ignorance and delusions and causes happiness. Nagarjuna advised kings who are busy to rejoice in others’ good works and dedicate the merit. Then, success in business or whatever just comes easily.

Jealousy is an obstacle to your happiness in samsara and for your longterm wishes. We should rejoice in others’ good fortune. Practice contentment. Problems arise from desire. Practice forgiveness for those who hurt you.

As a director of a Dharma center you face a lot of things that hurt your ego. This is a great challenge for your practice. When you live in a cave or a tree you don’t see many of your mistakes, you think, “I’m a good person with no delusions,” but still the mistakes are inside.

Being director of a center, so many people are like a mirror teaching you (not from books), forcing out your pride, jealousy, and anger, so you see what has to be purified, you have to apply the antidote. It all shows what impurities you have, the suffering that you have. It’s like a dirty cloth. When a dirty cloth is cleaned with water, not much dirt is seen, but when you add soap it makes the dirt come out. That’s good!

People who talk in a way you don’t like and hurt your attachment are like soap. Accept people who hurt your attachment and self-cherishing. They are helping you by showing you your delusions, to help you be free from samsara, helping you to be perfect, pure, to practice the path.

In the practice of chöd, you invite spirits to you; they create disturbances for you in the cemeteries and haunted places. Your ego, self-cherishing, blows up like a balloon and becomes clear; you see the false “I.” Then you realize emptiness. Washing the dirty cloth of the mind is like army training for many years, so see that you are here in this job, this position, to defeat delusions.

Anyone can chant mantras. Real Dharma is rare. Cherish and care for sentient beings from the heart. When someone creates an angry situation, it is so important to practice patience. This is the real Dharma.

You should try to check if someone knows anyone in the planning department to get an idea of how they view the center. If someone from the planning department does come to check the center, you should apologize. You can explain that it was built under a different director. It is hard to keep it quiet if they do come, but it is possible to do a puja to prevent them from noticing.

You never know when someone can complain about the center. For example, somebody might suddenly get angry at the director, and then complain to the planning department. Therefore, it is very, very important that the center perform pujas continuously—not just when the center’s luck is down, but all the time for the success of the center, and also for the success of people who do retreat, study, and practice at the center. This helps to prevent obstacles, and helps people to be successful in their practice.

The center should recite daily the Heart Sutra, praises to the 21 Taras, and the prayer to remove obstacles, which follows directly after the Heart Sutra and includes the Lion-face Dakini mantra. Every month, besides the normal practices recommended for centers, you should definitely do Tara Puja. From time to time, it is good to do incense puja.

When an actual difficulty happens, you can do the following practices. One is Dala Pandu. This is a puja you perform when you are attacked. By doing this, you energize the white protectors, or devas, that you are born with. Performing this puja increases their power while at the same time it decreases the power of the enemy’s devas. When the enemy’s devas are more powerful, you are defeated. By weakening the deva of the person attacking you, then the person is weakened.

Recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra. This helps when there is a court case. Normally the Heart Sutra is very powerful, but when it is very serious, recite the Diamond Cutter Sutra. Even if you are not involved in a court case, even if there is just a risk of one, you can still recite this sutra.

You should recite the prayer of whichever is the center’s protector as much as you can. That will help the center continue without obstacles, and function well.

The most important thing to avoid receiving problems from others is to recite the prayer called “Gyalsen Tse Moi Punggyen.” You can recite the Tibetan phonetics, but you must pronounce them well. It would be better to have it translated and then recite it in English.

Medicine Buddha practice is very powerful for overcoming problems, and for achieving success. The center should be doing this monthly anyway. It is important for retreat centers and other centers which have practitioners to do Medicine Buddha practice, to help those practicing there.

My most dear Jamie,
I hope you are well and blissed out.

As you know, because we and all beings still live in samsara and have anger, attachment, ignorance, and all the mental garbage, have all these wrong views, that is why we need Dharma centers, which are a place to learn, to practice, to purify and collect merits, to inspire each other, to develop wisdom and compassion, and to achieve liberation and enlightenment. Because we are in samsara and have problems, we need Dharma centers, that is why Dharma centers exist.

Don't you think it is better to think this way rather than to think: because we have Dharma centers, we have problems?

Please give my regards and big love to Jenny and John and my wonderful brother Nicky, who is always full of energy and smiles. I hope he is still like that. If he has any more hats I would love to have a few hats with mantras on, not important to have billions, but just a few to give as presents to people.

My regards and lots of love to you and your family.
With much love and prayers...

Lama Yeshe used to often say it is not up to the mind, it is up to karma. He quite often used to say that or just to accept the situation when things are not happening as you want them to. If something can be remedied or managed then you can try. If there is an opportunity to do something, then you do it. There is no point in being unhappy in this life. If there is something which cannot be remedied at all, then what is the point of disliking it. There is no benefit so it is better to accept it.

If we think of our activities and responsibilities as a burden, then stress and unhappiness come. Then, even when you are doing your job, your mind is not happy. If you look at it as a burden, then lung and stress come and the mind becomes so unhappy. If you look at all your activities and responsibilities as an opportunity to be useful to other sentient beings, as a positive opportunity, thinking how you are so fortunate to be able to benefit others, then that is one technique which might stop you squeezing the mind and getting lung. Lung can also bring high blood pressure and that affects your health. Thinking this other way brings joy and happiness in one’s heart; so, this might help.

It is essential always to remember to keep a mind of bodhicitta. That should be the main refuge in life. And think that what you are doing is according to the wishes and advice of the guru. Always think how sentient beings are most kind and precious, and are suffering. The whole purpose of this life is to serve others and to ensure they have happiness in all future lives, and to give one’s own life to sentient beings, who are most kind and precious, and who are countless. Develop your inner qualities and realizations of the path. In this way, you are able to offer deeper and better success and more extensive qualities to others; to liberate others from sufferings and cause them to achieve not only temporary but ultimate happiness.

His Holiness says: “As long as the sky exists and suffering beings exist, I will abide and I will eliminate the sufferings of sentient beings as much as possible.”

In everyday life practise mindfulness as much as possible. Think: Everyone is wish-fulfilling for all my happiness, so I myself will be a wish-fulfilling jewel for all sentient beings.

My very dear (director),
Thank you very much for your great dedication and service to me and to the center, which is service to sentient beings and to the teachings of the Buddha.

My experience when meeting you is that you always have a calm quality and are easy to communicate with. You may not be involved with sadhanas and mantras, but your heart is very good and genuine. The purpose of sadhanas, prayers, and mantras is to make you into a good human being with a good heart. From being a good human being with a good heart, it is possible to become a holy being. From being a holy being, it is possible to become a Buddha. Then you can end all sentient beings’ suffering.

During this period, the center’s work is very important. This is a very crucial stage in the center’s life, in order for it to be able to benefit others on a large scale, benefiting thousands of others, for many years to come.

I deeply appreciate your having accepted this job and doing it seriously and sincerely.

I will send a separate letter to the other member of the center’s committee who wrote to me about you.

My very dear one,
I would like to express many many thanks and appreciation from the bottom of my heart for your limitless kindness, since I met you at Kopan Monastery. If I include your past lives, then your kindness has no beginning.

You offered your family house as the Dharma center, and very kindly tried to keep the center there as long as possible. You offered immeasurable kindness for years, and when there was a great need for a chairperson, you very kindly accepted, even though you were so busy with many obligations.

So, now it seems the karma has changed and it is another person’s turn to be chairperson. She has already happily accepted. As soon the request was made, she cried.

Even though you are no longer chairperson, I hope, as we have made a connection due to past karma, that you and your husband will have a continual connection and bond with me and that you can help the organization like before, so that it can benefit the teachings of Buddha and sentient beings.

I will make prayers for your family. Please pass this message to your husband and tell him that I will put a lot of effort into the center so that it can benefit sentient beings.

With much love and prayers...