DHARAMSHALA, December 26: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama yesterday began a week-long teachings on the 18 Great Stages of the Path (Lam Rim) commentaries at Sera Monastery in south Indian state of Karnataka, home to some of the largest Tibetan refugee settlements in India.
The teachings have been requested by His Eminence Ling Choktrul Rinpoche and Gaden Shartse Monastery.
The Tibetan spiritual leader advised his disciples to set a proper motivation whatsoever the topic of discourse is.
“It’s not enough to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha only for this life, or for the good of the next life, or even to attain liberation; we need to take refuge until the attainment of complete enlightenment. The verse we recite includes the word ‘I’, when we say ‘may I attain enlightenment’. What we have to do is examine whether that I or self exists the way it appears.”
Explaining the drawbacks of having an undisciplined mind and the advantages of taming it, His Holiness reiterated that every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering.
“Taming the mind is what we need to do to fulfill our wish for happiness, not to please anyone else. The mind is clouded by a misconception that things have true existence, to overcome which we need to understand selflessness. And in order to overcome self-centeredness, loving kindness is not enough; we need to develop the awakening mind of Bodhichitta.
“Therefore, we need to make the most of our human intelligence and develop a warm heart.
His Holiness spoke about the qualities of a spiritual master and concentrations or the development of a calmly abiding mind.
“Human beings are social animals who depend on each other for survival. But perhaps because they are too intelligent, they tend to disregard the community and adopt a self-centered point of view. Curiously, children are not like this, having little sense of racial or class distinctions, which we seem to acquire as we grow up. We need to act more responsibly,” said 78-year-old Tibetan Nobel laureate.
“Life is precious, but one of our errors is clinging to it as if it’s permanent. The solution is to think about the nine point analysis with its three main headings: death is certain, when death will strike is unknown and the only thing of worth at the time of death is our experience of the Dharma. Even conditions conducive of life can change and become causes of death.”
Around 30,000 people are attending the teachings which is live webcast on the official website of the Tibetan leader with simultaneous translations in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian and Mongolian.
