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beings. Therefore, we are completely responsible for the happiness
of all sentient beings. Each of us is completely responsible for paci-
fying the sufferings of all sentient beings and bringing all of them
temporary and, especially, ultimate happiness.
It doesn t matter whether or not the rest of our family practices
compassion. It doesn t matter even if they hate us and only harm us.
It doesn t matter even if the many millions of people in our country
hate us and only harm us. Even if every sentient being hates and only
harms us, there s nothing much to be depressed about because we re
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lam-rim and meditation on emptiness
just one person. Even if we are suffering, even if we are born in hell,
since we re just one person, there s nothing much to be depressed
about. Even if we achieve liberation, ultimate happiness for our-
selves, there s nothing much to be excited about because we are just
one person, just one living being.
However, if we, the one person, don t have any compassion in our
heart, there s a danger that we will harm numberless other sentient
beings. This is much more terrifying. It has happened many times in
the world that one person has killed many millions of people. By not
practicing patience, by not practicing the good heart, one person can
give great harm to millions of people, not to mention the animals in
ocean and on the ground that are also harmed or killed.
If we ourselves don t practice the good heart there s the danger
of our harming numberless other sentient beings. For us, the one
person, to first practice the good heart is crucial. It s so important
for other sentient beings. It s important for the person we live with
and even more important if there are five or ten other people in our
family. For the millions of people in your country it becomes even
more important that we practice the good heart. And it is even more
important for the numberless human beings, hell beings, hungry
ghosts, animals, asuras and suras. Since suffering sentient beings are
numberless, the need for every single person to practice the good
heart becomes of the utmost importance.
We must practice the good heart. We must generate altruism
toward other sentient beings. In our actions we must abandon giv-
ing harm to others and in addition we must benefit them. Even if
we can t benefit others at least we shouldn t harm them. The very
6 . . . . . .
how things exist
minimum practice is not to harm other sentient beings. If we can t
stop giving harm to other sentient beings, there s no spiritual prac-
tice, no Dharma practice, left.
Levels of benefit
On the basis of not giving harm to others, we then benefit them. Ben-
efiting other sentient beings doesn t mean causing them only tempo-
rary physical and mental happiness in this life. It is more important
to cause others to have long-term happiness, happiness in all their
future lives. Bringing them this benefit is more important because it s
for such an incredible length of time until they stop the suffering
cycle of death and rebirth by generating the remedy of the path in
their mind. Until then, they have to be reborn and die, continuously
experiencing suffering. We need to bring others this long-term ben-
efit, happiness in all their future lives, which is more important than
bringing them temporary comfort and happiness in this life.
More important than simply bringing them happiness in all their
future lives is completely ending all their suffering and its causes
delusion and karma and bringing them ultimate happiness. This
ultimate benefit is more important than the previous one, which
involves bringing them temporary samsaric pleasure. No matter
how much temporary pleasure we bring others, there s no end. They
will continuously create samsara as long as they don t remove its
causes delusion and karma including the ignorance not know-
ing the ultimate nature of the I, the aggregates, the mind and other
phenomena. Until they eliminate their disturbing thoughts they
 . . . . . . 6
lam-rim and meditation on emptiness
will continue to produce karma and continuously create samsara
by leaving imprints on their mental continua for the future-life sam-
sara, the aggregates, which is the basis of rebirth, old age, sickness,
death and all the many other human problems. Until they generate
the path in their mind and eliminate the true cause of suffering, they
will have to experience true suffering again and again. Since from
their side they continuously create the cause of problems, their prob-
lems never end.
If we analyze even the temporary happiness that we bring others,
we see that it is only suffering. Temporary samsaric pleasure is
labeled  pleasure and appears to be pleasure, but it is not pleasure.
We label  pleasure on a feeling that is suffering and it then appears
to be pleasure. It s not real happiness, pure happiness. If it were pure
happiness, the more we worked for it, the more it would increase
day by day, month by month, year by year. But this isn t what hap-
pens the more we work for it, the more the pleasure decreases and
the discomfort increases.
Therefore, bringing others the ultimate benefit of cessation of all
suffering and its causes is much more important than bringing them
the happiness of future lives.
Now, the most important thing, even more important than this,
is to bring all sentient beings to the perfect state of peace of full
enlightenment. Full enlightenment, or buddhahood, is the men-
tal state where all faults have ceased and all realizations have been
completed. Bringing all sentient beings the ultimate benefit of full
enlightenment is the most important thing of all.
In order to complete this work of bringing all sentient beings to
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how things exist
full enlightenment, first we ourselves need to achieve full enlighten-
ment. For that, we need to practice the lam-rim, the graduated path
to enlightenment.
The three beings
The lam-rim has the graduated paths of the beings of three capabili-
ties. The motivation of someone who practices the graduated path
of the being of lower capability is that of having completely left this
life behind, of having completely cut off clinging to this life. That
attitude is generated by meditating on perfect human rebirth (how
it is highly meaningful and will be difficult to achieve again), imper-
manence and death (death will definitely happen, it can happen at
any moment, and at the time of death nothing not our relatives,
the people around us, our possessions nor our body can benefit
us except Dharma), and suffering. If we die without having puri-
fied our negative karma, by having created negative karma, after our
death we will again take rebirth in one of the lower realms, in the
hell, hungry ghost, or animal realm. If we were to be born there, we
would have no happiness and no opportunity to practice Dharma.
We would experience only the heaviest suffering. So, we also medi-
tate on karma.
By generating the realizations of these meditations, we cut off
clinging to this life. The aim of beings of lower capability is to
achieve happiness in future lives, as a deva or human being, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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