Hard to Face, But True…..
This is the kind of place I WOULD DREAM TO LIVE. On top of a hill, with no surrounding villages or people. Green with lots of trees, prayer flags, wind, mountains, fresh air and simple housing.
I would have wonderful large statues of Buddhas inside with perpetual abundant offerings offered daily. I would do my practice and not be involved with the tricks of Samsara. The illusions of fame, partners, happiness, spouses, money, attention, entertainment, exploration, travel etc etc etc is something I would like to stay away from completely. There was nothing much that can attract me to activities in this world 30 years ago as a kid and it is the same now. I saw through so much as a kid with the people and environment around me.
I looked at the old people in my community. I saw their fears, pains, hopes and dreams of youth now gone. And many were just living because they were alive. They were interested in young people getting a good education, getting married and having kids just like what they did, but what is the point? Where did it get them? Why force people into things you had done that brought you so much senselessness that you see but afraid to admit…..I see young people saying they want to have fun, games, get good grades, get a great job, get rich and have a great spouse. Well I look at some of those people I knew 30 years ago today that wanted the same things and I wonder what is the big deal now. Some of them wonder what was the big deal now also… Their dreams for their lives ahead as youths, end up demystified now in middle age and become very ordinary as middle aged people now just struggling for the next get together with friends for just paying the bills… Bright eyed, bushy tailed and young will only end up old and disenchanted. Why? What is there really to be enchanted about in the first place besides the projections you wished were real??? All those old were young and the cycle goes on and on and on without an end. All those young now will be old soon…. It didn’t make sense to me as a kid. I didn’t want to be involved in this senseless circle..and just use my life for activities that I saw my elders engage in and it ends up nowhere…… I saw through it as a kid I remember growing up in Howell. I told my parents I don’t want to go through and do what they had done. My parents said I was crazy and don’t know what I was talking about. But I did know what I was talking about.
Older people are in loans or own what they own. Bored with most things as they’ve done it and seen and had it. Yet they want younger people to enter the same path as they did and hoping younger people will not end up where they ended up. But how can same causes amount to different or better results?? That defies all laws of the universe/karma. Young people can see with fear and sometimes naivety the seniors and not want to go through the same thing. But yet they start going down the same path egged on by their elders. Why do elders want us to suffer like them….I guess they don’t..they just don’t know it’s suffering? Why as an elder I would push young people toward materialism, empty relationships, fruitless travels and fill their heads with ideas of false projections of the world as I know it. Why hide and cover or pretend it will be different for them? Doesn’t make sense. I would be different for most…just how they get to the problems may differ, but the they will get there. It’s hard to face what I have shared here, but better do so, because it exists anyway.
When I look at my peers around my age now, I have no regrets for being a monk and using my life for others and not myself. Most of them have used their lives for themselves and they have just created problems upon problems for themselves without wanting to. They don’t know what is wrong. I do, but how to explain? They are not bad or evil people, but if they put dharma knowledge in their lives, so much of what they had to endure was not necessary. This writeup is not to criticize my peers, or people or anyone. It is not to say I am better. I am the same as all of them. The difference is I thought and saw things in a Dharma light and that made A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN MY LIFE NOW AS COMPARED TO OTHERS AROUND ME. It doesn’t make me better, but I can better utilize my life with a purpose that is much more fulfilling than the ordinary mundane existence I would have lived without dharma. I am not better than anyone, but I am happy to use my life for others and not myself ..
This type of situation and environment is my idea life and place…..that I would like to have lived, on the mountains with trees as you see in this picture. Seeing this picture evokes and inspires what I just wrote.
Just sharing,
Tsem Rinpoche
But the worst would be after working so hard for this life , wanting so much money , fame , positions , children, fighting with ppl , backstabbing and etc. We end up old , achieve nothing , grumpy , sad , tired , ANGRY at everything , regrets and we basically have nothing NOT even the slightest knowledge of Dharma that can save us !
Some of the ppl i have met thinks Dharma is nothing , i dont care and ignore when you try to talk some sense in to them . Its so upsetting and sad. They just wont sit up , open their mind and listen.
Thats the worst nightmare !
Dear Rinpoche,
I enjoyed this entry because it resonates with me a lot. When I look around the people I know, when I share what I think is important in this life, they just listen and think that I am not being realistic enough. I think society puts pressure on us to move further and further away from the path(obtaining materialism, family, kids, spouse, etc), that is why we are blessed to have Rinpoche who works tirelessly to teach us and lead us back to the correct path. For that, I am very grateful. May Rinpoche live a long and healthy life and continue to turn the Wheel of Dharma and benefit countless sentient beings.
Best Wishes Always,
Green
It would be nice just to stay for a week or two. Drink coffee there and maybe play some cards.
The active life is a service, the contemplative life a liberty.
Saint Gregory
Dear Rinpoche,
Can I know the apporpriate manner for the young to defy the elder would push the young people toward materialism, empty relationships, fruitless travels and fill their heads with ideas of false projections of the world as you know it?
During the time of their youth why don’t people think of the consequences they will face when they grow old. Their minds will slow down and their memory will partially slow down too. But all these can be solved. How? Look at all the high Lamas that are very old. But their minds are still very sharp and their awareness of things around them is also very good.Because of years of Dharma practice, prayers and most importantly Guru Devotion. No Dharma practice is without obstacles and its a rough road to ride. But if you can overcome it. You will get the good results. Another way to say it is cause and effect. Believing in Dharma and practicing it pays in benefiting you in the long run.
When I looked at the people around me with no dharma knowledge or have dharma knowledge yet still refuse to transform, it saddens me when they complained about their lives, their displeasure and their problems.
The whole cycle of existence, good childhood, good education, good career, good family, good relationship that most people chased after, fight and cheat to gain, money, fame and power…..all will be left behind when we die. When we are at our deathbed, does it still matter? We cant take it with us yet why are we still chasing and attached to all these temporal happiness and pleasures?
We are so blessed to have Rinpoche here to guide and help us to lead the right path and we must not lose this opportunity to learn as it will change our lives tremendously.
Y.E.Rimpoche, I understood perfectly the kind of strangeness You felt in Howell, thinking about ‘myself’, now 50 years (me), who
‘in youth’ cared nothing at ALL for the ‘ratrace’ they called
‘life’…here in Brazil so far away from the traditional Buddhadharma lands, and the first Lama kind of showed up only when I was already…42 !
Dear Rinpoche,
You have hit the nail on the head with your comments. It is painful to think that many of us go through life without Dharma thinking we are living a meaningful life. What a delusion! As a new student, I have realised that it is not just prayers but active involvement in Dharma work is the way to purify one’s mind. The truly selfless act of compassion brings more joy to the heart than any worldly accomplishment.
Thank you for raising awareness of how empty one’s lfe can be without Dharma
I bow my head with great love and respect
Shelly Tai on Dec3,2010 at 11:50am
Dear Rinpoche,
I really think myself is very lucky to have a guru like you, because of all your Dharma teaching you have change our live of not just do thing for ourselves but do thing for others and help people who in need. As a mother I will want my child to learn the Dharma and to work for Dharma in order to overcome all the pain that we have to go through in live.
You have a lot of followers who think your great it seems.
Those who have gone through life with Dharma can be seen to have made a life of difference than those without. Dharma is said to teach us how to live our lives, how to integrate our minds and how to keep our everyday live peaceful and healthy. It is distinctly obvious the human mind seeks happiness, there is no difference with everbody. As we learn from our Buddhist teachings, if our search for happiness causes us to grasp emotionally at the sense world, it would be dangerous, as we have no stable control, especially for those caught up in a materialistic life. Emotionally, we are said to be too involved in objects of attachment, being so obsessed with the sensed world blinded by attachment and not knowing the nature of our mind. In this respect, we are very fortunate indeed to have a devine Guru here to teach and show us how to develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and all other phenomena of our weaknesses. With folded hands and on bended knees, I thank you graciously, Rinpoche,for showing us the way!