Khenpo Sodargye
In the Collected Writings leading to Bliss (a compilation of texts related to pureland practice) it is said, "There are two kinds of people who gain immeasurable merits. Who are these two? A person who delights in teaching the Dharma and a person who delights in listening to the Dharma."
The person who delights in teaching the Dharma must do it from a pure motivation. It should not be an impure intention, such as, "If I become a Dharma teacher and preach to others, I will be very impressive," or, "If I give teachings, I might earn some income and ensure a stable livelihood." The motivation for teaching the Dharma should be pure: "Having obtained the precious Dharma myself, I see that many sentient beings have not yet received it and therefore I should share the Dharma with them."
"Delighting in listening to the Dharma" means joyfully receiving and studying the teachings. In the past, there were many great Tibetan masters who did not have the opportunity to give teachings, but they were very keen to listen to the Dharma, feeling it to be a loss if even a single day passed without listening to Dharma. Nowadays, many lay practitioners are also very eager to listen to teachings, often studying through online platforms or Dharma recordings and they have gained tremendous benefit.
HH Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche regarded teaching and listening to the Dharma as the most important practice throughout his life. As his disciples in the lineage, we too should uphold this perspective: among all activities, teaching and listening to the Dharma is the most meaningful.
Of course, if you are truly able to engage in deep retreat and merge your mind with the wisdom of Buddha, that would be the best. However, for beginners, this is extremely difficult to achieve. For ordinary beings, teaching and listening to the Dharma are effective methods for counteracting mental afflictions.
For instance, if you listen to Dharma teachings for one or two hours, even without mentioning the merits gained, during this period you are at least less likely to generate strong afflictions such as desire, anger, or delusions. You might feel tired or drowsy but these are not considered strong afflictions. Similarly, when giving teachings of Dharma, it is not easy to give rise to afflictions. I feel that one does not give rise to afflictions during the recitation at the beginning and end of a teaching session. Even throughout the teaching itself, the mind remains quite pure.
Just from the standpoint of countering afflictions, spending one or two hours in the teaching or listening of Dharma is very meaningful. On the other hand, if one does not engage in teaching or listening to the Dharma, it is very difficult for ordinary beings to avoid generating afflictions. Especially for those whose body and mind are undisciplined, even within a short period of one or two hours, they may create a great deal of negative karma.
The Vinaya Sutra states: "When one diligently cultivates virtue, non-virtuous thoughts do not arise; but for those who do not diligently cultivate virtue, the mind quickly gives rise to various negativities." Thus, we should strive to counter negative karma through listening to and teaching the Dharma.
