Akong Tulku Rinpoche
Sometimes people say, ‘Oh you spoil people giving them soup or a free meal; if you give in this way then they are no longer interested in working and earning an income.’
But I think that is beyond me: my help is only what I see is needed on that particular day; how useful is something to eat – you sleep with a full stomach rather than an empty stomach. That is my only responsibility. I am not trying to change the political aspect, I am not a politician. It is not in my power, or else I don’t know how to change it anyway. I don’t think that is my responsibility. My responsibility is to help with what people need at that particular time.
So I think that normally when we talk about beggars as being silly and not doing things to earn money, I think this is the wrong way of looking. I think, if we have some understanding of Christian principles, they are all the emanations of Christ. So, therefore, in order to become pure or in order to develop merit we are offering to them rather than giving.
According to Buddhism, if you have a good understanding of Buddhism, then it is said that every sentient being has the essence of enlightenment or Buddha and, therefore, we also look at it in the same way as Christians.
So, therefore, everyone becomes the emanation of Buddha and we are offering to those people in order to develop the accumulation of merit. So looking down on beggars is the wrong way. We should look upwards and have respect for people not as a kind of failure but as understanding that they appeared in front of us in order for the accumulation of merit for our benefit, not their benefit. So I think we should change our attitude slightly.
We have a soup kitchen in Nepal for three months of the year. Whoever comes to our soup kitchen we provide with food twice a day: breakfast and lunch. Many volunteers have very funny ideas, it seems to me, they say we should see who is rich and who is poor: ‘Why are these ones who are dressed quite nicely appearing at our soup kitchen gate?’ and, ‘These ones are poor and why are they not at our soup kitchen gate?’
My view is totally different. I think if a beggar comes in a Rolls Royce, it doesn’t really matter if his mind thinks, ‘I am poor!’ We should treat him equally the same as a poor person. Our job is not how to segregate, “You are rich, you own this much. You are poor, you don’t own anything. This is right, this is wrong”. I think right and wrong is their choice, not our choice. Whoever thinks ‘I need free food’, then we should give it very happily for that person. Otherwise we would never have a positive accumulation of merit.
If we are thinking how to achieve something positive within ourselves then I think we should not have these kinds of questions, we should not have strings with our charity work. We should cut the thread. We have invisible threads which are left hanging – where has my money gone? In which direction has it gone? Did they put it in their own pocket? Has it gone to the right place or the wrong place? Has it gone to their friends or somewhere else? I don’t think that is important. What is important is your own motivation, your mind. If you’re pure it does not really matter from your side (what happened to the money). So, whoever took it is not important to us. That’s my way of looking at it.
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When I first went to Europe I was desperately poor and forced to beg from others, but through my knowledge I am now able to help thousands. At that time I wasn’t even able to speak any other language, but now I can help because I have an education. We should all help one another – be ready to teach, to share our knowledge. Never be jealous, be compassionate and always keep a pure heart.
