Jamyang Rinpoche
In my hometown there was a poor family. In autumn, they sometimes did not have
enough to eat and had to borrow food from neighbours. They had many children.
Once, the price of cordyceps rose suddenly, and this family (who relied on
digging cordyceps for a living) had many children to dig up the cordyceps, and
they made a small fortune of maybe several tens of thousand yuan. Many locals
were envious of their sudden luck, thinking that they have struck a fortune
this year.
But then their eldest son suddenly fell seriously ill, and sought treatment in
Ganze. The medical cost was something
like 7 to 8 thousand yuan. Then during some heavy rains, an epidemic spread
among the livestock and half of their cattle died, leaving them in more dire
straits than before they had struck a fortune.
Soga Rinpoche (an emanation of Amitabha) commented then, “Look, when there is a
lack of merits, no matter how you try, you end up with nothing.” …
Making a mountain of effort is not as useful as creating a small drop of
merit. In Tibet, people have the habit
making offerings and giving charity. For
instance, when they buy groceries for themselves, the first thing they think of
is to save 1 dollar from their shopping budget for an offering to the Triple
Gems or helping others, maybe releasing lives or offering lamps.
Tibetans would always set aside some portion of their butter for making
offerings. My mother would set aside two portions— one for offering to the
monastery sangha during pujas, and one for making butter lamps. We had only a
few cows then, so it was only enough for one lamp. Later when the number of
cows increased, we could offer five or ten lamps. We offered lamps daily in our
shrine. We did not think about our own
consumption first when we got the butter, we thought about making offerings to
the sangha; next we thought about making butterlamp offerings.
But when they get their income, the first thing many people think of is not the
Triple Gems, but on how to spend their money on enjoyments such as vacations,
good food, seafood, meat etc. Therefore,
we are meritless and prosperity cannot stay long with us.
When a person has merit, even a small bowl of tsampa (roasted barley flour)
would make them totally satisfied and contented. If you have no merit, even the most delicious
meals feel like the food of hungry spirits (pretas), you do not feel happy or
contented. In Tibet, we have a saying,
when a particular region of people has merits, no matter how simply they eat,
each meal makes them fully satisfied and happy. They do not feel hungry or
needy.
When a person lacks merit, no matter how good the food is, one feels
dissatisfied. No matter how good the
food, beverage or clothing is, one feels something is lacking. This is a lack of merit.
For instance, you have so many shoes in your cabinets and so many clothes
hanging in your closets, if even half of that is used for creating merits like
releasing lives, offering lamps, offering to the sangha, that will bring
enormous merits and enjoyments for future lives.
Also, I will point out one mistake for all Dharma brothers and sisters. This year, during our Amitabha Sukhavati
puja, some Dharma friends wrote so many names for one dollar of offering. They wanted to take advantage of the
opportunity. But isn’t this just a kind of dishonesty or cheating?
On the other hand, when you bring your friends or clients out for a meal, you
are happy to spend extravagantly for a meal of meat and alcohol for the sake of
face. Think for yourself what you are doing to your own merits — are you
exhausting your merits or increasing your merits?
Our Sukhavati puja takes place once a year. Some people think, “Oh this puja is
free!” so those clever ones give only 10 dollars and write a hundred
names. I think it is better if you learn
not to take advantage of others. This is a
kind of habit that will carry on into your future lives, and it will quickly
deplete your store of merits.
Personally, when I accumulate merits, I never consider how much money I have
left. When I went to India for learning Dharma, I left Yarchen monastery with
only 70 yuan. By the time I reached Lhasa, I was left with about 30+ yuan.
That was my first visit to Lhasa. I went to the Jokhang Temple to offer a
lamp. There were various types of lamps
for offering, 15 yuan; 6 yuan etc. I bought the one that cost 15 yuan. I thought that this was a most precious
opportunity to make offerings at this holy temple. Then there was the gold leaf offering to the
Buddha statue, I offered another 15 yuan for that and all my money was
finished. I was left penniless. I did
not even consider if I had money for my next meal or lodgings.
That night, I stayed in a place for beggars, in a makeshift tent. There were many lice but it couldn’t be
helped. I spent the night there. They made tea and I wondered if I could get
some. They shared tea but not the food.
I spent two nights there and for three days, I had nothing to eat. Finally, I could not stand it and used my
last 50 cents for a cup of milk at a tea-place opposite the Jokhang
Temple. On the third day, my hunger was
so bad that it affected my eyesight. I couldn’t see far away. After this cup of milk, I regained some
strength and went to circumambulate the Jokhang Temple.
Suddenly, I ran into a nun from Yarchen monastery. Her uncle was sick and she came with him for
treatment in Lhasa. The nun invited me
for a meal and I was very happy. She offered me a bag of tsampa but I did not
take it. Later, I wondered if I had been very stupid to reject this offer.
Afterall, she had given it willingly.
What was I to survive on then?
Then I thought of selling the three turquoises on my rosary, I had
bought them at Yarchen when I had some money.
They fetched more than 30 yuan and with that I made my way to
Shigatse. That used up all the
money.
That night I spent a night in a horse shed.
The next day, at Tashi Lhunpo monastery of the Panchen Lama, I went
there to beg for alms, saying that I needed it to go to circumambulate Mount
Kailash, an old lady gave me 5 yuan and I was happy to receive it…
The point is that when it comes to making offerings, I do not consider
much. When it comes to spending on
myself, I will consider more. But when I
look at how people make offerings at the Amitabha puja, they seem to have so
many reservations. Maybe you have not enough money for groceries tomorrow, or
maybe there is not enough to buy clothing, or not enough to buy an air ticket
for travelling…
One should never make offerings stingily.
This is a negative karma. One should rejoice and feel that it is a
precious opportunity to accumulate merits.
No matter how much you offer, you should do it this way. With merits, whatever you do can be
accomplished perfectly; your Dharma practice will also be accomplished
auspiciously.
When I was in Yarchen monastery, I was the poorest and had not enough to
eat. But I had a method that was easy to
use in Yarchen because they were all fellow-disciples. I used to look at whose chimney was smoking
and go to that house to get a meal. They
all knew that if I came to their home, it was to get a meal. They knew that I
was poor so no one turned me down.
There was this old practitioner who later got ordained. He liked to scold
others. He often called me the poor
Tulku of Tsopu monastery who was like a wandering beggar. Although he scolded me, I did not mind as
what he was saying was true. I did not
get angry or feel defensive. It was true
that I was poor and begging for food.
But his words somehow got known by Lama Achuk Rinpoche. One day, Lama Achuk Rinpoche said during his
teaching, “Today, you think of this Tulku as a poor beggar. But he is not poor.
You are the poor one since countless lives in samsara. And in future lives, you will still be
poor. But not this Tulku! There will
come a day when this Tulku receives so much offerings that he will not know where
to keep them and he will even reject these offerings. Such a time will come.”
Everyone thought this was the Guru’s words of encouragement to me. Everyone did not take it seriously because I
was the poorest in the monastery. In the past, my cousin told me not to just
keep begging and to instead achieve something in life. I told my cousin, “If I wanted to achieve something, I will definitely succeed.
But I am not interested in it, because everything is like an illusory dream in
this samsara, there is nothing worth pursuing.
It is all so laughable.” My
monastery also wanted me to be a big achiever with something to show, but I did
not want to choose this path.
Later, when I became abbot of Tsopu monastery, one had to sooth the egos of
government authorities and meet the wishes of those who depend on you. It is a high throne and a high position but
it comes with much sufferings. I made the aspiration that in all my lives I
will never become an abbot of a monastery again.
Nagarjuna also wished never to become a monastery manager in all his lives and
I think he was right. When I was young, I could practice as I wish; now I have
to keep all these peoples’ expectations and wishes in mind, taking care not to
offend them. It is indeed a heavy suffering.
