His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The practice of Dharma is that which enables us to be true, faithful, honest and humble, to help and respect others, to forget oneself for others.

1 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva

I want to give a few explanations concerning Dharma, and more particularly, Mahayana Dharma, and the necessary preparations for the initiation. I shall be brief, but I hope to give you a fruitful teaching that you will like. You are not tired, and neither am I. So we are all of us in excellent condition for hearing about the Dharma.

There are many rules in the vinaya (rules for monastics) concerning the physical manner in which the Dharma should be listened to; one should be seated in the right posture, be bareheaded before the guru, the monks should have their right shoulder bare, and so on. But all these rules are waived when people are ill. We are not ill, but this very hot sun may bother you and make you fall ill. So for the time being let us abolish all those rules, and let those with umbrellas open them, the monks cover their heads with a fold of their robe, or a white handkerchief – something white is excellent protection against the hot sun. Continue reading »

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: We should therefore live on this noble path, help others, spread kindness and peace.

2 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya 1974.

So the Dharma is not, as some people argue, of no use for those who live in a backward and isolated region. Some people, who believe they are broadminded and highly intellectual and cultured, think that the Dharma is irrelevant. But what do we mean by “Dharma?” Obviously it does not mean wearing a special costume, building monasteries, making many prostrations. This may go with the Dharma but it is in no sense the actual practice of the Dharma. The practice of the Dharma is an inner affair, it means having a peaceful, noble, broad and generous mind – a mind that has been tamed, brought completely under control. Even if one can recite the whole Tripitaka by heart, if one is selfish and hurts others, this is not practicing Dharma. Continue reading »

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: As Ku Tung says, “Twenty years are spent without a thought for Dharma and twenty are spent saying, ‘I will practice,’ and ten more are spent saying, ‘I’m not able to practice Dharma.’ and that is the story of an empty life.”

3 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya 1974.

Therefore having this precious human birth and the time and chance with a body in perfect condition, it is not enough to stop unskillful deeds but to try our best to achieve buddhahood for oneself and others.

Now we have all the favorable opportunities – so now is the time to take them. So we must make the effort to perform this task for others and ourselves. The method is learning, contemplating and meditating on Dharma, especially Mahayana Dharma, there is nothing more we can do to further ourselves. We should make an effort to be like the flow of a river. First, acquire knowledge, ponder until we get certainty, Continue reading »

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Stealing is another unskillful deed because it harms the possessions of others, so it also causes them suffering and should be avoided.

4 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvaby His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya 1974.

If one day goes, it’s a pity. If a month or a year is wasted, it’s much worse. Therefore checking up on oneself is important. If life would wait for us there would be no problem, but in fact it always races, and never lets us finish. If we make a good use of life, this is a great thing, otherwise it is wasted and runs away from us. “The three worlds are impermanent like an autumn cloud.” This being so, I do not need to repeat how beneficial and necessary Dharma practice is. Since we see it is worthwhile and necessary, if we spend time saying, “I will, I must practice Dharma”, and never put this into effect, then as Guru Rinpoche says, “Before the tomorrow of Dharma practice, the today of death may occur. Without deceiving yourself, therefore, to practice Dharma, start now.” Let us take my own case. If I say I have many things to do, so I’ll get around to it when I reach fifty, this is cheating myself.

So I must try, myself, not to postpone matters even for a second. If I do so it is my own fault, my weakness and my inability. Of course I cannot put 84,000 teachings into practice at once. Even someone like Nagarjuna did not practice the whole Dharma in one day. He started like ourselves, generated a will to practice and then advanced further, increasing his power and ability so that he became a great teacher. Without this effort the accomplishments of the great teachers would not have arisen spontaneously. We must give ourselves encouragement. As the Bodhicaryavatarasays, “Even flies and worms have within themselves the possibility of attaining buddhahood and one day will do so. So if I make an effort I will definitely attain buddhahood much faster.” If we think this way, it will act as a powerful encouragement. Continue reading »

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: It becomes clear to us that it is indispensable to take responsibilities for other sentient beings, and we must therefore reach buddhahood for their benefit and in order to acquire a full ability to help them effortlessly and spontaneously.

5 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvaby His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya 1974.

Lying refers to the very bad practice of completely deceiving others, cheating them. But if there is some special occasion when, say, life or the Dharma can be protected there is some excuse for not being fully open. Otherwise, we should always try to be truthful. Usually worldly people regard someone who tells lies as clever but this is a stupid form of cleverness. Continue reading »

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The merit we accumulate from these practices should then not be dedicated to our own well-being, freedom from samsara, existence in higher realms and so on, but solely to the attainment of buddhahood in order to relieve the suffering of others. We must also have the wisdom to see the void of the existence of the triad. This constitutes the 37th practice.

4 – The Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvaby His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Bodhgaya 1974.

Once we have taken birth in bondage, everything else follows automatically. We all suffer the fruit of the past. The intrinsic nature and cause of samsara are impure because it is a product of karma and delusion, which it in turn produces. It is always endowed with suffering, karma and delusion—circumstances always cause delusion to arise. There are, therefore, five wrong qualities of birth: birth with suffering, birth in the wrong place, birth reproducing the same errors in the future, birth into a state of suffering and delusion, birth taken without freedom of choice. Continue reading »