Get up early [for practice] is something nice to do, nice to hear, nice to know. Because not many people are able to do that. Not many people really put efforts into their practice. Even though they may say [they] are but the practicing [is] probably verbal.
A non-broken lineage is very important source for the result of Dharma practice.
People somehow get lazy, but try practicing Dharma for some time or any time is good. There are some more powerful than others, some are not that powerful. The more you do the better, more effective. And you should know how to practice well. We need to have good instructions and we need to have a good teacher and then we need to have good mind, good interest…
All Buddhas can be in three categories: Guru, Yidam and Dakini. And when we say “We take refuge in Buddhas,” sometimes we don’t know which Buddhas. Therefore, we need to have some specific understandings. When you say: “I take refuge in Three Roots,” or “I have special karmic connections with specific Deities,” so you take refuge in those Deities specifically. Then, when we say “Three Jewels and Three Roots” [these are] the external Buddhas, external objects that we take refuge in.
Over 2 million people have lost their lives in the world and still it is dangerously and quickly spreading. It has not only taken away people’s lives, but, also, it has been a big problem for the economy, all over the world.
Lamasang always wanted you beside him and close to him and not stretched too far away. This student-teacher commitment is called samaya. If one’s samaya is not pure, there will be no results, even though one runs around the world millions of times.
For example, one of the Tulkus from our monastery is always going somewhere, putting anything he finds in his pocket, so he possesses over 100 million of yuan in savings and properties, and he has the appearance of having very little desire because he has no cars, and does not use expensive things. He tells people that “I like the Chinese tradition that keeps as many goods as possible for generations.” He openly proclaims this to people. Likewise, everywhere, people are holding onto so much for themselves, never resting, always running around to acquire more.
We need to be very careful; otherwise, the Dharma will be destroyed like it was in India. There, the Sangha went astray, and became useless, due to the absence of proper rules, lack of genuine knowledge, and poor conduct, to the extent that Buddhism died in India.
There have been many sad stories about Sangha members’ broken samaya with one another, causing disharmony and fighting in the sangha over money or properties. A monk involved in business who was living near us slipped a sedative to his business partner that put him to asleep.
What makes a monastery a monastery? The physical representations of a monastery are only symbols.
