Dharma will soon die if all the Sangha members are consumed by worldly activities

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.

In the Buddha’s time, monks found hundreds of kilos of gold in the room that was used by a monk who was in one of the Buddha’s six dissenting classes of monks, the big troublemaker in the Sangha, Charka, who was always busy doing something so he had no time to attend the activities of the Sangha. When he passed away, he was not observant of the monastic disciplines or the rules and had destroyed the good reputation of the Great Sangha by making a lot of mistakes that were contradictory to the doctrine and system.

It’s common for people to naturally like goods and money, and everyone falls into samsaric or worldly activities eventually. The main problem is that these misbehaving monks can lead others to the wrong path. The source of happiness of all sentient beings, the great benefit for all six realms, and the heart essence of the Buddha, is the nectar-like Dharma. But it will soon die if all the Sangha members are consumed by worldly activities.

 Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, “Our Samaya with Lamasang”