Respect All Beings

"To give up speaking of a bodhisattva's faults

If, impelled by negative emotions, I relate the faults
Of other bodhisattvas, I will myself degenerate.
Therefore, to not talk about the faults of anyone
Who has entered the Mahayana is the practice of a bodhisattva.

Not only can you consider all other Dharma practitioners as your close relatives, but in many ways all beings are, too. All of them have certainly been your parents in one life or another. What is more, all of them possess the same ultimate nature, the tathagatagarbha or buddha-nature.

As it is said,

Buddha-nature is present in all beings:
Not a single one of them lacks it.

As Gampopa explains at the beginning of The Precious Ornament of Liberation, the fact that beings have the buddha-nature is the basis which gives them the possibility, when fully actualized, of becoming buddhas.

Disparaging any one of them is therefore inappropriate; we should rather all respect one another. As the Buddha said, ''An ordinary person cannot assess another ordinary person, only a buddha can."

It is even more important not to criticize all those who are like sons and daughters of the same parents, in that they have taken refuge in the Three Jewels and started out on the path of the Buddha's teachings through confidence in the basic truth of what he taught-for example, that "All that is compounded is impermanent; all that is defiled is suffering; all phenomena are without inherent existence; that which is beyond suffering is peace."

Even more closely related are those of us who have entered the Mahayana. Together, we should be like a thousand princes and princesses of one universal monarch who never feel animosity or contempt for one another, but instead always extol one another's virtues and qualities. Treat one another with great kindness and openness, and above all do not look for each others' mistakes. Once you start finding defects somewhere, you will see them everywhere and in everyone.

By proclaiming someone's faults to all and sundry, you are burning yourself and hurting the other person-which can only be wrong. It is the sangha that upholds the teachings; its members must be in harmony, and their discipline perfect. Develop confidence and pure vision. To respect the sangha-all those who have taken monastic vows and all those who have entered the Dharma-is a commitment of the refuge vows.

Consider all your brothers and sisters in the Dharma as being free from any faults. Malicious criticism of other traditions of Dharma, in particular, is a major cause of the Dharma as a whole declining and being corrupted. View all traditions and views as non-contradictory, and as true expressions of the Buddha's teachings.

As Panchen Lobsang Yeshe said:

The various different doctrinal views
Are all the very teachings of the Victorious One.
Instead of a blaze of enmity ignited by the demon of sectarianism, how much finer to see everything lit up by the radiant jewel of pure perception!

Your impure perception of the world can easily falsify the way you see the actions of bodhisattvas. Indeed, any faults you may perceive in them are due only to your own imperfections, just as a white conch may look yellow to someone with jaundice. Whenever you think you have seen some defect in a bodhisattva's conduct or thinking, therefore, remind yourself that the problem is your own distorted perception, and that in reality that person is free of all defects.

You should be aware that every action of enlightened beings, spiritual masters and bodhisattvas has a deep meaning that reflects their intention to benefit beings. As they manifest in infinite ways to help others, it is easy to mistake bodhisattvas for ordinary beings. They might seem to be ordinary people engaged in mundane activities; they may even take the form of wild animals, birds, or dogs. There have also been many bodhisattvas who manifested as beggars or low status, rough-looking people with unsuitable occupations and no obvious good qualities.

Tilopa killed fish, Saraha was an arrow smith, and Shavaripa a hunter. Anyone you meet, therefore, could actually be a fully matured bodhisattva who has assumed an ordinary appearance, or even an offensive one; so you should respect all beings and regard them as teachers."

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion