Attitude

"... His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that if we want to be selfish, if we want to live life with a selfish mind, we should be the best selfish, which is to cherish others, to renounce oneself and cherish others. In that way we get all the happiness, all the success.

It doesn’t matter how many family problems or personal problems we have, as soon as we cherish others—those who have greater problems and those who have similar problems—as soon as we change our attitude and cherish others, immediately there is great happiness, relaxation and no uptightness in our mind. As soon as we cherish others, there is relaxation, inner peace and tranquility...

When we meditate, remembering how other sentient beings are kind and precious, then the uptightness in our heart becomes loose. There is relaxation when we feel the kindness of others, when we think how others are so precious. It’s very good to practice awareness of other sentient beings as the mother, who is kind in the four ways, as well as the three great purposes or the three levels of happiness—the happiness of the future life, liberation, enlightenment. Remember how all our three times’ happiness is received by depending on these sentient beings.

During the meditation session, practice awareness of the kindness of other sentient beings—those who are sitting around us in this meditation hall, behind us, to the right side, to the left side and in the front. Feel the kindness of every person that we see—every bird, every fly, every dog, every creature. Whichever way we think, as soon as we see another being, remember their kindness, and especially the person who we dislike or who criticizes or disrespects us, especially this person. Either especially go to see that person or sit next to that person, then meditate, walk or sit with that person, and meditate on their kindness.

At the Dharma center or at the family house, if we practice awareness like this, we are happy with everybody. In this way there’s loving kindness and compassion, which naturally arises towards them and we are happy with whoever we meet, whoever we see. Our mind is open to everyone and there’s a wish to help to everyone. Our mind is so happy, very happy, and there is no space for depression. Life becomes very enjoyable, because we have taken this human body, and we are born to enjoy life with a good heart, without an egocentric mind. We will have a very happy, satisfied life...

For the person who always practices loving kindness, compassion, cherishing others, it is the opposite. Even if we live alone there is much happiness and satisfaction in our life. We live life for others and there is that much less problem, with a less dissatisfactory mind and less anger. Wherever we go, whoever we stay with, there is always much to enjoy, much happiness for us and also for other people...

If we have a good heart, cherishing others, wherever we go and whoever we live with, there is always much happiness and instead of meeting enemies, we only meet friends. Everyone who meets us becomes a friend and everyone wishes to receive us at their home, everyone wishes to help—to give us food, clothing or a place to stay. Especially when we are in trouble, everyone is worried...

So Shakyamuni Buddha and all those buddhas, all the lineage lamas of the graduated path to enlightenment, by renouncing themselves and cherishing other sentient beings, achieved the complete path and achieved enlightenment. They are continuously doing extensive works for all sentient beings without the slightest mistake. Even in one second, uncountable numbers of sentient beings are brought enlightenment, and they are manifesting in various forms with the holy body, holy speech and holy mind. Even the beams emitting from the holy body lead uncountable numbers of beings to happiness, freeing them from suffering. They are able to do extensive works for all sentient beings equaling infinite space.

There is nothing complicated to think about. We have two choices. First, we look at following the selfish mind and examine whether there’s an advantage or not. Then we look at following the thought of cherishing others and examine how much profit it has. It’s similar to when we want to buy something—if we’re going to spend ten rupees or $100 or $1,000, we check and we carefully analyze the quality of the material. We don’t want loss, and we don’t want to be cheated; we want profit, even five rupees, so we want to buy the better quality one.

This is the question for the whole of our life and after our death. It is the foundation for all the coming future lives. However much happiness we will enjoy and however much suffering we have to experience in all the coming future lives depends on our attitude in this life. It depends on each day, each twenty-four hours, each minute, each second’s attitude. Not only the happiness and peace of mind in this life, but that of all the coming future lives, from here up to enlightenment—whether there will be endless samsaric suffering or whether samsara will have an end, is dependent on our attitude."
~  Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche