Advice for Children
Gift for a Child
Rinpoche went shopping and bought a very pretty dress for a six-year-old student, and sent the following handwritten card to her.
My very dear Susan,
I hope you like this dress. This is for you to enjoy, I hope. I hope you are well and that things are going well. We had a good time with your Mum during His Holiness’s teachings.
With Big Love and Prayer,
Zopa
Enjoy your life with a good heart towards all suffering, obscured sentient beings
How Long to Live
A young girl often asked Rinpoche how long she was going to live. Rinpoche sent this advice to her.
As long as you are practicing Dharma every day, abandoning negative karma, and practicing good karma, then it doesn’t matter how long you live. But if you don’t do that, then even if you live for a billion years, it is no good. It would be a billion years just to create negative karma.
So, you need to think how all your actions can become virtue, good karma, and the best virtue. Live your life with a bodhicitta motivation as much as possible, whatever you do.
Even though you may live for a hundred years, it’s good to think, “I’m going to die today.” I’m not saying that you will live for a hundred years, but even if you do, it’s good to think, “I’m going to die today.”
Message for a Young Student
One of Rinpoche’s youngest students is an eight-year-old girl, who has been writing to Rinpoche regularly since she was about four. She sends drawings, cards and letters, always saying she wants to meet Rinpoche. Rinpoche hand-wrote the message below on a card and sent it to her, with a pen with a fluffy top.
My most dear and dearest one, the wonderful one, my daughter,
I have received all your expressive drawings and letters.
I will meet you soon, don't worry, meanwhile PLEASE pray that we are able to build all the statues of Maitreya Buddha as quickly as possible, to receive all the funding, and for all the projects to be successful very quickly.
With biggest love, my daughter,
Zopa
Thanks for Devotion and Good Heart
Rinpoche wrote the following card to a student who was eight years old.
My dearest Chloe,
How are you? I hope you are in bliss all the time. I am sending these cards for you and your mum.
This is to say hello. Thank you very much for all your devotion to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and for your good heart benefiting others.
With biggest love and prayer...
A Place for Children
Rinpoche wrote the following for a magazine, commemorating a place for children at a Dharma center.
My very dear brother and sisters,
What makes the children’s place special is that its main objective is to bring up children with kindness and to raise them to be kinder, and more loving and compassionate towards others. Each child feels responsible for every living being’s happiness and peace. In this way, each child will become a source of peace and happiness for every living being.
Teaching children to have a good heart and to be kind to others helps them to become very good human beings. With this good heart, they can benefit others so much, by helping as much as they can. In this way, numberless sentient beings receive peace and happiness from them. The children become the source of peace and happiness for all sentient beings, the happiness of this life and of all future lives, as well as the source of liberation from samsara and the highest happiness – enlightenment.
With much love and prayers...