A Letter to Students at Kopan

My most dear, kind, wish-fulfilling ones,
If possible, I should offer each of you trillions of  dollars for coming to Kopan to learn about Buddhism. This means your mind is open to real happiness—to be free from the gross suffering of the three lower realms and even not to be satisfied with the temporary happiness of the three upper realms, humans and gods. Most important, once you meet Dharma and practice, this frees you from samsaric happiness which is only suffering, and Dharma can give you full enlightenment, peerless happiness.

Learning Dharma and practicing is so important for yourself as well as for countless others, because when you achieve enlightenment, you can free countless living beings, all living beings, from the oceans of sufferings. So you can see there is nothing more important than this, to learn Dharma and practice.

Dharma is more important than money and all the rest of the worldly things that people believe are important for our happiness. We shouldn’t use this perfect human rebirth just to make money, as a servant to money. We need to work for future lives’ happiness and enlightenment.

We need some money, but money only comes from past virtuous actions, from good karma that we have created in the past, just as good crops come if we plant the right kinds of seeds.  People in the world who have no understanding of Dharma think material things come from money. They think external comforts come from money, so they think money is the most important thing.

Another strange thing is that generally people don’t learn about death. Life comes to an end, and it’s important to understand why this is so. Also, to know how the mind is different from the body—the mind is colorless, it has no shape and it perceives objects. The principal cause and secondary cause is the mind. The Buddha said the definition of the mind is clear and being able to perceive objects. There are many people who can remember past lives, their own and others. There is no-one who has discovered there is only one life and no reincarnation.

In the US there are many problems of the elements—flooding, fires and hurricanes—which are happening again and again. Also, children are shooting people, and there is senseless killing of people. People can’t understand why this happens these days; why there is so much senseless killing. This is because people don’t understand karma, how things come from the mind.

The most important essential practice is that of compassion. This is the essence of Buddhism—compassion to all beings who are numberless. Compassion brings us happiness and stops us from harming others. Compassion is the source of numberless beings’ happiness and it brings us to peerless happiness and enlightenment.

Thank you, please come to Kopan to study again.

Sincerely

Lama Zopa, from California