“Meritorious activities like the six paramitas and the four boundless aspirations are very important to realizing rigpa. This support is needed, and we should not disregard them as being unnecessary. Every good deed that we do to benefit ourselves and others without any grasping, without expectation, and without any hesitation will help actualize this realization. At the same time, we should feel great joy and appreciation for who we are, what we have, and for our surroundings, our family and friends, our neighbors and relatives. They are only here with us for a short time, and are not going to stay forever. So while they are here, we should enjoy, appreciate, and respect them. The same is true for ourselves. We should have joy in meeting the Dharma, practicing Dharma, thinking of rigpa, and all these wonderful things. These are not just casual, simple things.

We should also have great devotion and confidence in the teachings and the lineage. The teachings of the Buddha and Guru Padmasambhava say that we should feel such strong devotion, joy, and appreciation that it brings tears to our eyes. Intense devotion is like the spring season—it brings growth in our beautiful garden. It also pacifies obstacles. So we should bring devotion and bodhichitta to the magical display for the purpose of our growth.

Our accumulation of merit and devotion to the teachings and lineage is very important. Otherwise our practice becomes merely intellectual. It becomes filled with hesitation and doubt, and can even become like a competition or challenge if we approach these authentic practices the same way we approach many other things in our duality world. This is not going to serve the purpose of the teachings. We should bring joy, appreciation, and gratitude to ourpractice. For that very reason, the famous Peak of the Vajra Tantra says that in order to realize the self-born true nature, there are two methods: (1) one is accumulating the two merits, and (2) the other is devotion to the teacher and the lineage. If we do anything other than that, it is ignorant activity, like wanting to do something, but actually doing the complete opposite. We will never get the result we are looking for.”

 

Photo of the shrine room in the new Yeshe Tsogyal Temple in Nashville on the Anniversary of Ven. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche’s Mahaparinirvana on June 19, 2018.

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Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Supreme Wisdom: Commentary on Yeshe Lama (pgs 221-222)