Dear sangha friends,Here I am again, as Bodhi brings me back to my computer to write this
letter for a new issue. Six months have passed since we last met each other in Bodhi, and I feel fortunate to be back here writing to you again. The passing of time is a great reminder of impermanence for all of us. Recently, while traveling in Asia, a very good friend of mine told me this Chinese Buddhist story: Once there was a young boy who met a master. He asked the master, "what is Buddha-dharma in a nutshell?" The master answered, "Abandoning all evil deeds and
engaging in activities that are virtuous. This is what Buddha-dharma is." The boy replied, "Well, even a three year old kid knows this." The master answered: "Yes, that's right, my boy. Even a three year old kid knows this, but even an eighty-year old person still fails to do this."
Well, this is a very short but important message about something vital for all of us to keep in mind. After practicing and teaching dharma for many years, I have found out that a lot of talking and conceptualizing about dharma is not very beneficial; the critical thing is to do it. (Maybe this is the reason why a radio station I once listened to in San Francisco said, "light rock, less talk.")
This is all I have to say today! Thank you all very much. I hope that all your practices and studies are going well and that they will progress further and further along the path in the future. P.S. This letter is being written at Kamalashila Institute, in Langenfeld, Germany, newly inaugurated in August, 1999. We are starting Nitartha Europe, an intensive study course, for the first time here in Europe. The people here have
done tremendous work to build this Institute. I truly appreciate their hard work and would like to use this opportunity to thank all of them again for their genuine devotion and dedication to His Holiness the Seventeenth Karmapa and the lineage. With much love and prayers dpr This is an excerpt from the full text of the article published in Bodhi 4. |
