The benefits of cherishing others


A teaching by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
In the teachings of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the great scholars and practitioners of the past and our gurus, and particularly in the following quotation from the Guru Puja, by the highly attained Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, the Fourth Panchen Lama, we are strongly encouraged to cherish all sentient beings without exception.

"Cherishing ourselves is the doorway to all torment,
While cherishing all sentient beings is the basis of all good qualities."
I'm not going to say much here about the shortcomings of self-cherishing. What I would briefly like to talk about here is the benefit of cherishing others.

Photo: David Elias If, for example, you renounce somebody who dislikes you and whom you dislike, if you don't cherish, if you give up on that person, there is no way you can attain enlightenment. If, on the other hand, you cherish that person, you can become enlightened.

Cherishing one sentient being, even a tiny insect, becomes the cause of success and happiness in this life. Not only that, it becomes the cause of the happiness of future lives. Moreover, through that merit, you can also achieve the ultimate happiness of liberation from samsara. And finally, by cherishing that one sentient being, you can achieve the entire Mahayana path – all the realizations of the paths and levels of both Paramitayana and Vajrayana. You can achieve all the qualities of Dharma and Sangha, and all the infinite qualities of Buddha's holy body, speech and mind as well. You can achieve omniscient mind and the perfect power to free all living beings from all suffering and its causes and to bring them to the ultimate happiness of enlightenment. You can do perfect work for each sentient being. You can achieve all this by cherishing one sentient being – one person or even one insect.

This teaching was given at Jinsiu Farlin Center, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1994. Edited from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive by Ven. Ailsa Cameron; edited for Mandala by Dr. Nick Ribush.

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