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Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaching at an event organized by Gendun Drupa Center, Martigny, Switzerland, November 2018. Photo by Harald Weichhart.
During teachings in Switzerland in 2018, Lama Zopa Rinpoche taught on the importance of generating patience and creating happiness for others, captured in this excerpt and video clip:
Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma, even those who are listening for the first time, if you practice patience, if there is no anger from your side, that brings so much happiness to you as you live life, and to your family, to society, to the country, and into the world.
You can bring so much happiness, peace, into the world. I heard that the First World War began with one person. It actually started with one person. If you have influence and power, it becomes like that. So it stops when it does not happen like that, when you practice patience. This is so important.
Even if the other person doesn’t practice patience, when you practice patience it brings so much happiness to the other person. You have to understand. It creates so much peace in the family. If you can do that, then you can bring peace into the world. In a big way, you can bring peace into the world.
As I mentioned the first First World War started with one person. So it’s like that, even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma. It’s so important to understand this.
Children in schools, primary schools, need this education in how to practice patience. How much peace there is in the future will depend on the present day children, what kind of education they get. Whether the future will be full of wars and killing each other or more peaceful depends especially on the present day children. When we are all dead, it depends on the present day children and their education.
If they have sangpo, holy education, if they have positive education, good education, that stops harm to others and harm to themselves—making their life black, nonvirtue, suffering, always confused, and causing others so much suffering, making suffering in the world, making so much suffering in the world. You make so much suffering for your family, your society, your country, your world. So much depends on good education, a good heart.
Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation and karma, you need compassion and loving kindness for others—for insects, even ants, not only for people. You can see that nobody wants suffering, even the ants. Nobody wants suffering; everybody wants happiness.
Therefore, if you think about your own happiness, if you have concern for yourself, then don’t harm others! In that case, you don’t harm! If you harm others, of course, that is the cause. And the result is that others harm you.
So if you get angry or you say some bad words to others, immediately you hear bad words from others directed at you. You create the target. You say bad words to others; you hear others say bad words to you. Immediately you get the arrow. So much of life is like that.
If you want happiness for yourself, don’t harm others. With body, speech, and mind, don’t harm others. If you want happiness, cause happiness for others, which will cause your happiness, benefit you, help you; others will cause happiness for you. From the karma, from the action, you can cause happiness for others. From that action, that karma, the result is you will get happiness from others. They will cause you happiness. So concerning your happiness, it’s like that. That is the correct way. We always have to keep the attention on that.
We need to get education of that in schools. We need to learn that. We always need to keep the awareness of that. But the best, of course, is to live life for others, free others from suffering. Live life to cause happiness for others—all the different levels of happiness up to enlightenment. …
Watch the teaching “The Best Way to Live Your Life,” from which this excerpt is taken:
https://youtu.be/m_titxURGec
Colophon: Excerpted from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings in Martigny, Switzerland, November 16, 2018. Simultaneously transcribed by Ven. Joan Nicell. Lightly edited by Laura Miller, June 2019.
Find complete videos of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s recent teachings, including teachings from the May-June 2019 Vajrayogini retreat at Institut Vajra Yogini in France:
https://fpmt.org/media/streaming/teachings-of-lama-zopa-rinpoche/
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.