1. How I Offer Food: The Motivation
Part 3. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha Come From Sentient Beings
(duration: 7 minutes)
Transcript of Video 3: How I Offer Food - The Motivation, Part 3
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And who you take refuge in, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, all the time we do this practice, they all come from sentient beings. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha came from sentient beings. As I explained, Buddha came from sentient beings. Then for Dharma and sangha there is no question; they came from Buddha so they came from sentient beings. So sentient beings are most precious. Because if you have money you can do a million dollar project or a billion dollar project, whatever happiness you want, generally speaking, because much of this life what you can do is if you have money, so you think that money is so precious. But, of course, money came from sentient beings. Put it this way. I use this as an example, so like that, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha came from sentient beings, so sentient beings we should respect. We should respect them and not harm them. We should not harm them and we should only benefit them if possible, as much as the capacity that we have.
At the moment we don’t have much realizations. I mean I myself don’t have even realizations of lam-rim, so there is not much benefit to others. Anyway you don’t have renunciation, you don’t have guru devotion, you don’t have bodhichitta or emptiness. Then you wont have tantric realizations without lam-rim. So there is not much benefit you can do for others, but do as much benefit as possible for others. For the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, this is the best… For the Guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha this is the best offering. To serve sentient beings is the best offering. To not harm sentient beings is the best offering. To benefit sentient beings is the best offering. That is the best. That is what makes your life most beneficial, most happy, inner happiness, most beneficial, most satisfied, most fulfilling, most happy. That is the best Dharma practice – to benefit others. Whether you meditate, whether you live on a mountain meditating or whatever, the best thing for sentient beings is to not harm and to benefit them. Whether you are living on a mountain doing retreat or in a city working with people, whatever, the most important thing is to benefit sentient beings. To not harm and to benefit sentient beings, that is the best thing to do.
So now, one has the responsibility to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings. The numberless hell beings, numberless human beings, suras, and asuras, numberless pretas, numberless animals, to free them from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment, therefore I must achieve full enlightenment. To do that by myself alone, I must achieve full enlightenment.
Now, okay, renunciation and bodhichitta are done. Now emptiness, just in short; I, action, object, phenomena, hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, every day happiness and problems, they exist in mere name. The way they exist is in mere name. They do not exist from their own side. Therefore they do not exist from their own side. Think that. It looks like in emptiness there is no you, there is no I, there is no we, there is no they, there is no sentient being, there is no enlightenment, in emptiness. They are one taste in emptiness. In emptiness they are one taste. That is the reality.