"The teaching that I give is based on the reality of Shambhala and the qualities that Shambhala brings into human nature, which is Buddha nature. In Shambhala all human beings are both male and female. No separation. When we communicate back and forth, we have a normal way of Buddha nature that allows for everything to develop prosperity. In our Buddha nature, because there's no separation between male and female, then we develop a strong ability for prosperity; not just physical prosperity, but spiritual prosperity.
So as long as we are receptive and not greedy or selfish, and we choose to Give, it's the Giving that makes us Buddha. It brings together the male and female qualities in one body, like the father gives to the mother. So by doing this, we actually create more Buddha nature, just through charity. And that increases Shambhala. And it becomes... everything. All the trees, all the animals become Buddha nature. As human beings, all the animals, all the vegetables, everything, live in our body. We represent everything. So if we behave charitably, we raise everything up.
You have to get rid of jealousy, enviousness, anger, everything like that, or you're not giving. You're spending time taking. And Time is Dharma. So we should spend all our time turning the wheel of Dharma, by Giving. Charity is only when you give and you want nothing back. if you want something back, you gave nothing. You have to give with no conditions at all. And then healing takes place. Not just physical healing, but healing of the planet.
Everybody suffers from illness, war, anger, old age. We practice Puja and we practice the Turning the Wheel of Dharma but yet we have enormous need, we suffer a lot. Exiled out of Tibet, you have been here for over fifty years. And with the power that's here, it's really very difficult for people to actually understand that you need money. It's not that they don't care, they do. There's movies about you. Everybody loves Tibetans, but nobody comes here to support you. So I spend all my time educating the world about you.
For humanity, like myself and all the people who sponsored building this prayer hall, it will now effect them for the rest of their lives, with Dharma. All your transcendental mind, all your experiences will now be blending in with all the people who gave offerings here, you're all one now, you're all connected. Every offering people make, they take refuge. And every time they give in your direction, you also give back in their direction and you become a greater and bigger brotherhood. That's Shambhala."
His Holiness Buddha Maitreya addresses the Monk Assembly of
Nyagre Khamtsen
Drepung University, Mungod, India - October 18, 2002
"Thank you for inviting me to speak. My main teaching and my main work
is Charity and the focus of Tibetan Buddhism.
That is all I do, and I do it well. I do it very well. I have no support,
and I have no financial backing; I have no wealthy people backing me. I do it
because I'm a Rinpoche. In Drepung here, with all of your study and all of your
hard work, you will all reincarnate with these same qualities. It is in all
of your highest teachings. All of those teachings are based on charity, that wisdom
comes from giving. It is the hardest thing in the world to do. So it's our Bodhicitta,
our Bodhisattva, our Buddha nature that allows us to do this.
Money can make you greedy; it can make people greedy, money itself. But money
is a source of all wealth... all prana. It is not inherently negative; it is a
vehicle for giving. If you give it, you receive it. Its magic is so powerful
that if you hold onto it, it will take away Buddha nature and it will
destroy you. It is made to be given away, to be shared.
Money can be used across all borders, across all languages. It is right now
the root of evil, the foundation of evil. It is also life itself, our life-source,
the energy of life. It either gives life or it takes life. It is created by
Buddha to end all evil. Money is created by Buddha-mind, by Buddha, in order
to end all evil just simply by using it right. Use it right and it ends all
evil. To use it right, you have to act right and you have to think right. Money
helps you to become good if you use it right.
Our job is to help people to let
go of money. Money is like a big piece of self, a big ego, and you can let
go of your ego, you can let go and offer it to Buddha. Buddha creates Dharma
and a Sangha. In a Sangha, Buddha brings problems to you, like people who need
money, Monasteries who need money, things that need help. You don't go away
from it, it actually comes to you and you must deal with it.
You feed the poor, you help the hungry, you fix things; that's what
Buddhists do. That's how we built Tibetan Buddhism, because Rinpoches go out and
raise money, and bring it back to the monastery and build the monastery and
support the monks. This greatly changes the world because the Rinpoche goes into
the material world and changes the mind of the layperson and brings Faith and
Buddha nature to the layperson, and they give offerings.
When Rinpoches
and others go out, they increase Buddha nature in humanity and humanity feels to
give offerings, and its usually money, or building a monastery and support. This
stimulates the process for the world to begin healing. The bridge of helping
laypeople give offerings to support Tibetan Buddhism is the bridge between
humanity healing or humanity being in the depths of hell, Samsara.
So as
a Rinpoche, I travel around the world and I teach people how hard it is for you
here, how it really is here, and break the illusion that you're mystically
sitting around, breathing air and eating no food. And by all of humanity helping
your work they are entering Buddha's nature, Buddha-field; they are going into
Buddha-field out of Samsara. Nothing else does that.
We have a lot of creative future ahead of us and that future is very different
than the present is today. Everybody together, will create a bigger and bigger
picture of how this future of Buddhism is going to manifest. We've done this
before, expansion where in one Monastery we would have 5,000 Monks. It all depends
on mind and seeing that we can actually grow like that.
That's my intention, is to help support the creative minds of all the
Rinpoches and all the Geshes to see the future and build it, with extreme support
from all of humanity.
Buddhism is not a religion, it is a philosophy. Every human being must become
a Buddhist. It's not a religion, it's a fact. What we're doing here is creating
human beings. By all of humanity helping your work, they are awakening Buddha
nature. Nothing
else does it like that. All the Masters of Earth, all become students of Buddha,
that's nature. So it is absolutely vital that humanity helps you. It is absolutely
the most important thing for humanity to be aware of Tibetan Buddhism and its
purpose and its effect on humanity. And that has been and is my goal, life after
life after life.
In this life, everything is going to be much easier than we've ever had it
before, because there are many Rinpoches who are fully capable of Giving, really,
completely capable of being able to Give. I can prove that because of the way
I am treated in Tibetan Buddhism. I am a teacher of Charity, and most Rinpoches
find me to be very similar to themselves. They may not have fully awakened all
of Buddha nature yet, but they will and through my kindness, they will become
just as kind and we will become so very, fortunate, because their teachings
will reach the whole world.
So, we are not in a bad time. We have lost a lot of Tibetan process, but we
are going to go out into the world and change everything. Just think of it as
a group reincarnation. Just think of it as a large group of awakened people
reincarnated, re-birthed.
And we just fix things."
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