By Lama Zopa Rinpoche
How can we make best
use of this perfect human rebirth, the precious human body that we have received
just this once? How can we make it most beneficial, not only for ourselves but
also for those other, most precious, extremely important living beings? Just
like us, numberless other living beings, each of whom is as equally precious
as we feel ourselves to be, seek only happiness and dislike any suffering. How
can we make our lives productive for their sake? This is the main thing we should
be asking ourselves.
If we take care of others, work for their happiness, we are automatically taking
care of ourselves. Trying to make others happy is the best way of loving ourselves.
Similarly, if we harm others, we harm ourselves. Harming others does not bring
us peace and happiness, only misery and grief, now and in the future. Bringing
happiness to others is the best way of bringing happiness to ourselves; it follows
naturally. It happens by the way. Things we do that bring happiness to others
have a beneficial effect on our own minds.
Conversely, if we act toward others with negative motivation and give them harm,
such actions leave negative imprints on our mental continuum. These imprints
later manifest as undesirable appearances. When our senses come into contact
with these, unpleasant feelings arise. This is the evolution of our life's problems;
this is how they start. Their origin is in our own minds, with our negative
thoughts. The end result is the suffering we experience, in this life or in
future ones.
Healthy actions - positive actions, actions that benefit others, actions done
with compassion, with sincerity, which bring happiness to others - leave positive
imprints on our mental continuum. These manifest as desirable appearances. When
our senses contact these, pleasant feelings, comfort, success - all the enjoyable
experiences we wish for and desire - result. This is the evolution of happiness,
all the way up to enlightenment. Happy daily lives, pleasure and enjoyment -
from now until enlightenment - result from positive thinking, positive intention,
and positive actions.
That's why the Buddha of Compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, often says
that cherishing others is the best way of cherishing ourselves. His Holiness
calls this wise, or intelligent selfishness because, as I mentioned above, by
cherishing others, refraining from giving them harm, offering them all benefit,
all our wishes for happiness, both now and in the future, will be fulfilled.
Experience has proven that not only temporary happiness, but even enlightenment,
the ultimate state of everlasting happiness, the highest, complete attainment
of peace and bliss, results from serving others. In fact the more we dedicate
ourselves to others, the quicker and easier our own happiness arises.
This means living a life of compassion. Therefore, the answer to the question
of how to make best use of our life is by living with compassion and wisdom.
Compassion alone is not enough. We also need to develop wisdom. How do we develop
wisdom? We don't get wisdom from pills or a special diet or by transplanting
somebody else's brain into our head or someone's heart into our chest. We can
develop wisdom only through our own effort, our own meditation practice. Wisdom
comes from listening to the right teachings and reflecting and meditating on
them.
Now, take a break from reading and meditate on the meaning of life, the purpose
of being alive.
Think, "The purpose of my life is not simply to get happiness for myself,
not just to solve my own problems. The meaning of my life is to free all sentient
beings from suffering and lead them to all happiness because it is from the
numberless, precious sentient beings that I receive all my past, present and
future happiness, temporary and ultimate, from each everyday comfort and pleasure
up to the highest enlightenment". Feel this in your heart.