My dear one,
Thank you very much for helping to bring these people into the Dharma and to enlightenment, and in general for benefiting sentient beings. Also in the past you were trying to benefit others so much. Thank you very much for all your good actions of body speech and mind; your virtuous actions benefiting sentient beings.

Here there are some important corrections to being a good person, to bring happiness to all sentient beings and not harm them, and to be a good Dharma practitioner. The Buddha taught on the three levels [of the path] to not develop pride or arrogance and to respect others; for oneself to be humble and to serve others. Oneself should be the servant to all.

Just as we respect the buddhas, then why not respect all sentient beings? Even those who have no knowledge, those who haven’t gone to school, those who know nothing, it is still very important to respect them and to be humble. All our past, present and future happiness came from all sentient beings, therefore they are the real object to be respected and they need to be served.

It is said in the teachings that if we follow pride it is as if our bowl is upside down, therefore nothing stays in it. It is said that we usually have mountains [of pride] and there is no flatness, thus no qualities of the human being stay; no Dharma qualities can abide. When we are full of pride, we don’t receive any benefits or qualities, especially Dharma, particularly good conduct and character. Also the teachings mention the shortcomings of pride. As a result we are born into slavery and poverty as a person who can’t do much in this life.

Also in the Bodhicaryavatara [Ch. 8, v. 125] it says in more detail the mistakes of the self-cherishing thought: “If I give this to others, what am I going to use for myself?” Thinking of the I is a very ungenerous thought.

The Dharma king of Tibet [Lha Lhama Yeshe Ö] is a great example of this. To eliminate the issues that were obstacles for Dharma in Tibet he invited the great Atisha to come there. The Dharma king went to India to find gold to offer Atisha—you know the story—and later he died in prison, thus he gave up his life to benefit others. It was a very pure offering to benefit others.

Another example is the medicine and food you give to others, even if there is not enough for yourself, don’t hesitate to give to others.

All the happiness of the world comes from cherishing others,
And all the sufferings come from desiring happiness only for oneself.
     - Bodhicaryavatara, Ch. 8, v. 129

Cherishing the I more than others is the basis from which all the suffering arises. So this is one paragraph, then in the Eight Verses it says,

When in the company of others,
I shall always consider myself the lowest of all,
And from the depths of my heart
Hold others dear and supreme.

First of all this means treating everyone the same—even monks or lay people, or those who don’t know Dharma, anybody. You can’t disrespect them or look at them as low. According to Mahayana practice, you must treat them as high or supreme. You never know who can be a buddha, so you should respect everyone. There is a teaching where you look at sentient beings as buddhas. I did see this text. By looking at them as buddhas, then you get the benefit of doing exactly as if they were buddhas, so you collect inconceivable merits. Even animals can be buddhas; you can’t tell.

We see His Holiness the Dalai Lama as getting sick and so forth, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a buddha. We cannot use that reason to say he is not a buddha. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was predicted by the Buddha, Meaningful to Behold.

Gelong Lekpai Karma served the Buddha for 22 years, but during that time Lekpai Karma never saw him as Buddha; he only saw him as a liar. From the Buddha’s side, he was already enlightened eons ago, but the Buddha only appeared to Lekpai Karma as a liar. When the Buddha went to receive alms, one girl offered him a bowl of food and the Buddha predicted she would be enlightened. Lekpai Karma thought the Buddha was just flattering her; he thought the Buddha lied to her. He had more faith in his Hindu guru. He told the Buddha this guru was sick but he misunderstood what the Buddha told him, then the Hindu guru died. The Hindu guru was reborn as some kind of preta making noise.

So while the geshe, who has completely finished his study, is present, when he is giving blessing you should not do any kind of activity like blessing with the hand or even accepting respect from others. It is said in the tantric vows that you can’t do this in front of the guru; you can’t give blessing. So I don’t do that. I don’t let them pay respect to me in front of the guru. You cannot give blessing while he does, unless he asks you to. It becomes strange. It’s like you are asking people to pay respect.

Thank you very, very, very much.

Lama Zopa

One other thing is that if there is an elder monk who can give refuge, then you don’t need to give. In certain places where there are no other monks, then it is permissible. Otherwise if there are no other teachers or elder monks, and students from their side want to take refuge from you, and they request you, then it’s OK, but not that you ask them. 

So sincerely respect the older monks, as it is advised in the vows in the vinaya [monastic rules]. Accepting prostrations from younger Sangha is OK, but you should offer prostrations to those who are older than you and in that way you earn merit. In the future lives, for thousands of lifetimes in the future, you will be respected. Like those high lamas, like the king, everyone will serve you. The result will be that you are respected for thousands and thousands of lifetimes.