Christmas Dharma
by Lama Thubten Yeshe
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These teachings came from Silent Mind, Holy Mind,
a collection of talks given by Lama Yeshe at Kopan Monastery
at the end of one of the month-long Kopan Meditation
Courses. Western students had gathered on Christmas
Eve, feeling a little out of place and unsure of what
to do with their feelings of "missing out on Christmas".
Lama, sensing their confused feelings, had them gather
in the meditation hall where he gave these talks about
Christmas and Buddhist practice. These were recorded
and later became the book published by Wisdom Publications.
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When we see each other again on Christmas Eve for the celebration
of Holy Jesus' birth, let us do so in peace and with a good
vibration and a happy mind. I think it would be wonderful.
To attend the celebration with an angry disposition would
be so sad. Come instead with a beautiful motivation and much
love. Have no discrimination, but see everything as a golden
flower, even your worst enemy. Then Christmas, which so often
produces an agitated mind, will become so beautiful.
When you change your mental attitude, the external vision
also changes. This is a true turning of the mind. There is
no doubt about this. I am not special, but I have had experience
of doing this, and it works. You people are so intelligent,
so you can understand how the mind has this ability to change
itself and its environment. There is no reason why this change
cannot be for the better.
Some of you might think, "Oh, I want to have nothing to do
with Jesus, nothing to do with the Bible." This is a very
angry, emotional attitude to have towards Christianity. If
you really understood, you would recognize that what Jesus
taught was, "Love!" It is as simple and as profound as that.
If you had true love within you, I am sure you would feel
much more peaceful than you do now.
How do you normally think of love? Be honest. It is always
involved with discriminations, isn't it? Just look around
this room and see if anyone here is an object of your love.
Why do you discriminate so sharply between friend and enemy?
Why do you see such a big difference between yourself and
others?
In the Buddhist teaching, this falsely discriminating attitude
is called dualism. Jesus said that such an attitude is the
opposite of true love. Therefore, is there any one of us who
has the pure love that Jesus was talking about? If we do not,
we should not criticize his teachings or feel they are irrelevent
to us. We are the ones who have misunderstood, perhaps knowing
the words of his teachings, but never acting upon them.
There are so many beautiful sentences in the Bible, but I
do not recall reading that Jesus ever said that without your
doing anything whatsoever—without preparing yourself in some
way—the Holy Spirit would descend upon you, whoosh! If you
do not act the way He said you should act, there is no Holy
Spirit existent anywhere for you.
What I have read in the Bible has the same connotation as
the Buddhist teachings on equilibrium, compassion and changing
one's ego-attachment into love for others. It may not be immediately
obvious how to train your mind to develop these attitudes,
but it is certainly possible to do so. Only our selfishness
and closed-mindedness prevent us.
With true realizations, the mind is no longer egotistically
concerned with its own salvation. With true love, one no longer
behaves dualistically; feeling very attached to some people,
distant from others and totally indifferent to the rest. It
is so simple. In the ordinary personality, the mind is always
divided against itself, always fighting and disturbing its
own peace.
The teachings on love are very practical. Do not put religion
somewhere up in the sky and feel you are stuck down here on
earth. If the actions of body, speech and mind are in accordance
with loving kindness, you automatically become a truly religious
person. To be religious does not mean that you attend certain
teachings. If you listen to teachings and misinterpret them,
you are in fact, the opposite of religious. And it is only
because you do not understand a certain teaching that you
abuse religion.
Lack of deep understanding leads to partisanship. The ego
feels, "I am a Buddhist, therefore Christianity must be all
wrong." This is very harmful to true religious feeling. You
do not destroy a religion with bombs, but with hatred. More
importantly, you destroy the peacefulness of your own mind.
It does not matter if you express your hatred with words or
not. The mere thoughts of hatred automatically destroys your
peace.
Similarly, true love does not depend on physical expression.
You should realize this. True love is a feeling deep within
you. It is not just a matter of wearing a smile on your face
and looking happy. Rather, it arises from a heartfelt understanding
of every other being's suffering and radiates out to them
indiscriminately. It does not favor a chosen few to the exclusion
of everyone else.
Furthermore, if someone hits you and you react with anger
or great alarm, crying, "What has happened to me?" this also
has nothing to do with a mind knowing the meaning of true
love. It is just the ignorant preoccupation of the ego with
its own welfare. How much wiser it is to realize, "Being hit
does not really harm me. My delusion of hatred is an enemy
that harms me much more than this." Reflecting like this allows
true love to grow.
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