Offering Service

Offering Service

Service at Retreat Center
Date Posted:
October 2005

Rinpoche wrote the following letter to the two caretakers of Land of Calm Abiding, the mountain retreat center in California.

My very dear John and Nicky,
Thanks very much to both of you for your service. It is very kind of you. Of course, it is not an easy job. Here I would like to express what the great yogi Milarepa said:

Ha Ha! The meditator meditating on the rock and the benefactor offering food have an auspicious arrangement to achieve enlightenment together… Ha Ha!

It is exactly the same in your case, with both of you offering service to the meditators, which gives them a chance to continue their retreat. This retreat is not just focusing on breathing, and watching where thoughts are going and what they are doing; it is not only that. They are meditating on lamrim, on the whole path to enlightenment, especially bodhicitta.

With much love and prayers...

Long-term Retreat
Date Posted:
October 2005

A couple had been working full-time to support a group of Dharma practitioners doing long-term retreat at Land of Calm Abiding, an FPMT retreat center located in a remote spot in the hills of northern California. Rinpoche wrote the following to thank the couple.

Thank you so much for all your work in supporting the retreatants. I feel this is one of the best services you can do for others, because you are offering service to those who are practicing Dharma, who are working to end suffering in samsara and trying to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. This is more important, in my view, than going to Africa and saving many people from starvation. Even if thousands of people are able to survive, it doesn’t mean they will practice Dharma, change their minds, and stop the causes of suffering and achieve liberation.

Each person who goes to Land of Calm Abiding is purifying their mind, collecting merit, and bringing enlightenment nearer. There is no question that if one of them actually achieves realizations, this person will be able to benefit sentient beings more and more, and will be able to bring others to enlightenment: the great liberation.

This is how the Land of Calm Abiding is benefiting all sentient beings. Thank you so much.

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