The Self-cherishing Thought Is the Real Enemy

The Self-cherishing Thought Is the Real Enemy

Date of Advice:
April 2021
Date Posted:
July 2022

Rinpoche sent this advice to someone who was in prison and had memorized The Wheel of Sharp Weapons text.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche adorned with flowers, 2010.

My very dear one,
I am very happy to hear what you are doing in prison and how you are using your Dharma understanding and have memorized The Wheel of Sharp Weapons. This is so, so good. This is really how to use your time in prison. Then it becomes the path to enlightenment.

The great Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa said:

By experiencing this present small suffering,
The past negative karma is ceased
And there will be happiness in the future.
Therefore, rejoice, be happy in this present suffering.

Even with the small suffering of this life, we are able to finish so much negative karma from our past life, and then we will have happiness in the future. So rejoice in the suffering that you are experiencing now. Look at this present suffering and this difficult situation as being on the path to enlightenment and transform it into great happiness.

How? This present suffering is causing you to finish your past negative karma, so instead of being born in hell etc., you are in prison in this life. That causes you to finish your past negative karma, by manifesting undesirable things in this life. Then you will have so much happiness and you will experience this in lives to come. Then like the sun shining, your life will go up to enlightenment. Most amazing! Most amazing! Most amazing!

So you can utilize this experience on the path to enlightenment. Therefore, experience this on behalf of the six-realm sentient beings, so that they become free from the oceans of suffering and achieve enlightenment. So use this for tonglen practice. If you need to learn about tonglen I can send you some information.

You have memorized The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which is so precious because it destroys the ego. The Wheel of Sharp Weapons destroys the self-cherishing thought, which is the real enemy and the cause of all the sufferings of samsara, in all six realms of samsara. If we continue to follow self-cherishing, there will be no end to suffering. Self-cherishing has made us harm numberless sentient beings in the six realms in the past. So we can see this is our worst enemy.

The Wheel of Sharp Weapons is destroying the self-cherishing, so now being in prison you can use it to destroy the self-cherishing thought. Therefore, do this while you are in prison and also [use this method for] the people who put you there. This is an extremely important practice and method to destroy the self-cherishing thought. This is the most precious method to use when you are in prison. So rejoice! Then this will make your life so happy.

With much love and prayers ...