Whether or Not to Have a Baby

Whether or Not to Have a Baby

Date Posted:
September 2005

Rinpoche gave the following advice to a couple who were trying to decide whether to have a baby.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche relaxing with children and students at Waterlow Park, Highgate, London, 1983. Photo by Robin Bath.

It makes life so complicated! If your plan is to give a human body to a sentient being who is looking for a human body, and you know how to bring it up in a way that would make its life most beneficial for the world, and you have a good, clear plan – that is different. With that plan, you can manage well. But if you don’t have that plan, then having a child is just for one’s own pleasure, like keeping a dog. However, if your attitude is according to that plan from the beginning, and the material part can be managed, it’s OK. Otherwise, if you have a child, and you don’t have that plan, instead of increasing kindness, patience, tolerance, peace, and happiness in the world, there would only be more trouble. I think whether or not to have a child very much depends on what kind of life the child is going to have.