A group of us at the Abbey were talking about what had originally brought us to the Buddha’s teachings. It was interesting to hear that, in one way or another, we all came to the Dharma because of deep admiration for the loving, compassionate motivation of bodhicitta. We all felt that the purpose, meaning and value of our lives had something to do with expanding our hearts to care for all sentient beings and then making an actual positive contribution for their benefit. Each of us has different talents and abilities. According to our karma, we each have different opportunities to benefit others. The actual way in which we offer benefits will differ accordingly. But our motivation is one thing that we all share and that we want to enhance and increase as our practice deepens.

So many different causes and effects need to be created for the Dharma to exist in our world. Some of these are created through our sitting practice. Others are created when we use our unique abilities and talents in a practical way, for example by transcribing and editing Dharma talks, constructing buildings to be used for Dharma purposes, working on the website, cooking for Dharma events, and so on.

Explore to see what your unique abilities are and rejoice in the abilities and talents of others, knowing that one person alone cannot make everything happen. It is all of us working together for something that goes way beyond us as individuals and way beyond our life span.

Think big and help the Dharma exist on our planet for many generations to come. Think of all the sentient beings who will benefit from that as the ripple effect propogates. Also, when we contribute to sustaining the Dharma, we will reap the benefit in our future lives in a practical way. If we are born on this Earth in the future, we will be able to take advantage of the monasteries, Dharma centres, websites, books and so forth that we had helped to create in our previous lives. Of course, we will also benefit karmically by acting with bodhicitta, and that will lead to our awakening.

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!