The lama’s act of compassion

After the lama visit, he instilled deep understanding, spiritual knowledge, and great prajna within the heart and minds of those who took the time to listen to his speeches and prayers. Everyone in our village benefited from the deep understanding of duhkha such as the suffering of change, suffering upon suffering, suffering of old age, illness, and death. Thus, we all wanted to find a way to eliminate suffering by trying our best to follow the eight-fold path.

The ritual that took place during the lama visit was to honour the, “Lord of Dance”. The idea of using weapons such as phurba for the ritual to symbolically conquer evil spirits and negative emotional states within our village did not really appeal to me as I do not find it to be an act of compassion, and so I did not continue to watch the festival and left early.
As I reflect back on the lama’s teachings, it still amazes me how he was able to talk about the Buddha’s teachings in such a way that was very intellectual and stimulating. He mentions that we are a small part of the world. Within our world there comprise of infinite number of universes. Each universe can be compared to a grain of sand, so small and constantly changing between the four stages of formation, expansion, destruction, and emptiness. Before the discovery of the telescope, many people thought that the world was flat. However, in the 5th century, there was already a Buddhist scholar who knew that the earth is the shape of a sphere without any scientific technology.
The lama mentioned that there is a text called the, “kalachakra” which is very close to modern cosmology. The lama kept reiterating the idea of making our own effort to seek truth, because Buddha’s teachings is about understanding oneself and trying to be the best that one can be. We need to discover the truth that is lasting. Our inner beauty is something that does not change, but our external beauty undergoes degeneration. For this reason, we should pursue our inner perfection. The most meaningful life is to purify our inner world with compassion to help others around us. In the end, there is no intrinsic existence, so we should not become attach to the things around us that will lead us to suffering. The reason why we experience samsara is due to our ignorance and karmic actions from our past lives which creates habitual tendencies and blinds us from knowing the truth of the buddha’s teachings that will free us from duhkha. One of the teachings that I thought was very practical was when he said, “’’If you seek happiness for yourself, you can have everything in the world and still be unhappy. But if you seek happiness for others, you’ll find happiness for yourself”.
Upon this departure, the lama gave some special amulets to the ritualists to distribute to others who are in desperate need of healing and protection. Also, as a token for all of our hard work in preparing for his visit, he kindly donated some money to help rebuild the library that was destroyed during the hailstorm within the nunnery. The funds will help support the new development of a printing press, the very first printing press within our village!
With the lama’s generous support, many scholars were excited and eager because the library will become a place to exchange knowledge and learn more about the sutras. Many vinaya books will be stored in the library for those who wants to learn more about the ordained life and the rules that they need to follow, and the consequences that arises when one breaks the rules within the sangha community. Stories of the Jataka will be available to those who wants to know more about the sacrifices that the Buddha has made during his past lives. People from all over nearby villages will be able to use the library and exchange sutras and valuable knowledge about the teachings of the Buddha.
After hearing about how some doctors decided to help those suffering from the naga illness in the nearby village, the lama decided that he would donate some money to build a medicine factory within our village! I felt very blessed to have the support and encouragement from the lama. The lama’s compassion spread equanimity and harmony within the village, and bought everyone closer together. Even the selfish ritualists were becoming more kind and generous.

Now that we have the sufficient funds to development a medicine factory, we now need the support from the community to work together and help build the medicine factory. Many builders and doctors have begun to discuss plans on collaborating to build the medicine factory. I am really excited for the new project because not only will I be able to use my primary skill in medicine to help, but also my secondary skill in building as well. I am looking forward to this collaboration and will continue to work on the project as the days progresses. I am so thankful for the lama’s kindness and felt really blessed to take part in such an important project.