09/08/2025
Words of wisdom 💙 Big Love
When people criticize you, it doesn’t mean that they are right. We carry past lives’ negative karma, give rise to heresy, and lack devotion. There are people who criticize His Holiness and there were six heretics who criticized the Buddha. You have to know that. One thing is that you can be evil, but others can look at you as positive, pure, and enlightened, even if you are a demon. The other is that you are a buddha, but people don’t see it.
For example, the Buddha’s attendant Legpai Karma always criticized him. One day the Buddha went out for alms and a girl offered a handful of grain into his begging bowl. As a result, the Buddha predicted her enlightenment as Sangye Tsema. Then the Buddha’s attendant thought, “Why is the Buddha saying that? He is lying.” For twenty-two years, he believed the Buddha had lied and in his next life he was born in hell for eons.
This example is brought up in the root text of the 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. Therefore, you have to make an effort to make your mind pure, positive. You have the responsibility of becoming enlightened. Like you have the responsibility of getting better if you are sick, take care to keep your mind healthy. His Holiness emphasizes this, the hygiene of the emotions. Get sick with attachment and great negativity will ensue all day long. This happens with the five poisonous minds. We do take care of our body, but the best thing is to make sure you have a healthy mind; that’s what makes a very healthy body.
-Lama Zopa Rinpoche
from 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/reflect-kindness-others Image of Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, February, 2010. Photo by Seow Kheng. From https://fpmt.org/teachers/zopa/gallery/singapore-2010-feb/
