“Whether you win happiness or misery with human life so fragile and rare, And whether you gain confusion or peace, lies entirely in your own hands. If you don’t practice the essence, abandoning evil and cultivating goodness – what benefit is there even in living on a remote mountain peak?”- The Seventh Dalai Lama
Learning about the freedoms and richnesses of this life is a cause of happiness and an implicit instruction to make the most of this life. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says here: "People get excited about strange things. I recently saw a group of men kicking a ball into a big net between two sticks and hundreds of thousands of people were cheering and throwing their hands up in the air, while millions watched on television. Everybody was totally out of control with excitement. In fact, their faces were so distorted I couldn’t tell whether they were very happy or in great pain. This World Cup seems extremely important to many people, but it also brings misery and jealousy, as well as anger and hatred when your country beats my country.
On the other hand, a real cause for excitement and happiness is simply having this human body. If we could truly understand even a tiny part of its value, we would have a million times more reason for jumping in the air and shouting for joy the way those soccer fans do. Every day—every second—we should have a huge feeling of joy in our hearts that we have this precious possession that gives us the opportunity to do whatever we want. With it, we can achieve anything we want, to benefit ourselves and to benefit others."
Join Geshe Sonam as he unpacks this topic so that you can take it into your own practice for greater joy and purpose in your life.
Most Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm Hayagriva Buddhist Centre for 4 weeks starting September 3.
