Genuine Spiritual Practice: Selections of Tibetan Buddhism Texts by the Venerated Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa (vegetarian), Part 1 of 2

We now present the teachings of Master Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa (vegetarian) on committing wholeheartedly to spiritual practice in the pursuit of liberation.

The Source of Permanent Benefit and Bliss

“Since everyone wants to be happy, If you place your trust completely In the Guru and the Three Jewels, Both this and future lives will be virtuous. […]

If you maintain the activities that accord with the Dharma – Writing, reading, study, reflection, and meditation – You will accomplish great things for yourself and others.

Don’t laze around […] In a state of sloth and apathy. The time of death is uncertain. […]

You should follow even a beggar, If he is someone who speaks sparingly, thinks not in excess, Who is honest and sincere, And who listens to everything that accords with the Dharma.

If you stay in solitude, without company, Excellent qualities will arise.

If you have just a few wholesome friends, You will accomplish great good.

If you don’t do anything, but just have grand plans, It is unlikely in the end that anything will come of them. Easy tasks, when accumulated, Amount in the end to great things accomplished.

If there were no such thing as good and bad people, What would be the ground for right and wrong, Or the source of the difference between excellent and lowly? […]

If there were no difference between pure and degenerate vows, Then, though all renunciates may wear the same yellow robe, Why is it that some will fall into the lower realms, While others will attain the higher realms?

Though everyone wishes for the best, Happiness and suffering come according to one’s karma. There are only very few who are really happy and well.

If there is happiness in saṃsāra [the cycle of rebirth and death], Why does birth end in death?

If power and wealth were of real import, Why do those who have it end up losing their assets to foes and disputes, Only to be reborn in their next lives in the lower realms? If practicing the Dharma is of no import, Why is it that practitioners receive such respect in this life, And in their next life journey to the pure realms?”