Do it for mom!
This picture says it all…How kind our mothers are to us. How kind our fathers are to us. How kind our teachers are to us. All of us have someone very kind in our lives that nurtured us. Never forget their kindness. Never live your life like you did it on your own…impossible.
Repay their kindness by being a good person, by benefitting others and by doing dharma work. Control, subdue and tame your habits to accomplish your work thinking about the kindness of your mom and whoever you may dedicate your work/merits for them. If you let negative habits take over, you do not accomplish your work then you cannot dedicate anything to anyone, not even yourself. Gratitude is results.
Do not make excuses of any kind ever to repay the kindness of your mom and the equivalent persons. Never disappoint, hurt, use, abandon, damage your mom and those who were kind to you…. Sometime your mom or loved ones may not understand what you are doing, but you keep on doing it with her in mind. You accomplish your work by results then dedicate.
Buddha left the palace and upset his father and all that loved Him very much, but when He attained enlightenment, He returned to the palace to preach the Dharma to them and liberated them remembering their kindness of the past…that is a good example.
Never forget the kindness of others especially those who have impacted your life..
Tsem Rinpoche
( I thank Dato’ Ham for passing this picture to me…very inspiring ).
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Parents will always love and protect their children. We should never take them for granted. The best way to repay their kindness is by taking good care of them and give them dharma. Thank you Rinpoche for this teaching and reminder.
Powerful,inspiring article and beautiful picture too.Good sharing .
Mother’s love is loving and caring,no matter how old we are to our mother we are always young.Always show kindness ,caring and compassion to those who have love and care for us,when we are young, during hard times and so forth. Repay their kindness , by benefiting others and by doing dharma work.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing teachings and reminder for all of us to do more Dharma work to repay those who have impacted our life..
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this message to us. The only we can truly repay the kindness of our parents that showed us kindness and compassion again and again is by giving them dharma to liberate them forever from suffering. I believe that when we join dharma full time many parents who does not understand the preciousness of dharma work will react negatively and would not agree to it. It makes them sad and angry at that time and would reflect us as being ungrateful child. However, we should have longer view on this matter. If because of our dharma work we can influence them and help them to get closer to the precious dharma, it is worth the short suffering that they experience from the sadness. Just like the buddha. When Prince Gautama left the palace, his father was devastated. Many would think that making his father suffer so much is an act of unfilial son. However, when the Buddha reach enlightenment and brought dharma back to him, the father get to liberate himself out of suffering forever. We should not be focusing on the short suffering that we have now and forgo the precious chance that we get to be close to dharma.
Humbly,
Chris chong
Thank you Rinpoche for the powerful words… I will dedicate all my Dharma work towards my parents, family, friends and all who knows me..
In this world, a mother’s love is really incomparable, their love to the kids are with no boundaries, they can sacrifice anything for their kids.
We are here because of our mother, we have the chance to do Dharma also because of our mother, whatever character they have, we cannot abandon them for any reason, because without the heart of kindness, we would not be going anywhere in life. To repay their kindness, we must know what can benefit them most.
Buddha left his father to do Dharma, yes, he hurts his father for that time, but with what he’s done, he is able to benefit his father long term.
My mummy love us a lot no matter how she always scold us. Although she is filled with anger most of the time, I understand. I love her and that is why I always do the best for her so that she will be less anger some and be happy. I am a mummy myself so I know that when mummy scold me its because of my ignorance to things. I thank my mummy for what she is doing and did! (while I was typing this mummy came in the room to scold me for something. lol)
Thank You! Inspiring and motivational!
Wonderful!
I love this picture. A mother always loves and cares for a child, I will never forget my mother’s kindness. I love my mother.
During my teenage years in school, I was probably the worst son a parent could ask for. I was rebellious and did many terrible things to hurt them because I thought that they could not understand me.
Today I am 24 years old and regret the things that I have done to my folks. After meeting with Dharma, I am determined to fill in the gaps from the past and fix our parent-son relationship.
Nowadays I spend more time with my mother and included her in some of my daily activities (such as voluntering in KSK). However, my motivation (to make things better) tends to weaken everytime I speak or interact with her personally. Also there is still a gap in our communication (we still argue a lot, even at the most petty stuff).
I sincerely appreciate if anyone could share with me some past experiences or skillful knowledge that I could apply to work out my problem. I strongly believe that only by overcoming this can I take another step further into my Dharma practises, with the grace and blessing from my mother.
Thank you.
Hi Jeffrey Yee, If you don’t interact or speak directly with your mother your motivation is higher to make things well and better..Then avoid speaking, interacting a litle bit more. You know, if she is in your heart and you in hers’ interacting and speaking is not always necessary. A smile does miracules, and no word is said… Also think of this: we must help, but not to the extand that we ourselves are not happy annymore. So, if getting deeper in dharma as you feel, and will bring you happyness, then go for it, just go for it. I am not your mother, and she is also not you..as you are not her; we all have to go our path ourselves, with Help. Guru is Friend Whom helps finding Truth. Your mother has helped you to get fhysical birth, can she help you to get spiritual birth? Perhaps it helps if you look upon your mother as being your sister, you will be less burdened with that hudge gift of her of giving birth, and feel the need to have warm relationship with her the same. Good luck (both spiritual as familiar-human beings together)! I hope my reply on your question is a litle help to you.
Dear Rinpoche,this is one of the cutest pictures I’ve ever seen!! I always loved my mother a lot and unfortunately I lost her many years ago. Sometimes I wish I could have done more for her as she lived so far away from me,but she died before I had a chance. Since then and even before I have always embraced people with love and affection and to animals too. By giving love,we receive love. Thanks Rinpoche and much love to you and appreciation of your kindness!!
A picture is better than a thousand words they say! Your Eminence’s 260 odd words have painted just as many pictures in my mind in the last few nights since I read those words – “pictures” of the times I remember the good and kind things done for me by my mother, relatives, friends and associates. I am grateful to them all and did offer them my gratitude in my own way. However, I cannot help asking myself whether the gratitude I offered my mother who had done most for me in caring, love, and providing what little she had, was enough. I conclude that it was not. She has gone now and now I can only do good and decent things and dedicate the merits to her. How wonderful it would have been if I knew when she was alive that she was happy with my gratitude! To the younger readers of this blog, I urge you to show your gratitude to your mothers and all who
have shown kindness to you when they still around, and not leave it too late!
To Your Eminence, thanks for bringing back the memories with your fine choice of words.
Salutations . Deep breath: His know nothing about this dedication stufff. I dedicate all and every thing of my life, whatever good or bad, sick or healthy, weak or strong, light or clouded, past or future, at any present to my Guru. In this life and all beyond. He is my True Mother!!!!!!! And you are all right, that anny forms we met or going to meet, or meeting….is all karma.
Keep awake. Past is an illusion. Future is an illusion. Even present is a conceptual reality (samsara). what would our lifes be without beauty…ruined probably.. Thank you great Friends, I connect you to my Mothers’ collection. It is not mine. It is silence. Like picture.
My mind is guided to complete this beautiful picture and talks to the inspiring song of “Antony and the Johnsons” : “Dove”.
he sings..shut your eyes..
very beautiful.
I will try to die again today. Really. like my Mom.
Mother’s love is the greatest love. A mother will even die to protect or save her child.
Like the mother bird who shelter and protects her chicks, it reminds me of how Rinpoche takes good care of all of us through thick and thin. Love has no boundaries. Thank you Rinpoche for always sharing inspiring teachings to us matter where you are.
In the topic of repaying kindness to one’s parents, our Lord Buddha had said, “For the sake of your parents, hold precepts of pure eating, make offerings and dedication to the triple gems for them, repent transgressions and offences on their behalf and cultivate giving. If you are to do these things, you are being a filial child.” The virtue of one’s parents is boundless and limitless. If one has made a mistake of being unfilial how difficult it is to repay that kindness! At times we do lack humaneness and are neither filial nor complaint. Filial piety is considered the first virtue in chinese culture – In somewhat general terms, it means to be good to one’s parents; take care of them with material needs, show love, respect, courtesy, up-hold fraternity within family-ties, and bring good name to one’s parents and ancesters. Whatever it is the good karma that we are together.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you very much for this lovely picture that have touched me deeply.
Parents always do their best for their kids based on their own experience and what they know. They sacrifice their own comforts, needs and wants for their children. For most parents, kids always come before them. Even when you are 90 yrs old, in our parents eyes, we are still their ‘kids’.
It’s our own karma and our parents karma that brought us together in this life. I dedicate whatever little merits that i’ve collected to my parents to repay their kindness, love and care.
If i had not have Dharma, i would not know how to repay my mother’s kindness. It is through Dharma that i know pray for her, to be able to take on her pain, her discomfort when she is sick. Can’t deny that i dont get frustrated at her not listening to the doctor’s prescriptions but then i realised that her mind is deluded when she says that she is already old and therefore she should do what she pleases even if what she eats is not good for her. Which is a very typical response for most chinese when they are confronted with a parent who is sick or old. We think we should just only let them be so long as they are happy with what they are doing. Little do we know that ther is much more we can do and dedicate for their merits.
When I was litle child my mother showed how cruel she was to annimals and forced me to see how she trapped on them, just to show me that, if I wanted to help the annimal, she would not let me do so, and I should remember that she was the boss, so to say.. The litle tender sculpture that I made (A Shephard) she made dissappear. As often things ,that had come out of His hands, dissappeared, without His permission. It’s a miracle that I am alive today. Not because she gave birth to me, she did, many births, and I am one half of a twin. She has had pain, these nine months. All so much I wanted to help her and love her and repay her kindness off giving birth and all that.. Well Heavon knows.
The reason I don’t go much into thanks talk and many words of this and that, is because I mean it.
You know, to some extend we can think, that we are doing, but:” the true reality is often not the one which is most mannifest” (Brancussi quotation/a sculpturer) Sorry my enlish is not so well.
This I-ness is an illusion. I want only to be free of this I-ness. The annimalmothers always set Great Examples to us. They are Real Teachers. Well I don’t want to get lost in words….Beye
I humbly bow to that person whom try to teach us, to show us, to open our eyes. Be blessed _/\_
the picture above really touches me deeply, of how motherly love of a bird for her 2 little offspring by sheltering them with her body. True enough, that when we were growing up, our mother provide us everything that we needed, or i could say wanted, and they care for us and take care of us so much even when they are sick, they mind is still on us. but when we grown up, starting to venture out from home and being far away from our mother, we started to drift away and forgot what had our mother had done for us, and what we had acquired in present. but we did not make the right choice and did the right move to repay them, we did it only because we think through this way and that way.
but actually what makes them happy and proud is not due to how much we earn and giving them money, but what makes them trully happy is how we transform ourself from previous negativeness to a better person. it may differ for some people, but i think no mother in this world would want their child to be bad and negative all the time. so by involving in Dharma, understanding Dharma and practicing Dharma is the best gift for our mother and father.
this is only my thinking.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for this powerful teaching on the kindness of all mothers with a very inspirational picture portraying Mother Love.
I also take this opportunity to thank Rinpoche for pointing out so clearly to me and my sister, a short while before our mother passed away, all that she had done for us ( her children) and the force of her great love for us. You made us realize how we had not been truly appreciative of our mother and you showed us that the best way to repay her kindness, before she passed away, was through the Dharma.
Nay, even way before that, your teachings to us were always focused on repaying the kindness of our mothers and those who had impacted our lives.I personally felt the power of these teachings, and the sense of it being a karmic debt, in the last days of my mother’s life.
15 years ago when I had an audience with Rinpoche with my mom and my brothers before I left for UK for my studies, I remembered Rinpoche told me that my mom will stand in front and shield me with her body if someone would shoot me.
That advice had stayed with me until today. I could have turned out worst I feel with so much freedom in UK and back here but I chose not to because it will hurt her. On top of this, doing my dharma work well is the best gift I can repay the kindness of my mom. It is not about what she can do for me now but what I can do for her.
Thank you Rinpoche
From a beautiful picture of a mother bird sheltering her two chicks from the weather and from harm, Rinpoche finds aspiration to teach dharma of love, kindness, gratitude, re habituating of negative habits to positive ones and transformation of negative mind to being positive.
Very powerful teaching! Thank you, Rinpoche.
beauty:-)
Dear Rinpoche, I love this picture, and love this blog entry!! I think this is one of the most important things to keep in mind always because it gives strongest motivation.
I will never forget the kindness of those who had impact on my life, I can promise this, I am sure of this.
Thank you!!
If Buddha had intented that we practice the Dharma at any time and anywhere, then, by taking the middle path, there would not be the issue of having to choose between fulltime or part-time, or where we practice.
I had always thought that the Dharma is all about how we live our life – how we talk, act, eat, sleep, relate to ourself and others wherever we are all though the day and night. Dharma practice is not time or place specific. I beg to be enlightened on this.
You are absolutely right. In fact you enlighten us all with that deep thought of yours!!! It’s a True and right thought, absolutely. You’re right. The middle path..Keeping the balance…-^-
I believe when you choose Dharma work as your full time job, many will start questioning you WHY? Especially if you are young, at your 20’s, your parents, friends and relatives wouldn’t be supportive towards your decision. They are doubtful and full of question marks in their head, but they never want to find out why you choose this path and how it not only benefits the one who is doing it, but also beneficial to the people around him/her.
I strongly believe that when we have determination and integrity in doing whatever we are doing now, for example dharma work, we can overcome the hurdles by working hard and dedicate the merits to them. One day, they will understand and accept it with rejoice.
They will be touched when they see their kids are becoming a better person, and they will understand we are doing something great!
Karen, if I see from the view of a mother or someone who care for you, it is their concern that clouds all. They worry too much, as is still in the Worldy concern. As Jace mentioned, they will understand and support, when they see a happier, independent and see the work you have done that touch and changes life. I see that!
Now that I am a mother and grandmother, I still find it hard to understand my Mother and what she really stood for. Since being a Dharma student, I look deeper and realized my mother’s frustration with us is probably because of us, so whatever are my thoughts about my mother, it is of no importance but the fact that she did her best for us. I dedicate the merits from my Dharma work to my Mother. May she be contented.
Hi Datuk May, I like to share this with you.
The Song Sang by Mongolia Boy who lost both of his parents
The song called : In Mother Dream, He sang in youtube