Lamp of Sincerity
I did a post a while back called “Yesterday I Experienced True Generosity” and in the comments section Kevin wrote a nice story about Buddha, a lamp and old lady. Here is the post.
Thanks Kevin,
Tsem Rinpoche
From Kevin Tan on Sep 11, 2011 at 1:45 am
This old lady reminded me of a real cool story about an old lady wanting to see Buddha but had nothing to offer. She cut her hair and exchanged it for oil and offered oil lamp to Buddha. In the temple of hundreds of oil lamp, as Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma a strong wind blew out all the oil lamps except the one offered by the old lamp. Her lamp could not be blown out because it was a lamp of sincerity, offered by the old lady who had nothing but exchanged her hair to make an offering to Buddha. I wish if only I could have half her sincerity. I would be a good start for me. This story always inspire me to give and give sincerely.
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Sincerity is a mix of seriousness and honesty. If we do things with sincerity, people will trust us. Along with patience and compassion, sincerity is one of those qualities we all probably wish we had more of and wish other people had more of it too. People who show sincerity are being kind, compassionate and truthful. It is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings. Sincerity with which we do things, that’s shapes us in our life.
Wonderful story by Kelvin , an example of sincerity.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.A good and wonderful story.The woman gave sincerely from her heart…that is inspiring .If we are sincere and truly apply Dharma, benefiting others will always be the priority.
There are a lot of people displaying act of sincerity as they would like to show others in order to gain fame and name.Thank you very much for sharing such an inspiration article with us.
So what does it mean by sincerity when it comes to Dharma practice or making offerings to the Buddha? By just saying I want to be a good person is not enough, we have to show it from our actions. How we have harmed or created less suffering to people each day and how we have benefitted people.
Due to our ignorance, we often think if I don’t kill a person or if I don’t have a bad intention, then we are good people. For example, not being cooperative at work because we are angry at our colleague and we think this action is not harmful because nobody suffers from physical injuries and it causes no death. In fact, it is considered a harmful act because someone might lose their jobs due to the bad quality of work as a result of us not being cooperative.
If we are sincere and truly apply Dharma, benefitting others will always be the priority. Every day we will think of how not to inconvenient people and we think of ways to help them to be successful. It is not about how we feel but how we can help other people to relieve their burden, this is also how we make ourselves useful and benefit others.
Truly amazing….Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.A beautiful story.The woman gave sincerely from her heart….thats inspiring ,we should learn from her to give sincerely with what she has,what she can eventhough she has none or little to offer.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing Kevin Tan’s story with us.
The world we live in taught us to quantify, to put value on everything. It started with products, tangible items, it this got extended to services and unfortunately from there it spilled on to a person’s value. Our self worth and value are quantified by the number in our bank account, the likes on our Facebook, the followers we have on Twitter, the brands we carry….amidst it all, we lost our true human nature – kindness, integrity, sincerity.
But behold, not all is lost because the human nature is not fragile, the human spirit is not that easily broken. That is why even among the most corrupted environment, an act of kindness, an act of sincerity still shines through, inspires and touches lives.
Stories like this is the essence of our true nature and value. It should be shared again and again to keep that nature alive and that lamp of sincerity within us burning.
Thank you Kevin Tan for the wonderful story. The story tells us that we can give offering creatively whether we are rich or poor, young or old. When she offer her hair she give up her attachment to her physical appearance because to many us we are very attached to our body, we want to protect our body and we cannot bear our physical body to become ugly or to be hurt.
The power of sincerity is truly amazing when we are practicing dharma from the heart.There are a lot of people displaying act of sincerity as they would like to show others in order to gain fame and name. But in time to come such charade would reveal its true character as such acts is not consistent.
This is a simple post but yet to point out how powerful sincerity can be.
Sincerity comes from the heart. One may try to pretend he or she has it, but time will tell.
http://www.hsi.org/issues/mercy_release … lease.html
STOP BUDDHIST ANIMAL RELEASE!!!
“Many people don’t realize that the vast majority of animals used in mercy release were captured for the sole purpose of being released.”
“In Taiwan alone, 200 million animals, including nonnative species, are released each year. It should not be surprising, then, that a recent study found that 49 of Taiwan’s 51 major rivers were infested with invasive species.”
Whoops, posted in the wrong box–sorry, this was meant for below.
These two stories about sincerity are so amazing and touching… Thank U a lot for sharing! 🙂 Could someone please tell me if it’s possible to do any practice in order to become more sincere person? i’m sorry for my question, maybe there is an article about it, i just don’t find it by search…
Hey Vaiwa, the Lamrim Chenmo by Tsongkhapa has a section on the six perfections, I think his explanation of the Perfection of Generosity would be helpful. It is very detailed on how to give generously, the proper motivation, the things to avoid.