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The Importance of Motivation
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One day, a student asked Chhewang Thile Lama how the Tibetan word “dzepo”
would be used in a Dharma situation, the word meaning “beautiful,” in English. He
replied with an unexpected teaching.
He said that if you make a very beautiful offering to the Buddhas -- for example, you
arrange the bowls on the altar very nicely, and set out offerings that are very, very
nice -- then that is very good. “You will get a lot of merit from that,” he said.
Then the student asked, “What if I do not have many beautiful things to offer, and
the offering bowls are not so nice. But I want to offer something beautiful from my
mind?”
“Then you would get a lot of merit from that,” Lama said. He continued that
motivation is very, very important. When you listen to Dharma, do practice, read
Dharma books, or make offerings, you need to have a good motivation. Why? All
phenomena are mind, he said, including the Dharma. It comes from inside.
Motivation is also from inside, and that is why it is important.
He said, if you think bad things, then you change to thinking good things. How you
change your thoughts to good things is to say, “I do this so that all sentient beings
reach buddhahood.”
An example of a bad thought, he said, is when somebody you don’t like is listening to
Dharma who is better than you, and so you listen to Dharma to become better than
him -- like competition. If you listen to Dharma with anger, desire, or jealousy that
is a bad motivation. The Dharma does not benefit you and you cannot reach the
higher realms. You might fall into the lower realms.
Because the Buddha says that Dharma is not outside. It is inside. Motivation is
inside. So, practicing with good motivation is good merit (the same as good karma).
If you practice with the poisons, you will have no good merit. If you have good
motivation and practice just a little, you have lots of merit. Someone with only a
little bit of practice can get big merit. Somebody without a good motivation, he just
looks like a good practitioner, or can practice a long time, isn’t getting good merit
anymore.
In Tibet, there is a story about a stupa that was built beside a road. Someone came
by and said, “Oh, no. That is not good. It will rain and it will be easy for the stupa to
break apart.” So, he found an ugly old boot on the side of the road and put it on top of
the stupa. His motivation was very good, but it looked like he had bad motivation.
Another person came by and said, “That ugly boot is not good on top of a stupa,” and
so he took off the ugly boot.
Lama summed up, “All three had good motivation. The person who built the stupa,
the person who put the ugly boot on top, and the person who took it off. Their
motivation was so good, they attained buddhahood from that.”
Chhewang Thile Lama, November 2008
would be used in a Dharma situation, the word meaning “beautiful,” in English. He
replied with an unexpected teaching.
He said that if you make a very beautiful offering to the Buddhas -- for example, you
arrange the bowls on the altar very nicely, and set out offerings that are very, very
nice -- then that is very good. “You will get a lot of merit from that,” he said.
Then the student asked, “What if I do not have many beautiful things to offer, and
the offering bowls are not so nice. But I want to offer something beautiful from my
mind?”
“Then you would get a lot of merit from that,” Lama said. He continued that
motivation is very, very important. When you listen to Dharma, do practice, read
Dharma books, or make offerings, you need to have a good motivation. Why? All
phenomena are mind, he said, including the Dharma. It comes from inside.
Motivation is also from inside, and that is why it is important.
He said, if you think bad things, then you change to thinking good things. How you
change your thoughts to good things is to say, “I do this so that all sentient beings
reach buddhahood.”
An example of a bad thought, he said, is when somebody you don’t like is listening to
Dharma who is better than you, and so you listen to Dharma to become better than
him -- like competition. If you listen to Dharma with anger, desire, or jealousy that
is a bad motivation. The Dharma does not benefit you and you cannot reach the
higher realms. You might fall into the lower realms.
Because the Buddha says that Dharma is not outside. It is inside. Motivation is
inside. So, practicing with good motivation is good merit (the same as good karma).
If you practice with the poisons, you will have no good merit. If you have good
motivation and practice just a little, you have lots of merit. Someone with only a
little bit of practice can get big merit. Somebody without a good motivation, he just
looks like a good practitioner, or can practice a long time, isn’t getting good merit
anymore.
In Tibet, there is a story about a stupa that was built beside a road. Someone came
by and said, “Oh, no. That is not good. It will rain and it will be easy for the stupa to
break apart.” So, he found an ugly old boot on the side of the road and put it on top of
the stupa. His motivation was very good, but it looked like he had bad motivation.
Another person came by and said, “That ugly boot is not good on top of a stupa,” and
so he took off the ugly boot.
Lama summed up, “All three had good motivation. The person who built the stupa,
the person who put the ugly boot on top, and the person who took it off. Their
motivation was so good, they attained buddhahood from that.”
Chhewang Thile Lama, November 2008