In Your Hands

An Excerpt from a teaching called Our Motivation Is For Those Who Have Hopes of Us by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

When you practice you should think of all the uncountable beings who through ages and ages of wandering and endless revolution in cyclic existence you have had some either meaningful or meaningless contact with.  I can tell you for certain — absolute certain — that there will come a day when you will see them again.  And due to the purity of your intention and due to the strength of your practice, you will hold them in your hands.  And it’s only your compassion and your love that will be of benefit to them.  You will be able to bring them to the end of their suffering.  You have to remember that — and practice accordingly.

You have to remember that now you don’t have the power to look into the eyes of even your own children, your most beloved ones — your lovers, your husbands, your wives — you don’t have the power to look into their eyes and say, “I will always take care of you.  I will follow you. I will make sure that you’re all right.”  You can’t promise even your babies that you will feed them always.  You can’t make them that promise because they will die, and you don’t have — if you don’t have the practice — the power to see that they are happy in the next life.  There’s only one way you can keep that promise.  And that is through the sincerity and purity of your intention and through your practice.  But you can do that.  Due to Guru Rinpoche’s blessing, these things you can do now.

You can make prayers that in a future life you’ll be able to take those you now love so dearly in your hands and hold them until they achieve realization, that they will find the Dharma and be sure-footed on the path.  And the potency of that prayer will make a difference.  During the course of your life you should practice, knowing for certain that you are responsible for them, knowing for certain that you will hold them in your hands.  Knowing for certain that that’s the only way that love of any kind can be meaningful.

So you should come to the Dharma with the heart of a child, hoping that in the future you will be able to free from suffering those with whom you’ve come into contact.  The lamas teach us that the ones we love will someday be in our hands.  Now is the time to practice so that we don’t let them down.  Do not abandon them.  Do not forget them.  Hold them as carefully as you hold your own breath, and with more concern.  Because if you practice now, you will see them again.  Remember they are the ones who have hopes of you.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo