Those With Hopes of Us

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Antidoting the Mantra of Samsara”

The Buddha teaches us that there are literally so many sentient beings that, not all the great Bodhisattvas and lamas have connections with all of them.  That’s how many sentient beings there are.  We don’t have connections with all of them.  That means that there are sentient beings with whom you have connections, sentient beings that you have been involved with in one form or another since time out of mind, and their only connection to future practice, to being liberated from samsara, to practicing Dharma, is you.  Literally there are sentient beings right now who are waiting for you to achieve liberation.  The more you dance around with this, the more they suffer and the longer they wait.

From the moment that you begin to practice Dharma, these are the ones that you should live and breathe for—these precious ones who have hopes of you.  You should think of them as your children, as your purpose, as your parents, as your beloved because without you, they have not much hope.  That’s why we practice Dharma. That’s why we work hard at it— to alleviate suffering for self and others.  And we consider that to be completely nondual and equally importantSofor this reason it’s time to face the music, go deeper, and that hated word, commit.  That’s what it takes.