Even if we understand nothing else, if, by recognizing the eight worldly dharmas, we can clearly differentiate between what is Dharma and what is not Dharma, we're very fortunate. This is the essential point. This knowledge alone gives us a great chance to really put Dharma practice into our daily life and create an incredible amount of merit.
Buddhism is a house full of treasures--practices for gaining the happiness of future lives, the bliss of liberation and the supreme happiness of enlightenment--but knowing the difference between Dharma and non-Dharma is the key that opens the door to all those treasures. No matter how much we know about emptiness, the chakras or controlling our vital energy through kundalini yoga, it's all pointless without this crucial understanding of how to practice Dharma, how to correct our actions. There are vast numbers of people who delude themselves and waste their entire life studying the most esoteric aspects of Buddhism but never understand the most fundamental point, the distinction between Dharma and non-Dharma.
It is very easy to do Dharma activities such as reciting mantras, saying prayers, making offerings and things like that with the thought of the eight worldly dharmas. That happens. But in reality, the holy Dharma, which includes all these activities, actually means renouncing this life. Therefore holy Dharma and worldly dharma can never be done together. Nobody can do these two things--renounce this life and seek the happiness of this life with the eight worldly dharmas--at once. We can do one and then the other but never both together in the one mind at the same time. --Lama Zopa Rinpoche
How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Paperback, 232 pages, $10.00
Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche was born in Nepal in 1945. From 1956 to 1969 he studied in Tibet, then fled Chinese oppression and continued his study and practice in India, where he met Lama Yeshe (1935-1984). In 1969 the Lamas began teaching Buddhism at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, and in 1974 around the world. In 1975 they founded the FPMT, a Buddhist organization that now numbers about 160 centers, projects and service in 40 countries worldwide.
| Contents: HOW TO PRACTICE DHARMA: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas by Lama Zopa Rinpoche |
|
|
|
| EDITOR'S PREFACE |
xi |
|
|
|
1. DISCOVERING THE MEANING OF DHARMA
|
1 |
|
|
| 2. THE EIGHT WORLDLY DHARMAS |
9 |
The dissatisfied mind of desire
|
9 |
The definition of the eight worldly dharmas
|
15 |
The eight worldly dharmas
|
16 |
|
|
28 |
|
|
|
|
3. THE NATURE OF SAMSARA
|
31 |
|
|
31 |
Samsara is suffering
|
39 |
|
|
47 |
|
|
|
| 4. SEEKING HAPPINESS, GETTING SUFFERING |
51 |
Samsaric methods don't work
|
51 |
Relying on the unreliable
|
60 |
Meditation
|
63 |
|
|
|
| 5. THE PROBLEMS DESIRE BRINGS |
69 |
Seeking happiness, we create negative karma
|
69 |
Harming others with our own needs
|
74 |
Dying with a needy mind
|
82 |
Meditation
|
83 |
|
|
|
| 6. MIXING WORLDLY AND HOLY DHARMA |
85 |
Dharma practice is impossible with the eight worldly dharmas
|
85 |
Retreating with the eight worldly dharmas
|
94 |
The three types of eight worldly dharmas
|
99 |
Meditations
|
101 |
|
|
| 7. HOW WORLDLY DHARMA AND HOLY DHARMA DIFFER |
105 |
The importance of knowing what Dharma is
|
105 |
The difference between the eight worldly dharmas and Dharma
|
107 |
The importance of motivation
|
110 |
Meditation
|
128 |
|
|
| 8. TURNING AWAY FROM WORLDLY CONCERN |
131 |
Happiness comes when we renounce the eight worldly dharmas
|
131 |
Happiness starts whe we renounce this life
|
144 |
The power of renouncing the eight worldly dharmas
|
155 |
Equalizing the eight worldly dharmas
|
156 |
Meditations
|
164 |
|
|
| 9. PRACTICING PURE DHARMA |
169 |
The ten innermost jewels
|
169 |
Pure Dharma not mouth Dharma
|
188 |
|
|
| APPENDIX |
|
| The Ten Innermost Jewels of the Kadampa Geshes |
193 |
|
|
| Glossary |
197 |
| Bibliography |
215 |
| Index |
219 |
|
