is happening to us. Do we respond intelligently, with skillful actions, or do we not? And just ignoring a difficult situation shows a lack of compassion, a lack of understanding, a lack of appreciation, an inability to place oneself in the shoes of another, and so forth. Clearly, if someone is suffering and one can help, then maybe it is one’s karma to develop more compassion by helping.
Q: When I asked one of my lamas why the Tibetans ate meat, he pointed out to me that there were very few vegetables growing in Tibet. He said that if you ate one lettuce, how many insects were in that lettuce?
JTP: As the Buddha pointed out, this world is covered with much dust. In other words, in this realm of birth and death, things are not perfect. But there is a difference, I think, between dealing with slugs on your cabbages and with cows and sheep killed in the slaughterhouses. I think there is a level of consciousness which is rather different between a slug and a cow.
Q: What if you’re in a relationship where your partner is a meat-eater and you have to prepare his food for him?
JTP: I guess you feed him meat! I know a number of people who themselves are vegetarians but cook meat for their lamas.
3
Creating Happiness
I
f we think of the Buddhist path as a temple, then in order to gain entry we have to go through the front door. This front door is the commitment of taking refuge. To take refuge means we are fleeing from something. What are we escaping from?
Nowadays, the world is full of refugees. Refugees are seeking refuge. They are fleeing from wars, enemies, and natural disasters that have occurred in their countries; they are escaping to some place which they hope will give safety and protection. So in Buddhism, we are all refugees. We are seeking to escape, if we have any sense, from the problems, conflicts, and difficulties of this round of birth and death. In particular, we are fleeing from conflicts which are created by our untamed, undisciplined minds, by the poisons of our delusion, greed, ill-will, pride, and jealousy, which cause so much disturbance to ourselves and to others. We are in flight from the problems of not getting what we want and getting what we don’t want—old age, sickness, death. There are so many problems in this world.
Where can we find a refuge? We can find refuge only in ultimate truth. That’s the only really firm ground. Nothing relative can ever be a true refuge.
It is worth noting that our consumer society always places happiness on the outside, on what we have and on what we achieve. The message is that our happiness and satisfaction rest with what we own, with what people think about us, our image. We are led to believe that if our house is bigger than our neighbor’s house, or if we have more cars or a bigger television or the latest computer, this will give us a real sense of inner satisfaction, even joy. Whether you believe this or not, it’s a fact that almost all of us are subject to this mentality. Even little children aren’t free—when you watch children’s television you see that the commercials are aimed at producing that kind of wanting, desiring mind. Because, of course, if we don’t keep wanting and desiring, then we won’t keep buying, and corporate profits will suffer. Purchasing is what it’s all about.
Most of us have our basic needs satisfied. We have somewhere to live; we have clothing to cover us; we have sufficient food. Actually, our needs are very small. And yet we pass beyond our needs into greed, into artificial desires which are continually being stimulated by our society. And the majority of people fall for it. They really believe that if they have a bigger, better house or a bigger, better car, or a more interesting and attractive partner, then they will have reached nirvana! We do feel this, especially the bit about the partner. We think that if we could just find the ideal relationship with that perfect person who does exactly
Q: When I asked one of my lamas why the Tibetans ate meat, he pointed out to me that there were very few vegetables growing in Tibet. He said that if you ate one lettuce, how many insects were in that lettuce?
JTP: As the Buddha pointed out, this world is covered with much dust. In other words, in this realm of birth and death, things are not perfect. But there is a difference, I think, between dealing with slugs on your cabbages and with cows and sheep killed in the slaughterhouses. I think there is a level of consciousness which is rather different between a slug and a cow.
Q: What if you’re in a relationship where your partner is a meat-eater and you have to prepare his food for him?
JTP: I guess you feed him meat! I know a number of people who themselves are vegetarians but cook meat for their lamas.
3
Creating Happiness
I
f we think of the Buddhist path as a temple, then in order to gain entry we have to go through the front door. This front door is the commitment of taking refuge. To take refuge means we are fleeing from something. What are we escaping from?
Nowadays, the world is full of refugees. Refugees are seeking refuge. They are fleeing from wars, enemies, and natural disasters that have occurred in their countries; they are escaping to some place which they hope will give safety and protection. So in Buddhism, we are all refugees. We are seeking to escape, if we have any sense, from the problems, conflicts, and difficulties of this round of birth and death. In particular, we are fleeing from conflicts which are created by our untamed, undisciplined minds, by the poisons of our delusion, greed, ill-will, pride, and jealousy, which cause so much disturbance to ourselves and to others. We are in flight from the problems of not getting what we want and getting what we don’t want—old age, sickness, death. There are so many problems in this world.
Where can we find a refuge? We can find refuge only in ultimate truth. That’s the only really firm ground. Nothing relative can ever be a true refuge.
It is worth noting that our consumer society always places happiness on the outside, on what we have and on what we achieve. The message is that our happiness and satisfaction rest with what we own, with what people think about us, our image. We are led to believe that if our house is bigger than our neighbor’s house, or if we have more cars or a bigger television or the latest computer, this will give us a real sense of inner satisfaction, even joy. Whether you believe this or not, it’s a fact that almost all of us are subject to this mentality. Even little children aren’t free—when you watch children’s television you see that the commercials are aimed at producing that kind of wanting, desiring mind. Because, of course, if we don’t keep wanting and desiring, then we won’t keep buying, and corporate profits will suffer. Purchasing is what it’s all about.
Most of us have our basic needs satisfied. We have somewhere to live; we have clothing to cover us; we have sufficient food. Actually, our needs are very small. And yet we pass beyond our needs into greed, into artificial desires which are continually being stimulated by our society. And the majority of people fall for it. They really believe that if they have a bigger, better house or a bigger, better car, or a more interesting and attractive partner, then they will have reached nirvana! We do feel this, especially the bit about the partner. We think that if we could just find the ideal relationship with that perfect person who does exactly
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