Benefits of Dharma Center

Maitreya Institut in Emst, Holland hosted CPMT 2004 as a way of celebrating its 25th anniversary. Jan-Paul Kool compiled a book to commemorate this, and Rinpoche wrote the foreword. As the foreword includes points which are relevant to each of Rinpoche's centers and study groups, here are some excerpts to enjoy:

'I would like to thank every one of you, all the staff and members of Maitreya Instituut, from the bottom of my heart for all your dedication and service in helping sentient beings, whose continuation of samsaric suffering has no beginning. Even though the continuation of their suffering has no beginning, with our help it can be ended. Since everybody has Buddha-nature, it gives the possibility to end suffering. Thank you very much for dedicating your lives to offering service to other sentient beings, creating the conditions for them to meet and practice Dharma.

One point is that the suffering of sentient beings didn't begin with this life, with their present rebirth; the continuation of their suffering has no beginning.

Another point is, as I often mention during the motivation for teachings, all our own numberless past, present, and future happiness, realizations, and enlightenment - everything - is received by the kindness of every single sentient being. Every collection of goodness, past, present, and future, up to enlightenment, is received by the kindness of every single sentient being. There's not a single one from whom we don't receive our happiness. We receive our happiness from every sentient being: from every insect, every human being, every hell being, every hungry ghost, every sura, every asura. Every one of them is the same in being the most precious, the most kind one in our life, and we need to repay their kindness.

I want to thank all of you on behalf of all the sentient beings. I want to thank you on behalf of the numberless hell beings, the numberless hungry ghosts, and the numberless animals. They can't thank you because they can't speak. By having taken a human body this time, I can use it to say thank you on behalf of all of them. I would like to thank you on behalf of all the human beings as well, who receive so much help from the effort and dedication of the whole community at the Center.

The third point is that you are continuing the holy wishes of Lama Yeshe, the founder of the FPMT organization, in benefiting not just this world but all sentient beings. Take the example of one person who comes here to the Center and learns about the importance of living their life with compassion for all living beings. Each time the person begins a sadhana, does prostrations or makes offerings, they generate a motivation of bodhicitta, the thought to benefit all sentient beings by freeing them from all suffering and bringing them to full enlightenment; they do the practice for that reason. Or when serving others in their daily life, they generate bodhicitta at the beginning. Each time they generate a motivation of bodhicitta, it benefits all sentient beings. Numberless sentient beings receive all their happiness, temporary and ultimate (liberation from samsara and enlightenment) from that person.

You can see the result of someone coming to the Center and learning about the need of compassion for sentient beings. All sentient beings need happiness, and that has to come from compassion, so the person generates compassion. The person also needs compassion, the root of bodhicitta, for his or her own enlightenment, to complete the realizations, the works for self. You can see that each time the person generates a motivation of bodhicitta at the beginning of each practice or service they collect limitless skies of merit and that leads them to enlightenment. Other sentient beings also receive more and more happiness and peace from that person; eventually the numberless sentient beings who have a connection to that person receive all the realizations and enlightenment. All these benefits come from the Center. This is what the Center offers to each person. This comes from the director, who takes the mountains of responsibilities on their shoulders, on their head, and also on their nose, and from all the staff at the Center, who share in taking responsibility for the different jobs at the Center, including the efforts to arrange and take care of the teacher and translator.

Even though only a small group of people might come to learn Dharma, each person eventually has an effect on numberless sentient beings. Each one benefits by bringing all happiness, including enlightenment, to all sentient beings. That's how we should see the long-run benefit of the Center: we are offering skies of benefit to sentient beings.

We learn Dharma and meditate so that we can stop harm to others and benefit them; this reason is as extensive as the limitless sky, because there are numberless sentient beings, who want happiness and don't want suffering.

During the twenty-five years since Maitreya Instituut started, so many people have come to hear teachings. If you analyze like this, you can see that there has been immense benefit from the Center to each person, now and in the future, up to enlightenment. It's something that happened so easily, but even if one had to work extremely hard for one eon to offer this benefit to sentient beings, it is so worthwhile. Even if you had to work extremely hard and bear hardships for three countless great eons in order to bring about this benefit, it would be so worthwhile. In Maitreya Buddha's teaching "Do Degyen", it is mentioned that bodhisattvas don't feel depressed even if they have to bear hardships for eons in order to cause one virtuous thought to arise in the heart of one sentient being. They are happy, not depressed, even if they have to bear hardships for that much time. So here what we are offering has come in a very easy way.

There is an utmost need for Dharma Centers, because they offer all these benefits mentioned above. All these benefits come from every one of you, from all the members of staff, from the Dharma teacher and translator, from the benefactors who give funds and material help and their time and from those who come to learn. The benefits come from those who did all this in the past, are doing it now, and will do it in future for Maitreya Instituut.

This article is taken from the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).