Lama Changchubs speech for the inauguration

Lama Changchub delivered a speech for the Sangha at the auspicious occation.

By Lama Changchub

Dear Dharma Friends

I would like to extend my warm welcome to each and every one of you here, to this historic and auspicious event, which is the inauguration of our new city center.  

It was not an easy task to find a new city center because on one hand it is very costly and we are not very rich, and on the other it is very hard to find a suitable place. However, we did find it in the end with the persistent search by a few enthusiastic people.

We did not look for a new center out of luxury purposes, but out of mere necessity. The old city center was not an ideal place, especially due to lack of space. The main reason for having a city center is to give easy access and accommodation to as many people as possible who are interested in the Dharma. KTL is a little bit far away, especially in the winter, and KSL is even more difficult to reach, especially on a regular basis.

But now, at last, we are very happy to be able to offer a decent, spacious and central place for the sangha to meet, meditate and study together. It is such a relief to have achieved this, and now we have to put it to good use. Now, you have no excuse for not participating and practicing the Dharma. What was lacking before concerning fascilities are now fixed.

I would very much like to thank those who have worked hard on rebuilding and outfitting this place and make it into an actual Dharma center. I would especially like to thank Ole Petter who has been the project manager. Without his supervision and active participation we would not have been able to finish it in time. And there have been so many others too, who have put their hearts into the work, without mentioning any names.

To work for a project like this is also meaningful in itself. When many people put their heart and love into such a project, with the motive of not just benefiting oneself, but the whole sangha and the world at large, it takes on a totally new significance. It creates a special energy, which becomes like a spiritual work of art that will endure. As a matter of fact this energy would not have been created if the work was given to some professional company to carry out.

In the formal practice sessions we train in selflessness, but I want to tell you that the post meditation periods are equally important. When not actually meditating we should express the insights we have obtained in the formal practice sessions. The effectiveness of one’s formal practice can actually be measured by how much you express that selflessness into actions, into the amount of work you do for others, for example for the Sangha. If nothing is done, then those meditation sessions had no value!

One practitioner in our Sangha once told me that she felt she had been so much benefited by coming into contact with the Dharma and by the selfless service shown by the Sangha. Because of that she was inspired to repay the Sangha by offering her own services in return.

I think that if many people would share this view, it would create a very positive ongoing energy which will just increase without end.

Up until now many of you have given much worthy service so that the Dharma has started to spread in this land of the midnight sun. For a Dharma practitioner to progress on the path of purification, Dharma service is most important. The Buddha taught that first you benefit yourself spiritually, and then you can benefit others. It is like when you are told by the flight crew that in case of a drop in the air pressure and the oxygen masks fall down, then you put one mask over your own mouth first before attempting to put masks on others.

If you do not generate love and compassion then you will certainly not progress on the Path of Dharma. I know from my experience, and from the experience of many other meditators, that when you serve others in the Dharma your own meditation grows stronger and deeper.

So to sum up: To meditate and purify one’s mind is very important, but it is unhealthy if you do not use this to help others to purify their minds. And it is equally unhealthy to try to help others without purifying your own mind too.

Let’s build a very healthy sangha together, because the Sangha is the Third Jewel in which we take refuge, so let us not pollute it with vested interests and selfish concerns. Let’s join forces and banish the anti-dharma forces both within and without. Then we can accomplish all our dharma aspirations!

Thank you very much and may you all experience genuine peace, harmony and happiness.

Lastly I want to dedicate all the merit accumulated by all who either participated in realizing our new city center or rejoiced in it – and mix it with all the merit of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the past, present and future, and make the merit as vast as the sky for the sake of all sentient beings in the ten directions of space!

Publisert/sist endret: 26 00:00:00.02.2008