Money Offerings – Drupon Khen Rinpoche’s Advice To His Students
ILLUSORY WEALTH – REAL PROBLEMS
Our connection is not one based on money. So I’d prefer it if you don’t come to me with offerings of money, because when someone does then I first to need to consider very carefully whether this will become a source of merit for them or not. Accepting money from people is not a simple matter at all. For example, when I’m abroad sometimes people do offer me envelops of money, and I have to think very carefully before accepting them, in fact Kunga, who always travels with me, once noted that I refuse more offerings than I accept. It’s not the case that I’ve no love for money or have given up all clinging for it. My clinging is probably just as strong as yours, but as I carry the name ‘lama’ I have to work slightly differently. Besides, I made a promise to my lamas that I would not sell the dharma and do my best to live simply.
The reason for this is that in the wake of accepting any offerings of money there are always issues and strife. As I see it, lamas who take as much as the faithful are willing to offer, do great damage to the buddha dharma. People can end up losing faith, and in most cases it doesn’t actually become a source of merit. This is especially relevant in relationship to yourselves, as you’ve all come here with the express intention of learning and practising the dharma, so it’ll be far better if we have no financial ties. If I accept money from you, then you may think, ‘Well, I’ve been very kind to the lama,’ as though it’s you who is benefitting the lama. And when things are like that then the lama won’t really be able to help you.
Generally in the dharma we speak of ‘illusory wealth’. And it is said that if one knows how to, then we should use whatever resources we have to accumulate merit. But hardly anyone is actually able to do that. It may be that you are able to use your money well in regard to worldly matters, and I rejoice in that, but the way you use money in regard to the dharma very rarely goes well, because your clinging to money is just so strong. For instance, even though I’ve not been accepting any money from you and have been doing my very best by you, still you end up thinking things like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t like me,’ and the like; so imagine what you’d be thinking if I actually took your money? So although I’m not a lama, I have to try to act like one.
MONEY CAN BE TOXIC
The truth is money is very dangerous. I’m genuinely scared of it because so often it’s at the root of tremendous conflict; conflict between husband and wife, parents and children, siblings and between friends. And it is precisely because people are so attached to their money that it’s the cause of so much strife and trouble in the world. So I’m not joking when I say I’m scared of it.
For me the fear primarily revolves around you losing your faith in the dharma, that you might feel aggrieved if you’ve offered some money and I do something you don’t like with it, which leaves you thinking, ‘These rotten Tibetan lamas!’ It’s certainly not the case that all Tibetan lamas are bad, and it’d be terrible if you got that impression. Of course, some Tibetan lamas aren’t great, but then there are also emanations of buddhas and bodhisattvas amongst them. So if you were to cast a dark blanket over all Tibetan lamas, it would cover those noble beings too, and as it is said, ‘To disparage a bodhisattva is a heavy, heavy misdeed.’
I’m also not saying you shouldn’t make offerings, but money isn’t the best offering you can make. As a student, you should have the wish to make offerings to the lama. But the very best offering you can make is your own study and practice, because the lamas’ main aim is that you become a decent practitioner. So a good student is one who practises well; that’s what will please the lama most. And a true offering is one which the lama or buddhas find pleasing. Real lamas don’t give much thought or have any real care for money and material things. These things don’t particularly please them and are therefore not the best offering.
The second best form of offering is service. And your service to the lama is for your own benefit. For example, Milarepa built that tower for Marpa, and it was Milarepa who became accomplished through that. And it was the same with the way Naropa served Tilopa and gained accomplishment.
So the very lowest form of offering is material offering, and as I’ve said, more often than not it only leads to problems between lamas and their students, so my not accepting your money is one way in which I try to help you steer clear of such misdeeds.
MONEY BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE
Please don’t come to the retreat centre and throw your money around wantonly, sponsoring this and that. Carrying on like that you will only poison this retreat environment. You will ruin our monks and nuns by getting them involved in all sorts financial projects, fundraising, and what have you.
We don’t have to look far to see this very clearly; if you visit the pilgrimage sites that are easily accessible to tourists, that’s where you’ll find the worst of people, basically professional cheats, thieves, robbers. On the contrary, at places that are off the beaten track the folk you’ll find there will be honest, simple, and devout for the most part. And what creates this difference? Well, the money the tourists bring ruins people. So don’t bring about the downfall of our monks and nuns, throwing money around the place. If you want to sponsor something, first you have to check with me. This is not a place to taint with money, buying lots of things and having all sorts of ideas. If we work like that this’ll become a worldly place with many many problems and issues, not a place of practice. So if you insist on doing this sort of thing, then please go elsewhere.
We’ve actually been getting by just fine so far without fundraising and that sort of thing. And I think in the future we will be okay as well; we don’t need to worry. The way I see it, if we just try our best to work in a way that’s in line with the dharma and the Three Jewels, everything will be fine. So please think about things carefully.
28th February 2020, Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal