A question came up recently: Since Lama Zopa passed away and there have been prayers for his swift return, is that to be taken in a literal sense? Will he only reincarnate if there’s prayer?
It’s a really good question, and the answer is completely logical and simple if we look at ordinary examples – that’s why I always like to use ordinary examples.
First of all, it’s a dependent arising. Let’s say you’ve become the best doctor on the planet, and you’ve got all this knowledge, and you know that you could help anyone who comes to you. Patients do start coming, and you give them medicine, you give them advice, but they don’t take that advice; then they come again and they ask you for some advice, and, again, they don’t take the advice. Well, you’d move away, wouldn’t you?
Or let’s say you do go away, if the patients write you letters and offer you a cake and a bottle of wine and beg you to come back, you probably would, wouldn’t you?
In other words, it’s a dependent arising: you can’t function as a doctor unless you’ve got patients who want you and need you. It’s not rocket science.
Also, it’s not as if, “Oh, I’m only going to come if you beg me and give me a bottle of wine.” It’s just logical that you can be effective if people want you.
The buddhas and bodhisattvas come where they’re needed. There’s no ego involved from their side in where they go. Our trouble is because we think, “Oh well, Lama Zopa’s a holy being, he can do what he likes,” we end up kind of sitting here passively waiting for him to turn up, but we have to create the cause of wanting him. It’s logical.
That means we’ve got to check in our hearts and see if we do want to create that cause. I mean, no one’s forcing anybody to pray for Lama Zopa to come back, but if I’m a disciple of Lama Zopa’s – and I am, and I try to be like him, and he’s my main teacher, same with Lama Yeshe – and then His Holiness says, “Do this practice to help Lama Zopa,” but I just can’t be bothered, then it’s like I’m closing the door.
It’s a dependent arising. Yes, a buddha is all-powerful – buddhas can manifest in trillions of bodies throughout all universes whenever they want because it’s their power – but we have to create the cause to get their teachings, you know?
That’s why these bodhisattvas, once they’ve achieved bodhichitta, are bopping along from life to life, choosing to be reborn again and again – not with a halo or anything, but looking like regular people – doing the job of continuing to practice the six perfections, perfecting all those stages. Crucially, also what they’re doing is connecting with sentient beings: if we don’t have a karmic connection with them, if they haven’t met us before and grabbed us by the scruff of our neck, we won’t recognize them in the future and they can’t help us.
There’s this lovely story that Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey told years ago about how bodhisattvas hook people. There was this village, and this bodhisattva had connected with nearly everyone in the village. Of course, the best way to make a karmic connection is to use peaceful means, be sweet and nice: then you’ve got them, you’ve hooked them, so you definitely will meet again in the future and, when they’re ready, lead them to enlightenment.
But this one old lady in the village didn’t notice him, and he couldn’t leave her behind. He discovered she had this beautiful garden – so he decided to ride his horse through her garden. Well, now she noticed him! With her, he had to use wrathful methods to get her. He was so happy because he got her – he hooked her.
As Geshe Dhargyey said, when it comes to bodhisattvas, it’s better to have a bad karmic connection than to have none.
In his past lives I think His Holiness must have destroyed the gardens of all the millions of Chinese communists because they can’t stand the sight of him! But he got them, you know.
Whereas with us, he must have used peaceful methods to get us because we think he’s lovely.
So, with all our lamas: stay close, do their wishes, and they’ll never stop helping us, leading us to enlightenment.