As the teacher or guru gives the teachings, we should take those words as a mirror in which to check our own minds, personalities, behaviour, and so forth. And just as we do not use the glass mirror to check another person's face while leaving our own faces black and dirty, so we should not use the teachings to check the faults of others. The teachings are meant to be used to clean our own minds and enlighten ourselves for the sake of sentient beings. They are not meant to be used to see others in a negative way.

As you listen to teachings you should check your own mind, "Am I doing this or not?" Compare your own experiences to the realisations of the teachings. If you have no experiences you should do this nonetheless; it is still important to try. You should not become bored of listening, bored of hearing the same words repeated. Just to hear the words of a teaching is not Dharma. The actual study of Dharma is not the study of words, but rather making the mind one with the object and trying to realise the subject matter through practice, for you must achieve many levels of realisations leading to enlightenment. It is possible to study Dharma for samsaric reasons, with pride and an egotistic mind, only knowing the words and then telling them to other people.

So you should check up; no matter how many times you have heard the subject matter in the past. If you have not experienced the realisation of that topic, you should continue to practise it, and until you experience that realisation you cannot hear it enough. Even if you have a realisation of a particular subject matter, that realisation still has to be developed until you attain enlightenment. Practitioners, even though they have realised the subject matter, are living in the practice, and even though they have heard it one hundred times before, they still keep listening in order to develop their realisations.

This teaching is given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Courtesy of Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

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