Intelligence & Investigation
Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the
17th Karmapa tricycle
Some people may think of spirituality as the
practice of having faith in something. Some others may see the
dharma as being like a spiritual massage. The way I see the dharma,
however, is that intelligence and investigation are even more
important than faith. To practice the dharma is to look into the
content of one’s life in a very deep way. To do this, one must be
able to discern between one’s strengths and one’s shortcomings.
This is not possible through faith alone.
Some people approach spirituality as a method by which, if their
minds are feeling disturbed, it will calm them down. It is seen as
a temporary benefit. There is no long-term view of bringing peace
to the mind, or freeing the mind from disturbing emotions
altogether. So in this way many people look for immediate results,
some type of swift path without too many hardships. Since
materialism is so prevalent these days, that approach comes into
spirituality as well, with people wanting fast results. In this way
we become spiritually materialistic. So what I mean by the dharma
is living our lives deeply and knowing ourselves.
One of the first contemplations that is encouraged when we enter
into the dharma is that of the precious human birth—seeing our life
as something very valuable. Seeing the value of our lives and of
moral conduct, we can give our lives a strong direction. In this
way, we become good spiritual practitioners by becoming good human
beings. Without being a good human being, it is impossible to
become a good spiritual practitioner. This is one of the reasons
why we say, “The preliminaries are even more profound than the main
practice.”
First, one must get to know oneself. Then, having become familiar
with oneself, one can live one’s life more deeply. Living one’s
life more deeply is the meaning of dharma.
Excerpted from an interview with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa
conducted by Tricycle in July 2011.