Apprentice: The people I work with only seem to want to be able to afford an exotic holiday or to live like pop stars. I wouldn’t mind those things as well but feel as a practitioner I should be doing more to help others.
Teachers: Indeed. As practitioners it would be inappropriate to indulge in regretting having insufficient money to fulfil fantasies, such as going on exotic holidays or owning expensive cars as one might if one was a pop star. Practitioners understand that such things are irrelevant to the cause of satisfaction. They practice rather than feeling sorry for themselves. They regard the unhappiness of others as real and to be taken seriously – whatever form that unhappiness takes, but are realistic about their capacity to help people, about their opportunities to help, and about what might be the most valuable focus of their lives. The most valuable focus in a practitioner’s life may be helping the person who sits at the desk next to them in the office of a multinational company.
Through being a Dharma warrior, you can help ordinary people in everyday situations. If you can work for an organisation whose purpose is to help with the suffering in the world, that is all well and good, but still your most valuable contribution may be your influence—as a practitioner—on your co-workers rather than on the nameless thousands your organisation sets sets out to assist.
page 128, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6
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