Question: I was shocked to learn that there is “proper motivation” in learning Buddhism/Tibetan Buddhism. I thought about my own motivation in learning Buddhism. Until now, I am not sure what it is. I feel that I am just making a mistake if I don’t have ‘proper motivation’.
by Khenpo Tashi
Answer: The first, basic proper motivation can be summarized in this way – weaken and remove our emotions. Then, the second motivation is to do good for other sentient beings.
For the first, it is profound. We are making it simple here.
‘Removing emotions’ is the essence of Buddhist Liberation. Because, emotions are like a cage. They imprison us. The word “emotion” in Tibetan Buddhism is nyon mong pa. The literal meaning of this is “a way of seeing things that will bring us pain”. This is very, very wise, actually.
So, emotions will always bring us small and big forms of pain. That is why emotion is like a prison. It imprisons us to be with some form of pain. Therefore, we want to weaken and remove their grip on us.
So, that is the first motivation. Then, the second motivation is doing good for others. It does not mean doing something physical for other sentient beings immediately, like feeding a thousand people. It means, cultivating a benevolent attitude or mind. This will gradually counter our self-grasping or self-absorbed attitude.
As Shantideva said, “All happiness comes from cherishing others. All misery comes from cherishing oneself.”