Self-satisfaction is also good; it depends on the quantity we pursue and the result of our pursuit. Some of our self-satisfaction can bring benefits. For example, someone may be very interested in art; he likes to paint and has been kept in his room for the past ten years, eating a piece of bread and painting every day, sacrificing his health and friends. He has nothing. Then, suddenly, he might contact an organization that asked him to paint for them. His paintings may be a huge success and raise a lot of money for good careers such as cancer research. That's great.
But if we insist on self-satisfying activities and we only do this for ourselves, then it takes time from everything and anything important.
This is not just a Dharma. I am not just talking about going to the Dharma Center. Everyone in the world has a small problem with something that is important to him; and everyone has their own ideas or opinions about what to do.
In Tibetan culture, it is a part-time job for Dharma, and sincerely donate your time and energy to Dharma, so that your master, temple and Dharma can spread with fewer obstacles and fewer problems. You didn't burden them, but you helped them ease the burden. In Chinese society, taking care of your parents may be filial. [But don't go all the way - you won't be sitting there for the rest of your life without doing anything else, because you are taking care of your parents. You do it with logic.]
Everyone has their own culture, no one can say a good or bad, because the bottom line is whether we are concerned about important things or pay attention to ourselves. This is the bottom line. This is why there is no debate about what is important in different cultures and in our thinking to achieve our divinity. All of these methods are just tools to show our divinity. This is not an actual action.
In ancient societies and ancient cultures such as Tibetan, Indian, Japanese or Chinese culture, our commitment and honor - or samaya - is very important. It makes us human or not. It makes us respect or not. No matter what we are committed to and anyone - whether our master is big or small - we all remember what we promised and we did it. This is very precious. If you want to violate your promise in ancient Japanese culture, you will cut your fingers. It is so simple. They won't let you do this, but you have to give back something. There is retribution, it shows who you are.
When we lose this honor or the statement of who we are, this is very bad because we are suppressing our divinity. We say this, "How do you feel, what is important is my feelings. I don't care about you." When we don't do what we should do, no matter which society we are in, this is the silent message we give. People who live like this go farther and farther. As the years go by, their fame, their happiness, what they want and what they are pursuing will fall and fall because they only pursue the suppression of sacred things - Buddha, God, Heaven, Heaven, or whatever We want something to mark it.
Tsem Tulku
Orignal From: Is self-satisfaction very bad?
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