Smile and say nothing ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

Having developed trust and belief in your guru, you may well go the extra mile and try to accomplish whatever he asks, as a way of accumulating merit and dismantling your ego and self-clinging. If you have developed a certain level of spiritual maturity, when your guru asks you to do his gardening for him, you will be more than happy to help. Or perhaps your guru will instruct you to go on a pilgrimage.

“Make a pilgrimage to London’s Bond Street every day, then keep the whole concept of ‘Bond Street’ a complete secret. Don’t tell anyone that Bond Street even exists.”

It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? The whole world already knows about Bond Street, but in the context of this custom-made practice, that detail is irrelevant. From now on, you must keep Bond Street a closely guarded secret. As crazy as it sounds, having consciously and soberly chosen to follow the Vajrayana teachings, going to Bond Street every day has now become your path.

If your guru gives you this kind of practice, don’t make an exhibition of it. Unless your guru tells you otherwise, no one needs to see you practise or know when and if you are practising – including your vajra brothers and sisters. Your worldly friends are sure to ask you why, come rain or shine, you walk up and down Bond Street every day, but you must say nothing. No matter how embarrassed you feel, or how often your friends make fun of your obsession or accuse you of having a screw loose, smile and say nothing. By doing so, your practice will accumulate far more merit than if you talked about it.


Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book Fearless Simplicity: The Dzogchen Way of Living Freely in a Complex World

source: https://khyentsefoundation.org/poisonismedicine/


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