THE EXTRAORDINARY OR INNER PRELIMINARIES At no stage of the path should you stop trying to perform practices for accumulating merit, such as the mat:t9ala offering As the tantras say: Without any merit there can be no accomplishment; One cannot make oil by pressing sand To hope for any accomplishments without accumulating merit is like trying to get vegetable oil by pressing sand from a river bank No matter how many millions of sand grains you press, you will never get the tiniest drop of oil But to seek accomplishments by accumulating merit is like trying to get oil by pressing sesame seeds The more seeds you press, the more oil you will get Even a single seed crushed on your fingernail will make the whole nail oily There is another similar saying: Hoping for accomplishments without accumulating merit is like trying to make butter by churning water Seeking accomplishments after accumulating merit is like making butter by churning milk There is no doubt that attaining the ultimate goal, supreme accomplishment, is also the fruit of completing the two accumulations We have already discussed the impossibility of attaining the twofold purity of Buddhahood without having completed the accumulations of merit and wisdom Lord Nagarjuna says: By these positive actions may all beings Complete the accumulations of merit and wisdom And attain the two supreme kayas Which come from merit and wisdom By completing the accumulation of merit, which involves concepts, 215 you attain the supreme riipakiiya By completing the accumulation of wisdom, which is beyond concepts, you attain the supreme dharmakaya The temporary achievements of ordinary life are also made possible by accumulated merit Without any merit, all our efforts, however great, will be in vain Some people, for example, without ever having to make the slightest effort, are never short of food, money or possessions in the present because of the stock of merit they have accumulated in the past Other people spend their whole lives rushing hither and thither trying to get rich through trade, farming and so on But it does them not even the tiniest bit of good, and they end up dying of hunger This is something that everyone can see for themselves The same applies even to propitiating wealth deities, Dharma protec- 292 OFFERING THE MA~I;>ALA tors and so on in the hopes of obtaining a corresponding supernatural accomplishment Such deities can grant us nothing unless we can draw on the fruit of our own past generosity There was once a hermit who had nothing to live on, so he started doing the practice of Damchen • He became so expert in the practice that he could converse with the protector as if with another person, but he still achieved no accomplishment Damchen told him: "Even the faintest effects of any past generosity are lacking in you, so I cannot bring you any accomplishment." One day the hermit lined up with some beggars and was given a full bowl of soup When he got home, Damchen appeared and said to him; "Today I granted you some accomplishment Did you notice?" "But all the beggars got a bowl of soup, not only me," said the hermit "I don't see how there was any accomplishment coming from you." "When you got your soup," Damchen said, "a big lump of fat fell into your bowl, didn't it? That was the accomplishment from me!" Poverty cannot be overcome through wealth practices and the like without some accumulation of merit in past lives If such beings as the worldly gods of fortune were really able to bestow the supernatural accomplishment of wealth, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, whose power and ability to perform miracles are hundreds and thousands of times greater, and who devote themselves entirely to helping beings without even being asked, would certainly rain down such an abundance of wealth on this world that all poverty would be eliminated in an instant But this has not happened Since whatever we have is only the result of the merit we have accumulated in the past, one spark of merit is worth more than a mountain of effort These days when people see the slightest wealth or power in this barbaric land of ours, they are all amazed and exclaim, "My, my! How is it possible?" In fact this sort of thing does not require much in the way of accumulated merit at all The effect of making an offering, when the intention of the one who offers and the object to which the offering is made are both pure, is exemplified by the tale of Mandhatri By offering seven beans he won sovereignty over everything up to the Heaven of the Thirty-three Then there is the case of King Prasenajit, whose power was the result of offering a dish of hot food with no salt When Ati§a came to Tibet, the country was much richer and bigger • Damchen Dorje Lekpa, Skt Vajrasidhu, one of the principal Dharma protectors •• See page 123 293 THE EXTRAORDINARY OR INNER PRELIMINARIES than it is today And yet he said, "Tibet is really a kingdom of preta cities Here I see no-one reaping the fruit of having offered even a single measure of barley to a pure object!" If people really find everyday possessions or a little power so wonderful and amazing, it is a sign, first of all, of how small-minded they are; secondly, of how strongly attached they are to ordinary appearances; and thirdly, of their failure to understand properly the proliferating effects of actions, as illustrated earlier by the seed of the aiota tree-or of the fact that they not believe it, even if they understand But anyone with sincere and heartfelt renunciation will know that of all the apparent perfections to be found in this world-even to be as rich as a naga, to have a position as high as the sky, to be as powerful as a thunderbolt or as pretty as a rainbow-none of this has the tiniest speck of permanence, stability or substance Such things should only arouse disgust, like a plate of greasy food offered to a person with jaundice To accumulate merit in the hopes of getting rich in this life is all very well for ordinary worldly people, but it is a far cry from the authentic Dharma, which is based on the determination to be free from sarhsara As I have already said over and over again, if you are looking for the real Dharma that leads to liberation, you must abandon all attachment to worldly life as if it were so much spittle in the dust You must leave your homeland and head for unknown lands, staying always in solitary places You must practise cheerfully in the face of sickness and happily confronting death A disciple of the peerless Dagpo Rinpoche once asked him: "In this degenerate age it is difficult to find food, clothing and other necessities in order to practise the true Dharma So what should I do? Should I try to propitiate the wealth deities a little, or learn a good method to extract essences,211' or resign myself to certain death?" The master replied: "However hard you try, without any fruit of past generosity, propitiating the wealth deities will be difficult Moreover, seeking wealth for this life conflicts with the sincere practice of Dharma To practise extracting the essences of things is no longer what it used to be in the ascending kalpa, 217 before the essence of earth, stones, water, plants and so on had dissipated These days it will never work Resigning yourself to certain death is no good either Later it could prove difficult to find another human life with all the freedoms and advantages that you have now However, if you feel certain from the depth of your heart that you can practice without caring whether you die or not, you will never lack food and clothing." 294 OFFERING THE MAJIIOALA never be without food and clothing All the practices that Bodhisattvas undertake to accumulate merit and wisdom, or to dissolve obscurations, have but one goal: the welfare of all living creatures throughout space Any wish to attain perfect Buddhahood just for your own sake, let alone practice aimed at accomplishing the goals of this life, has nothing whatever to with the Great Vehicle Whatever practice you may do, whether accumulating merit and wisdom or purifying obscurations, it for the benefit of the whole infinity of beings, and not mix it with any self-centred desires That way, as a secondary effect, even without your wishing it, your own interests, and comfort and happiness in this life will automatically be taken care of, just like smoke rising by itself when you blow on a fire, or barley shoots springing up as a matter of course when you sow grain But abandon like poison any impulse to devote yourself to such things for their own sake 295 Machik Labdron (1031-1129) The consort of Padampa Sangye and principal holder of his Cho lineage She holds the large double drum used in this practice to summon all the guests to the symbolic feast ... everything up to the Heaven of the Thirty-three Then there is the case of King Prasenajit, whose power was the result of offering a dish of hot food with no salt When Ati§a came to Tibet, the country... first of all, of how small-minded they are; secondly, of how strongly attached they are to ordinary appearances; and thirdly, of their failure to understand properly the proliferating effects of. .. have is only the result of the merit we have accumulated in the past, one spark of merit is worth more than a mountain of effort These days when people see the slightest wealth or power in this