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KATHMANDU RETREATS 2024: Receive key Buddhist teachings in person from Mingyur Rinpoche at his home! Learn more.

Mingyur Rinpoche’s 2017 New Year’s Message

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~ New Year's Message 2017 ~
By Mingyur Rinpoche

Hello! Tashi delek! Happy New Year 2017! I hope this new year brings you happiness, wisdom, love and
compassion, and also that your wishes will be fulfilled, and that you will develop your spiritual practice and meditation — whatever your practice is. I will pray for all of you.

I am very well. Now, I am in India at Sherabling monastery. I am very happy and excited for the new year as well!

I want to share a message for the new year. The most important thing when you practice, when you meditate, or whatever you do in your life; for example: even if you do daily things like work, projects, or studying, the most important thing is motivation. Motivation is very important! If you feel a sense of meaning in whatever you do, then whatever kind of work, spiritual practice, or daily things you do will be very easy, everything becomes smooth, and it becomes successful. Therefore, to put meaning into whatever you practice is very important — especially for spiritual practice.

How to put meaning into something? When you practice, let us say you want to practice meditation, the most important thing is to think that you want to practice this meditation for, of course, yourself, but also for your friends, family, society, country, and for the world. This is what we call, "Transforming the world by transforming yourself." We are part of this world and we are part of this society.

In the past, all the big problems in the world came because people did not want to change themselves. They wanted to change others. They wanted to change the world. But now, for us, the Buddha said:

"It is important to change yourself, and so you can change the world."

It does not matter whatever religion you practice, the most important thing is to transform yourself first. This is very important! If you want to transform yourself through meditation, through behavior, and through your job or whatever, think that it is not only for yourself, but also for your friends and family. Maybe you have one or two friends. Sometimes we do not have many friends, we only have one or two best friends, and then some people think, "Oh, I do not have enough friends. I want to practice this for others, but then I need to have many, many friends, and I do not have enough friends." It does not matter. Even having one friend is enough; or maybe you have a family.

But it is not only for your friends and family. It also includes society, your workplace or company, your country, and the whole world. So, for the new year, whatever you do, think that you do it for others,
to benefit the world. Develop this motivation and put meaning into whatever you do, especially with spiritual practice.

Thank you very much! Tashi Delek and Happy New Year!

December 31, 2016

4 responses on "Mingyur Rinpoche's 2017 New Year's Message"

  1. A Very Happy New Year to All. Let’s transform the negativity that surrounds us into the positive energy of Love and Compassion for all beings!

  2. I think my motivation is doing ok. I am really pissed off and it is hard to get away from it.

    This year I left my home and shed my former friends and relatives in the spirit of The Way of the Bodhisattva, but it turned out that my new friends were just about as bad. Now I Am down to one friend and she is extremely irresponsible and depraved.

  3. Beautiful message, thank you so much, it is so wonderful to feel that one is able to help the whole of humanity through our own practice, it gives great meaning and great motivation. It’s so easy to feel helpless in our isolated family sittuations but with this perspective there is renewed enthusiasm

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