Some people may think of spirituality as the practice of having faith in
something. Some others may see the dharma as being like a spiritual massage.
The way I see the dharma, however, is that intelligence and investigation are
even more important than faith. To practice the dharma is to look into the
content of one’s life in a very deep way. To do this, one must be able to
discern between one’s strengths and one’s shortcomings. This is not possible
through faith alone.
Some people approach spirituality as a method by which, if their minds are
feeling disturbed, it will calm them down. It is seen as a temporary benefit.
There is no long-term view of bringing peace to the mind, or freeing the mind
from disturbing emotions altogether. So in this way many people look for
immediate results, some type of swift path without too many hardships. Since
materialism is so prevalent these days, that approach comes into spirituality
as well, with people wanting fast results. In this way we become spiritually
materialistic. So what I mean by the dharma is living our lives deeply and
knowing ourselves.
One of the first contemplations that is encouraged when we enter into the
dharma is that of the precious human birth—seeing our life as something very
valuable. Seeing the value of our lives and of moral conduct, we can give our
lives a strong direction. In this way, we become good spiritual practitioners
by becoming good human beings. Without being a good human being, it is
impossible to become a good spiritual practitioner. This is one of the reasons
why we say, “The preliminaries are even more profound than the main practice.”
First, one must get to know oneself. Then, having become familiar with oneself,
one can live one’s life more deeply. Living one’s life more deeply is the
meaning of dharma.
Excerpted from an interview with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa conducted by Tricycle in July 2011.