The meaning of leaving behind your native land is to leave behind the emotions of attachment, hatred, and the… — Dilgo Khyentse
The meaning of leaving behind your native land is to leave behind the emotions of attachment, hatred, and the obscuring ignorance that permeates both. These three poisons, generally speaking, are most active in the relationships you establish with family and friends in your own homeland. There, it is all too easy for the protection of those to whom you are attached, and the increasing of their wealth and happiness, to become your main preoccupation... you end up engaging in meaningless activities without end, frittering away what is left of your precious life...
Not to see how pointless it would be to waste your life with such goals is simply ignorance.
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As it is said:
Go hundreds of miles away
From places of dispute;
Don't stay for an instant
Where disturbing emotions prevail.
Every day, remind yourself that if you do not study and reflect upon the teachings, meditate, and recite prayers and mantras, at the moment of death you will be helpless. Death is certain. If you wait for the moment of death to begin your practice, it will be too late. Think about why you are engaging in practice. Wishing to obtain a long life free from illness, or hoping to increase your wealth and influence are petty aims. Practice to free yourself and all others from the suffering that is samsara.
As you progress through these three steps, spiritual qualities will naturally arise, and you will see the truth of the teachings. Those qualities will bloom spontaneously because the buddha nature within you is being revealed.
