Rejoicing is the best

by  Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The fourth limb of the seven-limb practice is rejoicing. This is a very important practice and we should do it each day as many times as possible. It is the easiest way to accumulate merit. By doing this practice we can accumulate merit as infinite as space. Rejoicing increases merit, like investing $100 and then constantly receiving interest until we have thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and then millions of dollars. When we rejoice, the merit increases greatly.

It is said in the teachings that among the virtues, or good karmas, the best one to practice is rejoicing. In other words, if we want to create good luck, rejoicing is the best way. People usually think that luck is something that comes from its own side. That's completely wrong. It is not that luck suddenly comes from outside, without our having to create it. Luck comes from our mind. If we experience good luck, it's luck that we have created with our mind. If we are going to experience luck, we have to have created it. There is no way we can experience luck that other people have created or independent luck, which has no creator. We create our own luck by having faith in karma and by knowing how to practice Dharma. With the seven-limb practice, mandala offering, bodhicitta, meditation on emptiness and the various other practices, as well as with Vajrayana practice, we create so much good luck.

Among the virtues, rejoicing is the best, because it is the easiest one to practice. It simply involves our mind thinking, and the merit we accumulate is infinite. If we rejoice in our own merit, we accumulate more merit than we actually accumulated by doing the virtuous action. When we rejoice in the merit of other sentient beings, if their level of mind is lower than ours, we accumulate more merit than they accumulated; but if their level of mind is higher than ours, we get half or a quarter of that merit. If we rejoice in the merit one bodhisattva accumulates in one day, we accumulate half or a quarter of that merit. If we were going to accumulate the merit that one bodhisattva accumulates in one day, it would take us 15,000 years without rejoicing, but by rejoicing we can accumulate in a few seconds the merit that would otherwise have taken us 15,000 years.

Generally in our life we should practice rejoicing as much as possible. We should rejoice whenever we see good things happening to other people. When other people develop their Dharma practice and have realisations, have education, wealth, happy families or many friends, we should always think how wonderful it is. When somebody succeeds in business or any other good thing happens to them, we should always rejoice, thinking, "How good it is! How wonderful it is!" It then becomes the best business for us. Why? Because by rejoicing we are creating the cause for success, success in our Dharma practice, success in benefiting sentient beings and the teachings, and success in even the ordinary activities of this life. By rejoicing, we are creating the best cause for success. But if we feel jealous of other people's success, which is the opposite of rejoicing, we create obstacles for our own success. It is important to understand this and to practice rejoicing.

We should feel as happy as a beggar who has unexpectedly found a million dollars in the garbage. You can't believe it. It's like a dream. There is no way to experience happiness without good karma. That is natural, a dependent arising. Without good karma, there is no way to experience happiness or success at all. All happiness, up to the happiness of enlightenment, comes only from good karma; therefore, it is extremely precious.

With this awareness, we should rejoice. Think, "How wonderful it is that I've accumulated so much merit in the past, in the present and in the future." Think this twenty-one times. Practice it right now.

Then practice rejoicing in the merit of other sentient beings, particularly that of bodhisattvas. I mentioned before the great profit that comes from rejoicing in the merit that one bodhisattva accumulates in one day. Then rejoice in the merits of the three times [past, present and future] of all the buddhas. They create so much merit in the three times, which results in so much happiness, including the achievement of enlightenment. Again think, "How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is!" Count your repetitions.

Sentient beings normally create negative karma and it's very difficult and very rare for them to create good karma, or virtue. We should feel much happiness because it is only through their own practice of good karma that they can have happiness. We should cause them to accumulate merit, but how wonderful it is that they are putting effort from their own side into accumulating merit.

When you rejoice in the merit of other sentient beings, if it is more comfortable for your mind, rejoice first of all in those to the east, then to the south, then west, then north, then up and down. Rejoice in that way if you find it more comfortable.

Then rejoice in all the people in Tibet who have accumulated merit in the three times. After that, rejoice in all the people in Nepal who have accumulated merit in the three times. Then rejoice in all the people in India who have practiced virtue and accumulated merit in the three times. In Dharamsala, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama lives, so many people, both lay and ordained, are practicing Dharma. Then think of all the other Buddhist countries and rejoice in all their merits of the three times. Then think of all the sentient beings in the whole world. You can also be more specific. This makes it even easier to rejoice, because you relate to particular people in each country.

To practice rejoicing is very enjoyable, because when you rejoice your mind is happy. It is easy for your mind to get upset, angry or jealous when you don't rejoice in your own merit and good things and in other people having good things. If you don't rejoice, your mind is unhappy; but if you rejoice, you naturally have a happy mind.

Rejoicing is the specific remedy for jealousy, so if you feel a lot of jealousy, you should practice rejoicing. The result of rejoicing is that you achieve a buddha's holy body, which has no ugliness, only beauty. Rejoicing is something you can practice while you are eating, while you are walking, while you are lying down, while you are working. You can do it even when your body is engaged in doing something else.

It might be good to rejoice in your own merit in one session and then rejoice in the merit of others in the next session. It's very good to count on a mala. Or in the first session you could rejoice more in your own merit, then rejoice in other's merit one time at the end; in the second session you could rejoice more in others' merit, then rejoice one time in your own merit. You can do it in different ways.