Mind Over Matter

by Gelek Rimpoche

Mind over matter is the truth, as far as I am concerned. The Chinese didn’t agree with me. Even when I was a kid of 10 years and they came to Tibet they said, “Matter is more important than mind.” But honestly, they are wrong. They may be right up to a certain level, because they could build their nation so strong. That’s why they wanted scientists to run the country. That’s fine. They built their nation strong. But it is not going to last, believe me, because they are wrong. Mind is more important. The individual is more important than the collective. A collection is when all individuals get together. For the Chinese the Communist Party is more important than the individuals. The Communist Party believes in the importance of the material over the mind. The individual believes that mind is more important than the material. And mind is more important. Without mind we don’t function.

Whether you want to do good or bad, we think and with that influence we act. We may not spend a lot of time, it goes zoom, but still, action is following thought. That’s why mind is more important. Since your mind is more important who has control over your mind? You or some other supernatural power? You are not a ghost. If you are a ghost your mind maybe controlled by something supernatural. If you are robot you may be controlled by machines or electronics. But you are not. You are a human being. You control your own mind. Here you have two choices: to be good or to be bad. Good and bad, of course that’s debatable. But here we are looking at the point where we want to be kind, caring and compassionate. Do you want to go into that level or to the monster level? Do you want to hurt everybody or eat everybody and make them afraid of you?

They don’t last. Hitler did that. He didn’t last. Mussolini did that, he didn’t last. Saddam Hussein did and didn’t last. George Bush did it half way through (laughs). He didn’t do it totally, because we are the United States, honestly. There is a term limit! (laughs). Similarly, that’s the choice we have. On the other hand you have Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama who have chosen the other line. So you have a choice. Historically, from the big picture point of view you have two lines. Stalin, Khrushchev, Chairman Mao, Saddam and Gaddhafi, etc, are in one line. In the other line we have Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and so forth. You have these two different examples very clearly in front of you. Which side do you want to be on? You want to choose the right side of love, compassion and care. Once you make that choice, how to move comes through every action you engage in. Always bring awareness: am I going to hurt other people? If you are really in love with someone, you really want to make sure that every action you take won’t hurt that person. If you are half and half you would like to play half and half. We do that all the time. Don’t we? So choose right. Be aware. Every action you take, make sure no one is hurt. If you pick up that choice you are choosing compassion and love as principle of your life. Through the result, particularly the karmic result, you are bound to be the winner.

This is because positive karma never gives negative results. Negative karma, no matter whatever it is can never give you positive results. If I want happiness for me, if I want to be a good person I will choose that path. Be aware that your actions are not going to hurt anybody. That is the most important. If you can do that it was worthwhile for you to come here in the rain. That’s what you take home. That’s something for you to chew and nourish yourself and build up on. You will be a happy person.