Padampa Sangye – Enjoying the Sublime Wealth

Paramabuddha (known as Padampa-Sangye in Tibet), is a Mahasiddha from the 11th Century South India. An accomplished Yogi of Buddhism, he travelled to Tibet and taught there. He stayed in charnel grounds and extended his compassion to those who undergo fierce suffering.

The quoted lines are from an advice that Paramabuddha gave to the villagers of Tingri in Tibet. It is a poem with 100 verses.,

O the people of Tingri,

Enjoy the riches that are the most sublime,

The treasures of the mind itself.

It can never be exhausted!

-Paramabuddha (Padampa Sangye)

Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche explained this in his commentary,

With enormous effort and determination, you may manage to amass an immense fortune and innumerable possessions. But, can you keep hold of them forever? There are other kinds of wealth – such as, wisdom, compassion, confidence, generosity and diligence – that multiply as we use them.  These precious jewels are in the very nature of our minds. They are free from all shortcomings of Samsara.

The ordinary riches of the world are difficult to obtain, but lost easily. Even when we possess those, they don’t satisfy us all the time. Even if we guard them with great efforts, we will have to part with those on the day of death.

In contrast, the most sublime of riches are hidden within us. These sublime qualities are innate to our minds. Wisdom, loving kindness (the wish to make others happy), compassion (the wish to alleviate other’s suffering),  generosity (the ability to find joy in giving others), etc., are such treasures of mind. The more we use them, the more they manifest. This is so, because these wealths are coming from the unsullied nature of our own minds. Since they are in the nature of mind, and not coming from outer conditions, they can never be exhausted. As Paramabuddha (Padampa Sangye) advised, we shall enjoy these riches in their abundance.

 We remain impoverished by not seeing such treasures that we possess. So, we look for many other kinds of riches. Once we discover these treasures in the nature of one’s own mind, there is tremendous contentment, wellbeing and happiness, no matter whether we stay in a palatial bungalow in a city, or in a cave in a jungle or even in a charnel ground.  Then, we taste the original bliss of our own nature!