08/20/2026
Dharma nugget for the week. 🌟 What are the benefits of listening to Dharma?
“If we contemplate some of the countless benefits of listening to Dharma we will naturally enjoy listening to and reading the instructions, and we will do so with an especially keen interest. The result of listening and reading in such a positive frame of mind is that we will actually experience all the benefits we have contemplated. In Collection of Many Special Verses by Buddha Shakyamuni, called Tshom in Tibetan, it says:
By listening you will know all Dharmas.
By listening you will cease all non-virtuous actions.
By listening you will abandon all that is meaningless.
By listening you will attain liberation.
Here the term ‘Dharmas’ refers specifically to the meaning of Dharma instructions. The meaning of Dharma reveals what objects are to be abandoned, what objects are to be practised, and so forth.
By listening to Dharma instructions we will understand the meaning of Dharma clearly and we will gradually gain Dharma realizations. Every pure Dharma realization arises in dependence upon meditation, and successful meditation depends upon receiving correct instructions.
As explained, all the instructions of Sutra and Ta**ra are included within the three sets of Buddha’s teachings. By receiving and practising the instructions on the set of moral discipline we will cease non-virtuous actions.
By receiving and practising the instructions on the set of discourses, where Buddha explains how to attain concentration, we will abandon all meaningless activities and distractions, the obstacles to concentration.
By receiving and practising the instructions on the set of wisdom we will attain liberation.”
Excerpt From
Joyful Path of Good Fortune
Ven. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
