It is great that even before we become enlightened or generate any lam-rim realizations we are able to offer incredible benefit to others. The person who does this is a very fortunate person and should rejoice very often.
A sick body with a good heart is more beneficial to future lives than a fit, healthy body that is used for self-cherishing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A compassionate heart is more valuable than physical fitness if it leads to selflessness and future benefits.
This quote by Thubten Zopa Rinpoche emphasizes the importance of inner qualities, particularly compassion and altruism, over mere physical health and fitness. It suggests that a person who is kind-hearted and supportive, even if they have health issues, can create a more significant positive impact on their future lives and the lives of others than someone who is physically strong but prioritizes self-interest and indulgence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one could highlight this quote to stress the importance of helping others over focusing solely on personal well-being.
More from Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
All quotes →When there is hallucination, there is the truth, by recognising it as hallucination. Where there is suffering, there is peace and bliss, by letting go and experiencing it for numberless suffering sentient beings. Always think of how others are kind and precious Treat them as you would like to be treated.
If you know the psychological nature of your own mind, depression is spontaneously dispelled; instead of being enemies and strangers, all living beings become your friends. The narrow mind rejects; wisdom accepts. Check your own mind to see whether or not this is true.
Similar quotes
How difficult it is to reach anything approaching a moderate and relatively calm point of view in the midst of one's emotions.
We are called to reach out to those who find themselves in the existential peripheries of our societies and to show particular solidarity with the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the disabled, the unborn and the sick, migrants and refugees, the elderly and the young who lack employment.
My father was a man of principle who found his principles confirmed in the unremitting failure which they brought on him.
Violence comes from the belief that other people cause our pain and therefore deserve punishment.
The more he identifies with the dominant images of need, the less he understands his own life and his own desires. The spectacle’s estrangement from the acting subject is expressed by the fact that the individual’s gestures are no longer his own; they are the gestures of someone else who represents them to him.
We know too much and feel too little. At least, we feel too little of those creative emotions from which a good life springs.