- Sayagyi U Goenka, Principal Teacher of Vipassana
(from the Vipassana Research Institute publication 'For Benefit of Many'):
"A large number of suffering people have some unwholesome saṅkhāras accumulated in the past which have brought so much misery to them; but many also have some very good saṅkhāras, and the time has arisen now that the fruit of their wholesome saṅkhāra should come up as the Dhamma. Then who are you or I to give them Dhamma through Vipassana practice? They are receiving Vipassana meditation because of their good karmas of the past. We are just vehicles, that is all.
I keep on telling the story of the puppy walking under the bullock cart. A bullock cart owner used to transport goods from one place to the other. This man had a small dog. When he traveled from one village to another, he trained the dog to walk under the bullock cart to avoid the sun’s heat. Wherever they traveled, the farmer sat on the bullock cart but the dog walked below in the shade of the cart.
In time the small dog came to feel that he was carrying the entire burden of the cart,and he wondered why the farmer gave so much attention to the bullocks. He thought, 'I am carrying the burden of this cart! Wherever we travel, it is over my back. More importance should be given to me!' A mad puppy.
Actually, nobody is carrying the cart; the Dhamma is carrying the cart. Nobody should feel, "I am the most important person, it is only because of me that the Vipassana centre functions properly. It is only because of me that the teaching is given, that Dhamma spreads."
You have been given the opportunity to serve in one way or another, and this should not become a cause of inflating your ego.
Come out of this madness of the ego! Understand that you are simply a vehicle, a tool, and Dhamma is doing its job. If you had not been given this responsibility, somebody else would have taken it and the work would go on. Dhamma is bound to spread now; the clock of Vipassana has struck (*1).
Nobody who serves Dhamma should think like that puppy. You should feel, 'It is Dhamma that is working, and I have a wonderful shelter, I am in the shadow of Dhamma. Good!'
May Dhamma grow. Keep on enjoying Dhamma by growing in Dhamma, under the shelter of Dhamma. May more and more suffering people round the world grow under the shelter of Dhamma, and come out of their misery through practice of Vipassana. May Vipassana be shared for the good of many, for the liberation of many.
Bhavatu sabba maṅgalaṃ "
"Those who are giving service should remember that Dhamma is not spreading because of them, but because it is the time for Dhamma to spread. They are just vehicles, and should feel so pleased to be a vehicle. Because of this they are gaining wonderful pāramīs, wonderful paññā and developing their own meditation. This is not an ordinary gain.
