Great Aspiration, Great Merits

The proper view or value is real wealth. It is the key to a secular fortune. When one has the correct view, good fortune and positive connections will emerge. 

Making aspiration is a proper value. This happens within a flash of a moment. 

An aspiration fixated on oneself and expand to an aspiration that concerns others. Whether the aspiration is big or small; ordinary or noble – it is determined in a moment of the state of the mind. How open is your mind reflects how compassionate you are. The level of compassion also decides how much merits you'd receive. Hence, as we practice Dharma, we must emulate the Buddha. Look up to his open-mindedness, great aspiration, and great compassion. 

Noble beings set an example for us on how to become noble. How did they aspire, generate loving-kindness, compassion, and take care of sentient beings? How do they offer their care tirelessly so they receive the trust and appreciation from others? How can one become a sublime being who safeguards sentient beings and the value of spirituality?

Ordinary beings are practical in terms of self-interest. They are active only when they see benefits. If not, they wouldn't move an inch. So, in other words, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The point is, how can we identify the true benefits thoroughly to be practical?

Dharma practice allows us to become truthful and to see what is "truly practical". We'd realize "what to do with our life". When you come to the understanding that you're interconnected with sentient beings for infinite lifetimes, you'd realize that the karmic memories make up an entity of interdependence. This is the karmic principle. The karmic connection is a phenomenon of consciousness that reflects the positive and negative relations among beings. Hence, this is the world that we perceive. 

How do we come to an understanding of the "karmic genecology"? The network of life is made up of infinite links of karmic memories. Therefore, cyclic existence is formed. When you realize that thought of virtue or non-virtue can affect the good or bad of infinite lifetimes of ours, you'd surely observe the teaching: "refrain from non-virtues, engage in all virtues, purify one's intention". 

"Refrain from non-virtues, engage in all virtues" means to find the value of compassion. Irrigate the field of causes with the water of great compassion. Aspire!

"Purify one's intention" is to cultivate the inner qualities within ourselves. How do we see our nature in clarity? By seeing the nature in clarity to applying the omniscient wisdom in all dependent arisings – the attainment of Buddhahood. The realization that one is all and vice versa is to understand an inconceivable state. The interdependency of spirituality and physical substances is the "suchness of oneness and non-duality". 

Aspiration is a virtuous richness. Dharma practice is to sow the seeds and cultivate the field of merit. To do so, it is none other than to "refrain from non-virtues, engage in all virtues, purify one's intention".