There was a Kadampa teacher, called Geshe Beng Kungyel. At the time he was
meditating and developing quite well, a benefactor was supporting him. One day that benefactor was going
to come to his place, so he cleaned up everything much better than usual and laid out extra-ordinary offer-
ings. He looked round and thought it looked very nice and he felt good about it. Then he sat down and
started to meditate. When he sat there he thought, “Well, my offerings are not good today. Why? Because I
did all this to show off. I wanted to look good because my benefactor is coming, I wanted to impress my
benefactor!” The Tibetans have a funny system. There is no garbage bag, nothing. When you sweep the
floor, you sweep the dust right behind the door and leave it there for a few days or a even months. That is the
culture. So immediately he got up from where he was sitting, went behind the door, took a handful of dust
that he had swept up and threw it everywhere, on top of every offering he had made, on the altar, everywhere.
The whole place became full of dust and he himself was completely dusty too. Then he sat back down.
That was seen through some mental capacity by another Kadampa teacher, who was teaching in an-
other part of the country. He couldn’t help laughing and someone asked, “Why are you laughing?” He
said, “Well this Geshe Beng made one of the best offerings today.” “Why the best offering?” “He was able
to throw the dust in the mouth of the eight worldly dharmas!”
What are the eight worldly dharmas? When somebody praises you, you like it; if somebody says bad
things about you, you dislike it. Like that there are eight95. He had been able to throw the dust into the
mouth of the eight worldly dharmas. Kadampa lama stories are all like that. Again there are no books writ-
ten by Kadampa lamas, none. There are some short versions of mind trainings, like Geshe Chekawa’s
Seven-Point Mind Training, but no thick books in literary style.
The eight qualities of the water are: cool, delicious, light, smooth, clear, with good smell (due to wholesome saffran put in),
easy to digest and soothing the throat. Explanation of the meaning: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand,
p. 146; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 50.
Traditionally you put down: (1) water for the mouth, (2) water for the feet, (3) flowers, (4) incense, (5) light, (6) scented wa-
ter, (7) food and (8) music.
So one should have a good motivation, not the motivation to impress other people. The offering has to be
without faults, without a funny motivation. Don’t pretend, “I am sincere, I am honorable and genuine, I don’t
care whether it looks nice or not, it does not matter.” People also do that and that is also not acceptable.