The text of the tenth practice is obscure. In trying to make sense of the Tibetan, I remember a comment Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey made while teaching a classical text by Atisha. He said that a very learned lama would be able to give ten or fifteen justifiable interpretations of the same text, depending on the person whom he was teaching. It is helpful to keep in mind that there may not be just one meaning intended here; the challenge for practitioners, including teachers, is to draw as much meaning from it as possible.

One interpretation, suggested in the commentary and very rich in meaning, is continually to meditate on people with whom we come into frequent and intimate contact. We tend to let our dharma practice slide a bit with people we see constantly, whereas we practice much more earnestly with strangers or in other contexts. Sechibuwa encourages us here to pay special attention to people who may be resentful towards us. The work place provides clear examples, where people we meet all the time may be competing with us in the eyes of our employer. Hold these people especially in mind in the context of practice.

Sechibuwa provides three other examples in a different vein: our spiritual mentor, our parents, and Bodhisattvas. Concerning beings such as these, he says, any evil we do them has very severe karmic results. For this reason, we owe a special conscientiousness toward these beings.

Excerpted from: A Passage from Solitude, by B. Alan Wallace. 1992 by Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York 14851.