Teaching of Dharma: The Rich King’s Poor Son by H.H. Khenchen Lama Rinpoche

The Rich King’s Poor Son

Usually, a King, his son the prince, and their lineage are very wealthy and they have everything. And, people have great respect for them. One day, the Dharma King passed away. And his son, the prince, ran away and went to the jungle. He did meditation. And he didn’t do much worldly samsara things. He was only thinking of nirvana. People didn’t know this was the Dharma King’s son. He looked very poor because as his heart son, he had lost his father as well as the kingdom. He respected others very much. He wasn’t selfish. He only did meditation and concentrated on Dharma.
The king’s ministers, heroes and all of the king’s friends didn’t know where the son was. And in all the kingdoms, high people and rich people also didn’t know where he was. They didn’t respect and they didn’t know who to respect. They looked for the prince because the king had passed away. There was no king for the kingdom.

Then some ministers and others went to another kingdom looking for the prince. There, most people didn’t know who the poor guy was but he was rich in Dharma. In that area, there were some of the king’s friends and people who were close to the king. But no one took care of the son. There, some other people did know a little bit that this was the prince and so was the king’s family. Then some local high people had more respect and many people had respect.

Then the ministers and people who came, used politics. They didn’t choose the king’s son. Instead, they tried a normal person. This shows they did not care, and had no wisdom because they were more selfish. They knew this was the Dharma King’s son and they didn’t respect him.

So, the prince knew he had to keep secret and hide as he knew this was politics and they only wanted to use him. The people were samsaric people and they used samsaric power. The person they chose, thought of power for himself. Not really thinking of traditions, human nature, or nature lineages. Not really thinking of true Dharma. Not thinking of others. The person chosen tried to be high, but he used negative actions. More like history.
Now it is similar. Political people don’t like really true Masters, Rinpoches and incarnations. They only use them. No Rinpoches, no Dharma, and no practitioners. Then people use more and more advertising, more business, and more politics.

I will now give outer, inner, and secret examples. Outer is really true lineage people, like the Dharma King’s poor son. Inner is everybody and yourself, have respect for the Dharma King’s son. Secret, is Buddha nature and know this is the Dharma King’s Heart Son. Look at this history. See the ideas of samsara and nirvana.

Inner Buddha Nature. Khenchen Lama.