Teaching What is Really Useful
Parents do seek to create a wonderful world for their children, but even more splendid is to give them explanations that increase their intelligence and ability to discriminate right from wrong. In Buddhism, we speak of what is to be given up and what is to be taken up. According to the Dharma, what is most difficult to give up, even if we try very hard, is our ego-fixation, this grasping on to “I”. Therefore, we are guiding our children in the wrong direction if we encourage their self-centeredness. We should teach them what is really useful. ~ 17th Karmapa