Final precepts, daily conduct · Verse 33 of 37
Verse 33: Give up attachment to patrons and gain
Verse 33 of The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, the fourteenth-century Tibetan poem by Gyalse Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). It belongs to the section on final precepts, daily conduct.
Concern for wealth and respect leads to conflict and to the loss of learning, reflecting, and meditating. So abandon attachment to your circle of friends, relations, and benefactors. This is the way of a bodhisattva.
The practice of all the bodhisattvas is to let go of attachment
To the households of benefactors and of family and friends,
Since one's study, reflection and meditation will all diminish
When one quarrels and competes for honours and rewards.
When you squabble with others about status and rewards,
You undermine learning, reflection, and meditation.
Let go of any investment in your family circle
Or the circle of those who support you — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.
A facilitator's reading across the commentaries
Ben Gungyal's dirt-on-the-altar (AB) is the definitive story — the eight worldly concerns infiltrate even the shrine. For a brand-new group meeting in a friend's living room, this verse is quietly on point: watch what hosting, status, and belonging do to the practice.
GR Garchen Rinpoche · HHDL H.H. the Dalai Lama · AB Dr. Alexander Berzin · KTGR Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · KS Khenpo Sodargye · TC Ven. Thubten Chodron · KM Ken McLeod
What the teachers say
Garchen Rinpoche Drikung Kagyu
(Brief.) Praise and blame traded between practitioners creates an obstacle for speaker and listener alike, and entertaining such thoughts causes our own meditation to deteriorate. When we hear that "this place is good and that place is not good," "we should generate the thought that both are just as good," resting in equanimity without holding one above the other.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
H.H. the Dalai Lama Gelug
Even very great gurus earned bad reputations through worldly entanglements — his example is Jamyang Shepa and the royal scandal. "Too many worldly friends, patrons, possessions can produce bad consequences"; cites Shantideva's counsel to live at an ordinary level without strong ties.
Full commentary: 37practices.info (37practices.info serves this as one long page; find the verse by number.)
Dr. Alexander Berzin Gelug
The target is craving for gain and respect. Story: Geshe Ben Gungyal tidying his altar because a patron was coming — then throwing dirt on the offerings when he saw the worldly motive; praised by a distant master, who saw it with extrasensory perception, as "the purest offering in all of Tibet." "We're not doing Dharma practice in order to get other people's approval."
Full commentary: studybuddhism.com
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Karma Kagyu
Desire for gain and honor breeds quarrels and dependency; releasing emotional ties to patrons frees practice from obligations and favoritism.
Full commentary: dharmaebooks.org (Free ebook, trans. Suzanne Schefczyk.)
Khenpo Sodargye Nyingma, Larung Gar
Pursuing gain and honor destroys virtue "like a sword cuts off one's head" (Vinaya); Thogme Zangpo's own words — contentment is the ultimate wealth. Pointed present-day application: distraction by "external rituals, materials, imitation monks or fake tulkus"; monastics free of wealth and fame are "like lotuses in a fire" (Atisha). Dharma starts hard and ends happy; worldly activity the reverse.
Full commentary: khenposodargye.org (Free ebook PDF.)
Ven. Thubten Chodron Sravasti Abbey, Gelug
Winter Retreat vv29–37 talk.
Full commentary: thubtenchodron.org
Ken McLeod Shambhala / independent
Talk 11: emotional investment in groups and family clouds judgment. Tricycle v33 (video/subscriber).
Full commentary: unfetteredmind.org (Tricycle's per-verse written commentary is behind a subscriber paywall.)
Further reading: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion (Shambhala). A purchased book — no text is reproduced here.