I know and have heard of people who call themselves Buddhists who are not very good people, and it makes Buddhism not very inspiring. What do you say about that?

Practice of Dharma is not something that we do outside of the way we live our lives. Sometimes, we feel that “I am a Buddhist” or decide and declare strongly “I am a follower of the Dharma”. But then sometimes, if we look at ourselves, we are not really sure that we are a good person, or living a positive way of life.

If that is the case, then it is almost impossible for to say “I am not trying to become a good person, and “I am a practitioner of the Dharma”. They do not go together; it simply cannot be. So therefore, to practice Dharma means to become a better human being, and to become a better human being means that we live our life with Dharma practice within, an integral part of the way we live our life.

With this precious human life, we have these opportunities to become a better human being, and we also have the responsibility to become a better human being.

HH, 17^th Karmapa
Ogyen Trinley Dorje

From Kamashila
Short-Ngon-dro teaching
Germany, 2014