The Gyalwang Drukpa

I am the only son and, of course, they are the only parents that I have in this life, so I can very proudly say that we are three and this is the beautiful family that I have. This is mainly because we know the essential relationship among us; we know each other very well. Especially, we appreciate and remember the kind of love and care that we have had for each other as a basic knowledge. Therefore, we genuinely respect each other's opinion, even though we sometimes get to a point where we disagree with each other's way of looking at things.

The actual fact is, not only three of us are family members on this planet; all the beings are the members of a great family. It is only due to our forgetfulness that we cannot remember all the details of each other. For instance, if we are asked to tell what we had for breakfast last Sunday morning, no matter how intelligent we are, we will definitely have difficulty remembering exactly what we had and what to say. I often forget if I had a breakfast this morning at all! In my solid retreat, when there is no servant, I often have double breakfasts and meals due to my forgetfulness. Similarly, we have forgotten what sort of relationship we had, with whom and when in our past lives or even in this life.