Kadampa Precepts 4

"When the venerable Atisa first visited Tibet, he stayed in the western province of Na-ri. He gave many precepts to the assembled disciples who were under the guidance of Hla-chang-chub-o, and then after two years had passed, decided to return to India. Just as he was departing Hla-chang-chub-o asked, "Even now as you are leaving, could we have one more precept?"
Atisa answered, "What I have already taught you is enough." But Hla-chang-chub-o persisted in his request, so Atisa gave this precept:
"How wonderful! Dear friends, you have clear realization and great knowledge, while I have small worth and am not very intelligent. I am not the one to teach you. Yet, since you who are close friends and dear to my heart request me, I give you this advice from my childish knowledge.
"Friends, until you have obtained enlightenment, the Lama is needed; therefore depend upon the holy spiritual teacher. Until you fully realize the nature of Voidness, you must listen to the Teaching; therefore listen closely to the precept of the Lama. Merely understanding the Dharma is not enough to be a Buddha; you must practice constantly.
"Go far away from any place that is harmful to your practice; always stay in a place that is conducive to virtue. Clamour is harmful until you obtain a firm mind; therefore stay in an isolated place. Abandon friends who increase your fettering passions; depend on friends who cause you to increase virtue. Bear this in mind. There is never an end of things to do, so limit your activities. Dedicate your virtue day and night, and always be mindful.
"Once you have obtained the precept of the Lama, you should always meditate on it and act in harmony with his speech. When you do this with great humility, the effects will manifest without delay. If you act according to the Dharma from the depths of your heart, both food and necessities will come naturally.
"Friends, there is no satisfaction in the things you desire. It is like drinking sea water to satisfy thirst. Therefore be content. Annihilate all forms of pretentiousness, pride, and conceit; be subdued and peaceful. Abandon all that which some call virtue, but which is really an obstacle to the practice of Dharma. As if they were stones on a narrow slippery path, you should clear away all ideas of gain and respect, for they are the rope of the devil. Like snot in your nose, blow out all thoughts of fame and praise, for they serve only to beguile and delude.
'As the happiness, pleasure, and friends you have accumulated are of but a moment's duration, turn your back on them."
"Future life is longer than this life, so carefully secure your treasure of virtue to provide for the future. You leave everything behind when you die; do not be attached to anything.
"Leave off despising and deprecating others and generate a compassionate mind to those who are your inferiors. Do not have a deep attachment to your friends and do not discriminate against your enemies. Without being jealous or envious of others' good qualities, with humility take up those good qualities yourself. Do not bother examining the faults of others, but examine your own faults. Purge yourself of them like bad blood. Nor should you concentrate on your own virtues; rather you should concentrate on the virtues of others and respect those others as a servant would. Extend loving-kindness to all beings as though they were your own children.
"Always have a smiling face and a loving mind. Speak honestly and without anger. If you go about saying many senseless things, you will make mistakes; thus speak in moderation. If you  do many senseless things, your virtuous work will cease; give up actions that are not religious. It is useless to make effort in unessential work. Because whatever you do comes as a result of your karma from long ago, results never match your present desires. Therefore be calm.
"Alas, it is far better to die than to cause a holy person shame; thus be ever straightforward and without deceit. All the misery and happiness of this life arise from the karma of this and previous lives; do not blame others for your circumstances. Remember to repay the kindness of the Lama, as all happiness is his blessing.
"Until you subdue yourself, you cannot subdue others; therefore, first subdue yourself. As you are unable to ripen others without clairvoyance, make a great effort to achieve clairvoyance. 
"You will surely die, leaving behind whatever wealth you accumulated, so be careful not to gather defilements due to wealth. As distracting enjoyments are without substance, adorn yourself with the virtue of giving. Always keep pure moral practice, for it is beautiful in this life and ensures happiness in future lives. In this world-age of the Kaliyuga, where hatred is rampant, don the armour of patience, which nullifies anger. We remain in the world by the power of sloth, thus we must ignite like a great fire the effort of achievement. Moment after moment your life is wasted by the lure of worldly activities; it is time to meditate. Because you are under the influence of wrong views, you do not realize the nature of Voidness. Zealously seek the meaning of reality!
Friends, samsara is a vast swamp in which there is no real happiness; hurry to the place of  liberation. Meditate according to the precept of the Lama and dry up the river of samsaric misery. Always keep this in mind. Listen well to this advice, which is not mere words but comes straight from my heart. If you follow these precepts you will make not only me happy, but yourself and all others as well. Though I am ignorant, I urge you to remember these words. 

I think that one should also realize that this sort of idiom of self depreciation comes much more naturally in Eastern languages than it does in English. In English it sounds really awkward and false and artificial and unnatural. But it doesn't sound like that in the modern Indian languages or in Tibetan where there are regular deprecatory terms to be used when speaking of ones self and honorifics when speaking of other people. 
And no doubt that Atisa did genuinely feel, not that he was teaching them but that they were friends on the spiritual path  and that he was just opening up his heart to them and saying when he really felt and thought about the Dharma.
By all accounts he had very great charm and friendliness. 

'If you act according to the Dharma from the depths of your heart both
food and necessities will come naturally'. 

 Well this was very strongly believed in India and Tibet, that if people really saw you
genuinely and sincerely practising the spiritual life they would be deeply moved and would quite spontaneously help you and look after you. This suggests a very deep conviction of the basic goodness of human nature. That people are good hearted, they are generous. 
The trouble is nowadays there are so many people and so much goes on that we don't notice or don't even see, the individual gets lost sight off. Therefore it would be less likely to happen now though not impossible even now. 

I think we have to be quite careful about this because in the end if you are not careful it almost adds up as saying that if you are successful and prosperous it shows that you are on the right path and you have got god's approval. Even though it is sometimes really strange the way in which things come when you need them. 
There is also the point that your self confidence does a lot. If you ask someone to help you with the feeling that people are good, they are kind, they are generous, of course he will help me, you are much more likely to get a positive response. 

There is this attitude towards clairvoyance. 
'As you are unable to ripen others without clairvoyance make a great effort to achieve clairvoyance.' 
This is very much the Mahayana and Tibetan point of view as distinct from the Theravadin, but obviously one is treading on quite dangerous ground. Maybe one shouldn't take the clairvoyance too literally but just sensitivity to the minds of other people. Because without that sensitivity you can't really do much for them or with them. But the Tibetans do usually believe that one should try to develop supernormal powers so as to make oneself more useful to other people, but obviously, in association with meditation and real wisdom. Otherwise you might misuse those
powers. 

One does get this feeling from Tibetan Buddhism as a whole, the negative aspect is
certainly there but it is the positive that predominates and Tibetan Buddhism on the whole is pervaded by very positive emotion. Love, joy, compassion, faith, these things are very noticeable throughout Tibetan Buddhism in all its forms. 

'Abandon all that which some call virtues'.
I think what he has in mind is respectability. It was during Atisa's time, after all,
during a whole period concluding with his times that in order to lead a spiritual life many teachers had to leave the monastery, because the monastery had become so respectabl. They became quite unrespectable and disreputable, even, and just lived here and there in a very unmonk like sort of way just to get away from that conventional monastic virtue.There were of course the Tantric Yogi. And some great teachers had an experience of both ways of life at different phases of their career. Sometimes they followed the one, sometimes the other. 

..sometimes it seems that you are going to spend your time refuting other peoples wrong views about you and you have time for very little else. So sometimes it is best just to let things drop. 

Well listen seriously but don't take it too seriously, always. Distinguish between what you know and what you have only heard. Say, "well I have heard it, and this is what I have heard but I don't know, I've certainly heard it but whether it is true or not I can't say".