Love is very important for others and our self. It is very important because if you love yourself, you love others. If you don’t love yourself, then it is difficult to love others. That means you understand a meaningful life, a useful life. When you have a meaningful life, then you understand much more about loving yourself. For example, when you have a useful and meaningful life this life time, then you also know the animal and hell realms and all of the six realms. It is important to take care your health; to have a positive mind and then you understand much more about love and why it is important. You also understand it is the cause of good karma. When you love yourself, then you love others. These are different types of love. For example, love for our parents; love of our cousins; love between a husband and wife; love between a parent and child; love between a yogi and yogini; and love between a Rigdzin and Rigma. Love is always useful and it is important to always use love in a true way. This is generally how it is.
For practitioners, love is especially important. For example, a Hinayana practitioner is thinking of love and thinking of liberation for them self. A Mahayana practitioner’s love is for sentient beings. For a Tantrayana practitioner, love is of our energy; blessings; consort practice and mind has correct pure view. Everyone likes liberation; love liberation. When you love liberation, then you do; you think of love and you do practice. You need to have actions otherwise it is just words and it is not meaningful. For example, lots of heroes or famous people really love and take care of others. This means you take care of true love. This is a short teaching on exactly what love is. It is meaningful love. There are negative ways to love as well. For example, love smoking; love drinking; love fighting; love killing. These are not positive bad things.But positive love such as Hinayana, Mahayana or Tantrayana love has long life and the view is bigger. This is especially true of Mahamudra love and consort practice. It is very important to understand our physical; inner and secret bodies and the Four Mahamudra understandings.
Inner Love, Khenchen Lama