Benefits of Shamata Practice for the Beginner

• You will just become happier. It is that simple. You will worry less. You will have fewer neurotic thoughts. You will have less fear. You will begin to recognize that the state of your mind is based on internal, not external, conditions.
• You learn to focus. In shamata meditation, distractions occur. As you continue meditation, you are less subject to distraction, and you maintain calmness. By learning to maintain clear focus on whatever task you are doing, you will extend this skill to other activities. You will consequently be able to get more accomplished.

• Because you are happier and more productive, you will be easier to get along with. People will be more confident in your abilities because you are—you don't just seem to be, you are—more stable.

• You are able to hold your position mentally, physically, or emotionally. You are like a cube resting on the ground—you don't tip easily.

• When you do have one of those less attractive emotions come over you, you are able to go with it. For example, you do anger while you are angry, instead of pushing the feeling away. By doing this you are then able to go on to the next thing without carrying a less constructive feeling around with you.

When you meditate, you listen to yourself, you experience yourself, and you work with yourself. This is the most important goal of your meditation. All other beneficial results come about because you are working with yourself.

Dharma means "work." While I don't think of meditation as work any more, I used to have to work at it pretty hard.

The following is what Khenpo Karthar says about the dharma:

If you do not speak Tibetan, you have not missed much. You have your own language. On the other hand, if you do not know the dharma, you are missing a great deal.