Every form of disaster, crisis or setback is actually a chance for us to create an opportunity. Some of the most wonderful experiences of realization, realizing the nature of mind, were born out of a crisis in the practitioner’s life.
We live in a multicultural society, with all different kinds of people. People are starting to recognize multiple gender identities, not just male and female, but non-binary, gender-queer and so on. People don’t necessarily belong to just one racial or cultural group either, they may belong to different backgrounds.
Sometimes our mindfulness becomes too focused, too squeezed. Squeezed attention, right? When you focus too much on mindfulness, actually that can sometimes be counterproductive.
Often when we talk about compassion we ask, “How I can increase my compassion?” And the Buddhist teachings do say that we need to expand our compassion. But practically speaking, we need to increase our resilience and our heedfulness.
The paramita for April is joyful diligence, sometimes referred to as exertion. This fourth paramita is about setting aside our egoic instincts and needs, experiencing a true, selfless bodhisattva joy when we engage in positive actions without any expectations or a need for self-satisfaction.
Patience isn’t the opposite of impatience as one might think. It is the opposite of anger, aggression. As our teachers often remind us, a moment of anger wipes out tonnes of merit.
