Inter-being and Gratitude

In Buddhism, Musings, Tsony by Tsony

When embracing life as path to awakening it is good to generate a sense of gratitude, appreciation and sharing:

May all of us find happiness and the cause of happiness.

May all of us be free from ill-ease and the cause of ill-ease.

May all of us not be apart from well-being and joy.

May all of us remain impartial in our love.

Shamar Rinpoche wrote, in his Path To Awakening:

“Three views are like the treasury of the sky. When you face adversities you should develop and maintain three views that will alter your perspective profoundly and enable you to cut through the obstacles of hope and doubt. The three views are: happiness, gratitude, and purity.

Happiness: adversities that may at first seem harmful, are in fact the complete opposite. They are extremely helpful. Obstacles and disturbances are actually reminders to you that you have not yet perfected your training. Be happy that you now have a clear reminder of what to work on.

Gratitude: Understand that adversities warn us to not be too relaxed, to not let our precious human life be taken for granted. We must use this precious life for the ultimate goal of awakening and not waste time on other things. If we misuse this opportunity now, we may fall into darkness for eons. In this way, adversities are as kind as parents to us. Therefore, you may go so far as to feel appreciation for adversities, for they prevent you from misusing your precious human life.

Purity: Think about how as a result of every obstacle and harm in your life, you may develop the greatest results from meditation. This type of harm is therefore not harmful at all. It is, rather, full of remarkable qualities like a very bitter medicine that will completely cure your sickness. It is therefore completely pure, as pure as the most effective medicine.

Keeping these three views will protect your practice and allow you to develop from everything that happens. Maintaining these three views of happiness, gratitude and purity will create and multiply merit as vast as the sky, enough to fill a treasury as limitless as the size of the sky. With this vast store of merit, the result is that you will spontaneously help sentient beings for countless eons.”