Originally posted 2007.
I went shopping the other day, and I have a distaste for shopping, as there are too many people around. I can’t get what I want quickly enough, or I can’t get to the shop I want to get too quickly, the whole experience is not one I enjoy enough to do weekly, or more often. Now tonight I saw quite a few Asian’s and as tonight I am going to someone’s home who I can only assume is Asian by their name, to meet and speak to a Burmese monk, I wondered if any of these people were the hosts (although I didn't ask).
Later on when I went to work for a few hours I ended up serving some other Asian’s who could have been the hosts of tonight’s gathering just as easily, and I being in a not to good of a mood being in work from 21.00-00.00 hrs on what was supposed to be my day off, I wasn't as nice as I possibly could have been (not rude, but not 100% welcoming either). When I served or saw an Asian coming into the store I found myself becoming nicer, being more welcoming and eventually by the end of the night I was, as I am during my normal shift. This is partly because I did not want to be rude to my host to be, and because they reminded me that I would soon be visiting a Venerable Bhikkhu from Burma which is was something I was looking forward to.
The first two verses of the Dhammapada say
I went shopping the other day, and I have a distaste for shopping, as there are too many people around. I can’t get what I want quickly enough, or I can’t get to the shop I want to get too quickly, the whole experience is not one I enjoy enough to do weekly, or more often. Now tonight I saw quite a few Asian’s and as tonight I am going to someone’s home who I can only assume is Asian by their name, to meet and speak to a Burmese monk, I wondered if any of these people were the hosts (although I didn't ask).
Later on when I went to work for a few hours I ended up serving some other Asian’s who could have been the hosts of tonight’s gathering just as easily, and I being in a not to good of a mood being in work from 21.00-00.00 hrs on what was supposed to be my day off, I wasn't as nice as I possibly could have been (not rude, but not 100% welcoming either). When I served or saw an Asian coming into the store I found myself becoming nicer, being more welcoming and eventually by the end of the night I was, as I am during my normal shift. This is partly because I did not want to be rude to my host to be, and because they reminded me that I would soon be visiting a Venerable Bhikkhu from Burma which is was something I was looking forward to.
The first two verses of the Dhammapada say
1.
Mind precedes all phenomena, created by the mind which rules it.
If the mind is corrupted, and one speaks or acts,
from there stress comes, like a wheel of a cart follows the track of an ox that pulls it.
2.
Mind precedes phenomena, created by the mind which rules it.
If the mind is pure, and one speaks or acts,
from there pleasure comes, like a shadow that does not leave.
These verses show to some extent what I was doing while I was in work on my day off, I wasn’t nice because to me I wasn't in a place conducive to being nice at that time, for me. However when I was reminded of something that was conducive to being pleasant, my attitude and my outlook became that way also, which is not only a lesson for me on how the mind does make the world how it appears to be in our perceptions, but how mindfulness of certain wholesome topics, can improve life both in the now and in the future.
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