Opportunities to Grow

What we experience today is the result of our past karmas. We readily accept the good results because we feel we have earned them. But what of our suffering and pain as we face situations that threaten to overwhelm us? These too are due to our past karmas. We may ask “Why?” Or we may understand why.

Thoughts of angrily blaming ourselves, of terrible sadness over having committed an insensitive and stupid act, of self-loathing, or of other debilitating emotions will derail us from the path. Our current pain is the fruition—the maturing—of past karma.

We can allow painful difficulties to consume us. But doing so will enable the pain to continue as painful results will in turn create more causes that will invariably lead to further painful results.

Instead of being so overwhelmed, we can try to be grateful and understand that this is an opportunity to figuratively sweep away some of our negative karma. As the Buddha said, everything arises from the mind. By changing our misunderstanding to understanding, we can see that misfortune is in fact the clearance of negative karma. Viewed this way, misfortune can thus provide us with the opportunity to grow and progress.

Comments

[Heidi]

Thank you for sharing this. My mum is a kidney transplant patient. When she was first diagnosed with kidney failure more than 13 years ago, i was very sad. I kept on asking myself "why me?". Why did I not like others, have a healthy mother? BUT, what I didn't knew then was , ( despite her own karma and my karma - to a certain extend -as well), this is indeed an opportunity for me to learn how to love her more, to see things more positively and how to take care of her as well as how to be patient etc. It is because of her illness that we've learnt how to love others and ourselves. Because of her suffering, I've learnt how to appreciate things, be contented and not blaming others for what happened. Today, I take it as it is and her illness is part of changes in life that we have to face. Everything happens for a reason. Nothing last forever. We can talk about death more openly now than before her sickness. Perhaps, this is part of the list of things that i must learn in this lifetime...
Amitabha, Amitabha, Amitabha

[Venerable Wuling]

Heidi,

It seems we only really learn and grow in difficult times. You have given your mother the gift of love in your learning to care for her and in your wisely accepting the things you cannot change. She is very fortunate as are you.