Purify the Mind

Avoid all that is bad.

Embrace all that is good.

Purify the mind.

To live lives of happiness and freedom, we need to "Avoid all that is bad.” We need to curtail and eventually eliminate our attachments and aversions because they lead the way to so many of our negative emotions and bad habits. They will also continue to lead us to lifetimes upon lifetimes of unhappiness if we allow them to do so.

As we work to “Embrace all that is good,” a good place to start is the eradication of our greed through giving and generosity. We will feel the happiness from giving something to another. Gradually, we will find ourselves thinking less of the elation we feel after having done something for another. And eventually, we will just find ourselves offering spontaneously and no longer even thinking about what we have done. We will find, instead, that we naturally maintain a quiet and tranquil state of happiness.

As we let go of attachment and aversion, we will gradually learn to no longer become upset but will remain calm and content when we encounter things not working out as we hoped or expected. This will happen infrequently at first, but with time and practice, we will react this way more often. And when things do go the way we want, we will again remain calm and content, instead of feeling proud or desirous in wanting the pleasantness to continue. The more we let go of selfishness and of attachments, and aversions, the more at ease we will be regardless of the circumstance. In this way, we will be learning how to “Purify the mind.”