Harming Those We Love

Picture in your mind an image of the Buddha—an awakened being. What qualities does this image bring to mind? Restraint and dignity. Patience and compassion. Contentment and great ease. These are the qualities we need to uncover within ourselves if we are to, like him, awaken.

But our lives today are so frantic. We have so much to do. We rush from one task to another. We even have a term for it—multitasking. With so much to do, we must be impor­tant people! It is so easy to be seduced by current ideas of what a successful person is. We have seriously strayed from our inner virtues. We practice little restraint. We exhibit little dignity. We are hurting ourselves. And even worse, we are causing great harm to our children. We are setting them on a path that will lead them even farther away from their innate goodness and virtues.

Instead of passing on our bad habits of self-indulgence and instant gratification to our children, we need to teach them what is important in life—how to become truly contented and caring people. Contented, caring people have no room for craving or hatred in their hearts. Such people have no room for thoughts of retalia­tion in their minds. Such people are worthy of the respect and trust of others. Such people are at ease with life.

And when sad or even terrible things happen, they are not overcome by fear or sorrow. They are able to con­trol their fear and transform it into love. They know the futility of doing otherwise; they know the great harm they can do to those they love more than life itself.