“We should see only others’ good points, 

not their shortcomings.” 

Some things bear repeating. Often.

The above advice from Pure Land Patriarch Yinguang falls into that category. Why? It’s just so very easy to find fault with another person! Upon having seen all those faults, we recall them whenever he comes to mind. We become increasingly irritated by him, but we are oblivious to how we are reacting. Before we know it, we’ve become so irked by his shortcomings, we destroy any hope we have of our own possible contentment or of controlling our thoughts and feelings.

Our derisive behavior is a sad state of affairs. We’re only hurting ourselves because in focusing on another’s shortcomings, we either fail to notice his good points or just gloss over them. We thus condemn ourselves to being cranky and cynical. And miss out on his good points.

Surely he has some!

Possibly they’re just harder to see. Perhaps we’re so blinded by the bad that we miss the good. And maybe we just need to let go of being so picky.