Our greatest achievements 

begin with modest first steps.

One day, when a group of practitioners was discussing the challenges of practicing every day, one person asked another how long she chants. “Twenty minutes,” she replied.

“That’s all?” the questioner, a little shocked, blurted out. What he hadn’t thought to follow up with was “How often?”

In hoping to alleviate his dismay, the respondent explained that she chants a number of times a day. She revealed that in such a manner, she keeps the buddha-name more firmly in mind. Additionally, if she finds that she has more time, she will chant even longer!

The now intrigued questioner queried, “Why twenty minutes?” To which, the person explained how she started with chanting five minutes a day. Accomplishing this initial goal, she felt confident that she could do more and so gradually increased the length of time, to now twenty minutes. From a modest goal, habits can be established. And then improved upon. 

Negative thoughts—

so many opportunities for a Dharma lesson! 

As soon as you notice such a thought, it is an opportunity for a mini Dharma talk.

Let’s say you’re angry. Lesson: Anger makes me cranky, not happy. It only plants seeds for more anger in my future. Current enmities stem from past enmities. If I add fuel to this fire, they will be even worse in the future. Ask yourself where it is coming from.

Might the anger be stemming from jealousy? If so, that’s another Dharma lesson. He has the right conditions for what he did. I don’t. So what might his conditions be, and how do I create them?

Or, maybe the negative thought arose from fear. Fear of you or someone you care about losing something. Yet another opportunity! Whatever happens to me and whatever I have are determined by my previous karmas. No one can take from me what I have destined for myself. Both good and bad.

As soon as we detect a negative thought, we flush out its source. Applying the appropriate Buddhist principle, we give ourselves a Dharma talk. In this way, we replace negative thoughts with positive ones.