Karma and Ego

The point is, again, that whether we consider circumstances as being positive or negative very much demands on our ego. The ego likes things, if they're pleasant, then they think, oh, that's good karma, the result of good karma, and if it's unpleasant, like we get sick or we lose things that we love or people are difficult to us, oh, this is the result of our bad karma. But that is often a point of view of our egocentric perception. And so, therefore, it is considered that it depends on our attitude. If we say something is an obstacle or a difficulty, it's an obstacle or a difficulty.

If we say that this is an opportunity, a spiritual opportunity, it becomes an opportunity. So therefore, there are whole traditions of taking difficulties as the path, not as an obstacle to our practice, but as the practice. Or if we want to learn, for example, patience or compassion, we need people and circumstances to practice on. If everybody is always loving and kind and friendly, that's beautiful, but it's easy to be loving and kind and friendly to loving, kind, friendly people. That's easy.

That's nice. You think, oh, I'm such a lovely, friendly, kind person, because. But the only way to really know what's going on is when people are not kind and friendly, when people are rude and difficult and don't do what I want them to do or say what I want them to say, then instead of being resentful and angry and wanting to give back what you got to appreciate that they are an opportunity for practicing these very important qualities such as patience and tolerance and kindness in the face of opposition. So then we appreciate how kind of you to be so nasty. You know, now I can really practice, you're my teacher of patience.

Of course, this again does not mean that we allow abusive situations to carry on or for people to cheat us. I mean, we're not idiots. But even if people are cheating us or people are being abusive, to deal with that practically from a spirit of great compassion rather than from anger, this is the point. Because if we respond to anger with anger, we just end up creating more anger. And hatred does not cease with hatred.

I mean, hatred will never cease with hatred. Anger will never cease with anger. It can only cease through non-hatred, non-anger. So that can be tough. I mean, the Buddha Tara, she represents fearless compassion and she's a very strong lady.

You don't fall around with Tara. But her motivation, even when she's in wrathful form, is compassion and wisdom. It's not based on wanting to harm anyone. It's wanting to help them not to make further bad karma.