So wherever there’s any stress, dukkha in any of its forms, you’ve got to look into what you’re doing. But you can change what you’re doing, and shape a different present: That’s the positive point.

"But the fact is that you’re making choices all the time, and what you’re experiencing right now is the result of choices you’ve made in the past plus choices you’re making right now. A major part of the path is learning how to accept that fact and then to work with it — to do something positive with it. In other words, if there’s suffering right now, you’ve been making some bad choices in the past, and you’re making some bad choices right now. If you weren’t making bad choices right now, there wouldn’t be any suffering. So wherever there’s any stress, dukkha in any of its forms, you’ve got to look into what you’re doing. But you can change what you’re doing, and shape a different present: That’s the positive point."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "One Thing Only" (Meditations7)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We’re never going to get a perfect society, but you find that the wiser you are in your generosity, the more consistent you are in your virtue, then the better the world you create around you. And it can be done without force, without imposing your will on other people.

People who don’t seem to have any right to power have taken over a lot of power. But if you take the long view of things, you realize that this is going to pass.

A lot of people are embarrassed to think about the fact that they may have committed some pretty bad karma in the past. But we’re all in that boat, simply that some people’s karma is showing now and other people’s is going to show later.