Once a man came to Buddha and told him that spiritual life is full of ‘dos and don’ts’ and he is confused about what to do and what not to do to achieve success in spiritual life. Buddha asked him if he could do just one thing. ‘Surely’ this man replied with a big ‘Yes’. ‘Take care of your mind’ Buddha said.
This invaluable advice of Buddha is not just limited to success in one’s spiritual life but taking care of the mind to achieve success in one’s daily life, which is equally important. Mind is a mine, source of joy and misery, love and hatred, truth and falsehood, freedom and bondage. Nothing else can bring so much happiness and joy in life, like the mind when it is taken care of. Don’t you want to have a healthy body, a healthy relationship and a healthy life? The secret of such enjoyment is to cultivate a healthy mind.
A healthy mind is clean and positive. It is full of love and compassion. It is a centre of peace. It is undisturbed by external objects and happenings. A healthy mind is free from greed, lust, anger, jealousy, arrogance etc. When an evil thought arises, as the Ancient Wisdom teaches us, it has to be treated with the opposite good thought – greed with sharing, lust with desirelessness, anger with love, jealousy with generosity and arrogance with humility.
This invaluable advice of Buddha is not just limited to success in one’s spiritual life but taking care of the mind to achieve success in one’s daily life, which is equally important. Mind is a mine, source of joy and misery, love and hatred, truth and falsehood, freedom and bondage. Nothing else can bring so much happiness and joy in life, like the mind when it is taken care of. Don’t you want to have a healthy body, a healthy relationship and a healthy life? The secret of such enjoyment is to cultivate a healthy mind.
A healthy mind is clean and positive. It is full of love and compassion. It is a centre of peace. It is undisturbed by external objects and happenings. A healthy mind is free from greed, lust, anger, jealousy, arrogance etc. When an evil thought arises, as the Ancient Wisdom teaches us, it has to be treated with the opposite good thought – greed with sharing, lust with desirelessness, anger with love, jealousy with generosity and arrogance with humility.
How to cultivate a mind with the above virtues? It is by meditating, contemplating, feeding our mind with good thoughts, reading good books and by listening to the words of wise people.
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