Dear friend AniccaSeeker 🙏🏻
Blessings of peace and love to you and all the dear ones who are looking to improve themselves in this life, through a way which is in line with the big picture and in line with Truth.
A humble suggestion which you could try and see if it is of benefit to you:
1. A line in the water – If it is an emotion which is suddenly upon you, and you know from past experience that it’s not going to last too long, say to yourself the following:
(for example) ”Instead of being angry, I’m going to realize that people doing things I do not like are just results of previous causes. So now I’m going to repeat the name of the Buddha ten times. Namo Buddhaya… Namo Buddhaya… etc. x10. Now I express gratitude that instead of being angry, I could praise the Buddha.”
By that time, two or three minutes should have passed, and the emotion should have calmed down to a great extent.
2. A line in the sand – If it is something on a deeper level, like your mother always asking you when you’re gonna get married, or your boss never saying ‘hello’ to you every time you greet him, we need to realize that this is our jati. We can try the suggestion for level one, but if that does not work, we can accept it as being fair, reward for previous choices, and wait it out. We can think of it like as if someone else is having an emotional reaction, and now we just have to wait until he or she gets over it. So now we wait until we get over it ourselves.
3. A line in the stone – If it is something which is beyond level one or two, like fear when someone pulls out a gun, or anxiety when you hear your parent is on death’s bed, we can know that this can only be removed through maggaphala. There’s little we can do about it, and the most constructive thing is just to be motivated by it to find the path and stay on the path.
Namo Buddhaya 🌺🕊️💙
