All of us have met people who complained about not having enough time. Well, now, with the ongoing global pandemic, we have the opportunity and reasons, to do just that. Stay home.
Dear Dharma friends,
Many times we wished for more time for staying in silence, practicing, or being together with the parents, or with the children, rekindling the shared love, or even staying alone, just painting, cooking, or other creative things we always wanted to spend our times on. All of us have met people who complained about not having enough time. Well, now, with the ongoing global pandemic, we have the opportunity and reasons, to do just that. Stay home. Cherish your time with loved ones.
That said, this contagion has negatively impacted the global economy at an unprecedented scale. Apart from some exceptions, most of the businesses and jobs are affected badly. Life or livelihood, no one should be in a situation to choose one between the two. But for some, this is the case. Let us be sensitive and thoughtful to those who are confronting such situations every day. While staying calm, and taking advantage of the opportunity, let us also be kind and thoughtful to those of us who do not have this option, who HAVE to go out to work. We impulsively could think and approach the situations with the sense of entitlement, but let us be better, wiser. We should consider integrating a sense of gratitude. Let us be appreciative of those who are in the healthcare and other services, putting their lives in the line of duty.
Let us not give in to fear and anxiety. The most common one I noticed is the fear of missing out, or FOMO, as the millennials call it. There will be enough for everyone. Stockpiling toilet paper during an outbreak will be a good story to tell in the future, but that’s about it, so let us be a group of decent people. Shall we!
Above all, contextualizing the difficult times with the references found in dharma, let us further strengthen our trust and conviction in the teachings of the Buddha, meditating on loving-kindness, compassion, impermanence, duḥkha, and bodhicitta. Anything that came, by the virtue of coming, is bound to go away.
Invoking the blessings of the Three Jewels, I make altruistic aspirations for the benefit of all sentient beings who are suffering from this and other diseases.
May all who are sick and ill, quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again.
⏤ Śāntideva, Bodhicaryāvatāra, India, 8th century
Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Bodhisattva Padmapani,
Ajanta, Aurangabad.