Cultivate a Limitless Heart
November 24, 2015
We each have our own sufferings that no one else can feel. And the work to put an end to suffering is often something that no one else can even see. As we’re focused on our own issues, things can get very narrow. On the one hand, it’s good that the sufferings that weigh down the mind are things that come from within, because otherwise we’d have to depend on help from somebody else outside to put an end to them. It’s good that we can put an end to them ourselves. But there’s the other hand: times when the practice can seem very narrow as we’re face-to-face with our own sufferings, face-to-face with our own stupidity, basically. As Ajaan Suwat used to like to say, “Ignorance is basically stupidity.” Fighting off our defilements, some of which we really like, is difficult work. But it’s important that we keep our work in perspective, so that the heart and mind don’t become narrow.