“Why should I re-read a Buddhist book when I know what happens?” (Click image for video)

When we stop fussing about things, 

they go much more smoothly! 

It’s exhausting! All that time and energy we expend on fussing about the daily annoyances we encounter. It’s just too much and all a big waste. We know this. And yet here we are, still grumbling.

Why do I keep having to fix his mistakes?

Won’t she ever learn?

Do they think their time is more valuable than mine?

It becomes a contest between which is more tiring. Fixing the mess? Or fussing about it?

Upon consideration, it’s really not much of a contest. Fussing wins, hands down. But it doesn’t accomplish anything. Point 1: We can whinge all we want, but we still have to fix what the other person messed up. Oops! Let’s make that “We still need to fix what the person needs help with.” Point 2: That correcting will take longer because when we’re fussing, we’re not doing the task. Just wasting time and energy.

We should just tell ourselves that in the past we must have driven a co-worker crazy. If we see it as retribution, our now focused mind can calmly complete the work. 

No one leaves a confrontation unscathed. (Click image for video)

Are we learning Buddhism to benefit ourselves? 

Or others? 

The response depends on how far along we are on the path.

Let’s say it’s early days. We’re just getting a handle on rebirth and all those different paths including the hells and hungry ghosts. Then there’s causality, pervasive and timeless. What karmas have we sown, we wonder. We also realize that suffering could be just one step away, lurking behind current happiness.

It should come then as no surprise that, at first, we learn Buddhism to benefit ourselves. Who wouldn’t want to end their suffering and improve their future lifetimes! As time passes, and with further cultivation and learning, we begin to look anew at those vows of helping others that we read of. Yes, it’s not only about helping ourselves! We help ourselves so that we can help others. That’s our ultimate goal. And if we don’t know how to help ourselves we certainly won’t be able to help others.

So, don’t worry. Yes, we start with “ourselves.”

In time, we graduate to “others.”