While listening to the Dharma, 

simply absorb it. 

Looking back fondly, or not, getting ready to start another year at school invariably entailed getting new supplies. A big decision was—the notebook. What size? Color? Two-hole? Three? How many dividers? Such decisions were crucial because some serious note-taking was about to be undertaken. 

Older now, notes are possibly even more important because increasingly anything we want to learn or remember needs to be written down.

And so, at a Dharma lecture, we whip out pen and paper, determined to take copious notes. But the first thing we hear is, “Don’t take notes.”

No notes? Seriously? How will I remember what he said?

Relax. For one thing, when you’re writing, you’re not listening. Even more important, when concentrating on what is being said, we will hear what we need and are ready to. Keep attending the talks or listening to the recordings. Each time, our understanding will deepen and solidify.

And each time we listen, we will absorb what we need.

In the daily rush to arrive, 

are you sure you’re going 

in the right direction? 

Work. Family. Community. Scrambling to meet multiple duties and accomplish our goals, from places to be to plans to be made, we’re so often in a hurry. Hearing of the counter-productivity of multitasking on the news, we continue writing that text on our smartphones while mentally noting what we need from the grocery store on the way home.

Much of the time, most of us are so busy doing and going in hopes of arriving, that we don’t stop to consider the direction we’re heading.

Maybe we chose it due to others’ expectations.

Maybe we just ended up heading there because everyone else was.

Whatever the reason, we’re on the move. But wait a minute. Where are we going?

And when we finally arrive, will we look back with bewilderment? Regret? Or a sense of a life well-lived? A life in which, we didn’t aimlessly rush off with the crowd, but had made sure we were headed in the right direction.

Peace doesn’t begin with another person.

It begins with me. 

“Peace.” Hearing the word, our thoughts often turn to another one: “World.” We smile. Then sigh. It’s a lovely ideal, but one which feels utterly beyond us.

Finding ourselves unsure what to do about world peace, let’s consider an alternative: peace in our little corner of the world. Granted, many days this also seems beyond us, but it is at least it’s something we can work towards. Indeed, it’s why we learn Buddhism and cultivate ourselves.

How?

We cultivate self-discipline to refrain from speech that would disturb others.

We cultivate broad-mindedness to better appreciate and respect others’ viewpoints.

We cultivate compassion to see a stranger’s suffering as clearly as our own and to seek a way to alleviate it, humility to realize we acted improperly and need to apologize, generosity to share our good fortune with those who have less than we do.

Succeeding in these, we will help bring peace to those around us.