A Gift of Dharma for 1.27.10
Today’s quote is another from my first Buddhist teacher, the late Godwin Samararatne (1932-2000), whom I first quoted and wrote a little biography for here. I swiped this quote from the great Molly De Shong at Shambhala Sun Space, who found it in the Vipassana Fellowship‘s March 2009 newsletter. As Molly explains, “It’s an excerpt from a recording he made for a young cancer patient.” Here it is:
See how far you can gently soften, accepting yourself as you are, without any notion of what you should become. Making friends with who you are—and really feel that friendship, that kindness.
Then can you extend that friendship, gentleness, softness even to those who have hurt you, disappointed you, frustrated you. Letting go of the hurts and wounds you have been carrying by learning to forgive, by learning to accept our common human-ness.
Learn to forgive yourself too for all the mistakes you have made in the past, not holding onto these wounds by having guilt and remorse in relation to them; and also letting go of the wounds that have been created by others. Learn to accept yourself as you are, and learn to accept others as they are, without an image of how you or they should be. Learning to be gentle to oneself and gentle to others.
Thinking: May all beings be well and happy; may all beings overcome the suffering that they create themselves.
