Even if someone out of strong desire steals all your wealth or has it stolen, dedicate to him your body, possessions, and your virtue, past, present and future. This is the practice of Bodhisattvas. 

How do we feel when somebody borrows a book and does not return it, or borrows ten dollars and does not pay us back? We are not happy campers. Imagine how angry and upset we would be if we came home to find everything gone — our car, clothes, mementos, computer, and all our devices. To make matters worse, our possessions were stolen only out of strong desire, not because the thief was poverty-stricken. 

By transforming our minds, we can develop compassion for the thief who, out of strong attachment, created a lot of bad karma by ripping off our stuff. We can do tonglen practice for him and offer our body, possessions, and virtue in whatever form he needs. We can pray for him to meet the Dharma, not so that he learns about karma and gives our stuff back, but for his own well-being. It may sound impossible but changing our minds in this direction even just a little is beneficial. The only other response is being totally freaked out and belligerent and wanting revenge because we feel violated. A third choice might be going out and getting drunk or drugged out, but the anger would still be there and could come back through the fog. 

Instead, we can free our minds of anger by looking at the other person’s situation and cultivating love and compassion. We can also reflect on how the theft happened as a result of our own previous acts of stealing, and the negative karma is now finished, whereas the poor fellow who did this is going to suffer through awful rebirths. Negative situations like these can really spur us in our Dharma practice and make our minds happier and more peaceful. 

“365 Gems of Wisdom” First Volume (January — March) e-book is out now!