If people are really practising, when they saw themselves getting mad at the person who left the dirty dish in the sink, they would say, “I’m angry. Why? What am I thinking? Oh, I have this whole story I’m telling myself, that people are deliberately wanting to harm me. They are looking down on me. They expect me to be their slave. I have a little bit of pride because I think I’m too good for that. My love does not stretch that far, to wash somebody else’s dish. Unless, of course, they make three prostrations and say, “thank you” afterwards. Then I might consider it.”

However, they would be able to look at what is going on in their mind and correct their attitude by remembering, “Oh, I’m practising the Bodhisattva path, so I am the servant of others. This is somebody else who has been kind to me in my many previous lives. What is so bad about washing a dish? All it takes is 30 seconds. Whereas this story that I’m making up is taking up an hour of my time.”

This is real practice, dealing with those things when they come up, transforming the mind, and seeing where we are at. Just sitting on the cushion, chanting, and looking holy is not what it is about. To “practise Dharma” means to transform your mind.

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!