You of fine features, you have gained this opportune and leisured human form. If you follow me, who speaks to help others, listen well, I have something to say.

Most of us have pride that needs deflating before we will listen to the teachings. It is often our pride that divides us from the teachings with this critical mind of “Well, I just do not believe that. Which idiot would believe that? I know what is best. I’m intelligent.” We often do not accept the teachings that we are given because of our arrogance. This is something that I wonder about sometimes as Buddhism enters America. Some teachers do not believe in rebirth. They admitted that Buddha taught it, but they do not believe it. Others say that the Buddha did not even teach it, although it is quite clear he did.

It is an interesting point to think about because it has to do with how receptive we are to listen to the teachings. How much do we step back and insert our own ifs, ands, or buts because we are not quite ready to take something to heart? I am not saying that something is wrong with us. We are where we are at, and we can only listen to what we are capable of listening to, and we cannot be somewhere on the path where we are not. That is very clear. It is not to say somebody is wrong, or somebody is bad, or they are negative. It is just a matter of us looking within and asking ourselves, “How receptive am I to the teachings? How much do the teachings hit at sensitive points in my psychological makeup that make me push the message away?” There are lots of teachings that do, otherwise, they are not going to shake us up.

If we come out of a Dharma teaching feeling light, love, and bliss, and everything is perfect, then nothing in our completely deluded mind has changed. But when we come out of a Dharma teaching saying, “What were they saying? What in the world does that mean? How does it apply to me?” then that teaching is having some kind of effect.

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