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Even if we are misguided enough to wish the other person harm, our thoughts can never contrive to create that suffering for the other. | Even if we are misguided enough to wish the other person harm, our thoughts can never contrive to create that suffering for the other. | ||
<h4>Respect for Other Beings</h4> | |||
The last part of the chapter ends with Śāntideva urging us to have reverence and respect for other beings, whether they interact with us positively or negatively. He argues that it is they who actually offer up to us the opportunity to be able to put the training of patience into practice. Therefore, he argues, we must hold them in a place of reverence and consider them to be on par with the buddhas and the teachings of the Dharma. | |||
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For most of us, who are quick to vilify anyone who dares to harm us even in the smallest of ways, this way of thinking may seem completely alien. Our culture often praises righteous retaliation and vengeance. And yet here Śāntideva turns the whole situation, and our reaction to it, on its head. He suggests that anyone who is hostile to us should instead be honored almost on the level of a guru, for they have come to aid us on the path to enlightenment. Indeed, he presents the opportunity for an incredible transformation of our minds and our experience of everything that happens to us. | |||
In conclusion, Śāntideva vows that it will be his life’s work to implement these practices and ways of transforming the mind, practices which delight the buddhas and bring about our own welfare as well. | |||
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<h3>Introductory Essay</h3> | |||
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