Today is an uposatha day but due to the fact that it is Ramadhan and because I am going to my in-laws to break fast I decided not observe. Unfortunately I also let slip my practice plans for today and didn’t make it to the temple this morning either. Instead I allowed the unguarded mind to do as it pleased and I have suffered for it as a result. All day long I have watched as my mind has returned with a ferocity and dstermination I can’t help but envy and it all started with a minute’s heedlessness.
At times like this (thank goodness they aren’t frequent) I often think of the Dhammapada verse (Dhp 121) where the Lord admonishes us not to think lightly of evil because it adds up drop by drop only to overwhelm us like a flood. How apt and poignant are the words of the Tathagata more than two millennia after and half a world away from his parinibbana.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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