Cattāri Brahmavihārā

1. If someone scolds us, we should not scold or speak harshly in return.

2. If someone criticizes us, pointing out real or imagined faults, or making small faults into big ones, we should not criticize that person in return.

3. If someone hits us, we should not strike back.

4. If someone gets angry with us, we should not get angry in return.

The quote above is from a commentary on a Mahayana text. My energy is waxing and I again find myself willing and able to take a more self-sacrificing approach to me life and practice. It is strange but it really dies seem to me that the path requires us to put ourselves in uncomfortable places and undergo some suffering in order to drive and lasting benefit. And, yet, I am understanding better than before the necessity of applying wisdom. In other words, I need to ensure that I’m following my own internal sense of what is the right response to every situation (informed by my knowledge and experience of the Dhamma) and then so it without regard to the ideas of others.