Published Tuesday, 29 December 2020
Those who still cause harm
to living beings
cannot be considered as attained
to a truly noble state.
Those who are attained
maintain a harmless demeanour
towards all beings.Dhammapada v.270
Once we have faith in the possibility of awakening well-established within our hearts, we are ready to loosen our grasp on the idea of the goal and attend more closely to the reality of where we are at; it is time to feel the ground beneath our feet and let go of entertaining notions about how life might be once we have attained freedom. If we hold too tightly to ideas about the future, we compromise our sensitivity to here-and-now. Despite our wholesome aspirations to be released from all that is harmful and selfish, we could be causing harm to other beings near us. The idea of cultivating harmlessness might not seem as inspiring as striving for liberation, but it could be the practice that takes us closer to truth.