Yeah, isn't the world a mess and everybody's bothering me. And if only the whole world would behave the way I think they should, and do what I tell them to do, then I'd be happy and I'd love everyone. Right? Wrong.
Okay, let's talk about prevention, preventing the hate, preventing the aversion. What's the number one technique that we teach to prevent aversion? Compassion/Lovingkindness meditation. You have to make it part of your life, you have to make it part of your blood. You have to really get it in there, the Compassion/Lovingkindness over and over and over.
Now, we need Wisdom with the Compassion/Lovingkindness especially whenever we think of those difficult people because, really, the only time that you hate all beings is when there has been somebody or some being that's been difficult for you, and it's caused you some stress. That's when the aversion to the whole world will come up because, of course, if they are all nice to you it doesn't come up. So, when a person does something that's unkind and you get some negative results of that, how do we view that person?
Here's an example that comes up in retreat. For those of you who've been to Wat Kow Tahm, you will be able to picture this more easily. There's a couple of you that haven't so I'll explain it. In the dining hall at Wat Kow Tahm the food is put out on a long table. The rice is first, then some vegetables, and then the fruits or sweets are at the end. At breakfast we have fruit. Let's say you're going for breakfast, you're at the end of the line and you're thinking to yourself, "I'd love to have some pineapple today. It was delicious yesterday. I'd love to have some pineapple today". Now, I'll just add something here, we have a sign next to the fruit that says, "One piece each. Once everyone has gone through the line, then you can come back for seconds, if there's any left over." So the sign says, "One piece each."
Now you walk to the table. You move to the rice. You look down the table at the pineapple and somebody's just taken four pieces of pineapple! Then they sit down and eat their pineapple. Is that enough to hate the world at that moment? Yeah. But in retreat, you can't say anything, and you can't do anything about it. That person's taking four pieces and one of those is yours.
Now, step back a bit and take yourself away from the table. What do you know about that person who is taking and eating four pieces of pineapple, without having ever talked with them in your whole life? Here you are at a meditation retreat. There's a little sign that says don't take more than one piece the first time. What is it that you know about that human being? They are not thinking clearly. They won't even pay attention to the sign. They are being greedy at that moment. They are not caring about the other people. Whether the other people get pineapple or not doesn't matter to them. You can understand all that just from watching that person take four pieces of pineapple.
Now, is a greedy person happy in their life or are they sad in their life? You understand that, too. That person has a lot of problems in their life. To be so greedy like that, are they going to have many friends? Would you do that to your friends? Would you want your friends to do that to you? Of course not. So you also know this person who is taking four pieces of pineapple, they probably do not have many friends in their life. They're being greedy, they're being selfish, right there with all these nice people in the retreat, right? We're all nice, but this person is doing that, and they're not being nice, and they should be nice. Should. Did you catch that? They should be different. We want them to be different. We think they should be different, but in reality they're not different. They have a problem.
Now, imagine you see somebody in pain, someone who has a problem, for example a broken arm. We just received an email from one of our students who just broke her arm. Imagine you see someone break their arm - can you open your heart for that person? What if you see somebody without an arm? We saw a guy riding a bicycle yesterday with only one arm. There are a lot of people who only have one arm. Can you open your heart for people with only one arm? Or with only one leg? Or who are blind?
That's not so difficult, is it? When you see someone with a physical problem, it's easier to open your heart and have compassion for them. But when they have all their arms and legs and they seem like a sane person, and then you see them taking four pieces of pineapple, somehow it's harder to have Compassion. But can you go inside that person, can you open your heart for the problems they have mentally. This is going to help you stop hating all beings, to open that Compassion for the people's insides, not just the outside. Because once somebody does anything difficult to you, which then makes you hate the world, the minute you open your heart to them, then you don't hate them anymore. So, keep working that Compassion/Lovingkindness for everyone.