Loving among the hostile
Today, let someone else's hostility or greed leave your own goodwill untouched.
- Read · about 2 minutes
Let us live so very happily,loving among the hostile.Among hostile humans,let us live with love.…Let us live so very happily,content among the greedy.Among greedy humans,let us live content.Dhammapada 197, 199 · chapter 15, “Happiness” · tr. Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0)
From the text
The verses are a resolve to live happily: to live with love among people who are hostile, and to live content among people who are greedy.
In everyday life
These verses do not wait for the world to improve. They assume hostility and greed will be around, and they describe a way to live happily anyway. The key word is 'among'. You are not asked to fix hostile people, only to keep your own love intact while they are around. The same goes for contentment among the greedy. One way to take this is that the verses are about where your happiness is anchored: if it depends on everyone else being kind and fair first, it will be rare. If it rests on your own goodwill and your own sense of having enough, it travels with you. If you have been following this rotation from the start, today is a natural point to notice whether anything has steadied, however slightly. Then take the resolve of the verse into the day, especially into the room where someone is being difficult.
- Sit · 3, 5 or 10 minutes
Arriving and Settling
Sit upright on a chair or cushion, hands resting in your lap. Read each cue as it appears; between cues you may close your eyes or lower your gaze.
- Live · during your day
When you meet hostility or grasping today, in person or online, recall the verse's resolve in your own words, and answer with one calm, kind sentence or with silence.
- Reflect · this evening
Was there a moment today when others were hostile or grasping, and what happened to your own goodwill?
Answer on paper, or in the app’s journal, which stays on your iPhone.