Posts Tagged → forgiveness

increase love and strengthen the will

the universe is one being

 

In order to learn forgiveness

man must learn tolerance first. And there

are people whom man cannot forgive. It is not that he

must not forgive, but it is difficult, beyond his power to forgive,

and in that case the first thing he can do is to forget. The first step

towards forgiveness is to forget. It is true that the finer the

man is the more he is subject to be hurt by the smallest

disturbance that can produce irritation and

inharmony in the atmosphere.

 

A person who gives

and takes hurts is capable of living

an easy and comfortable life in the world.

Life is difficult for the fine person, for he cannot

give back what he receives in the way of hurt, and he can

feel it more than the average person. Many seek protection from

all hurting influences by building some wall around themselves. But

the canopy over the earth is so high that a wall cannot be built high

enough, and the only thing one can do is to live in the midst of

all inharmonious influences, to strengthen his will power

and to bear all things, yet keeping the fineness of

character and a nobleness of manner together

with an ever-living heart.

 

To become cold

with the coldness of the world

is weakness, and to become broken

by the hardness of the world is feebleness,

but to live in the world and yet to keep above the world

is like walking on the water. There are two essential duties

for the man of wisdom and love; that is to keep the love

in our nature ever increasing and expanding and to

strengthen the will so that the heart may not be

easily broken. Balance is ideal in life;

man must be fine and yet strong,

man must be loving and

yet powerful.
 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

the training of the ego

 

sing in the dark and try to forgive


 

In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will be singing.
About the dark times.

—Bertolt Brecht

 

There will be prayer, too,
but to a different god,

and dread will lurk
in the songs we sing.

Doom in the timpani
no matter what the tune,

the tune a variation
on the theme of doom.

We will sing in the dark
and try to forgive

and try not to dwell
on the lives we lived.

The music we play
will be a funeral song,

the poetry we speak,
that ancient tool

we used to believe
was the vital spark,

or if not the spark,
will be the match we strike

again and again
in the darkest dark.

 

Andrea Hollander

 

the practice of repaying wrongs

this is the pure buddha-land

 

Entering through practice

refers to the Four Practices — all other

practices are contained within these. What are

the Four Practices? First, the practice of repaying wrongs.

Second, the practice of going along with the causal

nexus. Third, the practice of not seeking

anything. Fourth, the practice of

according with the

Dharma.

 

What is the practice

of repaying wrongs? When receiving

suffering, a practitioner who cultivates the Path

should think to himself: “During countless ages past

I have abandoned the root and pursued the branches, flowing

into the various states of being, and giving rise to much rancor and

hatred — the transgression, the harm done, has been limitless.

Though I do not transgress now, this suffering is a disaster

left over from former lives — the results of evil deeds

have ripened. This suffering is not something

given by gods or humans.”

 

You should willingly

endure the suffering without anger

or complaint. The sutra says: “Encountering

suffering, one is not concerned. Why? Because one

is conscious of the basic root.” When this attitude toward

suffering is born, you are in accord with inner truth,

and even as you experience wrongs, you advance

on the Path. Thus it is called “the practice

of repaying wrongs.”

 

Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka

full text here

 

add to goodness from your own heart

the way of jesus

 

Whenever we see

that goodness is lacking,

we may add to it from our own heart

and so complete the nobility of human nature.

This is done by patience, tolerance, kindness, forgiveness.

The lover of goodness loves every little sign of goodness.

He overlooks the faults and fills up the gaps by

pouring out love and supplying that

which is lacking. This is real

nobility of soul.

 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

the stream of love

 

they see the divine in all forms

he did

 

In the East,

when we speak of saints

or sages, it is not because of their

miracles, it is because of their presence

and their countenance which radiate vibrations

of love. How does this love express itself? In tolerance,

in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults of others.

Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they were

their own; they forget their own interest in the interest

of others. They do not mind what conditions they are

in; be they high or humble, their foreheads are

smiling. To their eyes everyone is the

expression of the Beloved, whose

name they repeat. They see the

divine in all forms and

in all beings.

 

Hazrat Inayat Khan