The Venerable Losang Samten, author of Ancient Teachings in Modern Time
s Buddhism in the 21st Century
a renowned Tibetan scholar and a former Buddhist monk, stresses the virtues of being mindful, kind, and patient.
Be Mindful
When we are more mindful we get a joy. In a way, the seed of the mindfulness, we all have that. We don’t have to buy that from somewhere else. Not necessarily finding for the enlightenment or [a] spiritual reason, in a sense, but whether we [are] a believer or non-believer, we all need a peace of mind. So the peace of mind comes from the mindfulness. Through that, we understand how important kindness and compassion [are]. One mental good quality leads into the next and the next and the next. The fundamental [one that] we’re talking [about] here is mindfulness.
Be kind
All the Holy Beings, each religious leader, the first thing definitely they will say to us – be kind, be kind. Be kind to yourself. Be kind, be kind. And be kind to the other. To be kind is the Jesus, [to] be kind is the God, [to] be kind is the Buddha.
Be Patient
Another thing [that] is very important to us to practice is be patient, be patient, be patient. Working with somebody or [on] the relationship – husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend, any relationship – life’s not perfect. Life [will] never be perfect. [No matter] how much we put into effort to be perfect, there’s no perfect everything. We are human. Patience is wonderful to have. So if that day somebody in your life, if he or she is so stressful and at that time – sometimes not necessarily, there’s not much room for communica[tion] – just be patient. Just be [breathes in deeply].
Truly these are not religious training[s], but more as a human being we all need that kind of quality. But yet, again, the seeds – we all have them. We all have patience. How much we call an impatient person, he or she has the seeds of patience and the kindness and the compassion. All of these seeds we don’t have to buy anywhere – we have them. We all have room to grow, but we all have the seeds of beautiful kindness and patience.
Complement it with Oren Harman on The Price Of Altruism. He explains the mystery of kindness.