Living a Balanced Life and Making Wise Choices
by Ven. Thubten Chodron©
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore
14 March 2008

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Part 1: [29 min] : Download

Setting motivation. ~ Examining our self-centeredness and seeing that it actually harms ourselves. ~ “Don’t look at others’ faults with a magnifying glass, but use a mirror to look at our own faults.” Examining our own mind, acknowledging our own weaknesses and faults and then trying to remedy them is a very good way to create happiness in ourselves and others. ~ The best way to counteract the negative actions and speech is by keeping precepts. Brief explanation of the five lay precepts.

 

Part 2: [30 min] : Download

Our actions and speech originate from the mind. Therefore it’s important to examine our mind and our motivation and apply antidotes to the weaknesses and faults we find. Buddha taught many methods on how to transform our mind. When the mind is transformed, the transformation of our actions and speech will naturally follow. ~ Working with Anger. ~ Making wise decisions. Criteria to use and those not to use.

 

Questions and answers [19 min] : Download

Questions asked:

1. What happens if the other person shuts the door and refuses to communicate even though I’m trying to communicate with them? Everything I do is seen by the other person as negative and the other person won’t talk about it with me.
2. I have a disability. How does one cope with discrimination?
3. What is purification practice and how does it work?
4. How do I adopt a balanced view towards colleagues who are mean and trying to make life difficult for me because I have been promoted instead of them?
5. Is it being attached or greedy to want the people whom we love to attain enlightenment?
6. I have two teenaged children. My husband and I love them very much and we want to be good parents, i.e. to guide, motivate and encourage them in the right way so that they will realize their highest potential. What can we do so that we can help them achieve that?
7. How do we balance our life in terms of money? Many times making money could mean over-working, over-socialising, etc.