Page 38 - EH57

36 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

actions originating from the mind. Among various conflicting emotions, the root cause
is ignorance by which one mistakenly perceives phenomena as inherent existence.
Ignorance is really the root cause of our conflicts and difficulties. It is the root cause of
the both attachment and hatred. For example, by not seeing the reality of phenomena
but to think of it as independently existent, in-and- of themselves, we might begin to
think of it as inherently beautiful and desirable, and thus began to crave for it. The
wonderful qualities, which we desire, become exaggerated that we become blind
to their defects. As a result we are unable to appreciate even the most wonderful
situation as long as we don't have that desired phenomena around.

On the other hand, we might begin to hate a person and think of him or her as
inherently horrible and repulsive, although someone else might think otherwise.
Again the mind exaggerates, magnifying the negative qualities so that we can think of
nothing else but only the negativity part of it.

Thus, both attachment and hatred comes from ignorance. We think we exist
independently rather than inter-dependently. We divide everything into desirable
objects of attachment (loved ones, friends, family, properties, country, etc) and objects
of aversion (enemy, pain, country's enemy, etc) and end up generating all our energy
to either enhance our objects of attachment or destroy our objects of aversion. In fact,
all the wars in the world is a result of our misconceived way of perceiving things.

Conclusion:
In daily life you will encounter all kinds of people, and you can be sure that not all
of them will agree with you or even like you. But if you decide each morning that
when you wake up you will not be affected by unpleasantness, insults, criticisms or
difficult situations, you will start the day with happy thoughts. In fact, you should go
a step further and start your day with sincere altruistic intention, thinking how you
can serve your fellow human beings, including all living creatures, to make this world
a better place to live. If you cultivate such positive thoughts each morning, you will
become a patient, tolerant, compassionate, warm hearted and calm person who will
be a friend to all, and conflicts will not be a problem for you. EH