Three Buddhist Insights

When I took students to India a few years ago, we listened to a Buddhist monk tell us what he thought were three basic insights from Buddhism:  You cannot change the past, you cannot control the future, you are alive this day.  He concluded, “Do what you can do to change the world this day.”

Sometimes, the smallest thing you do or say today can change the world.  A Lutheran pastor told me a startling story about what happened one Sunday morning.  He was walking around between services as he usually does, unconsciously shaking hands with people, greeting them, saying “good morning” or “how are you?”  He did this week in and week out with thinking too much about it.  It was his calling, routine and his job. This Sunday morning seemed no different that it had been every week. 

A few days later he received an unsigned note in the mail.  It read, “Pastor, a few days ago I decided that life was not worth living.  No one seemed to care whether I was alive or not.  I thought, I will go to Church one more time and then kill myself.  But that morning you stopped and talked to me.  You asked how I was and wished me a good day and fine week.  Thank you.  You saved my life.  You showed me that someone cared about me.   I will be going to see a therapist this week and hope to feel better.  But, you changed my world and I am grateful."

Such is life.  The smallest unconscious things you do and say this very day can change the world.  The past is the past.  The future will be the future.  Be alive today and do what you can do. If you want to know who or what God is about, God resides precisely in the doing.