Goodwill as a Framework

Start the day with thoughts of goodwill. That’s how Ajaan Mun would start his day. He actually had a long chant that he would repeat sometimes, sending goodwill to all ten directions—east, west, north, south, southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast, above, and below; and then to the different kinds of beings in those directions—common animals, human beings, men, women, devas, noble ones, people who are not noble, people in the hell realms. It would take a good time to complete the whole chant. It’s one way of giving a framework to the day. He would also extend goodwill after his afternoon nap and then before going to bed at night.

That provides the framework, the context for what we’re doing here. We have goodwill for ourselves and goodwill for others. We realize that true happiness comes from within, so our true happiness doesn’t have to conflict with anyone else’s. So we want to look for that kind of happiness—because there are so many ways in the world of looking for pleasure ehere one person gains, another person loses. One person takes, another person gets taken advantage of. A lot of people go through life not really thinking about the consequences of their quest for happiness. They just grab whatever comes their way.

But here we are. We’re reflecting on the fact that if we want our happiness to last, we have to think about other people’s happiness, too—because if our happiness depends on their suffering, they’re not going to stand for it.

So spread thoughts of goodwill all around. If the thought comes into your mind, “Do these people really deserve it?” then ask yourself, do you deserve it? Then you realize the question of deserving doesn’t really enter into the equation. You need thoughts of goodwill so that your actions toward other people are not going to be harmful—and your actions to yourself are not going to be harmful either.

You want to be able to wish for your true happiness. Any thoughts in your mind that go in the other direction, just let them go. Try to actively cultivate this thought that “Yes, I do want happiness, and it’s okay to want happiness. There’s nothing wrong with it. Because this is a happiness that doesn’t take anything away from anyone.”

As for people who are misbehaving, who you don’t think deserve your goodwill, well, those are the ones to whom you have to send lots and lots of goodwill, so that you don’t behave in unskillful ways toward them. They may be treating you in unskillful ways, but you don’t want to get tied up in that mudslinging battle. In this way, you protect yourself.

As the Buddha said, if you really care for yourself, you observe the precepts. If you care for others, you try to get them to observe the precepts, too. If the only way of doing that you have is teaching by example, okay, that’s the way it is. But you do your best. Because that’s what’s really yours: your thoughts, your words, and your deeds. You want good results from them, so you’ve got to make the causes good as well. And it starts with goodwill.