Gratitude

When we hear the Buddha’s teachings on karma, all too often we think karmic retribution, punishment. So no wonder a lot of Westerners have negative attitudes towards the teaching. But when the Buddha explained it, he pointed out that it makes two things worthwhile, two things meaningful.

One, the fact that you choose your actions means that when you give something, you’re responsible for that gift. You have the virtue of generosity. Two, when you receive a gift, when you receive someone else’s kindness, then gratitude is an appropriate response.

If we lived in a world where people didn’t have freedom of choice, everything would be like a machine. There’d be no need to have gratitude for a machine, because the machine wasn’t making any merit. It was programmed to do that.

But the world is not a machine. The world is shaped by our intentions, which means that when we have a good intention to be generous, and other people have had good intentions to help us, then it’s meaningful. The generosity is meaningful, and our gratitude for their help is meaningful as well.

As the Buddha said, gratitude is the beginning of many, many good qualities, because you begin to appreciate the goodness of other people. You realize how hard it is sometimes for people to be good, which means that you might be more inclined to make an effort yourself when it’s hard to be good. Which is why they say that gratitude is a sign of a good person, a person of integrity.

So it’s good to stop and think every now and then: Who are the people who’ve helped you in this life? You hear a lot about people who claim to be self-made millionaires. Well, they put some effort in, but other people helped them as well. Without the help of other people, they wouldn’t be there. Self-made people received help, and it’s important that they appreciate that help. In the same way, it’s important that we appreciate the help that others have given to us.

So take time every now and then to stop and think about the goodness that other people have done for you—and how it might not have been easy for them, but they saw that it was worthwhile. The proper way of responding to that, of course, is to be kind to them. If they’re not around anymore to be kind to, just pass on the goodness. It’s in this way that human life becomes livable; the human world becomes a good place to stay. Without gratitude, it’s just battling all the time. That wouldn’t be a good world to stay in.

We see all around us all the battles that people take up from a lack of appreciation, a lack of gratitude for the goodness of other people. So where does peace start? It starts right here, with your gratitude for others, for the goodness they’ve done to you.

Make that a frequent part of your practice.