Sometimes the easiest things to know are the hardest things to live by.

That’s why we are so lucky to have the option of turning to the masters for inspiration.

The tireless Venerable Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche is the active Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).

Legendary for his marathon ritual ceremonies and impromptu, laughter-inflected teaching sessions, he also has a gift for the written word—and every single one is motivated by a wish to help people climb out of their misery and toward happy, meaningful lives.

I just love the quote above, where he makes it sound so simple. There are eight things, he says, that trap our minds into making us unhappy—they’re actually four things subdivided into things we crave, and things we hate or have aversion to:

What we crave:

Comfort

Things (including people)

A good reputation

Praise

What we have aversion toward:

Discomfort

Not having things (including people in our lives)

Having a bad reputation

Criticism

If only we can tame the troublemaker that is our mind and its incredible talent to make us desire too many things, and be on constant alert about what’s going on in our inner worlds instead of out there.

These are really words to live by.

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Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: courtesy Tammy T. Stone