The Dalai Lama - Gratitude Toward Our Enemies

THE COMPASSIONATE LIFE
by Tenzin Gyatso,
the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
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Dalai Lama Quote of the Week

If we investigate on a deeper level, we will find that when enemies inflict harm on us, we can actually feel gratitude toward them. Such situations provide us with rare opportunities to put to test our own practice of patience. It is a precious occasion to practice not only patience but the other bodhisattva ideals as well. As a result, we have the opportunity to accumulate merit in these situations and to receive the benefits thereof.

The poor enemy, on the other hand, because of the negative action of inflicting harm on someone out of anger and hatred, must eventually face the negative consequences of his or her own actions. It is almost as if the perpetrators of the harm sacrifice themselves for the sake of our benefit. Since the merit accumulated from the practice of patience was possible only because of the opportunity provided us by our enemy, strictly speaking, we should dedicate our merit to the benefit of that enemy. This is why the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life speaks of the kindness of the enemy.

--from The Compassionate Life by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

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