Michelle Obama | Lessons in Buddhism

This morning, I came across a very nice article written my Ed and Deb Shapiro on Michelle Obama over at the Huffington Post. The straight-forward tone of the piece is a nice change, from the usually negativistic and combative press.

It's impressively easy for us to notice what is wrong. It's seems much more difficult to notice what's going right. To excerpt a quote from the article, I found it moving when that quoted Shakyamuni Buddha saying:

A person who gives freely is loved by all. It's hard to understand, but it is in giving that we gain strength. But there is a proper time and a proper way to give, and the person who understands this is strong and wise. By giving with a feeling of reverence for life, envy and anger are banished. A path to happiness is found. Like one who plants a sapling and in due course receives back shade, flowers, and fruit, so the results of giving bring joy. Through continuous acts of kindness the heart is strengthened by compassion and giving. -Buddha

That quote certainly leans in to what can and is going right within each of us. In each of us, there's always the opportunity for us to express our inherent capacity for kindness. We just have to seize upon it, in our daily lives.

Namaste'

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
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