Seemingly Auspicious

A lovely rainbow over the ger today, and in imagination we can pretend that it coincides with the conclusion of the Nyingma Monlam yesterday. Getting ready for Losar? Get ready for some surprises. Meanwhile, our thought for the day, from you-know-who, courtesy of my old friend Tharpa:

(1) Whatever generosity,
Offerings to the Blissfully Gone (Buddhas) and the like,
And positive deeds I've amassed over thousands of eons -
One (moment of) hatred will devastate them all.

(2) As no negative force resembles anger,
And no trial resembles patience,
I shall therefore meditate on patience,
With effort and in various ways.

(3) When the thorn of anger lodges in my heart,
My mind doesn't feel any peace,
Doesn't gain any joy or pleasure,
Doesn't fall asleep, and becomes unstable.

(4) Even those on whom he lavishes wealth and honor
And those who've become dependent on him
Get provoked to the point of murdering
A lord who's possessed with anger.

(5) Friends and relations get disgusted with him,
And though he might gather (others) with gifts,
he isn't regarded with trust and respect.
In brief, there's no way at all in which
A raging person is in a happy situation.

(6) Hence the enemy, rage,
Creates sufferings such as those and the like,
While whoever clamps down and destroys his rage
Will be happy in this (life) and others.

(7) Finding its fuel in the foul state of mind
That arises from its bringing about things I don't want
And its preventing what I wish,
Anger, once enflamed, destroys me.

(8) Therefore, I shall totally eradicate
The fuel of that enemy,
For this enemy hasn't a mission
Other than injuring me.

(9) No matter what happens,
I shall never let it disturb my good mood.
For if I've fallen into a foul mood, what I want
will not come about,
And my constructive behavior will fall apart.

(10) If it can be remedied,
Why get into a foul mood over something?
And if it can't be remedied,
What help is it to get into a foul mood over it?

(11) For myself and my friends,
Suffering, contempt, verbal abuse,
And disgrace aren't things that I'd wish for;
But for my enemies, it's the reverse.

(12) The causes for happiness rarely occur,
While the causes for sufferings are overly abundant.
But, without any suffering,
there wouldn't be the determination to be free;
Therefore, mind, you must think to be firm.