Real Improvement Begins With Acceptance
In spiritual teachings, Buddhism included, we often meet with the idea of acceptance. It means non-resisting the way things are. In itself, it’s kindness. More than that, it allows the mind to be composed, and see things as they are. My teacher, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, told us of an interesting encounter at a meditation retreat in Bali. A woman was having difficulty accepting something that had happened in her life. A helper tried to convince her to accept it, but she resisted. “How can I accept it?!” Realising that he couldn’t help her, he brought her to see the teacher. After hearing the story, he told her, “OK. Don’t try to accept. Just acknowledge.” The woman thought for a while and said, “This I can do.” Sayadaw then told us, “She can’t accept, but she can acknowledge, but actually they are the same!” Now, why couldn’t sh e accept the word accept? I think she perceived it as condoning or agreeing. But that’s not what acceptance mean, at least not in this context. It’s really just ackn...