DHAMMA LIVED I

• Dealing with Negativity & Aggravation
• Forgiveness

by SAYADAW U JOTIKA

ISBN 983-3512-04-6
IJ110/05
Size: 5.5” X 8.25”
Pages: 83 pages

"When Mr Lai Kwan Yew suggested that we publish another dhamma booklet to commemorate this year’s dana trip (2005) to Myanmar, Sayadaw U Jotika’s two dhamma talks entitled Dealing with Negativity and Aggravation and Forgiveness seem like very good and apt reminders for elimination of dosa (aversion) and to learn to forgive oneself and others."
— from the Preface by Hoon (21st December 2005, Penang)


TITLE 0NE: Dealing with Negativity & Aggravation

"There will always be something negative happening — in our body, in our mind, in our surrounding, the environment. So even when we talk about negative things, we are not just complaining, we are trying to find out what we can do about it, so that is positive. So when we think or talk about negative things and stop there, that is pure negativity. It doesn’t help. But when we look at the things happening in us and around us — the negative things and try to understand very deeply and see what we can do about it and how we can reduce it, it is positive. That is what we should do."



TITLE TWO: Forgiveness

Some people say “forgive and forget” but forgetting is not good.

We should learn from it, understand, learn, never forget. If we forget without understanding, unconsciously it will control our life again. In fact we can never forget anything at all. So, forgiveness is not forgetting. By forgiving the people who hurt us, we do not erase painful past experiences from our memory. We are not erasing painful past memories. We are learning from it.

Forgiveness is a way of reaching out from a bad past and heading out to a more positive future.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sayadaw U Jotika was born into a non-Buddhist family on 5 August 1947, educated in a Roman Catholic missionary school, studied Electrical Engineering and read widely in Western & Eastern philosophy and psychology. Sayadaw has been living for extended periods in solitude before moving and staying in Yangoon, Myanmar.