Pausing

A friend from when I was studying Tibetan Buddhism for a while
shared a passage from a sutra with me.

🙏
A Great Bodhisattva has ten kinds of pure joy. These are: the pure joy of seeking enlightenment,
the pure joy of renouncing all possessions,
the pure joy of not rejecting sentient beings who break the rules, but teaching and guiding them to grow,
the pure joy of vowing to accept, save, and liberate sentient beings who commit evil,
the pure joy of offering one's own life in search of the truth, without regret,
the pure joy of abandoning the pleasures of the flesh and guiding sentient beings to always enjoy the truth,
the cosmic, selfless joy of tirelessly honoring and serving every Buddha one encounters,
and the pure joy of teaching all sentient beings to enjoy meditation, liberation, and concentration, and to enter and exit them freely.
The pure joy obtained by willingly performing all ascetic practices that accord with the Bodhisattva path, and by realizing the serenity of the saints, the supreme, unshakable serenity and wisdom. Based on these ten precepts, a Bodhisattva can attain the supreme, pure joy of the Buddha.
Avatamsaka Sutra - 1091
🙏

It is just like her, who has never stopped striving and learning day by day...

Perhaps because it has been nearly ten years since we met, I have come to gently feel that it is normal for her to be incredibly pure, even more so than someone who is already extraordinarily pure.

Even just regarding the very narrow range of things I can see
and feel for myself, I unconsciously reject various things and people.
I turn a blind eye to the evils I am forced to accept.

That said,
I do not feel miserable comparing myself to her, who works so hard.

I am simply grateful to her for giving me time to stop and think, and time to quiet my heart. 🙏