Can You Bend Spoons With Your Mind?

One time I gave a talk in a Hong Kong school to a group of children.

One child asked, "Can you bend spoons with your mind?" Another asked, "Has God ever talked to you?" They were very disappointed when I said, "No."

I went on to explain that for me a real true miracle is becoming a kind human being.

If you have psychic powers but lack a kind heart, the powers are of no use. In fact, they could even be disadvantageous: people may get very upset if they find all their spoons have been bent!

How do we cultivate a kind heart?

It is not enough to tell ourselves that we should be nice, because telling ourselves what we should or should not be, feel, or do doesn't make us become that way.

Filling ourselves with "shoulds" often just makes us feel guilty because we never are what we think we should be. We need to know how to actually transform our mind.

In other words, we must realize the disadvantages of being self-centered. We must truly want to develop a kind heart, not just keep thinking that we should develop a kind heart.

In the morning, when we first wake up, before getting out of bed, before thinking about what we will eat for breakfast or which obnoxious jerk we will see at the office, we can start the day by thinking, "Today as much as possible, I won't harm anybody. Today as much as possible I am going to try be of service and benefit to others. Today I want to do all actions so that all living beings can attain the long-term happiness of enlightenment."

Setting a positive motivation the first thing in the morning is very beneficial.

When we first wake up, our mind is very subtle and delicate. If we set a strong positive motivation at this time, there is a greater chance of it staying with us and influencing us throughout the day.

After generating our positive motivation, we get out of bed, wash, maybe have a cup of tea, and then meditate or recite prayers.

By starting the day in this way, we get in touch with ourselves and become our own friend by treasuring and re-enforcing our good qualities.


Extract from: Practicing Buddhism in Daily Life, by Venerable Thubten Chodron