A Frame for the Day
October 06, 2023

We live in a difficult world, which is why we have to have a lot of goodwill. It’s an active process. Sometimes you hear that goodwill is our innate nature. But our innate nature is actually very changeable. Sometimes ill will comes very naturally to us. This is why universal goodwill is not simply a human characteristic. It’s a brahma characteristic, a brahma attitude. You’re lifting the level of your mind as you actively think, “May all beings be happy.”

And you think about that. There are very difficult beings out there. But you still have to have goodwill for them, because if you don’t, then you might start acting in unskillful ways toward them, and that becomes your karma. You hurt yourself as you’re hurting them.

This is why the Buddha says you want to adopt thoughts of universal goodwill as a form of mindfulness. You keep in mind the principle that whoever you meet, whatever you have to do with regard to other people, you do it with goodwill—hoping that they will find true happiness. But you’re not just saying, “May you be happy doing whatever you’re doing.” The thought is more, “May you understand the causes for true happiness and be willing and able to act on them.” And if there’s anything you can do to help that person in that direction, you’re happy to do it.

This is a thought of goodwill that you can have for anybody, because we don’t pretend that everybody is good. In fact, we’re very aware of the fact that not everybody is good, but we need to protect our own goodness. We need to protect our own goodwill. The image the Buddha gives is of a mother protecting her child. Back in those days, a mother’s life depended on her child. If she had only one child, she had to protect that child with a lot of care. Otherwise, if she got old, she’d put people to lots of difficulties. Whether she loved the child or not, she was very protective of it.

In the same way, you have to protect your goodwill. It’s not that you have warm, fuzzy feelings for people. You think more clearly: What can you do to behave in a skillful way toward other people? Skillful behavior has to be built on goodwill, thoughts of goodwill, an attitude both of heart and of mind.

So make that the framework for our day. They say that Ajaan Mun, when he’d get up in the morning, the first thing he’d do would be to spread thoughts of goodwill to all directions. In the afternoon after his midday nap, he’d get up and spread goodwill in all directions. And at night, before going to bed: goodwill in all directions. It became the framework for the day. So make it the framework for your day. He obviously benefited from that. We can all benefit too. When you meditate, start with thoughts of goodwill as a way of helping your mind settle down so that affairs of the day, things that other people have done or said don’t get in the way of your settling down. At the end of your meditation, you want goodwill to be the attitude you carry into the world. So end the meditation with goodwill as well. At the same time, because your mind has been settled down more, it has more power, and other people sometimes can actually feel the influence of your goodwill, if it’s backed up by good, strong concentration. So make this the framework for your day and for your meditation. It puts everything else that you do in the course of the day into the right perspective.