Right Thinking in Everyday Life

Through two situations—seeing someone dressed inappropriately at the temple and a beggar on the roadside—this story reveals the difference between wrong thinking that disturbs the mind and right thinking that brings peace and stillness.

Two mornings, not far apart, at the gate of Giac Lam ancestral temple. On the first morning, Hoa entered the temple with a quiet heart, ready for a day of practice. Suddenly, a young girl walked in from outside. Her hair was dyed smoky gray, she wore a tight sleeveless top and shorts above the knee, walking in with carefree steps. Immediately, a stream of thoughts arose naturally in Hoa's mind:

"Coming to the temple behaving so badly! Who knows how she was raised, dressing so outrageously."

At that very moment, a feeling of discomfort and irritation welled up. Hoa tried to shake her head to dispel it, but that judgment had already planted a seed of disturbance in her mind. Throughout the entire chanting session, the image of the girl kept reappearing, along with the lingering discomfort. By evening, even though she tried to recite the Buddha's name, her heart still felt unsettled. Wrong thinking, even just a silent scolding, had robbed her mind of its peace for many days.

Hoa told this story to a nun at the temple. After listening, the nun smiled and shared a similar experience, but with a different outcome:

"The other day, I also saw a young girl just like that entering the temple. A short dress, bare shoulders, hair like cotton candy. For a moment, I too thought, 'How strange!' But right after that, I turned my thinking around. I thought: 'This girl must be coming to the temple for the first time and doesn't yet know the proper way. May she have auspicious conditions to come here, soon understand the Dharma, and learn to dress more reverently. Next time I see her, I hope she will be covered from head to toe in the robe of compassion.'"

The nun continued:

"You know, after thinking that thought, my heart felt so peaceful, so completely calm. You could call it a short session of practice."

A week later, on a street near her home, Hoa was walking to the temple when she saw an old beggar sitting by the roadside, holding out an old hat. This time, she remembered the nun's words. Instead of thinking, "Lazy fellow, with healthy limbs and still begging," she tried to adjust her thinking:

"He must be suffering greatly to have to sit here. Perhaps in a past life he created negative karma, and so in this life he must endure this. May he and all sentient beings be free from suffering and know to practice goodness."

As soon as those thoughts ended, she felt her heart grow light, and a smile naturally bloomed on her lips. The feeling of empathy and compassion had replaced the discomfort and judgment. Her mind returned to its natural state of peace.

The same events: a person dressed inappropriately at the temple, a person begging on the roadside. But depending on the direction of one's thinking—right or wrong—the state of mind and inner peace change completely. Wrong thinking, even just one narrow, judgmental thought, is enough to sow disturbance into the soul. Right thinking—thoughts that arise from a mind of compassion and magnanimity—not only protects one's peace but also beautifies life.

The meaning of the story: Right thinking is one of the eighty-four thousand dharma gates of Buddhism, capable of directly transforming the soul from disturbance to peace. The Buddha taught that in the Noble Eightfold Path, right thinking (correct thought) is the path leading to enlightenment and liberation. The way to distinguish right from wrong thinking is very simple: after thinking about something, if the mind feels calm and light, that is right thinking; if the mind feels agitated and irritated, that is wrong thinking. In daily life, regularly adjusting our thinking toward compassion, goodness, and magnanimity not only helps us maintain inner peace but also accumulates immeasurable blessings from merit.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thich Chan Quang.