Rejoice In The Good Of Others

When we celebrate and rejoice in the good deeds done by others, we also take part in and benefit from the resulting wholesome effect. In this practice, we honor the people who have been and are going out of their way to help others.

This was recorded last April 27, 2020 during a live Sangha. It includes a talk at the beginning followed by a guided practice.

Transcript

Yeah,

It's wonderful to be back with you.

So today I wanted to share about this practice that I heard about in the Vajrayana tradition of Tibet,

Bhutan,

Of celebrating and rejoicing in our own and others good deeds.

And the term I found is Yirangwa as the word for rejoicing.

Yirangwa.

So I was on a retreat as a yogi at the Insight Meditation Society in the US and a Dharma teacher mentioned this practice that if you do nothing else,

At the end of the day you can always rejoice in the good actions of others.

So this could be spiritual teachers,

Great beings,

Any being,

Anyone that's done anything wholesome,

Positive,

Beneficial.

So a Bhutanese scholar,

Karma Phunso,

Says this rejoicing practice is a way of experiencing joy without effort or cost and is an easy method of accumulating merit.

So merit being this wholesome energy that we can cultivate as we practice,

Purifying our minds,

Understanding our minds.

So this is from a book by a Tibetan Rinpoche,

Kenpo Tséhwang.

He says,

In the Buddha's teachings it says that even if you can't do an activity that benefits others,

By simply rejoicing when other people do good things you'll get the same merit as them,

You'll get the same wholesome results in your own life.

So he says it's like when someone changes a light bulb,

Even though only one person actually replaces the bulb,

Everyone gets to experience the benefit just as if they all changed the bulb.

Similarly,

Rejoicing in others' good activities is a very skillful means and you don't have to do anything.

I like it because you can be quite lazy.

So he says you can just sit back and think,

Wow,

This is so great,

Just thinking of what the other person has done.

And so Buddha Shakyamuni,

This is still a quote from this Rinpoche,

Buddha Shakyamuni and Guru Padmasambhava both said that by rejoicing you receive the same benefit as the person who actually performs the activity.

So let them do the job.

We can just feel happy with that.

In one way this is very simple but it's also very special.

So that's from Venerable Kenpo Tséhwang's book,

The Essential Journey of Life and Death.

So what came to mind as I was thinking of this is a practice that I've also really benefited from which is similar to the rejoicing practice.

It was proposed to us by my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh or Thay.

He suggested that we write love letters to those in our life as a way to really touch deeply all the good and all the beauty that they bring to us.

So when my dad turned 67 I decided to write 67 thank yous in a love letter.

And at first I was a little intimidated by the number,

I thought that's a lot.

But then once I just started reflecting it was sort of snowballed and one came after another after another.

And I ended up writing,

I don't know,

90 or something.

And I joked with my dad that he had to live at least that long.

But it was a beautiful exploration for me of reflecting on what it was that I really appreciated about my father.

And I found myself going back to my childhood and thanking him for things I never thought to thank him for like just doing my diapers and with my mom of course.

But you know making sure I got regular dental visits and just the manners he taught me.

Buying me a bicycle,

The ways he would apologize when he felt he'd done something wrong,

His kindness to strangers,

The ways he disciplined me when I needed that.

And he did it at times quite compassionately.

So all this just came out as a reflection on the many things that he had offered me.

Of course when I,

So what happened was I realized nothing had changed externally but just by writing this letter and reflecting on these good things I felt much richer,

I felt much happier than when I started.

And so I was like watering the seed in me of rejoicing in my dad's goodness.

So that made me very happy.

Of course when my dad got the letter he was very happy and he told me later he said,

I take this letter with me everywhere I go and when I don't feel good about myself I read it and I feel better.

So that rejoicing sort of spread because then he decided to write a letter for my brother on my brother's birthday and he wrote many thank yous to my brother.

My brother did this for someone,

You know,

So it can just ripple out and I love telling this story because I'll often hear from people,

Sometimes years later they'll say,

You know,

You mentioned that love letter practice and I did it.

I wrote it for my mom or for my spouse or for my daughter,

For my good friend.

You can even write it for someone who's passed away.

They don't have to be alive.

Anyway but they'll tell me years later,

You know,

I did it and it brought a lot of joy,

It really shifted things or,

You know,

It was a real joy to write.

So it can bring a lot of transformation.

So maybe there's someone you want to write a love letter to.

But we can rejoice in anyone's generosity.

It doesn't have to be only someone we know or we love.

So this is again from the Rinpoche's book.

He says there are so many stories about the benefits of rejoicing.

In the Buddha's time the king of Shravasti named King Prasannajit was very devoted to Buddha Shakyamuni.

He often invited him to his royal palace to offer him lunch along with his monks and nuns.

This happened many,

Many times and there were many beggars around the palace.

In particular there was an old beggar who thought how wonderful and beautiful that King Prasannajit has so much merit to become such a great king and still he's continuing to do such big meritorious activities.

If I ever have the capability I will also do the same thing for the Buddha and all these bodhisattvas and arhats.

She thought this sincerely from her heart.

In the teachings it says that she accumulated the same merit as King Prasannajit because her intention joined with his activities.

So it's very powerful this practice of rejoicing in merit and we can rejoice in anyone's good deeds and then that sort of becomes something we've now contributed to or somehow taken part in.

It's like here in Sri Lanka in the temples when people make offerings before they put it on the altar they'll go around to the crowd and they'll let people touch it or even touch someone who's touching it so that you get to share in the merit of their offering.

It's a really beautiful practice of everyone somehow connecting to and appreciating that act of generosity.

So this practice of rejoicing has two parts.

We can rejoice in someone else's good deeds but we can also rejoice in our own goodness and our own merit and wholesome actions.

So even small things we've done we can treasure them,

We can celebrate them.

A time when we restrained ourselves and didn't tell a white lie.

A time when we were able to avoid making a harsh retort when we were irritated,

When we just kept silent.

So whether we do this and people know about our good deeds or whether they don't know about it,

Whether it's just something secret,

It benefits ourselves to rejoice in that.

So the more we do it,

The more we get into the habit of seeing the good in others,

Seeing the good in ourselves,

The stronger those tendencies grow.

It's like we are pouring water on a seed,

Every time we rejoice in our own good actions it makes that potential for us to make good actions even stronger,

Even bigger.

So it's a really important practice of cultivating our minds because whatever we water grows,

Wherever we put our attention,

That's where energy flows.

So taking time to appreciate our goodness really helps that to get stronger.

So let's do a practice now.

And it'll be this practice of rejoicing in the goodness of others and then ourselves.

So I invite you to find a comfortable position.

Maybe just pausing for a moment to reorient what we're doing here.

Feeling your body,

Letting your body settle right in this place,

Right in this moment.

Opening to the support of the ground or the earth.

Letting yourself really feel that trustworthiness of the earth.

Allowing the mind to settle in the body and the body to settle on the earth.

Feeling the breath.

Letting the breath happen naturally.

And feeling the atmosphere around you.

Just as you can feel supported by the earth,

You can feel supported by the air that you're breathing.

Letting the body to release tension,

To release strain as you connect with your breath.

Just a sense of softening,

Opening through the whole body.

Feeling rest.

Allowing letting go of whatever isn't about right now.

Releasing thoughts and worries about the past or the future as best you can.

Letting yourself to be fully here and now.

And at any point in the practice,

If you notice your mind wandering into other thoughts,

Dreams,

Thoughts,

Without any judgment,

Coming back to the practice,

Coming back to your body,

Coming back to whatever helps you anchor in this moment.

And now bring to mind the good actions of others.

And we'll rejoice in these wholesome actions.

Maybe those who are caring for others right now in this time of pandemic,

Bringing elderly people groceries,

Those who are working in grocery stores,

Keeping these essential services going,

Really celebrating them.

Those people delivering the mail and other delivery services.

And then healthcare workers,

People whom our lives depend on.

Rejoicing in their courage and their sacrifice.

I'm thinking specifically of my cousin,

Dea,

Just today diagnosed with COVID,

Who continued working as a nurse in a nursing home during the pandemic.

I'm rejoicing in her courage and service.

And I ask you to join me in sending spiritual support,

Healing energy for her full recovery.

She's a single mom with three teenage daughters.

There's so many people making big sacrifices right now.

Some healthcare workers are living separately from their families in these times,

Renting apartments near their jobs so that they will avoid infecting their families.

And there are those offering psychological and spiritual support to others in this time.

Can rejoice in their generosity,

In the steadiness that they're maintaining to be able to offer others stability.

You can rejoice in those activists bringing attention to the plight of those in prison or immigrants that are detained,

Advocating for their access to healthcare and adequate sanitation.

We can celebrate their engagement,

These people who care about others and are willing to speak up.

And we can rejoice in all of those who are making charitable donations right now.

Think of so many people,

Probably millions of people contributing money or goods or time to help others right now,

Donating funds but maybe making masks,

Giving equipment,

Giving their time.

Take that in and really rejoice in that beautiful generosity.

Think of yourself touching that plate that those people are putting on the altar of humanity.

Their generosity of material goods,

Generosity of time,

Generosity of care.

Just touch that plate as they put it on the altar.

Celebrate that.

Let that in.

Let it be a part of you too.

Let yourself feel the goodness of these wonderful actions and celebrate it,

Honor it,

Rejoice in it.

It can be like rain falling from the sky and you get to wet yourself and refresh yourself in this purifying,

Nourishing rain of goodness.

Just touch how our world would be so much poorer if all this goodness wasn't happening.

How our world would be so much lonelier,

So much harder to live in without all these good,

Generous,

Kind actions.

It's so precious,

Each and every one of these people,

Each and every one of their actions.

We can rejoice in the people who are manning the domestic violence hotlines,

Helping children and adults who are facing difficult situations in their homes right now.

We can rejoice in the pilots and the airline staff bringing stranded people back to their countries,

Sometimes on specially chartered flights.

All those working in airports and transportation industries of any kind helping people get back home to safety.

We can rejoice in those farmers and laborers who are still working hard to harvest our food,

To plant it,

To cultivate it and transport it to us.

In many countries these are immigrants who do this work.

Then there's the stories of those who are sick and their acts of generosity,

Like the 70-year-old priest in Italy whose parishioners fundraised to buy him a ventilator as he was in the ICU,

But he refused to use it and asked that it be offered to a younger patient and he later died.

You can honor such generosity and sacrifice.

There's people like my friend Kaushalya in Sri Lanka who started a fundraiser to provide food to poor families here in Sri Lanka,

To give rice packets and essential goods to those in the candy area.

We can rejoice in the people singing to each other from their balconies,

Those heartwarming images from Europe of people keeping each other's spirits high.

We can celebrate all the musicians offering free concerts to inspire,

Like Yo-Yo Ma or the Aeolian's virtual choir singing We Shall Overcome.

And in the US DJ D-Nice who started club quarantine dance parties where so many people,

Thousands and thousands of people found joy and relief from the isolation and confinement of dancing for hours,

Connecting with each other.

We can rejoice in the many people offering support and services online for free,

Kids' yoga classes,

People that are helping businesses and individuals transition their work to online.

The many webinars with spiritual teachers offering mindfulness and community to support our psyches,

Support our mental health.

We can rejoice in governments extending assistance to those in need.

In many countries student loans have been paused.

There's no evictions if you can't pay your rent.

There's supplementary income coming in in many places.

We can rejoice in all those who are taking care of their and others' health by physical distancing,

By staying home or by keeping apart from others when they're in public,

Taking all the precautions.

We can rejoice in all the medical professionals who are working on treatments and cures and vaccines for this illness,

Who are collaborating with each other across national boundaries to figure out what works and how to understand the virus.

We can rejoice and feel grateful for the World Health Organization and all the governmental bodies working to bring clear information about the virus and working to end suffering as much as they can.

Putting all of that in,

That goodness.

May it not be part of you in this moment.

We can rejoice also in all the regular good deeds that continue to go on now just as before the pandemic.

From anywhere being kind to another person or an animal or nature,

People comforting their kids,

Cooking for each other,

Taking care of elderly parents,

Neighbors being there for each other,

Community organizations that keep their strong ties supporting those who are more vulnerable,

Teachers who continue to teach their students only now online,

Children taking care of their pets,

People caring for their gardens,

Beautifying their spaces,

Taking in the wonder of spring.

The ways people are finding to continue their friendship,

Maybe even with physical distancing,

But providing company,

Support through each other.

Really opening our awareness to all the people doing kind and thoughtful actions today,

Feeling grateful for them,

Letting that really enter us and celebrating it.

Anyone anywhere who's thinking a beautiful thought or using kind,

Loving,

Truthful words,

Just rejoicing in that.

Let anyone come to mind that's in your field of awareness that you want to rejoice in.

Let anyone come to mind that's in your field of awareness that you want to rejoice in.

Maybe there are situations that come to mind where someone was kind to you personally.

You could let that sink in and really nourish you,

The goodness of their action,

How good it felt to receive it.

Let anyone come to mind that's in your field of awareness that you want to rejoice in.

Now bring to mind any beneficial or wholesome deed you yourself have done recently or some time ago,

Either in thought or word or physical action.

Maybe compassion that arose in your heart-mind in response to another's suffering,

Empathy for someone else in difficulty,

A time when you were kind to another,

Or when you refrained from doing something unbeneficial.

Rejoice in any good action,

Any good wholesome words,

Beneficial thoughts.

Let that really nourish you,

Your own capacity for good,

For wholesome,

Skillful action.

It could be ways that you've taken care of yourself by supporting yourself to get enough sleep or exercise or practicing good mental hygiene,

Noticing what you consume through your senses,

Choosing wholesome things to consume.

Once you're showing up today to practice,

You can really rejoice in this,

Your own desire to cultivate your mind.

Celebrate that,

Appreciate that.

Any acts of generosity that you've engaged in can really rejoice in that.

Using this practice of rejoicing in others' good deeds,

You can rejoice in that.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

In the silence,

I'll let you give rise to whatever other reflections you wish to bring to mind of your own goodness that you want to rejoice in.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

If you notice any tendency to bring in reasons to disqualify your good actions,

Or any self-criticism or voices that say,

Yeah,

But,

Just notice that,

That resistance to rejoicing in your own goodness,

A good smile to that,

Just see it as what it is.

It's just this doubting self-critical mind.

Let me see if it'll take a back seat for a little bit,

And keep opening your heart to your own goodness.

You're rejoicing in your own generosity,

Your own skillfulness.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Rejoice in your own rejoicing.

Wonderful.

Thank you for your beautiful practice.

And we'll close this meditation by dedicating the wholesome merit of our practice,

Of our meditation to all beings everywhere.

May all beings be safe,

Healed,

And protected.

So I invite you to take a moment to transition.

You can stretch,

Shift your posture,

Take a deep breath.

And oh,

I wanted to sing you a song.

I forgot.

This is a song from a sister,

Sister True Vow,

Who lives as a nun in Blue Cliff Monastery in New York in the Plum Village tradition.

Whatever illumines your path,

I will consider as my friend.

There are no enemies,

No barriers in the heart.

There is only wishing you well.

Your joy is my joy.

My joy is your joy.

Your joy is my joy for sure.

This is the song in my heart.

Sing along.

Sing along.

This is the song in my heart.

Sing along.

Yes,

Welcome to ask any questions you have.

And I'm putting in the chat a link to that song I mentioned,

We Shall Overcome,

This ritual choir.

It's a song I really love.

Yeah.

Okay.

Any questions?

Any things you'd like to reflect on together?

I'm smiling as I read your chats coming in.

I'm so glad the practice was helpful.

Karen,

Thank you for your sharing.

You're right.

I couldn't do it at all.

I had a lot of stress around my heart.

That's very normal,

Karen.

It's really not something to judge yourself for.

This is a time of a lot of stress.

When we feel that stress,

That can become the focus of our meditation.

Instead of rejoicing in others' good actions,

We can turn our kindness,

Our compassion to be there for the stress around our heart.

What I find helpful is to bring my hand to my heart.

I don't know if you can see me doing this.

Maybe you could do it with me right now,

Karen,

If that is okay for you and anyone else who wishes.

Just bring your palms over your heart.

We'll take a few breaths together,

Feeling the pressure between your hands and your chest.

Maybe you can even feel the beating of your heart.

Through your hands,

Offering through that touch,

Whatever reassurance,

Whatever care,

Whatever presence you might feel right now that you can offer to your heart,

Even if it's just the tiniest whisper of care,

Oh,

My dear suffering,

I'm here for you.

It's okay that you're there.

You don't need to go away.

You don't need to vanish.

You're here.

I want to honor you and take good care of you.

I'm just breathing with you,

My dear stress.

I'm holding my heart with my compassion,

With my tenderness.

Just let your heart breathe that in,

That being seen,

That being accepted,

Being cared for.

It doesn't need to go anywhere or do anything.

It can just receive this acceptance.

Karen,

I encourage you to keep doing this.

Just keep being there for your heart as much as you can and know that we're here with you too.

I hope that's helpful.

And know that you can come back to this meditation on rejoicing some other time.

It's there as a seed in you now,

And you have it as a tool whenever it's appropriate.

Natalie has a question,

The main hindrance for me is coming from an education where everything was normal and not expecting neither thank you nor joy.

Normal life,

And it invades my meditation quite often.

Yeah.

So I think we want to welcome whatever invades our meditation.

It's something that's needing our attention.

So we want to see it as something to learn to befriend and to get curious about,

To get interested in,

And not to push away.

So maybe there was this requirement that we be,

You know,

Flat and not have these highs or lows or not get emotional,

Not express our vulnerability.

But we had to just keep in this narrow range of emotional experience.

And so that's continuing to come up and maybe prevent us from accessing the fuller range of our emotions,

High and low.

And so we recognize that we recognize that that was a limitation that was imposed upon us growing up.

And maybe there's some part of us that wants to criticize or doubt or,

You know,

Or push down the emotional parts because it's scary because that takes us into realms that aren't within that narrow range of what we can control in our more neutral,

Normal mind state.

So perhaps just gently opening to the possibility of joy,

Of gratitude with a smile and not expecting ourselves to feel this big emotion of joy or big emotion of gratitude,

But just a gentle acknowledging that there is good in the world.

There is goodness in myself,

In others,

And I can allow that in.

And if there's any part of me that wants to resist it,

I can let that resistance be there too and hold that resistance with kindness.

Not having to be normal,

I can greet that with an open heart also.

And the more we allow those things,

Then the more we'll get to understand what's really at their root.

Maybe there's some fear under there.

So we can drop into that and begin to be with what's at the root of that.

And when we deeply understand it,

We'll transform it.

It won't control us anymore.

So I hope that's helpful,

Natalie.

And then there's Carolyn.

I found this topic helpful.

Thank you.

I was grateful to you for offering this.

And I'm also grateful to Martin for creating this platform and what he has offered.

I understand he has a right to privacy,

But I would be grateful for a more detailed update on his situation.

Thank you,

Carolyn.

I think another Carolyn from Sangha Live has answered in the chat.

He's still recovering.

We're not sure yet when he'll be back as yet.

So we can definitely rejoice in Martin's goodness helping to create this platform and offering these wonderful daily meditations that's created this beautiful community.

So there's another question from Julian.

What would be the difference in between gratitude and this rejoicing you shared?

The form of joy of the celebration?

The fact that one could seem not directly beneficiary in the quality or event celebrated?

Thank you for this.

Yes,

I think that that makes sense to me how you've distinguished them.

Often gratitude has a quality of we're grateful for something that's helped us,

Someone that's done something for us.

And this rejoicing is more anyone,

Anywhere that's done anything beneficial,

We rejoice in it.

It doesn't have to be connected to us.

So it could be connected to us.

I mean,

We can rejoice in our own goodness,

And that's maybe quite similar to being grateful or appreciating ourselves.

But yeah,

I think the rejoicing has this non self quality to it of appreciating all.

Yeah.

Thank you for that question,

Julian.

Yeah.

So anyone else has a question?

I'm really grateful to Carolyn,

Our kind tech support today also.

Yeah.

Maybe you'd like to come back to this practice in the evening and just if there's any goodness that you've heard of or been in touch with during the day,

You could rejoice in that before you go to bed.

It's a nice practice to do in the evening as well.

You can journal about it.

So I hope this is something that continues to nourish you.

Yeah.

Well,

It's been lovely to be together again.

And I am grateful to each of you.

I'm rejoicing in each of you and your practice and Carolyn and Martin and all the Sangha live team,

Jake,

For making these times possible.

And I look forward to joining you every day for the rest of this week.

And we send our healing support to Martin that he'll make a full recovery soon.

Thank you all and see you again tomorrow.

Many blessings.

Reviews

Nice focus on the gratitude and good; a message to amplify!🧘🏻‍♀️🙏🏻💕

Many thanks for this much needed practice. Helped shift from some of the grief and despair surrounding current events to look for all the good still happening. Looking to the rest of my day with a more sustainable alignment of my attention and priorities.

Beautiful. I did the love letter of thankfulness for my husband for our anniversary. Truly a lovely act and brought back rich memories and joy for me. Thank you

Lovely pacing. Beautiful talk. Uplifting. Thank you so much. Will definitely listen to this one again and look for others by this teacher.

Thank you. I’ve another way to use/think of the word ‘rejoice’.
I just might have to listen again in order to take it all in me. 🌸

Thanks for the love letter and the love for all that have worked so hard in the frontline during this period.

Thank you so very much!
This is helping me through a rough patch.

Thank you. Grateful for this practice and awareness. Sending good wishes.

Wonderful! Loved the entire session. You speak with such gentleness and kindness it reaches us and it alone helps. Thank you!

This was what I needed to here this morning. Rejoice in others and rejoice in myself. Thank you for helping me accept where I am at and not wanting to be doing something else . Every day look for reasons to rejoice.