Receiving guests

Receiving guests who inquire for your help is not easy. We must learn the proper way to do it. Although we must cater to them, we must also maintain our moral nature, especially our Dhamma. Some guests visit us to recount their tales of woe or their family troubles, but these stories only distract our own minds from Dhamma, or from the center of our bodies. As practitioners of Dhamma, we should try to guide our guests to the wisdom of Dhamma as well. Like a tug of war, we may allow ourselves to be drawn into our guests'misery and away from Dhamma, or we can draw them to Dhamma and away from their problems. It takes skills in good speech and great awareness to move a person towards Dhamma. There are many types of guests. Before we can host any of them properly, we must first understand ourselves thoroughly. Understanding ourselves first will help us understand others, and this in turn will help us understand their problems. The most essential thing, however, is to maintain our minds in Dhamma and to be filled with compassion.