It seems to me this is the most appropriate forum for this. In any case, the following are a couple of story/experiences I heard from my zen teacher, actually he's kind of one of those people who doesn't care much about specific traditions - truth is truth and so on. I'm just telling it from memory so hopefully it will come through alright..
He was talking about his grandfather, and how he could only see the good in people. He remembers him visiting people in jail - people he didn't know just so they have someone to talk to, and he would frequently bring home people he met for dinner "because they looked really hungry". Anyways, I don't know if it was his father or an uncle, but one of the sons was something of a delinquent, a drug user and had friends that were the same. They would rob grandpa on a regular basis to pay for their drug habit, one time he saw a bullet hole in the TV when he went over. Yet through it all his grandfather would always treat these kids in the kindest way, taking them fishing and on family vacations. "These are GOOD kids" he would say, and that was almost like a mantra for him. Well, eventually around 35 or so every one of these kids cleaned up their life and stopped using drugs. Every few years they get together and although they don't plan for it, they always end up talking about his grandfather. The one thing they would all say is that his grandfather was the only person that believed in them.
The other story has to do with this guy he worked with. This guy was apparently one of the biggest jerks you could meet, he would insult everyone he talks to, the kind of person that you would find as a movie character. Well, one day the two of them bumped into each other in the back of the store, and Adya found himself blurting out "I don't buy it. I don't buy that you're a jerk. I just don't buy it." At this the guy's mouth dropped open slightly, he was silent for about 10 seconds and he softened a bit and said "Yeah, I do this because I'm in a lot of pain." They took a short break and he talked about his life and the challenges he faced. When they got back he continued being the same way with others, and when Adya caught his eye from across the room he winked back at him. Apparently they had some other conversations like that since, but that was the end of that story..
Well, he didn't speak from an outline or anything, but one of the things he mentioned was that we sometimes get addicted to this idea that we're bad, (along with other ideas) and we take on that identity. In recalling these stories it occurs to me that although there are sometimes (okay, often) fights and arguments among the different members of this board, maybe we're just in a lot of pain.. Maybe we don't have to buy into all the things we say, either.
Edited by - Introspection on 17 June 2002 23:35:10