At a volleyball game watching the sadness in the eyes of a player sitting on the bench, not being allowed to join the play, I take refuge….

The Buddha offered this wonderful image.  If you take a handful of salt and pour it into a small bowl of water, the water in the bowl will be too salty to drink.  But if you pour the same amount of salt into a large river, people will still be able to drink the river’s water. (Remember, this teaching was offered 2,600 years ago, when it was still possible to drink from rivers!)  Because of its immensity, the river has the capacity to receive and transform.  The river doesn’t suffer at all because of a handful of salt.  If your heart is small, one unjust word or act will make you suffer.  But if your heart is large, if you have understanding and compassion, that word or deed will not have the power to make you suffer.  You will be able to receive, embrace, and transform it in an instant.  What counts here is your capacity.  To transform your suffering, your heart has to be as big as the ocean.  Someone else might suffer.  But if a bodhisattva receives the same unkind words, she won’t suffer at all.  It depends on your way of receiving, embracing, and transforming.  If you keep your pain for too long, it is because you have not yet learned the practice of inclusiveness. 

The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh