..loving yourself and others, as well as your enemy. It's difficult to talk about and even more difficult to practice, but it's very important. I will talk about my point of view and what the terms love and enemy mean. It's really precious to share different points of view no matter what we believe, so we can learn from each other. It's good to share this and practice as much as we can. Even though my personal practice of loving kindness and extending love to my family and friends is limited, I have some experience of what it means to love your enemy. When we can challenge our attitude in a positive way it is very powerful.

The definition of love is a wish that someone be happy with no expectation of personal gain. There is the ordinary happiness of food, shelter, and so forth. But the whole world also talks about the extraordinary happiness of liberation. Ordinary happiness does not satisfy us, as we sometimes believe. True happiness comes from the heart and mind. It's not enough to just work hard for food and shelter We also have to work for happiness of the heart and mind. When true happiness arises from the heart we cannot compare any other happiness to it. No matter how delicious the food or nice the house, it cannot compare to this. So it is important to work on both internal and external happiness in balance. If they are not in balance we will have so much difficulty in this life.



We learn love from our mother. Sometimes we also learn it from our father, friends, or even animals. This is the first step of the meditation practice on loving kindness. Sometimes people tell me nobody loves them. I don't think that's true. If you search carefully, you will see there is someone. We need to see the value of love. I understand that people have different life experiences, but in this practice we recollect the kindness of others and try to pay it back. So this is one of the more important practices.

We have to see the value of love. Of course there are challenges, but there is no other way to bring happiness to ourselves and others. I have not found any other way than love. I can choose hatred or anger, but it only makes me miserable. Seeing this is called the true realization of love born in the heart. That is very important. When you develop love for others, it brings joy, peace and happiness.