Purity of Intention

  Being able to practice purity of intention is not easy, because there is often the expectation of a specific result. If I focus on what I have or don't have; what I have gained or what I could lose; what I need to know and lack knowledge of---these are all results-based thinking. They come from the perspective that gain/loss, pass/fail, win/lose are the end results of any endeavor. They also overlook the role that intention can play in shaping our actions and attitudes.

   Without a sense of intention, a person like myself can end up spinning in endless thoughts of gain/loss. This is a dog chasing its tail indeed. It overlooks the way that a single pure thought can outshine everything else. In fact, the intention counts more than the outcome, because even outcomes are impermanent. Intentions are the seeds of the heart. A pure intention plants the seed to a good heart.

 What is the key to this "purity of intention"? I believe it consists in letting go of all thinking that tries to take advantage of any situation for a gain.  It has to do with seeing everything as a totality and not thinking there is one part that gains, and one part that loses. All are interconnected. In this way, there is no sense pining over what one can lose, and no sense in trying to seize anything strictly for the self. All such thoughts of self/other prove to be irrelevant.