○Ego [3]

    They build by desire, and they destroy by desire.

    If your pride is high, a time will come when your nose will be broken. Pride is also part of the ego referred to as "I". Life is designed to make us experience shame at some point.

    The stronger the desire, the greater the pain one experiences, making one aware of bad habits. Those with little desire notice with smaller pain.

    People suffer because of the ego. However, suffering provides an opportunity for deep growth in humanity.

    Having an ego leads to experiencing deep sorrow, but this cultivates empathy for others.

    Having an ego leads to both frustration and despair. When people despair, they see the door of death in front of them, and every day they are faced with the choice of dying or enduring.

    There is a certain landscape that becomes visible when you feel despair. Endless gray clouds, yourself standing on the edge of a cliff, yourself immersed in a poison swamp, or the sight of yourself falling alone into a deep hole. At those moments, you may feel as if you will never recover.

    When you are in despair, there are few friends you can talk to about it. Despair can only be empathized with by those who have experienced despair. When people are truly suffering, they do not speak to others.

    When things are going well, you gain confidence and feel like you can do anything. The advice you give to others becomes more positive. However, when you can no longer ride that wave, the ego loses confidence with alarming ease. Actions dependent on confidence are fragile. A normal state of mind that is not bound by the presence or absence of confidence comes from no-mind.

    Events in life, whether good or bad, are neutral. It is thought that assigns meaning to them, and past memories determine it.

    The ego separates friends from enemies, but there is no such distinction in consciousness.