56. Don’t expect gratitude

• This is the Eighteenth Slogan/Instruction of Point Seven, which consists of twenty-one instructions.
• Point Seven is “Guidelines for Mind Training”

Generally speaking, when we are too desirous of something in life, we’re less likely to attain it. Success seems to increase in direct proportion to the diminution of our desires. The same logic applies to our need for recognition. We might want to be appreciated and respected, but we have only a limited ability to influence how other people respond and we can’t make somebody show us gratitude any more than we can force someone to love us.

Traleg Kyabgon, The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

Bodhisattva Padmapani, early 1700s. Tibet. Ink and slight color on cotton; overall: 57.6 x 42.4 cm (22 11/16 x 16 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art