When we came to this human world we had to live with this human population. We have to deal with these humans. When we deal with and live with these humans, we will see so many good and bad qualities. The problem with us is we are programmed and we have practiced always seeing the faults of people, the dark side of people, and the evil qualities of people. The more we see the dark and the bad qualities of people, we get angry. Sometimes we may hold on to resentment, sometimes we may become jealous. These evil thoughts may come into our minds when we deal with humans and when we see the dark and evil qualities of humans.

Supreme Buddha, advised us that we should always focus on the good qualities of people. We should train our minds to see the bright side of people. Supreme Buddha described five types of people in this world.

The first type of people are the ones who do good but speak evil words. In this society, we may find such people. They do so many good things with the body. They may not kill animals, they may save the lives of animals. They do so many good things with their body, but their words are bad. What they say is very bad. We may find such people. The Supreme Buddha advised us that we should always focus on that good quality. We can focus on those good physical actions and we can control our anger.

The second type is people who do evil things but speak good words. They may kill animals, they may commit sexual misconduct, they may steal people’s possessions. But they speak good words. They may never tell a lie, or say any angry words from their mouth. What we have to do is focus on good verbal actions and good words, and we can control the anger. When we contemplate on the right side of people, we will always be kind to them and we will never be angry with them.

The third type is people who do evil things and speak evil things. Eventually, from time to time, they may do some meritorious things. We can find such people, they may go to temples, observe precepts and do some offerings, do some good things but it is very rare. The Supreme Buddha advised that we should focus on that good quality. We can control our anger by contemplating that person’s good qualities. After all, they do some good deeds, meritorious things. Then we can control our anger.

The fourth type is people who never do good things with their bodies never speak good words, and never do any good deed in their life. It is very hard to find good qualities in those people. The Supreme Buddha advised us, that if we meet such a person, what we have to do is to focus our mind on compassion. We can be compassionate to them and we can feel pity about them. We can think: “Oh, this poor person, the poor thing. He commits evil things. Eventually, he will get the result of this karma. He will find the consequences of these evil deeds.” Then we can feel compassionate about them, but never, ever be angry with them. That is what our greatest Supreme Buddha advised.

The fifth type is people who do good things as well as speak good things, and they are very meritorious. We will find people who are filled with good qualities. Then what we have to do, we have to focus on these good qualities which are abundant and seen in them. When we see such people, when we deal with such people, it is very easy to contemplate their good qualities.  

Always remember, never find faults in people. Never judge a person because we don’t know what is the real story of their life. Sometimes they may act in anger, they may act in a way that we don’t like. Sometimes they may have a bad day, and sometimes all of their days are bad. What we have to do, we have to focus on the good qualities of that person. When we focus on a good quality, we will never get angry, we will never get upset with the person. It is very easy to deal with humans when we are contemplating the bright side of people. When we live in this society, do not judge people, do not find the faults of people. Always focus on the bright side of people.

When it comes to ourselves, we have to focus on our bright side too. Sometimes we may have faults, we may have bad qualities. The problem with us is when we find bad qualities within ourselves, we become sad, we become depressed, we become mentally down. We think: “Oh, I will never get rid of these bad qualities any day.” No, we can do that! We can escape from these bad qualities and we can develop good habits and good qualities. What we have to do is to think and focus on our bright side. We may all have good qualities. What we have to do, we have to focus on those good qualities. The more we focus on the bright side of our lives as well as on others, the happier we will be. We can live freely. We will get the opportunity to develop wholesome qualities in our minds.

I wish you all by contemplating on the bright side of the people and as well as on your bright side, may you have a happy and wonderful life!