The more I practice the wisdom style of Buddhism, the more excited I became in coming and joining the Dhamma discussion at Wat San Fran.

It was a Saturday afternoon when I arrived at the temple. I knew that Phra Anandapannyo was in Thailand at the time. So, I was looking forward to meet MaeYo and Neecha. However, I looked around the temple and found out that Neecha’s car was not there. Right away, I assumed that MaeYo and Neecha were not at the temple and my trip to the temple was a waste of time.

I got discouraged and a bit disappointed. As I entered the temple, I was surprised to see MaeYo was sitting in a chair where we usually had our Dhamma discussion. Right away, I was so happy upon seeing her and forgot about my disappointment that just happened minutes ago.

At that time, I was practicing to be aware of when I made assumption and how often that assumption turned out to be false. So, after I paid my respect to MaeYo, I told her about my assumption of not seeing Neecha’s car means no MaeYo and Neecha at the temple.

MaeYo told me to pay attention to the feeling that I experienced. At the moment when I made the assumption, I felt so disappointed. But as soon as I found out that it was not true, I forgot all about those feelings. It was that quick. As a practitioner, she told me to remember and hold those feelings in order to learn about myself.

How many time I have made assumptions and I suffered pointlessly because of it. And how many times were all those assumptions turned out to be true? Why was I make those assumption in the first place and why was I feel what I felt?

In the case of not seeing Neecha’s car equals to MaeYo and Neecha not present and that led to no Dhamma discussion and that led to I would not learn anything on this particular trip to the temple and that led to not the trip being a waste of time and for that I suffered.

But at each point of assumptions, I realized that there were many possibilities that could happen other than what I assumed. Neecha could have been running some errands first by driving her car. The car could have been in a mechanic shop and someone else dropped MaeYo and Neecha at the temple.

Even if both of them are not at the temple, someone else could have led the discussion. There was Phra Nut. Or, I could have red Dhamma books at the library as part of the ‘Dhamma discussion’. Or, I could have discussed Dhamma with other practitioners.

How about if there was no Dhamma discussion? I could have contributed my energy to help out with the temple’s chores so it was not a waste of time.

Each suffering I felt is an opportunity for me to learn and cultivate new wisdom. And when that suffering feeling is easily forgotten, I miss that opportunity and I do not learn anything at all. I suffered for nothing!