Listening to the Dharma

Listening to the Dharma can mean listening to sermons or lecture, but it can also mean listening or talking to anyone. You never know who might be your teacher of the Dharma, if you have the ears and heart to listen. A taxi driver could be a teacher, or a bartender, or your worst enemy.
By listening to the teachings we do not become wiser and wiser, or more and more enlightened. We come to realize more and more our own foolish nature, our unenlightened self. As we deepen that awareness, a transformation is gradually occurring. While keeping the awareness of foolish self, at the same time one is able to live life with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation to all of life, to all other beings. Behind the awareness of foolish being there is the transformation of foolish being into its opposite, one who truly becomes a disciple of the Buddha, one who truly lives the Buddhist life.