somehow open up the situation and work in an hon-
est, fearless way with what’s going on. Instead we just
give our burden to somebody else and ask them to
hold it. It’s called passing the buck.
The next slogan is “Don’t act with a twist.” It means
don’t be devious, but it’s similar to those slogans
about not eating poisonous food or turning gods into
demons. You’re willing to drive all blames into your-
self very publicly so everyone will notice, because
you want people to think well of you. Your motivation
is to get others to think that you’re a great person,
which is the “twist.” Or there’s a person who’s doing
you wrong, and you remember lojong, but there’s a
twist. You don’t say, “Buzz off, Juanita,” or anything
harsh. You’re this sweet person who wins everyone’s
admiration, but the other side of this is that they dis-
like Juanita more and more for mistreating you. It’s as
if you set Juanita up by acting like a saint. That’s the
idea of acting with a twist. There are all kinds of ways
to get sweet revenge.
Finally, “Don’t seek others’ pain as the limbs of your
own happiness,” which is to say, “Don’t seek others’
pain as a way to get happiness for yourself.” We are
glad when the troublemakers in our lives get hit by a
truck or go bankrupt, or anything of that nature. I
have a few people in my life who fall into this cate-
gory, and I’m amazed at how happy I am when one of
162 Taking Responsibility for Your Own Actions