We do not know all of our past causes. We can only be certain of the life we live today. If we think of someone as only evil and of someone as being only a hindrance to our practice then we may very well miss an opportunity to grow and to repay our debts to others. If we set up a dynamic of the other person needing to be fixed, then we place ourselves above them and from that point we fail to see what in our own lives could be changed.

Instead of practicing Buddhism so that we can change everyone else to be the way we want them, we would be better served in saying, “What about myself do I need to change so that I can appreciate the other person as both a Buddha and someone who can teach me how to be a better person?” Viewing others as deficient only serves to foster disharmony and will not help to change our life.