Demi Vollering is a Dutch cyclist who’s currently ranked second in the world.  She’s won the Tour de France and other major races.

Her face shines on the left.

Demi is known for speaking her mind, bringing attention to issues such as female cyclists dealing with their periods, and fans appreciating male riders a lot … and women riders a lot less.

She’s not the type to be chanting Om Mani Padme Hum in a cave.  And yet I see a connection:

These words are often translated as The Jewel in the Lotus.  “The six syllables represent the transformation of an impure body, speech and mind into the pure, enlightened form of a Buddha.”

The Buddha had many marvelous insights.  My favourite is his embracing of mudita or empathetic joy as “a rare and beautiful state”.

The Buddhist author Charlotte Bell had this to say:

Mudita is … happiness in response to the success and happiness of others.  Not surprisingly, there is no word for this concept in our language.  In hyper-competitive Western culture, the concept of being happy for someone else’s success is quite foreign.  Feeling mudita goes against the grain of our concept of success and happiness.

It’s as if we think there’s a little cache of happiness available, and when someone else partakes of it, there’s less for us.  But that’s not how it works.  In decades of mudita practice, I’ve realized that the more happiness I feel for another person’s success, the happier I am.  In contrast to the dank, claustrophobic feeling that envy engenders, empathetic joy feels bright and boundless.

And The Dalai Lama chimes in …

If I am only happy for myself, many fewer chances for happiness.  If I am happy when good things happen to other people, billions more chances to be happy.

Now, in good company, let’s hear about Demi:

From a young age, Vollering realised that witnessing other people’s enjoyment made her happy.  She was lifted, vicariously, by their having fun.

***

Hmm …  sages abound

In the halls of time

And on the roads of today