A lojong slogan reminds us to "Change our attitude but remain natural".
This does not mean running around, naked.
This does mean: don't try to problem solve, with a set resolution determining success or failure.
Don't buy into the "duality" of issues--an us vs. them solution. (Even if the us vs. them is a problem of bringing "help" to the "them".) Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, suggests that even in that scenario, we are creating a haves vs. have- nots situation. We are seeing (and acting as if) ourselves are different, and separate from the others. (We ARE the others...ultimately...) It creates a hierarchy which creates pain--the very thing we may be trying to alleviate.
This is where the breathing in and out, through tonglen practice, creates another alternative. (Not a solution...an alternative way of learning through the issue--of learning about ourselves, our neighbors and our Reality...)
By not pushing away at the pain, but drawing the suffering feelings closer--actually breathing them in--we can analyze, come to understand on a deeper level, and then breathe out transformed blessings to alleviate the pain. Chodron uses the metaphor of a divine dance with oneself. Instead of running from that which is unpleasant and ugly, we take it in,closer, watch it, move with it, learn from it, then send out something beautiful (on the outbreath) to heal. In this way, we aren't simply pushing the "bad" down and bearing it into the future--we are transforming it on a metaphysical level.
We are learning that all parts of the ugliness and fear and suffering we contain within ourselves is what we see mirrored in "the ugly other", outside ourselves--and we begin to understand that it is all the same thing.
All One.
By knowing ourselves so deeply; by being willing to experience even the unloveable sides of our own hidden secrets; we can come to accept and to work with our shadows. To be unafraid of those unlovely corners we used to fear. Then, when we see those monsters lurking outside, we are unafraid of them,there, too, because we know them. We have confronted them. We have pulled them close and danced with them. We understand them and can face them, without turning away.
By relaxing about the "bad" and being willing to stay with it, look at it, feel it, transform it on a fundamental level (to own it first, inside ourselves, and deal with it, inside ourselves, compassionately and tenderly, inside), we can then work to deal with it outside ourselves. Without trepidation or judgment. Without resentment, frustration or burn-out. Just learning. Then, transformation without expectation.
Freedom. Space. True and lasting change. No more duality in reality.
No more "other". All one.
(All One.)
This is the kind of natural transformation that is possible, over time. This is how we can move toward Enlightened life and to help with the creation (actively) of an Enlightened world. We create, we take and we use the space that already exists, inside us, to relax. Not to look for enemies to win battles over, but to find ourselves in those enemies.To transform ourselves AND those "enemies" into friends. To use our fundamental power of breathing, mindfully. To use our birthright of breath, the most natural part of ourselves.
To transform the world by blessing the world.
(What a concept!)
This does not mean running around, naked.
This does mean: don't try to problem solve, with a set resolution determining success or failure.
Don't buy into the "duality" of issues--an us vs. them solution. (Even if the us vs. them is a problem of bringing "help" to the "them".) Buddhist teacher, Pema Chodron, suggests that even in that scenario, we are creating a haves vs. have- nots situation. We are seeing (and acting as if) ourselves are different, and separate from the others. (We ARE the others...ultimately...) It creates a hierarchy which creates pain--the very thing we may be trying to alleviate.
This is where the breathing in and out, through tonglen practice, creates another alternative. (Not a solution...an alternative way of learning through the issue--of learning about ourselves, our neighbors and our Reality...)
By not pushing away at the pain, but drawing the suffering feelings closer--actually breathing them in--we can analyze, come to understand on a deeper level, and then breathe out transformed blessings to alleviate the pain. Chodron uses the metaphor of a divine dance with oneself. Instead of running from that which is unpleasant and ugly, we take it in,closer, watch it, move with it, learn from it, then send out something beautiful (on the outbreath) to heal. In this way, we aren't simply pushing the "bad" down and bearing it into the future--we are transforming it on a metaphysical level.
We are learning that all parts of the ugliness and fear and suffering we contain within ourselves is what we see mirrored in "the ugly other", outside ourselves--and we begin to understand that it is all the same thing.
All One.
By knowing ourselves so deeply; by being willing to experience even the unloveable sides of our own hidden secrets; we can come to accept and to work with our shadows. To be unafraid of those unlovely corners we used to fear. Then, when we see those monsters lurking outside, we are unafraid of them,there, too, because we know them. We have confronted them. We have pulled them close and danced with them. We understand them and can face them, without turning away.
By relaxing about the "bad" and being willing to stay with it, look at it, feel it, transform it on a fundamental level (to own it first, inside ourselves, and deal with it, inside ourselves, compassionately and tenderly, inside), we can then work to deal with it outside ourselves. Without trepidation or judgment. Without resentment, frustration or burn-out. Just learning. Then, transformation without expectation.
Freedom. Space. True and lasting change. No more duality in reality.
No more "other". All one.
(All One.)
This is the kind of natural transformation that is possible, over time. This is how we can move toward Enlightened life and to help with the creation (actively) of an Enlightened world. We create, we take and we use the space that already exists, inside us, to relax. Not to look for enemies to win battles over, but to find ourselves in those enemies.To transform ourselves AND those "enemies" into friends. To use our fundamental power of breathing, mindfully. To use our birthright of breath, the most natural part of ourselves.
To transform the world by blessing the world.
(What a concept!)
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