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.Misfortunes and obstacles to practice do not existintrinsically.For something to be a misfortune for me, I must identify it assuch.If I refuse to identify something as an obstacle but say instead, "Iaccept this illness as a blessing of my spiritual guide and of the Buddha,"then it becomes so.It takes much courage and knowledge of dharma tosay that, to mean it, and to act accordingly, but it is extremely potent.Wecan then rebound from these calamities with courage and understanding,instead of wilting under their pressure; and this is necessary for a deepand fruitful practice.Tonglen  Chapter 342apply my intelligence: What element of my mind was responsible for myTake all the blame yourself.suffering?(Banish the one object of every blame)The real source of my suffering is self-centeredness: my car, mypossession, my well-being.Without the self-centeredness, the sufferingBlame Everything On One Thing - AWwould not arise.What would happen instead? It is important to imaginethis fully and to focus on examples of your own.Think of someThe next verse instructs us to blame everything bad that happens to us,misfortune that makes you want to lash out, that gives rise to anger orfrom tragedy to ingrown toenails, on one thing alone: self-centeredness.misery.Then imagine how you might respond without suffering.This is a very powerful antidote to a very natural tendency.When weRecognize that we need not experience the misery, let alone the anger,experience misfortune, we almost invariably look outward and say, "Whoresentment, and hostility.The choice is ours.did this to me?" If we identify a perpetrator, myriad mental distortionsLet's continue with the previous example.You see that there is a dent inarise in response.Another person may well have acted as a cooperativethe car.What needs to be done? Get the other driver's license number,condition contributing to our unhappiness, but that person is not the realnotify the police, contact the insurance agency, deal with all the details.cause.Simply do it and accept it.Accept it gladly as a way to strengthen yourOn the deepest level, taking karma into account, we are ultimatelymind further, to develop patience and the armor of forbearance.There isresponsible for our present circumstances, and for the future we areno way to become a Buddha and remain a vulnerable wimp.Patience doescreating right now with each action of body, speech, and mind.But we arenot suddenly appear as a bonus after full enlightenment.Part of the wholeresponsible on another level also which can be helpful to consider.process of awakening is to develop greater forbearance and equanimity inImagine, for example, that someone drives into my car and puts a dent inadversity.Shantideva, in the sixth chapter of his Guide to theit.In this particular instance I am blameless; my car was stationary.I canBodhisattva's Way of Life, eloquently points out that there is no way totarget the person who did it, and that person seems truly to blame for mydevelop patience without encountering adversity, and patience issuffering - the dent in my nice new car.But remember how our enemiesindispensable for our own growth on the path to awakening.first appeared when we approached them in the practice of taking andSo think of your own example.Recognize that anger or resentment issending.I have isolated this person.It's a sure bet that I am looking at thesuperfluous mental garbage, and that clutter and distortion serve no usefulperson who dented my car as an intrinsic, autonomous entity, and in thispurpose in our minds.Suffering is not even necessary.Geshe Ngawangway I feed the fires of my indignation and self-righteousness.Dhargyey once made the comment that, once bodhicitta has beenWhat is the real issue here? Was I at fault in this particular context? Bothdeveloped to the point of arising spontaneously, one becomes athe law and my insurance company would say that I was not.SomeoneBodhisattva and no longer experiences the common sorts of mentalhas damaged a possession of mine and I have no freedom to choosesuffering.Although a Bodhisattva may experience suffering in sympathywhether or not I experience this particular circumstance.On a deep level Ifor others, the kind of self-oriented suffering we normally experiencehave stacked the cards to experience this through my own previoussimply does not happen, because a Bodhisattva is free of self-actions.But here lies the freedom: How do I respond? The dent in the carcenteredness.has no power to cause me any suffering unless I yield to it.The dent isBlame everything on one thing.It simplifies life incredibly, and yet itonly an external catalyst, a contributing circumstance, but by itself it istruly is not simplistic.If we believe from our hearts that all of ournot sufficient to cause me suffering.The suffering actually arises from themisfortunes can be attributed to self-centeredness, this must radicallystuff of my own mind.If I were mindless there would be no suffering, buttransform our lives.that is not an option.I cannot decide to reject my mind [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]