Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [76]
Why don’t you see if you can access your own inner wisdom, right now? Find a slogan that reminds you of the heart of the Dharma. Hi Mom! for example, might be a phrase that calls to mind the Buddhist belief that all beings deserve your love and compassion. Whatever cheers you up deserves to be written down and put where you can see it. Enjoy yourself; exploit your own natural internal resources.
ADVANCED ALCHEMY:
TRANSFORMING PAIN INTO LOVE
The quality of mercy is not strain’d.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes …
—FROM THE MERCHANT OF VENICE BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
“May all the suffering of all beings come upon me, and may they have all my joy and happiness.” The first time I heard this prayer being chanted in Tibetan, it reminded me of Jesus’ selfless life and words, and how far away this kind of attitude seemed from my life experience. I thought this exalted attitude was reserved for saints, certainly not for me, a Jewish guy from Long Island.
The words also scared me. Suppose I prayed along with the group, and I really did take on somebody else’s suffering and became ill. In Asia? With Asian medical care? Even if I could get back to a high-tech hospital in America, the doctors might not even know what I had! Such were my fearful thoughts at my first exposure to this intense practice. It took me a bit of time to appreciate the remarkable meditation practice known as tonglen.
Tonglen—literally known as Sending-and-Taking—is an integral part of the Mahayana mind-training. Some Westerners balk at the practice of tonglen because they tend to take it too literally. They don’t see it for what it is: a way of transforming the recalcitrant hardened heart into a heart softened by love and empathy. My suggestion is: Don’t be afraid of it; rather, regard it initially as an advanced mind-training technique to be used as a way of increasing one’s capacity for unconditional love, generosity, and openness of heart. When you are ready to undertake such selfless practice, it awaits you.
This powerful and advanced practice is not a parlor trick; it’s not something you should do for kicks or to prove anything. When you replace self-concern with a concern for others, you soften your character and refine your spirituality. Tonglen is not taught with the idea that practitioners should take on diseases and become ill; it is taught as a way to open up and reverse our conditioned habits of clinging to desired circumstances and aversion to whatever is unwanted.
Tonglen—the taking on of burdens without feeling burdened—is a lesson in letting go of self-clinging and attachment, and transforming egotism into love. For centuries the learned practitioners of Tibet have used sending-and-taking as a way of freeing up, loosening up, and dissolving the barriers between self and others by transforming self-centered attitudes. For example, if you are in the middle of an acrimonious situation, don’t expect tonglen to fix it on the spot, but it can help you change your point of view and, in the process, change the entire atmosphere. This actually works.
Tonglen Meditation:
Exchanging Oneself for Others
One is asked to approach this Sending-and-Taking meditation with an attitude of extraordinary compassion and love for all. Think about all the suffering in the world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to take that pain and convert it to happiness, health, and well-being? Wouldn’t it be a worthwhile thing if you could open your heart, accepting suffering and being able to transform it into love and goodness? Let’s do it now.
START BY ACCEPTING YOUR
OWN BEING
Many teachers recommend that you begin the practice of sending-and-taking with yourself. To do this, you simply consider yourself as having two parts.