Lean into the Sharp Points

Dear All,

We are going to continue with the lojong slogans, finding in them the perfect antidote for our current ills of uncertainty, fear, and greed.

These are in fact the all-too-familiar three poisons of classical Buddhism, variously given as Greed, Anger and Delusion, or Avarice, Aversion and Confusion, and in many other formulations.   Coronavirus calls them forth powerfully.

The practice of tonglen, which we spoke of last week, turns everything upside down.  Instead of locating the trouble in others we bring it into ourselves.  We willingly take in poisons like anger, fear, uncertainty, and greed, and we wish our neighbors relieved of all such suffering.  This brings us to lojong slogan #8, which basically invites us to notice something strange and wonderful that occurs through tonglen practice: the removal of the noxious other.

Normal fear imagines its relief will come when something outside changes -- for instance, when the feared stimulus goes away.  Normal anger also imagines its relief will come when something outside changes -- for instance, when the annoying person wises up.  Same with normal greed and confusion.  But in tonglen, we take into ourselves an abnormal (because intentional) fear, anger, greed, and confusion.  These no longer imagine that they will find relief when the outside world changes.  Rather, we wish the other person, or the virus, or the government, to be free of suffering.  The poisons we willingly take into ourselves then turn out to be only mental stuff, and as such, deprived of their normal outside objects, they can dissolve and become .... well, let's call it light.

This is the background promise when Pema Chodren, following her teacher Chogyam Trungpa, tells us to "lean into the sharp points."  We gently but deliberately move into the difficult mind states, and the whole problem of self and other, of the solid world that seems to oppress us, starts to shimmer and dissolve.

Here is another version of tonglen from Pema.  Give it a try -- or a thousand tries!

all blessings to all,

Michael
ps. As a corona bonus, I've made a brief voice memo of the popular Rainbow Car Wash guided meditation.  If you want to listen to it for free, drop me a line here and I'll send it along.