Page 51 - NAMAH-Jul-2022

Namah The Art of Suffering Well

those who are willing to heed his law, a helper below are shared a few of them. Many
full of solace and loving forbearance towards contemporary teachers like Pema Chodron,
all who aspire to see and hear and obey him. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Mingyur Rinpoche
No sincere and lasting aspiration towards have talked on how to practise Tong-len and
him can be in vain; no strong and respectful there is no dearth of material nowadays, owing
trust can be disappointed, no expectation ever to the internet revolution. I am sharing a few
deceived… that I practise myself, and have benefitted from
extensively.
Suffering is not something inevitable or even
desirable, but when it comes to us, how helpful Variation 1
it can be! If I find myself in a confused state of being
— in grief, or sadness or despair or in the
Each time we feel that our heart is breaking, a throes of suffocating ego-consciousness, in
deeper door opens within us, revealing new a conflicting partnership/relationship, pain
horizons, ever richer in hidden treasures, of following the dictates of ill-will, and I
whose golden influx brings once more a new become conscious of the mental, emotional
and intenser life to the organism on the brink and physical unease in me, here is my
of destruction. chance. I deeply get in touch with my pain
or suffering, knowing that it is there. Yes,
And when, by these successive descents, we it is there. I see it. And then, I realise, now
reach the veil that reveals thee as it is lifted, I know the pain of billions of us, who go
O Lord, who can describe the intensity of Life through such pain, in such a situation.
that penetrates the whole being, the radiance Pain of losing a loved one, pain of living
of the Light that floods it, the sublimity of the in ego-consciousness, pain of a breaking
Love that transforms it for ever (8)!” relationship, pain of inner strife, pain of
physical separation from a loved one, or
Making good use of our suffering — practising other matters of human life. I tell myself
Tong-len inwardly — Now I know the pain. And
hence, with the in-breath, I inhale all the
darkness, and pain of so many of us in a
similar condition, I inhale all that into the
centre of my heart, and with the out-breath,
I radiate joy, simplicity and contentment
for all.

Variation 2
If I find myself in a situation or an interaction,
Tong-len (taking and giving) is a Buddhist or meeting with several people, where I
technique which makes us use our own see conflict, suffering, pain and the misery
suffering for a greater good, and also results of ego-consciousness manifesting itself, I
in a shift in our own inner state. There are silently inhale all the darkness as a dark
many variations of Tong-len possible, and cloud or smoke with the in-breath into the

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