Forbearance

As part of the traditional methods of forbearing anger, I wanted to write down three approaches from Mahamudra Sutra. Until I fully purify negative imprints, I am certain that negative and difficult situations will arise.

It is good for me to remind myself of these methods as well as other interim steps to keep me in check. When we will know that we no longer need these techniques? When there are no longer problem situations and difficult people coming up in your life.

So here are the three methods:

1 Withstand – Remember that getting angry hurts you and can be the circumstance to result in others suffering and anger.
2 Realize It is All Empty –Realize that everything is empty of inherit existence and depend on causes and condition. Bottomline, there is actually nothing and no one independently there, its all coming from you! As I have been taught, this one is the most difficult but the most complete. It is very difficult to get angry no less remain angry at something which we realize does not truly exist.
3 Realize Everything that is happening to us is the result of our past actions.


For number 1, I am reminded of my teacher Khenpo Choga Rinpoche likening getting angry to jumping off the roof of a 2-story house. What would happen if you were to jump or fall off the rood of a 2-story house?

If you fall off such a roof, you are likely to get hurt. Right?

So likewise, when you get angry, you definitely hurt yourself. So don’t jump! Further even if someone is trying to “help” you go off the roof, you must resist! Likewise, if someone or something is trying to “help” you to get angry; resist – Just like what you would do if they were trying to help you off the roof.

For number 2, I am not sure that you can get there intellectually. The times where I have been able to see the world in this way, it was not intellectual. It was experiential.

For number 3, it is good to consider this when we have time to contemplate a situation or someone's actions against us. Even though I cannot recall what I ever did to create the circumstance for the problem to surface for me, it is often helpful to know that it is definitely me that sowed the seeds that are now sprouting – weeds and all.

Oh! One reminder that somehow seems appropriate to add here. We can change the past (or at least our view of the past which changes the past). We can change the future by our thoughts, words, and actions right now.

However, we cannot change the present! We are stuck with what is happening right now. No matter how much we might want things to be different, we cannot change the present. So deal with it as compassionately as one can. Your future depends on it! Promise!

Many Dharma Blessings,

Geoff