..续本文上一页either like this nor like that. It is like a dog yearning over a bowl of burning oil. He can”t leave it, because it is too desirable and he can”t lick it, because it is too hot.
So how do we relate to that squeeze
Somehow, someone finally needs to encourage us to be inquisitive about this unknown territory and about the unanswerable question of what”s going to happen next.
The state of nowness is available in that moment of squeeze. In that awkward, ambiguous moment is our own wisdom mind. Right there in the uncertainty of everyday chaos is our own wisdom mind.
We need encouragement to experiment and try this kind of thing. It”s quite daring, and maybe we feel we aren”t up to it. But that”s the point. Right there in that inadequate, restless feeling is our wisdom mind. We can simply experiment. There”s absolutely nothing to lose. We could experiment with not getting tossed around by right and wrong and with learning to relax with groundlessness.
When I was a child, I had a picture book called Lives of the Saints. It was filled with stories of men and women who had never had an angry or mean thought and had never hurt a fly. I found the book totally useless as a guide for how we humans were supposed to live a good life. For me, The Life of Milarepa, the great Tibetan yogi and poet, is a lot more instructive. Over the years, as I read and reread Milarepa”s story, I find myself getting advice for where I am stuck and can”t seem to move forward.
To begin with, Milarepa was a murderer, and like most of us when we blow it, he wanted to atone for his errors. And like most of us, in the process of seeking liberation, he frequently fell flat on his face. He lied and stole to get what he wanted, he got so depressed he was suicidal, and he experienced nostalgia for the good old days. Like most of us, he had one person in his life who continually tested him and blew his saintly cover. Even when almost everyone regarded him as one of Tibet”s most holy men, his vindictive old aunt continued to beat him with sticks and call him names, and he continued to have to figure out what to do with that kind of humiliating squeeze.
One can be grateful that a long lineage of teachers has worked with holding their seats with the big squeeze. They were tested and failed and still kept exploring how to just stay there, not seeking solid ground. They trained again and again throughout their lives not to give up on themselves and not to run away when the bottom fell out of their concepts and their noble ideals.
From their own experience they have passed along to us the encouragement not to jump over the big squeeze, but to look at it just as it is, not just out of the corner of an eye. They showed us how to experience it fully, not as good or bad, but simply as unconditioned and ordinary.
Through meditation practice, we realize that we don”t have to obscure the joy and openness that is present in every moment of our existence. We can awaken to basic goodness, our birthright. When we are able to do this, we no longer feel burdened by depression, worry, or resentment. Life feels spacious, like the sky and the sea. There”s room to relax and breathe and swim, to swim so far out that we no longer have the reference point of the shore.
How do we work with a sense of burden
How do we learn to relate with what seems to stand between us and the happiness we deserve
How do we learn to relax and connect with fundamental joy
Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It”s becoming critical. We don”t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what”s already here. It”s becoming essential that we learn how to relate sanely with difficult times. The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy and dis…
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