Pema Chodron - Troublemakers

[Karma Yeshe]

Hi all,

Enjoy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7qFi52FX1Q&feature=youtu.be

[Esho]

Lord Buddha left this wonderful teaching, too:




[...]

"And as for a person who is impure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and who does not periodically experience mental clarity & calm, how should one subdue hatred for him?

Just as when there is a sick man — in pain, seriously ill — traveling along a road, far from the next village & far from the last, unable to get the food he needs, unable to get the medicine he needs, unable to get a suitable assistant, unable to get anyone to take him to human habitation.

Now suppose another person were to see him coming along the road.

He would do what he could out of compassion, pity, & sympathy for the man, thinking, 'O that this man should get the food he needs, the medicine he needs, a suitable assistant, someone to take him to human habitation.

Why is that? So that he won't fall into ruin right here.'

In the same way, when a person is impure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and who does not periodically experience mental clarity & calm, one should do what one can out of compassion, pity, & sympathy for him, thinking, 'O that this man should abandon wrong bodily conduct and develop right bodily conduct, abandon wrong verbal conduct and develop right verbal conduct, abandon wrong mental conduct and develop right mental conduct.

Why is that? So that, on the break-up of the body, after death, he won't fall into the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, purgatory.'

Thus the hatred for him should be subdued.

[...]

AN 5.162 (http://http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.162.than.html)



:hands:

[Lazy Eye]

Thanks for posting this, Karma Yeshe -- and to Kaarine also for the sutta passage.

I've found the approach Pema Chodron refers to can be applied very successfully on a practical, day-to-day level, sometimes with transformative results. We all encounter people who push our buttons. It can make all the difference in the world to step out of our habitual reactions and ask ourselves "what does this person have to teach me?"

Not only do we get some benefit (because we will learn something), but the difficult person may be calmed as well -- because often they are frustrated for lack of a listener.

[Esho]

-- because often they are frustrated for lack of a listener.

Absolutly. To listen can heal a lot of pain.

;D

[Karma]

Very interestin Karma Yeshe, thank you.