Dec 10, 2023
Suffering as Compassion, Humility as Medicine: How to Overcome
Arrogance
The 12-Step Buddhist Podcast Episode 111
from Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima,
"Dropping the Attitude of Being Entirely Unwilling to Suffer
Think about all the depression, anxiety and irritation we put
ourselves through by always seeing suffering as unfavourable,
something to be avoided at all costs. Now, think about two
things: how useless this is, and how much trouble it causes. Go
on reflecting on this repeatedly, until you are absolutely
convinced. Then say to yourself: “From now on, whatever I have
to suffer, I will never become anxious or irritated.” Go over
this again and again in your mind, and summon all your courage
and determination.
2 Cultivating the Attitude of Being Joyful when Suffering
Arises
Seeing suffering as an ally to help us on the path, we must learn
to develop a sense of joy when it arises. Yet whenever
suffering strikes, unless we have some kind of spiritual
practice to bring to it, one which matches the capacity of our
mind, no matter how many times we might say to ourselves:
‘Well, as long as I’ve got roughly the right method, I’ll be
able to use suffering and obtain such and such a benefit’,
it’s highly unlikely that we’ll succeed. We’ll be as far from
our goal, the saying goes, as the earth is from the sky.
Therefore, use suffering as the basis for the following practices:
c. Using Suffering to Overcome Arrogance
As I explained before, [as long as we are in samsara] we are never
independent or truly free or in control of our lives. On the
contrary, we are always dependent on and at the mercy of
suffering. So we must eliminate ‘the enemy that
destroys anything that is wholesome and good’, which is
arrogance and pride; and we must do away with the evil
attitude of belittling others and considering them as inferior.
Transforming Suffering
https://podcast.compassionaterecovery.us/all-podcast-teachings/transformsuffering/
Sapiens