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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 19

you don’t like, and things you’re separation and acknowledgment, (and all beings!) the seed of virtue
indifferent toward. you can use a formula Kongtrül to be free from this mental affliction.
offered and say, “May my mental The final part of Kongtrül’s formula
To take control of these poisons, affliction contain the mental takes our aspiration higher:
Kongtrül says, we should notice affliction of all sentient beings.” You Through this, may we all become
them “as soon as they arise.” We use your imagination to recognize Buddhas, the complete freedom
may not actually be able to notice that there are other people on the from mental affliction.
them as soon as they arise, but planet at this very moment feeling
perhaps we can catch them after just like you feel. You are no longer The whole process may seem
five minutes, or even two weeks alone. cumbersome at first, but with
down the road. Whenever it occurs, practice it will become second
the moment you notice it, take Furthermore, you’re no longer nature and give us a new way to
hold of that mental affliction with feeding the engine of the mental view what we think of as faults and
your attention and purposefully affliction with words like, “I am failings.
turn it into an aspiration. It’s as angry. I am bad,” or “That person is
though you see the mental affliction bad.” You’ve taken the energy away Kongtrül’s technique allows us
as raw material, the way a potter from those stories, allowing that to take the energy away from our
would view clay. You don’t see energy to turn into something else— mental afflictions and transform
clay as a problem; you see it as an an aspiration for positive change. that energy into an aspiration for
opportunity to create something. goodness: May I be good, may all
You do that by moving to the things be good, and may all beings
It’s as though you see the mental next step in Kongtrül’s formula, be free.
affliction as a raw material, the way paraphrased here for brevity:
a potter would view clay. By my working with this moment We’ve made a conscious turn away
of mental affliction, may I and all from feeding our mental affliction
So if your emotional state is sentient beings be freed from this and taken ourselves somewhere
upsetting, try to step outside of it— mental affliction. else. We’ve taken that thing that was
even if it’s just for an instant—and dark and unworkable and turned it
say, “I am angry,” “I am jealous,” “I That’s powerful stuff. We aspire— into something light and workable.
am competitive,” or “I am attached.” just by stepping outside our That moment is my favorite
Whatever it is that you’re feeling, affliction, engaging it, and working moment. Even in my own feelings of
recognize it. In that instant of with it—to accrue for ourselves disappointment with myself, I know