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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 11

When we hold fast to such thoughts as, I remember talking to many people before the last election
“They abused me, mistreated me, who were consumed with worry. They had no control over
molested me, robbed me,” the national politics and they needed to trust that even if
we keep hatred alive. things go in a seemingly bad direction, they do not need
If we thoroughly release ourselves to obsess about those conditions. It is just making them
from such thoughts as, suffer without promoting any good. The world is filled
“They abused me, mistreated me, with all sorts of things going well and all sorts of things
molested me, robbed me,” falling apart and we need to trust spiritually that nothing,
hatred is vanquished. in a deeper sense, is being fundamentally lost or damaged.
Never by hatred is hatred conquered, Each day there is actually a real possibility that we could
but by love alone. die today. Yet that would not a disaster in a deeper sense
This is eternal law. but rather a normal and inevitable part of life that has
~ Dhammapada-Words of the Buddha been a living truth from the very moment of birth. And
we are trying to have the faith in Buddhism that nothing
One of our main ways to resist taking the Dharma to fundamentally real will be dying or lost. The following
heart is adding a but, an exception, to the Dharma. famous verse from the Diamond Sutra expresses the deep
I should accept this but and we can have a host of wisdom of the Dharma.
seemingly good reasons to be upset and not accept
what is happening. One of the ways this shows up is Thus shall you think of all this fleeting world: A star at
our clinging to worry. We feel we need to worry about dawn,
some problem we face. Someone we care about is facing a bubble in a stream; A flash of lightening in a summer
some hardship and we allow ourselves to be filled with cloud,
worry. Something is seriously going wrong somewhere a flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
in the world and we feel the need to be disturbed and
worried. Yet all our worried and disturbed feelings Another aspect of practicing acceptance is that finding
are not coming from these difficult conditions that this place of all-acceptance is the journey’s end, and
are triggering these emotions, but rather, the worry our spiritual path will always include the hard work of
and disturbed feelings are coming from our lack of finding acceptance for many of the karmic conditions
acceptance of these difficult conditions. that we are still finding difficult and rejecting. The mind
of acceptance is the real medicine for all our suffering.
The solution to worry is amazingly simple and straight We are all suffering due to the Second Noble Truth, that
forward, accept the worst may happen and trust that we are clinging to our desires-we want this and we do
it will still be okay even if the worst happens. If I have not want that.
a biopsy to see if a tumor is benign or malignant, I
hope the answer is that it is benign, but if it cancer, Acceptance is our embracing of the Second Noble Truth
I tell myself that it is not a problem in the deeper and we are trying to bring an awareness that our lack
sense. It will be my Buddhist practice to now have of acceptance is true source of all our suffering. Yet just
the opportunity to train with cancer and use the illness telling ourselves to accept some problem is just the
as a teacher. If we take into our heart the teaching that necessary first step of an often difficult and lengthy
anything that happens is alright, then we are pointing process. If someone hurt me deeply, it helps to tell
ourselves to finding a solution to our worries and fears. myself the Dharma that is pointing us to accept what
The very expression, “consumed with worry” points us has happened and to have compassion for the person
to the mind that is trying to control conditions that are who hurt me and compassion for myself being hurt. Yet
actually outside of our personal control. this is generally just the first little step in dealing with
these deeply held feelings of anger, hurt, and injustice.