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How To Deal
With Sickness
By Venerable Thubten Chodron
We all get sick. The only way to avoid sickness is to
die first. But otherwise, once we’re born into cyclic
existence with this body that’s under the influence
of mental afflictions and karma, then sickness is
guaranteed. But that’s the nature of our body—it gets
old and it gets sick.
So how do we deal with sickness when it comes?
We can just feel sorry for ourselves. We can blame
somebody else. We can be angry. We can make
ourselves and everybody around us quite miserable.
Does that cure the illness? No, of course not.
Venerable Thubten Chodron is an
American Buddhist nun who received her Eliminating ignorance and attachment (craving) will
novice ordination from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in eliminate rebirth in saṃsāra, which is the root cause of
1977, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) sickness.
ordination in Taiwan. She studied and practiced
Buddhism of the Tibetan tradition for many years in Obstacles to eliminating the root cause of sickness
India and Nepal under the guidance of HH The Dalai One way to stop sickness is to stop its root cause as,
Lama, Tsenzhap Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Zopa birth ins cyclic existence. If we don’t want to get sick,
Rinpoche and other Tibetan masters. then we should not be born in saṃsāra. How do we get
rid of birth in saṃsāra? By eliminating the principal
cause, which is ignorance and attachment.
Ven. Chodron emphasizes the practical application
of the Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is We all say, “Yes, yes, I must get rid of my ignorance.
especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily But, later. “I’m having a good time right now. I’m young
understood and practiced by modern people. She and my whole life is in front of me. There’s so much I
has published many books on Buddhist philosophy can do. There’re so many people I want to be with. So
and meditation in multiple languages, and is many people I care about. I want to have a career. I
currently co-authoring with HH The Dalai Lama a want to travel. I want to have all the pleasures. I want
multi-volume series of teachings on the Buddhist to do this and that. I’ll worry about rebirth in cyclic
path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion. existence later on.”
https://thubtenchodron.org
Well, that’s what we have been doing for eons. We’ve
been procrastinating for eons. Where has it gotten us?
One rebirth after another. We just keep taking one
rebirth after another because we keep procrastinating.
