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LEAD ARTICLE | EASTERN HORIZON 5

Why do we procrastinate? Because of attachment. we don’t need to create so much mental suffering. It
becomes just a sensation to experience. It doesn’t have
So here we are again, following the root cause of to be something that we’re afraid of, something that
our suffering: ignorance and attachment. Why don’t we we tense up about. It’s just a sensation, and we let that
eliminate ignorance and attachment? Because we’re sensation be.
ignorant and attached. We have to see the situation
clearly. We have to develop great courage to see the It’s quite interesting: In our meditation, we experience
situation we’re in, and then put effort into realizing the different physical sensations. If we label a sensation
ultimate nature of reality, the emptiness of inherent “pain in the knee,” then our knees really start to hurt.
existence of all phenomena. In that way, we eliminate the But if we label it “sensation” and we don’t have the
ignorance which causes birth, aging, sickness and death. concept of the knee so much, then it’s just a sensation.
Where’s the sensation? Where’s the body?
Now, until we get to that point when we can realize
emptiness, how else can we deal with sickness? There’s You can experiment with different ways of playing with
a variety of quite interesting ways. the physical experience of pain in your meditation,
instead of falling back into the habit of getting tense,
Press the “pause” button on our horror stories worried, and being afraid of it.
One way is to examine the mind and observe our
reaction to sickness. I don’t know about you, but when “How great that I’m sick!”
I’m sick, my mind gets very afraid and I start writing Another alternative way to respond when we’re sick, is
horror stories. to say, “How great that I’m sick!”

For example, I get a funny feeling here in my chest and It’s the opposite of how we usually think, isn’t it?
I conclude that I’m going to have a heart attack. “Is The Dharma antidotes for most of our afflictions are
somebody going to pick me up? Will they take me to the the exact opposite—exactly what we don’t want to do.
hospital? What will happen at the hospital?” It was just It’s the case here, which means when we’re sick, to say,
a small feeling, but my mind blows it up into, “I’m going “Fantastic! It’s so great that I’m sick.”
to have a heart attack!”
You’re going to say, “Are you crazy? What do you mean
Or we have an upset stomach and we think, “Oh, by it’s great that to be sick?”
I have stomach cancer.” When our knees hurt
in meditation position, “Oh, I’d better move because Our illness is caused by negative karma that we created
otherwise I’m going to be crippled my entire life.” Does in the past. Now that the negative karma is ripening in
your mind write these kinds of horror stories? the form of our sickness, it’s not obscuring our mind
anymore. That negative karma may have had the force
What we have initially is the sensation of some to cause us to be reborn in a horrible rebirth (such as
discomfort in the body—a physical sensation. And a hell being, hungry ghost or animal) for quite a long
depending on how we relate to that physical sensation, time, but instead it’s ripening now as some kind of
we can create a whole lot of mental suffering. When comparatively small pain. If we look at it that way, the
we react to that physical sensation with fear and make illness we have right now is actually quite manageable.
up horror stories, we create tons of mental suffering, It’s not something to freak out about. It’s not that bad.
don’t we?
So sometimes, saying “Oh good!” is a good antidote. In
If we’re able to press the “pause” button on our horror that regard, I’ll tell you a story about one nun who is a
stories and just be aware of the physical sensation, friend of mine.