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 tart VVhere lfou Are 55
it destroy the hole rnechanism of ego. So ou
breathe ín.
Then you breathe out ,mpathy rela ation and
spaciiousne . In teadl of just a maH dark ituatiion
ou aHo, a lot of pace for the e feeling . Breathiing
out is like entílating the hole thing aíríng ít out.
Breathing out i líke opening up your arm and just
letting go. lt • fre h air. Then ou breathe the rage in
again-the black hea hotne of ít. hen ou
breathe out entilating the hole thing aUo, 1ing a
lot of pace.
V\lhat ou are actuaHy doing is culti ating kíndne- s
to ard our elf. lt í . ecy imple in that wa_,. You
dlon t think about it· you dlon t philo ophize.· ou 1m-
ply breathe in a ery real l<lesha. You o·, n it com-
plete,l and then aerate ít aHo. íng a lot of pace
, 1hen ou breathe out. Thi . in it- elf i an amazing
practice-e 1en if ít didln t go an further-becau e at
thí le el,ou are tiU orking on our elf. But the
real beauty of the practice i that,ou then e tend
that out.
v\lithout pretending ,ou can acknowledge that
about t"lº bíUion other entíent being are feeling the
e act same rage that you are at that moment. he
are experiencing it exactl 1 the \.·J'a 1 IOU are exp erienc-
1

ing it. They ma_, ha 1e a different ob1ect but the ob-

ject :ii n t the point. The point i the rage it .elf. You
breathe it ín from all of them o the no Eonger ha 1e

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:-,8

forvvardl,, ·1thout omplication: old people or people

rho ar ill or Eíttle childr n or people 1ho ha re been
kind to you.
\ hen he \i a eight, ar old rungpa Rinpoche
a\, a whimpering p u p p, being toned to death by a
laughing je,ring rowd. H, aid that after that doitng
tongJen practi e , a traitghtfor,,a
, rd forhim: aU he
had to do , 'ª think of that dog and hi hear,t 1ould
tart to op n in t a n t,l . Th r,e'ª nothing ompli-
ated about it. H ,,ouEdl have done anything to
breathe in the uffering of that animal and to breathe
out relitef. •,o the id a i to tart ,, ith omething like
that omething that acti ate your h art.
o 1ou think of a pupp/ b itng toned and d ring in
paitn and you breath that in. hen it i no longer
ju t a pupp . lt i 1our connection iíth the reah ation
that ther are puppite and peopl uffering unju ,tl_,
lik that all over the 1orld. You itmm diat t, t nd
th pra tice andl breath in the uffering of all the
people ho are uffering li.ke that animat
lt :ií al o po ,ible to start \ivith the p u pp, or our
uncl or our elf ancl then graduaH_, e tend out fur-
ther and furth r. Having tarted \i\rith the \,J'i h to
r Eieve our i ter d pre ion you ould tend
further and breathe in the depre ion of people ho
are sorne • hat , neutral -the on to homouare
notthat clo e but ho al ,o don t cau ou fear or
anger. Youbreathe in the depre ion and end out re-
lief to aU tho e n utral peopEe. hen graduall, the

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 tart \iVhere You- Are 59
practíce mo e to people ou actuaU hate people
ou consider to be ou.r enemie or to ha e actually
harmed ,ou. Thi, expan ion e ol e b_, doing the
practíce. Youcannot fake the e thing • therefore 1ou
start, rith the thing that are clo e to your heart.
lt useful to think of tonglen practíce in four
tage :

]. Fla hing openne

2. orkíng ,,vith the te ture breathing in dark
hea, and hot and breathíng out whíte light
and cool
3. . _lorking ,vith relie ·ng a pecific heartfelt in-
tance of • uffering
4. E tending that, ,¡ h tohelp everyone

he main thíng i to reall get in touch \,· ith fura-

tion and the po, er of kle ha activíty in _. our elf. hi
make other people ituation completel_ acce 1-
ble and real to ou. Then when ít become , real and
vi ídl al a s remember to e tend ít out. Let our o n
e cperience be a tepping tone for orking with the
, "orldl.

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 Bringing A ll That l .Te .1111eet to the Path 6

\ hen he fini hed pla ing i,t 'ª nt there. he four

other people in the bar , rere ju t itting there Iooking
at h:iim v7ith big • mug • mile on their face . T h e, ,."ere
reall big guy . He felt e tremel . mall and po er-
les . He kne that they had taken hi jacket andl that
it ouldn t be wi e to confront them becau e he,."ª
small and outnumbered. He felt humilíated and
helple s.
hen a a result of havi.ng orkedl íth thís prac-
tíce it occurred to hím that he could feel empathy
for people in the rorld who had been laughed at
scorned andl spat upon because of their relígíon or
the color of their skin or their gender or their e ual
oríentation or theír nationalít or for hate er rea-
on. He found him elf empathizíng with all the peo-
ple throughout time 1ho had found them el e , in
humiHatíng sítuation • . I t a a profound e·perience
for him. lt dlidn t get him hi jacket back· it didn t
solve anything. But it opened hi heart to a lot of peo-
ple with vvhom he hadl not before had an sense of
hared experience.
Thí is , rhere the heart come &om in thí prac-
tíce where the ense of gratitude andl apprecíation
for our life come from. .e become part of a lineage
of people who ha 1e culti atedl theír bra "ery through-
out hi tory; people rho agaín .t enormou odd ha 1e
sta ed open to great dífficuitíe and painful itua-
tíon and tran formedl them ínto the path of a aken-
1ng. le -will fall flat on our face again andl again .. e

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 Dri e All B:la111,es into One ]

, ire might ,ee quite a híft in the aggre 1ve energy

that cau iing such a ·de pread ho]ocau t.
Dri e aH b]ame into one -or ' ake the blame
your elf if _. ou prefer-. ound. líke a ma • ochistic
slogan. lt ound líke Ju t beat me up ju t bury me
under pile of manure ju·t let me ha e ít and kick me
in the teeth. Howe er that i n t \, hat ít reaH I mean
you ll be happy to know.
One \iVa of beginníng to practice "Dri e aHb]ame
into one i. to begin to notiice what ít fee] ]ike, hen
ou bEame omeone e]se. at s actuall under all
that taEking and conver ation about ho,, , ong
somebody or omething i . hat doe blame feel
líke in IOUr tomach? hen , 1e do thi noticíng , e
see that,.Je are omeho, begiinníng to cultívate bra -
ery a eU as compas ion and honesty. \ en the e
reall I unre oEved is ues of our líve come up , e are
no longer tryíng to e cape but are beginn:ing to be cu-
riou and open to,, arel the e part of our el e .
Orive all blames ínto one i a healthy and com-
pa síonate ínstructíon that short-circuits the o er-
' 1helmíng tendenc e have to blame eve1 bocly
el e· ít doe n t mean in tead of blaming the other
peop]e blame our elf. It means to touch in \i\Tith
hat blame feel like altogether. In tead of guarding
\, 1

our elf in tead of pu híng thing awa begín to get

in touch with the fact that there a ery soft pot
under all that armor and. blame il probably one of the
mo t ell-perfected armors that ·,.'e ha e.

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 Be Gr:ateful to .E. eryone

Compa síonate actíon compa ionate speech is

not a one- .hot deal· it • a lifetime journe_,1. But
it eem . to begin íth realizing
that 1hen Juan or Juanita i getting to 1ou
pu hing every button it not a . ímplí .tic a
ju .t eatíng it ju t becomíng
a ,orm 0 ka
1
let them attack me. On the other
hand it not a ea J a ju t a íng "I 11 get hi . lt
a challenge. Thí í ho, _, the koan appeair in e ery-
da J life: the unan ,. errable que tion of our líve are
the girea te t teacherr .
\ fhen the great Indían Buddhí t teacher tii ha
went to Tiibet he had been practícing the lojong
teaching foir .orne time. Líke mo t practítioner he
had the feelíng of being haunted b J the fact that
there arre blínd place that 1ou don t kno, _, about. You
don t kno, that ou rre tuck in certaín place . ,o he
alued the Juan and Juanita in hí lífe tremen-
dou l1 becau .e he felt t h e, , -'erre the onl one , ho
got thrrough to h:iim enough to . ho,, him , rhere his
blind spot were. hrough them hi ego got maller.
hrough them hí . compa .ion increa ed.
The tory goe that tí ha vva told that the peo-
ple of ibet ere ery good-natured earthI fle ible
and open· he decided t h e, \i\rouldn t be irritating
enough to push hí button . ,o he brought along
wíth him a mean-tempered, ornery Bengalí tea bo .
He felt that, 'ª , the onl , 'ª he could ta a ake.
The Tibetan líke to tell the tory that when he got
to i.bet he realízedl he needl not ha e brought hi

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 utting the ' o,lidity of Tho-ughts 91

s e kno,, from ome of the other slogan ,,. e e

díscu ed hen confu ion ari es ít 1 part of the
path. \ hen confu ion ari e it i juic and rích. The
ense of obstacle is ery rích and can teach us. In
the e practíce ít , the nece ary ingredient for being
able to do tonglen or ,,. ork ,. ith lojong at aB. But thi
. Jogan í aying th.at when confusion arí e not onl
do _ ou practice tonglen and connect \i\rith the heart
but al o . ou can fla h on the nonsoliidit, of phenom-
ena at any time. In other ord ou can just drop ít.
\ e ali know . pontaneousl, ,hat ít feel Hke ju ,t to
drop it. Out of the blue ou just drop it.
1 orín tance on a meditation retreat there are noo-
dle for breakfast. la be in the beginning it eems
funn but halh'ª through breakfa t you find your-
elf--in tead of being mindlful of the food, the chop-
. ticks in our hand the other people. and the good
in truction you e rece,ied-talking to ourelf
about !hat a good breakfa t .. ould be ho
1 rou d like
to ha e a good breakfa t líke,our mother u ed to
make _ ou in .Brookl, n. ltmíght be matzo hall • oup or
tortillas and beans or ham and eggs but rou want a
good breakfa t: burned bacon like other u ed to
make. Youre ent the e noodlle .
Then not through an 1 particular effort 1ou ju t
drop ít. o 1our . urpri • e there a bigworld there. You
. ee all the e little light glimmeríng in our emp,t
lacquered b o,,]. Yonu otice the • adne· on. omeone

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 utting the ' o,lidity of Tho-ughts 95
manífest in terms of tables and chaírs and people and
animal and it seems o tangible but the moment
you ay ' hiinkíng ou re ackno,. ledging that the
1hole drama iis ju t a thought in your mind. hat s a
recognition of hun ata or emptine IJ.aybe each
of us has had ome moments of ho liberatiing that
can be.
\ lhen the thought • ari e it might occur to ou. to
1onder . 1here they come from. \ !here do the come
from. lt eem a, 1f they come from no, here. Youre
ju·t faithfull, follovvíng our breath and-\ !ham.-
ou re in .Ha aii .·urfing. \ ere did it come from.
nd 1here doe . it go. Bíg drama big drama hap-
pening big big drama. d it s 9:30 in the morning.
Oooh. \ lo·, , hi , i e tremel hea, . car horn
honks and uddenly you re not in that drama an 7-
more ou re in another drama.
I 'ª once in tructed to meditate on thought . I
in e tigated the nature of thought for t, 0 1 hole
month . I can tell you fir thand that 1ou can ne er
6nd a thought. here i nothing there of ub tance
but with our minds e make it treme,] B,ig Deal.

nother slogan a All acti ítie hould be done

\ J'íth one intention. Breathing in, breathing out feel-
ing re entful feeling happ., being able to drop it, not
beíng able to drop it eating our food bru hing our
teeth 1a]king .·itting-·· 1hate er 1e re doiing could

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