Drive All Blames Into
One
Be Grateful to
Everyone
(Jamgon Kontrul, from
the Direct Path to Enlightenment)
When we first attempt to understand how we have come to a
situation, the first thing we often do is to blame someone or something for our
problem. It seems only natural that there must be a reason for our discomfort,
and of course it isn’t our fault. Something outside of ourselves must be the
reason.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that it can be endless. Once
we have the answer to this mental pre-occupation, we move on to the next one,
and so on. This process may often lead us to living with an endless chain of
expectations – “If only I didn’t have this ---- in my way, I could be happy.”
Agreed, this might be an accurate assessment of the situation,
and the assigning of blame might be valid, but the path on which we then find
ourselves may not allow us to grow past our difficulties. This is particularly
true for the most pressing and unsolvable situations of the human condition.
Health problems, both ours and those of our loved ones, old age and death, the
existential angst inherent in that which is by nature unsolvable, all lead us
to perhaps embrace alternative solutions.
The
Buddhist response presented here is to re-assess our tendency to blame, and to
instead, to accept that whatever the current situation is, it is workable and contains
everything we need to proceed towards our next step.
Our form benefits immediately from the attention available
when we are not distracted by our preoccupation with blame, whether that blame
is valid or not. Our lives may become far more workable when we begin to attend
to what is actually right in front of us.
It may be possible to find
Gratefulness and Joy is within our reach, within our personal space, as we take
responsibility, not for the external conditions, but rather, for our own
internal state, our state of consciousness.
This is not a statement about the nature of the world, or reality. It
is merely a practical strategy which allows us to move forward when we find
ourselves in situations where there are no easy answers.
Again, these musings might not be meaningful to all who read
them, but are presented for those who might find them useful at this point in
their lives. Each month I try to present teachings from many different
traditions which may help us all move forward.
Some of these might not be for
everyone. Please take what is useful to you, and if you find the meaning
somewhat obtuse in some of my ramblings, I hope that you will find other parts
which are more to your liking.
Best Wishes Always,
Daniel
