Month: April 2023
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Chapter 2: Reflection 32 – Charity Seeketh Not Her Own
In his last verse, Langri Thangpa writes: “By ensuring that all this remains undefiled / From the stains of the eight mundane concerns, / And by understanding all things as illusions, / I will train myself to be free from the bondage of clinging.” The eight “mundane” or “worldly” concerns are “the four pairings of…
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Chapter 2: Reflection 31 – Taking Upon Myself All the Pains of My Mothers
The seventh verse of Langri Thangpa’s poem reads: “In brief, I will train myself to offer benefit and joy / To all my mothers, both directly and indirectly, / And respectfully take upon myself / All the hurts and pains of my mothers.” 1 This verse highlights the practice of tonglen or “giving and taking.”…
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Chapter 2: Reflection 30 – Answering Injury with Benevolence
In his guidance for meditation for a recluse, Aelred of Rievaulx invites the practitioner reader into this engagement of the Passion of Jesus: Follow him … to the courtyard of the High Priest and bathe with your tears his most beautiful face which they are covering with spittle. See with what loving gaze, how mercifully,…
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Chapter 2: Reflection 29 – Responding with a Tranquil and Gentle Heart
Amid all this consider what tranquility was preserved in that most sweet breast, what loving kindness it exhibited. He pays no attention to the wrongs done to him, takes no notice of the pain, disregards the insults, but rather has compassion on those who are making him suffer, heals those who are wounding him, wins…
Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas 