Weer op het goede spoor

Beste Eerwaarde Thubten Chodron, Thubten Chonyi en Thubten Semkye,

Venerable Chonyi, you gave me the most kind of words via an email the past few weeks. You guided me spiritually with just a few words and I felt healing begin. My mind has been much more at peace.

Eerwaarde Semkye, je laatste twee Bodhisattva Breakfast Corner-leringen hebben me doen nadenken en opnieuw zoeken naar meer Dharma-leringen, naar antwoorden. Die twee recente leringen hebben mijn geest geopend voor mijn eigen verontrustende gedachten. Je eerlijkheid heeft me geraakt. Ik begon weer te leren.

Venerable Thubten Chodron, your teaching on self-centered thoughts not only had me laughing: I was so self-centered I actually thought you were talking directly to me (tongue in cheek). The teaching was about millions of us human beings, and it was about me as well. I had not realized what I had done until I listened to your teaching. I knew I had been lost in grief and loss and felt great pain for quite a while now. I knew my reaction to the losses and my behavior caused me even greater pain. I had put up boundaries, tightly, rigidly, and all but covered myself in the hole I had dug and “decorated” for myself. This hole created depression and great anxiety. I was so stuck in the hole that I was all but certain I would never get out of it. Miserable, I had no idea what to do. I was stuck in grief from one loss, then another, and more people kept passing out of my life. I wondered why I was depressed and anxious. So I kept searching for answers—answers that would not only open my eyes and my mind, but my heart as well.

In mijn verwarring dacht ik dat mijn egocentrische gedachten mijn beste vriend waren. Toen ik zag dat dat niet het geval was, kroop ik uit mijn hol, bedekte het met cement en begon weer te leven, lachte weer, beoefende de Dharma weer en dacht aan andere dingen dan aan mezelf. Dus ik heb de afgelopen tijd VEEL geleerd. Aan anderen denken, niet aan jezelf, is een zeer krachtig medicijn.

Through the Dharma the three of you shared with me, I received the answers I had been searching for. My heart became peaceful. I plan to work hard, open my heart and mind to continue learning the Dharma, to keep the mind of “me me me” at bay, and to share what I have learned with others that are in pain.

Bedankt voor het delen van de Dharma. Het heeft een enorm verschil gemaakt in mijn leven, en daarom kan ik misschien een verschil maken in het leven van iemand anders.