Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Quote from Pema Chodron

Today's Pema Chodron quote in the weekly email, Heart Advice through Shambala,  is excerpted from her book, Comfortable with Uncertainty. I have this book; I haven't read it for a long time. Seems it's time for me to take it off the shelf and read some of it again.
POINTED TOWARD THE EARTH
Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain. We leave our attachments and our worldliness behind and slowly make our way to the top. At the peak we have transcended all pain. The only problem with this metaphor is that we leave all others behind. Their suffering continues, unrelieved by our personal escape.

On the journey of the warrior-bodhisattva, the path goes down, not up, as if the mountain pointed toward the earth instead of the sky. Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear.
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