For arousing compassion, the nineteenth-century yogi Patrul Rinpoche suggested imagining beings in torment - an animal about to be slaughtered, a person awaiting execution. To make it more immediate, he recommended imagining ourselves in their place. Particularly painful is his image of a mother with no arms watching as a raging river sweeps her child away. To contact the suffering of another being fully and directly is as painful as being in the woman's shoes.
Pema ChodronThe first noble truth of the Buddha is that when we feel suffering, it doesnโt mean that something is wrong. What a relief. Finally somebody told the truth. Suffering is part of life, and we donโt have to feel itโs happening because we personally made the wrong move. In reality, however, when we feel suffering, we think that something is wrong. As long as weโre addicted to hope, we feel that we can tone our experience down or liven it up or change it somehow, and we continue to suffer a lot.
Pema ChodronNext, feel your heart, literally placing your hand on your chest if you find that helpful. This is a way of accepting yourself just as you are in that moment, a way of saying, "This is my experience right now, and it's okay." Then go into the next moment without any agenda.
Pema ChodronDeep down in the human spirit, there is a reservoir of courage. It is always available, always waiting to be discovered.
Pema ChodronYou build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts.
Pema ChodronLearning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe.
Pema ChodronThat nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence. It is the ordinary state of affairs. Everything is in process. Everything - every tree, every blade of grass, all the animals, insects, human beings, buildings, the animate and the inanimate - is always changing, moment to moment.
Pema Chodron