The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be just to keep moving.
Pema ChodronRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of empathy by encouraging us to imagine the suffering of others as if we were in their situation.
Pema Chodron reflects on the teachings of Patrul Rinpoche, highlighting the need to deeply connect with the suffering of others to truly feel compassion. This involves using our imagination to place ourselves in the painful situations of beings in torment, thus evoking a profound understanding of their pain. The imagery presented, particularly of a mother losing her child, serves to illustrate that engaging with another's suffering can be a deeply transformative and painful experience, fostering greater empathy and compassion within ourselves.
Themes
CompassionEmpathySufferingImaginationPain
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about human rights, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for empathy towards those in suffering.
More from Pema Chodron
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It's said that when we die, the four elements - earth, air, fire and water - dissolve one by one, each into the other, and finally just dissolve into space. But while we're living, we share the energy that makes everything, from a blade of grass to an elephant, grow and live and then inevitably wear out and die. This energy, this life force, creates the whole world.
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Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already. The ground of practice is you or me or whoever we are right now, just as we are. That’s the ground, that’s what we study, that’s what we come to know with tremendous curiosity and interest.
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We have two alternatives: either we question our beliefs - or we don't. Either we accept our fixed versions of reality- or we begin to challenge them. In Buddha's opinion, to train in staying open and curious - to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs - is the best use of our human lives.
Pema ChodronRead
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