The Unexpected Power of Overcoming Weakness

Tonight I had a flash of insight into a power that comes from conquering a weakness. This needs to be written down because it is significant. When we overcome a weakness we certainly become stronger, but we also gain something unexpected. A power is granted to us that allows us to see this same weakness in others.

Because we have conquered this weakness in ourselves we know it intimately. We can see the same behavior in others with great clarity. Previously, we might have easily recognized this character flaw or negative trait in others, however, at that time we could not face it without a little shame, or some fear, or embarrassment. So we used to turn away from this reflection, ignore it, tolerate it, or perhaps encourage it. Now that we have fully vanquished this foe in ourselves, when we see others wrestling with their own challenge, we have a completely different view.

It is a compassionate point of view. It is a view that allows us to look at the patten of behavior with full awareness of all the consequences. We see the traps, the pitfalls, the lure of the bait, and we know without a doubt what happens when a human being falls into the trap and takes the bait.

We know that this happens countless times over and over. We know the tremendous difficulty in resisting the trap. The suffering is great, but the lies that we tell ourselves serve to camouflage the suffering. In this way we hide the traps as soon as we discover them. In this way we encounter the same traps and the same suffering over and over again.

However, now we are masters of that trail. Our eyes can see all the signs of danger; we can avoid the traps and snares without effort. We no longer deceive our self in regards to the suffering. The truth of the suffering is the First Noble Truth. The nature of the deception is the origin of the suffering. This is the Second Noble Truth.

We also know that this gifted sight that we have gained does not come cheaply. It is not obtained easily and without effort. Therefore, this compassionate view understands that overcoming weakness and suffering cannot be granted by an external force. Although we now have the compassionate view we cannot verbally convince others to abandon their negative behavior. We cannot draw a diagram that spontaneously allows them to know all of the self-deceptions and gain the vision of freedom. Every one must fight the good fight for themselves.

Intellectually knowing that weakness can be overcome and that there is an end to suffering is a wonderful gift. The paradox is that we really don't truly believe this until we realize it for ourselves. Hope and faith increase steadily when realization arises from conquering one small weakness and then another. This is the power of prayer and meditation and spiritual practice.

After some long and persistent effort, when we reach the summit as conqueror of a major weakness we gain the vision which is the unexpected power of overcoming weakness. We obtain the realization of the cessation of suffering and we become awake to the Third Noble Truth.

Now we truly know that our journey had merit. There is no nobler path. The compassionate view is the ultimate strength and power. The ability to look at weakness and its consequence without fear is our greatest strength. There is no pity and no judgement, because we know the path from weakness and suffering to conqueror and freedom is a journey that we all must take on our own, and in our own way. This is the Fourth Noble Truth.

Om Mani Padme Hum
Karma Lodro Gyaltsen

A Song By Gampopa

I offer you the following song by the Tibetan Buddhist saint Gampopa. Gampopa lived in Tibet from 1079-1153. Gampopa founded the monastic tradition of the Kagyupa, which is the lineage of my teacher. My teacher, the venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, has written a book on the teachings of Gampopa called Instructions of Gampopa. He is the abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, NY.

Gampopa sang:

I sing a song from the dharmadhatu of great bliss.
I speak these words in the state of wisdom,
Thus resolving the truth of nonduality.

This compassion that is free from attachment and that benefits others --
Seize firmly as supreme upaya.

This coemergent consciousness --
Seize firmly as wisdom.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts of fixation --
Seize firmly as dharmakaya.
When one experiences this, the essence is seen.

Sights and sounds, the habitual patterns of labeling --
Seize firmly as ultimate truth.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts are the birth of fixation.
When one has mastered this, the truth is seen.

If one desires to realize the truth of this,
Practice continuously, like a river.
Rest loosely, without further fabrications.
Rest naturally without seeking further.
Rest easily without thinking.

Experience and realization are one.
When realization is uninterrupted, that is it.
When it is as limitless as space, that is it.
When one sees one's mind as Buddha, that is it.

Now, I may have realized the true dharmata.
Fixation may have been self-liberated.
Without thinking, I may have spontaneously achieved realization.

This is not ordinary, and is not for the ordinary.
This cannot be understood by great learning.
This cannot be known by great knowledge.
This is not for the labeling of discursive thought.

I remain on the path of blessings.
I attend to the words of the guru.
It is the faithful who achieve realization.
Is your realization like this, all you great meditators?
This should not be told to everyone.

You might find the following definitions helpful when reading the poem:

• Dharmadhatu - "realm of dharma", the true nature that permeates and encompasses phenomena. As a space or realm, then, the realm of dharmas is the uncaused and immutable totality in which all phenomena arise, dwell, and pass away.
• Dharmakaya = "body of the great order", the true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with transcendental reality, the essence of the universe. The dharmakaya is the unity of the Buddha with everything existing.
• Dharmata = "nature of the dharmas", the essence that is the basis of everything. Synonymous with Buddha-nature. Dharma = the cosmic law, the great "norm," underlying our world; above all, the law of karmically determined birth.
• Upaya = "skillful means or methods", upaya is the activity of the absolute in the phenomenal world, which manifests as compassion. From the standpoint of enlightened understanding, individual beings are not perceived as suffering, since nothing exists other than the dharmakaya, the absolute. However, when regarding the universe from the point of view of compassion, enlightened beings recognize suffering, which arises from attachment to forms, everywhere. In order to liberate beings from their suffering-ridden state, enlightened beings (boddhisattvas) devise all possible means (upaya) helpful toward the attainment of nirvana. These are supported by the limitless compassion of the dharmakaya.