When something goes wrong, we tend to flee into our oldest habits. It’s a matter of safety, and routine. While this is sometimes necessary, it can also limit us. That’s why the eleventh slogan instructs us to “transform all mishaps into the path of bodhi.” This slogan teaches us transformation awareness.
Transformation awareness (which is a phrase I just made up) is the ability to hold our seat in the middle of a crisis so that we act differently. Instead of retreating into our oldest pattern, maybe we breathe a moment. Choose differently. Realize we don’t have to do it that way just because we’ve always freaked out that way before.
Here’s what usually happens when disaster strikes: we get totally self-absorbed. Think about it. The minute we experience something difficult, we act as if the universe has personally assaulted us. I can’t believe this is happening to me! Could anything be more unfair…to ME?! Whyyyyyy me?!?! Which is why it’s a good idea to remember that at any given moment in time, millions of people feel dissatisfied, or suffer, or worse. It’s not just you. It’s everybody. Because it’s life.
When we can take a broader perspective, we breathe and realize we can work with this. That’s why I find it funny that the slogan says, “When the world is filled with evil…” It’s almost like a trick. Uh, yes, the world consistently has evil in it. So, basically, this slogan is for all the time, every day. And WHEN it happens, we transform whatever mishaps pop into our particular path as opportunities for patience. Compassion. Unselfishness. Bravery. Kindness. Noble love.
Traleg Kyabgon writes, “This is how we learn to face unfavorable circumstances and ‘take them as the path’ (lamkhyer) so that we are working with our problems rather than against them.”
Are you working with your problems or against them? To practice transformation awareness, bring them right into your heart and listen for what feels best to do next. Not out of habit, but out of wise intention.
Kyabgon continues, “If we are skillful and precise about generating love and compassion, it will make us a person of significance- with integrity, dignity, depth, and weight- rather than someone who adds to another’s sense of self-inflation or advances his or her own reputation by eliciting a positive response from others.” In other words, we become more others-oriented, like true bodhisattvas.
I love this idea of being this kind of “person of significance.” Not society’s idea of it. Maybe not your boss’s idea, or your parents. But if it’s true that what brings meaning to our lives is love and connection, then being a person of significance means living in a way that honors that love and connection at every turn.
Even the hard ones.
