TRANSFORMING PAIN INTO WISDOM
Life Calls Us to Metabolize Our Life Experience into Wisdom --
No Matter How Painful
No Matter How Painful
The ancient symbol of a lotus growing in a lake, its roots firmly planted in the mud below speaks to the transformation of pain and suffering into wisdom. Most writers on its religious symbolism note that the pure, unstained petals arise from the muddy water. If we take that meaning one step further, it is the very mud itself that becomes the pure, pristine flower petals.
In its ultimate expression, in the very heart of the lotus are its pearlescent beadlike seeds, an image used in the Buddhist mantra, Om Mane Padme Hum. It has multiple layers of meaning but, in essence, the mantra reminds our own Buddha nature that it is there, lying dormant, and can be awakened. This is also an image of the healing powers of our hidden resources, locked deep in the unconscious, waiting to be tapped.
And so it is with the dark, grimy, wet, and slimy earth of our pain. As we come to terms with our self-imposed limitations and contradictions, we see that everything has its own meaning, often hidden within the context. Each and every experience in our lives can be seen as a lesson, sometimes in code, waiting to be deciphered. As we begin to read that code, we realize everything in life has been teaching us, and we become more at ease, more relaxed, more open, and indeed, like a lotus, more beautiful.
Philosophy as a Way of Life --
Exercises in Gaining Wisdom and Compassion
In this process we work with gaining wisdom, not intellectual knowledge about healing. Analysis, and talking endlessly about our suffering, can only take us so far. Buddhism is very practical and insists that we verify what works from our own experience. As the Buddha himself said, over 2500 years ago. . .
O monks and wise men, just as a goldsmith would test his gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it, so must you examine my words and accept them, not merely out of reverence for me.
My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience...
My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship.
My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river.
Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation.
From Old Path, White Clouds by Thich Nath Hanh
The whole way we look at our life experience has a different flavor in a dharma-inspired therapy or coaching. We both honor and treasure our experience on the path of life, while simultaneously being wise about its ultimate fragility and impermanence. But even impermanence, karma, reincarnation, are all seen as positive things, as features of life that give us a long, wise, and kind view of our lives. They give us a ground and faith to believe we are not just our mortal bodies, and this current lifetime is not our only chance for happiness and transcendence.
The Virtuous Circle and the Healing Practice of the Yin and Yang
Concepts like ‘the virtuous circle’ are introduced, where we help the client see that we, ourselves, have the power to, right now, create a better life simply by being kinder to ourselves and others. That kindness inevitably has ripple effects and cycles around back to us. As that practice begins to take root, we can then review our past and generate gratitude for all the countless moments of kindness that have been shown us.
As we learn to appreciate the power of kindness, we discover how incredibly powerful our words and actions are to harm others, when we are not kind. These reflections then give us even more energy to be kind and compassionate to others, and the cycle repeats.
Resolution of apparent contradictions in our lives is another very effective method, where the client is asked to identify their thorniest and most difficult problems, and then work to see them as conflicts between two opposing sides of the psyche, each side vying for supremacy and dominance. When both sides are understood and clarified, and their more enlightened aspects brought into balance — as in the figure of the yin-yang symbol — we can achieve greater internal harmony and peace.
Other exercises and practices we might employ, depending on the situation, include:
Mindfulness meditation and examination of past trauma
Breathing and relaxation exercises
Tonglen practice, as mentioned above
Visualizations and guided imagery
Psychological typologies
Encouraging clients to seek support and help from qualified spiritual teachers, such as deity yoga, prayers, divinations, amulets, astrological readings, life guidance, shamanistic practices, etc.
Encouraging clients to seek Tibetan or Ayurvedic medicine
support, as well as T’ai Chi, yoga, massage therapy, and other mind-body integrating health systems
Encouraging clients to take on ethical practices as a daily discipline, either from Buddhist dharma, such as The Four Immeasurables, the six paramitas, or the lojong aphorisms, or from other spiritual traditions
Meditating on stories of change and triumph over suffering through cinematherapy and bibliotherapy
Narrative therapy and journaling
Music and poetry as avenues to higher, liberating states
I hope that if you need such services you will at least have a conversation with me about whether or not it is a good fit.
If you click on the link below, it will take you to the next article that focuses on Buddhist-inspired coaching.
© Mark G. Johnson, 2006