Fearless Compassion

Fearless Compassion

"Compassion is based on some sense of 'soft spot' in us.  It is as if we had a pimple on our body that was very sore--so sore that we do not want to rub it or scratch it.  During our shower, we do not want to rub too much soap over it because it hurts.  There is a sore point or soft spot that happens to be painful to rub, painful to put hot or cold water over.  That sore spot on our body is an analogy for compassion.  Why?  Because even in the midst of immense aggression, insensitivity in our life, or laziness, we always have a soft spot, some spoint we can cultivate -- or at least not bruise.  Every human being has that kind of basic sore spot, including animals.  Whether we are crazy, dull, aggressive, ego-tripping, whatever we might be, there is still that sore spot taking place in us.  An open wound, which might be a more vivid analogy, is always there.  That open wound is usually very inconvenient and problematic.  We don't like it.  We would like to be tough.  We would like to fight, to come out strong, so we do not have to defend any aspect of ourselves.  We would like to attack our enemy on the spot, single-handedly.  We would like to lay our trips on everybody completely and properly, so that  we have nothing to hide.  That way, if somebody decides to hit us back, we are not wounded.  And hopefully, nobody will hit us on that sore spot, that wound that exists in us.  Our basic makeup, the basic constituents of mind, are based on passion and compassion at the same time.  But however confused we might be, however much of a cosmic monster we might be, still there is an open wound or sore spot in us always.  There will always be a sore spot."

A funny thing happens on our way to enlightenment.  Whatever our initial interest in the teachings of Buddhadharma what actually discover in the practice of Shamatha/Vipashyana is that there is a weakness in our suit of armor.  This all feels horribly embarrassing and naked.  Our initial foray into these teachings started as a way to not feel pain-- unfortunately, as we go deeper into our training we find that we are getting punctured more and more by what happens in our lives.  We a continually falling in love and having our hearts broken.  Something keeps getting through our defenses.  Slowly and terribly from the point of view of habitual mind -- we discover that this is the point!  We will just be going there from now on.  "There" is called maitri.  It is a fundamental tenderness.  This tenderness is what we discover in the "no man's land" outside of our habitual dualistic preoccupations.  This tenderness is Absolute Bodhicitta.  It is the method of Tonglen and the 6 paramitas and it is the fruition-- sunyata suffused with tenderness.  Actually one and the same. This vulnerable soft spot is the last thing habitual mind wants to be-- that is why 500 arhats had heart attacks when they first heard the Buddh'a teachings on the Bodhisattva's Path. 

This retreat will be about such heart attacks!

Cost: $595.00 includes room and board