Transforming Poverty into the Path

Though you lack what you need and are constantly disparaged,

Afflicted by dangerous sickness and spirits,

Without discouragement take on the misdeeds

And the pain of all living beings—

This is the practice of bodhisattvas.

Self-Centred Mind Is the Culprit 

Imagine losing almost everything in your life. On the physical level, you lack what you need, and on the social level, you are constantly disparaged and lack the support of friends and family. In terms of your body, you are sick and weak. We usually react in one of two ways to misfortune. One option is to become upset and  angry, wanting to strike back at society or at whomever we deem as the cause of our ruin. Another option is to become depressed and throw a pity party for ourselves. Feeling helpless and hopeless, we throw up our hands and say, “What’s the use? Why should I live? Nobody is helping me and the whole world is against me.” Do either of these solve the external problem or bring us happiness here and now? No. In fact, by thinking in that way, we usually wind up more unhappy and upset. 

Before indulging in these emotions, it’s helpful to ask ourselves, “Do I really need all of these things? My living standard may be lower now, but did all those things bring me happiness? Maybe I could be just as happy, or even happier, with less?” Similarly, we could investigate, “Am I really being disparaged by others or is it that I’m interpreting their behaviour in a derogatory way that possibly they didn’t mean?” After all, many times people don’t mean us harm when they say certain things, but we misconstrue their words and take their comments personally when they aren’t meant that way. 

Behind our upset facade is often a feeling of entitlement— the universe owes us something, the world should treat us better. We may talk about karma, but when we go through hard times, we don’t think that it is the result of our own actions. Instead we continue to blame someone or something outside. If we thought about karma, we would see, “I’m going through a hard time due to the ripening of negative karma I created. How did I create this karma? Self-centredness, ignorance, attachment and hostility had occupied my mind. Lacking what I need is the result of stealing. Being disparaged is the result of speaking harshly and using my speech to create disharmony. Being afflicted with dangerous sickness and spirits is the result of physically harming others or  deliberately causing them mental and emotional tumult. Now I’m experiencing the result of the causes I created under the influence of my own self-centred mind. What use is it to become angry at others or to feel sorry for myself?” 

It is important here not to blame ourselves for our misery or to feel that we deserve to suffer. Whoever we were in a previous life acted harmfully, and we are experiencing the results because we are in the same mental continuum as that person. This does not mean we are bad people. It simply means that self-centredness made the person we were in the past act in harmful ways and we are currently experiencing the result. 

Rather than blame other people or ourselves, let’s turn to our own self-centred mind and point the finger at it. This doesn’t mean criticising or hating ourselves, because self-centredness is not a part of us. But since it harms us, let’s cease following its dictates and practise the methods to eliminate it. 

How do we act without discouragement and take on the misdeeds and the pain of all living beings? Do the taking and giving meditation. In this meditation, think of your self-centred, egoistic mind as a lump in your heart. Then visualise all living beings in front of you and, with compassion, yearn to remove their misery. Imagine all their pain and suffering leaving them in the form of smoke and pollution. Inhale the smoke and pollution, but don’t think they stay inside you, making you sick. Instead, the smoke and pollution transform into a lightning bolt that hits that lump of self-centredness in your heart and decimates it. Feel incredible spaciousness in your heart now that the self-centredness is no longer there. Dwell in that spaciousness for a while.  

Then from that pure heart, imagine light radiating and think that you have transformed and multiplied your body, possessions, and virtue so they manifest as the people and objects that others need. Give these away happily. Imagine others receiving all they need and becoming tranquil and happy. This is an excellent meditation to do when you’re going through hard times, because it completely transforms the misfortune into the Dharma practice of developing love, compassion and bodhicitta.

~Commentary by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron