How Do You Feel?

Dzogchen Rinpoche suggests that perhaps it doesn’t matter that much

by GEMMA KEOGH

In the West we are often told that the key to our well-being is to understand our emotions, that inner balance can be realized through
being constantly “in touch” with our feelings. But His Eminence
the 7th Dzogchen Rinpoche, holder of the ancient Dzogchen lineage,
disagrees. He teaches that this approach could actually be doing us more harm than good.

Dzogchen Rinpoche explains that it can be dangerous to overindulge
in emotional analysis. “We are encouraged in the West to continually assess our emotions. In conversation we frequently ask and are asked, ‘How are you?’, ‘How are you feeling?’ “In Asian culture, especially Tibetan culture, ‘How are you feeling?’ is not something that is generally asked because of the understanding that emotions are fi ckle and ever changing. Hence importance is not placed on them; instead it is placed on accumulation of wisdom.

“In Tibetan Buddhism particularly in the Dzogchen tradition, we say emotions have no inherent existence as we cannot pinpoint where they come from, where they reside/stay or where they go.

“However the experience we have of our emotions is often so intense that we believe in their reality. This is just a trick of the mind but we can unwittingly get drawn in and, like moths attracted to the light of a fatal flame, we suffer.

“When we have not recognised the empty nature of our emotions we can become caught up in their complicated details and create more suffering for ourselves and others. The answers that we constantly
search for do not lie within our emotions.

“Instead when we rest our mind, we can recognise our emotions for what they really are and experience wisdom that lies beyond them.”

This approach is at odds with popular Western psychology which suggests that we repeatedly examine our thoughts and feelings in search of the missing clue in the mystery of wellbeing. But as Dzogchen Rinpoche explains, emotions are the culprits of our dissatisfaction, the thieves that in fact deceive us and rob us of our inner-peace.

So how can we recognize and transform the suffering that our emotions create? Dzogchen Rinpoche offers a very simple but profound solution based in the ancient meditation tradition of Dzogchen.

“When we turn our minds inwards and rest, we can experience a stability that is beyond the highs and lows of our emotions —spontaneous peace that is beyond the mind.

“When we make resting the mind our habit, we will no longer be fooled by our emotions and we can experience genuine wellbeing.”

www.dzogchen.org.in


~End of Post~





--------------------------------------
Technorati: Buddhism Buddha Buddhist Dharma Compassion Wisdom Religion Meditation Zen Philosophy Spirituality Inspiration Peace Insight