Compassionate Discernment
Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten
Dear Dharma friends,
​
The food and drink we consume everyday helps to sustain our bodies and nourishes us. Healthy food and clean water can bring about strength and longevity. At the same time, if we consume toxic food or water, it can make us sick. In many ways, this very logic could be applied to how we consume information in the news or on social media. Modern communication media can help us transcend cultural and geographic boundaries, share ideas, and learn from each other. In many ways, they are modern marvels with many positive aspects.
​
Yet, if there’s not enough discernment, these media can actually be platforms through which false narratives and stories create more fear, hatred, and confusion. In many ways, this is already happening in our world. We all have access to a variety of forms of information, and we all have our own platform, or the ability to share our thoughts and ideas with others. We can be a creator of positive or negative impact in the world. The choice is ours.
​
We’re living in an incredibly complex time in human history, with so much change happening culturally, politically, and environmentally. It’s essential for us to have discernment, so as not to choose to digest the wrong information that could be detrimental to the health of our mind and heart, just as a toxic substance would be detrimental to our body. However, it might be much easier to figure out what we shouldn’t eat, as compared to discerning what we shouldn’t blindly believe.
In Tibetan Buddhism, there are tutelary deities which are prayed to and loved by everyone, such as Tara, Avalokiteshvara, and Manjushri. The reason we pray to them is to invoke an inner strength. For example, when Tibetans pray to Tara, we’re usually trying to invoke compassion. When we pray to Avalokiteshvara, we’re trying to invoke love. When we pray to Manjushri, we’re trying to invoke discernment. Manjushri’s image is very powerful; he holds a sword that signifies discerning intelligence that cuts through delusions and ignorance. This is an important time for all of us to invoke Manjushri.
​
The four-armed Avalokiteshvara symbolizes the awakened heart and the Four Immeasurables: love, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. As Tibetan people, we pray to these deities not as a compulsion, but out of a sincere desire to invoke these qualities in ourselves. There are extraordinary Dharma masters in Tibet who are regarded as emanations of Avalokiteshvara, who embody universal love. For these reasons, I often feel so lucky to be born as someone who has the merit to call myself a Tibetan Buddhist and a devotee of Avalokiteshvara, whom Tibetans call Chenrezig.
​
During this Sojong, let me invite everyone to pause and see the mutual influence between oneself and the outer world. Let’s make the commitment to bring compassion and discernment to this relationship. Let’s recognize we're all light, and let our wisdom and good hearts shine forth to the world.
With palms joined,
Anam Thubten
​