The Sampa Zangpo
Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten
Dear Dharma friends,
Deep in our hearts, we have a genuine desire to be a good person. But being a good person could also just be a concept. There are numerous ideas of what being a good person might mean, like being generous, trustworthy, kind or selfless. When you think of someone as a good person, what attribute of that person comes to mind? What image of yourself arises from your desire to become a good person?
Sometimes our motive to become a good person could have an unconscious taint. We want to be special, and be praised or respected by others for our wholesome and noble traits. We even hope that others, or the universe itself, will reciprocate all of our admirable deeds so that we will be rewarded in this world and beyond. This kind of motive is quite natural for us as human beings. Even though there is nothing wrong with this, it simply comes from a place that's very much a part of ego.
Instead of trying to be good, which is an egoic identity, we can simply practice sampa zangpo in Tibetan, or good-heart. It sounds quite simple, yet it has been taught by Tibetan Buddhist masters as the most important thing on the spiritual path. Some masters said that, in a nutshell, that’s what dharma is. There are other ways to describe dharma in a nutshell, but this one is truly beautiful, sensible, and practical. It doesn’t have to be labeled as spiritual, as it's not just a Buddhist practice. It's the universal dharma that can set our heart free from the constraint of self-centeredness, and from the inner poisons, like hatred and envy.
Good-heart is intrinsic to the very core of our being. It can be cultivated on a daily basis without needing the support of a whole doctrine and a plethora of methods. It’s about having good wishes for others. This may sound simplistic and quite easy to do, but there will come a moment when we struggle with this wish as we realize how hard it actually is. It may seem easier for us to have such a state of mind towards those we truly love, but there are other people for whom we’ll have difficulty holding such a wish, especially if we might not know them personally. That’s a limitation of our own heart that needs to be recognized in the spirit of non-judgment.
During the course of a day, various people might spontaneously come to mind, like friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, strangers, the homeless, the mail carrier, or garbage collector. When they appear in our mind, there's often an accompanying thought or emotion. A brief inquiry might show it to be kindness, compassion, sympathy, or jealousy, judgment, or some negative thought. With such introspection, we can start to intentionally practice good-heart toward people who show up in our mind: wishing them to be happy, healthy, and to overcome difficulties in this life. If such a wish is hard to hold, maybe we can at least let go of negative thoughts towards them when they arise in our mind. The practice of good-heart eventually benefits everyone around us. It will fill our life with overflowing joy.
During this Sojong, let’s take a moment to review how we’ve been doing these past thirty days. Let's hold the intention to live with awareness each and every day and to practice good-heart towards the world.
With palms joined,
Anam Thubten
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