Wisdom of no escape

[hart...@cox.net]

Hi group
I'm reading The Wisdom of No Escape by Chodron and she had this quote
from Trungpa Rinpoche: "The everyday practice is simply to develop a
complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions and
all people. A complete acceptance and openness to all situations and
emotions and to all people, experiencing everything totally without
reservations and blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes
into oneself." Not sure if it's that simple. I find I can accept you
-- but have more trouble accepting me. Any thoughts?
Darrell

[Charles]

Hey Darrell -

You have a good eye. This quote is an amazingly pith presentation of
the key points. What you have quoted is part of a larger quote. The
full quote is available at various places on the internet. Try this
one: http://www.purifymind.com/RW17.htm

I first saw this quote published in the Vajradhatu Sun (the precursor of
the Shambhala Sun) under the title "Ati". Ati is the Sanskrit name for
the profound teachings also known as Dzogchen. Since that time I have
also seen the quote attributed to H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Most of
the instances of this quote on the internet are attributed to him. When
I was in West Palm for Level II, I saw a calligraphy of a portion of
this quote in Brett and Bethlyn's living room. The calligraphy was
signed by Trungpa, Rinpoche.

I do not know which of these two great teachers came up with this, or,
perhaps it is something they were quoting from a previous teacher. In
any case, it is something worth knowing.

So as not to take over the conversation, I will let others comment on
your question:

> Not sure if it's that simple. I find I can accept you
> -- but have more trouble accepting me. Any thoughts?

-charles

[Seldman,Roberta S]

Thank you so much for this piece. It is the essence of what I am working with at this stage of my journey. Wonderful.

Roberta Seldman, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Clinical Coordinator Eating Disorders Program
University of Florida

[gwar...@cox.net]

Hello Darrell - I read your post, I am in the middle of "The Wisdom of
No Escape" at this time. I read Charles' reply and the went to the
link provided for the full text of the quote you provided from Pema
Chodron. I have a question for you rather than an answer to your
question. You state "I find I can accept you" and then "but have more
trouble accepting me". My question is 'how can one have a complete
acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions to all people
if one cannot have a complete acceptance and openness to all
situations and emotions for oneself?" An analogy statement I have
heard is "Love of others is impossible without first love of self". If
one cannot accept oneself, how does one go about accepting others? It
would seem to me that the issues / thoughts / beliefs et. al. that
prevent one from accepting oneself are the same issues / thoughts /
beliefs that one may see in others would prevent them from accepting
unconditionally - therefore, accepting oneself first complete with all
of our human issues and foibles. One might believe they are truly
accepting others but may in fact be making allowances for recognized
self-issues that haven't been dealt with. An additional thought /
premise might be that acceptance of others may be based on 'balancing'
the perception that they are being accepted 'whole' in spite of
oneself. That is 'conditional' acceptance I think. I enjoyed reading
the entire script that Charles referenced. To me it is the essence of
meditation, the purpose of why we 'sit'. It's purely internal to the
point of dissolution of ourselves from our ego, our 'self', who we
'are' to the world around us. It's almost as to dissolve into
'wholeness' and 'goodness' and be able to experience everything,
natural and man-made including mankind, at its base state of existence
and understanding there is no 'right' or 'wrong', 'good' or 'bad',
just 'is' - While there may in fact be 'right' or 'wrong' in a
conscious, daily mind of the unenlightened, the knowledge and
understanding the duality of those ends of the spectrum is that they
simple 'are'. So I go back to that I think one cannot accept others
unconditionally unless one has already accepted themselves because in
this case, I believe 'acceptance' is the ability to allow things to
flow past and through us. If one hasn't resolved that inability
internally, it doesn't seem one would be able to allow it from
external sources.