Slogan #12

Drive all blames into one.

Praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a great tree in the midst of them all.

Buddha

My rewrite for this slogan is: “inhale in blame and exhale out praise” which of course, is a variation of Tonglen. This slogan offers us a radical solution for a world which is filled with complaints, problems, and conflicts. As something is always going wrong, the blaming loop is so provocative and convenient -- looking outward with righteous indignation is much easier than looking inward to examine our reactive patterns. Take the time to experience the felt sense of blaming: when you find fault with yourself or others, what bodily sensations arise? How does the process of blaming feel in your gut? Where does blame live in your body? Blame is holding an individual or group responsible for wrong actions. Let’s be clear – this is not victim blaming. Can we redefine blame in ways that are not pejorative and without negating the human capacity for evil, and the suffering caused by systemic oppression?

Drive all blames into one means use your vulnerability and self-compassion as a sword to pierce the armor of your reactive ego and everything that this entails: the loneliness, resentment, and anger. When problems arise, the operative question becomes: how can I learn from this? We become our own best teachers through deliberate practice. Tonglen compassionately reframes the parts of ourselves that are seething and suffering. Lean into the feelings of impatience, frustration, discomfort, of being trapped. Create a visual forcefield of compassion around yourself and then imagine a ball of radiant light in front of you. Move this light to your crown and down to your heart and direct your exhale to wherever it’s needed most.

“People trigger the karma that we haven’t worked out.”

Pema Chodron