"The Facts of Life"
11 December 2010
My freshman year Advanced Composition Professor handed out an article for each of us to read and respond to for homework. Entitled “The Facts of Life,” the article, written by Pema Chödrön, who is a fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist nun, explains three main principles from the teachings of Buddha, “impermanence, egolessness, and suffering or dissatisfaction. Briefly, impermanence is the concept that “everything is in process” and “nothing is static or fixed,” egolessness encourages constant flexibility and curiosity in personal identity, and the theory of suffering/dissatisfaction is that in order to see the good, there must also be the opposite, bad.
Reading this article, I realized that these are principles I learned growing up, and currently apply to my life, especially as a person with close ties to many people in the military, including my father and my best friend. The first principle, impermanence, was particularly relatable; nothing is permanent in the military lifestyle – location, housing, friends, jobs, or the status of world politics. In the article, Trungpa Rinpoche stated, “We are always in transition, if you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem.”
In addition to impermanence, awareness of suffering/dissatisfaction is the other most prominent concept I found myself relating to my life. Ms. Chödrön relayed what Suzuki Roshi taught her, which was “to accept that pain is inherent and to live our lives from this understating is to create the causes and conditions for happiness.” In the last year, my best friend, Kyle, was shot while deployed to Afghanistan, and another friend, Nico, was severely injured by an improvised explosive device; it was difficult, but I also had the joy of welcoming Kyle home and supporting Nico in his recovery. I know I can’t control the uncontrollable; I can only control my reactions, and that made being strong and supportive much easier.
In short, I found Pema Chödrön’s article interesting, as she explained some principles that I found easy to relate to my life. She also provided insight into the teachings of a world religion, Tibetan Buddhism, which I admit, I don’t know much about. Gerry Spence once said, "I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief."
The entire article can be found here: http://www.shambhala.com/html/learn/features/pema/books/excerpts/places-excerpt.cfm
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