Yes, the Buddha is angry, overwhelmed and depressed.
When we look at a statue of the Buddha or the image of a great yogi with their serene smiles it’s easy to think that they never experienced the same reactive emotions and negative thoughts that swirl around in our minds.
But, we’d be wrong.
The Buddhas and yogis faced the same reactive emotions & negative thoughts that we face.
Fear.
Anger.
Sorrow.
Doubt.
Overwhelm.
All of these and more.
The sages faced them—and faced them—and faced them. Through persistent compassionate facing—hint: meditation—they discovered something remarkable.
They discovered that every emotion—no matter how challenging—can be healed, transformed and expressed as life-giving energy.
They discovered how to experience freedom, not by suppressing, defeating or avoiding emotions but by transforming them. They discovered that freedom isn’t an escape from life but can be realized in the midst of life’s inevitable ups and downs.
Here’s what made the great sages so great—they developed a method we can use to realize freedom in our lives.
This method taps into the source code underlying all emotions.
What is the source code that underlies all emotions?
First of all let’s pause on the term source code.
It’s a computer term that refers to program instructions in their original form. The key term is original form.
Through meditation practice the sages:
Traced emotions back to the source code.
Returned emotions back to their original form.
And they discovered something wonderful—reactive emotions are simply life energy running wild.
That’s it.
And it’s everything!
Reactivity is life energy running wild.
There’s power, juice, creativity and aliveness in that wildness. There’s also destruction, chaos, confusion and suffering.
If we suppress the emotion we suppress our lives.
If we let it run wild it can destroy our well-being and happiness.
The sages discovered that at the heart of every emotion and every thought is radiance, creativity and wisdom.
At the still, radiant center of every emotion is a pure creative impulse.When we lose the connection with that pure creative impulse our lives gets tangled up in reactive emotions and conflicting thoughts.
When we reconnect to the source code—to that original creative impulse—reactive emotions are transformed into wisdom and life‐enriching action.
The sages realized that the secret of of transformation lies in attuning to the source code.
The source code of thought and emotion is a vibrant, wisdom—infused, state of consciousness—a mantra.
This is what the sages discovered! Mantra is the source code—the original form of every emotion and thought.
There is a life-enriching mantra pulsing at the heart of every emotion.
There is a wisdom-bearing mantra resonating at the still center of every thought.
We can connect with this inner resonance through mantra meditation. Mantra meditation attunes our minds to the original source code.
Mantra meditation reconnects us to the life-healing energy and heart wisdom of every emotion & thought.
Through the practice of mantra meditation we untangle our consciousness from the reactive patterns that create confusion and chaos in our lives.
That’s why the Buddha and the sages are smiling.
Not because they never experience reactivity, but because they know how to transform reactivity into wisdom and bliss.
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Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock
Photo: courtesy of the author, flickr
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