A friend of mine sent this to me. It hit home to me in such a way that I thought I should share it.


March 18, 2010
Tricycle Daily Dharma

The Core of Practice

“The core of Buddhist practice is the transformation of suffering (dukkha) and its roots into wisdom and compassion. As the Buddha pointed out, we all experience physical and emotional pain. We all get sick, lose people we love, and each of us will die. Our practice is not to try to get rid of this pain, which would be impossible. Rather, it is to avoid constricting around our pain, or blaming ourselves or others for it, or lashing out when we feel attacked—somehow believing that by so doing we will get rid of or resolve the initial hurt.

This cycle of reactivity is called suffering. The task of our practice is to transform such reactivity and the greed, hatred, and delusion that fuel it. It is to realize that it is possible to experience pain without suffering, without passing on the pain to ourselves or others.”

—From Donald Rothberg, "Present Moment, Urgent Moment" (Fall 2004)

Click here to read the complete article.