Saturday, September 18, 2010

Lectio Divina - Ninety-one


Chogyam Trungpa, The Essential Chogyam Trungpa. Boston: Shambhala, 1999, 119-120.


An open wound . . . is always there. That open wound is usually very inconvenient and problematic. We don't like it. We would like to be tough. We would like to fight, to come out strong, so we do not have to defend any aspect of ourselves . . . It is just an open wound, a very simple open wound. That is very nice -- at least we are accessible somewhere. We are not completely covered with a suit of armor all the time . . . That sore spot is known as embryonic compassion, potential compassion. At least we have some kind of gap, some discrepancy in our state of being that allows basic sanity to shine through . . . we have some kind of opening.


2 comments:

Lindsay Boyer said...

The great Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa describes how our open wounds create small openings in our suits of armor. How can we be reached? What is the way in? Through our vulnerability.

I would so much like to cover my raw wound, to stop feeling the pain of it, but it connects me to others in spite of myself.

Jeanne said...

So it sounds that basic sanity equals compassion. Make it so in our lives, Higher Power. Help us to recognize You and ourselves in one another. Awomen.