Status Updates From Opening the Heart of Compas...

Part II explains patterns of thought & behaviour that cause suffering. These patterns are grouped under headings named after the 6 realms of Buddhist reincarnation. Despite their Mahayana origins, the point is to underline the typically Theravadan focus on psychotherapy. This section is massively insightful. Every paragraph contains a major insight. Often every sentence does, making them read like run-on aphorisms.

The authors conceive six kinds, or realms, of suffering: the animal realm, the hell realm, the realm of hungry ghosts, the titan realm, the realm of gods, and the human realm. Each realm breeds a different kind of destructive, pain-motivated behaviour.

The animal realm is territorial. It's characterised by the paradox of desiring love but of being too fearful to let love be dynamic, unpredictable, and genuine.

Spiritual work is the process of transforming the habit body…

There are several stages in this process. The seeds need to be planted through initiation or transmission; there follows a dormant stage; then, through our practices, we cultivate the seeds and insure favorable conditions for growth; finally, after a growing period, our efforts can bear the fruit of realization.

Although enlightenment is a form of recognition and can happen in an instant, the ground needs to be prepared beforehand. We create the proper conditions by providing what is needed at each stage of the preparatory process, using awareness and energy practices.

To give, we must first find something worth giving, something of value. We achieve this by directing our attention toward the richness of the world and of life. We view what is here and how bountiful life is, especially its possibilities and our own inner resources. Then, selecting among these resources, we pass them onto others.

When we can go beyond the pressure to "know" and open ourselves to what is here now, our openness itself engages the present. This sense of presence engenders satisfaction and delight. We then want to share this with others. The first gift that we have to offer is our attention. When we give our attention, it carries our energy and our intention.

We embrace giving as a natural aspect of aliveness.

The key to freshness… Is relaxing into "not knowing."... The unknown is always present, but it is obscured by our knowledge, our concepts and our filters of perception. Releasing these mental constructs allows a more direct knowing to occur…