A Foot Soldier of Breath

In these turbulent times, I am a foot soldier of breath. Non-violent in intent, relatively powerless to impact the sweeping movements that swirl around me, I know we are all connected. This is upheld both in Ayurveda (my professional life) and Tibetan Buddhism (personal life). yet as a citizen I’m stunned by the events happening so fast around us all. As a practitioner, I keep breathing, with awareness when possible.

Every morning I open randomly to a passage for guidance for the day, most often in H.E. Garchen Rinpoche’s Commentary on the 37 Bodhisattva Practices (see Resource below).

To backtrack a little: in Tibetan Buddhism, a bodhisattva is someone who trusts in loving kindness, compassion, equanimity, and empathetic joy. Holding with these, one gives rise to bodhicitta, altruistic love free of self-grasping. Ordinary people like myself take the Bodhisattva vow to train in these qualities. The Dalai Lama has said that a true hero is a person who holds on to their compassion.

My teacher Garchen Rinpoche often talks about the 37 Bodhisattva practices. Here are some that I’ve turned to recently in his commentary.

#18: Though one may have an impoverished life, always be disparaged by others, afflicted by dangerous illness and evil spirits, to be without discouragement and to take upon oneself all the misdeeds and suffering of beings in the bodhisattvas’ practice.

In his commentary on this one, Garchen Rinpoche talks about Tonglen, breathing in the suffering of others and the suffering of oneself. Breathing it in, holding with it with bodhicitta, breathing out loving kindness through the heart. This is what I mean about being a foot soldier of breath, it can be done on any breath. I myself am lucky if I remember to do this before I go to sleep at night and after I wake up in the morning. Joining with our collective soup in this way with kindness. Also, I work with it when I’m feeling especially riled. How people in Congress can vote for a budget that promotes violence and abductions rather than nourishment and mutual care is unfathomable to me. However..

#20: If outer foes are destroyed while not subduing the enemy of one’s own hatred, enemies will only increase. Therefore, subduing one’s own mind with the army of love and compassion is the bodhisattvas’ practice.

It has taken me years to appreciate Garchen Rinpoche’s point that anger is the enemy; the enemy outside is not the enemy. Enemies change, he says. Anger poisons us instantly. Yet, as a foot soldier of breath, anger also lets me know what is not okay. It swiftly lets me know a personal limit has been reached, some action is necessary. Once motivated by pissed off outrage and bitterness, can I then act with equanimity and loving kindness? That’s the aim, whenever possible. As a foot soldier of breath, all I can do is what’s possible for me in this moment. Breathe in love, breathe out love, when possible.

I remember the advice from my teachers that if I’m in a negative place, to work toward neutral. If neutral, to work toward positive feelings, like love. As is clear, this is not easy.

I did not imagine from a lifetime of living in the US that millions of us would be looking at the underbelly of fascism so closely or so fast.

The high lamas have the vantage point of greater scope, being able to see more of what is going on, like His Holiness the Dalai Lama who turns 90 this Sunday or Her Eminence Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche or H. H. Chetsang Rinpoche or H. E. Garchen Rinpoche or the Venerable Traga Rinpoche. These teachers have lived through a cultural apocalypse I can’t even imagine. Their teachings have impacted me deeply. As their student, as a foot soldier of breath, holding with values and integrity is a powerful focus.

In the meanwhile, I’m delighted to learn that Helen Keller was a socialist, a suffragist, and a co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Yes! Read more here for encouragement.

Resource

The Commentary on the Essential Meaning of the Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, Drikung Kagyu Teachings by H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, Singapore, 2011.

Image: HE Garchen Rinpoche (on right) with Traga Rinpoche (on left) meeting in Asia after a long time apart (2017, photographer appreciated)

Amadea Morningstar is a writer and health educator working in the US. Her latest book is Easy Healing Drinks from the Wisdom of Ayurveda.