ASK THE TEACHERS

CHAGDUD KHADRO: According to the teachings I have heard and the realized masters I have observed, emotions such as grief and sorrow—as well as disappointment, frustration, and fear—do arise. But such masters liberate emotions by recognizing their ephemeral, empty nature. A realization holder can avoid compounding emotions with the thoughts, concepts, words, and actions that produce karmic patterns. They can simply watch and be aware of their emotions arising and subsiding.

The Tibetan language has two main words for compassion: , which refers to heartfelt, empathetic compassion, and , the mind’s nonreferential, all-encompassing compassion. Whoever enters the Mahayana path cultivates nyingje by recognizing and responding to the dissatisfaction and suffering of all sentient beings, caught as they are in endless cycles of conditioned existence.