The WISE Heart: Buddhist Psychology

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Part 1:

"Buddhist teachings are not a religion, they are a science of mind": Dalai Lama.

1. See the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.
There was a large temple in Thailand's ancient capital, Sukotai, there once stood an enormous and ancient clay Buddha. Ages went away but Buddha endured, though with cracks. When one of the cracks become so wide, a curious monk took his flashlight and peered inside. To his amaze, inside the plain old statue, he discovered one of the largest and most luminous gold images of Buddha.

The monks believe that this shining work of art had been covered in plaster and clay to protect it during time of conflict and unrest. Similarly, each of us has encountered threatening situations that lead us to cover our innate nobility. The primary aim of Buddhist psychology is to help us see beneath this armoring and bring out our original goodness called our Buddha nature.

Nobility means wisdom or inner illumination or human excellence. How might we intuitively connect with this quality in those around us? Just as no one can tell us how to feel love, each of us can find our own way to sense the underlying goodness in others.

When people greet one another, putting palms together and bowing, and saying namaste, "I honor the divine within you". It is a way to acknowledging your Buddha nature, who you really are. When we bring respect and honor to those around us, we open a channel to their own goodness.
Wait for a day when you awaken in a fine mood, when your heart is open to the world. Before you start to work, set the clear intention that during the morning you will look for the inner nobility of 3 people. Carry that intention in your heart as you speak or work with them. Notice how this perception affects your interaction with them, how it affects your own heart, how it affects your work.

2. Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.
Imagine walking along a sidewalk with your arms full of groceries, and someone roughly bumps into you so that you fall and your groceries are strewn over the ground. As you rise up from the puddle of broken eggs and tomato juice, you are ready to shout out, " You idiot! What's wrong with you? Are you blind?" But just before you can catch your breath to speak, you see that the person is actually blind. He, too, is sprawled in the spilled groceries, and your anger vanishes in an instant, to be replaced by sympathetic concern: " Are you hurt? Can I help you up?" 
Our situation is like that. When we clearly realize that the source of disharmony and misery in the world is ignorance, we can open the door of wisdom and compassion.
Compassion is the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, as the capacity to see our struggles with "kindly eyes". We need compassion not anger, to help us be tender with our difficulties and not close off to them in fear. This is how healing takes place.
From the perspective of Buddhist psychology, compassion is natural. It derives from our interconnection, which Buddhist calls " Interdependence".
In the womb, every child is interdependent with its mother's body. If either of them is sick, the other get affected.
Compassion is not a struggle or a sacrifice. Within our body, compassion is natural and intuitive. Compassion is courage.

To cultivate compassion, let yourself sit in a centered and quiet way. In this
traditional form of practice you will combine a repeated inner intention with
visualization and the evocation of the feeling of compassion. As you first sit,
breathe softly and feel your body, your heartbeat, the life within you. Feel how
you treasure your own life, how you guard yourself in the face of your sorrows.
After some time, bring to mind someone close to you whom you dearly love.
Picture them and feel your natural caring for them. 
Notice how you hold them in
your heart. Then let yourself be aware of their measure of sorrows, their
suffering in life. Feel how your heart opens to wish them well, to extend
comfort, to share in their pain and meet it with compassion. This is the natural
response of the heart. Inwardly recite these phrases:
May you be held in compassion.
May your pain and sorrow be eased.
May you be at peace.

After a few minutes, turn your compassion toward yourself and the measure of sorrows you can carry. Recite the same phrases:
May I be held in compassion.
May my pain and sorrow be eased.
May I be in peace...

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