Hello, Jill! Alex emails to you are quite precise on the intellectual level, but don't seem to me to be very helpful on the practical level. That being the case, I'm writing to you with the following suggestion:
If you are suffering from something you label as a "pain", then examine it carefully (this requires a good deal of courage). What you will find, whether that pain is psychological or physical is that the pain is *empty of a permanent existence*, *empty of an unchanging essence* and *empty of the ability to self-exist*. To take a physical example, a headache is not always there; when it is it is sometimes milder, sometimes more severe; when its cause is eliminated, it goes away. Mental pain is like this, too. If you are feeling grief, it is not always there (if you examine closely enough); it is not always of the same character; it exists only when conditions allow it to. This is the key to eliminating suffering: since everything is empty of inherent, permanent, self-perpetuating existence, there is no need to approach anything with aversion or grasping. There are, of course, physical and psychological pains that can and should be treated medically. What the above do is help change one's outlook on them. I hope this is helpful to you. It has certainly been of use to me in periods of both physical and psychological pain. James ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It is easier than you think. Click Here to meet a Child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0Z9NuA/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
