Free Comfortable With Uncertainty by Pema Chödrön Page B

Now you’re in for it. If you think that just by doing that you are going to feel good about yourself and you are going to be thanked right and left—no, that won’t happen. More than to expect thanks, it would be helpful just to expect the unexpected; then you might be curious and inquisitive about what comes in the door. We can begin to open our hearts to others when we have no hope of getting anything back. We just do it for its own sake.
    On the other hand, it’s good to express our gratitude to others. It’s helpful to express our appreciation of others. But if we do that with the motivation of wanting them to like us, we can remember this slogan. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked in return. Simply keep the door open without expectations.

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    Six Ways of Compassionate Living
    T HERE ARE SIX traditional activities in which the bodhisattva trains, six ways of compassionate living: generosity, discipline, patience, joyful exertion, meditation, and prajna, unconditional wisdom. Traditionally these are called the paramitas , a Sanskrit word meaning “gone to the other shore.” Each one is an activity we can use to take us beyond aversion and attachment, beyond being all caught up in ourselves, beyond our illusion of separateness. Each paramita has the ability to take us beyond our fear of letting go. Through paramita training we learn to be comfortable with uncertainty. Going to the other shore has a groundless quality, a sense of being caught in the middle, being caught in the in-between state.
    It is easy to regard the paramitas as a rigid code of ethics, a list of rules. But the warrior-bodhisattva’s world is not that simple. The power of these activities is not that they are commandments, but that they challenge our habitual reactions. Paramita training has a way of humbling us and keeping us honest. When we practice generosity we become intimate with our grasping. Practicing the discipline of not causing harm, we see our rigidity and desire to control. Practicing patience helps us train in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed. In joyful exertion we let go of our perfectionism and connect with the living quality of every moment. Meditation is how we train in coming back to being right here. And the inquiring mind of prajna—seeing things just as they are—is the key to this training, because without prajnaparamita, or unconditional bodhichitta, the other five activities can be used to give us the illusion of gaining ground.

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    Prajna
    P RAJNA IS THE WISDOM that cuts through the immense suffering that comes from seeking to protect our own territory. Prajna makes it impossible for us to use our actions as ways of becoming secure. Prajna turns all actions into gold. It is said that the other five transcendent activities—generosity, discipline, exertion, patience, and meditation—could give us reference points, but prajna cuts through the whole thing. Prajna makes us homeless; we have no place to dwell on anything. Because of this, we can finally relax.
    Sometimes we feel tremendous longing for our old habits. When we work with generosity, we see our nostalgia for wanting to hold on. Working with discipline, we see our nostalgia for wanting to zone out and not relate at all. As we work with patience, we discover our longing to speed. When we practice exertion, we realize our laziness. With meditation we see our endless discursiveness, our restlessness, and our attitude of “couldn’t care less.”
    Because of prajna, these other five actions, or paramitas, become the means of shedding our defenses. Every time we give, every time we practice discipline, patience, or exertion, it’s like putting down a heavy burden. The foundation of the prajnaparamita is mindfulness, an open-ended inquiry into our experience. We question without the intention of finding permanent solutions. We cultivate a mind that is ready and