07/16/2024
"If someone provokes you and you get offended, and you are about to retaliate and say something hurtful, you can pause and stop yourself if you have done some analysis on the emptiness of the self, and have even a doubt that things are not completely as they appear. If you have examined the existence of self, you might conclude that the Buddha’s teachings are right: that there is no self, and maybe you are just grasping to a self rather than a self truly being there.
You may conclude that the self is a projection, lokshé, something not found upon analysis. Just the smallest doubt in your habitual way of grasping to the self and questioning that the self does not exist makes it much easier to let go and can prevent a volatile situation from deteriorating further. It can make it easier to stop yourself from reacting with violence and aggression. It can make you instead choose to act with goodness toward the world at large. It only requires you to self-reflect with intelligence. It requires a bit of a pause. That pause is necessary. This pause keeps you from going with your usual habitual reactivity."
~ Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Nyingma Summer Seminar, 2024
