Encore: ISmile100 – Working With Pain

Click here or on the title in order to listen to Michael’s talk. To subscribe to this podcast, paste this address directly into a podcast aggregator. This will automatically download new discussions on a regular basis. The easiest option is to download the new iTunes software and subscribe to this podcast from the Buddhist and/or Philosophy sections of the Religion & Spirituality list. ____ How can we ever become truly intimate with our emotional and physical pain? Or, in Buddhist terms, how can we welcome Mara? In tonight’s talk Michael suggests that our pain is often a better guide along the Path than pleasure. Countless sages have spoken to this but Michael uses the words of Thomas Merton and Rumi to point out this aspect of our work where “all the buddhas are practicing.” Questions and comments deal with the issue of constant physical pain; facing our emotional pain with the same intense awareness as we might with our physical pain; and recognizing that when we come close to actual death we are offered a teaching.