Dear Friends,
In the third talk from the retreat, “The Brahma Viharas for Insight and Wisdom,” Jill brings in lots of ideas to unpack – so I’ll take a couple of days to bring out a few points I found helpful.
Jill starts off by explaining two extremes we might notice in our own lives – one of indulgence, and one of self-mortification, often expressed as inadequacy, unworthiness, or self-loathing.
At work yesterday, I had to juggle a lot of things in an efficient manner – it was stressful! Inadequacy said, “You should have checked on that account set up before. You are so disorganized.” Indulgence said, “Eat another cookie mom sent home last week – it tastes good and the little sugar hit feels good!”
You might have your own version of that push and pull.
Jill says an antidote to these unbalanced views is that we can flex the two wings of the practice – wisdom and compassion.
Tara Brach describes it this way:
Like the two wings of a bird, Wisdom and Love are inseparable expressions of our natural awareness. The wing of Wisdom is our clear understanding of Truth, the nature of reality. The wing of Love is our capacity to respond to whatever we experience with a tender, caring, and appreciative heart. As we open these two wings of awareness, they carry us to the freedom of our awakened Being.
Brach, Tara. Trusting the Gold: Uncovering Your Natural Goodness. Sounds True, 2021, p. 109.
In the push/pull situation yesterday, wisdom can remind me how the cookies are only a temporary pleasantness. There will likely even be some post-sugar-crash unpleasantness that will arise after. Wisdom can also see that the tendency to self-criticism comes from a lot of conditioning over the years, and I don’t have to take it personally. An attitude of friendliness can help me meet the stress of work with some more ease and compassion and perspective.
As Jill explains, many of us tend to emphasize one wing of practice over the other. Jill encourages us: “It can be helpful from time to time just to check how is that balance between wisdom and compassion.”
I tend towards the “wisdom” side of things – trying to see clearly, to develop insight – this appeals to the analytical nature of my mind. I am getting a better sense of how I am unbalanced in my flying, so it has been my intention of late to strengthen my wing of compassion and kindness to bring my practice and life into more balance.
Have you noticed a tendency in your own practice and life to favor one or the other wing? What do you notice when they are out of balance, and how do you adjust?
If you’d like to delve into the two wings in more detail, Tara has a 53-minute recording on the “The Two Wings of Awareness” that has a talk, a brief reflection (reflection runs between minutes 26 to 35 into the recording), and some questions and responses.
https://www.tarabrach.com/the-two-wings-of-awareness/
May you be supported by wisdom and compassion today,
Andrea
Thank you for this Andrea. When I first heard of this Buddhist concept of the two wings of mindfulness I experienced an epiphany of sorts. I believe our culture fully affirms the wing of thinking but barely registers the wing of compassion. ( Maybe that is why we are flying around in rudderless circles. ) I know in my practice of medicine i work best when I sit squarely in the middle using the vast encyclopedia of my mind up loADED TO the main frame of the knowledge of human illness. But it is finally useless if I do not merge it equally with the deep reservoir of compassion. It is in that sweet spot between knowledge and compassion that healing occurs.
R
Hi Robbie – I love your articulation of “that sweet spot between knowledge and compassion that healing occurs.” Although I don’t work in medicine, I see how that’s true in my actions in the world too.
With gratitude for your service and compassion, Andrea