“when something negative is happening if you manage not to be negative about it, the negative karma is purified. Of course, if you become negative about it, then of course, you are creating more negative karma.”
- Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa Rinpoche
Turning illness into a blessing is about changing our attitude towards the illness. Illness is normally something we don’t want; something to get rid of. We have an attitude of resistance to what is occurring.
It is okay to want to heal an illness and we should do everything we can to heal. But sometimes an illness can be chronic and doesn’t go away. That is the ideal time to turn it into a blessing. If we are stuck with an illness, we may as well turn it into a beneficial experience.
Here are three ways to change your attitude toward illness.
1. Purification
“……recognize that sicknesses are your past karmic debts. Don’t make efforts to heal them or turn them into objects of resentment. Instead, see them as occurring by the kindness of the Precious Jewels [Buddha, Darmha, and Sangha]. The effects [or debts] of those past negative deeds [which are the cause of sickness] will be purified”
- The Third Dodrupchen from The Heart of Unconditional Love by Tulku Thondup
Imagine that the pain and discomfort that you are feeling is a purification process. As you feel the pain sense that you are feeling it in order to purify your mind, energy and body. Imagine that it is a cleansing process allowing you to awaken and deepen your own wisdom and understanding.
Another way to think of it is as a releasing of past karma. Imagine as you feel the pain, it is a process of burning up past negative karma, past deeds that were harmful. In this way you don’t have to experience the negative karma in the future.
2. Self Compassion
“[compassion] is the state of wishing that the object of our compassion be free of suffering….yourself first”
- HH Dalai Lama
Use your illness to develop deep self compassion. Self compassion is an opportunity to feel your pain and suffering, to get in touch with it. It requires that we move toward whatever we are feeling and not reject it or try to get rid of it. We must feel it genuinely. Recognize you are in pain, have discomfort, suffering and that doesn’t feel good. From that genuine feeling comes a very deep compassion for ourselves.
When we focus on trying to get rid of, or ignore our illness, the fear, shame, guilt, or resistance we feel leads to sympathetic nervous system engagement. The sympathetic nervous system is a fight or flight response that increases stress, tension and other physical problems.
Compassion connected to love, engages the parasympathetic nervous system and this helps with healing. The release of hormones like oxytocin create a relaxed and calming physical response and this feels good.
In order to bring this practice into daily life, use moments of pain to remind you to have self compassion. Then you can say to yourself “may you be happy, may you be free from suffering” or “may I heal” or some other self talk that feels right for you.
3. Compassion for Others
“May I take this pain on so that I can develop compassion for others in pain” – Ngakpa Chanchup
Use your illness to develop compassion for others. You may have pain and illness but there is always someone worse off than you or at least there are those that suffer as much as you.
Because you feel pain you can understand how others feel. You can mentally send compassion to others in pain. You can say quietly to yourself “may others with pain and illness be free from suffering” or “may no one have to suffer the way I am suffering right now”. You can make up your own prayer, one that speaks to you. You can also imagine sending healing light.
After my car accident I was in a lot of pain. I was very focussed on my own suffering and feeling very sorry for myself. When my teacher suggested I use my pain to think about others in pain, my mind immediately expanded and I felt more open and more free. Suddenly my pain became a little more bearable. I would then send wishes of healing to all others in pain.
We can turn illness into a blessing by changing the way we look at it. If we see our illness as a spiritual path, as a way to develop compassion for ourselves or others, it becomes purposeful. As we work with these methods, we become more and more comfortable with discomfort and accept things as they are.
“All the secret methods to obtain happiness and eliminate suffering are there in your attitude.”
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche
For more on working with illness on the path, check out Tibetan Healing Meditation 101.
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