and intimate with the moment.
American Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chödrön gives us two beautiful Buddhist concepts:
Maitri
and
Ye tang che
She says it is imperative to master these two concepts.
What is Maitri?
Maitri is the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness towards oneself. It is how we deal with what happens to us. In Maitri, we do not try to solve a problem. We do not strive to make pain go away. We do not work on becoming a better person. In Maitri, we give up control. When we realize and internalize the fact that whatever occurs is neither the beginning nor the end, and that our experiences are what everyone goes through, and what everyone has been going through since the beginning of time, we reach the state of Maitri. Thoughts, emotions, moods, memories come and go but the basic NOW remains here and now always. In fact, in Maitri we let go of all those concepts and ideals into which we are busy trying to jam and fit ourselves.
What is ye tang che (a Tibetan expression)?
Ye means totally, completely
Tang che means exhausted, tired out
Thus, ye tang che describes an experience of completely giving up hope - hope as in longing, ambition, anticipation, expectation: there's somewhere better to be, there's someone better to be, there's something better to do, there's somewhere better to go to.....This is the beginning of the beginning. It is only when we completely give up this kind of hoping that we will be able to relax with where we are and who we are...