Tales for Transforming Adversity: A Buddhist Lama's Advice for Life's Ups and Downs

by Khenpo Sodargye

Overview

One of the world's most popular Tibetan lamas shares accessible advice for working with adversity and living a spiritual life.

Enjoy a variety of meditations on topics from flattery and jealousy to karma and compassion. In each brief chapter Khenpo Sodargye weaves in stories from ancient classics and modern headlines. Drawing on adages from the Buddha, Confucius, and even Mark Twain, he delivers simple and timeless insights about facing adversity and developing a good heart.

With this English-language edition, you can now join the tens of millions who have already benefitted from this ageless advice on money, relationships, mortality, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614292708
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Khenpo Sodargye was born in Tibet in 1962 in what is today the Sichuan province of China. He spent his early years herding yaks, and after attending Garze Normal School, he entered Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar, becoming a monk under the great Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche. He is now one of the leading scholars of that institute, the fastest-growing Buddhist monastery in China today. He has been especially effective at popularizing Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese students, with numerous bestselling books, and he regularly speaks at universities in Asia and the West.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 How Can We Live without Suffering? 1

Strengths and Weaknesses 3

If You Seek the Wrong Thing, Misery Follows 5

Optimism and Pessimism 7

Suffering and Happiness Are the Work of the Mind 9

Self-Reliance 10

"I will never forget a favor I've received, but I will forget all the favors I've done." 12

If You Can't Bear Suffering, It's Your Loss 14

The Wisdom of Patience 15

Don't Be One-Track Minded 17

A Short-Tempered Person Drives Loved Ones Away 18

To Reduce Your Suffering, Recite the Mantra of Avalokiteshvara 21

Five Ways to Dispel Suffering 23

Finding Happiness through Mantra Recitation 27

Mantras for Averting Suffering and Obtaining Happiness 30

2 Being Like the Buddha 35

Keeping Secrets 37

Imagine What Others Might Feel 39

Returning Favors 41

Faults 44

Considering Others 46

Ignoring Flattery 49

Dealing with Irrational People 51

The Impact of Negative Influences 52

The Benefits of Pure Perception 54

Working with Criticism 56

Steadfast Friends 58

Don't Be Ashamed of Not Knowing 60

Concealing a Mistake Is Worse than Making One 61

3 The Certainty of Loss 63

Impermanence 65

Desire 68

Accepting Change 69

Three Ways to Live 71

The More Tightly You Cling to Something, the Sooner You Lose It 72

Everything Will Pass 73

Cultivating Happiness 74

4 The Value of Adversity 79

The Advantages of Failure 81

Today's Suffering Was Sown Yesterday 83

The Practice of Patience 85

Patience Should Be Tested 87

The Eight Worldly Concerns 89

Understanding Karma 91

Virtue Is the Best Protection 93

5 Meditation in Speech 95

Negative Speech 97

Promises 98

Your Words Can Haunt You 100

Skillful Means 102

Knowing When to Speak 104

The Power of Pleasant Speech 106

6 Parents 107

Sacrifice 109

No Time to Waste 111

Money Is Not a Substitute for Care 112

Seeing Your Parents as Bodhisattvas 114

Speak Gently to Your Parents 116

7 Bliss in Birth, Old Age, Sickness, and Death 119

Prepare Early for Death 121

Practicing Later in Life 123

Birth, Old Age, Sickness, and Death Are Just a Part of Cyclic Existence 126

Don't Leave Practice till the Last Minute 128

8 Why is Life Difficult? 131

The Difficulty of Facing Impermanence 133

Eighty Percent of Suffering Is Related to Money 135

Mind Training Is an Art 137

Suffering and Happiness Depend on the Mind 139

It's Hard to Be Satisfied 141

Wealth Is Like Drifting Autumn Clouds 143

More Money Is Supposed to Reduce Desire, but It Doesn't 145

Competition 147

Transforming jealousy into Rejoicing 148

Wealth and Morality 150

How Can You Achieve Failure? 152

Wasting Others' Time Is Like Robbery and Murder 154

Superpowers Are Not the Goal of Dharma Practice 155

Great Fortune Belongs to Those with an Altruistic Mind 156

Not Wanting Anything in Return Brings Great Returns 158

Generosity Will Only Make You Richer 160

Charity Is Heart, Not Money 162

9 Conversations with Khenpo Sodargye 163

Relationships 165

Results 167

Following the Conditions 170

Buddhist Theory 173

Renouncing Worldly Concerns 183

Adversity 184

Refuge 190

Loving-Kindness and Compassion 193

Death 195

Practice 197

Fate 199

Postscript 203

About the Author 205

Editorial Reviews

Khenpo Sodargye is an accomplished scholar, a renowned teacher, and an authentic upholder of the great Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok’s lineage of Ngagyur Nyingma and Dzogchen teachings. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Sogyal Rinpoche