The world is facing many difficulties, and each of us encounters obstacles along our own path. When we reflect on violence, loss, natural disasters, disease, and ongoing uncertainty, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or discouraged.
How can we avoid despair or losing heart, and instead find courage and confidence? How can we continue to act with kindness when the world appears to be dominated by negativity and hardship?
Relating to Common Challenges
Yet our times are not unique. His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who, when asked about the grave state of the world, simply laughed and said, “It has always been like that.” In the tradition of the buddhadharma this is known as saṃsāra. His response has been referenced frequently in the recent past.
More recently, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche echoed this view, reminding us that challenges are a natural part of living in a confused world.
“We must see that challenges are going to happen here and there. Especially since we are living in a confused world. Here, challenges are common.”1
What matters most, as Rinpoche emphasized, is our state of mind. How we relate to adversity determines whether we become stuck in fear or transform difficulties into conditions for positive change.
Aspiration Prayers
Even when we cannot directly help or immediately change larger circumstances, there is a powerful practice always available to us: making aspiration prayers.
At the beginning of 2021, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, led eight days of prayers to end adversity. The year before had been extraordinarily difficult for many people due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic hardship, and other stressful conditions. While some aspects of that situation have eased, others have continued, and new challenges continue to arise.
Although external and material support is important and necessary, His Holiness stressed something even more essential: not losing perseverance, courage, hope, and confidence. He said,
“If we let adversity take away all our hopes and confidence for this life, we are giving adversity a large opening and a lot of power. Thus, whether we can take adversity onto the path depends to a great extent on whether we bow our heads down to adversity or whether we are willing to face it directly.”2
Directing Our Minds
Reciting aspiration prayers, personally or collectively, helps us stay connected to what truly matters. They remind us of the power of the mind and of our shared wish for peace, wisdom, and compassion. When many people direct their intentions in this way, change becomes possible. Making aspiration prayers is a practice taught by the Buddha that harnesses this power, transforming adversity into conditions that help create a wiser and kinder world.
In response to the turbulence in the world, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche also reminded us of the extraordinary power of the mind:
“When strong minds are directed toward peace and harmony, global change is within reach.”3
Rinpoche shared a beautiful aspiration prayer composed by the great master Thangtong Gyalpo, True Words to Ease the Fear of Strife. For the January 2021 Aspirations to End Adversity, His Holiness the Karmapa compiled a collection of prayers selected for this purpose. During a recent stay in Taiwan, while supporting a friend, I began reciting one of these prayers daily: The Sutra of the Dharani of Marichi.
While some may feel it is hard to determine whether this directly benefits the other, I can sense how reciting these – to me beautiful – prayers impact my mental attitude and actions. This is, I feel, the power of the mind Rinpoche points to and the importance to never underestimate how even the slightest change within and the smallest of actions can make a great difference to those we seek to help.
Stay Connected, Going Kind
When we see a situation only as negative and believe there is nothing we can do, we are likely to fall into fear and despair. Similarly, even when we sincerely try to help others, we often encounter obstacles or find that things do not turn out as intended. This can lead us to feel discouraged and to give up. However, if we stay connected to our heartfelt aspirations, recognize how every action can create change through interdependence, and remember how urgently others need our care, we can become agents of transformation.
In his book Interconnected, His Holiness writes about bringing our noblest aspirations into the world, sharing them with others, and taking action. When we join with the aspirations of others, “we can serve as conditions for all beings on this planet to flourish.”4
Although I personally practice within the tradition of the buddhadharma, aspiration prayers are not limited to Buddhism. Every spiritual path and every sincere human heart holds wishes for healing, kindness, and a better world. When we join our aspirations together, they can support real change.
I wrote this while reflecting on recent violence and loss, and as a way of checking my own mind when thoughts like “Is there anything I can do to help beings and end suffering?” start to arise. While understandable, there is no need to let ourselves get stuck or even give up. So, above all, I wanted to share that aspiration prayers are a gentle reminder that, even in difficult times, we can continue to “go kind” for ourselves, for each other, and for the world.
- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Don’t Make It a Big Deal, https://dpr.info/articles/dont-make-it-a-big-deal/ ↩︎
- Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, https://kagyuoffice.org/aspirations-to-end-adversity-day-one-opening-words/ ↩︎
- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, True Words to Ease the Fears of Strife, https://dpr.info/articles/true-words-to-ease-the-fears-of-strife/ ↩︎
- The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society, chapter 12. ↩︎
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