Work with the First Glimpse of Suffering

Student: I wanted to ask you how you can relate with suffering without dwelling on it.

Chögyam Trungpa: Work with the first glimpse, and then boycott whatever happens afterwards. We have a first impulse or first insight usually, and then after that we begin to manipulate it and make it into our own ideal concept of some kind or another. So the idea here is to just look at the first flash of pain, which is very fresh and clear, and not to comment on it anymore. Often the contemplative writings of the Buddhist tradition talk about disownership of your experiences. that’s a very popular term. Even if you have a semi-significant experience, still disown it, don’t try to keep it. Disownership plays a very important part.