A Zen story:
A disciple came to his master and asked, "It is terribly hot, and how shall we escape the heat?" And at once the answer came, "Let us go down to the bottom of the furnace." So the perplexed disciple asked again, "But in the furnace how shall we escape the scorching fire?" To which he received the surprising reply, "There, no further pains will harass you."
With the right amount, poison can be used as medicine. Awakening often comes out of traumas. The sky, the air, often becomes clear and sweet after a storm.
The word "sadness" shares the same latin root with "satisfaction." It means a heart of fullness. Sadness is one of the basic ingredients to cultivate Bodhichitta. According to Buddhism, Bodhichitta is the awaken heart-mind. Wisdom and compassion are the alchemical outcome.
The teachings simply imply that instead of avoiding pain, we learn to welcome adversity and treat them as teachers. Accepting what is, even though it's painful. Pain is just vibrations, but suffering comes from resisting and fighting against what is happening now.
Healing occurs naturally if we allow sickness to run its course. Healing starts to happen once we begin the journey of total acceptance of what is.
