Pema Chödrön (born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is a notable American figure in Tibetan Buddhism. A disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she is an ordained nun,author, and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage which Trungpa founded. If you search in your life without prejudice of where sourcing the inspiration from, you can reach the books and the inspiration coming from this splendid human being.
Pema Chödrön describes the point of Buddhism about the other being a mirror. It is utmost easy to think to the Essenes mirrors, deeply explored and explained by Gregg Braden.
Using a common description, we find out that the SECOND MIRROR reflects to us that which we judge. It is something we have an emotional charge with, something we have either been wounded by in the past and have not forgiven. It is good to discern; however if we judge and condemn with an emotional charge, we will attract exactly what we judge into our lives.
"Seeing our own rejected qualities" well explains the way we can face the others we generally dislike and offers a new approach to make good use of those unpleasant encounters we can make during our daily life. Pema Chödrön writes "IF WE WERE TO MAKE A LIST OF PEOPLE WE DON’T LIKE—PEOPLE WE FIND OBNOXIOUS, THREATENING, OR WORTHY OF CONTEMPT—WE WOULD FIND OUT A LOT ABOUT THOSE ASPECTS OF OURSELVES THAT WE CAN’T FACE. IF WE WERE TO COME UP WITH ONE WORD ABOUT EACH OF THE TROUBLEMAKERS IN OUR LIVES, WE WOULD FIND OURSELVES WITH A LIST OF DESCRIPTIONS OF OUR OWN REJECTED QUALITIES, WHICH WE PROJECT ONTO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. THE PEOPLE WHO REPEL US UNWITTINGLY SHOW US THE ASPECTS OF OURSELVES THAT WE FIND UNACCEPTABLE, WHICH OTHERWISE WE CAN’T SEE. THEY MIRROR US AND GIVE US THE CHANCE TO BEFRIEND ALL OF THAT ANCIENT STUFF THAT WE CARRY AROUND LIKE A BACKPACK FULL OF GRANITE BOULDERS." This gives us a great opportunity to grow our spirit, while accepting these encounters to learn about our rejected qualities, we will discover to have day by day less of these obnoxious people around. To be better person allows our environment and people around us to be better as well.
