The Mysterious Junction of Suffering and Love
Weekly Column By Sharon Salzberg for On Being
Published May 10, 2015
Several years ago, I was a participant in a Christian-Buddhist interfaith conference at Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky. For a while, the dialogue was somewhat stilted and excruciatingly polite, as anyone who has ever been to an interfaith conference can probably identify with.
Then Norman Fischer, abbott of the San Francisco Zen Center, got in front of the room and spoke from the heart. He prefaced his question by saying he meant no offense, asking, “Why do you find the iconography of the crucifix, with the figure of Jesus hanging off the cross, inspiring?”
He just didn’t understand.
Norman’s question, because it was so sincere (and one could feel that), broke open the dialogue. People started talking about suffering, about suffering that has nowhere to go, about suffering that doesn’t have an easy fix or any fix at all. We started talking about love, about unfathomable love, about love being the only thing that could meet that depth of suffering. It turned into an extraordinary conversation.
I thought of that encounter this week while looking at the website of one of my teachers, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, a Tibetan lama who lives in Nepal but who has been out of the country since before the earthquake. He posted three pictures depicting the sadness of suffering juxtaposed with the beauty of love.
One photo, apparently from a movie, shows an infant trying to suckle at the breast of the baby’s mother, who has died. The two other photos are from current times: in one a rescue worker is carrying an infant out of the rubble. Because of the loving efforts of that worker the baby survives.
Five-month-old baby boy Sonit Awal is held up by Nepalese Army soldiers after being rescued from the rubble of his house in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (Amul Thapa / Kathmandu Today / Associated Press.)
The last photo is of two bodies nearly buried under rubble, clearly dead, somehow holding each other with the greatest tenderness and protectiveness. Looking at it, as Tsoknyi Rinpoche wrote, it seemed that nothing else was left at that last moment but love and trying to help each other. It was heartbreaking and awe-inspiring at the same time.
Two victims amid the rubble of a garment factory building collapse in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Taslima Akhter / © Taslima Akhter.)
Tsoknyi Rinpoche posted them to remind his students:
“Life begins with love, is maintained with love, and ends with love. Right now, while we’re alive, is the time to practice and express love. So please take care of your love. Love is capable of reaching so many people.”
There were also some pictures of him, after he had seen the photos and reflected on them and noted, “…tears streamed from my eyes. I couldn’t stop crying.”
I’ve known him for over 20 years, and I honestly had a hard time recognizing him in the photos. He looked so stricken. I know, too, that that earthquake might well affect the course of the rest of his life: taking care of people and rebuilding — himself looking directly at suffering over and over again, cherishing the power of love, and reminding us to do the same.
I come back often to what I learned at Gethsemani monastery: if we truly want to meet each other, that mysterious junction of suffering and love could well be the most truthful and potent place.
A girl brushes her mother’s hair amongst the wreckage of their home on April 29, 2015 in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (David Ramos / Getty Images.)
About On Being with Krista Tippett
On Being is a Peabody Award-winning public radio conversation and podcast, a Webby Award-winning website and online exploration, a publisher and public event convener. On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? On Being airs on more than 330 public radio stations across the U.S., distributed by American Public Media. The podcast reaches a global audience via SoundCloud. Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author. In 2014, she received the National Humanities Medal at the White House for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. On the air and in print, Ms. Tippett avoids easy answers, embracing complexity and inviting people of all faiths, no faith, and every background to join the conversation.”
Photo by Sajjad Hussain
