I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
In her article titled
"Don't Bite the Hook", Pema Chodron defines the Tibetan word shenpa as the root cause of
aggression and craving. Someone says or does something and you
immediately react with anger or distaste. You feel a sensation in your
body and without thinking, you scratch the itch or feed the craving. The
hook appears and you bite without thinking. Some things are just
charged with energy that forces you to respond (almost like a reflex)
and you say and do things that you ordinarily wouldn't.
"It's
a quality of experience that's not easy to describe but that everyone
knows well", writes Chodron. I think Flip Wilson's character Geraldine,
tried to explain it best by saying, "The devil made me do it!"
Chodron
offers meditation as a way to learn to open and relax with all of the
hooks that may appear, without picking and choosing. We can learn to
diffuse the charge if we catch shenpa
at an early stage, she says. I think we can also do it while physically
active and moving through life.
Jehangir Palkhivala has suggested that we allow
ourselves to experience santosa, or contentment, before trying
to move deeper into a yoga pose: count
three breaths, enjoy where you are in the present and then move and
make any adjustments on the fourth breath. It takes away the urge
to go directly to the edge only to hang out with the discomfort of your
efforts or anxiously await the next pose. Instead, you have a chance to
appreciate each step along the way.
With enough practice, it
will translate as well to life off the mat. The hooks will become more
visible, even when disguised by bait, and there would be no need to
avoid temptation. Until then, we practice.
~~~~~~~~~
~Read
"Don't Bite the Hook" by Pema Chodron
in Tricycle Magazine.
~Watch Flip Wilson tell a short story about
Geraldine and her preacher husband. You Tube, 2:45.
Image: Shumata on Flickr
