Do You Yearn To Ease Suffering Of Others? (Page 3)

You don’t need to be a Buddhist to be a bodhisattva. In fact, the zen temple where I listened to this dharma talk has a group of Muslim bodhisattvas that gather together to practice their commitment to easing the suffering of others.

The Visionary Path

After hearing this dharma talk about the bodhisattva way, I realized that, not only am I a bodhisattva-in-training, much of my work revolves around serving other bodhisattvas.

Most of my one-on-one consultation practice is about coaching visionaries who are committed to easing the suffering of others. I’m leading a workshop in Montana this summer called Heal Yourself, Heal The World. My friend Amy Ahlers and I have co-creatied a program called Visionary Ignition Switch: Fire Up Your Message, Money & Meaning In The World which will be the go-to Business Program For Inspired Visionaries. And we just held a free, amazing webinar training around 10 Red Hot Secrets to fire up your message, money and meaning in the world.

I’m fired up, not just about easing the suffering of others, but about supporting, amplifying, and lifting up others who are committed to healing the world in their own unique, bodhisattva way.

Are You A Bodhisattva?

What do you do to ease the suffering of others? Do you practice presence? Do you cultivate wholesome qualities? Do you try to serve all beings and acknowledge that we are all one?

One big squash plant,

****

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.com, Pink Medicine Revolutionary, motivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.

Learn more about Lissa Rankin here.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Fiona T.

12:58PM PDT on Mar 27, 2012

Good article thankyou, nicely written.

March 27
send a green star

Mary B.

8:43PM PDT on Mar 24, 2012

Ruth, people have physical needs that must be met if they are to be healthy enough to be of any good to others.Unless such a person is supported by an outside agency, they must charge something, or they literally, have nothing to give. The picture you present of a spiritual helper is only YOUR opinion, not a truth, and it plain that you don't like Ms Rankin.Of course you can't live the ideal you propose. Nobody can.So since Lissa isn't living YOUR ideal, SHE'S a hypocrite ?
Thankfully, most people now days are beyond such an anitiquated notion of spiritualism, and untill we have personal stipends to live on so that those who are called to such healing service can indeed focus the majority of their time on others, all healers will have to charge for their services, just like everybody else.This should be obvious.

March 24
send a green star

Wild T.

10:09AM PDT on Mar 24, 2012

There could be a problem of doing it to make yourself happy... or doing it because you are supposed to... or doing it with a me...

Elaine A.

9:44AM PDT on Mar 24, 2012

As long as your attempts to take on the yearning to help others emotionally is healthy in that you are not drug down emotionally by whatever the issue at hand be. Being there for that person in a supporting and understanding role, yet at the same time, allowing that person to feel that they have arrived at the right decision that is best suitable for them. Your job is to listen, offer a number of possibilities and then allow that individual to seek the course best suited for them, by them.

Mike L.

9:20AM PDT on Mar 24, 2012

Typo on the ()*

9:19AM PDT on Mar 24, 2012

Amen, Mary B. I like Wayne Dyer too and he charges too. (They don't get hourly wages so you gotta make your money in one shot like any freelancer.

heather g.

5:39PM PDT on Mar 23, 2012

Thanks for the article, although I don't see the need to curse.... so, Lissa, perhaps you missed something about that presentation.
I enjoyed the story about the squashes and found it a valid comparison of how we humans live. We all breathe the same air - over and over again all around our planet. I'm about 90% there on the Bodhisattva path, but find it difficult to deal with certain situations. eg Last night at a theatre I sat down looking forward to enjoying a play. Suddenly, I man sat alongside me who reeked of cigarette smoke - it virtually oozed out of all his pores. He hadn't bothered to shower or dress in clean clothes - so I moved away very quickly. People near me four rows behind him could also smell the unpleasant cigarette smoke odour. Seems like I'll be happily stuck on 90%.....

March 23
send a green star

Ruth P.

1:27PM PDT on Mar 23, 2012

I think people who go around saying "I'm a bodhisattva" generally aren't.

Mary B, if you're a wonderful spiritual person who lives to serve others, you don't go on welfare. And you don't charge $500 for anything. You live in poverty - because you care about other people so much that you can't bear to own things when other people are hungry or need medicine. You don't want to be distracted from your mission. You're ignoring your very real physical needs to comfort others in their suffering.

But very few people actually live like that. I know I couldn't. Thing is, I'm not going around telling everyone what a saint I am, and selling some bizarre spiritual pyramid scheme. Lissa Rankin is a hypocrite, in addition to everything else.