TRANSFORMING PROBLEMS INTO HAPPINESS

One of the most powerful methods to go beyond ego and attachment — for our own sake and so that we can effectively benefit others — is to happily greet our problems. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “The thought of liking problems should arise naturally, like the thought of liking ice cream!”

This is the brave attitude of the bodhisattvas. Why think this way?

We all experience one kind of problem or another. They seem to come without warning, no matter how hard we try to avoid them. Essentially a “problem” is getting what attachment doesn’t want, so we assume it’s bad and do everything we can to push it away, and when we can’t we suffer even more.

But given that our job as a Buddhist is to lessen attachment, anger and the other painful emotions and grow our compassion, wisdom and the rest, it follows logically that the perfect opportunity to do this is when things go wrong.

When we’re clear about our goal — the fulfillment of our own marvelous potential and the capacity to benefit others — welcoming our problems and transforming them into happiness is without doubt the quickest path to success. It’s the most difficult practice, the most radical, but the most rewarding.

Ordained since the late 1970s, Venerable Robina Courtin has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's FPMT. Ven. Robina spent ten years editing for Wisdom Publications followed by over five years as the main editor of Mandala Magazine. ​She was also the founder and executive director of Liberation Prison Project. Ven. Robina travels the world teaching Buddhism to students of all ages and levels. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentary films Chasing Buddha and Key to Freedom.