Falling Down’s A Good Sign
We move ahead a few steps, then we go back a few steps… we find it hard to battle the ‘inner demons’ within ourselves fighting all the time… we find the secret struggles never end… it almost seems futile… we find transformation so difficult. Does it get any easier? It doesn’t get easier. The battle never stops. It gets worse and the struggles will bring us down. THAT IS GOOD. If there was no battle, then we know we are on the wrong path. The battle is actually our own efforts… efforts long overdue and weak at this point. Sometimes we fall because most of the time we were down, and now we are starting to get up, as we get up we fall. The fact that we fall, means we are getting up again and again. Remember Buddha under the Bodhi Tree in the last watch of the night, the maras attacked Him full force… even one so close to Buddhahood was attacked… so imagine for us? Never give up… because there is nothing to give up for…
Tsem Rinpoche
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I feel so blessed for learning something from this article. Thank you so much for your thoughtful sharing. I truly understand the possess power to change our lives during our falls was actually a good sign. I gained some positive energy and felt was extremely incredible!
There are highs and lows in any journey, however if life is more down than up, then it’s time to question why, I had a great teaching from this sharing.
I totally agree that the lows should be appreciated and enjoyed, because its from the lows that experience the highs. Living our life with positivity so that we can continue to improve and achieve what we desire.
Thank you Rinpoche for giving us the teaching on failure and falling down. We will fail and we will fall down in our lives, this is normal. But how we perceive our failure will determine if we have learned something from it or we let our failure makes us worse.
No one will appreciate difficulties and failures in lives. Unfortunately, this is what we have to experience in order to be successful. When we failed, we should not feel disheartened, we should tell ourselves we will be better. We have to examine why we fail and then move on. We have to change our methods and find new ways to be successful. Every failure we have is an opportunity for us to grow.
Some people when they fail or face difficulty, they will run away. When they run away, the chances of them failing in the future will become higher because they don’t find ways to improve and they refuse to see what is wrong with them. We have to be honest with ourselves then only we can improve. When we are honest with ourselves, we will be honest with other people. That is how we can maintain a good relationship with people.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful advice.
Just keep moving … it is necessary to go back before we can move forward. We always do feel that the elimination of fear is necessary before we take the next step. Always listen to our Guru particularly if our Guru have paved the way and know the steps to take, it would not be wrong.Once fallen it does not mean we fail, keep trying till we suceed.
It’s time for us to move forward and make some progress.
(Never give up… because there is nothing to give up for………quoted
Tsem Rinpoche )
Thank you, Rinpoche, for this sharing. I truly believe it is not easy and will not get easier on the journey of spirituality. Because we are battling our ignorance and inherent negative habituation that are keeping us in this samsaric cycle. Embracing Dharma and spirituality means we recognize that we need to break out of it all. It will not be easy. But what do we have to lose?
This is a good reminder for me. I often find it so hard to battle the demon within. I am just so habituated with the current conditions and that getting up from failures means I have to put in more time and effort. But this is the only way to improve and be a better person. I just have to keep trying until I am good at it. Applying dharma in our daily life is very essential to help us in this battle.
Thank you Rinpoche for your guidance and teaching.
I especially liked what Rinpoche said about how if there is no battle, then we know we are on the wrong path. I like this because it points to a few things:
1) the fact there is a battle means we have recognised there is a problem, and we are taking actual steps to counter it. As they say in the AA and their 12-step program, the first step on the road to recovery is recognising that you have a problem.
2) there is a battle because we find it difficult to counter all of the habituations we have picked up over countless lifetimes
3) so as long as there is a battle, we know there is still room for improvement
4) we also know that we care enough about ourselves to work towards this improvement. The fact there is a battle means we are taking responsibility for our own spirituality, by recognising we have inner demons to fight and actually taking them on
5) taking them on sets us up to have fewer battles in the future
I also liked what Rinpoche said about how there is nothing to give up for. We entered Dharma because we weren’t happy in our purely secular lives, we saw that something was missing and we saw that nothing in the secular world could lead to our permanent happiness. So when we are in Dharma and we struggle, we shouldn’t think about giving up and going back to a purely secular life.
If it didn’t bring you happiness the first time around, how will the second time bring you happiness, especially now that you have had a taste of the Dharma?
“Never give up..because there is nothing to give up for”
That is so true. When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. Walking down the stairs has always been easier that walking up the stairs. By the law of physics, going up against the law of gravity takes energy and we have to struggle against another force.
I guess we can liken samasara to the invincible force of gravity. But like the force of gravity we can break free from it, it takes effort to go against it on a daily basis. By studying and understanding the law of physics and nature, mankind has created rockets that can produce sufficient energy to break the hold of gravity and leave earth atmosphere. Similarly studying and understanding dharma can help us break the hold of samsara eventually.
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Love this kind, direct and encouraging message. I think I must learn to get over myself.
Thank u for the wonderful advice Rinpoche!
The hardest part for me is when I’m down, I need to get up as quickly as possible as there is always an inner voice telling me that, ‘If I can’t do it, why should I expect others to do it!’.In the Bodhisattva Path of Compassion and Wisdom (Volume 2) by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, I have came across similar statement too. Are these frequently ‘standing up and falling down’ really good sign? I have no idea but I do agree that these seemingly ‘failure’ times will ground us. It keeps my motivation in check all the time. From my limited knowledge, I found that every successful person has faced many difficulties or ‘failures’. Hence, when trotting this spiritual path, it shouldn’t be any easier. Just look at all those Great Saints of the past like Milarepa, Naropa, Lama Atisha or even Lama Tsongkhapa.
So true, so true…what a wonderful, insightful lesson to learn from this. Thank you Rinpoche.
[…] Falling down’s A Good Sign […]
This is very true, we should always pick ourselves up from where we fall. Not letting things that will hold us back get in our way.
A very good example would be shown in babies. When they are learning to walk, they would constantly fall. The babies never once give up, instead they conquer their failure learning to walk in the end. We all possess this quality, it is only a matter of if we would want to still carry on with this attitude that we had when we are way younger. Not being afraid what is installed in front for you, conquering all the obstacles that is being placed in your way.
We fall because we get up, when we get up, there are possibilities for us to fall. Between fall and up, there are endless battles. Eventually fall and up can be the same thing, both can inspire us to keep moving forward.
When we fall, we have to understand that we will get up again one day; When we are up, we don’t have to be scared to fall as we will get up again if we want to! So we don’t have to trap in this circle. We take it as a reminder, a reminder that inspire us to keep moving and get results.
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful teachings! I will put it in my mind and move forward and get results.
Coming across this post is a timely encouragement for me, and I am sure it will be for others as well. Falling is not a sign that we have failed and we only fail when we refuse to get up again. Anyway it would be foolish to think that we can travel along in Life and never have to trip and fall. The fall should not shock us and instead we must focus on getting back up.
What is more, it is not as if we cannot fall unless we are travelling the Dharmic path. We fall anyway in most of our samsaric endeavors. But to fall and get up only to walk down the wrong path seems quite silly. But to get up after a few falls in order to reach full awakening is a relatively small price to pay in comparison.
Thank you for this post Rinpoche and thank you for always helping us get back up.
[…] Falling down’s A Good Sign […]
[…] Falling down’s A Good Sign […]
Sometimes for a week I am on straight road, smooth and inspiring; next few days on uphill, up up hill, do not know where will be heading. Sometimes you thought there must be no more hills ahead after so many hills, and you are wrong. Seeing this message I want to say thank you, my Guru, I will tell myself not to give up, I really have nothing to give up.
Thank you Rinpoche for this post. It reassures me that my inner struggles are not in vain. I recognise now it is a long overdue effort to fix myself. Too much comfort in the past has spoiled me rotten. Now is pay back time. Knowing that I am on the right path gives me comfort and keeps me going.
So very true. I always learn from mistakes and always remind myself not to repeat the same mistakes. Nobody is perfect, we must always fight our inner demons that always want us to fail. Should we give in, we’ll never succeed.
Moving a few steps ahead then fall back 1 step is better than not moving forward but keep falling behind. We can never stay stagnant at 1 place as time and tide waits for no one. We are either moving forward or falling backwards continuously.
We must put in the effort to become overcome ourselves!
i mean we must put in the effort to overcome ourselves!
To say is very easy.But to put into action is hard. Like what Rinpoche say when you fall is good sign. We have to know the reason why we fall before we can pick ourselves and stand up and walk again. And thats where Dharma and Gurus play a major role in our lives to help us transform, contemplate and meditation and understanding Karma as the cause of our falling and the remedy to apply. Rinpoche’s life have been a series of sufferings all through his life. He started Kechara Paradise but never gave up. And today is the result of the Kechara House with 13 Departments which will lead to KWPC with the biggest Tsongkapa Statue of 118ft tall in the near future.
Yes. Whenever I feel down and demoralised and succumbed to my own delusions on self-destructive mode, I must embrace myself not to give up, as how Lord Buddha has stood up against the full force from Mara at the eve of awakening.
I love this post very, very much. Dear Rinpoche, thank you for sharing with us this precious dharma. Thank you.
Thankyou Rinpoche,
It really helped me the part,as we get up we fall. Iv been falling a lot lately..more than usual,but i havent been running to booze and other stuff..(thats not a dig at people who drink..i had a major problem with booze etc..)it feels painful,but you make me see its been progress and im falling and not using the fall as an exuse to strengthen old negativities and indulge in my addictions.thanks.
Whenever, we fall, we have not failed. We have only failed when we stay down. Every time we fall, we should take the opportunity improve. Because whether we learn to get up or not, in life, we will fall.
Very beautiful. Indeed anything worth doing is not going to be easy. But because it is not easy is exactly why we should never give up!
Thank you for you words of wisdom beloved Rinpoche!
*Deep Bow*
Rafael
Observe how a baby/child learn. Exactly as describe by HE Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. That baby/child is you and me. Our spiritual learning will also use the same method. Never give up until the goal is reach.
Indeed, I’m faced with this every day!
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