Illusory Advice: The Annoying Friend

"Sangha members are the annoying friends who help each other to be real in the world and live their lives as practitioners. They do not offer the comforting platitudes, but they also have to be careful with their directness. Sangha members do not want to add to the person’s negative view of themselves by confronting them with the cause of discomfort. Dwelling on shortcomings gets in the way of developing pure view. It makes it more difficult for others to view them as a realised being, and it makes it difficult for them to view themselves as beginninglessly enlightened. Remember that their miserable expression of their view of themselves is directly linked with their enlightened nature: their avarice with generosity, their anger with clarity, and even their depression with intelligence. If you can see this then a helpful response might suggest itself. "

p136-137, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2016, 978-1-898185-37-6

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