Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion

by Pema Chödrön

THE BUDDHA SAID that we are never separated from enlightenment. Even at the times we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state.

The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings you need in order to open your heart.

To the degree that you didn’t understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, now you’re given this gift of teachings in the form of your life. Your life gives you everything you need to learn how to open further.

it’s good to express our gratitude to others. It’s helpful to express our appreciation of others. But if we do that with the motivation of wanting them to like us, we can remember this slogan. We can thank others, but we should give up all hope of getting thanked in return. Simply keep the door open without expectations. 67

Discipline allows us to be right here and connect with the richness of the moment.

When we cling to thoughts and memories, we are clinging to what cannot be grasped. When we touch these phantoms and let them go, we may discover a space, a break in the chatter, a glimpse of open sky.

prajna, an open state of mind that can relax with paradox and ambiguity.

Prajna is the unfiltered expression of the open ear, open eye, open mind that is found in every living being. It’s

But the flexible mind of prajna doesn’t draw conclusions of good or bad.

One of the most powerful Buddhist teachings is that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will.

As long as you’re wanting yourself to get better, you won’t. As long as you are oriented toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are.

When you wake up in the morning and out of nowhere comes the heartache of alienation and loneliness, could you use that as a golden opportunity? Rather than persecuting yourself or feeling that something terribly wrong is happening, right there in the moment of sadness and longing, could you relax and touch the limitless space of the human heart? The next time you get a chance, experiment with this.

All activities should be done with the intention of communicating.

Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.

the truth that nothing—including ourselves—is solid or predictable.

holding on to anything blocks wisdom.

Any conclusions we might draw must be let go.

Things are as bad and as good as they seem. There’s no need to add anything extra.

Wanting to find a place where everything’s okay is just what keeps us miserable.

long as we believe that there is something that will permanently satisfy our hunger for security, suffering is inevitable. The truth is that things are always in transition.

“Nothing to hold on to” is the root of happiness. If we allow ourselves to rest here, we find that it is a tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs. ...

These are five ways that a warrior increases confidence and inspiration:

Cultivating strong determination and commitment to relate openly with whatever life presents, including our emotional distress.

Building familiarization with the bodhichitta practices by utilizing them in formal practice and on the spot.

Watering the seed of bodhichitta in both delightful and miserable situations so that our confidence in this positive seed can grow.

Using reproach—with kindness and humor—as a way of catching ourselves before we cause harm to self or other.

Nurturing the habit of aspiring for all of us that suffering and its seeds diminish and that wisdom and compassion increase; nurturing the habit of always cultivating our kind heart and open mind.

WHEN OUR ATTITUDE toward fear becomes more welcoming and inquisitive, a fundamental shift occurs. Instead of spending our lives tensing up, we learn that we can connect with the freshness of the moment and relax.