of water. Buddha nature isn’t like a heart transplant
that you get from elsewhere. “It isn’t as if you’re try-
ing to teach a tree to talk,” as Rinpoche once said. It’s
just something that can be awakened or, you might
say, relaxed into. Let yourself fall apart into wakeful-
ness. The strength comes from the fact that the seed
is already there; with warmth and moisture it sprouts
and becomes visible above the ground. You find your-
self looking like a daffodil, or feeling like one, anyway.
The practice is about softening or relaxing, but it’s
also about precision and seeing clearly. None of that
implies searching. Searching for happiness prevents
us from ever finding it.
Reproach. The fourth strength is called reproach.
This one requires talking to yourself: “Ego, you’ve
done nothing but cause me problems for ages. Give
me a break. I’m not buying it anymore.” Try it in the
shower. You should talk to yourself all the time with-
out embarrassment. When you see yourself starting
to spin off in frivolity, say to yourself, “Begone, you
troublemaker!”
This approach can be slightly problematic because
we don’t usually distinguish between who we think
we are and our ego. The more gentleness that comes
up, the more friendliness you feel for yourself, the
more this dialogue is fruitful. But to the degree that
you actually are hard on yourself, then this dialogue
could just increase your self-criticism.
120 Teachings for Life and Death