Poison Becomes Medicine

"Three objects, three poisons, and lots of misery" or "Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of confusion, bewilderment​ and pain."

So there are three things, which in the slogan are called three objects.   One object is what we find pleasant, another is what we find unpleasant, and a third is what we are neutral about.  If it's pleasant, it triggers ignorance.  Craving, aversion, and ignorance are the three poisons.

There's nothing really wrong with passion or aggression or ignorance, except that we take it so personally and therefore waste all that juicy stuff.  The peacock eats poison and that's what makes the colors of its tail so brilliant.  That's the traditional image for this practice, that the poison becomes the source of great beauty and joy; poison becomes medicine.

Pema Choldron

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