Photo of Ven. Pannavati Bhikkhuni smiling

Forgiveness

Post author:CBMG
Post published:March 16, 2021
Post category:Dharma Learning / Teachers' Corner

On March 13, 2021, after meditation we met online for a Teachers’ Corner session about “Forgiveness.”

At Teachers’ Corner last Saturday, we listened to excerpts from Ven. Pannavati Bhikkhuni’s talk on forgiveness. In her talk, the Venerable one acknowledged early on that the Buddha did not use the term “forgiveness” in his teaching. She also pointed out the concept of forgiveness may be viewed as contradictory to the concept of No-Self, “if there is no sense of a personal “I”, who is there to offend or to be offended?”

But she proceeded to present us with a story from the Metta Sutta and invited us to look deeper into it. She explained how the Buddha’s instructions for his disciples to practice Metta (Loving-Kindness), as described in the story, provide a method we can adopt to help develop our mental capacity to forgive. She also discussed the compassionate courage required for practicing “Rolling all faults into one” (aka, “Drive all blames into one”) – one of the 59 aphorisms / slogans in the Lojong mind training practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

After hearing the talk, we discussed how the process of forgiving can be a challenging one since it requires us to work on our own perceptions, emotions, as well as our clinging to self. We all agreed that to forgive is not the same as to forget, we should continue to learn from past events and adjust our responses to future occurrences accordingly. We raised the question about the relationship between forgiveness and ill-will, and the fine line between holding a grudge and turning a negative experience into positive energy that fuels our actions to help create a more Just world.

The video we shared during our session, and additional resources are posted below. Happy learning!

From the Teachers: Forgiveness

Dharma Video:

During our session we watched the following segments of the video:

00:14 – 04:52 : An unpopular topic
07:18 – 10:47 : What Buddha asked of us
14:32 – 16:51 : The Monks & the Forest Beings
16:52 – 20:49 : The “I” sickness
24:30 – 27:12 : Taking on the unfavorable

28:12 – 30:42 : Find it within us
30:43 – 34:14 : “Rolling all faults into one”
34:14 – 39:12 : Definition of forgiveness
42:29 – 45:11 : Do it bit-by-bit

We would also recommend listening to the following segments:

48:13 – 52:51 : About the mantra from the Hoʻoponopono forgiveness practice
52:51 – 57:09 : Experiencing the Hoʻoponopono forgiveness practice in a song
57:09 – 59:43 : More on how the mantra relates to our practice of forgiveness

Forgiveness — by Ven. Pannavati Bhikkhuni*

* Ven. Dr. Pannavati Bhikkhuni, is co-founder and co-Abbot of Embracing-Simplicity Hermitage and Co-Director of Heartwood Refuge, an ecumenical Buddhist community, and residential retreat center in Hendersonville, NC. A black, female Buddhist monk ordained in the Theravada and Chan traditions, she remains a disciple of Great Master Kuang Seng, continues Vajrayana empowerments and teachings with Rinpoche Zhaxi Zhouma and received transmission from Roshi Bernie Glassman of Zen Peacemaker. Pannavati is both contemplative and empowered for compassionate service. She is president of the Treasure Human Life Foundation, which promotes skillful action globally, for the welfare of the homeless and disenfranchised, disempowered women and youth, and those who are marginalized, abused, and neglected.

From the Teachers: Forgiveness

Dharma Video:

Suggested resources for related topics mentioned in the talk:

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