The power of love

The title of this blog entry may sound corny, but it is nonetheless what I've been thinking about this morning.  I was feeling such a deep gratitude to my teacher, Jeffrey Yuen, for not only passing on his knowledge of Taoist Chinese medicine, but also because he is a true master.  What do I mean by that?  He walks his talk.  He lives and breathes compassion.  There is no judgment felt anywhere in anything he

Even those closest to me often say things that make me feel bad about myself.  Jeffrey just doesn't have that in him.  It's mystifying.  Here's my explanation:

He is not identified with his ego, therefore he doesn't need others to be anything other than what they are.  It is the ego that wants others to conform to our idea of who they should be.   Judging others does not come from the heart.  Love doesn't need anything to be different than it is.  Love is in love with the world exactly as it is, warts and all.  Love embraces every single thing about the universe, about reality, and loves it deeply and completely.

Now THAT sort of love is transforming.  After dedicating myself to alchemical work with Jeffrey (working on spiritual transformation rather than physical healing), I began to see all sorts of things shifting into a more positive, happier, more peaceful way of experiencing the world.  This love thing really does work.  I was hoping to be able to go through the experience of transforming my spirit to see how that affects the physical body and mind.  If I had a personal experience that it is possible to transform the body by transforming the spirit, that would then pass from me to my patients, giving them the ability to believe in the possibility of their own self-transformation through attention to the spirit.

I always wondered why great spiritual masters studied one on one with a guru type teacher.  If you've ever read Rumi, you know the ecstasy he expresses whenever he mentions his teacher, Shams, and the unconditional love Shams brought him to experience toward all of life.  Well, now I understand that kind of devotion, I have felt the indescribable gratitude one feels toward the person who has embodied that kind of absolute and all-embracing love in the world.   Jeffrey's example makes it possible for me to believe in the power of love to transform negativity.

It is one thing to learn by reading and studying or even practicing clinically.  It is another to know someone personally who actually embodies unconditional love.  The only other person I have ever met that gave me this same feeling of unconditional love was the Dalai Lama.  I met him twice, and felt bathed in the pureness of his love.  It was as if wisdom and childlike innocence were blended together.  Many things made him chuckle with delight, yet I know that he is a highly educated and brilliant man (he has studied astronomy, physics, neurology, the guy is no slouch in the brains department).

Thank you, Jeffrey, for being who and what you are, and for coming to the United States to pass on your great knowledge, wisdom, love and compassion.  Your students and the people they help through your medicine will be forever grateful.