Practising Buddhism means devoting your life to counteract suffering… in a nutshell. This also makes it predestined to use the tools it offers to help deal with the devastating emotional consequences of a break-up or divorce.
We non-Buddhists should be open to every form of teaching that gives us relief, and which makes us grow as a person. This goes for all the philosophies available out there.
We shouldn’t be bound to the tenets of our own tradition and education, but use our good judgment to decide which other ones would also make a good fit in our lives.
Having said that, I recently read an interesting article about how to use the teachings of Buddha to soothe our pain of a divorce or break-up.
The title immediately caught my interest, but does it deliver what it promises?
“Buddhist teachings are not a religion, they are a science of the mind.” —The Dalai Lama
The main message of the article is that the teachings of the young Buddha, who escaped the “perfect world surrounding” of his father, and clashed into a world of suffering, is the perfect help for someone who is going through a divorce. Essentially, it is a similar experience to leaving the safe refuge of a marriage.
While going through the pain of this experience is inevitable, and can often act as a catalyst for personal growth, the suffering is not.
Therefore the article offers six different teachings that should help you to reduce unnecessary suffering.
What made the most sense to me was the concept of “Attachment” and “Mindfulness”.